Page 27 of Her Wicked Hero

Zed looked over at the two women and the baby and weighed their options. He really wanted to get the child proper care. “I’ll take it under advisement. We’ll see how Hana is doing. I don’t want her to suffer needlessly.”

“Makes sense. Just keep me up-to-date.”

“Dex, we have another issue I need you to check into. Marcia said that Raymond was planning on handing her over to a man named Jefferies. He said they expected Brockman would skim monies from the ops.”

Dex was silent for a long moment. “Any amounts mentioned?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. I’ll check this out. This girl did good. She did damn good.”

Zed looked over at Marcia and smiled slowly. “Yeah, she did,” he agreed. “Call me when you find out something.”

Zed walked over with a huge armful of leaves. “This should make it more comfortable for them to rest. I also have a change of clothes we can lay out on top of this to act as a sheet.” Marcia watched in fascination as Zed made a makeshift bed in less than two minutes. Nurul gave him a sad smile and nodded her head in thanks.

“Looks like Hana is feeling better,” he said.

Zed’s teeth shone white in the dark. The man had an outstanding smile.

“I think the medicine and splint are allowing her to sleep. I just hope that Nurul will be able to sleep tonight.” Marcia shoved the heel of her hand against her forehead. She couldn’t get the picture of Raymond shooting Nurul’s father out of her mind. She jumped when Zed’s hand touched her shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay, Marcia?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m the bait who managed to get Nurul and her father to come to the shore and allow that monster come into their lives, why wouldn’t I be okay?” The pain in her cheek increased tenfold as she ground her teeth together, trying to stop a sob from escaping.

“Marcia, you can’t blame yourself.”

“Oh really?” she said bitterly. “Who else is there to blame? I should have refused Raymond. I should have fought him. I should have just told him no.”

“You had no way of knowing this is what would have happened,” Zed said softly. She wanted to shrug off his hand, it felt warm and comforting, and she didn’t deserve it. She ground her teeth together even harder, then gasped at the pain that pierced up into her eye. Zed cupped both of her shoulders.

“Querida, you have to relax, you’re hurting yourself.”

“I deserve to hurt,” she cried out.

Nurul called out her name. Dammit. Marcia brushed off Zed’s hands and bent to Nurul who had been resting with Hana.

“Shhhhh, I’m fine Nurul,” Marcia crooned. “Everything’s fine,” she smiled. She stroked her hand down Nurul’s arm. “Go to sleep. Everything will be just fine, I promise,” Marcia continued to speak softly until the young woman’s eyes closed.

“You’re good at that.”

Marcia turned tiredly to look at Zed. “I’m good at what?” she asked.

“Giving comfort.”

“Yeah…well…” What could she say to that?

Nurul moved, it was clear she had fallen asleep and was now stretching out. Marcia scooted away from her to give her a little more space, but that meant she moved closer to Zed.

“I ran out of blankets and extra clothes,” he said.

“I don’t need it. I can just lay on the ground.”

Zed gave her a considering look. “That is definitely an option. I can go and get you more leaves, and I’ll try to make you something as comfortable as possible. Or you can just lean on me. It’s your choice.”

Well, that wasn’t a choice at all. The man was huge. After spending a day with another big man who was a psychopath Marcia was stunned at the level of trust she had for Zed. It was as if a long-buried part of her recognized his innate honor.

“I don’t know. The cold ground or your body heat. I have one question. Do you snore?”