Stryker immediately straightened and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You had to have a lot of blood,” Kate said to Leyton.
Leyton thought this should be confidential patient information and was about to tell Stryker so when Kate added, “Stryker gave you blood. But I have to say, I ran a DNA test. Only men have a Y chromosome. A father will pass on the exact same Y chromosome to all his sons. Both of you have the exact same Y DNA patterns. Which means at least your biological father was the same. Not only that, you have much more DNA in common, which would indicate that you had the same birth mother as well. That means you are most likely full brothers.”
Stryker looked a little pale. Leyton felt a little woozy himself, only he told himself it was from the blood loss.
“So I guess the question is, if you know your accurate birth dates, what are they?”
Stryker looked at Leyton as if he didn’t want to be the first to say and waited for Leyton instead.
“June 5th, 1985,” Leyton said.
“June 6th, same year,” Stryker said, wearing a self-satisfied smug.
Kate smiled, pulled out her phone and checked on something. “I can see it now. Both are a bit of a rebel, but you’re both curious and want to learn new things. Family is important, you’re playful, charming, sociable, and…you both have a mischievous sense of humor. Independent, but super responsible, good natural instincts. Yep, sounds like the both of you.”
“You’re reading a horoscope?” Leyton asked, not trusting the doc would believe in that nonsense.
“You’re brothers. Congratulations. Be nice to each other. I don’t want to hear any fighting between the two of you. Oh, and your strength of character is having the art of diplomacy, charm, and wit. Just remember that.” Then Kate stalked out of the room.
Leyton scowled as much at Stryker as he did back. He knew the deputy had the hots for Kate. “Wait, Doc? What does it say about romantic relationships?”
That met with dead silence.
Stryker turned on his heel and stalked after Kate. “Kate, there’s got to be a mistake.”
“DNA testing proves there isn’t.”
“Our birth dates…”
“You are only one day off. One of you has got it wrong. Which means either Leyton’s a day older than you, or one of you has to decide to accept that you’ve got your birth date wrong. Or, you were born a few minutes after midnight, Stryker, and you’re the youngest, by nearly a day.”
“Hell, Kate,” Stryker said from the hallway as he walked with her down the hall toward her office.
Travis returned on crutches.
“I thought you were getting your therapy.”
“I am. This is some of it. I’m supposed to walk back that way in a minute. So is Stryker your brother?”
“Seems that way.” Leyton grabbed his phone and checked the Zodiac sign for his birth date.
“What are you looking up now?” Travis asked. He glanced at the page on Leyton’s phone and smiled. “Romantic relationships. She was right, you know. You’re too curious for your own good. Charming? Well, I guess with her you are. Diplomatic?” Travis laughed.
“Idealistic about romance. Rare to make the first move and takes time to settle down with someone long term.”
“Well, that’s true,” Travis said.
“Not this time it isn’t.” Leyton set his phone on the table and was still smiling when he got a call from the real estate woman. “You got a place for me?”
“A rental with option to buy. It’s a vacant building two doors down from the lot where the clinic stands. A cougar made a go of a craft shop, but it didn’t go over. So she wants to rent it out with an option to buy—“
“I’ll take it.”
“Don’t you want to see it first?”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll meet you over there. Just as soon as I find my clothes.”
“You’re at the clinic, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s time to check out.”
“Do you want me to pick you up?”
“I wonder what happened to my car.”
“Sheriff probably dropped it off at the clinic.”
“Then I’m good. Meet you in ten minutes.”
“Will do.”
He ended the call.
Travis said, “Got a place for us already?”
“I’m going to check it out.”
“Okay. I need to head back to the therapy room.” Travis hobbled off.
Leyton still felt tired from the blood loss, but he figured he needed to eat a juicy steak and…that’s just what Kate had wanted when they were making that long hike back to civilization. But should he just bring over the works, or wait until he had a place and invite her over so she wouldn’t feel…crowded, as Travis said. Then they could put on appearances they were dating, and she could keep up her nice family doctor image without offending anyone.
He was ready to take her back to their campsite by the creek and just enjoy being with her again alone, without anyone judging them or giving her grief. Like Stryker. Of all the damn things. Leyton had a brother!
He still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Not good, if Stryker thought he had a chance with Kate.
He yanked on his clothes, ignoring how rotten he felt, and once he was finished dressing, though he was shirtless—he guessed someone had thrown away his bloody T-shirt—he headed out of the room. He heard Elsie talking to Travis in another room, telling him to walk with her some now. Hell, Travis should have been running laps by now. Stryker was talking low to Kate in her office.
Leyton reminded himself he needed to get on with business. Buy the office for work and then see if the real estate agent had any residences nearby that he could buy, or lease with the option to buy.
He had considered that Kate might not be ready for settling down with him. Maybe never.
He let out his breath. That just wasn’t an option with him. Not the way he felt about her. Even now he had to curb his growly cougar nature when she was holed up in her office with Stryker.
Then he headed past the reception desk and three women sitting in the waiting area. April had the phone to her ear. “Yes, Mrs. Haverton, I can get you in—“ But then she looked up and saw Leyton heading out the door. “Wait, Mr. Hill. You haven’t been discharged yet!”
“I’ll take care of it later. Got to take care of some business.” Leyton headed out the door before April called the doctor and she stopped him. He was soon in his car, glad to be out of the clinic, and on his way down the road to the building a couple of doors down. He could have walked, but the way he was feeling, this was probably for the best anyway. On his phone, he checked the property values in the area, taxes, utilities, then parked in the parking lot for customers, once a yard for the quaint, two-story home with a wrap-around porch and fenced-in backyard.
When he saw Ms. Tremoine get out of her car about ten minutes later, all prim and proper in her jacket and skirt, heels, her hair done up in a bun, he smiled. But she looked aghast, her blue eyes wide, her jaw dropping.
“Omigod,” she said, staring at his naked torso.
“I work out a lot.” He flexed his good arm, though he knew that’s not what she was referring to. He was certain she wasn’t used to showing property to a shirtless man who was wearing a thick bandage over a gunshot wound. “Let’s see the property.”
She fumbled to get the key in the lock of the two story-building, that had once been a home with a kitchen in back and an expansive living area that had been used to display the majority of her handmade crafts, he imagined. Same with the stairs. “Bathrooms?”
“Two and a half. And three bedrooms, though she used one for teaching crafts, one for supplies and storage, and the other for her crafts on clearance.” She showed him the backyard with patios and walkways, treed and had several pretty flowerbeds. “She displayed garden decorations for sale out here.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Three-hundred and twenty-thousa
nd.”
“That’s highway robbery.”
“You said any price.”
“I guess I should have said any reasonable price.” He looked over the kitchen. “Needs updating.”
“If it’s not going to be used for anything but an office…”
“Needs updating.” He headed up the stairs and looked into each of the bedrooms. One for Travis and one for him, until they could make other arrangements. But for now, they had enough bathrooms, bedrooms, a kitchen and an office. Another room for another agent if they brought on another until he could make his own arrangements. “Bathrooms need updating also.” Not that any of them would care, but if they ever needed to resell the place, it could use some renovations.
“One-hundred and seventy-five thousand,” he offered, figuring from the other home prices in the area, that was about right. Maybe a little low. But the listing showed it had been for sale for over a year, so she definitely had the price jacked up—just so someone like him would offer less.
“She won’t go below two-hundred and ten.”
“I’ll take it. On the condition we can move right in.”
“I’ll call her and see if she agrees.” Ms. Tresmoine pulled out her phone and called the owner. “Mrs. Tipton? We just had an offer on your craft store.”
15
As soon as April frantically told Kate their patient Leyton Hill had walked out of the clinic without being discharged properly, Kate wasn’t surprised. She wasn’t going to allow it either. Her clinic, her rules.
“Stryker, go get your brother and return him here at once.”
“He’s a big boy, Kate. He can check himself out—“
“You’re supposed to be guarding him. Those were Dan’s orders to you.”
“Hell.”
“Besides, he’s your brother. Show some brotherly love.”
Stryker snorted and headed outside, but she swore he was not all that upset about having a brother, more that the brother and she showed a mutual interest in each other.
Kate saw Travis using his crutches to get back to his room. “Leyton escape?”
His hair was nearly black and his eyes nearly as dark as he made his way down the hall. He was as muscular as Leyton, and he looked like he could take down the bad guys every bit as much as Leyton could.
“Yeah. I should have known. He doesn’t like to sit still.”
“I probably should warn you he’s got a real thing for you,” Travis said, hobbling back to the room.
She joined him, wanting to hear just what he knew of Leyton’s interest in her.
“He wants to buy a piece of property right on top of your business to set up his field office. And a house right next to yours.”
Amused, she smiled a little.
“I told him you might be feeling a little crowded, and he should back off a bit.”
She could slug Travis, if he wasn’t having a hard enough time getting into bed, and she had to help him. Or maybe that was just his ploy. He would be staying here based on the leg fracture. It was simple enough. It was the crack to the skull and the fact Butch Sanders had tried to kill both him and Leyton, that forced her to keep them here longer than necessary. Well, and Leyton’s blood loss too.
“So he’s getting a place anyway on top of your clinic if he can find one. And a house.” Travis got a call and raised his brows. “Okay, sounds good.” He finished the call and smiled. “Well, he did it. Do you know the craft shop two doors down from the clinic? He bought it. And he and I are moving in. Pronto.”
“When I say so.”
“Okay, you tell him that. As far as I’m concerned, I could use some more bedrest. The bedrooms are upstairs. I can’t see climbing up flights of stairs any time soon, or I’m liable to fall and break my neck.”
“Like hell I’m returning to bed per the doctor’s orders. I’ll clear it with Kate,” Leyton said in the reception area.
Kate smiled. “Looks like my patient is back.”
“If you want him in the bed, he’ll probably need a sedative. Knowing him, he’ll be buying the furniture, having the place set up, and open for business tomorrow.” Travis pulled his blanket over his waist.
“No he won’t. Get your rest. You’re not going anywhere where you’ll have to climb stairs to get to bed.” She headed out of the room and nearly collided with Leyton. He grabbed her arm to steady her, the heat instantly flaring between them, and though she only meant to get him back to bed and to demand that he stay there, the way he looked at her like a starving cat, his gaze shifting to her mouth, she couldn’t stop the inevitable even if she’d tried.
His mouth was on hers, hungrily kissing her, licking her lips, biting, his tongue diving in, tasting her like she was tasting him, her arms sliding around his neck. He pulled her in tight, unwilling to leave it at a sweet kiss, but something hotter, more passionate, more desperate.
She’d missed him too, and this. The passion igniting between them was as if they had some sexual physical bond that couldn’t be severed either by time or distance. When they were close, they couldn’t fight it.
Then she remembered where she was, that her shirtless, bandaged patient needed to be in bed, though she was thinking he needed to be in her bed with around-the-clock care, she reluctantly pulled away. Her heart and his were racing, his eyes dark as she imagined hers were. His pale cheeks were flushed with heat, not embarrassment, but hot-blooded heat. She realized then that he was trying to do the right thing, setting up close to her, but not automatically thinking he had the right to just move in with her. She appreciated that. Though she was still wanting the moving in part, when she knew it was better to take this slowly.
She had to remind herself she had been a hostage in the initial part of their relationship, and that she needed to really get to know him on a day-to-day basis.
“Your bed is waiting for you,” she said, trying to say the words firmly or she was afraid he’d take it as a suggestion and not an order. But her words came out breathy instead.
He smiled down at her in that cat way that said he knew just how she was feeling, and he knew how to make her feel even better. Or maybe he was thinking that the bed she was referring to as his was hers.
“I hear you’ve bought the craft shop just down from the clinic and plan to live there.” She took his arm and led him back to the room.
“Yeah, I’ve got to set up shop somewhere and I got a real bargain.”
“Travis can’t climb stairs for some time,” she warned.
“I’m going to get a couch to sit in the office that can make into a bed for the time being. Our office isn’t like a real office. We just use it to drop in and get our job assignments, crash if we need to, do research on computers, but it’s not like a police station where folks off the street come in to report crimes. We’ll be taking our cue from our boss in Minnesota. But we’ll have this area to monitor, and the states surrounding it.”
She nodded, waiting for him to climb into bed.
He frowned at her. “I have plans, Doc.”
“Think about them some more.” She pulled the covers aside. “While you’re resting. I promise I’ll release you both tomorrow. But I don’t want you moving furniture and the like. Not either of you since you’ve both suffered from head injuries. And Travis isn’t to move anything.”
“I can’t. Not with a bum leg,” Travis said as if he needed to emphasize that point.
“I’ll buy the furnishings and the deliverymen can take care of it.” Leyton started stripping off his clothes, then climbed into bed wearing just his briefs.
“Hospital gown?” Kate picked it up off his tray and handed it to him.
“I’ll put it on when I have some privacy.” He winked at her and she felt her face heat.
She took a deep breath. “I’m clocking out and Stryker is staying here until Chase relieves him.”
“We don’t need all this high security,” Leyton said.
“Yeah you do. If someone were to injure you while you
were at the clinic, none of us would forgive ourselves. Besides, I need someone here to make you stay put.”
He jerked the covers up to his waist. “I had other plans for tonight.”
She smiled. “Night, boys. See you on rounds tomorrow.”
Then she left the room and saw Stryker speaking on the phone to Dan. “Yeah, okay. Hell, I had no idea Leyton was my brother. What do you mean Dottie will want to celebrate it? No way.”
* * *
Two hours later, Dan stalked into Leyton and Travis’s clinic room and closed the door. “Okay, I’m Dan Steinacker and the sheriff here in Yuma Town, and I want to know exactly what this is all about.”
“The boss said we could share what we’ve been working on undercover with you, so this is what’s going on.” Leyton told him all about the arms dealer, the way he’d slipped away from him, and how he’d managed to come back for his weapons, but set off the mine blast afterward to get rid of two pesky cougar agents breathing down his neck. He also mentioned the previous history between them—the shoot-out in Afghanistan where the bastard tried to kill him for looking into his background.
Dan swore under his breath. Being a military man, Dan knew the stakes in combat. They sure as hell didn’t need the “friendlies” trying to kill them too.
“I want to know about the doc and you,” Dan said, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes narrowed, his expression condemning.
“Oh, that.” Hell, Leyton thought the sheriff would be interested in apprehending the bad guys and not worried about what went on between him and Kate, since obviously she had no trouble with what had gone on. Not with the way she kissed him in the hall earlier. Leyton swore he could still feel her warm lips pressed against his lips. And he definitely could smell her delightful she-cat scent on him too.
“Well?”
“Surely she must have told you what had happened.” Leyton thought he and Kate had talked enough about it that he had the story down pat. He just hoped she hadn’t gone and given a different version.
Dan still waited, his look growly.
Leyton told him the story, minus tying her up in bed. He still hadn’t come up with a plausible reason for that except that he was holding her hostage.