Deadly Gift by Heather Graham

nurse gasped.
    Will Travis laughed.
    “I never!” the nurse said. She was a large, boxy woman, and indignation was clear on her features.
    “I’ll bet that’s true,” Amanda muttered nastily.
    “Amanda, my love, put on your coat, please,” Sean said from the bed. He seemed fully awake and aware, despite the mild sedative he had been given.
    “Oh. Oh, dear,” Amanda said sarcastically. She stooped smoothly to retrieve her coat.
    “Mrs. O’Riley, we’ll not have such behavior in this hospital,” the night nurse said firmly. “Ye’ve disturbed Mr. O’Riley, and he needs his sleep if he’s to be leaving in the morning.”
    “Fine,” Amanda said with a huff. She looked at Sean, and he looked back with a glimmer of humor in his eyes.
    “Sorry, dear,” he said, clearly amused.
    “You’ll have to leave,” the nurse insisted to Amanda.
    “Me? I’m his wife,” Amanda protested.
    “And ye canna be trusted,” the nurse said.
    “Dear, we’re leaving in a matter of hours,” Sean reminded her. Zach noticed that the older man still looked amused, and even a little bit proud. Well, he was in his seventies, with a beautiful young wife. He deserved to puff himself up a bit. “Zach, Amanda was just trying to cheer me up, but I think it would be better if I got some more sleep right now. Will you see her back to the hotel for me?”
    Zach glanced at Caer, and she looked back at him steadily. She would be here, and Will Travis had remained on duty. He bowed to Sean’s will and turned to Amanda.
    “Come on, Amanda, let’s get you back to the hotel. We all have to be up early, anyway.”
    She nodded grudgingly, then smiled at her husband. “Tomorrow night we’ll be back home, sweetie,” she said.
    “Where you’ll have to practice a bit of restraint for a while, as well,” Caer told her firmly.
    Amanda flushed furiously as Caer went on, “You’d be risking his life. Haven’t you understood that?”
    Amanda at last had the grace to appear abashed.
    “I only want to help Sean get better,” she announced indignantly. She stared at them all defiantly for a moment, then moved to the bed and kissed Sean tenderly on the forehead. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight for a moment.
    Then he released her. “Get on back to the hotel,” he told her.
    “Yes, darling,” she said, and straightened with great dignity.
    Unfortunately, the effect was ruined by the blinking lights that continued to shine from beneath her coat. She started for the door but stopped when Sean said, “Amanda?”
    “Yes?”
    “Your chest is still lighting up like a neon sign,” he informed her wryly.
    “Oh!” For the first time she actually had the grace to look embarrassed.
    She dug into her coat and found whatever little gizmo turned the lights out. Then she tossed the freshly coiffed length of her platinum blond hair from away from her face and proceeded out of the room.
    Zach followed her, glancing back at Caer. She offered him a small smile that she couldn’t quite conceal, and yet there was something grave in her eyes, and he knew that they were both wondering if Amanda had come out of love for her husband or…
    If she understood the gravity of the stress the illness had put on Sean’s heart, and had come offering what she knew might well be a death sentence.

6
    A manda sat next to Sean for the flight home, and Zach was next to Caer.
    She had told him that she had never flown before, and judging by her nervousness, that was certainly no lie.
    She was tense and embarrassed, but he couldn’t help being aware of the subtle scent of her perfume. When his arms brushed against hers, he felt her warmth and something deeper, her unique vitality and vibrancy, like pure fire. He moved quickly away, feeling ridiculous for being so entranced by a woman he couldn’t help being suspicious of. The thought haunted him constantly, like an otherworldly warning never to accept the obvious, and not to fall too deeply beneath the