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Feet shuffled, and Shakarri found herself ensconced on Ezio’s lap, cradled in his arms as they rode to the hospital. She wanted so much to ask him about how he found her, what happened, and everything else, but she couldn’t get her thoughts together. Her mind kept focusing in on the way it felt to lay on his chest, to be held in his arms, to hear the anger directed at the thief and the police on her behalf.
The shaking started again, and she was sick all over Ezio’s suit. He didn’t even flinch. His hold never loosened. Someone handed him a towel, and he cleaned the two of them up the best he could. When they arrived at the hospital, Ezio carried her inside and with a few quick comments had her in a bed with a doctor looking her over. No one stood in the way of Ezio Sartori.
Something pricked her arm, and she cried out. Ezio barked, “Be careful with her!”
“Sir, if you could wait outside,” the nurse said. “We’re doing all we can. Your attitude—”
“Isn’t going to change until I know my wife is safe. Do your job!”
The woman huffed, but the doctor spoke up. “Leave him alone, Betty. I understand how he feels. Mr. Sartori, it looks like she’s just caught a chill, but I’ll run tests to make sure. We’re giving her something now to lower the fever and hopefully help with the shaking.”
“Good.”
She could almost make him out as he stood beside the bed, arms folded, staring at her.
“I’m here, amore. Rest.”
Shakarri drifted off.
The first thing Shakarri noticed when she opened her eyes was that her head had stopped hurting. Her ears were still a bit clogged, but her stomach had settled. She tested raising the bed with the remote at her side and discovered someone had cleaned her up and changed her into a hospital gown. So not cute, but at least she didn’t smell anymore.
She gazed around the empty room. A part of her was disappointed not to find Ezio asleep in a chair with his head lying on the bed and his hand clutching hers. That was sheer fantasy and not her husband. She wondered if the gentleness she remembered him displaying toward her was a figment of a fevered mind.
The door opened, and Ezio strode in. He’d changed too. He wore a T-shirt and jeans, and even from the distance between them, she could pick up the scent of a fresh shower. Ezio had probably snapped his fingers and demanded someone supply hot water stat.
“You’re awake,” he said.
Nope. No warmth there.
She looked away. “Yes. I’m feeling better. I got a little wet from the storm. I can’t even imagine how I could have caught a cold so fast.”
“Your resistance was low.” He approached the bed, but he didn’t touch her. “We’ll be heading home in an hour or so, but first you’ll need to give the police your statement.”
That wasn’t her imagination either—that man. She didn’t realize her hands shook until Ezio laid one of his big ones over hers.
“I…” she began and didn’t know what to say.
“How much do you remember, Shakarri?”
She shook her head. Her throat closed.
“We were onto him pretty quickly. I knew your location and was on the way. I called the local police to look in on you, and they found him—” Ezio choked, and his eyes turned stormy with anger. “I made him sorry for touching your hair. That’s all he did from what they could tell because you were wrapped so tight in the sheets. But that was far more than enough!”
Shakarri sighed in relief. “Did you track him from my phone? I had it turned off, but he turned it on probably to gauge how much money he would make when he sold it.”
Ezio didn’t answer.
She looked at him. “Ezio?”
He sat down in the chair beside the bed. “You have a recovery system on your car.”
“Crap. I never thought of that.” She felt stupid. All the time she thought she was escaping without a trace, her husband knew exactly where she was. One phone call, and he would have an address. Well, it turned out to be a good thing because he sent the police to the motel room and followed soon after. “I might not have been in trouble. You had the police burst into the room, invading my privacy.”
He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “Would you have preferred to be assaulted?”
“You know what I mean.”
He stood and moved away from the bed. “Why did you leave, Shakarri?”
