Read Online Fallen Angel (Hqn) by Eden Bradley - Free Book Online Page B

over her like a bunch of mother hens. Anyone in the hospital who knew anything of Angel’s story was horrified. Even the police he’d spoken with seemed shocked. Hell, so was he. Shocked by what she’d been through. By what that grandmother woman had done to her, for years. But Angel was attached to her.
    Stockholm Syndrome, Ruth had told him it was called, the weird, psychological phenomenon where victims came to love their kidnappers. He found it hard to relate to, but he’d done some reading and had at least a basic understanding of it. He was trying, anyway, for Angel’s sake. She would definitely need some help with that. It seemed like some pretty twisted shit to him.
    The doors opened and he moved down the hall, grateful it was the last time he’d have to see this place for a while. Too many memories here of his mother’s last days. Too many memories of Abby’s body in the hospital morgue in Bahrain. He fucking hated hospitals.
    The nurses nodded to him as he passed their station. He’d been coming here for two weeks, and knew most of them by name.
    He paused at the door to her room, took a deep breath. His life was about to change. He hadn’t wanted this kind of responsibility for another human being. It scared the shit out of him frankly. But he wouldn’t turn his back on her.
    The fact was, he couldn’t.
    When he stepped into the room she was there, sitting on the edge of the bed, her casted leg resting on a chair that was pulled close. The pale sunlight came through the open blinds, gilding her long hair so that it looked more silver than gold. She was dressed in a long-sleeved dress that was the same summer-blue as her eyes. He’d never seen her in real clothing before. She looked different to him. More real. But her smile was the same as ever: brilliant, trusting, innocent and sensual all at the same time.
    Lust kicked him hard in the gut. He had to suck in a breath, command himself to calm down.
    “Declan! I go home with you today.”
    “Yes.”
    “I am so happy.”
    “Me, too.”
    He smiled back at her. He couldn’t help it. She was so beautiful, this girl. So vulnerable. He would do anything for her. He stepped closer.
    It wasn’t the first time that thought had passed through his mind. Better not to think about it now, to analyze it. Just get her to the house, get her settled in. He could think about all that other shit when he was alone later in his room. In his bed…
    Don’t even go there.
    “How are you doing today? Feel okay?”
    “I’m just excited.” She paused, her smile fading. “Sheriff Bullock came again today with that policeman.”
    She never said the investigating officer’s name—she didn’t like him.
    His stomach tightened. He didn’t like to hear when the guy was questioning her without him being there. But at least Tim had been. “Want to tell me about it?”
    She glanced away, her fingers smoothing the edge of the sheet on the bed. “He always asks the same questions. He doesn’t like that I only have the same answers.”
    “No, I guess he doesn’t. Don’t worry about him right now, okay?”
    She sighed. “Okay.”
    “Are you all ready, Angel? Do you have your stuff together?”
    She’d accepted the name. So had her nursing staff, the doctors. The courts, when one of the social workers sent by the hospital had helped to file the paperwork last week that would give her an identity. It fit her.
    “Yes. Liz gave me dresses and sweaters and shoes. Some of the other nurses gave me nightdresses and a brush for my hair and lotion for my skin. It smells so pretty, like my old garden. Here, smell.”
    She held her hand to his face and he inhaled automatically.
    God, it was her beneath the faint scent of lavender and lemons. He couldn’t imagine her smelling like anything else.
    Except the raw scent of desire…
    Stop it.
    An orderly came in with a wheelchair, and the nurses all said their goodbyes, many of them hugging Angel. Then they were riding the elevator