racket around them. Then he spoke softly to her. “Listen to me, Nina. Did you see anyone inside the house?”
“No,” she rasped. “Whoever set the fire was there, but I didn’t see them.”
“You didn’t start it,” he said. It wasn’t a question.
“Of course not!”
A man in white came loping over. “Her leg,” McDonough said, holding it to examine it himself now that it was bare. “Superficial cut, but it needs cleaning.” He allowed the medic to look. “Let’s get her over there.”
He helped her out of the car and picked her up again, carrying her to the small white emergency vehicle that had pulled up several car lengths away in the middle of a flower bed. He set her inside the double doors in back. “Get in there and stay in there, you hear me? I’ll be back in a minute.”
Nina nodded and crawled up on the cot. She was exhausted. And scared. But no one would dare try to hurt her in front of so many people. Would they?
In the confusion, anyone could approach. The EMT started to climb in. If he closed those doors, she would be alone with a stranger. God, anyone could steal a white coat!
She scrambled out before he could stop her and began running. “McDonough! Ryan!” she yelled. Her voice wouldn’t cooperate, emerging at little more than a ragged whisper. Oh, God, oh, God, where had he gone? “Ryan!”
Strong arms closed around her from behind and she began to struggle, determined to get away.
“Nina! Calm down. It’s me. You’re okay now,” he said, his tone sounding angry, yet with the only power available to relieve her mind. He turned her around, grasping her shoulders. “Look at me.”
Nina flung her arms around his neck and held on. “Don’t leave,” she gasped.
He lifted her again, holding her close, his jacket rough against her cheek, his face pressing hard against her hair.
“I’ve got you. I’m here, Nina. Settle down now. We’ll go back to the ambulance and I promise I’ll stay with you. Okay? You’ll be fine. Safe.”
She nodded, sniffling, as she burrowed as close to him as she could get. There was no one else in this entire country she could trust at the moment. “Thank God you were here!” Then a thought occurred. “Why were you here? How did you get here so quickly?”
“Followed you, you little nitwit. I just gave you too much slack in the leash.”
“Leash?” she demanded, suddenly incensed. “What am I, a puppy?”
“Don’t start with me, all right? I was minutes behind you, but you faked me out. From what you told the guard, I thought you’d gone into the palace to ask questions. By the time I found out you weren’t there, the fire alarm sounded. Now hush. We’ll discuss that later. Count on it.”
“Okay,” she murmured, grasping him tighter as another stranger approached.
“Take it easy,” he said soothingly. “It’s Dr. Chiara. He’s the palace physician.”
Ryan placed her back inside the ambulance and left her there with the doors open while he spoke with the doctor. Nina gave up trying to hear what they were saying. The noise outside obliterated everything else. She did keep her eye on him, however, to make certain he stayed near.
The doctor checked her out, administered oxygen and gave her an injection.
“I should send you to the hospital overnight,” he told her.
“No!” she argued. “I just want to go back to my apartment.”
Dr. Chiara addressed Ryan. “She should be fine, but watch her. If she shows any sign of respiratory distress, get her over to Augustus on the double.” He patted her arm.
“I will, Nick. Thanks,” Ryan said.
After the doctor had bandaged the cut on her leg, Ryan carried her back to the car he had taken her to after the rescue. This time he put her in front and went around to the driver’s side.
“I wish you’d agree to go to the hospital,” he grumbled.
“Not a chance.”
“Stubborn.”
Though he was obviously angry with her, he still hadn’t upbraided her the way she’d expected, nor had he threatened her with any reprisals. But she knew he wasn’t through with her. Not by a long shot.
As soon as he fastened his seat belt and checked hers, he sat there, silently pinning her with a gaze so intense, she felt interrogated already. Tired. Wrung out. Incredibly sleepy. “What in the world was in that shot?”
“Antibiotic,” he snapped, then abruptly launched into another tirade. “You had no business being in that guesthouse. You nearly got yourself killed.”
“I wanted to see for myself,” she muttered, “because… because Desmond lived and died there. I promise you I didn’t strike any matches.”
He said nothing, and Nina felt obliged to fill the silence.
“I swear I didn’t,” she insisted, her words slurring. “I only wanted to be in there by myself, see if I could feel what he felt, what he was like. Only… only there was nothing there of him.” Tears leaked down her cheeks and she swiped at them angrily. “And then…”
“Did you see anything?” McDonough asked finally.
“No, nothing. I was in the bedroom. Heard the back door creak. I hid in the bathroom, in the shower. Next thing I knew, the place was on fire.”
“Whoever started it used an accelerant. Had to, in order for it to spread that quickly,” he told her. “The arsonist went out through the back. As soon as the guard out front saw flames through the window, he reported it.”
“You sniffed my hands,” she accused. “You thought I set it.” Nina wished she could summon the energy to get really angry about that. But she was so tired.
“And now I know you didn’t.” He sighed. “You need to get to bed.”
Panic begin to rise again. “You won’t leave?”
His mouth quirked, more in resignation than reassurance, she thought. “No. I won’t be leaving.”
“Thanks,” she said, breathing the word as she leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She felt like a hundred and ten pounds of molten lead.
Nina was vaguely aware of the car stopping near the flashing lights of the fire truck and Ryan speaking to someone out the car window, but she couldn’t seem to rouse herself enough to listen to the conversation.
Tomorrow he would tell her everything he had found out. Tomorrow, when she showed him the earring, he would have to agree that she’d discovered something his team had overlooked, even if it was insignificant. Then he would take her attempts to help seriously. He would have to.
The
