Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“I don’t . . . I don’t think I’d sleep even if I went home.” All three men frowned. “But you don’t have to stay with me.”
“Stop that,” Ian commanded. “You know we’re staying.”
Jack just nodded.
Jameson studied her. Moving over to her, he took her hand in his, placing his fingers over her pulse. After a moment, he nodded. “All right, you can stay tonight. But you’re going to sleep in an actual bed.” He held up his hand as she went to protest. “These are the rules. I’m the doctor. If I wanted to, I could have you removed. Or I could have you admitted. And frankly, you look bad enough that no one would question me.”
Great. That was just lovely.
Such a boost to her ego.
“I’m going to have another bed wheeled in here for you. You’ll sleep in it. You’ll stay in the bed for at least eight hours. Understand me? Did you eat dinner?”
“She did,” Ian said in a strange-sounding voice.
“Excellent. So first, a shower. Then, rest. And I’m going to stay with you tonight.”
23
She shook her head. “No, you need your rest.”
“We’ll watch over her,” Jack said.
“The two of you need to go home and get some proper sleep.”
“She’s our charge,” Ian argued.
“You don’t trust me to watch over her?” Jameson challenged.
She didn’t understand why he wanted to stay, but she was too tired to try and work it out.
“I won’t let her out of my sight. You’re doing yourselves no favors by running yourselves ragged. How do you expect to care for her if you’re worn out? Besides, I think the hospital will feel better about how many people are sleeping in this room if one of them is my charming self.”
Ian snorted. “Right.”
“Honestly, I want to check that Maggie gets enough sleep. And if she doesn’t, then we’ll be having a chat about admitting and sedating her.”
Uh-oh.
That was something she didn’t want.
“Hey, I’m right here. You shouldn’t talk over me,” she grumbled.
“I will if I think you’re not making good choices about your own health,” Jameson said sternly.
Yikes. Was it wrong to be turned on right now?
It really, really is.
Jameson grasped hold of her chin, tilting her face back. “Understand?”
“Yes, Sir. I mean, yes, Jameson.”
Something filled his face. Something hot and hungry.
“You seem to have things well under control,” Jack said with a smirk.
As soon as Jack spoke, it seemed to break the spell between them and Jameson stepped back, looking shocked.
“I’m going to go get my stuff. I keep a spare bag in the doctor’s lounge. Be back in a minute.”
With a nod, he left.
She chewed her lip.
“Are you all right with this, Little girl?” Ian asked, squeezing her arm lightly.
“Yeah, I’m good. Have the three of you known each other a long time?” she asked.
“We’ve been friends since we were kids,” Ian told her.
“Oh? Did you all go to school together?”
Ian nodded. “Actually, we did. Jack and I grew up in a poor area of London. We didn’t have much, but my parents did what they could to put food on the table.”
“While my ma worked her ass off and my da spent it all at the race track,” Jack said lightly. “Or the pokies. Or the lottery. Whatever he could find to gamble on, he did.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry.”
Jack shrugged. “It was my life and I was used to it. Luckily, I didn’t have siblings to worry about like Ian. We went to the same school and quickly became friends. Well, I wanted to be his friend because he was the biggest kid in the class and I was the scrawniest.”
“So, did Jameson go to that school too?”
Ian snorted. “No. I doubt he ever went into our area of town. Nah, we met Jameson at a very prestigious boarding school that we all went to.”
“Oh.” She was confused. “You went to a boarding school?”
“When I was eleven, my parents died in a car crash,” Ian told her. “My grandparents took me and my younger brothers in. They didn’t want us to attend the same school we had been going to. It wasn’t the right image. They cut my mum off when she married my dad. Said she married beneath her or some shit. I didn’t want to go with them. Or to boarding school. I kept running away and going to Jack’s place.”
“By this time, my old man had been arrested,” Jack added. “And Ma was in a pretty good place without that bastard. Ian needed me, so I decided to try that fancy school with him.”
“You just . . . decided to try it?” How did that work?
“What Jack isn’t saying is that he’s smart as hell. The boarding school had a number of scholarships and Jack was able to win one. Of course, by the time he got into school, I’d been there a year. And I was pretty much hated by everyone. But most especially by the king of the school. Jameson.”