Page 55 of Liberating Lily

And why was he so gorgeous when he smiled? It was killing her. She couldn’t fall for her kidnapper and let him do whatever he wanted to her.

Like tie her to the bed and have his wicked, probably delicious, way with her . . .

Brain, stop.

Lily rubbed at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Suddenly, he was next to her, lifting her up into his arms, and cradling her close. “Time for you to go back to bed.”

“No, I don’t want to go back to bed. I’ve spent enough time in bed. I want to do something. I want to figure this all out.”

“While I understand your need for answers. I’m not going to allow you to push yourself too hard, too fast. Understand?”

She gaped up at him. “I’m not fragile.”

Harvey carried her up the stairs. “I know you’re not fragile in your mind and in your heart, but at the moment, your body needs some care to get you up to a fighting weight. Right now, your job is to make sure you’re healthy. And to do that, you need to rest, eat, and not stress. My job is to find out who hurt you and make them pay.”

“What will you do?” she asked as he laid her on the bed and tucked her in.

“I’ll make sure that they spend the rest of their lives miserable,” he said.

She didn’t understand how he could do that, although she had a feeling that if anyone could, it was him.

“I want to know once you find out anything,” she said. “And I also want to know how you’ll make them miserable.”

He frowned, and she could tell he wanted to protest.

“This happened to me, and I’m tired of things happening to me that I have no say over. So I want you to do this for me.”

Lily wasn’t sure that she’d ever been this assertive in her life. However, she was tired of everyone else getting to make all the decisions for her.

Surprisingly, Harvey nodded. “All right. I’ll let you know what I intend to do, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to sway me from my plans.”

She guessed that was as good as she was gonna get.

“Now, you need to get some more rest. I’ll go get your lip balm for you. Use the bell if you need anything.” He gave her a stern look. He really was ridiculous, like she was going to ring a bell if she needed something. She’d just get up and get it herself.

But she’d run out of energy to argue, so she just nodded.

13

Harvey closed the door to the bedroom.

He’d gotten her handbag for her, cursing himself for not realizing that her lips were chapped. Eventually, she’d come to him immediately when she needed something.

He knew she wasn’t used to having someone look out for her. Her mother certainly never had. Nor had Rick.

Harvey was going to have to come up with something to take care of that bastard. It wasn’t enough that his family was simply broke. It would be too easy for Rick to glom onto another rich heiress and milk her for her money.

He couldn’t believe he’d had to pretend to be friends with that asshole for the past year.

But that was the price of doing business sometimes.

Ronan had wanted him to get close to Rick after he’d attempted to use his sister as collateral for a gambling debt. Ronan hadn’t liked that. Especially considering that Rick’s father was a senator. And one whom Ronan had done business with occasionally. They’d found out more than they’d bargained for about Rick and his father.

None of it good.

Harvey had done his part. He’d stuck close to that asshole to see what he could find out. The only good thing about being near Rick was Lily.

He hadn’t been able to make any moves for a start, not wanting to rock the boat with Rick. He’d thought her loyalty would be to her fiancé before he’d figured out that Rick was a complete and utter prick. And that Lily was lost. She wasn’t cold or removed. She was something else entirely.