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“Seriously?” Eli pipes up. “You made all that fuss about Cole towing your car, but you justgivehim your wallet?”
She shrugs. “I’m already here, now. If you guysaremurderers, I won’t need the money when you’ve hacked me to pieces.”
My lips twitch in spite of myself. “I’m not robbing you. I’m going to call the mechanic. He won’t be able to help until the storm is over, but it’ll be quicker if we book an appointment now.” I flip the wallet open, sorting through her cards. “I’ll need your license and ID.” I spot the edge of her license and go to slide it out.
She suddenly lunges at me, snatching the wallet right out of my hand. “Sorry, sorry, um, no can do,” she babbles, wide-eyed. “I, um. Don’t have one.”
I feel an eyebrow raise. “You don’t have a license?”
“Well, obviously I do.” She swallows. “I just… don’t want to give it to you right now.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know you, yet. You might be trying to steal my identity, or something!”
“O-kay,” I say slowly. She twists to slide the wallet back into her pocket—then suddenly freezes, gripping her ribs. I frown. “Did that hurt you?” I reach for the hem of her t-shirt. “Let me see.”
She bats my hand away. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?”
I blink. “Take your shirt off. I need to see your torso.”
“What? No!” She skids back on the table. She looks legitimately alarmed, as if I’m about to rip all her clothes off her body. “It’s fine. I just pulled a muscle lifting my suitcase earlier.”
“Take itoff,” Cole growls from the doorway. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Stop calling me an idiot,” she snaps. “It’s notidioticto not want to take my shirt off, asshole.”
Eli snorts.
“I’m not trying to check you out,” I say calmly. “I just want to see if you’ve hurt your ribs.” She hesitates, and I reach for her again.
She slaps my hands away. “No! Stop!”
I try to push back my frustration. “Why not?”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Because I said so! Isn’t that enough? I told you, I’mfine.”
I study her for a few seconds. She’s breathing hard, her jaw set fiercely. She looks like she’s about to fight me.
“Alright.” I turn to Eli. “Cook her some food,” I tell him, switching to Swedish. “I’m going to go check on her car. Ask her some questions. Find out who she is, what she’s doing here. Get as much information as you can.”
He gives me a lazy salute. “Right, boss.”
Daisy slips off the table, wincing as pain jolts through her again. I pause in the doorway. I’m so used to Cole hiding bullet wounds and animal bites that I can’t stop my mind going to the worse-case scenario. Internal bleeding. Shattered bone. Infection.
I feel like an asshole for pushing her, but she was in acar crash.If it’s serious, she could end up dying without immediate care. It’s not like she can get whisked off to the ER in the middle of a storm. Sheneedsto get looked at. “Try to get her to take her shirt off,” I add. “See if there’s any bruising or cuts.”
“You perv.”
I roll my eyes and grab my coat, stepping into my snowshoes. “Just do it.” I slip on my gloves and head out into the snow.
Thank God we have Eli. If anyone will make that girl comfortable enough to let me examine her, it will be him. It’s usually a struggle to convince women to keep their clothesonwhen they’re around him.
He’ll get her talking, too. Eli can charm information out of just about anyone. I bet, before the hour’s up, she will have spilled her whole life story.
Then we’ll find out who this strange girl really is.
Five
