Kara had lost her parents in an auto accident at the age of eighteen and was pretty much alone. After working for several years as a waitress, barely surviving, she knew she had to either go to college or resign herself to struggling through life with no end to poverty in sight.
She didn’t regret the decision to go to college, but it had been difficult, an arduous and lonely road that she could only be grateful was almost over.
You’ll make it. Almost there!
Kara stopped abruptly as the sidewalk started to tilt and her vision blurred. Oh, shit. Her hand reached out to grip the post of a streetlight to steady herself as her brain whirled and her body trembled. Dizziness made it impossible to function, to advance any further. Damn it. I should have taken the time to eat.
“ Kara!” She heard the low, no-nonsense baritone filter through to her foggy brain. The voice was abrupt, but it was reassuring to know that someone who knew her, who recognized her, was here.
Shaking her head, trying to clear her vision, Kara tightened her grip on the metal post and willed herself not to pass out on the cold stone pavement as her body swayed precariously, preparing itself for the fall.
*****
Chapter 2
“ Christ, you look like hell!” The same voice, impatient and husky, broke through her hazy mind, and she felt a pair of solid, muscular arms come around her as she was lifted against a solid, rock-hard chest.
Warm…so warm. Instinctively, she snuggled into the heat of the sturdy, heat-producing form, trying to use the body heat to unlock her chilled muscles.
She rested her spinning head against a very broad, very solid shoulder and sighed as the mystery man passed through a set of doors and into a warm building. Somewhere inside of her mind, she knew she should be fighting him, trying to break away from the strange man whose voice she didn’t recognize, but she didn’t have the strength.
Kara acknowledged the ping of an elevator bell and her stomach rebelled as the steel chamber lurched, moving upward at what seemed like a lightning-fast, head-spinning speed.
Moments later, she was gently lowered to a comfortable bed and covered in a warm comforter that eased the chill from her body. Her shoes were removed roughly and dropped to the floor. She opened her eyes and tried to focus. Struggling to sit up, she found herself pushed back down onto the pillows by strong hands on her shoulders. “ Don’t move. Not one inch.”
“ I’m fine. I’ve had a little bug. I thought I was over it. It was just a little dizziness,” she argued as she tried to sit up again.
“ You’re not fine,” the voice barked. “ The doctor is here to see you. He lives in the building. He saw you nearly take a nose dive into the pavement.”
“ Doctor?” Alarmed, Kara focused on another man who lurked behind the bossy one. “ I don’t need a doctor.” She couldn’t afford a doctor.
“ Too late. He’s here. And you are being checked.”
“ I can refuse,” she answered hesitantly, her gaze finally meeting the dark eyes of her rescuer.
“ You won’t,” he told her in a warning voice.
His perilous appearance kept a sharp retort from exiting her mouth. God, he was huge. Broad shoulders filled her vision as he crouched beside the bed. She had felt his muscular body while he was carrying her, but now she could visually appreciate the strength of those arms, and his solid bulk as her sight cleared and the dizziness began to subside.
Big. Dark. Dangerous. Kara’s blue eyes clashed with his dark brown stare, his look so ferocious that it was almost frightening. He ran his hand impatiently through his short black hair, his expression grim. He wasn’t handsome in any conventional way, his features too sharp and his olive complexion marred by a small scar to his right temple and another on his left cheek. But damn…he was appealing in a carnal, sensual sort of way. Kara could feel the intensity vibrating from his body and entering hers, making her ni**les hard and sensitive. “ Who are you?” she asked him softly, remembering that he had called her by name.
“ Simon Hudson. Helen Hudson’s son.” He stood and backed up to let the older man behind him step forward.
Helen’s son? Simon. She had never met Sam or Simon, but she had heard all about them from her boss, a woman who had become a very close friend over the years. Simon was the youngest. In his early thirties. A computer genius, he developed computer games that had started the Hudson Corporation on its way to becoming a company worth billions.
“ Young lady, I heard you’ve been sick. I’m Dr. Simms. Let me take a quick look at you.” A kind, middle-aged face replaced Mr. Tall, Dark And Unhappy. Kara let out a relieved breath and gave the jovial doctor a small smile.
“ I’m fine. A virus. Maybe I wasn’t quite over it and it’s been a long day. Just a little residual fatigue,” she assured the physician, wanting to put on her well-worn sneakers and run away from this humbling situation as soon as possible.
Simon stood behind the good doctor, his arms crossed and his face formidable. Geez…the man was fierce. It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen plenty of scary men in her life, but there was something about Simon that had her heart thumping and her body on high alert.
Kara let the doctor do his exam. Dr. Simms was kind and efficient with a bedside manner that had her smiling as he chatted absently during his evaluation. He gave her commands and asked the standard questions. She answered his questions as briefly as possible, wanting to get the exam finished and get out of Simon Hudson’s constrained presence.
Dr Simms stood with a congenial smile as he completed his exam. “ You need rest, food and more time to get over this virus. You might have been feeling slightly better for a day because your fever broke, but the fever is back and the virus isn’t completely through your system. You’re already run down and it doesn’t sound like you sleep or eat properly.” The doctor’s smile broadened. “ Typical of us medical folks. It may have been a while ago, but I still remember medical school.” After a pause, the doctor asked professionally. “ Any chance you could be pregnant?”
Kara’s eyes shot to Simon’s face, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Did Simon really need to hearing all of this? His eyes locked with hers and his body seemed visibly tense as he waited for her answer.
“ No. Absolutely no possibility,” she answered with a timidity that was usually not part of her personality. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she was pregnant, unless a vibrator could knock her up, and lately, she was even too tired to use that. Her sex drive was dead from eighty hour weeks of work and school. The only action her bed got Kara, alone, sleeping for the few hours of rest that she got every night after her late-night study sessions.