Drake Sisters 04 - Dangerous Tides

beautiful, so it means a lot that you'd say it."

    He shrugged. "I was just stating the obvious. You were telling me where Jonas fits into your family," he reminded. He'd had several bad nights lying awake, remembering the look on Jonas Harrington's face when he'd seen Libby crushed and bleeding on the hospital floor. Ty still hadn't been able to erase the image of Jonas carrying Libby down the hospital hallway.

    Libby shrugged. "Jonas is family whether he's related by blood or not. He'll always be family. I think he'd like to disown us, but he can't. He's stuck with us and we drive him crazy."

    He could imagine. Jonas was in law enforcement. With the family being outright charlatans, the man was bound to be in a difficult position trying to protect them. Ty didn't want to think about Libby's family, only that intriguing smile she'd flashed at him. He took her hand. As silly as it sounded, he liked holding her hand. "Let's get you back to the house. Do you think you can make the climb?"

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    "I'm fine," Libby said. She'd had a headache for days, but she wasn't going to admit it to Ty. She didn't pull her hand away, acutely aware of the way the pad of his thumb rubbed over her skin causing a small fluttering in her stomach. No one had ever made her stomach flutter before. "I can certainly make it back up the stairs."

    Ty tucked her hand against his chest and began the long climb. The stairs had been dug out a hundred years earlier and each generation had helped to make it easier to climb. Somewhere along the way a railing had been constructed on one side. Tyson kept Libby pressed close to the railing for safety. "It's a good thing you're feeling fine, I don't want you using this little mishap as an excuse to avoid our date." He smirked at her.

    "Date?" Her voice squeaked. "We don't have a date."

    "Yes, we do."

    Libby shook her head decisively. "I don't go out on dates."

    "Well, you're going on a date with me. I asked. You said yes. Are you backing out?" He challenged. "I know you're attracted to me."

    Libby looked horrified. It was all he could do to keep from laughing. "I am not. What gave you that idea?"

    "You did. You said so, when I asked you to go out with me." He tilted his head, studying her face, looking her straight in the eye. "Come on, Drake, in the hospital. You're not going to pretend you didn't say you wanted to go out with me."

    "What else did I say?" Pure suspicion was in her voice.

    "That I'm brilliant. Which I am."

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    "This isn't funny, Ty. We never had the conversation. I don't date."

    "Yes, you do. You dated that idiot doctor from the C.D.C. You remember him. He had a toupee."

    "He did not. That's his own hair. And he wasn't an idiot." She narrowed her eyes, pinning him with her gaze. "How would you know I dated him?"

    "Sam. He's a fountain of information. Remember, he told you I eat Cracker Jacks? And the C.D.C doc was too an idiot. I had one conversation with him and that was enough to tell me he got his position through family connections or politics."

    Libby sighed. "Well, I don't really go out on dates so it isn't possible I said yes. And I only went to dinner with him once."

    "Because he was an idiot," Ty insisted. "Come on, Drake, tell the truth. He was boring, he only talked about himself and he didn't have a brain."

    "Whatever. You know darned well we didn't have a conversation in the hospital."

    He put a hand over his heart. "I can't believe you'd pretend otherwise. You came into my room and told me to hang on, I had to live because I was so valuable."

    Her eyebrow shot up.

    "Okay, so you said my brain was valuable, same thing, Drake, whether you want to admit it or not."

    "And I said you were brilliant." Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

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    "Well," he hedged, "not in so many words."

    "I'll just bet not in so many words." Libby spun around and started back up the stairs. She couldn't remember anything about that day at the hospital. Elle had told her about her conversation with Irene.
    Irene's purse hadn't done the damage. Libby had collapsed all on her own. Elle had known she was in trouble, but no one would be able to tell her if she'd really had a conversation with Tyson Derrick. "You were unconscious."

    "No, I wasn't."

    "You were in