Redemption Rains (15 page)

“No Kane, I think that you should drop
the gun. Not unless you want to see Lizzy’s brains splattered all
over the place?”

Devin let his gaze rest on Elizabeth’s
face for the first time and then he swung his eyes back to
Samuel.

“What makes you think that I care
whether you splatter her brains or not? I got what I came for
Lindsey,” Devin’s gaze never wavered from Samuel’s.

“I think you do care Kane, you
wouldn’t want your image ruined by allowing another woman under
your protection to be killed.”

Devin looked at Samuel for another
long minute before he released the hammer and dropped the gun on
the ground. Elizabeth was shocked, numb from the realization that
Devin didn’t care about her, only his reputation. She felt Samuel
release her from his death grip and push her forward. He then
pointed his gun at Devin and Elizabeth turned to face Samuel, fear
in her eyes. It was the dream. It was coming true. She knew what
would happen next and she stepped sideways, blocking
Devin.

“Ah Lizzy,” Samuel bit out. “Will you
never learn?” as he spoke he lunged to the side and fired the gun,
hitting Devin in the shoulder. Elizabeth screamed and ran to Devin.
He was lying on his back with his eyes closed. She went down on her
knees and bent over him.

"Oh, Devin, don’t die,” she cried
uncontrollably. “Please Devin don’t die.”

“Very touching Lizzy,” Samuel’s voice
broke through her grief, “crying over your lover’s
body.”

Elizabeth looked into Devin’s face and
saw his eyes flicker open. She was blocking him with her body so
Samuel did not see when Devin looked down at the gun he had clasped
in his hand and then back to Elizabeth. She knew what had to be
done as she heard Samuel step closer and cock the gun once again,
aiming at her bent head. She looked into Devin’s beautiful blue
eyes feeling the fear drain from her. She knew that he would
protect her. With a slight smile, she leaned further over Devin’s
body. This action allowed him to raise his hand and just before
Samuel released the trigger, Devin fired the gun he had
hidden.

Samuel clutched his chest and fell to
his knees. Elizabeth watched the light fade from his eyes as he
fell in a crumpled heap just inches away from them. Relief filled
her entire body as she turned back to Devin.

“Are you alright?” her question was
whispered as she laid her hand on his wounded shoulder and searched
his eyes for pain. He stared back at her, lowering his lids to
guard against his expression.

“I’m fine,” his voice was cold and
clipped.

Tears flowed down her face freely. She
took his hand in both of hers and leaned over to place a soft kiss
on his lips. She pulled back to look into his shuttered eyes and
for a moment she saw pain there and then he closed his eyes and
winced as he moved his shoulder.

“Is he dead?” Devin’s question caused
Elizabeth to stiffen.

“Yes, he’s dead,” she spoke
softly.

“Who hit you in the face?” he
demanded.

Elizabeth reached up and touched a
finger to her bruised face as she remembered the scene where her
once beloved step brother brutally punched her.

“Samuel.”

“Bastard,” he growled as he touched
her face.

“Yes, it seems that you were correct
about that Devin. I do seem to have an abundance of those types in
my life.” Her voice was soft as she brushed the hair back from his
forehead.

“But I am grateful that I have one
egotistic, gun toting Dirty Harry wanna be in my life.” She gave
him a watery smile as tears flowed over her cheeks. His reaction
was slight, nothing but the ticking of the nerve in his jaw, but it
gave her hope. She saw the blood drain from his face and watched as
his eyes drifted shut.

Chapter 11

Elizabeth listened to the sound of the
waves crashing against the rocks below. It soothed her troubled
soul, this quiet that she experienced here on the island; so green
and alive. She breathed in the warm ocean breeze, willing it to
soak into her tattered heart and ease this sense of mourning she
felt. She had lived through the battle fought with Servano and his
gang, but lost the war she had with her heart concerning Devin
Kane. Her mind traveled back to the last time she had seen him,
almost three months ago.

She had convinced Edward to take her
to the hospital where Devin had been for a week. She needed to see
him, to reassure herself that he was all right. When they had
arrived at the waiting area a nurse directed Elizabeth down the
corridor to his room. Elizabeth stood outside, hesitating over what
to say to him, when the door swung open and she was confronted with
a beautiful, blonde woman.

She was a tall, long legged creature
in her blood red designer dress and three-inch suede heels.
Elizabeth suddenly felt huge next to this woman. She tugged
self-consciously on her cream sweater that seemed very tight.
Elizabeth had felt so good when she left the house that morning.
She had abandoned the thought of buying more comfortable clothes
and settled into the wardrobe her mother had provided, spending an
unusual amount of time picking an outfit to wear to the hospital.
She had decided on the soft, long sleeved cream sweater with its
peter pan collar. She matched this with a pair of dark brown slacks
and flats. She had swept her hair up in a clip allowing it to flow
down the back of her head in soft, loose curls.

Now, standing next to this willowy
creature, Elizabeth felt like a freak in a sideshow. And worse, she
stuttered like a complete idiot when the goddess spoke to
her.

“Pardon me,” the voice was soft and
musical but the face was not apologetic at all. Her green eyes were
cold and calculating when they surveyed Elizabeth. “Are you lost?”
the patronizing look Elizabeth received left her
tongue-tied.

“I....well. I have...” Elizabeth
mumbled uncomfortably. The goddess looked with those hard green
eyes and her blood red lips formed a tight smile as she let the
door slip closed behind her.

“Yes? You can speak, can’t
you?”

This last comment brought a deep flush
to Elizabeth’s cheeks, anger simmered in her eyes.

“I am Elizabeth Windsor,” the Ice
Princess voice emerged from Elizabeth’s mouth. She raised her chin
a little higher. “I have come to see Detective Kane, to thank him
for everything.”

A perfectly arched eyebrow raised a
notch higher along with the voice, “I know who you are. I’m Gloria
Mason.”

"Miss Mason, if you are leaving please
do not let me delay you any longer.”

Elizabeth pushed past Gloria and
walked through the door. Devin was sitting up in the hospital bed
with his head resting against a pillow. He looked as if he was
sleeping so Elizabeth walked to the bed quietly, pausing beside
him. She drank in his image; his tousled hair, beautiful face and
strong torso. When she spied the bandage on his shoulder a shudder
ran through her body. She reached out to touch him and then
snatched her hand back. He was so pale and looked as if he had lost
weight, but that did nothing to deter the burning passion that
erupted in her when she looked at him.

Her eyes traveled over his flat
stomach and up across his muscled chest. She flicked her tongue
across her dry lips. His chiseled jaw was clean and smooth; she
wondered who had the lucky job of shaving that strong face. The
picture this brought to mind made her blood boil and she felt
anticipation grow in her abdomen. She saw a flush enter his skin
and she looked up unexpectedly into dark smoky blue eyes. She
jumped back, startled, and embarrassed at being caught in her
perusal of his body.

“How are you?” her voice squeaked and
she wanted to kick herself.

“Fine,” his voice was husky; his lids
lowered shadowing his eyes.

“I’m glad,” she did not squeak this
time and felt confident enough to continue. “I need to talk to
you.”

She watched his eyes open and felt the
impact of that smoky gaze he kept giving her. He reached out and
traced the now fading bruise on her face. His fingers burned her
and she felt her body leaning closer to him, being drawn to him
like a moth to the flame. Before her body made contact, Devin
shuddered and leaned back against the pillows dropping his
hand.

“How are you?” he sounded bored and
disinterested. She felt hurt at his attitude and then wanted to
kick herself again for expecting him to feel differently. Lifting
her chin, the image of Gloria Mason flashed in her head and
Elizabeth felt the ice form around her heart. Of course he was
disinterested and bored. Why would he want to waste his time with
her when he had Gloria “the goddess” Mason at his beck and call?
She was suddenly very angry and lashed out at him the only way she
knew how.

“I am doing incredibly well,” she
smiled coldly at him and then walked around the small room with a
sense of casual disregard. “I just came by to thank you Detective
for your services,” she paused and looked directly into his eyes.
“All of them.” Devin flinched and turned his head away but
Elizabeth was too far gone to care about his feelings, believing
that he had never once taken notice of hers.

“Now Detective Kane,” she sardonically
dropped her bomb. “I can’t say that I would have ever had the
chance to learn the lessons about men that you have taught me, from
anyone else. But now I have graduated, you see. Onto bigger…” her
eyes dropped suggestively, “…and better things. So there is no need
for you to worry.”

She turned and walked toward the door,
pausing for one more slash from her sharpened tongue.

“Oh, by the way, I ran into Miss Mason
and I think that my theory on your “type” has been proven. Really
Devin,” her voice held polite abhorrence, “a bit trashier than I
would have expected from you.” Elizabeth winced as she remembered
the glare Devin had thrown her. If he didn’t hate her before, he
surely did now.

Edward had driven her back to the
ranch where she locked herself in her bedroom and stayed for a
whole week only emerging, to her mother’s dismay, to raid the
kitchen. This had been a black time for Elizabeth, and she buried
herself in food to comfort her. They held a private ceremony for
Samuel with only close relatives there. All Elizabeth could
remember of that horrible day was the way everyone stared at her,
causing her to retreat to her haven and eat a whole gallon of mint
chocolate chip ice cream.

In the middle of her second week of
seclusion, Edward had burst into her room. She was sprawled on her
bed in an old T-shirt and baggy shorts staring blindly at the
wall.

“Elizabeth, I need to talk to
you.”

She looked at him blankly.

“Elizabeth, honey, you are scaring
your mother and me. We have never seen you so depressed. I want to
help you Elizabeth.”

She focused on his face for the first
time since he had entered her bedroom and she was shocked. Suddenly
the self-absorbed cocoon she had wrapped herself in burst open and
she realized the toll the past few weeks had taken on her family.
Edward looked pale, his usually bright smile was now turned down
into a frown, and his eyes were sunken into his face with deep,
dark rings under them. The tears that she had refused to cry since
her return poured out of her now. How could she have been so
unfeeling? She was not the only one who was affected by this
tragedy.

“Elizabeth,” Edward sat on the bed and
hugged her. “I have lost one child; I don’t want to lose another
one.”

“I’m sorry Edward,” she pulled back to
look into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I know honey. But it’s not your
fault. Samuel got himself into trouble a long time ago. If
anything, it is my fault for not protecting my family better,” he
released a heavy sigh and smiled at her sadly.

“But Edward, if we had never come to
this house this would not have happened. Samuel would not have felt
betrayed by your attention to me and he would still be here
today.”

“I’m sorry to say this but Samuel was
weak. He had always been weak and the trouble between him and me
started way before you came into the picture Elizabeth. You were
just dragged into his mean world and he convinced you that he was
the perfect man. I think now that you see him for the person he
was, you are having a hard time dealing with it.”

“Maybe you are right about that. I
always loved Samuel and that blocked me from seeing the hate he had
for me. I just can’t seem to shake this depression. I have had all
the rejection I can stand.”

“You have to get out of this
room.”

Elizabeth had been prepared for some
kind of discussion about her life now that she had no apartment and
was too much of a wreck to work at the shelter. How could she help
all of those women when she couldn’t help herself?

Louisa had phoned her several times
but Elizabeth had begged off speaking to her. She couldn’t face her
friend right now. She listened as Edward continued his
plea.

“I am not belittling your misery, I
don’t pretend to know what you went through those few days, but I
do know you, and this shell of a woman before me is nothing like my
beautiful, sweet daughter.” He cupped her cheek in his palm, wiping
away the tears there.