The Thrill of You Page 16

  The next two days were much different. From midmornings until late in the evenings her hospital room was a revolving door. She’d been visited by most of the Coles, including Mikhail’s parents. They came down from Marathon just to meet and see her. She met Nikita and Chase Buchanan, just back from their extended honeymoon in Alaska. And of course having mega movie star David Montgomery and his wife, Natalia, plus music mogul Spencer Cage with his wife, Tatiana, standing around her bedside was totally unreal. Everyone was friendly and accepting. She just wished Mikhail was there with her.

  Chapter 15

  Cyanna was feeling much better. She’d been in the hospital for four days, and she was ready to go home. She talked to a nutritionist, a gynecologist and a stress management specialist. Her wrist didn’t hurt as much, and her headache was completely gone. She was still stiff and bruised, but she was also delightedly pregnant.

  It had been days since Cyanna had seen Mikhail. He’d been there with her the first night, of that she was certain. After that he wasn’t. Whenever she asked someone in the family about him, the story was always the same thing—he’ll be in as soon as he can. But he never came. She was told to focus on getting better and she did. Her blood pressure was down and today she was leaving the hospital.

  She got up early, showered and changed into her street clothes. She sat on the side of the bed, waiting for Dominik to arrive and discharge her. Surprisingly he hadn’t been in since early morning the day before. Another doctor came in to see her in the evening and Shauna stopped by before she went home. But as long as someone signed her discharge papers she’d be happy.

  Her cell phone rang. She picked it up and checked the caller ID. She recognized Donna’s phone number and answered. “Hey, girl,” Cyanna said joyfully. “What’s up? How are you?”

  “I should be asking you that question. How are you feeling today?” Donna asked.

  “Much better,” she said happily.

  “Sorry, kiddo, but you don’t sound much better.”

  “Trust me. I sound and look a lot better than I was a few days ago.”

  “So when are you getting out of there?”

  “My new doctor said I’ll be discharged later this afternoon, but I haven’t seen Dominik yet. I saw him yesterday morning and that’s it. Another doctor came in last night and again earlier this morning. I asked about Dominik, and she said he was out of the hospital on personal business.”

  “Okay, when are you getting the bandage off your wrist?”

  “In a few days,” Cyanna said.

  “Good. You need to start practicing again. Have you decided if you’re coming back to New York right away or staying there?”

  Cyanna thought a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I’ll probably go back to New York in a few days.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Cyanna sighed heavily. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know.”

  “Cyanna, you love him—that’s obvious. Stay there with him. Make it work. You can practice from there just as well as you can here.”

  “It’s not that simple. He deceived me. He knew Derek was alive.”

  “I’m sure he had his reasons,” Donna said.

  Cyanna didn’t reply. There was a knock at her door. A nurse peeked in, rolling a machine behind her. “Donna, the nurse is here. I’ll call you back after I’m discharged this afternoon.”

  “Sure. I’ll talk to you later.”

  The nurse took Cyanna’s blood pressure, temperature and other vital signs. When she left, Cyanna went into the bathroom to get the rest of her toiletries together. After a few minutes, she walked back into the room and stopped cold. There was a man standing there. He had his back to her, looking at the flowers. For a second she didn’t recognize him, then her heart soared and she thought Mikhail had finally come. Then she realized it wasn’t him. She whispered the man’s name, “Derek.”

  He turned and smiled boyishly. “Hey, little sis,” he said.

  Tears rolled down Cyanna’s cheeks. “Am I dreaming?” she said.

  “I hope not.”

  She rushed over, charged into him and flung her arms around his neck tightly. She closed her eyes and silently thanked God for the gift of seeing her brother again. When she finally stepped back she touched his face tenderly. “How are you?”

  “I’m back. But I should be asking you that question. You’re the one in the hospital. How are you?”

  She nodded, still teary-eyed. “Better, so much better.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Out of the blue she punched him in the arm. He smiled and chuckled with the same boyish charm that always melted her heart. “Oh my God, look at you. What did they do?”

  “I’m fine. I just told you,” he assured her.

  “No, you’re not fine. You’re bruised and scarred and heaven knows what else they did to you. And dead, they said you were dead. I had a memorial service for you,” she added, then punched him again. “You put me through hell.”

  “They were obviously mistaken. I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry isn’t enough—they lied to me,” she said.

  “I know. It wasn’t my decision. That was someone else.”

  “Yeah, obviously. So what happened to you? Are you okay? Where have you been all this time?”

  “I was on assignment. It didn’t go as expected. When the helicopter went down I—” She started crying again. “No, no, don’t get upset. I hear you’re supposed to be stress-free. I also hear I’m gonna be an uncle.”

  She hugged him again. “Where were you all this time?” He shook his head. “I hired a private investigator and one of his associates took a picture of you. He said you were captured and being held hostage. I was on my way to Bogotá.”

  “Bogotá?”

  “Yes, that’s where I thought you were.”

  “No, not Bogotá. This private investigator was obviously just conning you and taking your money.”

  “But he had a picture of you being held hostage. I saw you.”

  “It was probably doctored,” he said. She sighed heavily. “When are you getting out of here?”

  “Today, hopefully soon.”

  “And you are feeling better?”

  She nodded. “Yes, much better.”

  “And your wrist?” he asked, looking down at the bandage.

  “My wrist is getting better and stronger every day.”

  “Good. So are you going back to New York when you get out?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure—what about Mikhail?”

  “How do you know about Mikhail? Wait a minute. How did you know about my blood pressure and the baby?” she added.

  “Cyanna, I can’t stay long. My ride is waiting for me outside. I’ll be away for a few more days and then we’ll talk.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be back soon. I promise,” he assured her.

  She nodded, knowing he either had another job to do or he needed to meet with his superiors. They stood and she hugged him again. “Be safe.”

  “I will. Take care of yourself.”

  He stood and started across the room, then stopped and turned to come back. He shook his head. “I can’t,” he said.

  Cyanna stood. “What are you talking about? You can’t what?”

  “Sit down for a minute,” he told her.

  “Derek, what is it?”

  “Sit down. We need to talk,” he said. She sat back down. Her heart trembled. “I promised I wouldn’t tell you, but I think you need to know. He loves you. I could see it in his eyes when he talked about you. He made me promise to watch out for you if anything—”

  Cyanna’s heart lurched. “Mikhail. What happened? Where is he?”

&nb
sp; Derek nodded. “He came and got me out.”

  “What do you mean out? Out of where?”

  Derek took a deep breath and sat next to his sister. “That doesn’t matter. There was a confrontation,” he began. Cyanna’s eyes widened as she looked him over quickly. “No, no, I’m fine. I wasn’t hit. Mikhail was—”

  “What?” she rasped out slowly.

  “Calm down,” he said immediately, seeing the overwhelming concern in her face. “He didn’t want me to tell you this because he knew you’d get upset. But I know you can handle it.”

  She took a deep breath, remembering her calming exercises, and nodded silently. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Just tell me what happened,” Cyanna said slowly.

  “Mikhail was hit in the exchange. He went down. I’m not sure of the extent of his injuries.”

  She shook her head, unbelieving. “What do you mean you’re not sure? You were there, right?”

  Derek nodded. “Yes, I was there. He was shot and then he fell. By the time we got to him he was...” He paused, seeing his sister’s horrified reaction. “When I left, his brother was at his side.”

  “Dominik,” she said. Derek nodded. “Where is he now, here in the hospital?” she asked anxiously.

  “No, Dominik met up with us en route.”

  “Where did he take him?” she asked anxiously but still a lot calmer than even she expected.

  “As far as I know, they were headed home.” Derek’s cell phone beeped. He looked at the caller ID. “I have to go. Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, go. Do what you have to do. I’ll be fine.”

  He kissed her cheek, stood and walked out. Cyanna walked over to the bedside and picked up the hospital phone. The operator answered. “Yes, I need to be connected to Shauna Coles. It’s an emergency.” A few seconds later she was put through to Shauna’s office.

  “This is Shauna Coles.”

  “Shauna, it’s Cyanna. I need to get out of here now.”

  Shauna paused a brief moment. “Cyanna...”

  “It’s not open for discussion. I need to get to Mikhail.”

  “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

  * * *

  Mikhail opened his eyes slowly and sat up. The movement stopped him in his tracks. A sharp stabbing pain shot into his side and shoulder simultaneously. He groaned and winced, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. He paused a few minutes to gather himself. He looked around the room, recognizing he was still in his bedroom on Cutter Island.

  His balcony doors were open, and a warm breeze was blowing into the room. It was daytime. He noticed his cell phone on the nightstand. He grabbed it and checked the time. It was eleven o’clock in the morning. He had been in bed for the past two days. It was time to get up, get off this rock and get back to his life. He sat up farther then stopped.

  “Whoa. Whoa. Hey, slow down there. You need to take it easy for a while,” Dominik said as he walked into the bedroom.

  Mikhail looked across the room. “I’m fine,” he gritted out tightly. “Just a little stiff getting up, that’s all.” The pain was just as intense as it was before, but this time he disregarded it. After a few deep breaths, he shifted off the bed, stood and took a few steps. Hearing laughter coming from outside, he glanced at the balcony doors, then continued to the bathroom. He stood at the counter.

  “You shouldn’t be getting up at all yet,” Dominik called out. “You need at least another twenty-four hours’ rest.”

  Mikhail signed heavily as he turned his face from side to side, looking at himself in the mirror. His hooded eyes were shadowed but revealed nothing of his days in South America.

  He recalled what had happened the night they went in. They had done surveillance and it showed the area would have limited resistance. At one hundred yards they had their target. As soon as they had gotten eyes on the building, they moved in. They got Derek out. There was gunfire. Smoke. An explosion that rocked the small village. After that everything went sideways and it was pure chaos. One lucky shot clipped him in his side. It slammed him against a rock and he fell, dislocating his shoulder. But all in all stumbling out of a jungle in the dead of night was better than not getting out at all. They met the chopper and headed back across the border, then to the States and back home. And just like that it had been over.

  Twenty minutes of insanity. They had what they had come for plus four other hostages, who turned out to be members of a UN peacekeeping operation. The State Department had been in stalled negotiations, but their operation cut to the chase and got them all out. Still, they knew this wasn’t over. The State Department would be in contact with them, and official actions would be levied. They’d all be reprimanded, that was for sure, but rescuing the UN representatives would clear them instantly.

  Mikhail rubbed at the new stubble on his face and decided it was time for a change. He shaved, leaving a goatee and mustache in place. He pulled the bandage from his side. He’d know his brother’s stitches anywhere. They were tight, close-knit and neat, assuredly leaving the barest scar possible. He washed up and redressed his wounds. He put on some clothes and headed out into the great room. This was the strongest he’d felt in days. “What are you still doing here? I thought I told you to get back to Cyanna yesterday.”

  “Cyanna’s fine. She’s being discharged today. You, on the other hand, aren’t. You need to rest. I’m very proud of those stitches, and I have no intention of redoing them because you have a hard head and won’t listen to sound medical advice.”

  “I hear you. I’m fine. You know this isn’t my first rodeo.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever. How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been shot and then fell off a mountain.”

  Dominik chuckled. “Well, I guess that means that your memory’s intact. That’s exactly what happened.”

  He looked around the great room. Dominik was the only one there. “I heard laughter outside.”

  “David and Natalia are here with the boys,” Dominik said. “They went down to the waterfall for a picnic. Nikita sent over lunch. You need to eat.”

  They went into the large kitchen. Mikhail sat down at the island counter, and Dominik pulled out two bottles of water. “Here you go—you need to hydrate.”

  “Thanks.”

  Dominik began pulling Nikita’s lunch out of the warmer and the refrigerator. By the time he finished, there was a mountain of food covering the counters. “Jeez,” Mikhail began. “It’s only the four of us and the boys. How much did Nikita send over?”

  “It looks like she sent everything in the kitchen. And actually, Shauna and the others will be here later this evening. We promised Mom and Dad we’d keep a close eye on you. That’s the only way they’d go back to Marathon. So, what do you want to eat?”

  “I’m not hungry,” Mikhail said, taking another sip of water.

  Dominik ignored him, knowing he had to eat something or pass out. “Like I said, we have everything—hot, cold, snacks, sandwiches, entrées, appetizers, desserts—basically the entire Nikita’s Café menu, plus a few things I had no idea she made.”

  Mikhail took the last sip of his water, placed the empty bottle on the counter in front of him, then looked at his brother. “How is she?” he asked, knowing Dominik would know he was asking about Cyanna.

  Dominik placed a second bottle of water and a sandwich he knew was one of his brother’s favorites in front of him. “She’s fine, and she’ll be fine as long as she keeps her blood pressure under control.”

  He nodded assuredly, then took a bite of the large sandwich. “She will. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “So, you want to tell me what you were thinking with this?”

  Mikhail shook his head. “I have no idea,” he confessed. “We met months ago when she had the memorial service for her
brother.”

  “But he’s not dead.”

  “Yeah, apparently when Derek’s chopper went down she began making some folks very nervous with her questions, so some brilliant idiot stamped his file as deceased thinking that would keep her quiet,” Mikhail said. Dominik shook his head. “I was sent to her to make sure she was okay. We had a connection that was scary crazy. That one weekend we talked, we loved, we laughed. It was like we’d known each other forever even though we’d just met. Like I said, scary crazy. I had to go. I walked away. When she came here, I couldn’t walk away again. She wanted a baby, my baby, and I wanted her.”

  Dominik nodded. “Well, it will be great having another baby in the family.”

  Mikhail nodded and smiled unguardedly. “Yeah, I’m gonna be a dad and hopefully a husband.” He paused. “I proposed to her.”

  Dominik smiled. “Yeah, I know. I saw the ring on her finger, but she didn’t say anything about it.”

  “That’s probably because she fell asleep before giving me her answer.”

  Dominik chuckled. “So what are you going to do?”

  Mikhail looked at his brother. There was only one thing to do. “I’m going to shower, get dressed and head back to Key West. Then I’m gonna find Cyanna and move heaven and earth to have her in my life. I love her. She loves me. And with our child we’re going to be a family,” Mikhail said as he stood and headed back to the bedroom to put his plan in motion.

  Dominik nodded and smiled his agreement. That’s exactly what he wanted to hear. He pulled out his cell phone and called his wife. She answered on the first ring. “Shauna, I need you to get Cyanna here as soon as possible.”

  Chapter 16

  The taxi barely stopped before Cyanna grabbed her bag, opened the door and got out. She paid and quickly climbed the steps and unlocked the front door. “Mikhail. Hello?” she called out as she stood in the foyer and looked around. The only answer was the echo of the empty house. She hurried up the staircase, calling out to him as she went. “Mikhail.” She stormed into the bedroom and looked around frantically. He wasn’t there, and it was obvious that he hadn’t been there in a few days. She went back downstairs, continuing to the kitchen and back patio.