“Maddie, you’ve got to take a shower, baby. They’re coming to get you for therapy in an hour,” Hawk said, as he tossed back the blanket. Maddie’s eyes fell on the heavily bandaged stump laying on the left side of the bed and she squeezed them shut as terror once again filled her.

The only thing that horrified her more was seeing the extent of the damage to her face when he carried her to the bathroom the first time last week. The Bride-of-Frankenstein-like woman who stared back at her in the mirror was her new reality, one she had no idea how to deal with. How could anyone, especially this man, stand to look at her now when she couldn’t even stand to look at herself?

She’d been in this bed for two weeks and she planned on staying here until they carried her out. There was no way she was letting anyone outside this room see her. Maybe she’d ask that pretty therapist woman, who had the hots for Hawk, for a bag to go over her head. A plastic one would be preferable at the moment.

“I don’t want to get up. Just wake me up when Taylor gets here with Sarah,” Maddie said, closing her eyes, praying for sleep. And then that she didn’t wake up.

But she had to wake up because her baby needed her. Thank God, Sarah was given a clean bill of health and was away from this place. Maddie wanted to be away from here too—to be with her without restriction. She was relegated to two hours a day with her, though, and this time the price for earning that privilege was much steeper than flying a helicopter with a mangled leg.

Humiliation was the cost now and Maddie could do without more of that. Another round of gasps, averted eyes and pitying looks as she was wheeled through the hospital to the therapy room would be more than she could bear. Falling on her face in front Rhett Hawkins today, when she tried out the temporary prosthesis they’d fitted her for last week, would be the ultimate degradation.

Her self-appointed watchdog already pitied her enough, but he couldn’t feel any sorrier for her than she felt for herself. Maddie had nothing but time to lay in this bed and contemplate what her life would be like after she got out of here.

The prospects were grim. According to Hawk, she was from Arizona, but had no home there because she’d lived in base housing before she left. Her father and brother were in the military, her mother dead by her own hand.

Maddie had no one but her daughter, no job, and the odds of anyone hiring her with no leg and looking like Quasimodo were slim. When she broke down after he told her all that, Hawk told her not to worry about anything but getting better. That was easy for him to say. Yeah, he had a daughter now, or he claimed Sarah, which was good because Maddie couldn’t remember, but she would be the one raising their child.

Maddie had to worry. Hawk asserted she could apply for military disability payments, but applying didn’t mean she’d get them. She didn’t remember much, but she did remember how slowly the military worked. Hell, they’d left her to rot in the jungle for six months, why would they care that she was rotting on home soil?

“You’ll see her after your shower and therapy,” Hawk replied, sounding agitated as he stood beside the bed.

Maddie’s eyes flew open to glare at him. He could not be any more agitated than she was at the moment. She was the one missing a leg and being harassed.

“Showering isn’t an option since I can’t stand up, nimnuts. And I’m not leaving this room.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Just get me my damned daughter.”

“I’m glad to see your attitude wasn’t amputated along with your leg, sweet thang.” He wiggled his eyebrows and a smile curled one corner of his mouth. “If that went missing, I’d really be sad.”

Anger shot through her and Maddie gasped. His full-blown smile appeared—the one where she could count every perfect, white tooth. A real smile that made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. It hit her in the chest and took her breath away. Damn him.

A yearning cut deep through her soul and came with a memory of them on a picnic somewhere. Of him laying her down and rolling on top of her to stroke her face and smile down at her the same way. Tears burned her eyes and emotion choked her, because she knew those sparse memories, which were slowly coming back, were all she’d have for the rest of her life.

No man would want her now, especially handsome, charming men like him. They reserved those smiles for women like her therapist. Pretty women with both legs, not a troll like her who couldn’t even stand up on her own two feet, because she only had one foot now.

At least she’d have her daughter to love her. She had no use for her brother, because he was partly to blame for some of her present misery—and he hadn’t even been here to see her since the surgery. He must be horrified or embarrassed to call her a relative now. She couldn’t say that she blamed him for feeling that way.

The door of the room opened, and Maddie expected the nurse to show up as reinforcement for Hawk, but as if she’d summoned him with her thoughts, Max walked into the room dressed in desert camo. Another older man wearing a sour expression and an Army dress uniform walked in behind him. His wiry gray brows disappeared under the brim of his hat and he slapped a hand over his mouth. Maddie didn’t miss the horror in his eyes before he turned back toward the door. Max’s hand landed hard on his shoulder to stop him.

After a minute and a deep breath, her father snapped back around to face her, his face as green as his eyes when they met hers. Him she remembered in vivid detail, unfortunately.

Why him? Why not Hawk? Oh, God—what was he doing here? Maddie’s eyes burned fiercely, but she knew the response she’d get from him for crying, so she held them back.

“General,” she said shortly.

“Madeline,” he replied, then cleared his throat. “I’m glad to see you’re alive.”

And she knew from his face, his stilted tone, that was total bullshit. Her father was embarrassed, and disappointed. Horrified at her appearance and condition. No less than she expected from the misogynistic bastard.

Will you ever cease to embarrass me, Madeline Carter? You know I have a reputation to uphold. The Army expects a lot of me, and I expect better from you. The reprimand she’d heard a thousand times in her life echoed in her head as if he’d spoken the words.

“I should have died, I deserved to die. I failed, sir,” she said and her breakfast seesawed between her stomach and chest. “I crashed my helicopter and killed two of my crew. I’m sorry for embarrassing you.”

He shook his head, removed his cover and glared at her. “Good God—a baby too? Were you raped, Madeline? That is why women are not allowed in spec ops. I made a mistake recommending you.”

“No, your mistake was talking to her like that, asshole!” Hawk roared, and in a blur of motion, he flew across the room to put his fist into her father’s face.

The General’s head slammed against the door, his hat flew and Hawk jabbed him again on the other side. His arm cocked back to hit him once more, but the General crumpled to the floor and Max put his arms around Hawk to drag him back.

“He’s not worth it, dude. Trust me,” Max growled, glowering at his father. “He’s a boil on the butt of humanity.”

Her father sat up to rub his jaw, grabbed his hat and scrambled up to his feet, then pointed a shaking finger at his son.

“This is your fault! You should’ve just left her there, Max. It would’ve been kinder, because she’s useless now. How do you think she’s going to function? She’ll be lucky to take care of herself, much less a brat.”

Anger launched Maddie straight up in the bed and made her lightheaded. It was one thing to talk about her like he did―she could take it. But it was another matter entirely when he included her daughter.

“As long as you aren’t in my life anymore, General, I think I’ll function just fine. But if you ever talk about my daughter like that again, I guarantee you I’ll do this world a favor and shoot you. You taught me how, so you know I won’t miss.”

“Don’t threaten me, girl,” he said, slamming his hat back on his head.

“No threats, General. That is a promise,” she replied, swinging her legs to the side and scooting to the edge of the bed.

She would show him how useless she was.