She shook her head again as she let herself into the tiny house. She closed the door and locked it, ruefully acknowledging, again, that if anyone truly wanted access, her locking the door would hardly matter. But it offered her at least a sense of security.
The cottage was cluttered. She was hardly a neat freak. In fact, she was rather absentminded about nonimportant things. In her work, she was focused. Other things, not so much.
Her home was small, but it looked lived in, and during the day, sunshine filled the many windows, giving the rooms a cheerful glow. Her plants thrived, though she was clueless as to how they managed to survive her inattention.
She removed her glasses and dropped her stethoscope on the coffee table, setting her glasses carefully beside it. Then she shuffled into the kitchen to put water on to boil for her tea. She needed to eat, but nothing appealed and the thought of having to prepare anything was more than she could deal with at the moment.
Tea and crackers. It was a perfect filler, and then she’d have an early night and get some much-needed rest.
* * *
MAREN came awake with a start, her mind muggy. Confusion clouded her mind as she stared around, her brow furrowing as she sought to place herself. Glancing at the coffee table, she saw her half-full cup of tea and the box of crackers she’d barely eaten from.
She’d dozed off not long after she’d sunk into the couch. She hadn’t even finished her tea.
Another knock sounded at her door, and her head whipped in that direction as understanding dawned. Someone was there, and the knock was what had awakened her from her deep sleep.
She groped for her glasses, shoved them on and then glanced at her watch. She frowned as nervousness gripped her. It was nearly midnight.
She pushed herself upward, collecting her wits as she headed toward the door. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for her to be dragged out of bed for a medical emergency, but tonight she was on edge after the unexpected visit and invitation, courtesy of Javier Mendoza.
Wiping her palms over her face to rid herself of the veil of sleep, she cautiously opened the door a crack and peeked out.
“Dr. Scofield?”
She blinked in surprise as she processed the shadowy form filling her doorway. She knew that voice. Not that she’d often had occasion to hear it because the man rarely spoke. But it was a sound imprinted on her brain.
“Steele,” she murmured.
Then she swung open the door and stepped outside, glancing around for others. There were always others when it came to KGI. She’d patched up numerous members of the elite private ops group over the years, but that was okay. It was thanks to them that she was alive and still practicing medicine.
“We have a situation,” Steele said, bringing her sharply to attention.
“Of course.”
He paused a moment and she could swear he cocked his head at her, but it was too dark for her to make out his features.
“We have a young woman we retrieved. She’s injured. Baker’s also injured. Not sure of extent. He tangled with some explosives.”
“That’ll do it,” she muttered.
“Can you look them over?” he asked in an impatient voice.
She could swear her very presence offended him. Every time they’d ever come into contact, he’d acted as if she didn’t exist. In fact, this was the first time he’d ever addressed her directly. All the times she’d seen him before, he’d always been with the Kellys, and Sam or Garrett always did all the talking.
It was a shame too, because the man fascinated her. Maybe it was because he was so standoffish. Maybe that intrigued her all the more.
“Give me a minute and I’ll meet you at the clinic,” Maren said.
And then Steele was gone, melting away into the night, leaving her standing in her doorway slightly baffled by the whole encounter. Shaking her head, she turned and walked back into her cottage to get her stethoscope and the rest of her tea. She could nuke it at the clinic. She was going to need it. It was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER 3
IT didn’t surprise Maren in the least when she walked into her clinic to find members of Steele’s team sprawled everywhere. P.J. and Cole were sitting in the small “waiting” area, rifles between their knees, barrels pointed toward the ceiling. Cole offered Maren a warm smile and P.J. called out a soft hello.
“It’s so good to see you, P.J.,” Maren said sincerely.
Brief shadows floated through P.J.’s eyes even though she returned Maren’s warm greeting, but Maren didn’t push the subject any further. She greeted the others and continued past the waiting room down the hall where the small exam rooms were situated.
In the first room, she saw Baker bending over the sink while Renshaw helped by handing him towels to scrub the blood from his face.
“Leave it,” Maren called from the doorway. “Better to have me take a look before you aggravate it further.”
Baker turned around with a grimace and she winced at the already swollen purpling of his jaw, his chin and both eyes. She whistled softly. “You don’t mess around when it comes to blowing stuff up, do you?”
Renshaw chuckled and slapped Baker on the shoulder. “Bet he won’t make that same mistake again.”
“Shut the f**k up,” Baker muttered.
Then he looked up at Maren. “Check out the girl first. I’m fine.”
Maren nodded and then walked down to the next room. As she peered around the corner of the doorway, she saw Dolphin consoling a quietly sobbing young woman while Steele stood at the head of the bed, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl set into his features like stone. Maren could well understand why the girl was so upset. Steele wasn’t helping matters any. She likely thought she’d hopped right from the frying pan and into the fire when KGI rescued her. If she even thought at this point she had been rescued.
Yep, Steele was in typical form. What she wouldn’t give to shake him up. Just once. She wondered if anything ever ruffled him. Caught him off guard. Or surprised him.
She’d heard some of the details of P.J.’s ordeal from Sam, and P.J.’s subsequent walkabout from the team and the fact that Steele and the others hadn’t taken it very well. Sam had hinted that Steele had displayed uncharacteristic emotion. That, she’d pay money to see.
She took in a deep breath at the precise moment Steele looked up and saw her. His blue eyes cut into her, piercing deep, making her feel suddenly bare and vulnerable. Almost like he could see right inside her. It was a stupid thought and it was even dumber to attribute superhuman powers to this man. He was only human. Fallible. But damn if he didn’t make a strong argument for invincible. Regardless of what he was or wasn’t, he absolutely sold it with every look, every nonword. Every action.
All her breath slipped out in a long exhale, her shoulders sagging as she deflated underneath his gaze.
Pulling herself together, she headed to the bed, pulling out her penlight from her lab coat pocket.
“What happened?” she asked briskly.
The girl looked nervously at Maren and shrank further against the pillow. She was trembling from head to toe and Maren’s heart softened. Poor thing was scared out of her mind.
She patted the girl’s hand and squeezed. “You’ll be all right now. Promise. They may look scary, but they’re the good guys. They’ll get you back home where you belong.”
“I didn’t want to leave Matteo,” she said with a sniff. “They made me.”
Steele’s scowl deepened and Dolphin sighed.
“She tried to step in front of a bullet meant for someone else,” Dolphin muttered.
“That’ll do it too,” Maren said wryly.
As her gaze flicked up to Steele, she could swear there was a tiny twitch at one corner of his mouth. Almost as if the man had actually been about to smile. It was such an absurd thought that she immediately put it down to her imagination and turned her focus on her patient.
“Just winged her,” Dolphin continued. “But she dropped like a stone. Dead faint. She only just came around.”
“Why don’t you gentlemen leave me alone with her so I can check her over. You aren’t helping matters by hovering over her looking like ax murderers.”
Dolphin shrugged and Steele looked reluctant until Maren turned and engaged in a staredown with him. Finally he broke and he and Dolphin retreated, though they stood just outside the doorway.
“Now,” Maren said, turning back to the girl. “What’s your name, honey?”
“Christina,” she said in a wavering voice.
“I’m going to check you over and make sure everything is okay.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “But everything’s not okay and it’s all their fault. Matteo said he didn’t want me, but how could he when they came in with guns and shooting people? Now he’ll think I was responsible for this. I love him and only want to be with him.”
Maren smoothed a tear from her cheek. “I know it sucks right now, but, honey, if KGI was called in to rescue you, Matteo was not a good man. You’re much better off without him. Steele will take you back to your parents and after a few weeks, you’ll see that everything will work out.”
“He scares me,” she muttered.
Maren laughed. “He scares everyone. But his bark is much worse than his bite. He’s a good man, Christina. The very best. I’d want him at my back in any bad situation.”
Christina quieted but didn’t look happy.
Maren quickly did an assessment, checked her pulse and both pupils. Other than the crease where the bullet had winged her, she didn’t show any sign of further injury. She could stitch up the wound, but there was nothing she could do for a broken heart. Only time would heal that.
There was resiliency in youth. Maren would lay odds that within a few weeks after she was back with her family, she’d bounce back and realize that one man wasn’t the be-all and end-all of her life.
“I’ll have you stitched up in a matter of minutes and then I’ll give you something to help you rest.”
“Thank you,” Christina said in a low voice. “You’re really nice.”
Maren smiled. “The others are nice too. You just happened to see them in commando mode. They’d scare anyone silly when they’re focused on a mission.”
Maren made quick work of setting the stitches and then gave the girl an injection for pain that would relax her and enable her to sleep. Within moments after Christina received the injection, her eyelashes fluttered and she drifted off.
She met Steele and Dolphin outside the door. “She’ll be fine. I put in a few stitches and gave her a dose of antibiotics to prevent infection. She’ll need to follow up with a doctor as soon as you get her home so they can continue her care and take out the stitches when needed.”
Steele nodded and Maren’s gaze dropped as, for the first time she noticed the blood on Steele’s arm.
“That yours or hers?” she asked softly.
Steele’s eyes flicked downward and then dismissively back up at her. “Mine.”
“Don’t you think I should take a look at it?” she asked.
He shook his head and remained silent. She sighed. Such a difficult bastard. Evidently it was against the law in Steele’s own personal law book for him to ever be injured or suffer downtime.
“Just see to Baker so we can be out of here,” Steele said.
“I’ll try not to take your desire to be quit of me so personally,” she said dryly.
Dolphin cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. Maren smiled to ease his discomfort.
“Why don’t you hang out in Christina’s room and keep watch on her. She should be out for a while but if she wakes, I’d hate for her to be disoriented. She’ll need a friendly face and well, Steele’s not the friendliest-looking guy. I’ll go look in on Baker. I’d hate to hold up his majesty when he has better places to be.”
Dolphin nodded. “I can do that.”
He sent a reproachful look in Steele’s direction, but it didn’t faze Steele one iota. He continued to stare at Maren like he wanted her gone five minutes ago. Who was she kidding? He did want her gone five minutes ago!
Maren shook her head and walked back to the room Baker occupied. He was leaning against the exam table, his butt just barely perched on the edge. Renshaw was sitting against the wall, and he looked up when she entered.
“Okay, so let’s see what we have here,” Maren said in a cheerful voice. “Why don’t you lie down on the exam table so I can actually reach your head.”
She poked and prodded while Baker grumbled under his breath and winced when she debrided the wounds. She sutured two of the cuts to his scalp and then bandaged the rest.
“You’re going to feel like shit in the morning,” she offered when she finished.
“I feel like shit now,” he muttered.
“You want me to give you an injection for pain?”
He hesitated and then shook his head. “If we’re bugging out, I need to be alert.”