Free Cops And...Lovers? by Linda Castillo Page B

wasn't unduly relieved to hear Erin cursing the on-call doctor. Of course, that didn't explain why his hands were still shaking.
    Frowning, he stepped past the floor-to-ceiling curtain and into the fray of the emergency room. On his left, a woman held a crying child while a nurse applied drops to his ears. To his right a small boy in a baseball cap received stitches in his knee, initiating him into the Little League hall of fame. Nick scanned the room, his gaze seeking a blue uniform and a mass of silky red-brown hair.
    His breath lodged in his throat when he spotted her. She was lying on a gurney, looking more annoyed than injured. A doctor in green scrubs hovered over her. The cold knot in Nick's gut slowly unraveled. She still wore her uniform pants, but her shirt had been replaced with a hospital gown. He tried not to notice the way the soft material lay against her breasts. He didn't want to see her as a woman—she was his deputy, for God's sake. He sure didn't like seeing her vulnerable, either. His need to protect was too strong. He didn't want anything to do with the lofty task of looking out for a woman who hadn't the good sense to do it herself.
    She raised her head. Her body gave a little jerk when she spotted him. Uncertainty darkened her gaze. A tentative smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.
    He walked slowly to the gurney, where the on-call doctor was putting in the last of four stitches in a nasty-looking gash at her temple.
    "McNeal." Why was it that every time he spoke her name his voice sounded like a rusty nail being pried out of a petrified tree?
    "I was wondering when you'd come by to fire me." She looked at her watch. "Two hours. You're slipping."
    He stopped next to the gurney and frowned at her. Her hair had come loose from her bun and lay softly against the pillow. Nick repressed the urge to touch it, just to see how it felt between his fingers.
    "Are you all right?" he asked.
    "Once the doc stops sticking me with that blasted needle I'll be just fine," she grumbled.
    Nick looked at the doctor. "I take it she's going to be okay?"
    "She's mildly concussed," the doctor said, his eyes never leaving the small head wound he was stitching. "A few abrasions and contusions. A deep bruise on her hip that's going to be sore for a few days. This is the only wound that needed closing."
    "Good thing she's got a hard head." Nick glanced down at her. "You should have known the car would win if you got into a game of chicken."
    "I must have missed that day at the academy."
    "You going to keep her overnight?" he asked the doctor.
    The other man shook his head. "Not necessary. Her pupils are fine, CAT scan is normal. Wake her every two hours. Make sure she's lucid. Make sure she knows her name and the date."
    Alarm fluttered in the back of Nick's brain. He looked down at Erin . "You got someone to look after you, McNeal?"
    "No, but I can get someone to call—"
    "Out of the question," the doctor interrupted. "Someone stays with her or I'll keep her here."
    "I'm not staying here all night," she snapped.
    Nick felt a moment of panic. If it were any of his other deputies lying on that gurney, he would volunteer for the job. But because it was Erin —a woman who elicited all the wrong responses from him—he found himself hesitating. He did not want to be in this position.
    "I'm not staying," she repeated.
    "I'll admit you," the doctor warned.
    If the situation hadn't been so dire, Nick might have laughed. As it was, he figured he'd be lucky to get through this without doing something he was going to regret.
    "I'll keep an eye on her," he said after a moment.
    She shot him a startled look. "I don't think—"
    "I've got to finish your afternoon shift, anyway," he argued, cutting in. "It's no big deal for me to stop by your apartment every couple of hours."
    The doctor tied off the last stitch and shoved the stainless steel tray aside. "Okay, Deputy McNeal, let's sit you up and see how you do." The doctor placed his