His Private Nurse Page 15

  “And she was more convincing.”

  He nodded morosely and admitted, “When it counted most, I was the one to lose my cool while she calmly lied, batted her pretty eyelashes, and walked away with my kids.”

  Merrily covered his hand with her own. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks, but you couldn’t be as sorry as I am. That’s why my whole life to this point has been about getting my children away from her.”

  “But, Royce, if she pushed you,” Merrily began urgently.

  He cut her off. “She didn’t.”

  Merrily’s eyes widened, and in them he saw her struggle to reconcile this assertion with everything else she knew. “You’re protecting her for Tammy’s sake.”

  “No. She didn’t push me.”

  “Then what happened? You just fell?”

  He looked her straight in the eyes. “It doesn’t matter how it happened. What matters is that Tammy saved my life, and she feels guilty for that because she knows that her mother would prefer to see me dead. Pamela truly believes that I deserve to die because I couldn’t make her happy. In her mind it was my fault that she was forced to look to another man for what she needed. Therefore, I had no right to divorce her, not pay her bills, not let her take out her frustrations on me. She’s painted me as the villain of the piece, and though Cory’s still too young to really get it, Tammy does, and you can see what it’s doing to her.”

  Merrily’s face twisted in sympathy. “That poor child.”

  “The worst part is that I don’t know how to help her,” he admitted. “I don’t want to play her mother’s game, blaming Pamela for everything, detailing faults and betrayals those kids are too young to hear about. Worst of all, I can’t seem to love my daughter enough to make up for her mother’s lack of love.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  He shrugged. “Wait for Pamela to destroy herself, expose her twisted hatred to someone in authority. It’s the only way I can see, and it has started. Her nanny did testify for us, which is how we got the kids here this time.”

  “But it wasn’t enough to get you custody.”

  He shook his head. “I’m realistic, Merrily. I have to be. It could take years. Or it might never happen, because Pamela’s smart enough not to make the same mistake twice. She knows just how far she can go and how best to take advantage of a situation. That’s how she managed to keep the kids away from me for so long. She’s been telling everyone that it’s just too traumatic for the kids to see me like this, and my insisting that they visit makes me look like the insensitive one.”

  “It’s so unfair,” Merrily whispered.

  “Yes, it is,” he agreed sadly, “but now you must realize why I can’t bring anyone else into this crazy equation. Anyone I care about is another way she can get at me.” He lifted his right hand. “That’s why you have to go as soon as this cast comes off and I can better fend for myself.”

  Merrily lifted her chin pugnaciously. “Isn’t that my decision to make?”

  “No. And if it was I still wouldn’t let you make it, because I do care, Merrily, and that’s dangerous for both of us.”

  She regarded him solemnly for a long time. Then she simply got up and carried his plate back to the kitchen. He watched her scrape the leftovers into the disposal, rinse the plate and bend to place it in the dishwasher rack, then fill the teapot and set it on the burner. She went to the pantry and returned with the now familiar packet of herbal tea.

  “I think I need a cup of something relaxing,” she said, tearing open the packet. “Want some?”

  Royce smiled to himself, and if he hadn’t been in love with her before, he tumbled headlong into it in that moment. What other woman could make him actually want her damned herbal teas?

  “Yes. Thank you,” he said, meaning it with all his heart.

  Glancing at the perfectly good cup of coffee going cold at his elbow, he vowed silently that she would never know how deeply and wildly he did care, for if she ever divined his true feelings she would never go because Merrily Gage was the kind of loving, protective, loyal woman who would always stand by her man. He suspected that not being that man could well be the greatest tragedy of his personal life.

  Merrily lifted her head from the pillow at the bong of the doorbell. Who on earth would be stopping by at this hour? She’d settled down to watch the ten-o’clock news in her room after Royce had decided to make an early night of it. Worry and nervousness had drained him, and she suspected that he had slept no better the previous night than she had. Raw emotions that neither felt able to discuss had shimmered and flashed between them all day, electrifying every touch and loading every word with hidden meaning. Hoping that he slept soundly enough not to be disturbed by the bell, she slipped from the bed and grabbed her robe off the chair on her way to the door.

  The bell bonged repeatedly as she hurried through the house, tossing the robe on as she went. When she jerked open the front door, her jaw dropped. Jody, Kyle and Lane stared back at her.

  “What on earth?”

  Ever the big brother, Jody stepped over the threshold first. “Get your things,” he ordered. “We’re getting you out of here.”

  “What?” The absurdity of his statement hit Merrily only after Jody strode past her, exposing the scorch mark in the perfect shape of a clothes iron on the back of his sport shirt. She clamped her lips tight, but that only turned the giggles to unattractive snorts. Jody wheeled around.

  “It’s nothing to laugh about.”

  “Yeah,” Lane said, swaggering through the door, “I ditched the guys to come along and rescue you, and you stand there sniggering. What’s up with that?”

  “R-rescue?” Merrily spluttered.

  “Just grab her and let’s go,” Kyle whined, still standing outside the door. Merrily’s mirth disappeared. Jody rolled his eyes, and Lane reached out to seize Kyle by the shirtfront and haul him inside.

  “Get in here, you weasel. We gotta stick together in this.”

  “Just get her before the brute shows up,” Kyle grumbled.

  “The brute?” Merrily echoed, her sense of absurdity giving way to suspicious anger.

  At the same time Jody snapped, “What are you afraid of? He’s still crippled up, you ninny.”

  “That’s the whole point,” Lane said, shaking his hands for emphasis. “We get her out of here while Lawler’s still out of fighting form.”

  Merrily’s eyes went wide with disbelief. Her ire growing, she shook her head. “I don’t know for sure what’s going on, but I do know that you three are idiots if you’re referring to Royce Lawler as a brute.”

  “You don’t know what he’s done,” Kyle told her in a fainthearted, conspiratorial tone.

  “Yeah,” Lane said, “lucky for you that hot, red-haired chick clued us in.”

  Hot chick? Clued them in? Red-haired. “Oh, no. It couldn’t be…Pamela?”

  Lane shook his hand as if he’d scorched his fingers. “Ow! Hot to trot and with the legs to get it done. And, man, was she giving me the eye.”

  Kyle snorted. “You wish.”

  “Hey, bookworm, for your info, the dolls dig me.”

  “Ha! Just because you unbutton your shirt and strut around with a beer in your hand, you think you’re God’s gift to women, but where are they, huh? I haven’t ever seen these swarms of women you’re always bragging about.”

  “Will you two shut up!” Jody barked.

  Used to taking his orders, both Kyle and Lane immediately clamped their jaws, though Lane made a show of tamping down his resentment by squaring his shoulders, lifting his chin and shaking out his arms. He reminded Merrily of a scrawny, preening rooster. Jody ignored the display, focusing on Merrily instead.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have let you come here,” he said. “The guy you’re working for is a wife beater and child abuser with a short temper and the money to get himself out of a jam.”

  “That’s absurd.”

  “I’m telling you, sis, it’s t
he truth.”

  Merrily folded her arms. “And you know this because Pamela told you?”

  Jody looked her straight in the eye and said sincerely, “His ex-wife came to us out of concern.”

  Merrily threw up her arms in pure outrage. “I do not believe this! You three blockheads have been taken in by a very clever liar. That woman is a lunatic.”

  “She said you’d say that,” Kyle pointed out.

  “Because it’s true!”

  “Merrily, he’s dangerous,” Jody insisted.

  “He is not!”

  “He’s just using you,” Lane said.

  “And you just want me home to cook and clean and iron your shirts!”

  “It’s what you’re supposed to do!” Lane exclaimed.

  “It is not! I am a nurse. What I’m supposed to do is take care of the sick and the helpless.”

  “We’re helpless,” Kyle volunteered weakly.

  “Clueless is more like it.”

  “It’s our duty to protect you,” Jody pronounced, glaring sternly at the other two, “and that’s the only reason we’re here.”

  “Give me a break.” Merrily parked her hands on her hips. She’d had enough of this nonsense. “Pamela just gave you the excuse you needed to come here and demand I go home with you. Anyone with half a brain would first ask himself what she might have to gain by going to you with this tale, but you don’t care whether or not her accusations are true. You just want me back home taking care of the three of you. Well, it’s not going to happen. I’m an adult. I can do as I please. I can live where I please. And I’m telling you now that when I leave here I won’t be coming home with you three!”

  Jody’s face contorted with impatience. “Don’t be stupid. ’Course you’re coming home. Where else would you go?”

  “I’ll get an apartment of my own.”

  “How crazy is that?” Lane snorted.

  Kyle traded incredulous looks with his brother and pointed out, “You can live at home for free.”

  “Not from where I’m standing,” Merrily said.

  “You aren’t getting any apartment,” Jody announced in his best bossy-big-brother tone. “You’re coming home where you belong, and that’s that.”

  “I am not, and you can’t make me.”

  “Oh, yes, I can.” To her shock, Jody reached out and clamped his hand around her upper arm. “You’re still my baby sister, and you’re coming with us.”

  “Take your hands off her!”

  The sharp intractability of Royce’s voice momentarily froze everyone. Merrily recovered first. Jerking out of Jody’s grip, she zipped around him and to Royce’s side as he hopped down into the entry hall on his crutches. Blazingly angry, he looked fierce enough to spit nails despite his infirmities.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Merrily answered him. “These three cretins are my brothers.” She pointed at each in turn. “That’s Jody, Kyle and Lane, and they think they’re taking me home with them.”

  “Too bad,” Royce retorted scornfully. “If they weren’t your brothers I could shoot them.”

  “Sh-shoot!” Kyle squeaked, scurrying for the door. Lane jerked but stood his ground.

  Only Jody displayed bravado by insisting disdainfully, “You can’t just shoot us.”

  “Why not?” Royce asked mildly. “You’re in my house uninvited trying to abduct my employee. I’d say that gives me ample justification.”

  “She’s our sister!”

  “That doesn’t give you the right to take her out of here against her will.”

  “We’re trying to protect her!”

  “From what? You’re the ones trying to force her to do something she doesn’t want to.”

  “For her own good!” Jody argued.

  “You don’t get to decide what’s in her best interest and what isn’t,” Royce avowed coldly. “She can make those decisions for herself. Furthermore, if you really cared about her, you’d try supporting her endeavors instead of taking advantage of her. You’d be proud of the person she is and realize that her judgment is trustworthy. You wouldn’t treat her like a child who doesn’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain, and you wouldn’t bully her. That should have stopped long ago, and I warn you, if it continues, you will answer to me.” He lifted his right crutch and poked Jody in the chest hard enough to send the other man staggering backward. “I won’t be laid up like this forever.”

  “See there!” Lane erupted, addressing Merrily. “The guy’s violent!”

  “You’ll find out how violent if you try bullying your sister again,” Royce warned. “Shame on you, three grown men ganging up on one helpless woman.”

  Jody’s face turned red, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. “Sis, can’t you see that Lane’s right about one thing, that this guy is just using you?”

  “At least I pay her to take care of me,” Royce said. “That’s more than you’ve ever done.”

  “Merrily likes taking care of us,” Lane retorted defensively, but then he looked at his sister and asked plaintively, “don’t you?”

  Merrily sighed, deciding to duck the question by going to the heart of the matter. “I don’t think it’s good for me to live at home and take care of you all anymore, Lane. It’s not good for you, and it’s not good for me. It’s time you learned to take care of yourselves, and it’s past time I started living my own life.”

  Lane actually seemed to be absorbing and considering this information. From the doorway Kyle said, “I think we ought to call Mom and Dad.”

  Merrily snorted with disgust. “You do that, Kyle, but when you speak to them, remember that I’m twenty-six and not sixteen.”

  “Aw, come on, Merrily,” Jody wheedled. “It’s just that you’ll always be our little monkey, you know?”

  “Little Monkey!” Royce fairly shouted. “What kind of a nickname is that? Does this beautiful woman in any way resemble a primate to you? If that’s how you really see her, then there’s something wrong with the lot of you. Little monkey! I’d guess it’s designed to convince her that she’s undesirable to men so she might as well stay home and coddle you three lost causes. That’s an insult, and I, for one, won’t put up with it. Now get the hell out of my house!”

  He actually advanced, waving his crutch at them. Lane turned and ran. Kyle was already a memory, and without the two of them to back his play, Jody didn’t have a leg left to stand on. Clearly, it pained him to abandon the field, but he did so, calling out his parting salvo over his shoulder.

  “I hope you don’t regret this, little sister!”

  “Not as much as you will!” Merrily called after him, hurrying to close the door. Halfway to laughter again, she added in a lower tone, “When you realize what dopes you’ve been.”

  “They’d have to actually think to do that,” Royce grumbled behind her.

  She shot the locks and turned, chuckles bubbling up. Royce had called her a beautiful woman. He’d implied she was desirable, had demanded respect for her, defended her, protected her. As embarrassed as she was by her brothers’ idiotic behavior, she couldn’t suppress a stab of intense satisfaction. Then she caught sight of the look of pain on Royce’s face and every other thought fled.

  “Royce!”

  He wobbled, then slumped against the wall.

  “You walked on that leg!” she accused, rushing to his side.

  He let the right crutch fall and wrapped his arm around her shoulders gratefully. The cast added a surprising amount of weight; either that or he was in too much pain to adequately support himself. His next words removed any doubt as to which was the case.

  “I think I’d better get off these crutches.”

  “You’ve hurt yourself,” she scolded, turning him back toward the bedroom.

  “I just got a little carried away. It didn’t even hurt at the time, and it was worth it to see those three knotheads run.”

  She clasped both arms around his waist and supported him as he hopped up into
the hallway. “It’s not all selfishness on their part,” she told him. “Oh, I know they don’t really believe all that nonsense Pamela was spouting, but Jody at least does think it’s his purpose in life to shelter me.”

  Royce jerked to a dead halt. “Pamela’s behind this?”

  Merrily nodded grimly. “She paid my brothers a visit earlier this evening, told them you abused her and the children and that they should get me away from you—or something like that.”

  Royce wilted. “That bitch.” He straightened suddenly and began hobbling toward his room, practically dragging her with him. “Probably she just wants me alone and without aid. Then again I might have given away something.”

  “What do you mean ‘given away’?” Merrily asked.

  He hesitated, then forged ahead. “The woman’s got radar. She can sense any weakness in me. She has to know how much I depend on you.”

  Merrily suspected it was more than that, and it warmed her straight to her toes, infused her with new strength and determination. “Well, she underestimates me if she thinks sending my brothers here will get rid of me.”

  “I hate to think what she’ll do next.”

  “What can she do?”

  “You don’t even want to know.”

  They reached the end of the hallway and his bedroom. He turned sideways since they couldn’t both get through the door at the same time. A few moments later they halted in front of the bed, and she eased him out of the robe he’d donned over those ubiquitous gym shorts. He sank down onto the side of the bed, then lay back with a groan, finding his pillow with his head. His bare chest heaved with a deep sigh.

  “Would you like something for pain?”

  “No pills.”

  “Then I’m going to make you some more tea.”

  He smiled. “I’d like that.” Then, just as she was about to turn away, he reached out and snagged her hand. “Merrily, maybe you should go back to your brothers. I’ll get someone else in.”