by R. C. Ryan
He made his way to the clinic, which was in total darkness.
His heart dropped. With the power out and the roads too clogged with snow to drive her car, poor Anita would have had to walk in the darkness to her uncle’s place across town, nearly a mile.
He gave a sigh of disgust. He’d come this far. There was no turning back now. Though the other side of town felt like the other side of the moon right now, he had no choice but to see this through.
He was about to turn away when he spotted some movement inside the glass doors of the clinic.
“Hello.” He pounded on the heavy outer door with both fists. “Who’s there?”
He pressed his face to the door and struggled to see through the frosty glass.
There was more movement, closer now. Suddenly the door was opened and Anita seemed as astonished to see him as he was to see her.
“Colin.” Even in the darkness, her relief was evident. Without a thought to what she was doing, she threw her arms around his neck, her fingers curling into the collar of his parka, as though holding on for dear life.
“Anita.” At her embrace, he felt the quick curls of pleasure. Their faces were touching. He breathed her in, and the sweet smell of her perfume went straight to his heart. “I was afraid you might have left for your uncle’s house.” His breath feathered the hair at her temple.
She looked up, her lips brushing his cheek. “I couldn’t leave the clinic without someone here to handle emergencies. Dr. Miller from Rock Creek was supposed to be here, but I guess he couldn’t make it through the storm.”
She seemed to realize what she was doing and made an awkward attempt to step back.
As she held the door, he moved past her, shaking snow from his hat.
His first thought had been to just keep on holding her out of pure relief that she was here and she was all right. Since he didn’t feel free to do that, it was enough to just stand and look at her, all buttoned up in her white lab coat, her cheeks a bit flushed, her eyes a little too bright.
“I see you’ve lost power.”
She nodded. “I guess the whole town did.”
“This is a medical clinic. I’m sure your uncle would have had a generator installed for just such emergencies.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re right. When it didn’t kick on, I tried phoning my uncle, and there was no service.”
“Yeah. My cell phone is dead, too.” He stood still, trying to get his bearings. “Got a flashlight?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been going through drawers and cabinets, but so far, nothing.”
“That’s all right.” He started toward the inner rooms. “You stay here. I wouldn’t want you to trip on something. If I’m lucky and find the generator, there should be light and heat in a few minutes.”
She put a hand on his arm. “Would you mind if I come along?”
He absorbed the warmth snaking through his veins at her simple touch and thought again about drawing her into his arms but didn’t want to add to her alarm by being too bold. “You afraid of being alone?”
She sighed. “I guess I am. Just a little. I’ve been hearing noises, like the rattling of doors. Probably the wind. I was very close to panic just before you got here, thinking I’d be spending the night alone in a cold, dark place.”
“It’s okay. I don’t blame you for feeling spooked.”
Bold or not, it was the perfect excuse to draw an arm around her shoulders.
Oh, she felt so good tucked up by his side. He was tempted to linger here in the darkness, absorbing all the little sparks of heat that had his heartbeat revving.
“We’ll be the blind leading the blind.” His mouth brushed the hair at her temple as he added, “Just remember to move slowly and keep one hand out in front of you so you don’t get smacked by a wall or door.”
He felt her shiver as they made their way slowly and carefully along a hallway, touching half a dozen doors before Colin paused, his hand on the knob of the door at the end of a long hall. “If I’m right, this should be the utility room, where we’ll find the furnace, air, and, hopefully, the generator.”
“I hope so.” Her warm breath teased his cheek, and he thought it the sweetest feeling in the world.
Colin left Anita just inside the door while he felt his way across the room before dropping to his knees. Minutes later a motor kicked on, and the room was flooded with faint light.
Anita couldn’t keep from clapping her hands in relief. “Oh, how wonderful. I never thought I’d be this excited over such a simple thing as light.”
Colin fiddled with dials and knobs before turning to her with a smile. “That’ll do it. In no time this place will be warm as toast.”
Her head tilted upward as he walked to her. “I’m so grateful.”
“I’m happy to oblige.” Her mouth was inches from his, and the thought of kissing her filled him with a quiet thrill.
“I was driving myself crazy wondering what I was going to do. By morning it was bound to be freezing in here. But seeing the power was out all over town, I knew it wouldn’t be any better at Uncle Leonard’s house. I’d pretty much decided I would just have to hunker down and stay the night. At least I knew I’d have plenty of blankets.”
He kept an arm around her shoulders as he guided her across the room. As they stepped out into the hallway, a figure darted into the shadows.
All Colin’s instincts sharpened. His only thought was Anita and her safety. Anyone wandering the halls of a darkened clinic on Christmas Eve had to be up to no good.
“Stay here.” Colin pressed Anita back against the wall before rushing down the hall.
Despite Colin’s words of caution, Anita raced after him.
Colin snagged the arm of the intruder before he could slip away through a back door that was standing slightly ajar.
“He has something in his hand,” Anita shouted. “Oh, dear heaven, a gun.”
Colin’s hand connected with the intruder’s, sending the object dropping heavily to the floor.
Colin kicked it aside before pressing both hands on the intruder’s shoulders, slamming him up against the wall.
“Who are you and what are you doing in here?” Colin demanded.
Anita bent to the object the intruder had dropped. “Not a gun. A hammer.” She looked up to study the intruder and realized he was just a boy. “At least now I know it wasn’t the wind I’d been hearing. How did you get that door open?”
The boy clamped his mouth shut and shot her a look that was somewhere between sullen and terrified.
Colin tightened his grip on the boy’s shoulders. “You’ll answer Dr. Cross, or you can answer to Sheriff Graystoke.”
At the mention of the law, the boy’s face fell and he looked as though he would cry. “The guy outside pried it open and sent me in.”
“This guy have a name?”
The boy shrugged. “I don’t know him.”
“You’d break into a medical clinic for a stranger?” Colin’s face was inches from the boy’s. “What did he offer you?”
The boy hung his head. “Ten dollars. I told him I needed twenty.”
“And in return, what were you supposed to get for him?”
The boy wouldn’t meet Colin’s eyes. “He said to grab any medicine that wasn’t locked up. Or, he said, if nothing else, a prescription notepad from the doctor’s office. He said if I didn’t come out with something he could use, he’d hurt me.”
Colin’s eyes narrowed with sudden fury. He turned to Anita. “Keep hold of that hammer. And stay here with the boy.”
Before she could respond, he was out the back door.
She stood, frozen with fear.
The thought of Colin rushing into the path of a gun-toting criminal had her heart pounding in her chest and the blood throbbing in her temples.
A dozen thoughts and images crowded her mind, each one more horrible than the next. She stood rooted to the spot, terrified that she would hear a gunshot.
Coli
n was risking his life out there, and she was helpless to do anything except wait and wonder and worry.
And pray.
Chapter Four
After what seemed an eternity, the back door was shoved inward and Colin strode through, eyes fierce, his mouth a grim, tight line of anger. He leaned into the door before locking it.
Without a word, he caught the boy by the arm and dragged him along the hallway until they were at the reception area, where, thanks to the generator, the lights of a gaily decorated Christmas tree and the soft strains of holiday music were in sharp contrast to his dark mood.
With a grip on the boy’s chin, he forced his head up. “Look at me. The man’s gone and he won’t be coming back. Not if he values his life. Now, what’s your name?”
“Chip. Chip Carter.”
Anita gasped. “Is your mother Emily?”
He nodded.
“How old are you, Chip?” Colin fought to keep the anger from creeping into his voice.
“Fourteen.”
“What in the hell is a fourteen-year-old doing breaking into a medical clinic on Christmas Eve? You’d better tell me the truth, because I already heard the other guy’s story.”
The boy closed his eyes. “I needed to get some money for my mom.”
“You needed it so badly you’d resort to stealing?”
A tear slid from the boy’s closed eyes.
Colin removed his hands from the boy. “Where’s your father, Chip?”
“He’s somewhere in Oklahoma. He…took a job driving a big rig to make enough money to keep our ranch going, and now he’s caught in this storm. My mom spent her last twenty dollars buying my little brother a pair of used ice skates over at Anything Goes. She figured my dad would be home by now with his paycheck. I heard her talking on the phone with him. She said she doesn’t even have enough left for Christmas supper.”
“You ever think about earning money the old-fashioned way instead of stealing it?”
The boy looked away. “I tried. I offered to clean tables or wash dishes at D and B’s Diner earlier today, but they said they didn’t need me ’cause they were closing up early. I asked to work the counter at Woodrow’s Pharmacy, but he said I was too young. I have to be sixteen before he can legally hire me. That’s when that stranger heard us talking and led me outside before offering me money to just walk in here.”
Colin’s voice was low with fury. “He may have jimmied the door, but you were the one who was actually going to steal. Do you know how much trouble you could have been in if you’d succeeded in getting what that junkie wanted? Do you think he’d have calmly paid you the money he promised and let you walk away, knowing you’d be a witness against him later?”
“No, sir. I…wasn’t thinking. It didn’t seem like a big deal. It was just Dr. Cross’s notepad.”
“A notepad with her clinic’s seal. Good enough in most towns to get a prescription filled.” Colin fell silent for nearly a full minute before glancing at Anita. “Could you use some help around here?”
She arched a brow. “I…suppose so. What do you have in mind?”
He turned to Chip. “Are you serious about wanting to work?”
The boy swallowed hard before giving a nod.
“Can you come in every day after school and on the weekends to sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, empty the trash, and do whatever Dr. Cross wants you to do?”
For the first time, the boy actually met his steely gaze. “Yes, sir. I’d like that. It would be a help to my mom and dad.”
“All right, then.” Colin flicked a glance at Anita. “Are you willing to trust him? He did, after all, try to rob you.”
She never hesitated. “I’m willing to risk it.”
Colin stared directly at the boy, gauging his reaction. “You can always file a report with Sheriff Graystoke if Chip doesn’t live up to his part of the bargain.”
Anita nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Reaching into his back pocket, Colin removed his wallet.
When he handed a bill to Chip, the boy’s eyes went wide. “This is fifty dollars.”
“Give it to your mom for Christmas dinner.”
Chip was shaking his head, holding out the bill. “I can’t take that. I have no right…”
Colin closed Chip’s hand around the money and propelled him toward the front door. “You okay with walking home through this storm?”
“Yes, sir. But—”
“Good.” Colin put a hand on Chip’s shoulder. “Now you listen to me, son. If you want to give your folks the best gift ever, remember to never again do anything that would bring them shame. Soon enough you’ll be a man. Grow into one who will always make them proud.”
“Yes, sir.” The boy’s voice trembled with emotion. “Thank you.”
He looked past Colin to where Anita stood. “Thank you, Dr. Cross. I won’t let you down. I’ll see you the day after Christmas.”
As the boy disappeared into the night, Anita fought back tears.
“Hey.” Colin laid a hand over hers. “It’s okay now.”
She wiped at her eyes. “You realize, don’t you, that you just saved that boy from making a horrible mistake.”
“He strikes me as a good kid who was about to fall into a deep hole.”
“And you caught him before he fell. Oh, Colin. I was so afraid when you rushed out into the dark. That man could have been waiting with a gun.”
“Don’t think about that now.”
“I can’t help thinking that if you hadn’t been here, this could have ended so badly.”
Colin’s hand fisted just thinking about it. A lone woman, in the dark, and a desperate junkie. He would be forever grateful that he’d been here with her.
At his movement, Anita caught sight of his knuckles, bloody and swollen. “I wondered how you got the stranger to agree to just walk away. I should have known, from the fierce look of you, that it ended in a fight. I’d better get some ice. That looks pretty painful.”
He straightened his hand and shook off the pain. “Don’t bother. I’ve had worse. The guy had a chin like a block of concrete.” Then he gave her one of those slow, devilish smiles. “I think I broke his jaw.”
He looked around, pleased that the lights, though dimmer than usual, were working throughout the clinic. The dim glow of lights and the sound of music added a festive feeling. The hum of the furnace assured him that it would soon be comfortably warm inside.
Anita glanced at the darkness outside. “I didn’t see your headlights before you knocked on the door.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t drive.”
“How did you get here?”
“I hitched a ride with a snowplow driver and walked from the interstate.”
“But that’s miles from here.”
He gave a lazy shrug of his shoulders. “What’s a few miles on a pretty night like this?”
She was amazed that after what they’d just been through, she could laugh at his humor. “Of course. The perfect night for a walk in waist-deep snowdrifts.”
“Hip-deep by now.”
“Even worse. Especially with the temperature below freezing.”
“Just a minor inconvenience.”
She gave a shake of her head. “Colin Malloy, you’re amazing.”
He winked. “Why thank you, ma’am.” He shrugged out of his parka and hung it on a coatrack near the reception desk before adding his hat as well.
Anita studied the ripple of muscle across his back and shoulders. “I hope you took time for dinner before coming all this way.”
“No time. My mother has her mind set on having you there with the family.”
“I don’t see how it can happen now.” Anita twisted her hands. “I feel terrible about spoiling all her plans.”
He stepped closer to put a big palm on her shoulder and absorbed another jolt to his already-charged system. “From what I heard, you had no choice. Wasn’t it an emergency that kept you here?”
&nbs
p; “It was. Ben Whitfield put his hand through a window and needed stitches.”
“I know Ben and his pa, Huck. I’m glad you were here to help.”
“I’m glad, too.” Her smile bloomed. “I know it was Ben who got hurt, but his poor father was suffering every bit as much as his son.”
“Huck’s a good man. If I were a father, I’d be worried sick if my son put a hand through glass.”
“Have you ever been married, Colin?”
“No.” He paused, almost afraid of the question and the answer. “You?”
She shook her head and he felt his heart begin to beat faster.
He seemed to realize that he was still touching her. He started to lift his hand away, then, thinking better of it, began running his hand across her shoulder, down her arm. “You warm enough?”
“Yes. Thanks.” Anita shivered as her body strained toward his. “Oh, Colin, I’m so glad you’re here. Not just because of the break-in, though that had me terrified. And not just because you got the generator going. But I was feeling…” She sighed. “I guess I was feeling sorry for myself. Alone. Afraid. And…”
“And in a strange new place.” His voice lowered. Softened. “Don’t beat yourself up. You had every right to those feelings. Nobody wants to be alone on Christmas Eve.”
She felt the warmth of his breath, the strength of his hand as it moved along her arm.
He was staring at her in a way that had her heart speeding up.
Without meaning to, she moved closer to him, until their bodies were nearly touching.
His head dipped slightly.
Hers lifted in anticipation.
At a sudden knock on the outer door of the clinic, both heads came up sharply.
They stepped apart with matching looks of guilt.
When Anita started toward the door, Colin stopped her with a hand to her arm. “Wait. Let me check it out before you open the door.”
They walked together to the entrance and peered into the darkness.