Night Fires

‘I tell you what,’ she said teasingly, ‘I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.’

‘Cross your heart?’

She laughed. ‘Your terrible secret is safe with me.’ She caught her breath as James’s smile faltered and his face grew dark. She thought she’d never seen such pain in a man’s eyes before. ‘James? I did hurt you, didn’t I?’ He bent to her and kissed her with a fierceness that stole her breath away, and then his mouth gentled on hers. When he raised his head, the darkness had left his eyes. He smiled and cupped her chin gently in his palm.

‘You’ve taken good care of me. Nurse Ramrod would be pleased.’

Gabrielle smiled back. ‘No, she wouldn’t. You should have been asleep hours ago.’

He sighed. ‘You’re probably right. It has been one hell of a long day, hasn’t it?’ He traced the outline of her mouth with his thumb, and then he let her go and rose slowly to his feet. ‘Goodnight,’ he said. ‘Sleep well.’

‘I will,’ she said without thinking, ‘knowing you’re here.’ His eyes met hers and she gave a little laugh. ‘I— I haven’t been sleeping so well lately. I know it’s silly…’

James’s mouth turned down at the edges. ‘There’s nothing silly about it,’ he said, and then he drew a breath. ‘But there’s nothing to worry about tonight. I promise you that.’

She watched as he set his crutches in place and started down the hall. How strange, she thought. A little while ago, this man’ss sudden appearance in her life had disturbed her. Now, his presence made her feel more secure than she had in months.

She took a step forward and murmured his name. He paused and looked back at her. ‘Sleep well,’ she said.

Darkness, like a giant fist, closed over his face again. For a heartbeat, Gabrielle felt as if she was looking into the eyes of a stranger.

‘Goodnight,’ he said finally.

The door to the spare room opened, then closed after him, and she was alone.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The early morning streets of the French Quarter were drenched in sunlight. Puddles of rainwater, remnants of yesterday’s storm, gleamed along the pavement. Gutters and roofs still dripped gently in those shady corners where the sun had yet to reach. But the sky was a cloudless blue and the breeze warm. It was as if an early spring had settled over the city.

By the time Gabrielle finished her morning run to the flower shop, her shorts and cotton T-shirt were dark with perspiration. She’d half expected some sly comment from Alma. But her assistant was too distressed by the details of James’s accident to take anything but casual notice of Gabrielle’s unladylike appearance.

‘That poor man,’ she said, taking a towel from the shelf in the back room and tossing it to Gabrielle, ‘hurtin’ his knee and all. I’m just glad he’s all right. I kept hopin’ you’d call and let me know how he was.’

‘I meant to.’ Gabrielle blotted her face and neck, then draped the towel around her shoulders. ‘But—well, things got kind of hectic.’ She hesitated. ‘We had to find James a new place to stay. The elevator at his hotel was out of order, and he couldn’t manage the stairs.’

‘However did you find anythin’?’ Alma asked in amazement. ‘There’s never a room left by the time mardi gras weekend rolls around.’

Gabrielle looked at her. Now was the time to tell her that she’d taken James to her house. But the words caught in her throat. The memory of James as she’d seen him when she peeped into his room this morning, asleep and sprawled across the narrow bed with the blanket tangled at his hips, was still too vivid.

She shrugged her shoulders. ‘We finally worked something out.’

‘I can’t imagine how—unless he found a room in some dilapidated hole in the wall across the river. How’s he

goin’ to enjoy Carnival if ’

Gabrielle tossed the towel aside. ‘Speaking of Carnival,’ she said quickly, ‘didn’t you say the Hyacinth Club is going to parade this afternoon?’

Alma rolled her eyes. ‘Folks call them “krewes”, Gaby, not “clubs”. And it’s the Irises, not the Hyacinths, for goodness’ sake.’

Gabrielle grinned. ‘Well, I was close.’

The older woman laughed. ‘Sure. You got the parade date right. Which reminds me—if you want to get close enough to see anythin’, we should get to Rampart Street early. I thought we might…’

Gabrielle glanced at her watch as Alma spoke. She’d been gone more than half an hour; was James still asleep? She’d left a note in the kitchen, tucked beneath a carafe of orange juice, but she wanted to be there when he awakened. It would be nice to have a breakfast of fresh coffee and warm beignets on the terrace. The sun and the soft morning air might be the best kind of medicine.

‘So what do you think, Gaby? Shall we?’

Gabrielle blinked. Her assistant was looking at her, eyebrows raised.

‘I’m sorry, Alma, I guess I was daydreaming. I didn’t hear you.’

Alma sighed. ‘I was saying’ there won’t be any business to speak of today. We only have two bouquets to deliver and then we might as well close up shop—if that’s all right with you.’

‘That’s fine. In fact, I was going to suggest it myself.’

‘Good. I’ll call Billy and tell him to come in early for the deliveries. Oh, and I’ll give my cousin a ring, too. Carolyn and I always do the town together come mardi gras’ She eyed Gabrielle speculatively. ‘Why don’t you came with us? You two would get along fine.’

Gabrielle shook her head. ‘Thank you for asking. But I can’t.’

‘Mardi gras isn’t any fun if you’re alone.’ Alma’s eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t tell me you’re plannin’ to stay home all weekend.’

There was no getting around the truth. Gabrielle took a deep breath.

‘I might. But not for the reasons you think.’

Alma put her hands on her hips. ‘Nonsense. The reasons are always the same—you just don’t want to meet people. I know you told me to mind my own business, but ’

‘It isn’t that.’ The words were out before she could stop them. Alma looked at her in surprise, and Gabrielle touched her tongue to her lips. This was the first time she’d ever tried, to answer the familiar accusation. ‘It isn’t that,’ she said again, this time more softly. ‘I—I want to meet people. It’s just that—that there are things that happened back in New York….’ She fell silent.

‘I wasn’t tryin’ to pry.’ Alma’s tone was gentle. ‘But I hate to see you alone all the time. If some man broke your heart back home…’

‘It wasn’t what you think. Things happened to me, and…’ She paused and her eyes met her assistant’s. ‘People use people.’

Her voice faded. What had ever possessed her to say that? It was as if meeting James was making all her carefully maintained defenses crumble.

‘Gaby,’ Alma moved closer and put her hand on her friend’s arm, ‘you have to forget. Learn to trust again.’ Gabrielle smiled. ‘I have,’ she said. ‘I trust you.’

‘But not James?’

She hesitated, and her smile wavered a little. ‘Remember when you asked how I managed to find James a hotel room?’

‘Yes. But what does that have

to do with ?’

‘Well, I didn’t find one. I mean, I couldn’t. There wasn’t a room anywhere.’ She paused, then hurried on. ‘So I took him home with me. James is staying at my house.’

‘James Forrester? You took him…’ Alma’s eyes widened. ‘I don’t believe it!’

Gabrielle shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t believe it, either,’ she said with a forced laugh, ‘but that’s what I did. There didn’t seem to be any other way.’

Alma raised an eyebrow. ‘Uh huh.’

‘We spent hours trying to find him a room,’ Gabrielle said defensively. ‘What else could I have done? He was hurt and exhausted and…’

Alma threw her arms around Gabrielle and gave her a quick hug. ‘I’m so glad.’

A scarlet glow crept int

o Gabrielle’s cheeks. ‘It’s not what you think. It’s just that James needed me. I couldn’t turn away from him, could I?’

Alma’s smile grew gentle. ‘No, of course you couldn’t. And how is he feelin’ this mornin’?’

The image of James lying sprawled across the narrow bed, his skin tan against the white sheets, flickered in Gabrielle’s mind again.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, looking away from Alma’s steady gaze. ‘He was still sleeping when I left.’

‘Well, then, you’d better hurry home before your patient wakes and finds his nurse missin’.’

Gabrielle turned towards her. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind? I can call James and tell him I’ll be a while.*