Man. What was it about her? He had a feeling if he didn't watch it she could make him come all undone. Between that body, that way she had of constantly surprising him, and her innate niceness , the woman was more dangerous than a vial of nitroglycerin.
But he was too damn tired to do anything more than feel grateful for the comfort he received a few minutes later when she put everything away, climbed into bed, and snuggled up against him. He pulled her a little closer, and sighed.
What the hell. He'd get himself straight in the morning. Right now he just wanted to let everything go. So he closed his eyes and concentrated on Lily's breath wafting across his chest, on the warmth of her arm draped across his stomach.
Then everything faded to black.
Chapter 18
WHEN THE PHONE RANG THE FOLLOWING MORNing, Lily snatched it up before it could awaken Zach. She whispered a greeting into the receiver.
There was a second of silence, then a male voice said, "Well, hey there. You must be Lily. Let me talk to Zach."
She could hear a woman's voice in the background chiding her caller about his manners, but she merely said, "He's sleeping."
"So wake him up. Tell him Coop wants to talk to him."
"No."
"Excuse me?" He might have been Zach's twin, so unaccustomed did he sound to having his demands denied.
"No. I won't do that. The kidnapper moved things up last night, and Zach ended up getting hit on the head. I'm not going to distur—"
"Did he lose consciousness?"
"Yes."
"For more than a few minutes?"
"No."
"Did he have to go to the hospital?"
"Nooo." She drew the word out cautiously, pretty sure she didn't like the direction this was taking. "Zach said it wasn't necessary."
"Well, he's had enough experience to know."
"He has a knot on his head the size of a golf ball!"
"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Coop informed her, and his voice turned as comforting as a warm hug, momentarily soothing her fears. "If he hadn't had a lump you actually would have had more to worry about, because that often means the hematoma's pressing inward against the brain." Without warning, his voice developed snap. "Which means you can get him up and put him on the phone. It's not like he's some Navy wu—"
"What is this fixation you guys have with the Navy?" she interrupted hotly, feeling doubly betrayed because for a moment there she'd fallen for his show of concern. "He got smashed on the head , and I am not going to—"
"Lily." Zach's voice, scratchy with sleep, cut through her diatribe before she could really get rolling, and she twisted around to see the blankets slide down to pool around his waist as he pushed up onto one elbow. "I'm awake." He held out his hand for the phone.
She wanted to refuse to give it to him, to make him lie flat so she could check all his pulse points to assure herself of a good steady heartbeat, to go over his wound thoroughly until she was certain it hadn't gotten any worse. But his hand remained out and he met her gaze with level-eyed demand. With a sigh, she handed it to him.
It was a brief conversation. From Lily's standpoint, it was also a frustrating one, since it was impossible to glean anything from Zach's grunts and uh-huhs . She snapped to attention, however, when she heard him say, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
" No" she protested as soon he hung up the phone, but could only watch in frustration when he ignored her and started pulling on his clothes. "Zach, be reasonable. You can't go running around with that wound on your head."
"My head is fine." A moment later he'd finished dressing and, against her continued protests, headed for the door.
She followed in his wake. "This is crazy."
"No, it's necessary. The kidnapper didn't get what he wanted last night, so he's bound to try again. This time we're gonna nail his ass."
"Not if you're flat on your back in the hospital because you were racing around with a concussion."
"It's not a concussion, Lily. It was a minor bump on the head, but I'm all right now."
A whistle of frustration escaped her. "You are so darn stubborn!"
He grinned and hauled her up against him, bending his knees until they fit in all the crucial places. Then he kissed her thoroughly. But even as he set her bare toes to curling against the floor and her body helplessly pressing as close to his as she could get, she felt him opening the door at his back in preparation to leaving.
"Oh!" Jessica's flustered voice exclaimed from the hallway. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'm… oh."
Zach slowly raised his head. Licking his lower lip, he stared down at Lily. "I prefer 'determined' to 'stubborn,' " he murmured, pressing a final quick kiss on her still pailed lips. As she struggled to regain a modicum of intelligence amid a sea of jangling nerve endings, he turned to smile at Jessica, who stood on the other side of the door with her hand still raised to knock. "You're not intruding," he assured her solemnly. "I was just leaving."
And a second later, he did just that.
"Wow," Jessica said softly as she turned back from watching him stride down the hall. She stepped into the room. "He's feeling better, I take it." She inspected Lily, and a faint smile curved her lips. "I do believe your skin is smoking."
"Oh, my." A startled laugh escaped Lily. "It wouldn't surprise me." She looked at her friend. "How did you know to come here instead of my door?"
"I did go to your room first. You were just too preoccupied to hear my knock." Jessica flashed a crooked smile and shrugged. "When you didn't answer, I thought I'd try here."
Feeling her face heat, Lily decided a change of subject was in order. "Hmm. So. You're out and about early."
Jessica gave her a knowing grin. But she said politely, "Yes, I know. And I'm sorry to descend on you before you've even had a chance to get dressed, but the salon had a cancellation, and I've got an appointment in forty-five minutes to get my hair cut. You wanna blow off breakfast and come to town with me?"
Lily's sense of responsibility warred with her not-yet-lessened irritation with the rest of the Beaumonts for their treatment of Zach last night, and weighing the two opposing impulses, she gave a brisk nod.
"'Sure, what the heck. Your family can fend for themselves for one meal. Just give me fifteen minutes to throw myself together, and I'll meet you downstairs."
Zach walked into the Kangaroo House Bed and Breakfast. No one manned the minuscule front desk tucked beneath the open staircase, so he strode straight into the living area and turned left by the craftsman style furniture grouped in front of the big stone fireplace. A few steps away was a door marked Kathleen's suite, and he gave it a sharp rap.
Coop's wife, Veronica, opened the door, and her unexpected appearance made Zach blink. Then he smiled. Her usually sleek cap of shiny black hair was slightly tousled, but her white skin glowed with its usual pearlescent sheen. "Hey, Ronnie," he said. "Pretty as ever, I see."
She laughed. "And you're still just as diplomatic and sweet." She opened the door wider and stepped back. "Come in."
Beyond her, he saw Rocket folding a Murphy bed into the wall. As he stepped inside the sitting room, he noted a bathroom across the room to his right and an open bedroom door to his left. Coop strode out of the latter.
His friend was big, blond, and tougher than shoe leather, but his dark eyes went soft and his even darker eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement as he watched his wife step outside the room. "What are you doing out in the hall, sweetpea?"
"I'm going to go have breakfast and give you guys some privacy to talk." She turned to Zach. "I'm so sorry about your sister," she said. "Please let me know if there's anything I can do. I know you'll get her back, but I can only imagine how worried you must be in the meantime." Then, murmuring a farewell, she pulled the door closed.