CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Rowan woke with a start when the door to the hospital hallway opened. She’d meant to rest her eyes for just a minute, but a glance at her watch told her one minute had stretched into sixty. She’d slept in an uncomfortable chair for an hour and had the stiff muscles to prove it.
Remy hurried to Lily’s bedside. Rowan breathed a sigh of relief. Brent must be here, too. From the rumble of male voices in the hallway, he was receiving an update from Adam.
Jake Davenport stretched in his own chair. “Remy, Lily is doing great. She’ll be released tomorrow. Take her home and spoil her for a couple weeks. Maybe take her to Louisiana. Your mother’s cooking will fix her right up.”
“You sure she’s all right, D?”
“She told the doctor to tell me everything. I’ve seen her chart, x-rays, the works. I’m sure, man. She’s a tough little thing. What happened to the guy beating on her?”
“Dead,” Remy said, voice flat.
“Good. Brent’s in the hall?”
A nod. “Jon and Eli, too.”
“I’ll be back.” Jake clapped Remy’s shoulder and glanced at Rowan. “Coming?”
Rowan stood, winced at the sore muscles making themselves felt. Remnants of ditch diving. She followed the medic from the room and stepped into Brent’s open arms. He hugged her tight. Immediately, the ball of ice in her stomach melted.
“You okay?” he murmured.
“I am now that you’re free and Lily is recovering.”
Brent turned to Jake. “You agree with the doctor?”
“Lily needs a few weeks to heal, but she will recover. In a fair fight, she would have taken them down, Brent.”
“Test results confirmed the drugs?”
“Oh, yeah. High levels of steroids in Carstairs and the two you and Remy captured. I suspect the same results will show up in the other men. Maybe Taylor can confirm those results for us with the ME’s office or Zane can hack into the ME’s computer files.” He patted Rowan’s shoulder. “From what your lady told me, Carstairs was getting ready to pull the trigger on Lily. Because of Rowan, he didn’t get the chance.”
Brent’s arms tightened around her. “Any leads on Carstairs’ location, Adam?”
“Not so far. Zane’s monitoring all his accounts and his phone. So far nothing.”
Rowan lifted her head from Brent’s chest. “Carstairs is missing? I thought he was in police custody.”
A grimace from her boyfriend. “He escaped.”
Terrific. Now they’d have to keep watching over their shoulders for Carstairs. The knot in her stomach reappeared. She sighed. At this rate, she wouldn’t be eating much any time soon.
“We’ll find him, baby.” Brent cupped the back of her neck.
“Want me to track him down, Brent?” Jon asked.
He was silent a moment, then shook his head. “Stick to Zane’s plan for now. Carstairs will find us soon enough.”
“Boss, I’m due at the coffee shop in a few minutes,” Adam said. “Should I call for a replacement?”
“No. Jake will stay with Lily and Remy. Watch your back, Adam.”
“Yes, sir,” he said and walked away.
“He looks good,” Eli said, then grinned. “For a Marine.”
Brent chuckled. “Let’s get out of here. Rowan needs to rest.”
Taking care of her again. What about him? She suspected Brent hadn’t slept much before the attack. “So do you. Eli, will you and Jon be taking over guard duty so Brent will sleep?”
“Absolutely.” Eli winked at her. “He needs lots of beauty rest. Sorry, sugar, but in my opinion, your boyfriend needs serious help in that department.”
“Wolfe.” Brent scowled his direction, but his eyes were twinkling. “Shut up.”
Eli burst into laughter. Even his taciturn partner chuckled. In the SUV, Rowan settled into the backseat with Brent while Eli climbed behind the wheel.
Once Eli drove from the parking garage, Jon handed Brent a gun along with bullets in some kind of black metal holders.
“Thanks.”
“Figured the cops confiscated yours.”
“Yeah. Second weapon I’ve lost to the cops this week. Which safe house are we headed to?”
“Zane set us up in a suite at the Garden Inn in Murfreesboro. He used it when he was protecting Claire.”
An hour later, Rowan walked into a very nice suite. “This is wonderful.”
“I’ll tell Z you approve.” Eli bolted the door. “One of our female operatives picked up clothes from your place and brought them here.” He nudged her to the bedroom on the right. “See if you need anything else.”
“Trying to get rid of me, Eli?”
“No, ma’am. Just want to be sure you’re comfortable before we move on to the next portion of the agenda.”
Right. Inside the room, Rowan closed the door and turned on the light. On the bed was a suitcase and a garment bag. She opened the soft-sided case and examined the contents. The operative hadn’t missed anything important. It would be nice to have a choice of clothes.
The garment bag drew her attention next. What was in there? She didn’t own a garment bag. Rowan grasped the zipper and separated the halves. Her breath caught on a soft gasp.
Inside was a gorgeous navy blue dress along and a black pant suit with two pairs of low heels, all the perfect sizes. Where had this come from? A small white envelope was in one of the shoes. She slid the card out. Oh, man. The outfits were from Brent, things he hoped would make two difficult days a little better.
Until this point, she’d been teetering on the edge of falling in love with the SEAL. This simple act of kindness pushed her all the way over and now she was in a freefall she had no hope of stopping. Rowan couldn’t deny the truth. She was in love with Brent Maddox.
The question now was how did he feel about her? Hopefully, he’d grow to feel the same. Being in love by yourself was scary business. Rowan closed the garment bag, grateful to forgo shopping. She’d dreaded the prospect of buying clothes for this occasion, knowing she would have had a difficult time holding her emotions at bay. Because of Brent’s thoughtfulness, she didn’t have to.
A soft knock grabbed her attention. Brent stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Do you like them?”
She smiled and circled his neck with her arms. After sharing a long, deep kiss with the man of her dreams, she said, “They’re perfect. How did you buy the outfits? We haven’t been apart in days.”
Brent chuckled. “I’m a power online shopper. Comes with having sisters and a mother with discerning taste in clothes. At least that’s what they tell me, anyway. I used one of their favorite clothing websites and had them shipped overnight.”
“Thank you.”
His expression sobered. “It’s not much, baby. While I can’t alleviate the hurt, I’m glad to take one burden off your shoulders.”
“I don’t know if I could handle this without you. You’ve been my rock.”
He placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else, Rowan.” Brent eased away from her. “We ordered room service. You have about twenty minutes before the food arrives. If you want to freshen up, you have time. After that, a nap is on the agenda for both of us.”
“Deal.”
Rowan returned to the common living room as the food was being delivered.
“Perfect timing, sugar.” Eli rubbed his hands together. “We ordered a little of everything, hoping to entice you to eat something.”
She stared at the massive amount of food. A little, huh? There was enough food there to feed her for a week. Then again, these men were a lot more physically active than she was. They must burn calories with their rigorous training routines. She didn’t kid herself about Brent’s level of training. He wouldn’t allow himself to be less prepared than his operatives.
Once Rowan managed to choke down enough to satisfy the three men urging her to eat, Brent kissed her and nudged her toward her room. She turned at the door, her hand on the knob. “What about you? Where will you sleep?”
“For now, in the second bedroom. Tonight, I’ll sleep out here on the couch. I don’t want to be far from you.”
Those words followed her into her dreams. She woke four hours later, groggy after the long nap. Rowan had to admit she felt better.
In the living room, Eli turned from keeping watch out the window, smiled. “You look rested.”
Jon glanced up, studied her face a moment, then gave a nod of approval.
Amused, her lips curved in response. “Is Brent awake?”
Eli turned back to the window. “He will be soon now that you’re up and moving.”
“Brent said you like hot tea.” Jon set aside his laptop and crossed to the kitchenette. He poured hot water into a to-go cup and covered the mouth with a lid. “There are two bags of chamomile mint tea in here.”
“Thank you, Jon.”
He shrugged. “This is my wife’s favorite tea when she’s stressed or upset. Thought it might help you, too.”
The door to the second bedroom opened. Brent’s gaze locked on hers as he approached. “How do you feel?”
“Better. Any word from Zane on Carstairs or the kidnappers?”
“I just checked with him. There’s been nothing so far. He’ll keep monitoring the electronics of the main players. We’re also watching the compounds of all the militia groups.”
“What are you hoping to see?”
“Alexa moving around one of the compounds. I don’t have the personnel to raid each one. If we spot her, we’ll go free her and bring her home.”
Hopefully, they would rescue Alexa before her parents’ funeral.
After eating another light snack, Rowan changed into the navy dress and matching heels. When she returned, Brent and his operatives were wearing dark suits, conservative ties, and white shirts. “Oh, wow,” she murmured. “You three look like male models.”
All of them grimaced. “Do us a favor, sugar,” Eli said. “Don’t spread that around to our friends.”
Between the three of them, they kept her mind occupied so that she didn’t dwell too much on the ordeal ahead. The drive to the funeral home was filled with funny stories about their time in the military, some of the scrapes they’d gotten into, the practical jokes they’d pulled on each other.
Eli parked in the lot, then he and Jon moved a small distance away to give her and Brent a moment together before facing the people gathering.
“If the crowd becomes too much for you, tell me. We’ll slip away for a few minutes to give you a break.”
The next four hours passed in a haze. At one point, Brent led her to a break room for a soft drink. By the time she was back in the SUV, exhaustion had set in. As they entered the suite, Brent said, “Are you hungry?”
“A little. I need comfort food.”
He thought a minute. “Baked potato sound good?”
“Perfect.”
“I’ll order room service while you change into comfortable clothes.”
She returned to the living room a few minutes later to find Brent on the couch, channel surfing. Jon had taken up a post at the window and Eli was missing. “Where’s Eli?”
“Sleeping. He’ll take over the watch at midnight and Jon will sleep.”
“Food will be here in half an hour,” Jon said.
She dropped down beside Brent. “What are we watching?” Her eyes narrowed. “You better not tell me it’s another cowboy movie.”
He laughed. “Not right now. What are you in the mood for?”
“Sahara.”
With an amused look, he searched through the listings and found the movie. Before she knew it, the food arrived. Once she’d eaten the potato Brent ordered for her, she settled deeper into the couch, her head propped against his shoulder.
She woke to the sound of her cell phone signaling an incoming text message. Rowan pulled her phone from her pocket and swiped the screen. Her blood ran cold at the message. Bring the records to the funeral. No cops or the kid dies.