Read Online Ryker’s Justice by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy - Free Book Online Page A

on the floor outside and within the waiting area the others shared the few
chairs and single sofa. Jude paused in the hallway. “Anything?”
    Both
brothers shook their heads. “It’s too soon.”
    “I’ll
wait,” Jude replied. But he didn’t want to face the crowd in the small, close
room, or sit in the hallway. “Is there still an old waiting room down the
hall?”
    Noah
snorted. “As far as I know, in the original part, yeah, I think there is. You going down there?”
    Jude
nodded. “We are for a while. I’ve got a bitchin’ headache and it’s too hot in
there. But I’ll be close and I won’t be gone very long.”
    “If
we hear anything, I’ll come fetch you,” Adam said.
    Their
footfalls echoed behind them as Jude and Nicole walked down a short flight of
stairs into the original hospital. Dimmer lights made the corridors seem narrow
and with a little imagination, Jude thought he could easily believe in ghosts. They
passed rooms still equipped with beds in the event of patient overflow and
turned a corner. The same waiting room he recalled from childhood remained,
untouched. A coffee table held outdated issues of Reader’s Digest and Ladies
Home Journal. Jude sank down with relief onto a rump sprung couch and
Nicole joined him. He shut his eyes and willed the headache to abate but it
hadn’t slackened at all.
    “Head
still bad?” Nicole sounded sympathetic.
    “Oh, yeah.” He’d have to suffer through it,
he decided. It’d help if they would receive good news about David.
    Nicole
pointed to the floor. “Come sit here,” she told him.
    “Why?”
    “Just
sit there and I’ll show you.”
    After
a brief hesitation, Jude lowered his body to the floor. Nicole sat behind him
on the couch and straddled him, one leg on either side of Jude. Her small hands
rested on his shoulders and without a word, she began to massage his tired
flesh. “You’re all in knots,” she said. “No wonder you have a headache, Jude.”
    “ Lot going on right now,” he mumbled.
    “I
know but it won’t help your nephew or anyone else to be so tense.” Her voice
lowered as her hands intensified their kneading action. “Try to relax.”
    He
shut his eyes and yielded to the pleasant sensations. Under her ministrations,
his rock-solid muscles eased, a little at a time. Jude lost track of how long
Nicole’s hands wrought their magic but as the tension faded, his focus shifted.
The more she touched him, the drowsier he became. “Oh God, honey, you’re gonna put me out,” he told her.
    “I
bet your headache’s gone.”
    Damned
if it wasn’t. He opened his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, it is. Thanks.”
    She
replied with a smile. Nicole let her fingers trail through his hair, slow and
gentle. Then she cupped one cheek, her hand soft against his stubble. “Good,”
she told him. “Maybe you should grab some sleep, if you can. I’ll stay awake so
if anyone comes with word about your nephew, I can wake you.”
    Loggerheaded,
he’d love a nap, but Jude shook his head. “I probably better head back down to
check with the rest of the family. I wish I could, though.”
    Her
expression sobered. “Jude, can I ask you something?”
    Jude
ached to deliver a tender kiss. “You can ask anything, honey.”
    “Are
you a law enforcement officer or something?”
    The
question stunned him. It put him in an awkward position. If he loved her—and he
thought he probably did—he didn’t want to lie. Somewhere between falling in
love, finding a link to the moonshiners, and his nephew’s accident, Jude had
figured he would need to tell her. If he didn’t, such a secret would fester
between them like an infection. Now, however, wasn’t the moment he’d imagined
or expected. “Before I answer, can I ask why you wondered?”
    Nicole’s
steady gaze never wavered. “I thought you might be, even before you said
downstairs that you’d see justice was served. You sounded like a cop. Are you?”
    Telling
the wrong person the truth could