Mercenary's Woman ; Outlawed! by Diana Palmer

Author:Diana Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-03-01T12:54:08+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

FERN FROWNED AT the man on her couch. He was pale, his forehead covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Great, just great. The poor man was deathly ill.

Maybe he should go to the hospital. Didn’t the ER have to take everyone, regardless of their ability to pay? Although the nearest ER was quite a ways off...

She walked over to the window, flipped on an outdoor light and gasped. Huge snowflakes fell so thickly that it was hard to see anything, but she could make out thigh-high drifts next to the porch.

“What’s wrong?” She heard his slow footsteps as he came over to stand behind her.

His looming presence made her uncomfortable. “It’s getting worse out there.”

“I should go.” He turned, swayed and grabbed the back of a chair with one hand and her shoulder with another. “Whoa. Sorry.”

Compassion warred with worry in her heart. “Why don’t you at least take a little nap? You’re not looking so good.”

“I... Maybe I will. Don’t know if I can make it to my truck.”

She helped him to the couch, even though having his arm draped over her shoulder felt strange. The few guys she’d dated had been closer to her own small size, not like this hulking giant, and they tended not to snuggle up. Something about her demeanor didn’t invite that.

She helped him down onto the couch and noticed he was shivering. Finding a quilt, she brought it over and spread it out across his body. Located a more comfortable pillow and helped him lift his head to slide it underneath.

His hair felt soft, and he smelled clean, like soap.

“Thanks, I really appreciate...this.” His blue eyes drifted shut.

Fern watched him for a few minutes to make sure he was really out. Then she watched the end of the princess movie cuddling with Mercedes, and then carried her up to bed on her back, cautioning her to be quiet because of the man sleeping in the living room.

“Who is he, Mama Fern?”

“He’s our friend Angelica’s brother. You know Xavier? This man is his uncle.”

“I like Xavier,” Mercedes said with a little hero worship in her voice. “He’s in first grade.”

“That’s right.”

Fern read two picture books and then, firmly denying the request for a third, turned off the light.

She grabbed a novel and sat down on the floor outside the child’s bedroom.

Sometimes nights were hard for Mercedes. She still missed her mom.

But tonight was a good night. Within minutes, Mercedes had drifted off and was breathing the heavy, steady breath of a child in sleep.

Fern went back downstairs quietly, picked up her phone and headed to the kitchen where her sleeping housemates couldn’t hear her.

This time, the call went through and a couple of minutes later, she was talking to her yawning friend Angelica. “What? Carlo’s there?”

“He’s asleep on the couch even as we speak.”

“Let me go out in the hall so I don’t wake my boys. I can’t believe this!” Angelica’s voice proved that she’d come wide-awake. “I haven’t seen him for a couple of years, except for a few minutes at our wedding.

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