Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

K ane jogged down the path with Waverly in his arms. She was struggling to stay awake and he could feel the fever ravishing her body. A body he was trying not to notice was quite beautiful.

"Where are we going?" Waverly asked, her eyes sliding shut.

"I have a boat tied on the other side of the island. I don't know when the others will be back so I didn't want to use the dock. I have a plan. I need you to trust me. Can you do that, Waverly?" Kane asked her.

"Yes. Tell me about Lark. Is she okay?"

"She is. She's been working with me every step of the way. You've done a good job raising her into a very strong young woman."

Waverly's breathing hitched. "I should have done more. I should have done better." She was going to say more, but the path narrowed and Kane had to duck to avoid being hit by tree branches.

"Hang onto me tight, okay, Waverly?"

Waverly answered by pulling herself tighter against him. Kane ran as fast as he could. He had to get her away from here. Even as he ran, he developed his plan for extraction since the one he'd had went up in smoke when he discovered they were hired to kill Waverly.

"We're about to get in the water. I don't want you to be surprised but don't worry. I have you. You're safe."

"I know," he heard her mumble. It hit him right in his heart.

Kane had rescued many people. Each person's reaction was different. Some cried. Some got hyper. Some stared off into space. Some were assholes. But none had leaned their head against his shoulder, placed her hand over his heart, and gave one hundred percent of her trust to him.

Waverly Davenport was nothing like the socialite he'd rescued a month or so ago who demanded sparkling water and caviar when he handled the ransom payment to obtain her release. She'd treated him as a servant instead of a man who put his reputation on the line to barter for her freedom.

Waverly groaned when the water hit her feet as he waded to the boat. "I'm sorry," he whispered to her.

"Feels good. I'm so hot and the water feels good."

"Want me to dip you into it before we get in the boat?"

"Please."

Her soft voice about put a dagger through his heart. "Here we go."

Kane bent and placed Waverly in the water but made sure to keep her wound out of it. Waverly sighed in pleasure. "I'm sorry, we'll do more later. I need to get you to safety."

"Thank you."

Kane lifted Waverly up and over the side of the boat. He set her down as gently as he could before pulling himself up and into the boat. He went to a cooler and pulled out a sports drink. He opened it and then handed it to her. "I need you to drink this. Slow sips, but you need to drink it all. Also, here's some yogurt. You can drink it too. We need to slowly get some food into you before I feed you a real meal."

"I'm not hungry anymore," Waverly told him, but she sipped at the yogurt drink anyway. "But I know I need to eat and drink."

"That's right. Now sit down and relax. I'm getting you out of here."

Kane pulled up his GPS. He was changing the plan on the go. He looked at the map, zoomed in, and made his choice. He didn't bother worrying about the noise of the motor as he sped away.

"If you're traveling at approximately thirty miles per hour," Waverly began to say, but her eyes began to droop. "What are the coordinates?" Waverly muttered as the empty yogurt fell from her hand. She fell asleep before she could finish whatever calculations she was doing in her head.

Kane smiled at her. She was exhausted and sick, but she was a fighter. It would be a long night, but the more distance he put between the kidnappers and Waverly, the better.

Waverly slept. Although, it didn't feel as if she did. It wasn't a restful sleep. She dreamed of numbers not adding up. Of basic principles of science no longer being true. Then she dreamed of being trapped in that hot bathroom with no chance of escape. She was going to die there. She felt herself dying and her body fighting to live.

A cool brush on her hip and then a sharp stick had her eyes flying open. She was hot, but she wasn't in the bathroom. In her delirium, she couldn't tell if she was awake or still trapped in her dream.

"Shh, it's okay, Waverly. I just gave you another dose of antibiotics." The voice was deep and should scare her, but it didn't. She reached for the voice and then felt a cool cloth on her head as a big hand wrapped around hers. "There you go. Get some sleep so your body can fight this fever."

"Don't leave me," Waverly mumbled a second before she was pulled back under by fevered sleep.

She didn't know how long she slept. When the dreams turned to nightmares, that deep, steady voice would pull her from them. The voice soothed her as her nightmares turned to dreams of a large family in the country with a pond. Her dreams turned to those of family, sisters and brothers she didn't know she had. Finally, she drifted off with no dreams at all. Just blissful sleep.

Kane was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open. For two days, he'd been awake on this deserted island caring for Waverly. Thank goodness his brother sent him with enough antibiotics to fight the infection as best they could.

For two days straight, he kept a cool cloth on Waverly, trying to keep her fever down. He propped her up, forced her mouth open, and got her to sip on some protein drinks and yogurt. It wasn't much, but he knew she needed the energy from the calories and the protein to fight off the infection.

It was hard not to become emotionally attached when Waverly clung to him. She was calm every time he talked and held her hand. Waverly would grow restless when he would let go of her hand to get more water. In the end, Kane spent almost forty-eight hours propped up against a palm tree with Waverly in his arms. He'd built a shelter from limbs and palm leaves to shield them from the sun. Kane sat there, holding her hand or stroking her arm or her head, as he told Waverly stories of his family. By the time her fever broke, he was near the point of exhaustion, but the relief he felt was enough to revive him. It was time to get Waverly to safety.

Waverly squeezed her eyelids closed when confronted with the brightness around her. Her whole body hurt. It ached unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She was on her side, her head resting on something warm. Her body was on something hard and textured. What was going on?

Her eyes shot open at the memory of being held hostage. Her arm was wrapped around a thick, muscled leg with dark blond hair sprinkled across it. Her head was resting on a man's thigh where she lay between his legs. A hand absently stroked her head as he talked in a low, soothing voice.

"So, when Olivia's date came to pick her up for prom, all of us brothers were prepared. You should have seen the look of horror on his face," the man was saying.

That voice, she knew that voice. It was the voice from her dreams. Waverly tilted her head back and went to open her mouth to ask who this man was when she ran smack into the package hidden behind a very thin layer of athletic shorts. Instead of learning his name, she got a mouthful of him .

The man jerked and she groaned in response to the quick motion. She couldn't move fast. It made her stomach and body hurt.

"Shit, sorry. Waverly, are you awake?" the deep voice asked as his hand brushed her hair back from her face. She felt his wrist on her forehead and then heard a relieved sigh. "Your fever broke. Waverly, I'm Kane Townsend. Lark sent me to rescue you. You're safe now. You can open your eyes."

Waverly shook her head and heard Kane groan. "I'm glad you're awake, but you've got to stop moving your head there or I'll poke you in the eye."

That got her moving. Waverly sat up quickly. Too quickly. Everything was tilting and spinning. Two hands gripped her gently on her arms and pulled her against a solid yet bare chest. "Whoa. Not too fast. You've been unconscious for almost two days. Close your eyes and relax. Take some deep breaths with me."

She felt Kane breathe deeply, his chest lifting her up and then back as he exhaled. Waverly followed his instructions and felt the world stop spinning before she slowly opened her eyes again.

"What happened?" Waverly asked, turning slowly to take a look at her rescuer. His muscles were sweaty and covered in a combination of dirt and sand. He had a couple of days of facial hair growth and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen.

"I came into the villa two nights ago when most of the kidnappers were off the island. I rescued you, but your arm was badly infected. You stayed with me until we got to the boat, but then you passed out. Now that you're conscious, I can work to get us home."

Waverly turned her head to look out on the island. Next to them was a boat covered in palm fronds. They weren't on the shore but inland just enough to be able to see the ocean through the thick vegetation. Above her was a crude shelter and below her was a bedding of greenery. "Where are we?"

"A deserted island. I had to hide you while you recovered. I tried to get back to the island where your resort was, but as I drove in that direction, I saw another boat coming at us. I couldn't take a chance of anyone seeing you."

"Why not? Aren't there police there? Couldn't they have helped me?" Waverly asked, torn between trying to sit up on her own and enjoying the way Kane held her.

"Yes, but according to my sources, the second you were discovered missing and the dead kidnappers were found, whoever took you called in reinforcements. My assistant called to tell me all the docks, airports, and the resort were crawling with hired men. I didn't want to take any chance with you. So, I hunkered down until you were better."

Waverly must be worse off than she thought. None of that made sense and she was usually very logical. Her stomach rumbled and Kane smiled down at her. "Let me light a fire and cook you a good meal. Well, as good as military rations are. Then we'll go through everything. I'm guessing, based on your intelligence and scientific brain, you like to know all the facts."

Waverly nodded. "I need to understand how things work so I can see the big picture. Thank you for understanding that. Most people don't."

"I'm not most people, Waverly."

Waverly looked up into his gaze. He didn't look away. Instead, he looked right at her, right into her soul. Most men looked away because they were uninterested or intimidated by her intellect. Not Kane. Waverly didn't know what to make of it, so she just nodded. So far, his statement was proving true. He wasn't like most people.