Nighthawk's Child

by Linda Turner

  Summer’s stomach growled just at the thought, and they both burst out laughing. Grinning, Gavin took her hand. “I’d say we’ve come to the right place. C’mon.”

  In spite of the fact that it was well after lunch but too early for dinner, the restaurant was doing a brisk business. Gavin would have preferred a table by the fieldstone fireplace, where a roaring fire was crackling merrily, but they were all occupied, so they had to settle for a booth in the corner. Not that they really paid that much attention to their surroundings once the waiter brought their menus. All they could think about was eating.

  “We’re celebrating,” Gavin told Summer when he saw her wince at the prices. “The sky’s the limit, so get whatever you want. I don’t know about you, but I plan to have Cherries Jubilee and the praline cheesecake for dessert.”

  Shocked, Summer glanced up from her menu and laughed in disbelief. “You’re going to have two desserts? Plus dinner?”

  “You’re damn straight,” he retorted, grinning. “I’ve got a hell of a lot to celebrate. If the D.A. hadn’t called Elizabeth when he had, I was going to insist Elizabeth let me plead guilty in exchange for a manslaughter plea.”

  “Oh, Gavin, no!”

  “I would have lost in court, Summer,” he said huskily, his smile fading. “You know I would have. At least by copping a plea, I would have had a chance to see my daughter again.”

  He would have done it, she thought, shaken. He would have agreed to a guilty plea and years in prison for something he hadn’t done rather than take his chances with a prejudiced jury. And as much as she’d argued against that with Elizabeth, she couldn’t say she’d have blamed him for making that choice. She probably would have done the same thing if she’d had a daughter to think of.

  “All I can say is God bless Micky Culver,” she replied, lifting her water glass in a toast. “He saved your bacon.”

  “Which is why I plan to enjoy life from now on and not take anything for granted,” he replied. “If you want two desserts, have them. If champagne and strawberries sound good for breakfast, then go for it. We don’t have a clue what tomorrow’s going to bring, so live for today. It’s all we’ve got.”

  When she thought about just how close he had come to disaster, she had to agree there was a lot to be said for living in the moment. She was too pragmatic to do that on a regular basis—if you didn’t want any nasty surprises when you reached retirement age, you had to think about the future now—but sometimes you just needed to let go and forget about the consequences. This was one of those times.

  “Okay, then I think I’ll try the grilled pork chops,” she said with a smile, “and the duck á l’orange. And,” she added when the waiter started to turn to Gavin for his order, “Chocolate Delight for dessert.”

  Her eyes sparkling, she turned to Gavin with a challenging look that dared him to top that. Not to be outdone, he ordered his desserts first, then lobster thermidor and a rib eye cooked to perfection. When the waiter walked away, shaking his head over the fact that they’d ordered enough food for four people, they only laughed. So they had enough for a snack later. What was wrong with that?

  The service wasn’t fast, but the Gas Light Inn wasn’t the kind of place you went to for a quick hamburger. Instead, the staff prided itself on serving excellent food and wine at a leisurely pace that allowed its patrons to not only enjoy the meal without being constantly interrupted by the wait staff, but each other.

  And that’s exactly what Gavin and Summer did. For the first time Gavin could actually discuss the future and know that he had one. He told Summer about his plans to become the best surgeon in the western part of the country, how he wanted to spend a year in Boston working with Dr. Miles Agold, a legendary brain surgeon at Massachusetts General who made history in the operating room on a regular basis. And Summer told him about her own dreams to improve medical care not only on the Laughing Horse Reservation, but on every reservation in the country.

  And while they talked and ate, they never noticed that the restaurant was filling up with customers or that outside, the snow that had started to fall when they’d arrived at the inn had turned into the first blizzard of the season.

  Their waiter quietly appeared at their table and unobtrusively cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but management has asked me to inform you that the weather has taken a turn for the worse and the highway department has started to shut down the roads.”

  “What?” Gavin said sharply, surprised. “When did this happen?”

  “Over the last few hours, sir,” the waiter replied. “All the other patrons have already booked rooms for the night, but we could still have some late arrivals. We only have one room left, and if you’d like it, you need to reserve it now.”

  Rising to his feet, Gavin was already pulling his wallet from his pocket. “Thanks. We’ll do that. Is it a double?”

  “No, sir,” the younger man said. “It’s the honeymoon suite.”

  Seven

  “The honeymoon—” Breaking off abruptly, Gavin swore under his breath and didn’t dare look at Summer. “That’s all you have?”

  “Yes, sir, I’m afraid so. If you’d like to reserve it, I can bring you a registration card and you can do it here at your table.”

  He wanted to tell the waiter there was no way in hell he was taking that room, but unless they wanted to spend the night in the car and freeze to death, they were stuck. But the honeymoon suite, for God’s sake! Even a broom closet would have been better than that!

  Beggars, however, couldn’t be choosers, and with a muttered curse, he arched a dark brow at Summer. “Is that all right with you?”

  Summer would have loved to have been sophisticated enough to shrug and act as if she couldn’t have cared less, but she’d never spent a night in a hotel with a man in her life. Just the thought of sharing the honeymoon suite with him sent heat climbing into her cheeks, but what other choice did they have?

  Her heart pounding like a drum in her breast, she forced a smile for the waiter’s sake and nodded. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  Pleased, the waiter took the credit card Gavin held out to him and said, “Then I’ll take care of that for you right now.”

  He hurried away to the hotel registration desk, leaving behind a silence between Summer and Gavin that was as thick as the snow blowing outside the windows. The easy, relaxed mood they’d enjoyed before the interruption was now shattered, and there didn’t seem to be anything they could do to get it back.

  Her appetite nonexistent, Summer pushed her food around on her plate in a pretense of eating, but she only had to glance up to catch Gavin’s eye to know that she wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all him. With a grimace, she set down her fork. “I guess I shouldn’t have ordered all this, after all. I seem to have lost my appetite.”

  “We’ll ask for a doggie bag and take it with us to the room. You might get hungry later tonight and want your dessert.”

  When she was sharing the honeymoon suite with him? Her throat closed tight just at the thought. “Maybe,” she said huskily. “But I don’t think so.”

  The waiter returned then with the registration card for the room, and by unspoken agreement, that automatically signaled the end of the meal. What they hadn’t eaten was packaged up for them, the bill and tip were paid, and before either of them was ready for it, they were headed for the honeymoon suite.

  All but dragging her feet as she followed Gavin, Summer tried to convince herself it wouldn’t be that bad. After all, it was just a room and couldn’t be that different from the one the two of them had been sharing for the past week. They were already sleeping in the same bed and being quite civilized about it. So what was the big deal? All she had to do was act the way she usually did, and everything would work out just fine.

  Or at least that was what she thought until she preceded Gavin into their room and stopped short. There was a heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub right next to the fireplace in the living room of the suite. To enhan
ce the romantic atmosphere, someone—presumably a chambermaid—had thoughtfully lit a fire and all of the dozen or so candles strategically placed around the room.

  Her eyes wide, Summer took in everything in a single glance, then found her gaze zeroing through the open doorway at the far end of the living room to the bedroom beyond. There, illuminated by more candles, was a tall antique poster bed with a feather mattress that was right out of a romantic’s dreams. Summer took one look at it and felt her mouth go dry.

  Without thinking, she turned and didn’t have a clue where she was going except out of that suite. Gavin, however, was blocking the doorway and showed no inclination to move. Undaunted, she lifted her chin to a stubborn angle and looked him right in the eye. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, after all. I think I’ll just sit in the lobby all night.”

  “And do what? Sleep in a chair instead of a bed we’ve already paid for? C’mon, Summer, don’t be ridiculous.”

  She opened her mouth to tell him, paid for or not, she would never be able to sleep in that bed, but before she got a chance, there was a firm knock at the still open door. Startled, they turned to find a young man from room service holding a silver ice bucket with a bottle of champagne. “I’m sorry to interrupt, folks, but management is providing a bottle of champagne to all the guests tonight with their compliments. Have a good night.”

  He was gone as quickly as he’d appeared, leaving the champagne with Gavin, who promptly set it on a nearby table with a grimace of distaste. “Don’t pay any attention to this crap,” he told her, motioning to the seductive setting with a wave of his hand. “It’s all just window dressing. It doesn’t mean anything—at least not to us, anyway. It’s just a room, Summer. That’s all. A room with a bed and a dresser and a bath, just like the master bedroom at my house. And we’re going to do the same thing here we do at home—sleep. That’s it, I promise. Okay?”

  He was right—she knew that. The best thing they could both do was act as if their surroundings were nothing out of the ordinary and follow their regular nightly routine. But she usually took a bath at night while Gavin was reading in his study, then went to bed at least an hour before he did. That wasn’t going to work tonight. It was early yet, barely seven. And the tub was in the middle of the living room!

  So what were they going to do for the rest of the evening?

  Silently groaning at the possibilities that sprang to mind, she forced a weak smile. “I know I can trust you, Gavin. It’s not that. I just wasn’t expecting…this! Talk about overkill. I guess we should be grateful the bed’s not heart-shaped, too.”

  “There is a god,” he said dryly, grinning. “Now that we’ve got that settled, what would you like to watch on TV? Presuming, of course, that there is a TV in this love nest.”

  There was, but it was well hidden in a cabinet next to the fireplace. Flicking it on with the remote, Gavin surfed the channels and finally settled on an old Bob Hope/Bing Crosby movie, The Road to Morocco, that they both agreed was perfect for a snowy night in the mountains. They’d seen it before, of course, but the jokes were still funny, and for a while, at least, they were able to laugh and forget where they were.

  It couldn’t last, however, and all too soon, it was over and a Cary Grant/Grace Kelly romance flashed onto the television screen. Summer stiffened, and beside her, Gavin swore softly under his breath and reached for the remote. A heartbeat later, he switched the channel to a sitcom, and Summer sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

  Still, neither of them could relax after that. The sitcom held little humor, or maybe they were just no longer in the mood to appreciate it. Unable to laugh at any of the jokes, they just sat there and stared at the screen, wishing the torture would end and the evening would hurry up and be over. It was another hour, though, before the nightly news finally came on.

  Relieved, Summer popped up like a jack-in-the-box. “Well, I think I’ve had enough TV for one evening. I’m going to bed. Good night.” And without waiting to see if he would follow, she hurried into the bedroom.

  Unprepared for an overnight stay, they had no luggage, no change of clothes, not even a toothbrush between them. And no pajamas, Summer silently acknowledged as she stepped into the bedroom and quietly shut the door behind her. And that was just fine with her. She intended to keep all her clothes on, anyway, and she expected Gavin to do the same. That way, nobody got into trouble. Satisfied that she had everything worked out, she pulled off her shoes and crawled into bed.

  All she had to do, she reasoned, was get through the rest of the night. By morning, the blizzard would blow itself out, and the road crews would begin clearing the roads. They’d start with the highway through the pass first—which meant that by ten or so in the morning, she and Gavin could leave. As far as she was concerned, that couldn’t happen a moment too soon.

  Just go to sleep, and it’ll be morning before you know it, she told herself. But that was easier said than done. When she closed her eyes, she found it impossible to relax in spite of the fact that she had the bed all to herself. Frustrated, she shifted into a more comfortable position and silently prayed for sleep. But when Gavin came to bed thirty minutes later, quietly letting himself into the darkened bedroom with barely a sound, she was still wide awake.

  It wasn’t until he eased under the covers onto his side of the bed, however, that she realized just what kind of trouble she was in. The mattress dipped, giving way to his superior weight, and gravity almost sent her rolling into him. Her heart thumping crazily in her breast, she grabbed for the side of the bed, convinced she’d never be able to fall asleep now.

  It had, however, been a roller coaster of a day, and the emotional strain finally started to take its toll. Concentrating on not rolling to the middle of the mattress, she never noticed when tiredness overtook her. One second she was sure she was wide awake, and the next she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

  Beside her, Gavin knew the exact second she finally relaxed enough to fall asleep. A sigh whispered from her side of the bed, and the stiffness he could almost feel emanating from her body in waves gradually eased. Only then, when she let down her guard, could he let down his. His own sigh echoing hers, he fell asleep thinking of her, and never knew when they rolled against each other.

  It was hours later when the power went off, killing not only the muted lights in the hallway, but taking out the electric heating system, as well. Sound asleep, neither Gavin nor Summer noticed. Then the temperature began to drop. At first, it was barely noticeable. A slight coolness that had them both blindly reaching for covers. But as the power outage continued and an icy north wind whistled at the windows and doors of the inn, searching for a way inside, the temperature took on a decidedly chilly cast. Already rolled up against each other, Gavin and Summer inched closer together in their sleep, seeking one another’s warmth.

  If the power had come back on then, they might have slept safely through to morning without ever knowing they had slept in each other’s arms. But with no heat and the temperature outside continuing to drop, they turned in their sleep to face each other and huddled closer.

  Gavin came awake abruptly with the realization that something was wrong, and wasn’t surprised to discover Summer wrapped in his arms. Every night for a week now, she’d curled against him in her sleep and he hadn’t been able to resist the unconscious need to hold her. Tonight, however, she had good cause. It was bitterly cold. Obviously the heat had gone off and there was no way to tell when it would come back on.

  Holding Summer close, Gavin frowned in the pitch blackness of the night and considered their options. They needed more covers, but so, no doubt, did every other guest in the inn. If the heat stayed off much longer, he imagined the front desk was going to be flooded with calls for more blankets than the inn probably had. Which meant he and Summer would just have to find another way to keep warm.

  Suddenly remembering the fireplace, not only in the living room of the suite, but in the bedroom, too, he eased Summer from his arms an
d slipped out of bed, then carefully tucked the covers back around her. The cold hit him full-force almost immediately, and with a softly muttered curse, he hurried over to the fireplace in the dark and fumbled with fresh logs and kindling from the wood box. Thanks to the gas starter, he had a roaring fire going within minutes.

  Still, the room was bone-numbing cold, and it would be a while before it warmed up. Shutting the door between the living room and bedroom to help hold in the heat, Gavin glanced over at the bed. In the firelight, he could see Summer shivering under the covers. Hurrying back to her, he slipped under the covers and took her back into his arms.

  He just meant to hold her. Later, he swore to himself that that was all he meant to do. But as she snuggled trustingly against him and buried her face against his neck, he felt the heat of her breath against his skin and his arms instinctively tightened around her. He was, he knew, playing with fire, but she felt so damn good in his arms. And he was just holding her in her sleep, he reasoned. What harm could that do?

  But his hands, with a will of their own, began to roam. Unable to resist touching her, they gently traced the length of her back, the curve of her waist, the breadth of her hips. And even through her clothes, he could feel how soft and delicate she was.

  Entranced, he was totally lost to everything but the touch and feel of her when she moaned softly in her sleep. Suddenly realizing that he was doing a hell of a lot more than just holding her, he froze and sternly ordered himself to let her go before she woke up.

  He had, however, waited too long. She stirred under his hands, and before he could release her to try to put some distance between them, her eyes fluttered open and met his in the flickering light cast by the fire in the fireplace. “Gavin?” she murmured in confusion. “I’m cold.”