'Not if I can help it,' I said.

We smiled at each other.

'What bet?' Dr Cross asked, still smiling, but obviously feeling he'd missed something.

'Don't ask,' Micah said. 'They've been best friends for years. Sometimes you just nod and let them have their guy moment.'

Dr Cross frowned harder. 'I don't understand.'

'I'm the wife,' Micah said, 'she's the husband, and he's the husband's best friend. Does that explain it?'

Dr Cross frowned and then said, 'Oddly, yes.'

The fact that it made sense to him made me like him better, which was both good and bad. Good, because liking people is always better than disliking people. Bad, because I was more likely to feed on people I liked.

'You go check on Nathaniel and your dad; I'll play chaperone,' Edward said.

'Thank you,' Micah said.

'Not a problem.'

'Does Donna really not have a preference on which of my guys stands on her side?' I asked.

'Who's Donna?' Dr Cross asked.

'My fiancee,' Edward said.

'Congratulations.'

'Thank you; we're starting to decide who's in the wedding party.'

'That's always fun,' Dr Cross said, and seemed to mean it.

And just like that, this particular vampire was safe from me trying to eat him. I could never eat someone who thought planning a wedding was fun.

CHAPTER 35

Dr Cross unhooked the IV and let me use the bathroom but wouldn't let me get dressed. 'Not until after the X-ray comes back clean. I get the feeling if I let you get dressed you'll just make a break for it.' He laughed.

Edward said, 'He does know you.'

I scowled at him, but I took what I could get and went into the bathroom. The door shut and I got the first look at myself in the mirror. My curls had gone every which way. My skin was pasty pale. What makeup I'd been wearing had vanished long ago. My eyes had the beginnings of dark circles under them, which I almost never got. I looked rough. The fact that Micah and Dr Cross had reacted to me the way they had could only be chalked up to vampire mind games, or otherwise I was seeing something totally different in the mirror than they did. I guess we are our own harshest critics.

'Dear God,' I said.

'Did you say something, Marshal Blake?' Dr Cross asked, which meant he might seem ordinary, but he had more-than-human hearing.

'I'm fine, just looking at my hair.'

'You look fine,' he said through the door.

I ignored him. I was able to finger-comb my hair into some semblance of order, but what I really needed was a shower and a fresh start. Food, of all kinds, would help with the rest. I brushed my teeth, among other things, and gave Micah extra credit points for kissing me passionately before I'd tidied up. If things had been reversed I'd have kissed him silly, too. Love means the niceties matter less, especially when you're glad the love of your life is still alive. Yeah, that makes everything better.

I took the lap blanket that the doc offered because I knew the gown got chilly as they pushed you through the hospital. I'd been hurt often enough to know that for a fact. Once settled in the chair, I asked, 'Where's my stuff?'

'You have a bag of clothes by the couch,' Dr Cross said.

'She doesn't mean clothes,' Edward said. He lifted a small backpack from beside the chair he'd been sitting in. 'I got your stuff from the locals when I arrived.'

'My body armor wouldn't fit in there; please tell me they didn't cut it off me in the ambulance.'

He smiled. 'Your armor is safe. I gave some of your things to your guards.'

'What's in the bag?' I asked.

'Enough so you won't feel unarmed.'

'Great,' I said.

'I really don't think you'll need to be armed just to go a few floors to X-ray, Marshal Blake.'

Edward was already unzipping the backpack. 'You can argue with us, but you're going to lose.'

'So I should just give up gracefully, is that it?'

Edward nodded. 'That's it.' Edward handed me the Browning BDM.

I checked it automatically, popping out the clip to make sure it was loaded, though he was the person I trusted most on the planet to give me back my gun. I put it under the thin lap blanket. The weight of it was comforting, my hand on it under the blanket even more so.

'You want any of the blades?' he asked.

I shook my head. 'No, I'll just have to take them off again when we get to X-ray.' I reached out for the whole bag.

'I'm promise not to walk off with your stuff if you let me carry it.'

I thought about it, I really did, but in the end I smiled and nodded.

'Thanks,' he said, and I knew he was thanking me for trusting him with my stuff when it could all sit in the chair. It didn't matter that he'd been in charge of it for hours while I recovered; some things aren't about logic, they're about comfort. I liked having my weapons at hand at any time, but the whole being-shot thing made me really not want to be unarmed right now.

When Edward opened the door and let Dr Cross push me outside, I was even gladder I had the lap blanket, because there was a damn crowd in the hallway.

There are always police in the hospital when another one is hurt, especially in the line of duty. I don't always have that big a crowd because I'm not usually local and I tend to rub people the wrong way, but I would never complain about the brotherhood in Colorado, because the hallway was packed with Boulder PD, state troopers, and uniforms I didn't recognize. There were plainclothes, too, with their badges at their waists or on lanyards like Edward's.

In among all the handshaking and nods of 'Blake ... Marshal ... ma'am,' I caught a glimpse of Dev and Nicky against the far wall. They were just there, strangely unobtrusive for two such big guys. I wasted a smile on them and got some back. They didn't try to push their way through the police to me, just let me know they were there. I was probably as safe as I'd ever be in the ring of police. Bodyguards seemed redundant, but I was still glad to see them. Not so much for the potential protection, but in case the ardeur fought its way through the puzzle that Edward had given me. Right now the local PD liked me, thought I was one of them, but one vampire-power-induced orgy involving them and me would so not be on their Christmas lists.