Read Online To Take Up the Sword by Brynna Curry - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Brynna Curry
Ads: Link
the dimness and found a lamp on the bedside table and then the switch. Her leg burned like hellfire where Smythe had almost sliced into the femoral artery. Lea ran her fingers along the line of stitches.
“You’ll have a nasty scar, but it will give you a story to tell. How do you feel?”
Gabe sat in a chair beside the bed. His shoulder remained wrapped in a sling to allow the gunshot wound to heal. What had she told him before she blacked out?
“Like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. Where am I?”
“A hotel in Lawrenceburg. We found Mac’s sister. She’s alive, thanks to you.”
“I’m glad. She and the baby will be okay?”
“Yes. She’s healthy. The doctors think she’ll be fine.” She heard the coolness in his voice, and wondered what she’d done to upset him.
“You have to arrest me, right? That’s why you’re acting like this.”
“No. You acted within your rights.”
“You’re leaving.” Lea could tell by the tone of his voice the separation was coming. He was already letting her go. “It’s because of what I said. About Serena. I don’t know why it happened, but I keep hearing her voice. Just before we get in trouble.”
“I have some things that have to be taken care of in Washington. In person. Whatever gifts you possess have nothing to do with it.”
“I see. There’s no need to explain it to me. To let me down easy. ‘It was a wild ride, but now it’s over, Lea.’ I get it. See you around.”
Gabe sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “It’s not like that at all, Lea.” He kissed her.
She couldn’t stop the tears that fell. He was saying goodbye.
“It’s exactly like that. Don’t make it any worse for me, Gabe. Just go.” She couldn’t watch him go, but held her tears until the door clicked, leaving her alone in the room.
Chapter 9
Lea glanced at the round metal clock over the blackboard. Only nine. Nine o’clock on her first day back at school since she’d run. She had no house to come back to but Amabel had welcomed her into her home until she could set up elsewhere. She loved this town. It was small, but filled with great people. People who’d back her up, even if it meant their life. For every friend she had here, there was one she missed. One who left an aching hole in her heart. Gabe. She caught herself choking up. He’d be back in Washington, DC by now, probably being assigned to another case. She imagined the woman he was trying to protect would fall for him. Would he seduce her, turn that white-hot heat toward someone else? Pretend to love them and say all the right words? Who wouldn’t fall hard for a man like Gabe? He was all strength, cunning and gilt brilliance. Okay, so she was biased. So what? What did it hurt to love him from afar? It hurt no one but her. The heart is an idiot. She was an idiot.
One of her students raised a hand to ask for the bathroom pass. She knew Jane would spend the last five minutes of class in the bathroom primping for second period and her crush Derek Simon. Normally, Lea would have asked her to wait, but today she didn’t care. Let Jane’s twelve-year-old heart twitter and primp. She handed Jane the pass.
“Okay class, for homework, do exercise A on pages twenty-six and twenty-seven in your textbook.” Lea’s announcement elicited the accompanying groans of Saturday plans flying away. Still, she knew her students had missed her, thanks to the small basket of treasures she’d collected off her desk before the bell rang that morning.
“Ms. O’Neil!” Jane called to her.
“Yes?”
“You have a visitor.” The preteen cupped her hand around her mouth in a conspiratorial whisper. Heaven save her from hormones. The new math teacher must need a word with her. He was twenty-two, scholar hot and all the schoolgirls secretly lusted their adolescent hearts out for him
“He’s cute, too. Looks like a Christmas angel.”
Her heart gave one quick jerk in her chest. “Thank
“You’ll have a nasty scar, but it will give you a story to tell. How do you feel?”
Gabe sat in a chair beside the bed. His shoulder remained wrapped in a sling to allow the gunshot wound to heal. What had she told him before she blacked out?
“Like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. Where am I?”
“A hotel in Lawrenceburg. We found Mac’s sister. She’s alive, thanks to you.”
“I’m glad. She and the baby will be okay?”
“Yes. She’s healthy. The doctors think she’ll be fine.” She heard the coolness in his voice, and wondered what she’d done to upset him.
“You have to arrest me, right? That’s why you’re acting like this.”
“No. You acted within your rights.”
“You’re leaving.” Lea could tell by the tone of his voice the separation was coming. He was already letting her go. “It’s because of what I said. About Serena. I don’t know why it happened, but I keep hearing her voice. Just before we get in trouble.”
“I have some things that have to be taken care of in Washington. In person. Whatever gifts you possess have nothing to do with it.”
“I see. There’s no need to explain it to me. To let me down easy. ‘It was a wild ride, but now it’s over, Lea.’ I get it. See you around.”
Gabe sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “It’s not like that at all, Lea.” He kissed her.
She couldn’t stop the tears that fell. He was saying goodbye.
“It’s exactly like that. Don’t make it any worse for me, Gabe. Just go.” She couldn’t watch him go, but held her tears until the door clicked, leaving her alone in the room.
Chapter 9
Lea glanced at the round metal clock over the blackboard. Only nine. Nine o’clock on her first day back at school since she’d run. She had no house to come back to but Amabel had welcomed her into her home until she could set up elsewhere. She loved this town. It was small, but filled with great people. People who’d back her up, even if it meant their life. For every friend she had here, there was one she missed. One who left an aching hole in her heart. Gabe. She caught herself choking up. He’d be back in Washington, DC by now, probably being assigned to another case. She imagined the woman he was trying to protect would fall for him. Would he seduce her, turn that white-hot heat toward someone else? Pretend to love them and say all the right words? Who wouldn’t fall hard for a man like Gabe? He was all strength, cunning and gilt brilliance. Okay, so she was biased. So what? What did it hurt to love him from afar? It hurt no one but her. The heart is an idiot. She was an idiot.
One of her students raised a hand to ask for the bathroom pass. She knew Jane would spend the last five minutes of class in the bathroom primping for second period and her crush Derek Simon. Normally, Lea would have asked her to wait, but today she didn’t care. Let Jane’s twelve-year-old heart twitter and primp. She handed Jane the pass.
“Okay class, for homework, do exercise A on pages twenty-six and twenty-seven in your textbook.” Lea’s announcement elicited the accompanying groans of Saturday plans flying away. Still, she knew her students had missed her, thanks to the small basket of treasures she’d collected off her desk before the bell rang that morning.
“Ms. O’Neil!” Jane called to her.
“Yes?”
“You have a visitor.” The preteen cupped her hand around her mouth in a conspiratorial whisper. Heaven save her from hormones. The new math teacher must need a word with her. He was twenty-two, scholar hot and all the schoolgirls secretly lusted their adolescent hearts out for him
“He’s cute, too. Looks like a Christmas angel.”
Her heart gave one quick jerk in her chest. “Thank
Similar Books
