Undone by the Star by Stephanie Browning Read Free Book Online

empty echoes with her soft laugh. Given the way he and Alex had last parted, it was a bit of a stretch, but Marc didn’t care. Because he could picture her curled up in a big, comfy chair, wearing something soft and a bit revealing, looking up at him from her book, a welcoming smile curving her lips. And until she said otherwise, he was free to dream.
    His pace had slowed by the time he reached Green Park, but the smile remained. Even if Alex insisted they address each other as Miss Kirkwood and Mr. Daniels, it would be okay with him, because all that mattered was that they be friends.
    Running up The Sadler’s front steps, Marc nodded to the doorman and entered, his gaze anxiously sweeping the lobby. But Alex was nowhere to be seen. Jeremy, her youthful admirer, manned the concierge desk. The young woman at reception looked up, tilted her head and gave him a flirtatious smile. Like an automaton, he smiled back, dismissing her as an information source. That left the boy wonder.
    “Can I help you, Mr. Daniels?” Jeremy half-rose from the desk.
    “I need to have a word with Miss Kirkwood,” Marc said, keeping his tone neutral. He was, after all, just another guest of the hotel. “Is she available?”
    “No…can I help you?” The words tumbled out too quickly.
    Marc read the moment and the anxiety written on the young man’s face. He pressed harder. “When will she be back?”
    “I…um…I don’t know,” Jeremy faltered. Marc leaned in closer. “She’s gone to the hospital,” Jeremy blurted.
    Panic flooded Marc. “Why? What’s happened?”
    Jeremy glanced around, obviously torn between his desire to be helpful and the need to be discreet. “Miss Sadler had an accident,” he said in a sotto voice. “They took her by ambulance to St. Thomas’…Alex, I mean Miss Kirkwood, went with her. But that was hours ago. We haven’t heard anything since.”
    Marc froze. All his carefully rehearsed apologies trickled into nothing. If Alex’s grandmother was in trouble, then so was Alex.
    Turning away, Marc strode outside and hailed a cab.
    Alex needed him.
     
    Alex sat by her grandmother’s bedside watching the elderly woman’s thin chest lightly rise and fall beneath the warmed flannel blanket. She tried to ignore the soft pings of the monitors tracking every beat of her grandmother’s heart, but at the same time, she drew comfort from them.
    Grannie had always seemed indestructible.
    And now, with her ankle wrapped and slightly elevated, she slept fitfully, eyelids fluttering in response to the bursts of conversation and rattling of carts in the corridor outside her hospital room.
    Alex took a deep, shuddering breath and held it hard. No matter how shaken and frightened she still felt after their terrifying rush to the hospital and then the long wait for x-rays to be taken and decisions to be made, she was determined not to cry. If Grannie woke up and saw her granddaughter in tears, it might upset her, might make her think she was worse off than she really was.
    Alex desperately wanted to call Marc, but her feelings were so muddled after what had happened on Saturday, she didn’t know what to do. She barely knew him, but her heart was telling her that was a lie.
    A soft knock sounded at the door, and a diminutive woman entered the room, a stethoscope draped about the collar of her white jacket. “Miss Kirkwood? I’m Dr. Patel.” She held out her hand.
    Alex jumped to her feet and clasped the doctor’s hand in a brief shake. “Alex Kirkwood. How is my grandmother?”
    They turned as one towards the bed where Eugenie Sadler lay sleeping.
    “Considering her age, I’d say she’s doing very well.” Dr. Patel lowered her voice. “The fracture was straightforward. In fact, if she were a younger woman, she would likely go home today.”
    Alex found the doctor’s comments hard to take in. “But she hasn’t even woken up yet.”
    “That’s because we had to give her a mild sedative and muscle relaxant.