Page 90 of Deathmarch

“Just a scratch.” She snuggled against him. “Nothing that some peroxide and ice won’t fix.”

He didn’t believe her. He took the stairs slowly, careful not to jostle her. “Did he punch you in the face?”

He couldn’t help it if his voice filled with murder. The secondary reason why he was carrying Allie upstairs himself was that he needed a moment before facing Zane. He was a good cop, dammit. And a good cop didn’t do the things Harper wanted to do to the bastard.

Allie tensed in his arms. “He slapped me.”

Harper bit back several choice curses. “How about I take you to the hospital? You had a concussion two days ago.”

“Seriously, Harper, I don’t need the hospital. It’s not that bad.”

They reached the top, and then Harper had her over on the couch, laying her down as gently as he could. He crouched next to her and checked her eyes. “Your pupils aren’t dilated. Any nausea?”

“No.”

“I don’t think you have another concussion.” He reached to the side table and grabbed a handful of tissues from the box, wiped away a couple of fresh droplets of blood. “Are you dizzy?”

“No.”

“Head hurts?” He forced himself to stay in emergency responder mode.

She smiled at him and sang the first few lines of “I’m Alright” by Kenny Loggins.

“Very good. Okay. Now, seriously.”

“My ankle hurts a little. I pulled it when I was fighting to get away.”

“We still have some of the acetaminophen they gave you at the ER the other night.” He hurried off, returning with two pills and water.

“Thank you.”

The way she sat there on his couch, roughed up but without a word of complaint, tough as the characters she reenacted, just dealing with it all, not fainting, not hysterical… The light glinted off a golden highlight here and there in her mess of silky hair, her full bottom lip swollen…

A decade ago, he’d fallen for her sweetness, her innocent beauty. The way she used to look at him fed his budding male ego. He’d been way too young and stupid to fully appreciate what he had in her, his adolescent brain too steeped in lust.

This Allie, the tough-as-nails version, he admired. He wanted to know more of her. He wanted more of her, period.

Harper felt his professionalism slipping.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he said.

“Like I keep saying, you’re not my babysitter.”

“I promised you that you’d have the full protection of the law.”

Due to the swollen lip, her smile turned out lopsided as she said, “I had the protection of the mother of the law.”

That had him smiling back as he crouched by her side again so he could lean his forehead against hers. “Does this hurt?”

“No.”

“Good, because I need to touch you somewhere.”

He drew another slow breath before he pulled back to look at her. “Are you going to be all right while I go outside and deal with that asshole?”

“Why isn’t the ambulance here for him yet? You should check on them.”

“Ifyoudon’t get an ambulance,hedoesn’t get an ambulance.”