Jillian's head was going to crack open, the yolk was going to leak out and fry itself right where she sat.

The ER's fluorescent lights were certainly bright enough to fry them.

Wanda touched her lightly on the shoulder. "Honey, why don't you just go lie down in the break room until he comes back for you? We can handle this place. We've done it before."

Because she was stupid and stubborn, that's why, Jillian thought. "My head hurts a little, Wanda, but I'm fine. Certainly fine enough to finish my shift."

She might not have been able to bounce back and forth from trauma room to trauma room, but she could help out where she could. Even just working the phones would help a little. She only had ninety minutes left of her shift. She was going to finish it out.

She had also promised that she wasn’t going anywhere without Rafe—he’d made her swear to it.

Not something she actually liked, but it was just fact.

There was an anger in him—anger that she had been hurt on his watch—and she knew that. His sudden protectiveness and this change between them disconcerted her more than the knock she had taken to the skull.

She'd seen it happen too many times now to overlook the possibilities. She didn't want him feeling protective of her. Not when combined with the attraction they obviously felt for each other.

That way meant complications.

Complications she was not ready for. Complications she most definitely did not want. Complications she’d seen before.

Her sisters and Lacy had found themselves in just such positions and what had happened to them was not something Jillian wanted right now.

But her head had been hurting too much to argue with him at the moment. Having him there meant she didn't have to wait for a ride from anyone else when her shift was over. Having him there meant she got home faster. Having him there meant she didn’t have to worry about any darned thing. And that was really all she wanted.

That and for her head to stop feeling so darned scrambled.

---

Rafe found her almost an hour later in the midst of the nurses’ station, arms folded over the back desk and sound asleep. Someone had wrapped her shoulders with a blanket, and everyone was just leaving her where she was. He looked at Wanda. "How's she doing?"

"I have yet to see a woman as stubborn as that one. Must be the red hair, cliché or not. Refuses to admit that she's hurting. She tried, though. Drifted off about thirty minutes ago, and Allen said to just leave her for you. We finally got a handle on everything else around here. Where she sat, I don't even think anyone could really see her."

"Don't worry about that. Anyone says anything about her, I'll deal with it." He leaned over Jillian and gently nudged her awake. She blinked up at him with those big Beck-brown eyes of hers. The power of her gaze went straight through him. He fought the urge to just scoop her up and hold her, right there in the midst of the ER. With everyone watching.

Everyone was watching; he didn’t have to look around to see that. He knew every move he made was just fuel for the gossip mill around the hospital.

He hated that Jillian was now involved in it.

It was just the way it was—they’d both just have to deal.

"Come on," he said, his voice probably more gruff than it needed to be. "Let's get you home."

He’d already grabbed her bag out of her locker on his way down from his office. At least he’d grabbed everything he thought she would need.

What concerned him the most was how docilely Jillian complied.

He led her to his parking space—his Mercedes was still in the shop—and opened the door to his rental SUV for her. He tossed her bag in the backseat, and helped her up the running board into the large SUV. She didn't say anything. Rafe had to remind her to fasten her seatbelt, and she did. Then she rested her head on the passenger door and closed her eyes.

“Allen gave me a shot of something. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open.”

Guilt rushed him; he should have taken her home earlier. But there had been no way he could have gotten away that quickly. He said nothing to her as he drove, just letting her rest.

She went out quickly, her breathing soft and even as he drove the minutes between the hospital and their street. Flooding and downed branches slowed the trip a little.

He pulled into the Beck driveway and killed the engine, after being waved onto the street by the security agent on duty. The screen door was all that stood between the Becks and the outside world at the moment. There were a few extra vehicles there as well, including his brother Travis’ truck.

Rafe cursed quietly. He’d hoped there wouldn’t be anyone there but her father...

He should have known better.

What he was about to do was going to be pretty damned public. Something neither of them needed.

Rafe looked at her and he just didn't care. He grabbed her hot pink bag and slung it over one shoulder and then he rounded the hood. Because it was a larger vehicle, it was easy for him to reach her. He slipped one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back after he freed her from the seatbelt.

She practically rolled into his arms, limp. She was out, and probably would be for a good long while. Rafe made a mental note to call Jacobson and find out what he’d given her, and what dosage.

Rafe shifted her to make holding her easier, and carried her up the paved walkway to her father's home.

He made himself a vow; he was going to take her inside and dump her off on the people that cared about her and would keep a close eye on her. She’d even have a physician around—Travis was there, which meant Lacy was wandering around somewhere.

After that, Rafe was going to head home and forget all about her for the rest of the night. Period.

He wasn't going to think about how warm she felt his arms, how sweet she smelled, or how that red hair that one of the nurses had washed for her felt like silk across his skin.

Nor was he going to dwell on how she had looked sprawled on the concrete floor, blood haloing around her head. No, tonight Rafe was going to forget all about Jillian Beck and what she did to him.