Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Whose chopper? She still hadn’t said.
But he didn’t have the breath to demand answers as they started up the incline. It wasn’t as heavily treed as Orcas Island, but they still had to weave back and forth to avoid trunks. By the time they reached the promised flat area, Jude was lightheaded and doing his damnedest not to pass out again. He slumped against a tree as Sloan peered at the sky. “We’re right on time. They should be here shortly.”
They waited, the minutes stretching into damn near an hour. Every instinct he had demanded that he get her back on the boat and the hell away from here, but she was right—he needed a doctor. He’d survive the gunshot wound—he’d survived worse—but if he had stitches and a professional wrap job, it’d keep him from having to slow down more than strictly necessary.
The familiar sound of a chopper’s blades cut through the relative quiet of the night. She touched his shoulder and they both looked up as a sleek black machine landed in the middle of the clearing. Sloan didn’t move from the treeline until a woman hopped to the ground, her dark hair whipping around her face. She turned unerringly to face them.
Only when she was a few feet away did Sloan step forward, putting herself between the woman and Jude. By then, she was close enough for him to peg her as one of the other O’Malley daughters. She had the same dark hair as Sloan, though she carried herself like a queen despite her surroundings. It didn’t take the blond monster at her back to place her identity. Carrigan O’Malley.
She didn’t hesitate, ignoring Sloan’s tense posture and pulling her into a hug. Jude was close enough to hear her say, “God, I missed you.”
He watched Sloan relax, little by little. He’d known her relationship with Carrigan was complicated—there was no way to avoid that, considering her sister had chosen James Halloran over her own family—but he hadn’t quite understood how deeply the issue had run until now. Sloan had obviously been the one to put the distance between them, but it had hurt her to do it.
She does a lot of things that hurt her when it comes to her siblings.
Carrigan caught sight of him over her sister’s shoulder and her eyebrows shot up. “Holy shit, you weren’t kidding. That’s no puppy you’re bringing home.”
“I’m not going home.” Sloan pulled away. “We can’t, for a variety of reasons.”
“Which we’ll discuss.” Carrigan glanced back at James Halloran. “I’m not going to throw you in a trunk the way some people handle issues, but if you believe I’m going to let you just flit off somewhere, you have another thing coming. We’ll talk somewhere safe, get your man patched up, and then we’ll see what we can do about this mess.”
Sloan hesitated, but finally nodded. “You brought a doctor?”
“Yes.” Carrigan motioned imperiously to James. “Doc Jones is in the helicopter.”
“How did you manage that?”
Her sister laughed. “Come on. You know she’s always had a soft spot for me. All I had to do is tell her we were headed to Washington.” James cleared his throat, and Carrigan rolled her eyes. “And offer to pay her double.”
“You’re right. That does sound like Doc Jones.”
It still smelled like a trap to Jude, but then, Sloan had asked him to trust her, so that was what he’d do.
And if these two crossed them, he’d get his woman out and he’d ensure they didn’t have a chance to do it again.
* * *
Sloan didn’t know what to do with herself. Her sister had taken charge of the situation like she seemed to in any situation, no matter how hopeless the odds against her. Sloan had expected that. What she hadn’t expected was to find herself sitting next to James Halloran.
She’d never met him before, never even seen him. It was strange to realize that a person she’d hated so intensely was one she didn’t know by sight. Oh, there was no mistaking him—not by his big build, his blond hair, or the fact that he watched her sister like he wanted nothing more than to drag her back to some fortress to keep her safe.
It was the same expression she saw on Jude’s face sometimes when he didn’t think she noticed.
Doc Jones looked much the same as she had the last time Sloan had seen her—tall and redheaded and capable of hauling around injured people twice her size. She raised her eyebrows and barely waited for Sloan to get her headset on before she said, “When your sister told me you were in trouble, I hardly believed it. I thought you were smarter than that.”
Sloan thought she was, too. But she didn’t have it in her to deal with the woman’s attitude when Jude was being strapped to a stretcher. “Take care of him. Please.”