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“You have a fever, honey. More than likely, it’s from the injuries

and pain you don’t have,” he stated then winked. He felt the chuckle

catch in his throat as he looked at her.

She stared at him as if trying to read his mind. She looked

untrusting, unsure, and it made him feel sick to his stomach. How

could he convince her that she was safe here and with him?

He rose from the bed and held his hand out to her.

“Now let’s take a look at the injuries.”

He examined her cheeks, her chin, and then her eyes. He tried not

to touch the injured skin, but he couldn’t help but trace the finger

marks and bruising with his own hands. He knew immediately what

the true culprit was. The hands that did the damage were as big as his.

His insides tightened at the pain inflicted upon her, and he wanted

to know who had done it. He tried breathing slowly and remained

calm for Anna’s sake.

“These are going to get a bit uglier I’m afraid. Did you ice them

after the…accident?” he asked, and she shook her head.

He touched her neck and gently tilted her chin up. It didn’t take a

doctor to see that a large hand had made the marks. Someone held her

by the throat. No wonder her voice sounded rough and she clenched

her eyes when she swallowed too hard. He closed his eyes and tried to

calm his anger.

“You don’t have to do this. I know it looks bad. I’ll live,” she

whispered, her voice sounding worse the more she spoke.

He smiled and was taken aback by her concern over how he might

take looking at her wounds. The sweet thing, if she only knew the

thoughts that were going through his head right now. They weren’t

pretty, and he wished the bastard who did this was standing here right

now.

He gently caressed her chin, then softly rubbed his thumb across

her lip. He was careful not to get too close to the cut there.

“You’re beautiful, Anna, and I’m not cringing at you. I’m angry

with whoever did this to you.”

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She turned her eyes away from him as best as she could. He

released her chin.

Standing in front of her, he looked at the bruising on her arms.

There were obvious finger and hand marks. Someone really roughed

her up.

“Anna, you’re going to have to take off your shirt.”

She inhaled and took a step backward. Her face looked flushed,

and he could see beads of sweat across her forehead.

She teetered in place a moment, and he reached for her.

“Anna, are you okay?” he asked. Then he saw her take a step to

the side, and her eyes began to roll a little. Immediately, he pulled her

to him as she passed out.

* * * *

Charlie picked her up and carried her to the bed. She was light and

soft. She felt perfect in his arms. He wanted to protect her and care for

her and, mostly, make her smile. He was shocked at his thoughts.

Touching her forehead, she remained warm. He hoped that her

fever wouldn’t get worse. Perhaps it was from the slight rattling in her

chest he heard as he listened with the stethoscope. Or maybe it was

from her injuries.

Slowly, he pushed her shirt up and cursed at the sight.

“Motherfucker!”

“What?” he heard Stacy say from the doorway. He hadn’t even

heard her open the door.

He carefully pulled Anna’s shirt down.

“She passed out. She has a fever.”

“Oh, my God! Will she be okay? She won’t go to a hospital. If I

call an ambulance, she’ll freak when she wakes up. What do I do?”

Stacy covered her mouth and began to cry.

“I think you should go back downstairs, Stacy. I’m confident that

I can help her. If she gets any worse, we’ll have to bring her to the

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37

hospital. Promises or not, I want to do what’s best for her,” Charlie

stated.

“Come on, Stacy, Charlie can take care of her. He knows what

he’s doing,” Eric added.

“No. She needs me. I can protect her now that she’s here. I won’t

leave her again.”

“Honey, listen to Charlie. He’ll come get us if he thinks she needs

to go to the hospital,” Eric replied, trying to calm her. Charlie locked

gazes with his cousin, and it was as if Eric understood that this was

more serious than Anna let on.

“Please take care of her, Charlie.”

“Come on, Stacy,” Eric whispered, taking her hand and leading

her toward the door.

Ben now stood there as well.

Stacy and Eric went back into the kitchen.

“Do you need anything?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, actually, I could use your help. This is going to be difficult

with her sleeping.”

Ben stood next to the bed just staring at Anna.

“She looks so small and fragile,” he whispered.

“She’s special, Ben, I won’t let her leave here. We need to protect

her.”

Ben leaned down and caressed her skin. Charlie watched as his

brother noticed the culprit of the bruising on her face and body.

“Those are hand and finger marks. Who the fuck would do this to

such a little thing?” he said with a growl.

“Take a deep breath, it helps.”

“If I ever find the bastard, he’s fucking cow dung.”

“I’ll need your help with this. I think she may have a couple of

broken ribs.”

“What?”

“Shhh. You’ll wake her.”

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“I’m gonna give her a shot of something to help her with the pain

and to sleep. That way, we can wrap her ribs and monitor her

breathing. I’m pretty sure she didn’t puncture a lung. She would be in

a lot worse shape.”

“Jesus!”

“I know, Ben. I know. Tomorrow, I’ll try to convince her to get

X-rays. I can call Doc Jones and ask him to keep it on the low. He’ll

help us out.”

“We’re going to have to tell Wyatt.”

“I don’t even want to think about what Wyatt will do when he

hears about her injuries.”

Charlie filled the syringe and carefully injected the medicine into

Anna’s arm.

He got the supplies ready to wrap Anna’s ribs.

“Okay, Ben, you’re gonna have to hold her up while I wrap this

around her nice and tight. I don’t feel right removing her bra. Prepare

yourself.”

* * * *

Ben tried to control his breathing as his brother suggested, but as

Charlie removed Anna’s T-shirt, the extent of her injuries was too

much. The bruising and discoloration was horrible. There was some

swelling and rounded marks that made him instantly think of boot

marks. They must have kicked her thirty times.

Ben wondered, what the hell happened? He wanted to ask her a

thousand questions. He wanted to know where she came from. Why

someone would want to hurt her? He had so many thoughts.

He began to tense and grind his teeth.

“Hold her tight, bro, but don’t squeeze her to death,” Charlie

reprimanded as he began to check the damage. From Ben’s position,

he had a full view of her voluptuous breasts. The bra was pink and

lacy, and she smelled sweet like brown sugar. Her right breast was

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39

scratched, and a bruise ran across it, disappearing under the material

of the bra.

“Did you see her breast?” Ben asked.

“Is this really a good time to be talking about her body?” Charlie

asked as he began to wrap her waist from below the breast line under

the wire of her bra. The bruising appeared worse by her stomach and

lower ribs.

“No. I mean the one breast where there’s a red scratch. It’s deep

and leads toward her…just check it out.”

“In a minute, I’m almost done wrapping this.”

Charlie finished up then helped Ben lay Anna back down.

She moaned in her sleep, and both Ben and Charlie locked gazes.

“The painkillers should begin to work soon.”

Charlie stared at her a moment and saw what his brother had seen.

He carefully inspected the scratch by her breast. Moving the bra

away, he saw the bruising that led toward the areola. He covered her

then pulled the covers up to her chest. His hands remained on either

side of her, clenching the covers.

He was silent a moment as the thoughts filled his head.

“Do you think…do you think she was raped?” Ben asked, then

closed his eyes and breathed.

Charlie saw his brother clench his fists as he kneeled by the bed.

“I don’t know, Ben. I sure hope not. I’ll have to ask her

tomorrow.”

“I want to stay with her. The guys can handle the last few hours.”

“I’ll go downstairs and tell Stacy and Eric what we saw and what

our plan is. Call me if she stirs.”

Ben nodded then pulled the large recliner closer to the bed.

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Chapter 4

Charlie, Wyatt, Ben, Eric, and Max sat in the study. It was

midnight, and they finally got Stacy to settle down in the same room

as Anna.

“I think I should call a few friends in New York and see what we

can find out,” Wyatt stated as he sipped a snifter of brandy.

“No. Stacy said that Anna won’t speak to the police or to you,

Wyatt, as the sheriff. She’s scared. Whoever did this roughed her up

good. I’ve seen the damage up close. We need to make her feel safe,”

Charlie stated as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Wyatt exhaled. “Maybe if I have a talk with her tomorrow she’ll

feel comfortable enough to trust me. I am the sheriff, and I’ll need to

determine if there’s a chance someone is after her.”

“Trust is not going to come easy with that woman. The fear in her

eyes as I examined her was gut-wrenching. I don’t know how she

survived the pain so long without meds.”

“Yeah. Just about every spot on her body was bruised. I don’t

know how she made it here in one piece,” Ben added, shaking his

head.

“You’re gonna bring her to see Doc Jones tomorrow, Charlie?”

Wyatt asked.

He nodded as he rubbed his eyes.

“I want to find out who did this and kill the bastard,” Ben stated

very seriously.

“Join the club,” Charlie responded.

“There’ll be none of that. Let’s just figure out what happened and

help her to heal,” Wyatt stated, sounding authoritative.

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“Stacy said that Anna’s father was abusive. He has a drinking

problem, and Anna’s been supporting them on her own for the last

three years,” Eric added.

Remarks flew through the room at the information.

“You think her old man did this?” Ben asked in shock.

“Not sure. Stacy was adamant about getting Anna here a year ago.

She had been trying to convince her. They’re real close, and last

night, she couldn’t sleep,” Eric stated.

“Yeah, she was tossing and turning all night. She told Eric and me

that she was worried about Anna. She knew something was seriously

wrong,” Max added.

“They must be real close for Stacy to feel that from a distance,”

Wyatt replied.

“Well, Anna did travel all the way here before even seeking

medical attention. Thank God she got here safely.”

Everyone mumbled in agreement before the room fell silent.

“There’s something you guys should know.” All eyes were on

Charlie, and they heard the seriousness in his tone.

“Ben and I found bruising and a cut over Anna’s breast. There

were bruises everywhere. I didn’t want to go lower. I’ll let Doc Jones

ask the questions.”

“Son of a bitch! You think she was raped?” Wyatt asked as he

stood up from his chair and paced the room.

“I don’t know. She may have been, or she could have been

manhandled so much that the bruises were everywhere. I pray she

wasn’t. The bruising is intense, and considering the size of the hand

and fingers marks, I’d say the culprit was a large man. We won’t

know for sure until Anna confirms this.”

“What kind of monster would lay a hand on a woman her size? On

any woman for that matter?” Ben asked, and everyone shook their

heads and mumbled comments.

“Let’s see what Doc Jones can find out tomorrow. You all need to

make her feel safe and keep an eye on her. I don’t want to go

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snooping around until we know facts. The only way we are gonna get

those facts is by questioning Anna. If she didn’t trust you, Charlie,

then I’m sure it’s going to take some time. Let’s see what tomorrow

brings,” Wyatt added, and the room went silent.

* * * *

The screams awoke him from his slumber. Charlie had insisted on

staying the night in case Anna needed medical attention. He took the

stairs to the second floor two at a time. When he got to the open door,

he saw Eric and Max first. They looked white as ghosts. Max was

running his hands through his hair, his eyes were glossy, and Eric

didn’t look much better.

The closer his steps took him into the room, the clearer the image

came into view.

The light by the bedside table illuminated the room but not the

corner by the bed and behind the recliner. Stacy was on her knees

talking, whispering, and caressing something or someone behind the

chair.

“It hurts…please, stop them…Daddy!” the voice screamed. It