Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] Read Free Page B

the distant trickle of sound that came to him at odd intervals, intruding on his blissful, black slumber. But it grew increasingly familiar, moving in cadences not unlike speech. And yet he didn't hear words, but rather a resonance he could only interpret as shades of emotion.
    "Damn, come on, will you? Just wake up instead of lying there like Sleeping Beauty waiting for a magic kiss. I'm lonely, you know? So damn lonely. And I'm sick and tired of sleeping alone—or make that not sleeping. See, I've got this problem with insomnia, ever since Mick died—but I already told you that, didn't I?"
    By degrees, closer and closer the presence came. He sensed no menace in it, none whatsoever. On some instinctive level he felt himself responding to this presence, one that began to assume a distinctly feminine quality.
    "So, tell me, how do I look? I'm all dressed up with no place to go, no thanks to you. I needed a night out, but nooo, I had a guilt trip that stopped me in my dancing boots. I certainly hope you appreciate me canceling out just in case you decide to start breathing again. And don't forget I'm spending all my lunch hours racing home to check on you. Ryan's giving me a hard time about that, you know. As for my other pals, they've got better things to do. Like dancing.
    "Jeez, it's sweltering in here, no wonder my makeup's sliding off like butter on a griddle. Too warm for me, but maybe not warm enough for you. Better turn up the thermostat a notch and add a few bucks to my water bill. By the way, I hate to take showers and I really want my tub back. Nearly a week you've been sacked out in here and just look at this stuff all over the floor.
    "Let's see... thermal blankets, check, a homemade crash cart that might earn me a Girl Scout badge in a pinch, double check. Time to check your vital signs again. Hmmm... blood pressure... forty over twenty. Probe in the ear, since I can't stick a thermometer under your tongue or up your butt... hey, great, seventy-two-point-five degrees... yep, you're warming up. And now roll the drums for a pulse... still not there. One more day, bronco, I'll give you one more day—okay, two days—and if I can't pick up some kind of a pulse, sorry, you're out of here.
    "In the meantime, did I tell you about when I was a little girl and..."
    A woman? Yes, he believed a woman must be keeping him company. If only he could wake up and enjoy the favors she might bestow once this endless night was over. Noble struggled for consciousness only to be weighted down by a force he was beginning to loathe.
    Perhaps if he shifted, rolled atop her, her lullaby whispers would turn to sharp sighs of pleasure. Surely that would wake him up. With a strength of will that had served him well in life, he commanded his body to obey what his mind decreed. But his body felt sluggish and his will felt strangely weak, as if he hadn't used it in some time and it had gone to sleep along with the rest of him.
    He embraced the destructive force that had thus far kept him alive, and it fed his determination to throw off the dark curtain of sleep. Wake up, dammit. Wake up and fetch some blankets. Lord, but it's getting cold. Freezing cold.
    "Was that a pulse?" Lori wondered. "No, it couldn't be." She pressed his jugular harder. "Slow, faint, but yes... yes! I'm getting a pulse! Blood pressure? Sixty over forty... one more time to be sure. It's rising, rising fast, blood pressure eighty over fifty. And temperature, what is his temperature?
    "Damn, quit shaking, would you?" she commanded herself when she nearly dropped the ear probe into the water. "Water, I need more hot water. But first I have to get his temperature. Why did I try to do this by myself? I need help. I need Ryan." Did she have time to dial 911?
    "Temperature... eighty-four degrees—no, eighty-six. My God, I don't believe it, he just jerked." Lori felt her own pulse leap as she whispered in disbelief, "he's actually starting to move."
    Was he ill? Noble wondered.