Lalie finished gathering the herbs while Terra got Josh’s ball. When Josh returned with the glasses, she explained to him that Kermit was visiting next door, sick with a cold, and that he needed help to get well.
Walking over to the estate, Terra instructed Josh, “Play with your ball on the patio while I help Lalie fix some tea.”
“I wanna go in.”
“You might catch his cold, Josh. Remember the last one you had, how stuffed up you got?”
He made a face and nodded. “I don’t want that.”
Terra felt chilly with apprehension as they crossed the lawn and the patio to the double doors. Josh stayed outside playing, while Lalie and Terra went in.
Rafe was on the bed, rolled up in a quilt and shivering, muttering gibberish.
“He’s hot and cold by turns,” Lalie said. “Tend to him while I boil up the herbs. Keep a cold cloth on his head. I’ll be back.” She hurried out of the room.
Terra sat in a chair that Lalie had pulled close to the bed. She removed the wet cloth from Rafe’s forehead and refreshed it in a basin of ice water on the night table.
He flinched when she replaced it. She saw his eyeballs rolling wildly under his closed eyelids and then his lashes fluttered open. Eyes bloodshot, glassy and unfocused, he stared at her for a moment.
“No,” he muttered through chattering teeth. “No, no, no, no.”
Terra saw that he was far away from himself, unrecognizing, incoherent. Whether he was a traitor or not, he was miserably ill and needed to be cared for. She thought about what a strain the past two months must have been for Lalie. And now, Lalie had taken on the additional task of baby-sitting Josh. Perhaps she had thought that Rafe was farther along the road to recovery than he appeared to be right now. More likely, she hadn’t been able to refuse without arousing Columbia’s concern.
Knowing nothing about tropical fever, Terra couldn’t do anything more than what Lalie had instructed. She changed the cloth again, and again Rafe flinched.
“Rafe,” she murmured, touching his fiery-hot, sweatsheened cheek, “it’s me. Terra.”
Strange, she thought, how they had both been knocked off their feet within the past two days.
“Terra,” he mumbled. He worked one hand out of the quilt, reaching toward her.
She clasped his hand in hers. “Lalie’s making you something to drink. You’re not alone. You’re going to feel better soon.”
He seemed to calm a little from her touch and her words, so she stroked his forearm and kept speaking softly to him. He quieted a little more, eyes open and then closed again. Maintaining contact with one hand, she used her other to freshen the cloth, while telling him what she was doing and why.
He licked his lips, repeated her name in a ragged whisper and calmed down a fraction more. “Home… I’m home?”
“Yes. You’re safe.” She brought his hand to her cheek. “Relax.”
His fingers spread and touched her hair. He swallowed hard, several times. “Terra…don’t go…”
Lalie came in with a cup of deep green tea and Terra cradled Rafe’s head as Lalie gave him a portion of the brew spoonful by spoonful. He swallowed each one mechanically, as if in a trance.
“Quinine doesn’t affect it, so it’s not malaria,” Lalie mused. “These herbs always help, so far at least. Without a doctor to consult, folk medicine is all we’ve got.”
Terra asked, “How long do the attacks last?”
“Anywhere from a couple of hours to half a day. This one is by far the worst.”
Terra eased Rafe’s head down on the pillow. Eyes closed, he reached out and clutched her hand again, as if it represented a lifeline to him. He whispered her name again, faintly.
Lalie gave a small smile. “My special angel says Kermit’s finally putting some trust in you. Maybe you wouldn’t mind filling my spot here while I make a quick lettuce delivery to Columbia?”
“Fine,” Terra agreed, “if you’ll take Josh along for the ride.”
Lalie nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking. Whoever asks your whereabouts, I’ll wave a hand in the air and say you’re somewhere around.” She left.
Terra settled more comfortably into the chair and went on stroking Rafe’s hand and forearm. His breathing segued into a less labored rhythm and eased degree by degree. Then he gave a long sigh and slowly dropped off to sleep.
Terra closed her own eyes, registering the texture of Rafe’s palm, the silky hair on his arm, the cooling temperature of his skin. She listened to his breath and the measured sound brought back memories of the night she spent in his arms. The night he saved her life.
7
RAFE WOKE AND FOUND himself cocooned in a quilt that he dimly remembered Lalie wrapping around him. He had only the vaguest memory of falling asleep. Now, awake, he had the tactile impression that someone was holding his hand, someone he sensed wasn’t Lalie.
He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to see who was there. Sweet Lord, yes, it was Terra Camden. Her fingers were loosely entwined with his and she had the back of his hand nestled into the warmest hollow of her lap. Her eyes were closed, but he sensed she wasn’t really asleep—just resting or daydreaming.
He didn’t make a sound or any further movement, but simply lay still and let his eyes fill with her. Nor did he wonder where Lalie and Josh were, or ponder whether Terra was conscious of the intimate position of his hand against her feminine mound.
It seemed he’d awakened in heaven at the end of an unplanned journey through hell. His bouts with the fever were always unpredictable. He’d never before emerged from an attack in this way, though. Never like this.
He wanted to maintain the contact, so he kept still, breathing in the subtle scent of her perfume. He lowered his gaze from her face to her breasts and lingered there for a long moment, seeing that her nipples made twin, pearl-shaped impressions against the fabric of her white blouse.
She was so feminine. And so compassionate to be there with him, caring to this extent about him.
He hadn’t had this much pleasure to enjoy since…since the Mermaid.
Terra stirred and opened her eyes. When she saw him awake, she started and hastily transferred his hand from its nesting place to the bed.
“Oh, hi.” She adjusted her blouse, clasped her hands together and cleared her throat. Then cleared it again. “Feeling better?”
Worse! he thought. Paradise lost. He’d been starting to feel like a million bucks before she jumped to attention and severed his heavenly connection with her. Now he got the feeling she’d been pretending he was someone else. Someone in San Francisco, probably. Someone she missed.
“I’m making a comeback,” he replied defensively. “What brings you here?”
She explained where Lalie and Josh were. “You couldn’t be left alone,” she added.
“Sorry to inconvenience you.”
He regressed to feeling surly and out of sorts, the way he always felt after a fever assault. The tropical bug in his blood was a master at ambushing him unawares, laying him flat as long as it liked, then retreating until its next spontaneous assault on him.
Lalie had tried quinine, but that hadn’t worked. Without a medical professional to treat him, he was subject to the bug’s whim.
The recovery period each time was surprisingly short, but the fact that the entire process would repeat without warning made him feel helpless. And angry at himself for it.
“It’s not an inconvenience,” Terra objected, frowning at him. “It’s to help Lalie out.”
“If you mean she’s had it rough with me, that’s easy to see.”
“I mean she’s been under a strain. At her age, it can’t be easy to care for you and her own concerns, as well.”
“You’re damn right. All the more reason for me to cut out and give everybody here a big break.”
“I thought we agreed that you’d stick around, Rafe.”
“Temporarily agreed,” he reminded her. “I’m reconsidering it.”
“Yo
u’re too sick to reconsider anything. Less than an hour ago you were out of it.”
“I’m lucid now, thinking clearly.”
“I don’t think so, Rafe.”
“I do,” he insisted. He painfully worked his way out of the confining quilt. It was damp with sweat and the jeans he had on weren’t any drier. “I’m on the mend.”
She rolled her eyes. “At the very least you’re dehydrated.”
“Nothing a swig of water won’t fix.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and gave his all to sit up on the edge. Being weak, looking helpless, wasn’t acceptable to him, especially not in front of Terra Camden.
She stood from the chair and blocked his way. “I’ll get the water for you.”
“I’ll fare for myself, thank you very much.”
He felt woozy and boneless. Not the strong, vigorous, never-sick-a-day-in-my-life type he had been a few long years ago. Not the man who could probably have attracted Ms. Camden’s interest back then without a Herculean amount of effort.
He was a hollowed out shell of what he’d once been. The last thing he needed was a beautiful, caring woman putting his deficiencies into stark relief by just being there. If she’d just go away, he could ignore himself.
She said. “I’m not moving until you lie down again. You’re pale, hurting, dehydrated and heaven only knows what else.”
“It’s nothing you can fix, okay?”
“Nokay,” she replied, planting her feet wide, her hands on her hips.
Rafe figured she used that same megamom stance with her son whenever the boy kicked up a ruckus. Well, she wasn’t dealing with a preschooler right now, and there was no better time than the present to make it lastingly clear to her.
He clenched his jaw and slowly came to his feet, facing her. She held her position, just a few inches away, nose to nose. She didn’t blink, and neither did he. Damn if he was going to let on that he felt close to blacking out.
“Apparently, you don’t comprehend what I said, Terra.”
“Apparently, you don’t understand what nokay means, Rafe.”
“I know goddamned good and well what—”
“Don’t swear.”
Rafe stared down into her eyes, and she stared up into his. He clamped her upper arms in his hands, not to intimidate and subdue her, but to maintain his balance without giving away how unsteady he felt.
“I don’t take orders,” he told her curtly.
She countered with mock-sweet defiance, “Take a request, then. Please, stop swearing.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“While you’re thinking, let go of me.”
“Do you agree to get out of my way?”
“Rafe, why don’t you just stop this childish nonsense?”
“Oh, so you think I’m acting like Josh with the sniffles.”
“Josh is a lot more reasonable when he’s ill.”
“Look, I didn’t invite you in here, and now I’m inviting you to leave.”
“You can’t. This isn’t your house. I’m not budging and that’s final.”
Rafe tightened his hold on her, and then helpless to push her out of his way, he did something he knew he’d regret later. Something he’d been wanting to do from the moment he’d first seen Terra Camden.
Slowly, giving her plenty of time to evade him if she wanted to, he bent his head and kissed her lips. To his surprise, she went still, unresisting, and let him do it. More surprising, her lips trembled under his and she made a faint, encouraging sound, then leaned into him and flattened her hands against his chest.
It took him a moment to register that her response was positive. Despite the angry words they’d flung at each other, she seemed to want the kiss as much as he did. Or was it her own stubborn way of continuing the argument? If it was, she was getting the upper hand.
Her soft, warm lips parted. Her hands slid up and curved behind his neck. He shuddered and drew her against him, then fed on her mouth with a ravenous lack of control. It had been too long, too long for him to be sane and in charge of himself. He was starved, deprived beyond any ability to hold back from taking whatever she would give.
“Kermit? Terra?” Lalie’s voice stopped him like a sharp blow between the eyes.
Terra whirled away from him and physical weakness did him in again. Dizzy and shaken by too much too soon, he reeled back and dropped onto the bed.
He blinked at Lalie, who was at the patio door, poking her head inside. How long had she been there? From her bemused expression, long enough.
Her gaze swiveled back and forth between them. “What was all the shouting about?”
“Water,” Rafe croaked.
Terra mumbled, “I’ll get it.” She hastened into the bathroom, smoothing her blouse and hair.
Lalie raised her eyebrows at him. “We’re back from our delivery, Josh and I.”
“C’mon in. I’m not contagious any more.” Rafe slid under the soggy quilt again and sank back against the pillows.
Josh came with Lalie to the bedside. “Is your cold gone, Kermit?”
“All gone.” Rafe met the boy’s startling blue eyes and tried not to look fool-crazy about his mother. “What’s happening with you today?”
“I got a ride. In Lalie’s van.”
Terra came back with a tall glass of water and kissed Josh on the cheek before setting the water on the night table. “How are you doing, big boy? Miss me?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. “How come you guys yelled?”
Terra flushed and fidgeted with one of her collar points. “Urn, well, Kermit’s ears were plugged up from his cold and—”
“She had to yell so I could hear,” Rafe finished for her. “Then I had to yell so I could hear myself. You know how it goes.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Lalie murmured, “sure do.”
Josh settled his elbows on the edge of the mattress and studied Rafe with interest. “Do you like Power Rangers?”
Rafe had no idea what they were, but he caught Terra’s prompting nod. “Do you?”
That was all it took to set Josh off, telling all about the last episode he’d seen on TV. Rafe was glad for the distraction, since it kept his immediate attention away from Terra herself. The boy had her nose, her smile and her brown hair. Except for his chin and eyes, he was his mother’s son.
Josh’s eyes were arresting. Even discomfiting, Rafe decided. Looking into them was a little like looking into his own eyes or his sister Liz’s. The color was intense, a shade that Rafe knew from experience was often wildly attractive to people whose eyes weren’t blue.
People like Terra.
She was leaving the room with Lalie, stepping out of sight to the patio. Meanwhile, Josh chattered nonstop, punctuating his monologue with rousing, vocal sound effects of active combat. Rafe remembered imitating cartoon sounds as a kid and driving his parents up the wall with the noise. Powl Bam! Zzzzzzzonk! Ak-ak-akak-ak-ak!
Josh’s innocent enthusiasm was infectious, bringing back happy memories of carefree childhood days. Life had been so simple and forthright in his boyhood. Good was good and evil was evil and never the twain would meet, except on the battleground where good always won out in the end.
It was like that for Terra’s little boy right now as he recounted the exploits of the good guys against the bad guys. Listening to him, Rafe wished that he himself had never bought into that idealistic claptrap. He wouldn’t be where he was today if he’d been a cynic at an early age.
Now he was a cynic at a later age, and all the worse for it. However, he didn’t want Terra’s son to know how far from ideal Kermit was. Let the kid live in the bliss of oblivion for as long as he could, with Terra the Libra, champion of underdogs.
What had the boy’s father been like, Rafe wondered. What had split Terra from him? And when? Did she have a sweetheart in San Francisco? She hadn’t kissed like a woman who got regular, personal, male attention. But what judge of kissing was he after five years without even touch
ing a woman?
“Out of it,” she had said. That described him to a T even when he wasn’t down with fever.
He became aware that Josh had gone silent. The boy was regarding him intently with a quizzical frown.
“You know my daddy?”
“No.”
Josh sighed. “Me, either.”
Rafe didn’t know what to say, or think, whether to take the boy’s words at face value or what. Never met his father? The child looked dejected, where a few moments ago he’d been charged with excitement.
“Well,” Rafe finally said, “don’t let it get you down. Plenty of kids never met their dads, I’ll bet.”
Josh brightened a little. “Really?”
“The thing is, you’ve got a great mom. Maybe someday you’ll have a stepdad. You know kids who have them, don’t you?”
“Maybe. A couple.”
“Matter of fact, I’ve got a stepgrandfather.”
“You like him?”
“I sure do.”
Rafe was surprising himself with the encouraging words he found to say. An even greater surprise was the interest he took in helping the little guy sort out the issue a bit, put it in perspective.
Josh asked, “Where’s your daddy?”
Rafe didn’t really want to say, since his father and mother were dead. Charles and Vivien Jermain had died within five years of each other, a blow each time to Rafe, who had been fifteen when his mother died, twenty when his father passed away. It seemed best not to bring up such a disturbing topic, or to get mired in explanations of death and afterlife that a child wouldn’t understand.
He tried an indirect reply. “My parents are together. They’ve got a nice place.”
That was enough for Josh to drop the subject and change it entirely. “Wanna play kickball?”
“Not right now, Josh.” Rafe glanced across the room. “Go see what your mom and Lalie are up to outside.”
Josh ran to the door and looked through the sheers. “Blabbing. That’s all.”
They came inside a few moments later, looking solemn and thoughtful. Terra took Josh in hand.
“It’s time we went back to the resort for lunch,” she said. “Kermit needs more rest. Say goodbye.”
Stranger In The Night Page 10