She wished she understood why.
Did he suspect that she was beginning to crave his touch with an intensity that shook her? When she was settled, Bran sat carefully on the side of the bed. “Are you in much pain?”
“No.”
He smiled very faintly. “You’re lying.”
She smiled in return, “You’re right.”
“I wish there was something I could do to help you,” he said again, his smile gone.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You must have been terrified during the accident.”
“I was furious,” she said grimly. “The bastard that hit us was either drunk or—”
“Or?”
“Or deranged,” she said quietly.
Bran tensed. “You think he did this on purpose?”
It sounded no more likely when Bran said it than it had sounded in her mind. “Probably not. I mean, why would he? But, well, it just seemed so deliberate. The police are looking for him for answers, but so far there’s no trace.”
Bran sat very still, his expression so hard that Bailey shivered. An almost palpable air of menace hovered around him. Mark had been angry, but not like this. Mark’s anger was hot and fierce, normal under the circumstances.
Bran’s temper was cold and dangerous.
“I’d like to spend some time with that driver when they find him,” he said, his voice deadly soft.
Bailey tried to defuse his mood with a light tone. “Get in line. Mark’s already expressed the desire to smash the jerk’s face in.”
Bran wasn’t notably placated.
Bailey exhaled slowly. “What a day,” she murmured.
“Get some rest. I’ll let myself out in a while.”
“Don’t forget to lock the doors,” she reminded him, smiling as she remembered the two times she’d left her door unlocked, allowing him to slip in and startle her.
Either he didn’t catch the allusion, or he was too disturbed by what had happened to her to share her amusement. He only nodded. “I won’t.”
She nestled into the pillows. Bran stood. Bailey mused sleepily that he was lighter on his feet than any man she’d ever known. She rarely heard him move; she hadn’t even felt the bed shift when he’d gotten up.
“G’night, Bran,” she murmured, closing her eyes and allowing the pain medication to do its job.
“Good night, Bailey.”
She liked the way he said her name, she thought as she drifted into a haze of exhaustion, discomfort and lingering shock. It sounded almost like an endearment….
THE BLINDING LIGHTS were coming straight at her, murderous in their intent. Bailey stood paralyzed with fear in the middle of a deserted road, nothing between her and the metal monster barreling toward her. She tried to run, tried” to scream, but she could do nothing but stare as those lights loomed larger and closer, the roar of the engine behind them almost deafening.
She realized suddenly that she wasn’t alone. Little Casey crowded close against her, crying and trying ineffectively to hide behind Bailey as the vehicle bore down on them. Bailey threw her arms around the child, huddling over her, waiting for the inevitable impact—
“Bailey. Open your eyes, Bailey. Look at me.”
The deep voice broke through the nightmare’s cold grip. With a gasp and a shudder, Bailey opened her eyes.