Turning to Cody, she saw his jaw tighten. His mouth flat-lined. Feeling out of sorts too? He’d been so calm in there, so reliable. Yet she’d felt a tremor in his body in that all too brief moment he’d held her close. His hug had been like a welcoming home, a comfort, a much-needed place of calm and care and warmth. Only during that hug had she known for sure how rattled he’d been by what had gone down. She liked that he’d shared the whole episode, including the fear. She stepped closer to him, still needing his strength, his deliberate calm.
Which was enough to make her step away again. She must not need anything about him, from him. Needing something from a man had got her into trouble before, had led to the wrong marriage for her.
‘Hey, Harper, are you all right?’ George stepped up to her. He was head of the department and her brother’s friend—which meant Jason would already know about this, damn it all.
She swallowed, pain from where her throat had been flattened more apparent now she wasn’t on high alert. ‘I’m fine.’ Her voice came out as a high-pitched squeak. Great. Now she was sounding like that sugar-overloaded toddler.
The department was in chaos with police going about their business while nurses and doctors hovered around the area, looking like they didn’t know what to do or where to go, so they resorted to staring at Cody and her.
George took her arm. ‘My office. Both of you. Jess, you too. Where’s Matilda?’
Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen her. I’m on lunch break now, so can I go to the canteen? My boyfriend’s there.’
‘Of course you can, as soon as you’ve talked to the police. They’ll want to ask you all a few things.’ George looked around at his staff. ‘Okay, everyone, we have a waiting room full of patients, and one in the ambulance bay. Let’s try to get back to normal as quickly and quietly as possible. The police will be here for a while, and I expect you to be helpful and answer any of their questions.’ He held a hand up. ‘However, I do not want any one telling patients what has happened.’
Harper grimaced. Like he had any hope of every single person in the department keeping their mouth shut, but she supposed he had to put it out there. Texts would already be flying around the city, probably the whole country, and the moment Jess saw her boyfriend she’d be yabbering her head off. Not that Harper could blame the girl. Talking was a way of relieving the stress. Even she felt a desire to tell someone what had happened, but she wouldn’t. That would be totally unlike her. But then how often did she have a gun held to her head? Her muscles tightened as renewed fear grabbed her.
‘Cody, Harper, come with me. I’ll get you coffee sent from the cafeteria shortly. And some food.’ George’s answer to everything was coffee followed by food. ‘Come on. The sooner you talk to the police, the sooner I can send you home for the day.’
Harper shook her head. ‘You said the waiting room’s full. I can’t just disappear.’ At least, that was what she tried to say, but her voice was raspy and all broken up. Now that she was no longer dealing with the assailant and everything else, the pain in her throat seemed to be taking over. She needed something else to concentrate on so it would go on the back burner, at least until she got home.
Beside her, Cody growled, ‘I’m sure the other doctors don’t expect you back on the floor today.’ Then his hands clenched at his sides. ‘Gawd, what I don’t want to do to that lowlife.’
‘Not happening,’ she croaked.
‘Look what he’s done to you, all because of his greed.’
It hadn’t been only her. She spoke slowly and tried to ignore the pain. ‘George, Jess is in shock. Someone needs to check her over.’
‘On to it.’
She placed a hand on Cody’s forearm. Since when had she done this ‘touching colleagues’ stuff? She guessed that gun had a lot to answer for. Working hard at getting her words out clearly, she said, ‘Don’t let him get to you. I’m all right. Truly.’
Cody covered her hand with his for a quick touch, sending his warmth through her. Again. She could get used to that. But she wouldn’t.
‘You’re more than all right,’ he muttered before glaring across the room to where the assailant was being hauled roughly out of the department by two cops.
He no longer looked quite so dapper or smug, but the eyes that locked on her momentarily were filled with hatred.
She shivered. ‘Evil. Pure evil.’ As Harper watched the man being taken away, she felt some relief seep into her body and loosen a little of the tension gripping her. Turning to Cody, she asked, ‘How are you feeling?’ She swallowed and kept going. ‘You were right in the middle of it all. You hit the floor hard when you leapt on him.’ She still couldn’t get the sight of him doing that out of her head, probably wouldn’t for days.
Eyes the colour of spring paddocks locked on her. ‘Think my hip took a bit of a hammering but I didn’t feel a thing at the time. I’ll probably know about it tomorrow.’ His wide mouth tipped upward into a beautiful smile that sent ripples of pleasure through her. He really was ridiculously good-looking.
‘Ouch.’ She didn’t know if she was referring to his hip or her reaction to him.
His smile, like that hug, enveloped her in the sensation that they were in this together and that no one else had a part in it. Sort of like being in a cocoon with just Cody, which gave her a sense of it not being all bad. Not that she could find anything good about the last twenty or so minutes. She’d lost a patient. She hated that. No matter that the odds had been stacked against Mick from the moment he’d swallowed those drugs; she’d have done everything possible to turn the situation around—if she’d been given half a chance. If seemed to be the word of the day.
Someone tapped Harper’s shoulder, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning around, she half-expected to find the gunman standing there smirking at her. ‘Don’t touch— Oh. Sorry, George.’ She’d totally overreacted. She rubbed her temples to calm herself down and try to ease the pounding that had cranked up harder than ever.
George gave her an understanding look. ‘Take it easy. He’s gone, Harper.’
‘Yes.’ He had, but how long before the sense of dread he’d caused left her? Going to sleep tonight might be a lot more difficult than usual.
‘The police want statements from all four of you. Especially you and Cody. That’s not happening in here with patients being treated. They’d overhear everything.’ Despite the presence of the armed defenders and two detectives, the department head was in charge, and letting her know it even before she argued that she needed to be busy right now.
If—that damned word again—she was being honest, she knew she wasn’t in any fit state to be dealing with emergencies or even the mundane illnesses presenting at the moment. But the idea of sitting in the office doing nothing but answering endless questions made her sick to the stomach. Glancing at Cody, she saw sympathy in his gaze. I don’t need sympathy. Especially not from you when you probably feel much the same way I do. She had to admit he didn’t look at all fazed by any of this, but he had been shaky in that hug. ‘I suppose coffee would be good,’ she conceded.
*
‘I’m surprised you think you can swallow anything.’ Cody watched Harper struggling to cope with the aftermath of the assault. She looked annoyed and a tad bewildered. No longer fearful, though, thank goodness. What would she do if he hugged her again? She held her hands against her stomach with her fingers entwined and knuckles white. He suspected she was desperately hanging on to her self-control. The shock was catching up, and he wasn’t immune either.
‘I’ll manage,’ she snapped. Was getting feisty another way of covering up her feelings?
‘Shouldn’t one of our doctors take a look at your throat?’ he asked. There could’ve been serious damage done.
‘That’s next on my agenda. You really shouldn’t talk too much until everything’s settled down.’ George nodded at Harper. ‘Want me to talk to Jason as well?’
‘No.’ Harper shook her head s
harply at the boss, her eyes glittering angrily. ‘No.’ Then, ‘I presumed you already had.’
‘Been a bit busy. You do realise someone will have put it out there on the net? Jason probably already knows, and the rest of your family.’ George gave her a pointed look.
If that throat had been in proper working order Cody had no doubt she’d have been telling George where to go, and it wouldn’t be somewhere nice. She wasn’t known for holding back on her thoughts, no matter who she was talking to. Who was Jason anyway? Her partner? She didn’t wear a wedding ring. He had to be a significant person in her life for George to think he should be told about what had gone down. But, then again, why wouldn’t Harper want this Jason character to know?
‘I figured that since my vocal cords are in excellent working order I should be the one to phone him and say you’re all right,’ George continued as though Harper hadn’t glared hard enough to poleaxe him.
Harper sighed as she lifted her hands in resignation. ‘You’re right. But no drama, okay?’
The man grunted. ‘What are the chances?’
‘None,’ Harper muttered as Karin rushed up to engulf her in a hug.