Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1 (8 page)

D
el tried
to get back to her nap in the uncomfortable chair then realized what had awakened her, movement from Luc’s bed. Opening her eyes, she saw a tall woman stroking the hair away from Luc’s forehead to plant a light kiss there. She looked up at Del and put a finger to her lips. Staring back down at him for a minute as if to reassure herself he was going to be okay, she jerked her head in the direction of the door to invite Delilah to follow. It registered then that the woman had been wearing a white lab coat, and a security badge had been clipped to a cord around her neck.

Who was she? Her thick shoulder length hair was all Del could see as she followed the lab-coated figure into the hall. Her long strides carried her away from Del until she stopped in front of a door marked
staff
. When she turned to push the door open, rather brusquely, Del followed her inside.

The woman was a natural beauty. With her height, her thick hair, flawless, makeup-free skin and light green eyes she could have been a cover model. The lab-tech, or whatever she was, seemed to be in a snit, stomping back and forth, opening and closing file cabinet drawers, sweeping her hands through her hair one minute and the next asking some invisible entity for wisdom, motioning with her hands—virtually ignoring Delilah as she flopped against the wall with her arms crossed. She threw herself into a chair, popped up again. Wild energy, Del thought, as she stalked across the floor to open the door and leaned out, “Mary, could I ask you for a big favor?”

Her deep purring voice completed the impression Del had of a lioness prowling, restless and ready for a fight. She nodded at whoever was outside and closed the door.

“Are we going to introduce ourselves or just go at it anonymously?” Del asked getting a little irritated, clueless as to what this female wanted with her. Not to mention whom she was to Luc.

She stopped, placed both hands on the edge of the desk and took a long breath, exhaling slowly. “I…I’m sorry. It’s just, I got a call and… I thought the worst.” She put her head in her hands, scrubbed her face and looked at Del with startling green eyes.

“What’s a cop doing guarding my brother?”

Del slapped her forehead. “I should have guessed immediately. You could be twins.” Must have been the jealousy keeping you from noticing, said the voice in her head.

“
Hmph
. It’s an eternal trial. I’m Dr. Samantha Larue.” She held out her hand.

Del took it. “Del Burke.”

The door opened and a candy striper handed
Dr
. Larue a tray of coffee. “Thanks, Mary. I appreciate it.”

When the door closed, Del said, “Dr. Larue—”

Luc’s sister waved her hand, “Samantha, please. I’m five years older than Luc, and his only hope to keep the Huns from descending. It may already be too late.”

“Huns?” Del asked.

“Our sisters,” Samantha Larue said in voice that spoke of a gulf between her and Luc, and their sisters. “Now, can you fill me in on what happened to my baby brother?”

Thinking of the muscled hunk in the other room as a baby seemed ludicrous but it was obvious Dr. Larue saw no humor in it. “Coffee?”

“Black, thanks.”

Samantha handed Del her cup and leaned back against the desk. “Now...” She expelled another breath, her shoulders relaxing. “What’s going on? I looked at my brother’s chart. Concussion, possible fracture of the clavicle, etc.”

“Luc was closing up at the gym after a basketball game and was hit by a flying cement planter.”

Samantha just sat there staring at her. “You’re not joking. Where did it come from?”

“It apparently… fell off the roof above the door when he was locking up.”

There went that eyebrow again. The doctor sat across from Del, her narrowed eyes taking Delilah’s measure.

“We’re investigating. I’m, um, not here in an official capacity.”

Samantha grinned and those eyes lit with happiness. “Really! Tell me more.”

Suddenly hesitant, Del said, ‘There’s not much to tell. We’ve only known each other a week.”

“And yet you park it in his room overnight because you’re concerned? Is that a cop’s concern?” Del squirmed. “Tell Dr. Sam everything.”

“What kind of doctor are you?” Del asked.

“I’m a behavioral scientist, actually. I just opened my practice. Which is how I found out about my brother. One of the girls who works in this ward is coming to work for me next month when I retire officially from the service. So, has Luc told you about the picnic this weekend?”

“He mentioned something about it,” Delilah hedged, but Samantha’s eyes were infused with cunning.

“Is that so?”

“Look, don’t go reading into anything, okay.”

“How did you guys meet?”

Del could see she didn’t have a chance of holding anything back from Dr. Samantha Larue. Luc’s Navy doctor sister had her matchmaking missiles locked onto Delilah.

“Dish,” she said.

“He was dressed as a mercenary when my partner and I responded to a robbery in progress. I had him in handcuffs until the clerk said he was the hero. He saved her life, apprehended the robber and made a fan, my partner.”

“That’s baby brother,” she grinned. “Always the hero.” She leaned forward. “So you know about his… job?”

“I didn’t know at first. Jed, my partner, thought he was a stunt double—”

“He’s done that, too,” Samantha said. “Go on.”

“And I thought he worked in security for the studio. But when I went by the studio and saw him in nothing but a kilt, sword and boots, he had to own up to the whole truth.”

“Oh, my God. I wish I’d been there.” Samantha sprawled in the winged chair, her smile a wide duplicate of Luc’s. Samantha sobered. “Much as I hate it, I must call the family and see if I can keep them from swooping.”

“Swooping?” Del frowned.

“Oh, yeah. The women in this family can descend on an event like a horde, thus our affectionate nickname.”

L
uc was just dragging
his IV Pole back to the bed from the bathroom when Del opened the door to his room. Looking over his shoulder at her, he said, “I hope I’m flashing you.”

“You are,” she said and gave him a pinch on one firm cheek. “Need some help?”

His left shoulder had been immobilized with a sling so she took the pole from him while he settled onto the bed. “I knew you couldn’t resist copping a feel? Pun intended.”

“Hm. I think you’re going to live.”

Luc looked at her soberly. “Were you worried about me?”

She laid her hand across his cheek. “A little bit. Could we not do that again?”

“Allright by me.” He rubbed his forehead. “Do me a favor. See if you can find my pants.”

“Not thinking of leaving are you? ‘Cause you’ll have to fight me and Ridge and a few others if you try before the specialist gets here.”

“Ridge was here?”

“Last night. He said he needed to get home, Buffy was concerned and she wanted to know how you were doing before she left on business.” Delilah searched the room for his clothes.

“When I got out of the service, Buffy called me—”

“That’s not her real name is it?” She handed Luc his pants.

“Her grandfather named her that when she was little, and it stuck.” He dropped his pants squinting. “She’s like my third cousin but I can’t remember her real name. Far as I know the studio is listed under Ridge and Buffy Romano.”

“But you say she called you, not Ridge,” Del said.

“She’d gotten my name from someone, heard I was going to open a martial arts studio and wanted to know how open-minded I was. Would I be interested in supplementing my income by taking advantage of my physical conditioning? She needed “a few good men”. He laughed and then winced, rubbing his temple. He leaned back suddenly. “Whew.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m a little nauseated. It’ll pass.” He withdrew something from the pocket of his pants and held them out to her.

The door opened and his nurse entered with a bouquet of flowers. “How’s our favorite cover model doing today?”

He groaned and the nurse winked at Del. “Flowers were left on the desk with a note, but there’s no card.” She set them on the windowsill. “Has the medicine worn off already? Any nausea?”

“Yes, and yes,” Luc said as the nurse handed him a plastic cup with three pills in it.

“Take these and I’ll be right back with your breakfast. It will be very light until after the doctor sees you, just some cereal. That sound okay?”

“Fine.” The nurse left.

Del shook her head. Mr. Charm had turned into a grumpy lion with a thorn in his paw. She couldn’t blame him.

“Does your shoulder hurt?”

“Like a son of a b—” He closed his eyes. “Sorry.”

She smoothed his hair back on the good side of his head. “It’s okay. You must be feeling like you had a wreck without the car, or the seat belt.”

“That’s pretty accurate.” He frowned. “So Ridge knows I won’t be in today.”

“Or tomorrow. Or Friday most likely.”

“I guess you don’t see many cover models with slings.”

The nurse came back with his cereal. “Mary mentioned you had a special request but this was all I could find. It’s bran.”

Luc grinned. “It’s perfect. Thanks.”

Delilah looked at the bran muffin the nurse had put on the side of Luc’s tray. “You requested a muffin?”

“Actually…I requested a cupcake.”

“Okaaay?” Del said.

Luc brought his hand from beneath the covers and placed a tiny candle into the center of the bran muffin.

“I’m sorry I can’t light it. It would probably set off sprinklers and fire alarms and everyone would be evacuated, and I wouldn’t get a chance to say…” his smile got a little lopsided and his green eyes softened, “Happy Anniversary, Delilah.”

D
el opened her mouth
, but nothing came out. The meaning of what he’d just said penetrated slowly and she thought back to the day she’d met him. One week ago today.

“Oh, Luc.” Del’s heart tumbled like a tree pushed over by a bulldozer. The guy was just too much. She twined her fingers with his and leaned forward to kiss the smile off his face.

Then she watched him, lying there with his eyes closed as the meds took affect, the smile returning, his hand gripping hers. His voice was slurred, “I asked for chocolate with a rose.”

Her lips curved up in a smile. “Bran is my favorite.”

It was now.

W
hile Luc was sleeping
, she called Jed and Ridge. Jed said he’d picked up the tires and dropped them off to the lab. Ridge asked if the specialist had been in yet. Del looked at her watch. It was early but she’d been up most of the night so it didn’t seem like it.

When she returned to the room, she heard female voices. The site that met her eyes when she opened the door was fantastical, like nothing she’d ever seen. Dr. Samantha Larue was back, accompanied by five of the most stunning women she’d ever seen in one place. She added tall to that description. The only person in the room under six feet was herself. She suddenly felt very small, and a little ordinary.

Samantha waved at Del and mouthed,
I warned you
. “Luc, I tried to tell them you were fine but you know how they are. If there’s a good excuse to swoop, there’s no stopping them.”

The oldest in the group came around the bed and towered over Del. Standing a bit straighter didn’t really help. The white haired woman’s military bearing added to the intimidation factor.

“You must be Del. Samantha told us how you came to Luc’s aid.” She leaned down and gave Del a fierce hug. Her arms were like iron. “I don’t know how we can thank you.”

“Mom,” Luc said. “Don’t squeeze her to death. Del’s not an Amazon warrior like the rest of you.”

Luc’s mother held Delilah at arms length by her shoulders and said, “She might not be tall, but I think there’s a warrior behind those blue eyes.” She smiled at Del, but reached for Luc’s hand as if linking them both with her body. “I’m Victoria, this constant source of pride and agony’s mother.”

Luc said, “Del, you’ve met Samantha. She’s the youngest and most beautiful next to me. That’s Briget in the leotards. I hope she’s getting ready to leave for class.” An athletic brunette with a thick braid reached across her brother’s legs and shook Del’s hand.

“The one who resembles a white headed witch is Stevie.”

The description wasn’t too far off actually. As Stevie offered her hand, Del decided she had a kind of otherworldly beauty that transcended any of her individual traits. White shoulder length hair, red lips, the lightest icy green eyes surrounded by lush black lashes. “Baby boy, when you’re better I’m going to take you over my knee.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Luc said.

“I could take you, even if I didn’t have at least three siblings I could count on to help.”

So Samantha did take sides, Delilah thought.

“I’m Chaz,” said the lush dark headed woman next to her, who would have looked right at home in a sleek gown on the red carpet alongside famous actresses and models. “And the ancient one over there is Rachel.”

“Speak for yourself, Twit.” Rachel waved from the other side of the bed. “If you don’t go screaming from the room now, you’re sunk, Del.” She looked at her brother. “Baby boy, how did you ever get the interest of such an intelligent woman as this?”

Luc just scratched the back of his head and looked at the ceiling, then at Del. “Help.”

Del burst out laughing. Seeing him with this strong group of…overwhelming women, she figured it was why he’d ended up so humble. She said, “I see now how you ended up so…” she winked at the women… “spoiled.” He gawked and they all laughed. All but Samantha. Del wondered if there was some friction or unresolved tension between her and the rest of her sisters. Or her and Luc.

As if reading Del’s mind, Samantha said, “Okay, he’s fine. Huns—depart! Luc’s specialist said he’d be back in thirty minutes, and Luc needs to rest his poor head.”

Stevie said, “Thank goodness it’s a hard head.” She bent to kiss him on the cheek, “Love ya, baby boy.”

Each sister bent to kiss him then Victoria bent to whisper something in his ear, and he smiled. She held her cheek to his for one long moment then released him. “I’m already white headed, son, don’t make me bald. Your father will be by to see you tonight.” Turning she said, “It was lovely meeting you Delilah. Keep an eye on him for us, okay?”

Del accepted another quick hard hug and the door swooshed shut. Samantha breathed a sigh of relief and dropped into the nearest chair.

Luc groaned. “They’re predictable if nothing else.”

“Is that a good thing?” asked Samantha.

Del could tell by the banter between them that they had taken on the sisters together many times, forging a tight bond.

The specialist entered quickly with an assistant. “Would you ladies excuse us?”

Samantha said, “I’d like to stay if you don’t mind.” She held out her hand. “I’m Dr. Samantha Larue, the patient’s sister.”

He must have consented because Samantha didn’t follow Del to the hall.