Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Roz Denny Fox Page B

completed that, he recalled the last comment made by the fireman who’d been helping Annie, a suggestion about finding her a safe house for the night. His department budget didn’t stretch to putting any victim up in a hotel. But he was afraid gang leaders might send someone back here tonight. He debated the options that were open to him as he gave the house a final once-over. Having done the best he could with cleanup, he left a light burning over Annie’s kitchen sink, locked up and headed for the hospital.
    Fifteen minutes later, Sky turned into the parking lot of the nearest trauma center, which served lower Louisville and Briar Run. He met Koot driving out. They stopped their cruisers beside each other and both rolled down their windows.
    “How’s Sadie?” Sky peered into the car, where she sat beside Koot with her eyes closed. “And where’s Annie?” He didn’t see her in the backseat.
    “Busy night in the E.R.,” Koot said. “A doc was just going in to evaluate her. She insisted I take Sadie home, so I told her I was sure you’d be along shortly. Thank heavens Sadie’s not as bad as I feared,” the older cop admitted, relief evident in his voice. “The bullet grazed the underside of her arm. The doc said she was lucky. It’s soft tissue, which is why there was so much blood. I should’ve known that,” he said with some irritation. “But it’s hard to think like a cop when the person bleeding all over you is someone you love.”
    “It’s okay, Koot. You don’t have to apologize for being distracted, I understand. You get Sadie home. I’ll go see what’s up with Annie. If they finish with her and I’m not around, I wouldn’t put it past her to call a cab.”
    “I noticed she’s pretty unflappable. In fact, we ought to be plenty proud of both our ladies, Sky.”
    Sky pulled his lower lip between his teeth for a moment. “Yeah. But Annie’s not my lady. She’s a taxpayer in our district—that’s all. And considering the way she’s setting off the Stingers, she’s our department’s personal pain in the butt.”
    “Really?” Koot’s comment was mild compared to his expression, which implied that he thought Sky was full of baloney.
    Flustered by his coworker’s insinuation, Sky rolled up his window and drove on. His nerves jumped as he exited the car in the lot. To keep his hands steady, he buried them in the back pockets of his jeans. Sky didn’t know how he felt about Annie, and wasn’t sure he wanted to know. She piqued his interest on several levels. But he wasn’t happy his feelings were transparent enough for Koot to see that interest. After all, look at the disaster he’d made of his marriage. What did that say about his ability to pick a woman? The right woman . Chin lowered, Sky stiff-armed his way through the emergency room glass doors.
    Yowza! Koot hadn’t exaggerated when he’d said it was busy. People in obvious pain wriggled uncomfortably in their seats. A drunk jabbered out loud to no one. Kids and babies squalled. A fresh-faced boy looking too young to be a father walked his moaning, very pregnant wife past overflowing chairs. They avoided a pasty-faced woman vomiting into a bucket.
    A harried nurse stepped out of a door marked Private and called out a name. She glanced at Sky and, on recognizing him, said, “Chief Cordova, Lieutenant Talmage said you’d be in to collect the patient in examining room D. If you’d like, you could come on back and join her.”
    Sky weighed the possibility that they might have put Annie in a dressing gown. The thin gowns could reveal more than the wearer wanted. Oh, what the heck . “Thanks, Lou. I’ll go let her know I’m here at least.”
    He made his way down the corridor to room D, and poked his head around the curtain. Annie lay on an examining table with her head tipped back. An aide stood behind her, running a large comb with big teeth through Annie’s long black hair. Even from the doorway he could hear the tinkle of