“It’s cold. You should take your jacket back.” Elizabeth started to remove it, but he stopped her.
“You keep it. I’m fine.”
Still, the wind cut through her, chilled her to the bone. Maybe she was cold from lying on that damned warehouse floor. Or maybe Quinn was right, and she was in shock.
It took Nigel only ten minutes to reach them. He pulled up in a black Land Rover. “Good to see you, Ms. Shields, McManus. We’ll get you home and have our doctor check you out.”
“Thank you.”
The car was warm, city lights and Christmas displays passing by outside the window. Christmas? What day was it?
November 16.
She must have dozed again because the next thing she knew, Quinn was lifting her from the car, settling her onto a gurney. “You don’t need to do this. I can walk.”
“We’ll let the doc decide that.” Corbray stood there, wearing full combat fatigues, Tower, Dylan Cruz, Malik Jones, and Thor Isaksen beside him.
Her throat went tight. “You’re here.”
They’d come for her.
“Where else would we be?” Tower smiled.
“Nice of you boys to show up.” McManus shook their hands.
“It looks like you took all the glory, McManus,” Dylan teased.
“You couldn’t save any of the action for us?” Malik chuckled
“That’s what happens when you’re late for the party,” Thor said.
Tower narrowed his eyes. “McManus, we need to talk.”
“Aye—but no’ yet.”
Quinn stayed with Elizabeth while the doctor examined her, standing beside the gurney, holding her hand, concern on his handsome face.
The doctor took her pulse, her temperature, her blood pressure, and checked her oxygen saturation. “You’re slightly hypothermic, so we need to warm you up. They injected you with a high dose of a sedative—maybe Versed or Demerol. We’re lucky you didn’t stop breathing. You’ll probably feel drowsy for the rest of the evening, so it’s best if you just rest. I’ll get you a heated blanket.”
“Thanks.”
The doctor walked away, leaving Elizabeth alone with Quinn.
She raised Quinn’s hand to her lips, kissed it. “You came for me.”
His gaze was soft. “Aye, I did. I’m sorry I let them get to you. I’m sorry I didnae get there sooner.”
“You joined forces with a drug dealer and possible terrorist to save me.”
He ran his thumb along the curve of her cheek. “I’d have made a deal wi’ Satan himself if that’s what it took to get you back. I love you, Elizabeth.”
Her pulse skipped. “You …what?”
“I love you. I know that’s not what you want to hear. I know you—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips to quiet him. She needed to tell him. He needed to know. “When he held that knife to my throat, I knew it was over. My last thought before you stormed in was that I love you.”
He searched her gaze, clearly surprised. “You cannae mean that. You could have any man you want—”