The Dom Who Loved Me (Masters and Mercenaries #1)(95)

She heard Sean’s scream, but it seemed a distant thing. She fell for what seemed like forever. At some point, Black let go of her collar. When she hit the balcony, she landed with a sickening thud that knocked the breath out of her. She looked up at the black night. Nothing hurt. That was bad.

She had a vision of Black running by, and then Ian Taggart landed on his feet. He knelt down beside her. His face was the only thing that seemed real in the world. He looked so much like his brother. Sean. Her Viking.

“Grace?” His hand came out, his fingers resting against her throat.

She tried to move, to tell him that she was fine, but nothing seemed to work. She wanted to speak, to tell Sean she loved him, but the words were trapped inside her.

Sean was still screaming. She wanted to hold him. Oh, she was going to miss him. Tears slipped helplessly from her eyes. She couldn’t move. Why couldn’t she move?

Ian looked up, a frown on his face. His body twitched as though he was fighting some instinct. His prey was getting away, Grace realized. Then he set the gun down, his decision obviously made.

“It’s going to be okay.” He pulled her hand into his. “Damn it, Grace, you have to live. Please live. He won’t ever forgive me if you die.”

The last thing she heard was Ian’s voice calling for another ambulance. Then the world went dark, and all its horror winked from existence.





Grace came back to consciousness slowly. It happened for seconds at a time. She would become aware of a terrible, debilitating pain, and then she saw a flash of a face. A gorgeous Viking was watching over her. He was saying something, and then it was all gone and darkness took her again. There were times when all that seemed real was the warmth of a hand in hers, squeezing her flesh, begging her to come back.

But the world was warm here. It was safe here. The darkness wasn’t a bad place to be, and she could stay here forever if she wanted.

And still the Viking called to her.

“Please,” he pleaded.

He was the only thing that kept her tethered. He wouldn’t let her go.

Her children were grown. They would miss her, but they didn’t need her, not really. It was okay to go. It was okay to hide from the pain.

“I love you.” He whispered it over and over. He never let up.

Gradually, Grace realized eternal peace would have to wait. Sean wasn’t letting her go.

When she finally opened her eyes, it all seemed like a strange dream. Her body ached, and she looked down at the man sleeping with his head on her chest. He held onto her hand, his big body stuffed in a hospital chair. That’s where she was. She was in the hospital. The events of the night she was injured rushed back. It played like a horror movie in her head, but the end result was sleeping beside her. Sean was alive.

She wiggled her toes. Oh, they moved. Her whole body was a bundle of pain, but at least she felt it. She embraced the ache in her bones because it meant she was alive.

“Sean?” Her mouth was dry, her voice rusty.

“Mom?” A familiar voice was heard. She turned to see her sons on the other side of the room. Her head swam for a moment.

There was a mad scramble as Sean woke up, and suddenly David and Kyle were at her side.

“Mom? You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.” Kyle rushed off, yelling for a nurse.

“How long?” Grace asked.

Sean’s eyes filled with tears, and he didn’t even try to stop it. He let the tears wash down his face. Grace stared at him. He was so perfect.

“You’ve been in a coma for ten days.” He put his forehead gently against hers. “I thought I lost you.”

She let her fingers find the gold silk of his hair. She was weak, so weak, but touching him gave her strength.

She looked up at her oldest baby, who had a hand on Sean’s back. Kyle ran back in the room, and the nurses took over. She had all her men in one room.

“I love you, Grace.”

She smiled through the pain. Everything she wanted was right here. “I know. I love you, too, Viking.”





It was three days before Ian Taggart snuck into her room.

The whole team had been to visit. Adam and Jake had shown her all of Adam’s cool new scars. They were puckered and red, the staples having just come out. Adam had been close to death, but he joked about it. Eve had sat with her, telling her everything that had happened. She was the one who had explained just how close Adam had come to dying. Sean had to be sedated before he would allow anyone to take him into surgery. He’d been determined to wait on Grace. Now Sean had a couple more scars on that glorious body of his, but he was on the mend. Liam had shown up bearing flowers and a big fluffy teddy bear. Alexander McKay had brought magazines, but no Ian.

Ian had waited until Sean and her sons had gone out for something besides hospital food. Then he glided into the room like the ghost he was.

“Would it help at all if I said I was sorry?”

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She looked at her giant soon-to-be brother-in-law. “Are you?”

“Yes,” he admitted. His arms crossed over his massive chest. “And I would do it again.”

He would choose his brother. She could handle that. “I understand.”

His face softened slightly. “But, Grace, I underestimated you. You are good for Sean. You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for.”