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Steffan nodded to her. “Gray will have your next assignment.”
Gray motioned to the young nurse from a nearby nurses’ station.
Shaylee eyed them like they were each a slab of chocolate, licking her lips and fluttering her eyelashes again before she finally turned and walked to the desk. Gray sent her into another patient’s room. Good man.
“I don’t know how you stand it,” Curt muttered. There were a lot of reasons he loved his mountain home, even if he occasionally had female guests who acted every bit as awestruck and flirtatious as Shaylee. A lot of hikers and backpackers were more down-to-earth and seemed to relax around him quickly.
“It’s not so bad.” Steffan grinned. “I can get a date easier than any man I know. Except for Chad.”
“Of course you can. ‘Prince … Doctor …’” Curt pitched his voice up and blinked quickly. “I’m not sure if there’s something stuck in my eye or if you’re just that handsome,” he cooed.
His other brothers would’ve probably slugged him. Steffan only smiled and gestured him into the partitioned-off room. Shaylee had left a gap in the curtains.
“May we come in?” Steffan asked.
“Of course.” Aliya’s unique accent and voice floated out to them. “Y’all are the two yahoos I want to see.”
Curt was the one smiling now. They walked in, and he surveyed Aliya sitting up in the bed. They’d cleaned the blood off of her face, head, and the scrapes on her arms and legs. Steffan had used super glue rather than shaving and stitching the small cut on her head. Her warm brown eyes looked clear and bright and very appealing. Her gaze traveled over his face eagerly as he walked in. The nurse looking at him so earnestly had made his stomach squirm, but Aliya looking at him made his stomach lift happily and fill with an unfamiliar warmth.
“Hiya,” she said.
“You’re looking chipper.” Steffan picked up her chart and glanced over it. “As soon as the amnesia clears up and your scrapes and bruises heal, I don’t believe you’ll see any lasting effects from your deep dive off the waterfall.”
“That is right as rain. When will the amnesia clear up?” she asked.
“It could be any hour or any day, but some never remember the day of their injury, so no promises.”
“That stinks like a dead skunk in the basement,” she muttered.
Curt and Steffan both chuckled, but their mirth was wiped away when she didn’t smile.
“If I can’t remember, I can’t help Gracie.”
Curt was impressed with her devotion to a friend she’d only met a couple weeks ago. He prayed her friend was all right. His prayers didn’t seem to do much as far as miracles went—Suzanne surviving, his family healing from his mum’s murder, the murderer brought to justice, finding a fabled cure—but he kept praying because faith wasn’t about miracles. It was about trusting that God knew better than him and His Father’s plans would ultimately bring peace and happiness.
“We’ll pray you can remember,” Steffan said. “Because of your head injury, you won’t be able to travel home for ten days.”
Her eyes widened. “What’ll I do? I don’t know where my things rightly are. No money. No passport. I’m at your mercy, Doc.”
A weird feeling coursed through Curt. He didn’t want her to be at anyone’s mercy but his. Even his kind-hearted and nurturing brother.
He hoped it was his place to offer she stay with him. He hadn’t thought about her passport and money being missing. She probably had everything in a backpack that might’ve gotten swept off if she was in the stream very long, stolen by the mystery men or someone else, or dropped in the mountains somewhere. He hadn’t noticed a bag when she’d come off the falls. Maybe Ray’s men would turn up something.
“You can stay with me until we find your passport, or we can get a temporary passport issued by your embassy,” he told her. Money wasn’t an issue. His country and family had been blessed financially, and he hardly spent any of the monthly stipend he received for his ‘military service.’
Her gaze flicked to him and settled. “Are you certain?”
He nodded. “I’ve got plenty of room. My cabin’s up in the mountains east of the village of Greenville.” He’d have to take her past the castle. Would she want a tour? He rarely went home. His brothers often hiked to see him, but the road was passable by dirt bike, four-wheeler, and even a small side by side vehicle could get to him. When Kiera and their father came to visit, they usually came in a two-person trail-edition Polaris Razor.
Her eyes widened. Maybe she wasn’t ready to be alone with some man she barely knew in the mountains. How could he convince her he’d be a proper gentleman like his mum and dad had trained him to be?
The curtain was pushed aside. “From what I gather, the famous princes have created another mess for the humble police department to clean up.”
Jensen stepped inside, his easy smile softening his sharp, tanned features and his dark, piercing gaze. He was above average height and lean. He had raw strength most people didn’t notice until they tested him.
“Jensen.” Steffan gave him a manly hug.
“You know I don’t like interviews in emergency rooms,” Jensen teased.
