Treasures Lost, Treasures Found

had. He’d never understood what it meant to be calm, but he had known the emptiness and the chaos of living without it.
    Without urgency or force, he slipped inside her. Slowly, with a sweetness that made her weak, he gave her the ultimate gift. Passion, fulfillment, with the softer emotions covering a need that seemed insatiable.
    Then she slept, and he left her to her dreams.
     
    When she awoke again, Kate wasn’t groggy, but weak. Even as sleep cleared, a sense of helpless annoyance went though her. It was midafternoon. She didn’t need a clock, the angle of the sunlight that slanted through the window across from the bed told her what time it was. More hours had been lost without her knowledge. And where was Ky?
    Kate groped for her nightshirt and slipped into it. If he followed his pattern, he’d be popping through the door with a loaded lunch tray and a pill. Not this time, Kate determined as she eased herself out of bed. Nothing else was going into her system that made her lose time.
    But as she stood, the dregs of the medication swam in her head. Reflexively, she nearly sat again before she stopped herself. Infuriated, she gripped the bedpost, breathed deeply then put her weight on her injured foot. It took the pain to clear her head.
    Pain had its uses, she thought grimly. After she’d given the hurt a moment to subside, it eased into a throb. That could be tolerated, she told herself and walked to the mirror over Ky’s dresser.
    She didn’t like what she saw. Her hair was listless, her face washed-out and her eyes dull. Swearing, she put her hands to her cheeks and rubbed as though she could force color into them. What she needed, Kate decided, was a hot shower, a shampoo and some fresh air. Regardless of what Ky thought, she was going to have them.
    Taking a deep breath, she headed for the door. Even as she reached for the knob, it opened.
    “What’re you doing up?”
    Though they were precisely the words she’d expected, Kate had expected them from Ky, not Linda. “I was just—”
    “Do you want Ky to skin me alive?” Linda demanded, backing Kate toward the bed with a tray of steaming soup in her hand. “Listen, you’re supposed to rest and eat, then eat and rest. Orders.”
    Realizing abruptly that she was retreating, Kate held her ground. “Whose?”
    “Ky’s. And,” she continued before Kate could retort. “Dr. Bailey’s.”
    “I don’t have to take orders from either of them.”
    “Maybe you don’t,” Linda agreed dryly. “But I don’t argue with a man who’s protecting his woman, or with the man who poked a needle into my bottom when I was three. Both of them can be nasty. Now lie down.”
    “Linda…” Though she knew the sigh sounded long suffering, Kate couldn’t prevent it. “I’ve a cut on my leg. I’ve been in bed for something like forty-eight hours straight. If I don’t have a shower and a breath of air soon, I’m going to go crazy.”
    A smile tugged at Linda’s mouth that she partially concealed by nibbling on her lower lip. “A bit grumpy, are we?”
    “I can be more than a bit.” This time the sigh was simply bad tempered. “Look at me!” Kate demanded, tugging on her hair. “I feel as though I’ve just crawled out from under a rock.”
    “Okay. I know how I felt after I’d delivered Hope. After I’d had my cuddle with her I wanted a shower and shampoo so bad I was close to tears.” She set the tray on the table beside the bed. “You can have ten minutes in the shower, then you can eat while I change your bandage. But Ky made me swear I’d make you eat every bite.” She put her hands on her hips. “So that’s the deal.”
    “He’s overreacting,” Kate began. “It’s absurd. I don’t need to be babied this way.”
    “Tell me that when you don’t look like I could blow you over. Now come on, I’ll give you a hand in the shower.”
    “No, dammit, I’m perfectly capable of taking a shower by myself.” Ignoring the pain in her leg, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door at her back. Linda swallowed a laugh and sat down on the bed to wait.
    Fifteen minutes later, refreshed and thoroughly ashamedof herself, Kate came back in. Wrapped in Ky’s robe, she rubbed a towel over her hair. “Linda—”
    “Don’t apologize. If I’d been stuck in bed for two days, I’d snap at the first person who gave me trouble. Besides—” Linda knew how to play her cards “—if you’re really sorry you’ll eat all your soup, so