“I’m sorry, Mr. Kent. This is standard hospital procedure. We need our patients fully prepared in case of any emergency. With the IV in your arm we can administer drugs immediately in case of anything sudden, like a seizure. We wouldn’t want to be searching for a vein at a time like that, would we?”
There was that word again…vein. For some reason it made him think of his blood draining out of his body. And for some reason he felt like Nurse Soledad F., as her name tag said, was enjoying this. Eyes narrowed, he gave her a suspicious glance. “And what if I refuse?”
“You won’t.” Her eyes full of challenge, she gave him a crooked grin. “Or else I’ll have to call you a baby.”
That did it. There was no way he was going to let this slip of a girl have anything over him. She might be the nurse from hell ready to torture him witless and he might be shaking in his boots even as she stared down at him but she didn’t need to know that. He stretched his arm out. “You’ll never have any reason,” he said through gritted teeth, “to call me baby.”
She gave him a self-satisfied smile. “We’ll see.” She came close then leaned over and used the medicated pad to swab a spot on his arm. “Now take a deep breath,” she said, almost gently. “You’ll feel a tiny prick then it will be over in a second.”
Ransom knew when to drop the tough guy act. He drew in a deep breath according to her instructions and as much as he wished he didn’t have to, he closed his eyes and turned his face away. It was either that or fall into a dead faint. It had happened before and he wasn’t about to let it happen again. Definitely not in front of Miss Soledad F.
The feel of the needle piercing his skin made him bite down on his lower lip but, like she’d said, it was over pretty quick. By the time she’d pressed tape on it and stepped away he could actually peep at the contraption attached to his arm. He drew in another deep breath and let it out slowly. It was only then that he looked up at her.
Soledad had a broad smile on her face. “Well done, Mr. Kent. You did better than I expected.”
Now what the hell did that mean? Not wanting to hear the answer to that one, Ransom didn’t bother to vocalize his thoughts.
“Now just relax,” she continued, still smiling like she wasn’t the same person who’d been his bulldog neighbor for the past couple of months. “I’ll soon be back to give you your enema.”
What the… Ransom’s head jerked up and his mouth fell open. “What enema?”
But even as the words left his throat she was laughing and pulling the curtains closed and then she was gone.
Ransom let his head fall back into the pillows and his nostrils flared as his breathing quickened. The wicked witch was back and she was out to have his hide for lunch.
He was at her mercy and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
CHAPTER FOUR
“An enema. She got me good, bro.” Ransom was chuckling as he watched his brother pull up a chair by his hospital bed. “But I’ll find a way to get her back. You can count on that.”
Ridge laughed but as he sat down he was shaking his head. “She sounds like a sharp one. I’m not so sure you’ll get the better of a girl like her. You were never the sharpest knife in the drawer and now with that bump on your head…”
“Hey, watch it, bud,” Ransom growled. “I’m still your big brother and I can whup your butt any time.” His threat was nullified by the big grin on his face.
“Boys, behave yourselves.” Mother Kent looked from one to the other then tilted her head toward the third man in the hospital room. “Why can’t you both be more like Ryder? Look how calm and collected he is. So well behaved.”
“Mama’s boy,” Ridge teased, giving his brother a sardonic grin.
Ryder didn’t even spare him a glance. After years of living in a house full of rambunctious brothers he was more than used to the jabs. “So when are they going to let you out of your cell?” he asked, ignoring Ridge who looked like he was trying to come up with some other way to annoy him.
Ransom shrugged, trying to look relaxed. “Maybe by tomorrow. They said they wanted to keep me a couple of days for observation.” Then, of their own volition his fingers started tapping the cotton-covered surface of the bed.
Ridge gave a snort. “Yeah, and you want to get out of here like yesterday.”
Ransom grimaced. “That obvious, huh?”
“You betcha.”
That made Maggie Kent smile. “You’re always the impatient one, Ransom, always the first to get up and go. But this time,” she said with a shake of her head, “it’s time to take it slow. You’ve suffered a serious injury and the worst thing you could do is rush things. If the doctors say you need to stay here and rest then that’s what you need to do.” By the time the last words came out her tone had turned firm. Mama Kent had gone into serious mothering mode.
As Ransom looked over at his mother, her brow softly wrinkled as she regarded him with eyes full of concern, his heart swelled with an emotion he knew was love. No matter how old he grew he would never stop loving Magdalena Kent, the woman who had opened her heart and her home to four homeless waifs.
He’d been the first to be adopted by the Kents. They told him he’d joined them when he’d been only two years old, the child of two unfortunate souls who died in a motor vehicle accident. Two years later Ridge joined him then came Ryder and finally, when Ransom was all of eight years old, there came Rafe.
At the thought of his youngest brother Ransom’s lips tightened. Rafe. The wayward sheep in the family. The one who’d always been – and probably would always be – a major source of stress for both their parents.
He almost groaned as he opened his mouth to ask the question. He could almost guess the answer before the words even left his mouth. Still, he had to ask. “So what’s Rafe up to now? Nowhere near the good old U.S. of A, I can bet.”
“No quite,” Ridge said, his tone harsh. “But close. The kid takes it as his duty to stay as far from home as he possibly can. Always in a different country. Would live on a different planet if he could.”