“Liar.”
Will eyed the gun and I could tell he was calculating his next move.
I tossed him a panicked glance, begging him wordlessly not to do something stupid. Surely the police would be here any second. We just needed to keep this guy talking. “I’m not lying.”
“She doesn’t have it.” Sarah’s voice rose from the floor behind me, and when I looked down, she was sitting up, one hand pressing the scarf to her head. “Only the director has a key.”
“Let’s go find the director then.” Brian grabbed my arm, pulling it up behind me as he spun me around and shoved the gun in my ribs. “Come on. You can help me convince him to open up.”
“No!” Will leapt forward with a roar, shouldering Brian away from me while at the same time pushing me toward the counter. I stumbled and caught myself on the edge of the cash register just as the gun went off with a loud pop.
“Goddammit!” Wrestling like a pissed-off bear, Brian took Will down with him as he crashed onto his butt. The gun flew across the room, landing just a few feet from the open door.
The two men scuffled on the floor in the narrow space behind the counter. One of them was bleeding, but I couldn’t tell which of them it was. However, Brian was definitely gaining the upper hand as he curled his fingers in Will’s blood-soaked shirtfront and punched him in the jaw. Will’s head bounced against the wall and he tried to return the blow, but missed, grazing his fist along Brian’s shoulder. As I watched in horror, Brian pulled his hand back to strike again.
Oh Jesus, it’s Will who’s bleeding! No, no, no. I can’t lose him. I won’t!
Fear and fury galvanized me into action. That little jerk was not going to take Will away from me. No way. Ears ringing from the gunshot, I ran around the glass case and picked up the weapon, hefting it in both hands. “Get up, Brian.” The calm in my voice amazed me as did the steadiness of my fingers as I aimed the pistol. “Now.”
“Just take it easy, little lady.” He released Will and stood slowly, his hands raised, eyeing me with trepidation. “That thing could go off again if you’re not careful.”
“Will?” Stomach churning, I moved along the length of the counter, and kept the gun focused on Brian. Adrenalin raced through my veins, giving me an unfamiliar yet heady sense of power. “Are you okay?”
“The bastard shot me.” Will’s voice was filled with incredulity. “He shot me.”
“I didn’t shoot you.” Brian scowled. “You hit my arm and made the gun go off.”
By this time, Sarah had managed to get to her feet and was steadying herself on the jewelry display. “Grab a couple of those fancy designer scarves, Julie, and let’s tie this son of a bitch up.”
I gave her the gun, grateful to hand the damn thing over, and pulled two strips of colorful fabric from the scarf rack.
“Now, look, ladies. There’s no reason to get all bent out of shape here. We’ve just had a little misunderstanding, that’s all.” Brian blinked and his lower lip trembled. “Let’s talk. We can straighten this out.”
“Oh, now he wants to talk.” Sarah scoffed and shook the gun in his direction. “Don’t mess with me, you little jerk, or I’ll go all Dirty Harry on your ass.” She pointed to a wicker armchair in the center of the store. “Get your butt over there and sit down. Take off your clothes first, I don’t want blood all over my white chair.”
“I only wanna find Jeannie.” Tears spilled over his cheeks as he backed his way to the chair, stripping off his jacket and shirt and dropping them on the floor. “I didn’t want any trouble. I love her.” He plopped down in the chair. “I miss her.”
“Are you really this stupid, Jenner?” Sarah gave his own words back to him. “I’m not buying the tears again, sparky. Shut up or I’ll let Julie here stuff a scarf in your mouth.”
Now my hands shook with fear and impatience. I only wanted to get him secured so I could tend to Will.
“His hands behind him first, Julie,” Sarah ordered. “Then tie his ankles to the chair.”
Just as I tied the last knot around Brian’s ankles and the chair leg, sirens screamed in the street outside. Resisting the urge to kick the bastard in the balls, I ran to Will as police officers swarmed the shop.
TWENTY-FOUR
“I’m going in there.”
“Ms. Miles, wait—” A frustrated nurse called out as I cruised the cubicles in the emergency room, looking for Will.
“Sorry, but there’s no way you’re gonna keep me out of there another second.” I peered around a curtain. No sign of Will.
The nurse gave a frustrated sigh. “Okay. He’s in Number 8.” She ran ahead of me, her white Crocs squeaking on the polished linoleum. “Come with me.”
When she drew back the curtain, I slipped around her. Will lay in the bed, eyes closed, five o’clock shadow showing clearly against the pallor of his skin. An almost-empty IV bag dripped clear liquid into the crook of his arm, and his shoulder was wrapped in a white bandage.
The nurse rolled her eyes at me. “This one’s been a very large pain in the behind tonight.” She jerked a thumb in his direction as she moved to the other side of his bed to check the machines surrounding him. “We practically had to sedate him to get him to lie still while the doc patched him up. Pain meds finally kicked in.”
“Did they get the bullet out?” I whispered, not wanting to disturb his rest. He looked so peaceful.
“Wasn’t there. It was a clean entry and exit, so no surgery required. He’ll be sore for a little while, but he’ll heal.” She pulled the blanket up under his arms before heading out the door. “This is getting low. I’ll be right back.”
I edged closer to the bed. He was so pale and still, if it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest, I’d have thought he was dead. When I reached out to touch his unbandaged shoulder, he opened his eyes.
“Hey, Slugger.” He started to lift his head, but then dropped it back on the pillows. “My head hurts.”
“I know. Lie still.” I stroked his hair back from his forehead. “You hit your head when you and Brian fell.”
He tried but failed to smile. “I think I’ve got a fat lip, too.” The words slurred and he licked his dry lips.
“Yup, you do.” I poured some water from the bedside pitcher and helped him manage the straw. “I still can’t believe you rushed that idiot.”
“Pretty stupid, huh?” He shrugged with a chuckle that immediately turned into a grimace. Apparently, even that small movement sent pain searing through him.
The nurse, who’d just returned with a new IV bag, ruffled his blond hair and shook her head. “Just found out we’re keeping you overnight, buddy.” Then she smiled at me. “They’ll be moving him up to a room shortly.”
Will turned more ashen and closed his eyes for a second. I could tell he hurt too much to argue, which was just as well since I had already planned on begging them to keep him anyway, and hadn’t intended to take any crap from him about it. I wanted to be completely sure he was going to be okay before I took him home.
I met the nurse’s gaze over his head, but she only shook her head. “He’s going to be fine. They just want to watch the bump on his head. He’s not concussed, but we keep head wounds for twenty-four hours.” She switched out the IV and then scurried out, yanking the curtain halfway closed.
Tears pricked my eyes and I scooted a chair closer to the bed. I needed to touch him. I slid my left hand under the blanket and placed it on his belly. It was contact, and he didn’t object.
In fact, he rubbed his fingers over mine, pressing my hand to his stomach, almost as if he needed me as much as I did him. “Thank God, they took that loon away.” His voice was rough.
“Oh yeah, he’s in custody. I’m sure he’ll be locked up for a long time. Will, what were you doing at the shop? Carrie told me you were in Budapest.” He looked so exhausted, I backpedaled and started to pull my hand away. “Never mind. You rest. We’ll talk later.”
He heaved a big sigh and stroked
his fingers from my elbow to my wrist. “No, I want you here. Stay, please.”
His words warmed me to my toes so I settled back into the chair. “Do you feel like telling me how you got from Eastern Europe to the shelter?”
Curling his fingers around mine under the blanket, he met my gaze, emotion filling his azure eyes. “It was kinda weird. I got into O’Hare this afternoon and caught a cab to head home, but for some reason, I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to see you. It was like I was—was being pushed. I just had to get to you immediately. I knew it was your day at the shop, so I told the cabbie to take me to there.”
“I’ve never been so happy to see someone in my entire life.” I didn’t mention the prayer I’d breathed to the heavens—to Charlie—just before Will had appeared at the door. I’m not a particularly spiritual person, but I was convinced Charlie had sent Will to me. “Will, I—”
“And here’s the dynamic duo.” A voice from the doorway interrupted me, and there was Sarah in a wheelchair, her red head bandaged. Dismissing the orderly with a smile and a thank you, she wheeled herself closer to the bed. “You two are quite a pair. How ya doin’, hero?” With a crooked grin, she started to rise, then plopped back into the chair, her face contorted in pain.
“Sarah, what the hell are you doing up?” I hopped up to straighten the pillow behind her back and rearrange the blanket over her knees. When I’d left her earlier, she’d been resting comfortably in a cubicle a few yards away from Will.
“I was bored all by myself, so I thought I’d come over and check on our boy. You only look a little worse for the wear, Lancelot.” She gave Will a thumbs up. Concern showed in her green eyes in spite of her casual manner.
“I’m okay. Sore shoulder and a raging headache.” His mouth twisted. “You must have one too. God, Sarah, that guy totally coldcocked you.”
“Aw hell, I’ve had worse than this from old butthead. But they’re saying I have to stay overnight for observation anyway.” She turned to me. “How’re you doing, Jules?”
“I’m fine.” I went over to the bed again and reached for Will’s hand. “I’m not the one who got pistol whipped or shot.”
Sarah squirmed to get comfortable in the wheelchair. “I could not believe that little jerk came back. And hey, for the record, I have no idea where Jeannie flew to, but it sure as hell wasn’t back to our shelter. She knows they’d have turned her away for giving any information to her horse’s ass of a husband.” She rolled her eyes in a show of obvious disgust. “I couldn’t believe our hero here”—a head nod to Will—”charging that guy like a roaring lion.”
“A roaring lion? Seriously?” Will sputtered, dull red color filling his cheeks. “I have no memory of roaring, only of being focused on stopping him from taking Julie away.”
“You roared, Will. Loud enough to wake the dead,” Sarah drawled. “
“Oh, Will, for God’s sake—” I gaped at him, suddenly horrified all over again at what could’ve have been. “You could’ve been killed. What on earth possessed you?”
He dropped his eyes. “You two are giving me way more credit than I deserve. All I could think of was making sure the bastard didn’t take you away. He was scared and stupid. Either of you probably could’ve taken him.”
“But he had a gun!”
He shrugged, then winced.
“Will—” Tears finally overflowed onto my cheeks as I gazed at him, overwhelmed at the fact that he’d risked his life for me.
Trembling like an adolescent on a first date, he tugged me closer. “Can I confess something?”
I nodded, heedless of the tears streaming down my face.
He took a deep breath. “Once, a long time ago, in Willow Bay, I passed you and Charlie down on the beach. You were staring at him like—like he was some kind of superhero, and I remember thinking, Wow, how would it feel to have someone look at me that way?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he stopped me with a finger against my lips and a brief shake of his head.
“From the first day I saw you in Carrie and Liam’s apartment, I’ve wanted to see that same expression in your eyes when you looked at me. The way you’re looking at me right now.” He let his finger slip ever so slowly over to brush my cheek, wiping away the tears. “If I’d known it was going to take both of us damn near getting killed for me to see it, I’d have arranged for us to run into a mugger a couple of months ago.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah wheel herself backward toward the door. She gave me a wink and a wave as the curtain dropped behind her.
I placed one hand on his cheek. “You saved my life,” I murmured. “But you don’t have to be a superhero. I don’t want a superhero. Just be you, okay?”
“Well, I’m not really the hero type, but I couldn’t let him hurt you.” He smiled at me modestly. “I’ve got plans for us, darlin’.”
Our eyes met and locked. Leaning down, I pressed my lips to his in a soft kiss. “I love you, Will.”
* * * *
Will and I holed up in his apartment together for a week after he was released from the hospital. I was an excellent nurse, providing chicken soup, hot tea, and sympathy, while he groused about being an invalid. Charlie would’ve basked in the extra attention and had me running hither and yon. Will worried I was doing too much for him.
“Jules, I’m good here. Come sit down.” He patted the sofa next to him one late afternoon after I’d helped him shower and dress before trying to decide what to cook for supper. He’d opened a bottle of wine and it sat on the coffee table with two glasses. “Chill, babe. Here, have a glass of wine.”
I smiled gratefully and plopped down, resting my head on his good shoulder before pouring for both of us.
“To us.” Will touched his glass to mine. “I’m cooking tonight. What do you want?”
“Whatever you want is fine.”
He tossed me a frown. “Sorry, you cooked that last night. Give me a choice, please.”
This had become our song and dance whenever a decision needed to be made. Will insisted I give him a preference. He didn’t always agree, and we didn’t constantly go with my choices, but he asked.
To my great surprise, he even let me see his own imperfections, never once trying to hide who he really was in order to impress me. Will Brody had nothing to prove to me or anyone else. His proclivity for messiness showed up immediately and made me very grateful he had someone come in to clean once a week. The man simply didn’t get why a bed had to be made every day or why dust on the TV screen bugged me.
We found compromises, rather than me simply giving in to his every whim and foible. The occasional late-night cigars were banished to the balcony, and somehow his towel began being hung neatly on the rack instead of slung over the top of the shower after he’d found me cleaning up the bathroom one morning.
In turn, I stopped believing it was my job to keep the pantry and fridge stocked with his favorite trail mix or the sparkling water he preferred. After duplicating his purchases more than once, I discovered it could be fun to wander the aisles of the market together—something that would never have occurred to Charlie. Never once did I get up in the wee hours to redo my makeup, and on laundry day, I left his underwear and socks in heap on the bed for him to fold and put away. Small things, but significant.
Will clearly adored the confused, silly, menopausal, sometimes-difficult Julie—the one who was learning to ask for what she wanted, even demand her own way if it suited her. His patience and kindness never once faltered, not when I griped about not having enough help at the shop, changed my mind five times about what I wanted to eat, or whined about nothing at all.
He wasn’t interested in the Julianne Miles that I’d invented for Charlie, not the perfect little housewife who’d remained at her husband’s beck and call. Every word, every action demonstrated his expectation that we be partners as well as lovers. That made him all the more dear.
I loved him for his unassuming ways, for caring
what I thought, for listening to me, and considering what I had to say. And I tested him despite myself. I threw hissy fits. I pouted. I gave him a million irrational reasons to give up on me as I worked through the last vestiges of pain left from Charlie’s betrayal.
But he was having none of my nonsense. He stood fast, teasing me, holding me, showing me in his own special, quiet way how much he loved me. I knew whatever else my future held, this man was my destiny.
That night, we made love for the first time since he’d been released from the hospital and laughed ‘til our sides ached, trying to come up with a position that didn’t hurt his shoulder or pop his stitches. Laughter turned into kisses that ignited the incredible chemistry between us, his touches once again making me mindless, taking me outside myself.
The bedroom was another place where Will Brody had nothing to prove. I was there. I was present and never once worried about whether or not I pleased him. I knew I pleased him—it showed in every caress, in each kiss, in the love that smoldered in his eyes as we moved together.
Afterward, he cuddled me close, not one bit worried about my tousled hair or lack of makeup. Long into the night, we planned our summer together, talking about the fun we’d have in Michigan, deciding whether I should meet him in Budapest or Paris or Athens as he went on tour with Liam.
We weren’t perfect, but we didn’t have to be. No one had ever loved me with such purity of heart or total acceptance, and I loved him completely, or at least I thought I did. In spite of all of it, a trace of doubt remained. Was it a little leftover fear that I could once again be wrong about the man I loved? Or perhaps some lingering question about my love for Charlie?
TWENTY-FIVE
“Everything was absolutely perfect, Jules.” Carrie swept out her arms as if to embrace the entire ballroom at the Stamford. The evening was winding down and we’d taken a break from the dancing. “I swear I don’t know how you pulled this off in only two and half months, particularly since you spent part of that time taking care of Will.”
Sex and the Widow Miles (The Women of Willow Bay) Page 16