Page 27 of Lay Down the Law

Irritated that he was undermining her efforts to convince him that she could handle herself, Erin rose abruptly. A curse escaped her when the throbbing pain in her head sent her back down. “Ouch. This is annoying.”

Nick was by her side instantly. His hand hovered over her shoulder, but he didn’t touch her. “I should have told the doc to keep you,” he growled, dropping his hands to his sides.

“Just a headache,” she said. “As long as I don’t start speaking in tongues or tell you I’ve been picked up by space aliens, I should be okay. Think you could fish another aspirin out of that bottle?”

Frowning, he picked up the bottle, tapped an aspirin into his palm and passed it to her. “If the headache isn’t gone in twenty minutes, I’m taking you back to the hospital.”

“Like that’s going to happen.” Erin took the aspirin and drank half the water. In her peripheral vision she saw Nick head toward the hall. Relieved, she set the water on the coffee table, leaned against the sofa back and closed her eyes.

“Okay, McNeal, I want you on your back.”

She opened one eye to see him lugging her pillow and comforter from her bedroom. “You’re kidding, right?”

He looked down at the comforter in his arms. “Do I look like I’m kidding?” He set the pillow against the sofa arm. “Lie down.”

“But—”

“That’s an order.”

Rolling her eyes to hide her discomfiture, she eased the robe from her shoulders. “Do you do this for all your deputies, Chief?”

“Only the ones who take on a ton of steel moving at forty miles an hour.”

Easing the robe out from under her, she leaned back into the pillow, realizing just how badly she needed to lie down. “You know, Chief, you wouldn’t make a bad nurse.”

“Don’t push your luck.” Taking her robe, he draped the comforter over her. “You were damn lucky today. This could have turned out—” Nick froze, his eyes narrowing on her exposed right shoulder.

Erin realized her mistake an instant too late.

The scar.

Oh, God. He’d seen the scar.