Playing Doctor (Bandit Creek Books) (11 page)

“Looks like I’ve got two choices,” he said in a tone that sounded so casual she knew it wasn’t. “Either we all forget this ever happened or I shoot the both of you and leave you down here.”

“Despite what everyone thinks, I’m not interested in dying and I don’t think the Sheriff is going to just walk away from his investigation,” Abby said. “Why don’t you tie us up, leave us up there in the shed and take off?”

“Who’s to say you won’t tattle as soon as you’re found?”

“I guarantee I will, but you’ll have a head start.”

“Doesn’t seem like much of a deal.”

“You shot at me three times because you assumed I’d found something I hadn’t,” she yelled.

“You know what happens when you assume Virgil,” JD said. “You make an ass out of you and m—“

“I know, I know, JD. You don’t need to tell me.” Virgil squinted at Abby for a few moments, then grinned. “You’ve got balls, doc, I’ll give you that.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and let her weight rest on one hip. “It’s fair. You screwed up. Besides, a ghost like you shouldn’t have any problems staying lost with a decent head start.”

“Yup, balls of steel.”

“Ovaries of steel, thanks very much.”

“Alrighty, doc. I’m going to go up first, then you and Jack can come up.” Virgil moved to the stairs and quickly climbed them. She could hear his footfalls on the roof.

Then he shut the hatch.

Abby rushed to the stairs. She pushed up on the hatch, but it wouldn’t give. “He locked us in.” She punched the wood, for all the good it would do.

“Son of a bitch.” JD spat on the ground.

Abby pounded on the wooden door and yelled, “Let us out.”

Movement above their heads had her pausing. Thumps then a long drawn out screech as something heavy was dragged across the floor. It made a loud thump right over their heads.

“When I get out of here I’m going to skin you alive, you old geezer,” JD shouted.

The only answer was a dry cackle and the sound of Virgil walking away.

Silence.

“Well, if this don’t take the cake,” JD groaned. “Anybody else know about this cellar?”

“Nope.”

“Got any ideas, doc?”

“Yeah, when you catch him, I’m going to hold him down while you skin him.”

“Okay, that’s good I guess. I meant for getting us out of here.”

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and turned it on. “I’ve got one bar. How about I text for help?”

She sent a message to Smitty. “I don’t know how long it will be until he gets it.”

Gunfire echoed dully from outside. One shot. Two shots. Three.

JD stared at the ceiling and said absently, “I’d say he got it already.”

“Yes, but did anyone get shot?”

She closed her eyes and listened.

Footsteps thudded on the floor above them. “Abby? Abby!”

She pounded on the hatch. “We’re down here.”

The wooden floor above them complained loudly as whatever object Virgil had moved was pushed back. The hatch opened revealing Smitty’s face.

“Abby, God damn it. You okay?” He held out his hand.

She took it and he nearly pulled her up without her having to use the stairs. “Scared out of my wits and angry as hell, but fine.”

He grabbed her and looked her over. “You sure?”

JD’s head popped out of the hole. “She’s sure.”

“What were you doing down there?”

“Trying to keep the doc alive.”

From the expression on Smitty’s face she could tell he was about to refute JD’s claim. “Where’s Virgil?” she asked.

“The old guy with the rifle?”

“Yeah.”

“The Sheriff shot him. Just a nick along a rib.”

“A nick?” She shook her head and stomped out. “He’s going to get more than that when I’m done with him.”

“Hey,” JD said, stumbling after her. “We agreed that I was the one who got to skin him.”

Smitty caught her arm and pulled her to a stop. “What happened? Why did you sneak off and steal my Jeep? What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I had to do something to end this stupidity. I decided to use myself as bait. And it worked. Not only did it work, no one got killed.” She glanced over where the Sheriff and JD were huddled. “Yet.”

“Bait?” Smitty asked, his voice rising. “Bait?” He sputtered. “How could you…why would you…? Don’t you ever do this again.” He pulled her to him, put one hand behind her head and kissed her.

It was no seduction. He nipped, growled and gave no quarter. His arms shook, despite the strength he used to hold her still for his onslaught.

She moaned and accepted everything he gave her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered between kisses. “I’m sorry.”

“Damn right you should be sorry,” he told her. “What possessed you to do this?”

“I just wanted it over. I couldn’t bear the thought of someone getting killed because of me.”

He was about to say something when the Sheriff called out, “Doc, can you come take a look at Virgil? He’s bleeding like a stuck pig, I think I maybe wounded him worse than I thought.”

She moved to pull herself out of Smitty’s arms, but he resisted.

“No.”

“Yes. This is my job.”

“We’re not done talking about this.”

“I know.” She did know.

She also knew she had to let him go.

It took a couple of hours to clean up the mess. Virgil ended up on the operating table so she could repair the damage done by the Sheriff’s bullet. It had cracked a rib and nicked an artery on its way out.

Virgil was understandably nervous about her performing the surgery.

“This your chance to get even, doc?”

“Nope. I only said I’d hold you down, remember?”

He stared at her.

“Virgil, I’m a doctor and I’ve sewn up more bullet wounds than I care to think about. When you’re on my table, you’re a patient. That’s all.”

He nodded eventually and she’d gone ahead with the surgery.

The Sheriff was waiting for her outside the recovery room, wanting a complete report now if not sooner. Smitty stood next to him, his arms crossed over his chest, his feet spread and braced for battle, a hard and unyielding expression on his face.

Wonderful. They were ganging up on her now.

“Hello boys,” she said with forced cheerfulness. “Nice day we’re having, eh?”

“Time to talk,” Smitty said in a tone most people would have reserved for an end of the world announcement.

“I beg to differ.”

He took a long step closer. “Excuse me?”

“I’m dead on my feet. Didn’t sleep last night, had my life threatened this morning and I just completed surgery on the old fart who, for at least several moments over the last day or two, contemplated putting a bullet in my brain. I’m going to bed.” She waited a moment then added, “To sleep.”

Neither man said anything for a moment.

“I can wait,” the Sheriff said. “You didn’t handle any weapons did you Abby?”

“No, though I was forced to take about 100 sticks of dynamite out of a hole in the ground.”

“What? Where?”

“You know that old stone shed in my backyard? Grandma found some dynamite in a hole in the cellar underneath the shed. It’s all out, so you won’t have any problems finding it.”

“Why were you handling dynamite?”

“Virgil thought I’d found some kind of entrance to the old mine or map or gold or something equally ridiculous.”

“This where you’ve been getting the dynamite for your morning salutes?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was having too much fun blowing it up.”

The Sheriff turned to Smitty, patted him on the shoulder and said, “She’s all yours. Good luck.”

“Good luck?” Abby repeated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Smitty glowered at her. She glowered back. There was no way she was going to let him intimidate her.

“Whatever. I’m going home to sleep.”

“We need to talk.”

“Sure, as soon as I’ve had a nap.”

She walked past him to the exit then stood in the parking lot and considered her options. She’d arrived at their modest hospital in the ambulance.

“My Jeep is over here,” Smitty said, leading the way.

“Sorry about stealing it.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” That didn’t sound too good, but she couldn’t find the energy to worry about it.

“Okay.”

He drove them to her house and got out with her, following her inside and upstairs.

She grabbed a sleep shirt and went into the bathroom. Smitty went in after she came out.

She got into bed and wasn’t surprised when a large, warm, male body joined her a few minutes later, spooning up to her body. He draped one arm over her waist.

She was asleep in seconds.

She woke some time later to the sensation of lips caressing the back of her neck. They trailed over to nibble her ear. An erection rested long and hot against her butt and she wiggled a little to see what would happen.

A hand ghosted over her shirt to cup her breasts, first one then the other, rubbing and plucking at the nipples.

“Do not ever scare me like that again,” he growled into her ear. “When I woke and realized you were gone, I damn near detonated.”

“I’m sorry, I had to do it.”

His hand found its way under her shirt so he could tease her with a firmer stroke. “No you didn’t. You decided you were going to do it.” He pushed her onto her belly, pulled her panties down and drove himself inside her from behind.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered into her ear as he stroked into her with a hot, heavy pace that ramped her up so fast her breathing stuttered to a stop before her brain caught up to her body.

“Unacceptable,” he continued, the censure in his voice as relentless as his pleasurable assault on her senses. “You’re going to leave the dangerous shit to me from now on.” He put his hands on her hips and pulled her up to her knees.

Holding her with a grip that felt like forever, he hammered into her, setting off an orgasm that damn near took her head off. The world greyed out and she came to on her stomach, Smitty panting and still buried deep inside her.

“Promise me you won’t do anything remotely like this again.”

She turned her head so she could see him. “Why?”

Wrong question. He gritted his teeth, pulled out and rolled her over. He kneed her legs apart and came down over her, his mouth almost bruising hers with a kiss so desperate she could taste the fear inside him.

“Because I love you, you stupid woman.”

Chapter Thirteen

S
he smacked him on the side of his head. “Well, snap out of it. I’m damaged, damn it. I’m not a safe bet.”

He grabbed her hands and planted them next to her head. “Not going to happen. You are everything I want.”

“You want a woman who can’t get rid of the nightmares inside her head? Who’s afraid of her own temper, who’s terrified the ghosts that follow her around will follow her forever?”

He kissed her again, his lips trembling, worshiping hers. “I want a woman who faced the worst situation she could ever face, and came out alive. I want a woman who was willing to sacrifice her own life for the lives of her countrymen. I want a woman who, despite difficulty and doubt, still believes in the essential goodness of people. I want you.”

“But, I…” She started to cry. “I’m broken. When I killed those insurgents, I broke my vow, my word.”

“You didn’t break anything. You defended yourself and a fellow wounded soldier. Nowhere in that vow does it say you have to stand still and let someone kill you.”

“I vowed to preserve human life, not take it.”

“That vow was never written for a soldier. It was written for a doctor. You were both. And for a moment, the soldier had to take charge, so the doctor could carry on with her work. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She shook her head, tears dripping past her ears and onto the bed. “I see those two men coming towards the chopper, watch them shoot the wounded soldier then see myself pick up a rifle and kill them over and over in my head every day and every night. And every time I see it, it feels like I’m doing it for the first time again.”

“Killing another human being is never easy. You’re going to carry that with you the rest of your life, but you’ve also got to find a way to forgive yourself. You didn’t have a choice. It was them or you. They’d already killed a wounded man who wasn’t able to defend himself. They would have killed you next.” He kissed her quick. “And I’m glad, so glad, you found the strength to pick up a weapon and fire it.”

“I don’t trust myself anymore. If someone surprises me or gets too close, I spook. I can’t stand to be touched by anyone. I live in fear of lashing out at a friend or family member.”