Night Fires

A feeling of anguish swept through her, followed by a relief so intense that it made her dizzy. He’d been injured, but he was all right. A smile lit her face.

An answering smile curved across his mouth as she hurried towards him, but it only accentuated the weariness that lay stretched over his face like a mask.

Her smile dimmed as she drew nearer. It wasn’t just his leg that was injured. A delicate tracery of stitches angled high across one cheek to vanish in his dark hair, and there was a bruise the colour of a storm-cloud along his jaw. He looked awful, she thought with a swift intake of breath, and it took monumental effort to keep even a remnant of the smile on her face.

‘Thank you for coming, Gabrielle.’ His mouth twisted. ‘I didn’t ask them to call you. I had no idea until they told me.’

She shook her head, cutting off his apology. ‘Never mind that. Are you all right? They wouldn’t tell me anything on the phone.’

‘I’m just fine,’ he said, smiling, and then his smile turned into a grimace as he shifted his leg. ‘It’s the car that’s wrecked. I’m afraid I’m not going to be one of Hertz’s favourite customers after they get a look at their Ford.’

‘What happened?’ Her eyes moved over him, coming to rest on his leg. ‘Is it—did you… ?’

James sighed. ‘My fault entirely. I was going too fast and I took a corner too quickly. The car ended up with its nose tucked into a telephone pole.’ He grimaced again and cupped his hand over his knee. ‘And my knee ended up in the dashboard,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘They tell me that wasn’t the best place for it, especially since I’d already done a number on it playing college football years ago.’

‘It’s not broken, then?’

‘No, no broken bones. I was lucky.’

Relief swept through her again, this time followed by annoyance at herself that he should matter so much to her. It sharpened her tongue when she spoke.

‘Why is it that grown men think they have to prove themselves by driving too fast? Of course you were lucky—but they say God watches out for drunkards and fools.’

James’s eyes narrowed. ‘OK,’ he said tightly, ‘I suppose it was dumb. But I’d made up my mind that I wasn’t going to have a pointless chat with your assistant.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It isn’t very complicated. As charming as the lady is, I’d run out of things to say to Miss Harwood.’ His breath hissed between his teeth as he moved his leg again. ‘I decided the only way I was going to talk to you was by catching you in your shop.’

His words tore into her. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said, but she did, and her guilt was sharp as a knife-edge.

His eyes narrowed. ‘You did get my messages, didn’t you?’

She swallowed. ‘Yes.’

He nodded. ‘Are you going to tell me why you refused my calls?’

She stared at him helplessly. How could she tell him the truth? She couldn’t; she wasn’t even sure what the truth was.

‘I—I was busy. Didn’t Alma tell you? We’ve been very lucky, taking lots of orders for mardi gras balls and dinners and…’

James lowered his leg to the floor and twisted towards the crutches. ‘Come on, Gabrielle, I wasn’t bom yesterday.’

His voice was rough, and she thought it was irritation until she saw the sudden whiteness around his mouth. Eagerly, she grasped at the chance to redeem herself.

‘Here,’ she said quickly, ‘let me get those for you.’

But he had already snatched the crutches and was rising to his feet. ‘You wouldn’t have taken my calls if you’d been watching your spider plants grow.’ He grunted as he jammed the crutches under his arms, and his eyes met hers. ‘I want to know why.’

Gabrielle ran her tongue across her lips. ‘This really isn’t the place to talk about it.’

‘Mr Forrester?’

They both looked at the nurse striding briskly towards them. James’s expression changed and he smiled.

‘Ah,’ he said lightly, ‘my angel of mercy.’

‘Your jailer, if you don’t watch out,’ the nurse said sternly, and she turned towards Gabrielle and pressed a sheaf of papers into her hands. ‘Instructions,’ she said. ‘How to apply compresses to Mr Forrester’s knee and jaw. And a prescription to fill, if aspirin isn’t enough to ease any discomfort.’

Gabrielle looked at her helplessly. ‘But I’m not ’

‘See to it he gets enough fluids. And he needs a proper diet. He’s to keep off that leg, doctor says. No weight on it at all until the swelling goes down. Have you a cane at home?’

‘A cane?’ Gabrielle repeated in bewilderment.

‘Well, no matter. You can purchase one at the surgical pharmacy when he’s ready to trade in the crutches for something lighter. Doctor says we’ll see him again in ten days to remove the sutures.’

‘I’m afraid there’s been some mistake. I’m not ’

‘You’re going to frighten Miss Shelton off with all those directives,’ James said smoothly. ‘I promise she’s not going to have any difficulty with me. I’ll behave.’

The nurse nodded. ‘You’d better, or you’ll end up in the orthopedics ward, where you probably should be right now.’

James smiled charmingly. ‘Not to worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll be good.’

A smile twitched at the corners of the nurse’s mouth, then vanished. ‘I doubt that,’ she said, and then she turned and hurried back towards the examining-rooms.

Gabrielle turned slowly towards James. ‘What on earth did you tell them?’ she asked warily.

‘Only what I had to so I could get myself out of here,’ he muttered. ‘Don’t look so panicked, Gabrielle. Your responsibility to me ends at the gate. Just look solicitous, walk me out of the door, and that will be the end of it.’ He shifted the crutches beneath his arms, then glanced at her. ‘You can manage that, can’t you?’

‘But—but shouldn’t you stay in the hospital? Your knee…’ She watched incredulously as he began hobbling off and then she hurried after him.

‘I told you, the knee’s an old injury. I know how to care for it.’

Gabrielle sprang past him and pushed open the swinging doors. ‘Did you tell them I’d take care of you? James—you did, didn’t you?’

He sighed. ‘I told you, I didn’t ask them to call you. But once they said they had… Look, I’d have promised them the moon to get out of here. But you don’t have to worry about it—it’s not as if anyone’s going to check.’

‘But you heard what the nurse said. You need rest. And care. Medication. You can’t get all that in a hotel.’ She fell silent as James looked at her. For a moment, she thought she’d seen something flare to life in his eyes, something that was triumphant and almost frightening in its intensity. But then he turned away, and, when he looked at her again, whatever she’d imagined was g

one.

‘I’ll managee. Just play along until we’re out of here.’

The rain had lessened to a drizzle. As they stepped out of the door, tendrils of fog curled around them. Gabrielle shivered and pulled up her coat-collar.

‘There’s a bench over there,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you sit down while I get my car?’

James shook his head. ‘You don’t have to bother. I’ll walk out to the street and find a taxi.’

He began moving across the circular drive that fronted the hospital, his crutches swinging steadily. Drops of water caught in his dark hair, glistening there like tiny jewels.

Gabrielle watched him go and then she hurried after him. ‘Don’t be silly, James. I’ll drive you to your hotel.’

The rhythmic swing of the crutches stopped and James looked at her.

‘You spent the day avoiding me,’ he said flatly. ‘The last thing I want to do is force myself on you now.’

Colour pinkened her cheeks. ‘You’re not,’ she said quickly. ‘And I didn’t try to avoid you today.’

His eyes met hers. ‘Didn’t you?’

They were back to that, and she still had no answer. At least, she had none she wanted him to hear. Guilt stirred within her again. Maybe she hadn’t been driving his car, but wasn’t she at least partly responsible for his accident?

‘James,’ her voice was low but steady, ‘I’d really like to help you. Please, let me take you to your hotel and help you settle in.’

Again, she thought she saw that flash of something in his eyes before he turned away from her.

‘You said you were very busy.’

‘Alma can handle things.’ She put her hand on his arm. ‘Please. I’d like to do it.’

When he looked at her this time, he gave her the same boyish grin he’d offered the nurse.

‘All right. Thank you, Gabrielle. I’d be very grateful.’

She winced as she watched him settle into her little car and carefully stretch his injured leg as much as the cramped space allowed.

She drove more slowly than usual, avoiding the more obvious bumps in the road, holding her breath each time she caused an inadvertent lurch.

Not that James complained. She thought he was asleep, at first; he’d put the seat back as far as it would go, and he sat with his head resting against the cushion, his eyes closed.