Page 64 of A Shot at Love
Instinct and training waved through him like a tsunami. Ky jumped up and back onto the intruder, who was still on his knees, his hands flattened on the floor, his breathing harsh and labored.
A right hit to the man’s temple knocked him over onto his back. As he’d had done to him, Ky straddled his legs and dropped two quick hits to a massive jaw.
All the while Gemma continued screaming behind him. A gunshot exploded in the room, paralyzing Ky from landing his next hit.
With one hand gripping the intruder’s collar, the other poised to deliver another punch, Ky looked over at the fireplace where a large, round and jagged hole pierced the brick overlay, dust and mortar blowing from it.
He was dumbfounded when he spied Gemma, glaring down at them, the Glock in her hands.
“I’m charging your sweet ass for that,” he heard the man tell her. “Can you please disable the alarm,” he added. “I’ve got enough of a headache now from being pummeled.”
“Oh, my God, you’re bleeding!” Gemma ran to the kitchen, the gun still in her hand.
It was then he realized what Gemma had been screaming since she flew down the stairs.
Their invader wasn’t a threat.
She came back into the room, a dish towel in her hand, shoved her Glock at Ky and then pushed him out of her way, taking his place.
“Here.” Gently, she pressed the towel against the man’s bleeding cheek.
He reached up and laid his hand over hers while she held it in place. Ky’s eyes narrowed at the tender gesture and his immediate, irrational jealous response to it.
“Thanks, but you’re still paying to fix my fireplace, Cleo,” he said.
Gemma sat back on her haunches and shook her head.
“What are you doing here, Rick?”
Chapter Eleven
“I think this needs stitches,” Gemma said once she’d secured the bandage over the deep cut on Rick Bannerman’s cheek. “Otherwise, you’re gonna have a scar.”
He smiled and grabbed her hand, kissing the knuckles. “A scar is always a great conversation starter,” he said. “I’ll get a lot of pick-up mileage out of it.”
She smacked his arm and pursed her lips. “God help the members of my sex.”
When she looked up from her brother-in-law’s business partner, she found Ky leaning against the kitchen counter, watching them.
Unlike Rick, Ky’s face was unmarked from the fight, but she’d noticed him rubbing a hand across his abdomen a few times while she tended to her friend.
Lord, she’d never been so scared in her life as when she’d cracked open the bedroom door, the gun secured in her hand, to see the looming hulk of a man come through the front door. Ky had him on his knees in a heartbeat and it was then she saw the dim light from the late afternoon sun cross his face and realized it was Rick Bannerman who was getting the crap beat out of him.
“Are you okay?” she asked Ky.
“Fine. Mind explaining why you’re here?” he asked Rick in a tone that told her he wasn’t hurt as much as pissed off.
Bannerman fingered the bandage at his face and flicked his gaze from Gemma to him and then back to Gemma.
“Josh wanted to make sure you two got here okay, encouraged by Kandy, I’m sure. She’s worried about you, Cleo.” He dragged the finger down Gemma’s cheek.
She wasn’t sure, but the sound that came from over her shoulder sounded a little like a growl.
“You need to stop calling me that,” Gemma told Bannerman.
He winced when his smile burst fast and easy. “Ow. I think you might be right about the stitches. Anyway, after you two got in touch and Josh set you up here, he realized he had no way to make sure you’d arrived safe and sound, or to check on you. Since I’m between jobs at the moment, and this is my place, he asked me to come. Sent me with supplies, too. They’re out in the car.”
He turned his attention to Ky. “I was surprised you’d found and programmed the boundary line alarm. I didn’t set it the last time I was here.”
“Good thing I did, then,” Ky said. “We knew you were coming.”
Bannerman considered him. “I’ve never had it go off when I’ve been here. How much warning did you have?”
