Thomas (Erotic Romance) Book 2 (The MacKenzie Brothers Quartet) Read Free

brother open the door. The late afternoon sun shone through the French doors that led to the deck outside, and he looked down at his watch. No wonder his neck was sore. He’d spent more time watching his unknown guest sleep than it had taken to tend her wounds.
    “Did you get the car towed?” Thomas asked.
    “Yeah, and I started a trace on the plates so I could get you a name.”
    Thomas froze. He knew that specific tone of voice his brother rarely used. Bad news.
    “The plates traced to a woman named Lucy Rowe. A little digging into her background showed her deceased as of two years ago. Miss Rowe had no living relatives and no record of ever owning a black Audi. When I looked a little further I noticed Miss Rowe had only acquired a social security number four years ago. The whole setup is bogus. I’m going to have some questions for your patient when she wakes up.”
    Thomas kept his back to Cooper as he adjusted the woman’s sheet so it covered the bandage on her thigh completely. Cooper was much too good at reading facial expressions, especially his brothers’ facial expressions.
    “Riley said she was covered in blood.”
    Thomas cursed his older brother and his big mouth. “I stitched her up,” he said, omitting what had caused the wound. “The bump on her head and the fever is my biggest concern now.”
    “Thomas,” Cooper said. “I want to know the minute she wakes up. Do you understand? She could be dangerous.”
    He didn’t want to believe it. There was no way the woman who had looked at him with such trusting innocence could be a criminal. But he knew Cooper could be a bulldog about such things, so he nodded his head in agreement.
    “I expect she’ll be out through the night and morning. You might come by after dinnertime tomorrow and see if she’s up to answering your questions.”
    “Fine. I brought the bag I found in the backseat of her car.” Coop put it on top of the dresser. “There was no ID. Just a cell phone. It’s a disposable, so it’s not registered to anyone. I can bunk here tonight if you’d feel more comfortable.”
    Thomas gave Coop a look of pure injured male pride. “You think I’m scared of a woman? You’re overreacting. I’m sure she has a reasonable explanation for everything. Stop being so suspicious.”
    “That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”
    “Besides, if she knocks me unconscious and robs us blind, Riley will be here to call you to the rescue.”
    “Negative to that. Susie Mobley invited him to her house for dinner. You’ll be lucky to see him till after lunch tomorrow.”
    “She does make a damned good peach pie,” Thomas said with a laugh. “Maybe he’ll bring us back a slice.”
    “I’ve had a slice of that pie, thanks. It has a tendency to be too clingy and demand marriage. I think I’ll pass on any more pie from Susie. Someday, Riley will learn that some pies aren’t worth eating.”
    Thomas couldn’t help but snort out a laugh. “Get out of here and go give someone a parking ticket.”
    Cooper closed the door behind him and Thomas moved to get up and stretch, but some sixth sense had him looking into the face of his patient. Dark blue eyes stared at him through a fringe of russet lashes. Her lips were pressed into a thin line of pain, and her face was flushed with fever. But she was awake. That was a start.
    “How much of that conversation did you hear?” Thomas asked, automatically touching the back of his hand against her forehead. “Hold that thought.” He went to the kitchen and brought her back a glass of orange juice and then tapped three Tylenol into his hand.
    “I don’t want anything to drink,” she rasped out as he folded her fingers around the glass. “I’m not thirsty.”
    “Drink it anyway. You need to replenish your fluids, and I imagine you’ve got a hell of a headache to go with the bump and the fever.”
    He almost laughed at the mutinous look in her eyes as he forced her to take the pills and drink the juice.