Somehow, despite everything, he was actually smiling. Karen bent her head and pressed her lips to his hand. "Don't get smart with me," she warned tenderly. "Don't forget, this is my hospital, and I can get the nurses to do all sorts of nasty stuff to you."

He winced and kept on smiling. "They've already done some of it. I think I've lost my virginity."

"I'm sure of it," she replied. "Go to sleep now, sweetheart. I love you, and I'll be here when you wake up."

"I know," he said. "You won't ever leave." Then his eyes drifted shut, and he slept while Karen held his hand, and watched over him, and stayed. As she had promised, and as he expected, she was there when he woke.

John Medina sat with his steepled fingertips pressed to his lips, staring thoughtfully into s.p.a.ce. It was good that Detective Chastain was going to be all right; Jess had been right in his a.s.sessment of the man. A man who could take a bullet in the chest and still cut his a.s.sailant's throat was a man to be respected.

He had to leave shortly, return to his a.s.signment, but John allowed himself a few minutes of reflection. He had kept it all inside, because only then could he function at his peak, but his father's murder had hit him hard, harder than anything since Venetia's death. Now that it was over, now that justicea"and vengeancea"had been served, he could let loose the grief, the rage.

The press was in an uproar, of course. Dexter Whitlaw's kill book was in police custody, and the section of it pertaining to William Lake's death had been released. The news reports were rampant with speculation about Stephen Lake's motive for having his brother killed, but John was fairly certain the late, unlamented senator had regarded it as nothing more than a career move. He had killed the heir apparent and then smoothly stepped in to take his place.

John checked his watch. Time was getting away from him. He stood, tossing the red baseball cap into the garbage and running his hand through his dark hair. A plane was waiting for him, and he had to be on it.

He'd have Jess send Miss Whitlaw and her detective a very nice wedding gift.

Winner of many awards, including the Silver Pen from Affaire de Coeur and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Sensual Romance, Linda Howard has captivated her vast audience with bestselling romances such as A Lady of the West, Angel Creek, The Touch of Fire, Heart of Fire, Dream Man, Shades of Twilight, and Son of the Morning. Her dazzling After the Night was praised as "a novel you won't want to enda" (Catherine Coulter), and with Kill and Tell, Linda Howard proves once again why she is one of America's favorite romance authors.