Ed stared down at Georgie, trying to rein in his temper. He’d been so close to hitting that bastard, Greg. If Xavier hadn’t come in when he had . . . fuck.
He could tell she was trying to pull herself together. But she was still shaky. What the hell had she been dreaming about to scream like that? He’d been heading back here from the nurses’ station when he’d heard the blood-curdling yell.
“Where am I? How did I get here?” Georgina asked.
“You’re in Wishingbone hospital,” Xavier told her. “You collapsed last night. Now, why don’t you sit back, sweetheart, and I’ll take your vitals.”
Ed’s hands tightened into fists as possessiveness flooded him. What the fuck was Xavier doing? Did he flirt with all his patients like this? He should stop pushing his luck before Ed gave his pretty boy face some character. Like a broken nose.
Okay. Calm. Remember, you’re the sheriff. You’re the voice of reason. You’re not crazy like the rest of them.
“Come on, lie back for me,” Xavier encouraged.
Ed liked that her gaze shot to his. Almost as though looking for permission or reassurance. This was a side to her he hadn’t seen other than that night he’d kissed her. And when Loki had tried to kidnap her. She’d been vulnerable and afraid. Very unlike the uptight FBI agent she portrayed to the rest of the world.
And he had a pretty good idea which one was the real Georgie. Question was, why did she hide that side of herself? Because of her job? Or another reason?
As Xavier checked her temperature and blood pressure, she kept her gaze on Ed. He gave her a small smile. “You gave us quite a scare.”
“I did?” She frowned. “I don’t really remember what happened. How did I collapse? Why am I hooked up to an IV and heart monitor?”
“You don’t remember any of it?” Ed asked, worried at the sound of that. He glanced over at Xavier but he had his poker face on. “You don’t remember going for a run?”
“I went for a run? Wait, yes, I do remember that.” She bit her lip, obviously trying to think.
“I went to the motel to look for you. Kiesha was worried because she hadn’t heard from you all day. I tried calling you, for Kiesha, not for me. So I thought I’d see if you’d left, you know, to put Kiesha’s mind at ease. Not because of any other reason. I mean, I figured you’d been called away on a job, not that you ran off like last time . . . shit.”
Both Xavier and Georgina were gaping at him. He didn’t blame them. He was rambling. Only problem was, he couldn’t seem to stop.
“You weren’t there, of course. But the guy in the motel room next to you said you’d left for a run earlier. We both went looking for you. I found you out on Old Road. It’s quite a bit out of town, seems you were running for over an hour and a half.” He frowned down at her. “Why were you running for so long? And in the dark with a cold front coming in? When I found you, you’d collapsed on the side of the road. It had just started to rain, you were unconscious. Someone could have run you over. You could have died of pneumonia. What were you thinking?” He crossed his arms over his chest, scowling down at her.
“I’m sorry you were put out having to come find me, sheriff,” she said stiffly.
Wait. That wasn’t what he’d meant. Fuck. “I didn’t mean that I was put out. You could have been really hurt. I was worried.”
“About me?”
“Yeah, about you.”
She appeared puzzled. “I didn’t think you liked me. Why would you care?”
“Umm, well, we’ve worked together. And I am the sheriff. While you’re in my territory you’re under my protection. It’s part of my job to take care of you.”
“Dear God, this is like watching a train wreck,” Xavier uttered.
Ed sent him a quelling look.
“I can assure you, sheriff, that I can take care of myself,” she said stiffly. Then she turned to Xavier. “I often run that long without problems. What happened this time? Why am I in here?” That mask was back. No emotion leaked through to give him any idea what she was thinking.
Fuck.
He’d messed up. Why did he say that stuff about it being part of his job?
Because you’re worried that if you tell her you actually care that she’ll run or go all cold on you.
Which she’d just done. Because he’d acted like an ass and pretended to only care because of his job. Because they were work colleagues.
Xavier gave him a sympathetic look. Great, now he was being pitied. What else could go wrong?