Free Lady Be Bad by Elaine Raco Chase Page B

show!"
    She took a deep breath and moved to stand in
front of him. "I've seen better peep shows," Marlayna lied coolly.
"Now, let's get you registered and then I'll be glad to leave you
and your dignity in the hands of the nursing staff."
    With her pencil poised over the clip boarded
forms, she rapidly fired questions at him: "Name, address and
phone?"
    "Noah Drake; eighty-nine Collins Street,
apartment two-oh-three; five, five, five, ninety-one, seventy."
    "Age, doctor and employer?"
    "Twenty-nine; Dr. Harper; Caldour
Construction."
    "Medical insurance, the company and your
group and individual number?"
    Coming up on his good right elbow, Noah
flung his bandaged left arm out for her inspection. "Listen, lady!
I just had four two-inch-long staples removed from this wrist,
which, I might add, aches like hell, and what do I get? Questions!"
He shook his head and shot a disgusted look at her. "Where's your
compassion? Where's your sympathy? Where's your –" "
    "Insurance card," came her no-nonsense
reply. Marlayna gave him a sweet smile. "I've heard it all before,
Mr. Drake. Come on, the card? I don't have all day."
    "It's in the back pocket of my jeans." His
thumb jerked toward the pants that were, along with his navy
briefs, draped across a nearby chair.
    "May I?"
    Noah's lips twisted in a sarcastic smile.
"Be my guest. What's a pocket between us? After all, you've already
seen what's in the pants."
    Marlayna could feel his eyes gauge her every
movement, and when she bent over to retrieve his wallet, his low
wolf whistle again caused her color to come up. "That was really
quite unnecessary, Mr. Drake."
    "What can I say?" He gave her his best grin.
"I'm a man who appreciates a well-curved female, although I'd
really love to appreciate that cute perky ass of yours in the same
condition that you appreciated mine."
    She continued to copy the long string of
numbers that was on his insurance card. "Many men have tried, Mr.
Drake."
    "And I get the feeling they have all
failed."
    Marlayna snapped the wallet closed and
dropped it on top of his pants. "Could I have your signature at the
x's, please?" She balanced the clipboard on the edge of the gurney
and handed him her pen.
    He peered at her left breast "Yes, Miss
O'Brian," and scrawled his name in the three spots. "What time do
you get off work?"
    "Six o'clock. Why?"
    Noah wagged the pen between his thumb and
index finger. "I'd like to continue appreciating you over dinner
for your service above and beyond the call of duty."
    She plucked the pen free just as the nurse
returned to the room with a tray that contained a very large
needle. Marlayna stooped down so that guileless blue gray eyes were
on level with his laughing brown ones. "I just may let you, Mr.
Drake. Somehow, I think I'll be perfectly safe with a one-armed,
sore-assed man." Her wink came just seconds before his inhaled
shriek of pain.
    A double knock on the door of the suite
abruptly invaded Marlayna's dream and brought her to a sitting
position. "Yes?" No answer, but the knock was repeated more
sharply. "Yes?" She called out loudly, but again no response.
"Well, I suppose a room with walls of granite and a wooden door two
feet thick is relatively soundproof!" She wriggled off the bed and
straightened her clothes, hoping that the caller wouldn't be Arthur
Kingman.
    It wasn't.
    The instant she opened the door, Noah Drake
stepped inside. Her blue-gray eyes meshed with warm brown ones, and
all her dreams and longings suddenly interlaced with her life.
    "It is you." His cane thudded against the
carpet. Shaking hands cupped her face. "I wasn't sure." He visually
worshiped every feature. "I'm still not."
    His left palm was warm against her cheek,
his fingers held captive by ebony curls. Ever so slowly, his right
hand began to move. Five trembling fingers caressed her skin,
reveling in the velvety softness of her complexion, moving along
the curve of her brow and ruffling the delicate sweep of dark
lashes.
    "I didn't believe