“Seems to me that more’s involved here than just boredom. They wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t like you a great deal. I didn’t think you’d have this many friends.” She pressed her lips together, hoping that the noise had swallowed up her last sentence.
“The people in Hades are a close-knit bunch.” Inclining his head closer to her, he asked, “Why?”
Alison made a short, futile stab at playing innocent. “Why what?”
“Why wouldn’t you think I’d have this many friends?” Up until now, he’d never thought of himself as off-putting. Did she?
Alison lifted a shoulder, looking away. Feeling awkward. “You’re so soft-spoken, so easygoing.” She felt his hand cupping her chin, turning her face toward his.
“Again?” He hadn’t heard her. She repeated what she’d said, raising her voice a little. He didn’t know whether to be amused or offended. “And what, only loud, hyperactive people have friends?”
Somehow, amid people bumping into them and moving around them, she and Luc had made their way to the bar. She took another glass of wine and paused for a fortifying sip before continuing—and hoping to do better. She couldn’t remember ever tripping over her tongue this much before.
“No, but outgoing people usually have more than non-outgoing…” She bit her lower lip, looking far more appealing than she knew. He found it difficult to draw his eyes away. “This isn’t coming out right, either.”
He decided to go with amusement. “That’s okay. I’ll spot you. No penalty if you start over again.”
“Okay, I will.” She blew out a breath, grateful, then tried again. She raised her head, smiling at him. The thought that he had kind eyes crossed her mind. “It’s nice to have so many friends.”
Luc glanced around, but his mind was only on the person in immediate proximity. Alison could be included in that group she was referring to because she’d volunteered to undertake this charade without any prodding on his part. He wondered if she considered herself his friend.
His eyes held hers for a moment. “Yes, it is.”
Ike came up behind them. Laying a hand on each of their shoulders, he looked from one to the other, then focused on Alison. “Having a good time?”
“Yes, thanks.” The answer was automatic, but she meant it.
“Anything I can get you?” Technically he’d thrown this party; that made him the host, though Shayne and the others had insisted on splitting the costs. It seemed like the miners were able to consume their weight in beer.
She glanced at all the people milling around or standing in clusters. Her head felt like it was swimming. “A roster so I can keep all the names straight.”
“That’ll come in time,” Ike assured her, and then he winked. “They’ve all got your name straight. If I were you, I’d be looking to see half these faces at the office tomorrow. It’ll give you a second chance to remember who’s who.” His grin widened as he picked out his friend from the crowd. He was talking to Marta. His wife seemed very animated. He wondered what was up. “And give you an opportunity to watch Shayne grumble.”
“Shayne?” She couldn’t quite make herself believe that. The doctor seemed so mild-mannered. “Grumble?”
Ike nodded solemnly. “Second nature to him. When Sydney first came, she helped pitch in at his clinic and the men were lined up clear out of the waiting room into the street. Didn’t please Shayne one iota.” He winked at her again. “Forewarned is forearmed, darlin’.”
She wasn’t sure if anything could really forearm her for this crowd.
Luc glanced at the clock on the rear wall in the general store. Eleven-thirty. Time for a break. He’d been working for the last four hours straight and he needed to stretch his legs.
Especially in the direction of the clinic.
It wouldn’t hurt to see how Alison was doing. After all, she was his responsibility….
He stopped himself. The sentiment was beginning to sound a little old, even to him. But it was true. He was responsible for her, no matter what anyone else might think. Good or bad, she wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.
Good for the town, he thought. But it remained to be seen if it was good for her. There were times last night when she’d seemed a little edgy to him, as if she were waiting for something to spring out at her. He would have guessed wild animals, except that whenever she did seem edgy, wild animals didn’t even remotely enter into the picture.
Only he did.
Luc shrugged. He was probably just imagining it. Probably for her it was just a holdover from the mugging.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked out.
It didn’t take him long to see it. There was a line all right, a big one. It snaked out of the clinic, with men sitting down and around on the wooden porch, waiting for their turn. Whether with the doctor or with Alison, he wasn’t sure. But he had a hunch.
The mine had to be at a standstill.
Luc shook his head as he approached the squat, one-story building. “Haven’t seen so many sick people in my whole life,” he said to nobody in particular.
Nonetheless he got answers.
“Well, now that we’ve got ourselves a medical team, it don’t hurt to have things checked out.”
“Yeah, like that little nurse.”
“Wouldn’t you like to have that little piece of heaven served on toast for breakfast?”
Luc swung around so fast to face the man who’d said that that the miner felt as if he was in danger of swallowing his tongue. Issac Wales held his hands up in mute surrender. “Just a joke, Luc, just a joke. We know she’s yours.”
Luc’s eyes narrowed. “She’s not mine,” he corrected tersely.
The man at his elbow came alive. “Then she’s fair game?”
Damn it, maybe it had been a mistake to let Alison come here. “She’s not game.” There was a warning note in his voice. “She’s a lady. And if any of you forget that, you’re not going to like the consequences.”
They had never seen Luc so outspoken, so protective.
Boris Ivanoff cleared his throat? “Make up your mind. Is the woman spoken for or not?”
She wasn’t, but saying so to this crowd might bring about something tantamount to a stampede. Discretion was the better part of valor, especially in this case. “That’s up to the lady.”
His answer didn’t have the desired effect. Instead, the men seemed to take that as a challenge.
There was no sense in talking to them until they’d settled down. Shouldering his way inside, Luc saw her immediately. Alison was moving from the reception desk to the back room where Shayne had called her to assist with an inoculation. She looked harried, but she was glowing at the same time.
She’d been serious when she’d told him she wanted to make a difference, he thought. Anyone could see Alison seemed to thrive on the energy being generated.
Maybe it might work out at that. She could probably handle herself with these men. None of them posed a threat in the real sense of the word. And if anything got out of hand—he’d be there to take care of it. He owed her that much.
She didn’t know how she knew he’d walked into the clinic. God knew there were enough people to mute his footsteps and any telltale movements. And her back had been to the door just now, yet she’d known. Something seemed different—the air, the noise, something. Something that told her he’d come in.
She offered Luc a smile of greeting as he crossed to her. “Don’t tell me some mysterious malady’s come over you, too.”
The preponderance of complaints this morning had encompassed general aches and pains that couldn’t be pinpointed to any real source. They’d lasted long enough to allow the sufferers individual sessions with the doctor—and her—before leaving the office. It seemed to be enough.
Luc hooked his thumbs in the corner of his pockets. “No, just here to see how it’s going for you.”
They’d been busy from the moment they’d entered the clinic. “If it were going any faster, it’d break th
e sound barrier. I thought you said that things were laid-back and slow around here.”
“Usually are.” But they hadn’t gotten used to her yet and wouldn’t for a while. After that, he figured things would get back to normal. “And they will be again, in about a month or so.” He glanced around the waiting area. They were standing two and three deep. “After these jackasses tire of trotting in here.”
Shayne came out of the office. It was evident that his tolerance was being stretched to the shredding point. He held up an empty serum bottle in one hand and a syringe in the other.
“Any more of you here for your ‘tetanus booster,’ we’re fresh out of serum.” None of the men had ever come in for a tetanus inoculation, no matter how much he lectured that they should keep up on their shots. It looked as if Alison had accomplished some good her very first day, he thought. “Won’t get any in until I make the run to Anchorage at the end of the week.” Sarcasm wove through his tone. “My advice to the rest of you is to be careful at what you’re doing for a change. Unless you want lockjaw.”
“Seems to be they’ve already got drool jaw,” Ike commented, walking in. He noticed that none of the men were leaving. Obviously another ploy would do just as well as the one they’d just been deprived of.
Shayne sighed. “You, too?” He thought he could have counted on at least Ike not stopping by.
“No, I just came by to see if your new nurse wants to be sprung for lunch. Marta sent me to serve as a one-man rescue team if need be.” He purposely sidled up to Alison. “How’re you holding up, darlin’?”
Alison’s eyes swept over the men before answering. “Terrific. I like keeping busy.”
“Then you’re in luck,” Shayne told her. “Because we hardly ever lack for something to do around here.” He looked at Ike and Luc, then indicated the door. “Now, if you two department store mannequins will clear out and leave the professionals to the work at hand—”
But Ike merely slipped an arm around Alison’s shoulders. It surprised him when she stiffened, since she’d been playing along up to now. “You don’t want to be accused of working this poor girl to death, now, do you?”
“Woman,” Luc interjected. “They like to be addressed as women.”
Alison moved aside and turned to face the two cousins. “‘They’ like being addressed by their name even more. And ‘they’ hate being referred to in the third person when they’re standing right there in front of you.”
Luc saw her point and acknowledged it. She was right. “Sorry.”
“Hey, she’s got you henpecked already,” one of the men in the far corner of the room hooted. He nudged the man next to him. “Looks like he’s got this married routine down pat.”
Ike raised an amused brow. “Well, if he doesn’t, he knows that he can come by your place and take notes, right, Paddy?”
The men around him laughed. Annoyed, but unable to dispute what was being said, Paddy shut his mouth.
Moving her slightly aside, Luc turned his back from the reception area and lowered his voice so only Alison could hear. “Seriously, if you’d like to stop for something to eat, we could go back to the Salty now.” He glanced toward Shayne who was busy ushering the next patient in. “You get to have a lunch hour.”
“No, thanks anyway. I’ll eat later. There’s too much to do.” She wanted to get the feel of the place, to turn the clinic’s routine into her own. This was her very first medical office out of nursing school, and she wanted to leave her mark on it. Most of all, she didn’t want to have Shayne regret hiring her.
Luc nodded, leaving. “Up to you.”
He returned fifteen minutes later.
Luc had gone back to the general store where he’d taken some of the goods he stocked and made her a salad with a side order of a beef-and-turkey sandwich. He’d been toying with the idea of putting in a lunch counter in the general store’s alcove. Not to compete with the Salty but to act as a compliment, allowing people a quiet place to eat if they wanted it. He knew some of the women in Hades would welcome a place to eat out away from the boisterous noise made by the miners when they frequented the Salty. Expansion, he’d come to realize, had its place within the scheme of things, even in a place like Hades.
He brought her lunch and a can of soda pop on a tray. Because he didn’t want to deal with any comments from the men in front, Luc used the back entrance to the clinic. Walking in, he surprised Shayne who’d just stepped out of one of the examining rooms.
Shayne saw the tray and smiled. “You can use my office if you’d like.”
He didn’t want to give Shayne the impression that he was waiting for her. For that matter, he didn’t want Alison to think that, either. He was beginning to see that that sort of thing made her uneasy.
Stepping into Shayne’s office, he set down the tray and backed out again. “Just tell her it’s there when she needs it. I’ve got to be getting back.”
Shayne nodded. “Whatever you say.”
This, he thought, watching Luc leave, was going to take time. But then, all good things did. He grinned to himself. Wait until he got home and told Sydney. For once, he was going to have the drop on her when it came to gossip.
Chapter Eleven
“Of course he likes her. Any fool could see that.” Stopping to look at him, Sydney patted her husband’s face with affection. He was so cute when he tried to be in the flow of things. “Not that you’re a fool, darling, but you can be pretty oblivious to what’s going on around you at times.”
He followed her around the kitchen as she got dinner ready. It was Asia’s granddaughter’s birthday and Sydney had given their housekeeper the day off. Indignity at the slur goaded him. “Name one.”
Sydney closed the refrigerator and raised her eyes to his. Humor danced in them. “All right. The way I felt about you.”
She had him there. He frowned, refusing to go down without a fight. “Name another.”
She laughed and kissed his lips quickly before turning back to the roast she had promised the kids. “Don’t get me started, Shayne, I’ve got too much to do.”
Shayne sank down on a chair, automatically taking the potatoes that were destined to eventually be mashed, and began peeling. “So everyone knows?”
Sydney shook her head. “No, not everyone. I don’t think he knows.”
“He?”
“Luc.”
“Oh.” That didn’t make much sense to him, but he figured he was out of his depth here. Deciding not to touch his wife’s observation with a ten-foot pole, Shayne continued peeling the potatoes instead. It was safer that way and a great deal less confusing.
She should have worn a hat, like Sydney suggested. It was just that wearing hats had never been something she’d done, even in the winter. And this was summer, after all. Summer with the summer sun beating down on her head, making her almost unbearably hot.
Alison passed the back of her hand against her forehead, wiping away the perspiration that had formed, and frowned at the fishing line. It had been hanging this way, off the pole and into the water, perfectly still, almost limp, for what felt like forever. Long enough for the sun to probably turn her chestnut hair to an off-blond.
She glanced at the man who was sitting only a few feet away from her. Half lying was a more accurate description. Luc looked as if the fishing pole he held in his hand was merely an afterthought, not the primary reason they were supposed to be out here.
When she blew out an exasperated breath, he looked over in her direction.
“Are you sure I’m not doing anything wrong?”
A smile slowly curved his mouth. That was the city in her, he thought, wanting everything done yesterday. That wasn’t why they were here. He’d thought coming here would be a pleasant change for her from the hectic clinic. After almost two weeks of getting acclimated, he figured she could do with the break.
“It takes patience.” For her benefit, he sat up. “Sometimes the fish bite and sometimes they don’t.” He indicated the empty
spot beside him on the grass. “I haven’t caught any, either. You were the one who wanted to try this.” He’d suggested it, leaving it in the realm of “someday.” Alison had been the one to turn “someday” into “now”—just like he knew she would.
“I know, I know.” She wasn’t blaming him. “I just thought it’d be more productive, that’s all.”
Productive. It was a word he associated with the world outside this small piece of earth. Something Janice might have espoused, he thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being productive, or progressive, it was just that he saw no reason to let himself be ruled by it.
He nodded at the stream. A range of mountains stood reflecting themselves on the other side. All in all, it was an idyllic scene. One that inspired peace within the viewer.
Most viewers, he amended, looking at Alison again.
“This is part of that laid-back thing I was telling you about the other day. You’re supposed to enjoy relaxing.” His eyes indicated his pole. “The fishing is secondary.”
She liked succeeding at what she tried. Almost needed to. She ran her tongue along her lower lip. He probably thought of her as pushy, but she couldn’t help it. “What if I needed to catch fish to eat?”
His eyes swept over the barren space reserved for her catch. Humor deepened. “Then you’d have a problem.” He wanted her to enjoy herself, not to become frustrated. That negated coming here. “Look, if you’d rather just call it a day—”
She held her hand up, stopping him. She shouldn’t have said what she had.
“No, you’re right. I’m here to enjoy myself and see what people in Hades do for recreation besides sit around at the Salty—or gather in the doctor’s waiting room to look over the newcomer.”
Word had it that that was dying down. So far, from what he’d heard, Alison hadn’t accepted any of the invitations that had come flooding her way. The verdict was that she was shy and would come around eventually. If there was one thing the men in Hades had, it was patience.
“They do a lot more of the former than the latter.” Although, truth be told, he could understand spending hours staring at her. She moved like poetry and made a man think things he shouldn’t.
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