Lindsay McKenna Read online

  The waitress came over. Cat asked for a to-go box to save the rest of her Reuben sandwich. She glanced at her watch and said, “We need to get going.”

  “I’m buying,” Talon said, taking the bill from the waitress. He watched Cat closing up on him. As if shielding herself from the world around her. He wanted to protect her so she never had to go there again. A good feeling moved through him.

  “Thanks. I’ll pick it up if there’s a next time,” she teased, sliding out of the booth with her foam box.

  He gave her a lazy grin. “Oh, there will be.”

  “See you at the truck.” Cat turned and left.

  It was a pleasure just watching the soft sway of Cat’s hips as she walked toward the front door. She seemed oblivious to her sensuality, how sexy she was. As he slowly stood up, digging into his pocket for his wallet, he thought about the fact Cat never had a mother. Without one, who was to teach her about being a woman? No one. That explained why she was so unaware of her beauty. Or the impact it has on me.

  Cat had just gotten to the truck when she heard Beau Magee’s voice behind her.

  “Hey, Cat, how you doin’? Been a while.”

  Her breath jammed as she whirled around, facing him. Beau was big. And tall. Instantly, adrenaline flooded her bloodstream. He gave her an angry look. Magee was walking toward her in his one-piece black Ace Trucking uniform, his head bare, a pair of gloves sticking out of one of his pockets.

  “Get the hell away from me!” she snarled.

  Beau came to a halt six feet from her. “Now, is that any way to treat an old friend?”

  Everything in her told her to run. Cat looked around. No one was in the parking lot. There was an empty space next to where the truck was parked. Nostrils flaring, she gritted out, “We’re done, Beau. I’ve told you that a hundred times. Now, please just leave me alone.” She turned to jerk the door of the pickup open.

  The next thing she knew, her foam box flew into the air and she felt Beau’s large hand grab her by the upper arm. He spun her around, slamming her into the side of the pickup.

  “You bitch!” he thundered.

  Cat screamed. She tried to twist out of his hands, which gripped her, holding her against the truck. Pain reared up her arms as his fingers sank like claws into her shoulders. His fingers dug painfully into her flesh as he leered down at her, his lip lifting in a snarl. The odor of onions assailed her and she grunted, trying to kick out at him to escape. Her boot nicked his shinbone and he cursed.

  The moment his hands loosened as he winced in pain, Cat jerked free. She stumbled against the truck, her knee hitting the ground. Breathing erratically, she bounded back to her feet, trying to run away from him.

  “No, you don’t!” Magee yelled, lunging after her.

  Cat whirled around to face her attacker. Her eyes widened when she glanced across her shoulder as she got to her feet. Magee had his hand in a fist, cocked back to strike her. His face was red with rage, his eyes small and angry. Off balance, she hit the side of the truck with her shoulder, twisting, trying to avoid the oncoming fist aimed at her face.

  Cat felt the power of his fist graze her jaw, flinging her down on the ground. She slammed into the dirt, a cry ripping out of her. The next second, she heard Magee grunt. And as she looked up, she witnessed Talon throwing a punch directly into the man’s face, hearing the crunch of bone. At the same time, a black Tahoe with Sheriff written on the side pulled up. Barely able to think, Cat pushed herself up into a sitting position. Talon dropped Magee with one punch, the man crumpling like an ox to the earth.

  Cade Garner, the deputy sheriff, leaped out of the Tahoe, gun drawn. Talon stood over Magee, a murderous rage in his expression, his fist cocked back, waiting.

  “Talon?” Cade called, trotting around the end of the Tahoe and seeing Magee unconscious on the ground. And then he noticed Cat nearby.

  “Get that son of a bitch out of here or I’ll finish him off,” Talon snarled. “He hit Cat. I saw it.”

  Quickly holstering his weapon, Cade maneuvered Magee onto his back, checking his pulse along his neck. He pulled out his radio and made a call for an ambulance.

  Cat blinked, feeling dizzy as Talon turned those thunderous gray eyes in her direction. He looked as if he wanted to kill Magee. Gasping for breath, she tried to get up. Instantly, he was at her side, his hand gentle on her shoulder.

  “Stay where you are, Cat. You’re hurt.”

  Talon’s voice was oddly soothing to her. A cold, calm tone. She felt his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. She remained sitting, stunned by the sudden attack.

  “Where are you hurt?” he asked.

  “Uh…he hit me,” she managed, lifting her hand to her aching jaw.

  “He did more than that,” Talon growled, pulling off her neckerchief and putting it in her hand. “Your nose is bleeding.” He helped guide her hand upward. “Keep it pressed against your nose for a few minutes.”

  Cat saw Magee come around. He grunted and cursed as he got to his hands and knees, blood pouring out of his nose. Cade Garner told him he was under arrest and he cuffed him as he read him his rights.

  Talon crouched down, worriedly studying her eyes. Cat was in shock. Her knee was bloodied, her jeans ripped and torn open. As he carefully moved his hands from her neck, down across her shoulders to her upper arms, she winced.

  “Hurt?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Cat muttered, closing her eyes. “He grabbed me. I—I was opening the door on the truck and he came up behind me.” She bowed her head, feeling suddenly spent.

  Talon opened up the cuff on her shirtsleeve and rolled it up until he could look at her upper arm. There were four deep, purple bruises starting to appear on her skin. Rage tunneled through him. “Bruises,” he told her. “Is it the same on your other arm?”

  “Y-yes. I—I’ll be all right, Talon. I just need a few minutes….”

  He moved his hands down her back, then the sides of her rib cage, looking for more injury. “You’ll be okay,” he rasped. “Let me keep checking you. All right?”

  His hands felt steadying. “F-fine.” Cat wanted to cry and she squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the scream of a siren. The ambulance pulled in behind their truck and soon Magee was put onto a gurney, the two paramedics working on him. “You really hit him,” she muttered through the neckerchief.

  “I wanted to kill him,” Talon breathed softly. He finished his examination of Cat and placed a hand on her shoulder. “How are you feeling now?”

  “Like a fool,” she confessed sadly. “I should have been more aware. I wasn’t thinking….”

  Mouth twitching, Talon watched as they took Magee to the ambulance. “Stop blaming yourself. He attacked you. Is this the guy you left?”

  “Yes. A year ago. I told him it was over. But he keeps bothering me, Talon. He thinks I want him back.” She shivered. “I don’t. I never did.”

  “Okay,” Talon whispered, “it’s all right. Do you think you can stand if I help you up? We need to get you to the E.R. to be checked out.”

  Cade Garner walked over. He lent a hand and they both brought Cat to her feet. Concern was etched on the deputy sheriff’s face as Talon opened the door to the pickup.

  “Cat? You okay? Do you need to see a doctor?” Cade asked, helping her into the cab.

  Sitting felt good. Cat lifted the neckerchief away since her nose had quit bleeding. “I’m just shook up, Cade. She rubbed the side of her swelling jaw. Nothing’s broken. Just bruises.”

  Cade nodded, giving her a hard look. “Do you feel like telling me what happened?”

  Talon stood next to Cat, listening to her story. Why the hell hadn’t he escorted her out to the parking lot? He didn’t know Magee was stalking her. If he had, he wouldn’t have let Cat out of his sight. Talk about holding secrets. He grimaced. She had her own and was just as bad as he was, never discussing them. Damn. Talon couldn’t stop the terror in his heart for her. Who knew what Magee could have done to her if he hadn’t wal
ked around the corner and seen it? A cold chill worked through him.

  Cade was taking notes and nodded. “Okay, why don’t you get home and take care of yourself? If you feel like it, can you come in tomorrow morning and I can get any other details you might remember. Magee will be put in jail on assault charges, Cat. Do you want to press charges?”

  Talon tensed. Cat had been abused as a child. And this bastard had abused her. Would she do it? Or would she be like so many other victims and not? He couldn’t tell her what to do, and he watched Cat close her eyes for a moment, her lower lip trembling. When she reopened them, she stared down at Cade.

  “Yes.”

  Talon gave her a crooked grin and a nod. All he wanted to do was get her to her condo and take care of her.

  “C-could you call Matt Sinclaire? I’m supposed to go on duty later today.”

  Cade closed the notebook and said, “No problem. I’ll handle it.”

  “Thanks, Cade.”

  “Cat? You’re doing the right thing.” And Cade nailed her with a look that spoke volumes. “Magee needs to be put away.”

  She grimaced, feeling her whole body begin to stiffen from being knocked around. “I’ll testify against him, Cade. I’m not changing my mind.”

  “Okay,” he said, then looked over at Talon. “Can you take her home?”

  “Of course,” Talon answered.

  Cat slid over to the passenger side of the truck, happy not to drive. Her jaw was aching and when she slid her fingers along the left side, it was badly swollen. A couple of her teeth felt loose. She hated to think what would have happened if Magee had connected with her face. A shiver wound through her. She tipped her head back, closing her eyes as Talon backed the truck out of the parking lot.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, pulling out onto the highway that would lead to her condo.

  “I feel whipped,” she admitted tiredly.

  He slid his hand over her thigh for a moment, giving it a pat. “Hang on. I’ll get you home and take care of you, babe.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ON THE WAY to Cat’s condo, Talon made a call to his mother, telling her he wouldn’t see her today. Getting a hold of Val, he asked permission for the rest of the day off from work and tomorrow, as well. He filled her in on Cat’s condition so no one at the Bar H would be worried. Val told him to take whatever time he and Cat needed. By the time he pulled into the driveway of her condo, Talon saw Cat had grown paler. Maybe he should have taken her to the E.R. to be examined. Relying on his SEAL medical training, Talon decided he would make that decision once he got her home. Cat might be a paramedic, but she was in shock and not in the best space to determine the extent of her own injuries, but he would be. Talon kept his hand beneath her elbow as she slowly walked up the stairs to the master bathroom located within her bedroom.

  “I’ll be okay,” she reassured him, hesitating at the entrance.

  Talon took off his hat. “Let me check you over, Cat. It won’t take but a minute. Let’s go into the bathroom.”

  She frowned, no doubt feeling emotionally raw. “You’re not a doctor.”

  Talon tried to be patient, gently guiding her to the master bathroom. “No, but I’ve had extensive combat medical training.” He could see the wariness in her darkened eyes, felt her wanting to trust him, unsure if she should or not. He kept his voice low and persuasive as he pulled out a chair and guided her to it. He added teasingly, “I haven’t killed anyone yet with my medical knowledge, so you’ll probably survive me, too.”

  “Oh…” Cat wanted to cry but fought it. It was the shock playing havoc on her emotions. But not now. And especially not with Talon.

  Talon set his baseball cap on the counter and opened up the medicine cabinet, pulling several articles from it and lining them up. “You’re in shock, Cat. You know what shock does to people,” he murmured, turning around and meeting her gaze.

  Nodding, Cat felt her shoulders stiffening up from the fall. Her knee was throbbing. “I don’t want to go to the E.R. I’m all right.” She was ashamed she’d allowed Magee to injure her. Again. And it was so hard to look into Talon’s worried gaze. He was being incredibly gentle toward her, something she hadn’t thought a man could be.

  “Will you let me look at your injuries?” Talon pointed to the bloody, torn fabric on the right knee of her Levi’s. “I’m going to roll up your pant leg and take a look at it.” He crouched down in front of her.

  She could smell the sweat on him, the dust and the special male scent that made her feel so hungry for him. How could that be? She watched as he carefully folded her Levi’s trouser leg up and over her bloody, torn-up knee. Her skin singed with fire as his roughened fingertips brushed her thigh, anchoring the trouser leg into place.

  “It’s just a scrape,” she muttered. Preparing herself for the touch of his hands around her knee, Cat closed her eyes. His hands were callused and rough from work and her skin skittered with pleasure as his fingers wrapped gently around her knee to support it.

  “You got a lot of dirt in it,” Talon said, examining it closely. Yeah, he liked any excuse to touch Cat. Her skin was velvet, her flesh firm. He felt her stiffen as he gently moved the knee joint one way and then another, looking for more serious injury.

  “Hurt?”

  “A little.”

  Talon stood up, washed his hands with soap and water in the basin. “It’s bruised but usable. I’m going to have to clean out that wound, Cat. You okay with that?” Now he was in SEAL mode. They always carried a blowout kit on them and other medical supplies that could save their lives. He twisted a look over his shoulder at her to get her agreement.

  Cat seemed unsure. Hesitant.

  “Will you trust me to do this?” Because trust was their issue. Hers, more specifically, but if Cat couldn’t trust him, Talon was going to bundle her up and take her to the E.R. That knee abrasion was ugly and Talon knew if it wasn’t cleaned up properly, she’d have a roaring infection within forty-eight hours.

  “I do trust you,” she whispered, avoiding his sharpened gaze.

  Talon retrieved more supplies from her medicine cabinet. “You got a pair of latex gloves around here?”

  “Yes.” Cat pointed out toward the bedroom. “I have my paramedic bag in the closet, over there. Just bring it in here. I can help you get the right articles to clean up my knee.”

  Talon nodded. Something changed between them. He could feel it. Cat had gone from distrust to trust. Maybe because he’d sold her on his confidence and ability as a field medic? Talon didn’t know. He brought in the large bag and placed it next to where she sat. He opened it up so she could dig around to locate the items. In minutes, he had everything he needed. Crouching down, gloves on, he warned her, “This is going to hurt.”

  Cat shook her head and muttered, “It doesn’t hurt one tenth as much as me letting Magee hit me again.”

  Giving her a sharpened look, Talon’s mouth thinned. He busied himself. “What happened the first time?”

  Dammit. Cat swallowed painfully and watched as he took a large square of gauze and squirted it with sterile water. “I broke it off with Beau a year ago,” she whispered, watching him work to clean out her torn-up flesh. Somehow, the agony of admitting how embarrassed she was overrode the pain of him scrubbing out the laceration. “Beau hid his drug habit from me and I didn’t know it for about a month into our relationship. He was jealous when he was coked up. He started accusing me of going out with one of the guys at the fire department.”

  Talon focused on her knee, but he listened carefully to everything she said. “Were you?”

  Cat snorted, “Hell no. I wouldn’t do that! Beau is an addict. He was insanely jealous of me working with the guys on my shift. One day, he shoved me into a wall, calling me a liar, accusing me of sleeping around.”

  Talon glanced up, cleaning off the dried blood at the edges of the injury. He felt rage toward Magee. “And you left him?”

  Her throat tightened. “Yes. For good.
”

  “But he doesn’t want to let you go?”

  Cat shook her head. “No. I wish… God, why didn’t I see Magee’s drug habit? What in me is so damaged that I don’t see a guy who’s an abuser?”

  Talon heard the self-incrimination and strain in her voice and he lifted his chin. Tears glimmered in her eyes, tears of shame. “If someone who has secrets wants to keep it that way, Cat, you won’t know. Stop blaming yourself for choosing him. You couldn’t have known he was jealous or an abuser.”

  Cat felt the sting of the iodine as he swabbed it across her flesh. The pain wasn’t near the level of how she felt about today’s debacle and the serrating humiliation she felt afterward. Talon’s touch was gentle as he focused on what he was doing. His hands felt good on her and she almost told him that when he touched her, she felt no pain in her knee. “I’m sure you think I’m an idiot.”

  Talon shook his head and smiled. “And who among us hasn’t chosen a bad partner?” He met and held her moist gaze. Her lower lip trembled and Talon almost lost his professionalism. Damn, Cat needed to be held. Needed to know she was safe.

  “I wish,” Cat said raggedly, “I knew how to fight. I’m sick and tired of him stalking me.”

  “Well,” Talon said mildly, “that’s one thing I can teach you how to do. When you feel like it in a week or so, I’ll show you some CQD maneuvers.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Acronym for Close Quarters Defense.” He looked up. “All SEALs are taught how to fight and kill with their hands in a small area like a room or a tight space you’d find on a ship. I can teach you some moves that will guarantee no man will ever take you down like Magee did today. Okay?” Hope flared in her eyes.

  “Really?”

  “Yes,” he murmured, easing the Levi’s pant leg down and over her knee after bandaging the injury. “Really.” And then Talon gave her a boyish smile. “You could even use it against me if I get too frisky with you.”