Page 68 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

“Well, for better or for worse, someone knows where Luke is.”

“You called her?Nice!”Terry exclaimed.

They waited for another half hour, and finally, the doctor came out.Looking at her calm expression, Hallie thought there was probably nothing terribly wrong.

“Luke is in stable condition now,” the doctor announced.

Hallie felt a strong surge of relief flow through her whole body.She knew she had to act like Luke was her boyfriend, but maybe she was buying into that belief just a little.

“He’s had a bad concussion and a broken rib, a few bruises, but nothing life-threatening.”

“Can I see him?”

“Yes, but keep it short.He needs to rest.”

Hallie was first to reach the door, but Terry and the others were close behind her.She feared Luke would be tired and overwhelmed by their presence, but he actually smiled and tried to lift himself a little higher on the pillow.

“Hey, looks like I’m a popular patient,” he said.

Hallie wanted to tell him off for riding that horse, but she was too relieved to see him awake again.

“Hey, um, we just wanted to say, Luke,” Paul began, “that we’re sorry about what happened.It wasn’t supposed to go down that way.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry,” the others muttered, shuffling awkwardly.

“It’s fine,” Luke said, “It was my choice, and I got on that horse.”

“If I may say so, it was a damn good ride,” Ken remarked, and all of the guys nodded in agreement.

Luke smiled faintly.“Yes, it was.”

“How do you feel?”Hallie asked.

“A little queasy,” he said, “but not too much pain.I think they got me on something strong.”

“What do you all think you’re doing in here?”said a female voice.

A short woman with a proud stature marched into the room.It seemed Miss Santer had not been joking about getting there with all speed.

“Can’t you see he needs some rest?”she continued, shooing everyone out.“This is not the time for a parade of people.”

“Yeah, we should go,” Paul and the other cowboys mumbled as they trickled out of the room.

“Yeah, see you,” Hallie mumbled.She hoped Luke wasn’t going to be too mad at her.He might have figured out that she was the one who called Miss Santer, though at the moment he only looked mildly bothered.

“Good to see you’re alive, Luke,” Miss Santer said.“I’ll come back to see you tomorrow.”

Hallie waved to him as she left the room with Terry and Miss Santer.

“You and I need to talk,” Miss Santer said, staring pointedly at Hallie.“Alone.”

Hallie thought Terry would be disappointed not to find out the latest scoop about Miss Santer, but it seemed she had little choice.

“Right, that’s enough hospital drama for me,” Terry said, “I’ll see you at home, sis.”

Hallie was left alone with Miss Santer in the empty hallway.