Dani Sinclair - My Baby, My Love

“Okay?”

She nodded.

“You’re not thinking of taking her out of here?” Wickowski demanded.

“Thinking, no. I am taking her out of here.”

“Look, Major—”

“No, Wickowski, you look. She was almost killed. I assume the guy wasn’t caught?”

His ruddy cheeks grew ruddier.

Sydney laid a hand against Noah’s chest. “Please.” Her voice was low and hoarse. “Fight later. I’d like to leave now.”

“Right away,” he agreed.

“I could hold her as a material witness,” Wickowski threatened.

“You can try.” Noah met the agent’s anger with his own. They’d nearly let her be killed!

Wickowski looked away first.

More people crowded into the room, blocking their path to the door. A rotund, pinch-faced woman with faded red hair stepped forward importantly. “Major Inglewood, I’m Jennifer Comsilt. We spoke on the telephone. This is Dr. Messinger.”

Jennifer Comsilt pushed at a prim pair of glasses sitting on her nose while the doctor fussed with a stethoscope hanging around his neck. Noah dismissed them with a glance.

“I’d like to use the bathroom,” Sydney whispered.

“You want to help her, Ms. Comsilt?”

“Oh.” The supervisor gazed frantically past him as if looking for someone else. “Er…ah, yes. Of course.” Obviously, she wasn’t used to making personal contact with the patients.

“I can manage,” Sydney told him.

He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I don’t doubt it for a minute, but I think getting dressed will be easier with some help, don’t you? Here.” He thrust the bundle of clothing into Mrs. Comsilt’s free hand. “These won’t be a great fit, but they’re the best I could come up with on such short notice.”

“Not mine?” Sydney asked in a whispery voice.

“Mine, I’m afraid. I didn’t get to your place last night.”

She paused, surveying him from head to toe. A spark of amusement glinted in her eyes. “Should be a great fit.”

Noah found himself smiling wryly. “The jogging shorts have a drawstring,” he offered.

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t worry. The T-shirt will probably cover them completely.”

“No doubt.”

Her easy acceptance surprised him. He expected Sydney to be weak and needy. Her unexpected grit kept amazing him.

Messinger stepped forward. “Just a moment. Mrs. Inglewood suffered a trauma to her throat this morning.” Messinger’s grating voice had a nasal whine. “While I don’t believe any permanent harm was done, I’d like a specialist to have a look at her.”

“I’ll see to it. We’re leaving in five minutes. You want to get the release forms?”

“Mr. Inglewood, this hospital cannot be responsible—”

“Save it, Doctor. I am not in the mood. We’ll need the release papers right away or we’re leaving without signing them.”

“Major Inglewood,” the agent tried to cut in.

Noah spun toward the man. “Wickowski, my brother is dead. My sister-in-law just came too close to joining him for my peace of mind. She’s…”

“We’ll keep someone at her door.”

“…getting out of here right now. You’ve got her statement. Two days’ worth, as a matter of fact.”

“I realize that. But in an investigation like this one, questions come up. The FBI—”

“Doesn’t have to talk to her here in the hospital. Cut her some slack, Wickowski. I’m taking her someplace safe.”

“Police protection—”

“Isn’t very reliable, wouldn’t you say?”

The doctor interrupted. “Mrs. Inglewood is pregnant!” he protested.

The last thing Noah needed was a reminder of the child growing inside his brother’s wife. He’d thought about little else since he learned that fact. The ramifications were staggering. He leveled his coldest gaze on the man.

“I am aware of that, Doctor,” he said with such quiet steel that anyone who knew him would have beaten a hasty retreat. “And I’m going to see that she lives to deliver that child. Three minutes, Doctor.”

The bathroom door opened. While no doubt the drawstring on the shorts had been cinched around her narrow waist as tightly as possible, the material hung in ridiculous fashion against long, shapely legs. The baggy T-shirt draped over the full swell of her generous breasts, making it all too obvious Sydney wasn’t wearing a bra beneath the thin cotton. Noah decided he’d deck the first man who ogled her.

Sydney leaned on the nurse, but she straightened the moment she saw him. In that unguarded moment, he glimpsed a vulnerability that arced straight for his gut. She was shaken to the core and doing everything she knew to keep it from showing.

“Sydney, Agent Wickowski is offering you police protection.”

“No!”

“Mrs. Inglewood, this time we’ll use our own people. I promise you we’ll see that you’re protected.”

“Am I under arrest?”

Her voice was stronger, though it still had a hoarse, raspy edge.

Wickowski shook his head. “Of course not.”

“Then I’d like to leave.”

“That’s it, Wickowski. We’re out of here.” Noah’s own instincts clamored for him to get her away as quickly as possible.

“Mrs. Inglewood,” the doctor interjected, “this isn’t a good idea. You’ve suffered a severe trauma to your head and you’ve just had surgery on your hand. You’re taking a big risk leaving here.”

“Bigger risk…staying,” she croaked out as her voice broke down in a hoarse whisper.

“Don’t strain your vocal cords,” Noah chastised, reaching inside her closet for the bag of torn, stained clothing. “We’re leaving.”

He liked the way she stood up to the doctor. She was no cringing wimp, that was for sure. He went back to her drawer and collected the contents of her purse.

Sydney got discharge papers and lectures, but Noah had her in a wheelchair and out front before her breakfast tray arrived.

“Impressive,” Sydney whispered. “I can see why you’re a major.”

In one hand, she clutched the African violet. He felt ridiculously pleased. She’d left behind the large sprays of flowers from her friends and coworkers.

Long sooty lashes fluttered closed when she leaned back against the cab’s upholstery. Noah resisted an urge to smooth away the dark smudges of fatigue beneath the fall of lashes. He had to keep reminding himself that this was his brother’s wife.

Staring at her profile, he decided Jerome’s photographs hadn’t done her justice. Sydney Edwards Inglewood had flawless skin over the sort of bone structure that gave her a clean, natural beauty.

“Thank you for getting me out of there.”

“I should have listened to you last night. I didn’t know they were going to pull the guard at your door.”

Her shoulders lifted and fell in a small shrug. “They didn’t know I was in danger.”

“You’d think they’d protect a material witness better than that. Can you tell me what happened without straining your voice?”

In a husky whisper, Sydney told him what little she’d seen. “He wanted something, but he was so afraid I’d scream again he kept holding on to my throat so I couldn’t answer even if I’d wanted to. I wonder if it could have been that orderly who scared me earlier.”

“What orderly?”

Sydney’s explanation fed his anger.

“You mean to tell me that no one checked this out?”

Sydney shrugged. “The nurse never came back. Or if she did, I was already asleep. Maybe the orderly was just weird, but in retrospect, I think he was going through the drawer on the nightstand.”

Noah was coldly furious. “Is anything missing?”

“I never looked.”

“We’ll do that when we get to the hotel.”