“I’m sure you do, but we’ve got it covered.”

“Keep me posted?”

“You know I will.”

After the captain left, Nick could see that Sam’s burst of energy had faded and the pain had her full attention.

Clutching her hand, he studied her precious face, aching from what he needed to tell her. If he had his way, she’d never know about the tabloid. But they had a deal about keeping things from each other, so he owed her nothing less than the truth, even if telling her would break his heart—and hers.

“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong? Is it Julian? I know it’s so hard for you to hear about how he was killed.”

“No, babe. It’s not Julian. Something happened while you were asleep before, and I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”

“Not my dad,” she said in a small voice.

With his good arm, Nick hugged her as best he could. “No, honey.” Holding her against him, he pressed his lips to her temple and very softly, very gently told her about the tabloid.

As his words registered, she stiffened in his arms. “No,” she whispered.

“I’m so sorry, Sam. I’d do anything in my power to protect you from having to deal with this. My lawyer is filing for an emergency injunction this morning, but he doesn’t think it’ll happen in time to stop the publication.”

“My dad,” she said, frantically. “I have to tell him before he reads it in the paper.” She struggled free of Nick’s embrace, and then nearly fainted when her head injury fought back.

He eased her to the pile of pillows. “Sweetheart, you can’t go anywhere right now.”

“I have to tell him.”

“I’ll call Celia. She’ll bring him here. I’ll make sure she brings him in a side door so no one gets to him before you do.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “It’s going to be okay, Sam. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Everyone will know what I was going to do,” she whispered.

“How about we steal their thunder?”

“What do you mean?”

“We could release a statement that tells the story your way, on your terms, rather than waiting for it to explode in the Reporter. We could pull the legs out from under them.”

“Come right out and admit it? I don’t know if I could do that.”

“Tell your story, Sam. Tell the same story you told me. We’ll issue a joint statement saying this is the only thing either of us will ever have to say on the issue. And then we’ll sue the asses off the clinic, the woman who stole your record and the Reporter. I’ll bet you all can come up with something to charge her with criminally.”

She looked up at him. “How do I make a statement?”