"Let me go, bastard." Drew jerked his arm back. "You don't have the right be here."

Chase swung back to Drew furiously. "Don't make me kill you." Then he turned to look at Kia and felt the blood drain from his face.

A paramedic knelt in front of her, a small light trained on her eyes as she batted at him. Behind her, another was trying to check the gash in her head. She had blood on her forehead, her cheek. It stained her blouse. Chase's knees began to cave.

"Don't tell me to get away from her, Falladay!" Drew exclaimed. "You weren't here. You didn't see her lying on that damned sidewalk."

Chase gripped the lapels of Drew's jacket, nearly jerking him off his feet. He felt like ramming his fist into his jaw. "Out of my face, out of her life, or I'll make damned sure you regret it."

He thrust Drew back. ,

"Get away from me," Kia ordered, fear in her voice, as the paramedic probed at her head.

"Ms. Rutherford, you need to let us transport you to the hospital," the female tech kneeling in front of her ordered in a firm voice. "You could have a concussion. That's nothing to play with and that head wound is going to need stitches."

"I'm fine." Her voice trembled as Chase rushed to her.

"Kia. Baby."

Her head turned and a little cry passed her pale lips as she seemed to sway where she had forced the paramedics to allow her to sit instead of lie down.

"Chase." Her eyes looked dilated, dazed. "Make them leave me alone."

He knelt beside her, wondering that he had the strength in his legs to keep from falling at her feet in complete terror.

"It's okay, baby." He touched her face with fingers that shook from his utter terror even as they smeared through her blood. "It's okay. I promise."

"They won't leave me alone." Tears welled in her eyes. "Tell them I'm fine. Please. I don't want to go to the hospital."

He saw the concern on the paramedics' faces. From Kia's dilated eyes and paper-white face, he knew she wasn't going anywhere but the hospital. Her eyes looked like bruises in white flesh.

"Baby, I'll go with you," he promised. "I'll ride with you, right beside you. We'll get you fixed right up, and I'll take care of everything."

"I don't want to go," she whispered. "They don't let you leave."

Her voice was now edged with panic. He didn't understand it, and he didn't give a damn what he had to promise her.

"It's okay. Trust me, Kia. I won't leave you." He nodded to the techs as they moved back for the stretcher. "Let's get you taken of Everything else is going to be okay. I promise."

"You have to make them let me come home." He saw the first tear slide down her cheek as the techs helped her onto the stretcher. "Promise me."

"On my life, Kia. I swear." He followed the paramedics, ignoring Drew as he passed him. "Come on. Just a quick trip. Okay?"

"You won't leave me?"

He stepped into the back of the ambulance with her as the tech strapped her in.

Her eyes were so large, so filled with fear, he swore he was going to become violent.

"They don't let you go once they get you there." Her voice sounded dazed as she stared at him, those fucking tears dampening her cheeks, sliding through the stain of blood.

"I won't let you go." He leaned forward as the tech moved behind her and called the information in to the hospital. "I'll be right beside you. I promise."

He would keep that promise.

"Your father's right behind us. No one's going to hurt you again, Kia. I swear."

"My purse is gone." Her lips trembled. "It was one of my favorites."

"She's dazed," the tech murmured to him. "Chauffeur reported a mugging, said the guy took her purse as he hit her. She's possibly concussed, definitely dazed."

"We'll find your purse," he promised. "I want you to rest, Kia. Do that for me, baby?"

He ignored the tech and leaned closer. He cupped her face and held her cheek against his. She was so cool. Her skin was like ice, and her gaze burned into his.

"I'm scared," she whispered. "My head hurts, Chase. Like it did when I was a child. Mom and Dad would make me stay in the hospital, and I hated it."

"I won't let them," he promised. He would promise her anything, do anything, to take that fear out of her eyes. "Do you hear me, baby? They're going to patch your head up and I'm calling Ian's doctor. We'll take you out of there and take you home. There's a spare bedroom. The doctor can sleep there."

She frowned at him. "I don't have a spare room."

"You do now." He pressed his lips to hers. "Trust me, Kia. Let me take care of you."

She stared up at him. "I'm not a doll."

"Never." He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "Never again. Just this one time, please, baby. I won't let them make you stay."

If he didn't get that fear out of her eyes, he was going to commit murder. She stared back at him, and it eased, slowly. Pain still filled her eyes, though, and the grip of her hand on his was fierce, determined.

"I want a call put in to Dr. Sanjer. Radio the hospital now. Tell him Ian Sinclair requests his immediate presence at the hospital."

Ian Sinclair's name opened doors. The tech made the call as the ambulance maneuvered through the city streets. Chase looked behind the ambulance and saw Ian's limo behind them. Her parents would be there, and they would try to take her from him, take her home.

The hell they would. He had backed off earlier because of Timothy Rutherford; he wouldn't make that mistake again. As the ambulance pulled into the hospital emergency entrance, he took her hand and lifted it to his lips.

"I'll be right behind you," he promised.

She swallowed tightly. "They won't let you."

He stared fiercely into her eyes. "I'll be right behind you, Kia."

She stared at him, and she didn't trust him. Hell, he couldn't blame her, but he'd show her. He'd be there, no matter who stood in his way, no matter what.

He moved aside as the ambulance pulled to a stop and he watched them rush her away.

"Chase!" Timothy Rutherford was out the door as Ian's limo pulled to a stop. "Is she okay?"

"She's coherent." He turned to Ian. "I had a call put in to Sanjer."

Ian nodded. "I called him from the car and talked to him personally. He should be here waiting on her. What happened?"

"Techs said it was a mugging." The hairs at the back of his neck lifted, a primal warning, a premonition he couldn't seem to shake.

"Mugging?" Timothy snapped. "That apartment building is supposed to be one of the most secure in the city."

"It is," Ian snapped. "It's one of mine. I called the manager for all security disks, and the detective in charge of the investigation will be contacting me. He should be at her apartment when she returns there."

"She won't be there." Chase turned toward the hospital doors as his brother, Jaci, Ian, Courtney, and Kia's parents watched in shock. "She'll be at my place."

He didn't see the shock on the faces of those who watched him disappear into the hospital. He wouldn't have cared if he had seen it. He'd promised Kia he would be right behind her. And he meant to keep that promise.

The headache was killing her. Kia had endured the exam, biting back a curse, and suffered in silence as the doctor stitched her head. When the nurse handed her two pills, she had taken them eagerly. It had felt as though gremlins were digging her brain out with their dull-assed fingernails.

She had flashed on a nightmare from her childhood. When she was a little girl and got horrible headaches, her doctor would always have her placed in the hospital. There they would run tests, poke and prod at her, and she would beg her parents to let her go home.

And they never would. Her mother would cry. Her father would get that miserable look on his face, and they would promise to let her go home. But they always made her stay.

Now her parents were in the room they had taken her to from the emergency room. They sat side by side near her bed. Chase stood silently at the foot of the bed, and Ian Sinclair and his wife and Cameron Falladay and Jaci were waiting outside.

Kia just wanted to go home. She wanted to curl up on the couch in front of the fire and just sleep.

"There's no sign of a concussion," Dr. Sanjer announced.

Portly and rugged, the middle-aged doctor smiled way too much.

"I'd like her to stay overnight, though," he continued.

"No." Kia didn't bother to stare up at him, just snapped the word out.

The effort caused her to wince and rub at her temple. If she could just get to her apartment, close her eyes and sleep, then everything would be just fine. She was certain of it.

"Now, Kia, leaving is a bad idea," her mother started, her voice worried.

"That's what you said when I was a child," she muttered. "I'm not staying." She looked at Chase. "You promised."

He stared back at her, his green eyes brooding, his expression so hard it was granite. But she saw his decision as he glanced at the doctor, and nearly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dr. Sanjer, I have an extra room at my apartment," he told the doctor. "You'll be spending the night there."

That she didn't expect. Evidently, the doctor hadn't either. He was Ian's personal physician, but a friend of Chase and Cam as well.

Sanjer sighed. "It's a good thing I like you, Chase. That order doesn't sit well."

"Please." His tone of voice was hard, his expression remorseless.

The doctor grunted.

"I'll let her leave then. I'll get what I need and be at your apartment within the hour. I want her to stay in bed tonight and tomorrow."

"I have a job," she bit out.

"You won't have one long if you don't listen to the doctor," Timothy snapped furiously. "For God's sake, Kia, when did you get so damned stubborn?"

"While you weren't looking." She felt as querulous as she sounded.

"No doubt in my mind, because if I had been looking we might have had to discuss it, little girl," he informed her, obviously covering his fear with his anger.

She glared back at him. "Are you staying at Chase's, too?" She looked at Chase. "You didn't mention staying with you."

Her head was splitting. She knew she really needed to protest this, but she just couldn't find the energy.

"You don't have a spare room for the doctor," he told her.

Of course, he had a reason. She sighed and stared at her hands. It wasn't because he wanted her there.

"Well, hell," she said. "I guess your couch is just as good as mine."

Chase flinched. He wasn't about to tell her exactly where she was going to be sleeping. In his bed. Right beside him.

He glanced at Rutherford, and knew her father knew. He was glaring at Chase. His expression promising retribution if Kia ended up with a broken heart.

"Sweetheart, you can come home with us," Cecilia told her.

She looked at Chase and he saw panic in her eyes. Oh Lord, no. Her mother would flutter around her and weep and worry all night long. She couldn't handle that.

"She'll go home with me," he told them. "Sanjer will be fine at the apartment, and both of you can come in the morning and stay as long as you like. Hell, follow us back if you want."

He didn't care a bit to bail her out of this one. He had no intention of allowing her to be anywhere but with him.

"Since when do you decide how she should be taken care of?" Timothy barked.