Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(7)

She took in a deep breath at the precise moment Steele looked up and saw her. His blue eyes cut into her, piercing deep, making her feel suddenly bare and vulnerable. Almost like he could see right inside her. It was a stupid thought and it was even dumber to attribute superhuman powers to this man. He was only human. Fallible. But damn if he didn’t make a strong argument for invincible. Regardless of what he was or wasn’t, he absolutely sold it with every look, every nonword. Every action.

All her breath slipped out in a long exhale, her shoulders sagging as she deflated underneath his gaze.

Pulling herself together, she headed to the bed, pulling out her penlight from her lab coat pocket.

“What happened?” she asked briskly.

The girl looked nervously at Maren and shrank further against the pillow. She was trembling from head to toe and Maren’s heart softened. Poor thing was scared out of her mind.

She patted the girl’s hand and squeezed. “You’ll be all right now. Promise. They may look scary, but they’re the good guys. They’ll get you back home where you belong.”

“I didn’t want to leave Matteo,” she said with a sniff. “They made me.”

Steele’s scowl deepened and Dolphin sighed.

“She tried to step in front of a bullet meant for someone else,” Dolphin muttered.

“That’ll do it too,” Maren said wryly.

As her gaze flicked up to Steele, she could swear there was a tiny twitch at one corner of his mouth. Almost as if the man had actually been about to smile. It was such an absurd thought that she immediately put it down to her imagination and turned her focus on her patient.

“Just winged her,” Dolphin continued. “But she dropped like a stone. Dead faint. She only just came around.”

“Why don’t you gentlemen leave me alone with her so I can check her over. You aren’t helping matters by hovering over her looking like ax murderers.”

Dolphin shrugged and Steele looked reluctant until Maren turned and engaged in a staredown with him. Finally he broke and he and Dolphin retreated, though they stood just outside the doorway.

“Now,” Maren said, turning back to the girl. “What’s your name, honey?”

“Christina,” she said in a wavering voice.

“I’m going to check you over and make sure everything is okay.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “But everything’s not okay and it’s all their fault. Matteo said he didn’t want me, but how could he when they came in with guns and shooting people? Now he’ll think I was responsible for this. I love him and only want to be with him.”

Maren smoothed a tear from her cheek. “I know it sucks right now, but, honey, if KGI was called in to rescue you, Matteo was not a good man. You’re much better off without him. Steele will take you back to your parents and after a few weeks, you’ll see that everything will work out.”

“He scares me,” she muttered.

Maren laughed. “He scares everyone. But his bark is much worse than his bite. He’s a good man, Christina. The very best. I’d want him at my back in any bad situation.”

Christina quieted but didn’t look happy.

Maren quickly did an assessment, checked her pulse and both pupils. Other than the crease where the bullet had winged her, she didn’t show any sign of further injury. She could stitch up the wound, but there was nothing she could do for a broken heart. Only time would heal that.

There was resiliency in youth. Maren would lay odds that within a few weeks after she was back with her family, she’d bounce back and realize that one man wasn’t the be-all and end-all of her life.

“I’ll have you stitched up in a matter of minutes and then I’ll give you something to help you rest.”

“Thank you,” Christina said in a low voice. “You’re really nice.”

Maren smiled. “The others are nice too. You just happened to see them in commando mode. They’d scare anyone silly when they’re focused on a mission.”

Maren made quick work of setting the stitches and then gave the girl an injection for pain that would relax her and enable her to sleep. Within moments after Christina received the injection, her eyelashes fluttered and she drifted off.

She met Steele and Dolphin outside the door. “She’ll be fine. I put in a few stitches and gave her a dose of antibiotics to prevent infection. She’ll need to follow up with a doctor as soon as you get her home so they can continue her care and take out the stitches when needed.”

Steele nodded and Maren’s gaze dropped as, for the first time she noticed the blood on Steele’s arm.

“That yours or hers?” she asked softly.

Steele’s eyes flicked downward and then dismissively back up at her. “Mine.”

“Don’t you think I should take a look at it?” she asked.

He shook his head and remained silent. She sighed. Such a difficult bastard. Evidently it was against the law in Steele’s own personal law book for him to ever be injured or suffer downtime.

“Just see to Baker so we can be out of here,” Steele said.

“I’ll try not to take your desire to be quit of me so personally,” she said dryly.

Dolphin cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. Maren smiled to ease his discomfort.

“Why don’t you hang out in Christina’s room and keep watch on her. She should be out for a while but if she wakes, I’d hate for her to be disoriented. She’ll need a friendly face and well, Steele’s not the friendliest-looking guy. I’ll go look in on Baker. I’d hate to hold up his majesty when he has better places to be.”