Читать книгу The Wedding Party Collection - Кейт Хьюит, Aimee Carson - Страница 16

SIX

Trig paced the length of the hall as he waited for Damon to pick up. He didn’t want to talk to Damon, he wanted Damon’s wife Ruby on the other end of the line, but there was a protocol involved when ringing up someone else’s wife in the middle of the night and Trig wanted to observe it.

‘This better be good,’ said Damon when he finally picked up.

‘It is. Put Ruby on. I need her advice.’

‘About what?’

‘You don’t want to know.’

‘I do want to know.’

‘Your sister took a fall today and hit her head.’

‘I’m putting you on speaker phone.’ Nothing but tight concern in Damon’s voice now.

‘She’s had an MRI and the doctors saw nothing to concern them. They’ve released her from the hospital, but she has concussion and some memory loss.’ He paused and wondered how best to deliver this next bit. ‘She thinks we’re married.’

He thought he heard scuffling and Ruby’s low laughter, and then Ruby’s voice came through warm and smoothly amused. ‘How did that happen?’

‘Lena had no ID when we got to the hospital and I had all mine. Easier to claim her and get her in front of a doctor and think about other consequences later. Ruby, she doesn’t even remember Jared. She thinks we’re on our honeymoon. She’s back in the room. She thinks we share a bed! Do you have any idea how much I want to share that bed?’ His voice had risen an octave or two.

‘Touch my sister under those conditions and I will gut you,’ said Damon.

‘Don’t threaten him,’ muttered Ruby. ‘How is that helpful?’

‘He doesn’t need to threaten me. If I take her now, I’ll gut myself. She keeps getting me to hold her, Ruby. She wants the reassurance. She thinks she’s my wife. You’re a wife. What do I do?’

‘You hold her, you moron.’

‘Dead moron,’ added Damon.

‘What if she doesn’t get her memory back? What if she wakes up in the morning and still thinks she’s Mrs Lena Sinclair?’

‘Got a nice ring to it,’ said Ruby.

‘Not helping.’

‘Trig, sweetie. If Lena still thinks she’s married to you in the morning, head on home to the beach house and we’ll meet you there. Stay married, at least in Lena’s eyes. Bring her home. That’s my advice.’

‘I can do that.’

‘We know you can. That’s why no one here is pacing around the room like a lunatic.’ Ruby’s voice had softened. ‘Adrian, honey, give Lena a cuddle if she needs one—no one’s going to castrate you for that, not even Lena when her memory returns. Just don’t let the fairy tale get out of hand. Tell her you want to wait until she’s fully recovered before you initiate marital relations. That’s the truth anyway, isn’t it? There has to be some reason you haven’t made your move yet.’

‘Does fear of rejection count?’

‘We all own that one,’ said Ruby dryly. ‘Don’t go thinking you’re special.’

‘Not special,’ he said.

‘But very worthy,’ said Ruby quickly. ‘Just because you shouldn’t be making your move on Lena now, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be making one at all. Move, by all means. We all want to see that.’

‘You do?’ He’d never really broached the subject of his feelings for Lena with any of her siblings before, but he wanted their approval. Jared’s most of all. ‘You speaking for Damon now too?’

‘Yes,’ said Damon. ‘And Damon’s speaking for the family.’

‘That include Jared?’

‘Proxy vote,’ said Damon. ‘Jared’s not here.’

‘I suggest you let Lena deal with Jared in the unlikely event that he objects to you courting her,’ said Ruby. ‘The man owes her.’

‘For what?’

‘Disappearing. Putting vengeance before family.’ Ruby’s voice had cooled considerably, but Ruby’s father had disappeared without a trace too. Ruby knew what it felt like to be one of the ones they left behind. ‘Brother Jared needs to spend some time in the naughty corner when he finally reappears.’

The words if he reappears went unspoken but Trig heard them anyway. ‘You could suggest it to him,’ he muttered. ‘Although, fair warning, Jared doesn’t take too kindly to reprimand.’

‘So I’ve heard,’ said Ruby, and then she yawned.

Damn but she could make him grin. ‘I want front-row tickets to your first meeting with Jared. And popcorn.’

‘Get in line,’ said Damon. ‘Take care of my sister. You’ve got this. I trust you.’

* * *

A substantially calmer Trig returned to the room and closed the door quietly behind him. He took a deep breath and searched for some of that steely resolve that everyone else seemed to think he had an endless supply of. He headed for the beds and for Lena who was in one of those beds, hurt and confused and...

Fast asleep.