Under His Protection (Protect and Defend 1)

She approached the ambulance, startled to see another one arriving. A kind-faced female medic took over, her smile soft and friendly, eyes a warm golden brown as she approached.

“I’m not hurt,” Blake immediately told her. “I need to make sure Mason’s all right.”

The medic’s gaze flickered and she stared above Blake’s head, releasing a soft sigh. “They’re getting ready to take him to the hospital now.”

“What? Is he in the ambulance?” She left the medic and ran toward the ambulance, scrambled up through the open door and the two medics already inside immediately asked her to leave.

There lay Mason on a stretcher in between them, his eyes closed, skin unnaturally pale. His shirt had been torn open and they worked in the vicinity of his stomach. The tattered ends of his shirt were soaked with blood.

“Oh, my God.” Blake covered her mouth with her hand. Her head spun, a wave of nausea washed over her, making her dizzy.

The medic who’d told her about Mason wrapped an arm around Blake’s shoulders and led her to a bench that ran alongside the interior of the ambulance. She sat heavily, as did the medic, and the two men who worked on Mason glared at them.

“We need her out of here,” one of them said through gritted teeth.

“She’s with him,” the female medic said, nodding toward Mason.

“Where are you taking him?” There was no hospital on the island, only a clinic and they wouldn’t know how to take care of Mason properly.

“We’re taking the ferry back to Eureka. He’ll be admitted to the hospital there.”

“Is it good enough, that hospital? How bad are his wounds?”

“You need to calm down.” The woman smiled gently. “He’s going to be okay. He’s been shot. Once, on his side close to his stomach and he’s lost a lot of blood. But they don’t think the bullet hit any vital organs so that’s good.”

Resolve stiffened Blake’s spine and she drank in the man she loved lying unconscious. He looked near death. “I need to call my father. I want him airlifted to the closest hospital with the best care available. I want him taken to San Francisco.”

“Are you his wife?”

Oh, didn’t that sound nice? Right now, she wished that more than anything. “No, but I’m his—employer. He’s a Secret Service agent.”

“Right.” The female medic nodded.

“And I’m the daughter of the vice president of the United States. Blake Hewitt.” She rarely threw her name around, thought it awfully pretentious but it was coming in handy right now. “I demand that you take him to San Francisco immediately.”

“Absolutely, no problem.” The medic smiled kindly, giving Blake’s shoulder a gentle nudge. “Go talk to him. He needs to hear your voice. He needs to know you’re waiting for him.”

The male EMT closest to her moved out of the way so she could crouch next to Mason. She studied his face, his rain-soaked hair, the scruffy beard covering his cheeks, surrounding his mouth.

He looked nothing like the man she’d first met and everything like the man she fell in love with. She hated that he was so pale, suffering and in pain because of her. Because of his unrelenting sense of duty to take care of her.

Reaching out, she rested her hand on top of his head, smoothed it over his soft, dark hair. She trailed her fingers down the side of his face, curved her hand around his cheek and she bent forward, brushing a soft kiss to his parted lips.

“Stay strong, Mason,” she whispered in his ear. “I need you too much to let you go now. Please. For me.”

He was completely still and she refused to look past his chest. She didn’t want to see the white gauzy bandages that draped across his stomach, hiding his wound from her eyes. But she could hear the steady beating of his heart and that offered some comfort.

“We’re getting ready to leave,” one of the medics said.

A deputy sheriff appeared by the open back door. “Is Blake Hewitt in here?”

They all turned to look at her. “I’m Blake Hewitt,” she offered.

He nodded toward her. “We need to talk to you, miss. About what just happened?”

“I didn’t see any of it.” She glanced down at Mason, then back up at the deputy. She didn’t want to leave Mason, not like this.

“He’ll be okay,” the female medic said, giving Blake’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “H