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again.”
    “Oh. Ouch. What did you tell him?” I asked, genuinely curious.
    Xavier straightened, tugging on his sleeves. “I told him no.”
    I couldn’t help but smirk. If Devon was anything like his uncle in personality, telling him no would only make him want it more.
    Xavier tilted his head, looking at me like I’d just done a trick.
    “Why are you smiling?”
    I couldn’t help it. “Because I was just thinking that there was probably nothing you could have said that would have made him want it more.”
    Xavier humphed and moved back to the window, telling me I was totally right.
    The doctor opened the door and stepped out.
    “How is my nephew?” Xavier asked, his voice back to cool neutrality.
    The doctor held an x-ray over his head and pointed to something I couldn’t make out.
    “He’s got a concussion, but no sign of swelling in the brain, which is good. He does have three broken ribs, a good-sized gash in his forearm, and a few bumps and bruises. All in all, he was very lucky. I’d like to keep him at least twenty-four hours for observation. Then a few weeks of taking it easy and he should be as good as new.”
    I let out a breath of relief and put my hand on Xavier’s back. “Thank you, Doctor.”
    The doctor, an older man with a snow-white mustache that made him look like a skinny, beardless Santa, turned to me. “Are you Isabel?”
    I dropped my hand and went back to clutching my purse. “Yes.”
    “He’s asking for you.”
    “Me? ” So much for not getting in the middle.
    The doctor nodded. “But please make it very quick. He needs to be resting.”
    I looked to Xavier, who said nothing, but his expression was as surprised as my own. “Um, yeah. Okay. Be right back.”
    i
    Even with the tubes and wires sticking out from all over, Devon looked better since they’d cleaned up all the blood. He was going to have some colorful bruises all over his face for a while, but like the doc had said, he was very lucky. I stepped to the side of his bed and he blinked, smiling when he saw me. He grunted. The small smile had reopened the cut on his lower lip. I turned, grabbed a small square of gauze from the counter, and as gently as possible, dabbed it on the cut.
    I still couldn’t get over the family resemblance. It was uncanny.
    “I just wanted to say thank you,” he whispered hoarsely, “and to apologize for the things I said to you earlier.”
    I shrugged, tossing the bloody square in the garbage. “I’m sorry I almost Tased you.”
    His shoulders shook as he tried to hold back a laugh and the accompanying pain. “I mean it. If you hadn’t found me, I would have died out there.”
    I pulled up a small stool on wheels and took a seat, propping my elbows on the edge of the bed. “What happened down there? Who did this to you?”
    He closed his eyes. “I don’t remember.”
    I reached up and flicked him in the ear, the only part of him not already injured. He twitched.
    “Ouch!”
    “I’m raising the bullshit flag on that one. You can tell me, or you can tell Xavier. Not to brag, but I’m less likely to hunt the S.O.B. down and rip his throat out.”
    “No offense, I know you’re trying to help, but it’s a private matter.”
    Stubborn, just like his uncle.
    I raised my hands in surrender. “Fine. But do me a favor, whatever is going on, cut Xavier some slack. He cares about you. And whatever trouble you’re in, if you decide you want help, my door’s always open.”
    “Why do you care, Isabel? I mean, you don’t know me from Adam, but here you are. I’m just wondering why.”
    I shrugged. “I’m a sucker for a hard-luck case, I guess. You should see my house, full of lost puppies and orphans.”
    He laughed. It must have hurt pretty badly because he gasped and clutched the bed railing.
    “Seriously. Not many guys would try to scare off a vampire’s dinner date. That takes a magical combination of guts and idiocy. I respect that.”
    He gave me a little nod and I grabbed