Page 95 of In His Silks
Epilogue
The soothing patterof rain lulled him halfway to sleep. No, not rain. The shower. Alexander forced his eyes open. The dim light of the bedside lamp cast a warm glow over the Egyptian cotton sheets and downcomforter.
Alexander couldn’t remember much about leaving the hospital. Terrance had arranged for a private ambulance to return him home, and he knew Elizabeth had been at his side, but beyond that, the day was a painful blur. All except for the twenty-two steps he’d had to climb with Roger—the nurse—to get to his bed. He remembered every one of those steps. The pain had nearly convinced him to go back to the hospital. But the thought of Elizabeth in the king-sized bed with him at night kept him from complaining. For two days, she’d slept in the thin reclining chair in his hospital room. Once he’d gotten his chest tube out, she’d perched on the edge of the narrow hospital bed for another night. The bags under her eyes had worsened by thehour.
As the last drops of water fell, he closed his eyes. The next thing he knew, the scent of vanilla, gardenia, and white ginger surrounded him in the darkness. Reaching for her, he winced at the lightning bolt of pain ripping through him. Any lascivious thoughts he’d entertained disappeared in aninstant.
“Alexander? Do you need another pain pill?” Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and sat up, turning the lamp back on. Black silk draped over her breasts. Her golden hair tumbled loose around her shoulders, and Alexander winced again, but not from the pain. Red rimmed her puffy eyes, and she sniffledsoftly.
“No. I wanted to touch you.” The sheets hid the lower half of her body, but he knew every inch of her. The curve of her hips, the long legs, the slender waist. She’d nibble a little on her lower lip if she were worried, and as the plump flesh disappeared under her teeth, he reached up—slowly—and ran his thumb along her jaw. “What’swrong?”
“Nothing. I’mfine.”
“You’re not. Turn the light off and come here. We haven’t been truly alone at all these past few days. I needyou.”
She scoffed. “No sex. No silks. Not for at least another week. Doctor’s orders,remember?”
“We’ll see about that, but sex wasn’t what I intended. Not tonight. I need to hold you. I need you to talk to me. And I need—” he traced the line of her eyebrow, “—you to tell me why you’ve beencrying.”
With a sigh, Elizabeth flicked off the light and snuggled against his chest. “I wasn’t crying. I had a panic attack.” As he stiffened, she rushed to continue. “Not a bad one. In the shower.” Draping her arm over his body, carefully avoiding the bandages wrapped tightly around his torso, she pressedcloser.
“You have nothing to panic about now,chérie. We’re home. I’m going to be fine. You’re safe now. Pastack and Hayes are in jail. The arse who tried to kill you and ran me through isdead.”
After Milos had killed the assassin, he’d found Pastack wheezing in the back of the van. The oldest CPH partner had apparently masterminded the whole thing, spending his cut of the embezzlement funds on experimental cancer treatments overseas. Hayes had chosen the clients and falsified the tax forms. Carter, for all of his vitriol towards Elizabeth, had been innocent of everything other than being a thoroughly unpleasantwanker.
“Then why are there still men around thehouse?”
“Milos is a permanent addition to the staff. Viktor will be with us for another month or two until we’re done with all of the court dates. We had thisconversation.”
“I think you had that conversation with the Percocet. Or maybe only with Milos. Because it certainly wasn’t with me,” shereplied.
“Shite. I’m sorry about that. I can’t say I remember much about the past fewdays.”
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his waist, and she brushed her lips to his jaw. “You should be.” Despite her ire, she kissed him so long and so thoroughly that he was close to forgetting his ownname.
“Now lie down,chérie, and spread your legs for me. The doctor saidIcould not orgasm for several more days. He said nothing about you. Care to see what I can do to you with only myfingers?”
