Courting Trouble. Kimberly Dean

      She scanned the other people in the photograph. There was Senator McHale, the man he’d been hounding at the Aquamarine event. Her stomach gave a little squeeze of pleasure when she couldn’t find the curvy brunette in the tight dress.

      Sienna looked again at those eyes. She didn’t see happiness in her imaginary lover’s gaze. No, the look in his eyes was the satisfaction of a predator after a successful hunt. He’d got what he’d gone after.

      Her thighs quivered, and she pressed them together tightly, remembering the feel of her vibrator deep inside her. Was that how he looked when he got a woman, too?

      A sharp crack broke her out of her sexual trance. She felt dampness on her hand and realised the water glass had broken.

      ‘Shoot,’ she hissed. She grabbed a napkin and quickly began to clean up the mess – until she realised that the liquid was more red than clear. Turning her hand over, she looked at her palm, and her thoughts became muddled. She was bleeding.

      ‘Sienna!’ The manager caught her wrist in a firm grip. People were staring as he pressed a towel against the cut. One look at her face, and he quickly pulled her into the back.

      She made it that far, but her knees were becoming more and more unsteady. Her boss pushed her into a chair in his office, wrapping up her hand and lifted it above her heart. ‘What happened?’ he demanded.

      ‘I don’t know,’ she said. Her head was getting woozy. ‘I squeezed it or it hit the table.’

      She didn’t know, and she wasn’t going to admit where her mind had been.

      Her hand suddenly began to throb. She tried to pull the towel back to look, but the manager refused to let up on the pressure.

      ‘Do you have a bandage big enough?’ she asked.

      ‘Honey,’ he said, looking her in the eye, ‘you’re going to need stitches.’

      * * *

      Sienna sat on one of the hard hospital beds in the emergency room, listening to the cacophony surrounding her and staring in disbelief at the virtual cast of gauze that had been wrapped around her hand.

      ‘He said you were lucky,’ Erin reminded her. She rolled the tray table closer when Sienna once again dropped her hand too low. ‘Here, brace your elbow on this.’

      Sienna gratefully took the rest. The throbbing in her hand was now matched by the throbbing in her head. She’d had twelve stitches. The cut had been deep, but not so bad that ligaments or muscles had been injured.

      It was her pocketbook that was taking a beating this morning.

      ‘Thanks for driving me here.’ Thank God Erin had been willing to drop her wedding planning for an hour or so.

      Which was becoming more like three.

      ‘Your mom should be here soon.’ Erin sweetly ran her hand up and down Sienna’s back.

      Sienna stared at the chart on the far wall showing the cardiovascular system. She wanted to see her mom. Who didn’t when they got a boo-boo? But that wasn’t what made her uncomfortable.

      She was going to have to ask for help. Financially.

      It was something she’d avoided for months and months. She’d scrimped and saved and had got by, but with an emergency-room bill added to the pile? Not even her Luxxor money was going to cover that. Benefits didn’t come until a full-time offer was accepted.

      Sienna rubbed at the throbbing in her forehead. ‘I should never have opted for the high-deductible plan,’ she murmured.

      ‘The what?’

      ‘My insurance.’

      ‘But you’re covered, right?’

      Erin didn’t understand these types of things. Her father took care of money and insurance, and Marty would pick up the responsibility as soon as they were married.

      ‘Yes,’ Sienna explained. ‘But I have to pay a high deductible before it kicks in.’

      Erin’s eyes glazed over.

      ‘It’s fine,’ Sienna said, giving up on explaining. She caught her friend’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

      The plan had seemed like a good deal when she’d signed up for it. It took the least amount out of her paycheck every month. She’d just never thought things through. If something were to happen – and it just had – she didn’t have enough money to cover that high … really, really high … first payment.

      The sound of heels walking stridently over linoleum struck Sienna’s ears. It was a familiar sound and, for a moment, tears pressed at her eyes.

      The emergency-room curtain wooshed as it was swept aside.

      Her mother’s pretty face crumpled when she saw her on the hospital bed. ‘Oh, sweetie.’

      ‘It’s all right, Mom.’ Sienna leaned forward, but kept her wounded hand out of the way as she was pulled into a tight hug.

      ‘Does it hurt?’

      ‘They gave me a pain pill.’ She dreaded to think how much that would cost.

      ‘Oh, it just shakes me to see you like this. What happened?’

      Sienna felt heat settle in her cheeks. She’d been distracted by an attractive man – a picture of one, no less. She’d flushed, her mind had wandered and her body had become aroused. ‘I got clumsy.’

      ‘That’s so unlike you.’ Reaching out, Amelia did that characteristic mom move of pressing the back of her hand against her child’s forehead. ‘You feel warm. Did they check to see if anything else is wrong?’

      Sienna bit her lip. She was hard-up and horny. That was all that was wrong with her. Damn Margo and her enthusiastic drummer with the beat. They’d started this.

      No, she’d started it when she’d first made eye contact with the man in the newspaper at the charity event.

      She waved her hand in front of her face, trying to cool her embarrassment. ‘I really don’t know how it happened. The glass just cracked.’

      Her mother’s hand hovered over the injury, a good five inches away. Beyond a kiss or a hug, she wasn’t good with bedside manners. ‘I don’t know how to help you.’

      ‘Can I get you some water, Mrs Blakely? Or some coffee?’

      Sienna watched as her mother stood straight and smoothed her dress over her trim form. ‘Thank you, Erin. Coffee would be wonderful. Two sugars.’

      Amelia looked at the hospital staff moving to and fro, some in a hurry, all of them distracted. ‘Is someone taking care of you?’

      ‘Yes, they’re just finalising the paperwork. Please, sit.’

      Her mother took a seat in the orange-coloured plastic chair near the bed. In her Zac Posen dress and Jimmy Choo shoes, her outfit was probably worth more than all the orange-coloured chairs on the floor combined.

      The realisation made Sienna swallow harder. She knew one way her parents could help, but she’d never wanted to ask. ‘Mom, I wasn’t expecting this to happen.’

      Her mother patted her knee. ‘Of course you didn’t. It was an accident.’

      Sienna tucked away a strand of hair that had escaped her braid. ‘What I mean, is, I didn’t plan for it financially.’

      ‘Oh.’ Her mother blinked and, for a moment, looked sympathetic.

      ‘Do you think you and Dad could help with these medical bills? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can,’ Sienna finished with a rush.

      ‘Of course,’ her mother said, leaning forward. But then she went still. ‘We’d like to …’

      There was a long, awful moment before