Keeping Her Guilty Secret (Forever Yours Trilogy) by Anna James Page B

me?”
    “I did, but you didn’t answer so I left a message and then called Reed.”
    He uttered a soft curse. “I’m sorry. My phone died after my conference call earlier. I left it in the car, charging, when I arrived here.” He touched his hand to her face and stroked his thumb over her cheek.
    She stared up at him. His eyes radiated with an emotion she couldn’t quite decipher. Care and concern, yes, but there was much more. “I’m okay,” she whispered.
    He brushed his lips over hers. “Thank God.”
    She wrapped her arms around his waist and sank into the solid strength of him.
    “What happened?” he asked.
    “I was on my way back to the office when he came up on me from behind.”
    “How did your coat get torn?”
    “He had a knife.”
    Max closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath, then pulled her tighter against him. She flinched when he touched her shoulder.
    He eased her back and stared down at her, his eyes flashing. “He hurt you?”
    The anguish in his voice was almost her undoing. “It’s not bad. I’m just a little sore.”
    “Where else are you hurt?”
    “My left arm.” She’d extended it out in front of her to break the fall.
    He removed her coat and lifted her hand to examine the appendage. His muffled oath startled her and she peered down to see what had upset him. A large area of skin had been abraded and a blue and purple bruise formed over the entire area.
    “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
    “I can’t. I—”
    He shook his head. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”
    “Go home, Nicole. Whatever you have to do here can wait until you’re feeling better,” Reed said.
    She sighed. “Okay, but my car is here and—”
    “Don’t worry. We’ll get it later,” Max said.
    “Kate needs it tonight.”
    “I’ll drive the car back to your place and grab a cab back to the office,” Reed said.
    She nodded, relieved. Somewhere along the way her head had started pounding and all she wanted now was to go home.
    Once inside Max’s car, she tilted the seat back and closed her eyes.
    “Where were you when this happened?”
    “A couple of blocks away from Cartwright Jewelers.”
    “What were you doing there?”
    She put the seat back to its original upright position. “Kate needs five thousand dollars for school by the end of the week and—”
    “You don’t have the money.”
    “No.”
    “Why didn’t you come to me?”
    “We’ve been through this before. I’m not taking money from you. Kate is my responsibility and I will take care of her.”
    “You could have been hurt badly or worse.”
    His voice trailed off, and she shivered at his implication. “But I wasn’t and all he got was my purse which, thankfully, didn’t contain the check I got from the jewelers.”
    “You still have the check?”
    She nodded. “I was in a hurry to get back to work so I shoved it in my pocket and left.”
    “What did you sell to get that kind of money?”
    “My mother’s diamond pendant,” she said quietly.
    His eyebrow arched up. She stopped him before he could say anything. “It’s not like I wanted to but . . .” She been about to say there’d been no other choice but he’d argue with her on that score and she didn’t want to start a fight. “This is a great opportunity for Kate and I didn’t want to see her miss out.”
    He didn’t say anything more and they drove the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the house, he helped her out of the car.
    “I’ll draw a hot bath for you.”
    She sighed. A bath sounded heavenly. “First, I have to call the credit card company and report my card stolen.”
    He nodded. Once inside the house, he asked, “Where do you keep your pain reliever?”
    “Upstairs in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.”
    “I’ll get it.”
    He disappeared upstairs. She took off her coat and walked into the kitchen to throw it in the trash, pausing for a moment to retrieve her phone, then went back to the living room