“That sounds wonderful to me.” He kissed her and pulled her to him again. “I don’t want to ever lose the friendship I have with you.”
Nicole felt his passion begin to rise. She pulled away and sat up. “Methinks it is time you took me home.”
“What kind of talk is that, methinks?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Shakespeare or something old like that.”
“You’re probably right.” He reached up and brushed her bare arm with his hand. “Then, is taking you home what me really thinks?”
“It is.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek.
“I wish you’d stay the rest of the night.”
“You know I can’t do that. If Lita didn’t go on the trip with her bridge friends, she’ll be at home worrying about me. Besides, when it gets daylight I’d have to sneak out so your neighbors won’t talk about this strange lady in your house.”
“My neighbors would probably be delighted to see a woman here. They already think I’m weird because I stay to myself so much.”
“Then it’s up to you to change their minds, but I don’t want my reputation to be sullied in the meantime.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Of course.” She eyed him and smiled. “Now come on, big boy. Let’s get our clothes on.”
He swung his feet to the floor. Nicole almost reached to pull him back to the bed when she saw his manly build. The muscles in his back rippled as he bent over and pulled on his shorts and picked up the rest of his clothes. “Do you realize we dropped our clothes from the door to the bed?”
“Doesn’t surprise me. You were in a hurry.”
He turned, tossed her the yellow lace underwear she’d had on, winked at her, and said, “And you weren’t in a hurry?”
“I was just trying to keep up with you.” She slipped her legs into her panties and fastened her bra. “Where’s my slacks?”
“Here.” He handed them to her and began buttoning his shirt. “I guess you want your sweater now.”
“Of course.” She looked around. “Where is it? I don’t see it here.”
“I don’t see it either. Look in the hall. We may have gotten it off there.”
It was in the hall. She picked it up, came back into the bedroom, and slipped it over her head. “How come my clothes were scattered further away from the bed then yours?”
“I guess you were more anxious than me.”
“How dare you say that!” Laughing, she picked up one of his socks and threw it at him.
He ducked. “The truth is I couldn’t wait to see your beautiful body. I got your clothes off of you as fast as I could.”
She arched her eyebrow. “I hope you weren’t disappointed.”
He put on his socks and slipped on his shoes. He dropped his arm around her shoulders. “Nothing about this night was a disappointment to me, my friend.”
“I’m glad,” she whispered. “I wasn’t disappointed either.”
Before she could change her mind about leaving, she started toward the hall.
* * * *
Dora Hildebrand rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes.
“Hi, Mama,” Janice said. “How are you feeling?”
Dora gave her a little smile.
“It’s okay, Mama. Don’t try to talk.” Janice took her mother’s hand. “We’ll talk later.”
Dora closed her eyes and again smiled a little.
Janice watched her mother for several minutes. She then pulled her hand away and walked to the window. She wondered if her mother would remember who hurt her. She wondered if her mother would forgive her if she found out she’d fired the private investigator. She wondered if Nicole Lynch—. She wouldn’t finish the thought. Nicole couldn’t be. There was no way. The dates didn’t fit. She wished that damn woman had never come to Macon. She also wished there was a way to get rid of her.
She moved back to the bed and took her mother’s hand again. “It doesn’t matter, Mama. All I want is for you to get well. The rest of it we’ll work out in time.”
The nurse walked in and began to take Dora’s vital signs. “She’s going to be fine, dear. It will take time, but the doctor says she’s doing well now.”
Janice nodded. “I know. I’m thankful. I was so afraid I was going to lose her.”
The nurse patted her shoulder. “You hang in there.”
“Thank you. Everyone here has been very kind and I appreciate it.”
“Well, honey, we want to help all we can. You know some families get to be special to us.” She smiled at Janice and slipped out the door.
Janice looked at her mother again. “She doesn’t know how really special you are, Mama. I’ll be so glad when I can talk with you again.” She leaned over and kissed her mother’s head. “I love you.”
For the first time a big smile appeared on Dora’s face.
Chapter 19
Nicole sat behind her desk when Connor came in the next morning. He gave her a big smile. There was a twinkle in his eyes she’d never seen before. “Good morning, Nicole.”
“Good morning, Connor.” She returned his smile. She was sure her eyes sparkled, too.
He moved to the desk. “Any special messages?”
She handed him a couple of pink slips. “I don’t think there’s anything pressing except maybe Mr. Rogers. He’s still complaining about his roof.”
He laughed, knowing this was going to be their inside joke from now on. They were the only two who knew there was no Mr. Rogers and no roof problem. He was flipping through the pink slips when one caught his eye.
Across the message section she had written. “To my best friend, I’ll always remember last night.”
He looked as if he was going to reach for her, but before he could, Paul came into the front office. “Good morning, brother. Hello, Nicole.”
“Good morning, Paul.”
Connor nodded at him, folded the pink slip with the personal message, and put it in his pocket. “What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you a minute.”
“Sure.” Connor followed his brother down the hall.
Nicole busied herself catching up with the work she’d left undone yesterday afternoon. She wanted to get through it as fast as she could because there was some research she wanted to do on the computer. She’d gotten the idea when she’d reached home and climbed into her bed last night and couldn’t go to sleep. If she could pull this off, she knew Connor would stop blaming himself for the deaths of his wife and children.
It was almost ten o’clock when the front door opened and a man came in carrying a large arrangement of mixed flowers.
“Nicole Lynch?”
“Yes.”
“Somebody wanted to make your day.” He set the flowers on her desk.
“Oh, they’re beautiful.”
The delivery man nodded and started out the door. Elsie was coming in at the same time. “Watch it,” she snapped at him.
The man ignored her.
She came in flinging her hair back. “Well, well, somebody has a boyfriend,” she said looking at the flowers. “Who’re they from?”
“I was just getting ready to look.” Nicole reached for the card.
“I’ll look for you.” Elsie snatched the card. “Let’s see who has a...”
“Elsie! How rude.” Connor walked into the office and took the card from her and gave it to Nicole. “Don’t you know better than to grab someone’s personal message like that?”
“Well, darling. I just wanted to tell Nicole who they were from. I wasn’t being rude.”
Nicole looked at her card and smiled. “If you must know, Elsie, they’re from my best friend.”
“See, darling,” Elsie said to Connor. “It wouldn’t matter at all if I read the card. It wasn’t a passionate love note or anything.”
“What are you doing here this morning?” Connor asked.
“Well, my love, since you didn’t take me to breakfast Monday or to di
nner last night, I thought I’d pop in and take you out for brunch this morning. I knew you wouldn’t say no this time.”
“Well, Elsie, I am saying no. I don’t want to go to brunch with you.”
“Why not?” Her voice raised an octave.
“For one thing, I don’t have the time. I have to go out of town for a few days and I have a lot to do.”
“Where are you going?”
“It’s business, Elsie.”
“Can I go with you?” She turned her head to the side and batted her eyes at him. “You could then mix business and pleasure.”
“No, thanks.”
“Why the hell not? Most men would jump at the chance to take me out of town on a business trip.”
“I’m not most men, Elsie.”
“I know that, darling.” She tried to lower her voice. “I’m just anxious for us to get together and have a little fun. No strings attached at this time unless you want them to be. We can talk about strings later.”
“I’m not interested, Elsie.”
“Why do you mean, you’re not interested?” She almost screamed the words.
“Just what I said,” Connor said quietly.
Paul came into the front office. “What’s going on?”
“Your brother just turned down the offer of his life, that’s what’s going on,” Elsie snapped. She did lower her voice.
“What offer?”
“I asked him if I could go out of town with him and he said no. Can you believe that? He said no. I didn’t believe any man could possibly turn down a chance to spend a romantic trip out of town with me, and your stupid brother just did it.”
“Elsie, I told you last night Connor wasn’t interested in a relationship with you.”
“I didn’t believe you then and I don’t believe you now.” She turned to Connor and without warning she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.
He took her arms and pulled her off him. “Don’t do that, Elsie.”
Nicole saw Conner glance at her. She looked down at her desk and smothered a giggle.
Elsie said. “Now, after that kiss, tell me you’re not interested in me. I can make you forget all your guilt over your dead wife. One night with me and—”
A dark look covered Connor’s face. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but no, Elsie. Kiss or no kiss, I’m not interested in you and I never will be. Why don’t you go to the club and spend time with the men who hang out there? You might find someone who would succumb to your charms. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
Nobody expected it when Elsie reached out and slapped Connor. Nicole jumped with the sharp crack of the contact and Paul’s mouth came open. Connor made a fist, but kept his hands at his side.
“Get out of here, Elsie,” he said between his teeth.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell when I offer myself to you again,” she screamed and ran out the door.
For a minute nobody spoke. Then Paul said, “Don’t blame me. I can’t help it if she’s Erline’s evil twin.”
Nicole turned to her computer without saying a word. She bit her lip to keep from laughing.
Connor walked over to her desk. “I came in here to give you this.” He handed her an envelope. “I didn’t know we were going to have a knock-down when I got here.”
Nicole took the envelope. “Thank you.” She still couldn’t look at him.
Paul asked, “Nicole, if you go to the bank, will you take a deposit for me?”
“Of course. Which bank?”
“Georgia State. Is that out of your way?”
“No. I need to open a checking account and if that’s where you bank, I’ll open it there.” She was still avoiding Connor’s eyes. “If it’s okay, I want to go on a quick errand while I’m out.”
“That’s fine. I’ll bring you the deposit.” Paul disappeared down the hall.
Nicole finally looked up at Connor. “Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.” She grinned at him.
“I’m glad you like them.” He reached out and touched her cheek.
She grasped his hand, kissed it quickly, and let it drop. “When will you be leaving on your business trip?”
“Probably Sunday and I’ll only be gone a couple of days. I’m going to Savannah.”
Paul came back into the room. “Here you go, Nicole.” He looked at them. “Connor, do you think you’ll need help in Savannah?”
“I think I can handle it.”
Paul nodded. “Come on back to your office. I have some files you need to look over.”
“I think I’ll go on to the bank now. I need some fresh air,” Nicole said. “I’ll put the answering machine on.”
The brothers both grinned and nodded at her. As she stood to leave, Connor leaned over and whispered in her ear, “She doesn’t kiss nearly as good as you.”
* * * *
It was almost four in the afternoon on Friday when Paul came into the front office. “I’m calling it a day, Nicole. If anyone calls, unless it’s an emergency, put to my voice mail.”
She nodded. “Have a nice weekend, Paul.”
“You too. I’ll see you Wednesday.” He went out the door.
Nicole turned back to her computer then stopped. It dawned on her Paul had said he’d see her on Wednesday. Was he leaving town too? He did say something about Connor needing help in Savannah. Maybe they’d decided they both needed to go and instead of leaving Sunday, they were going next week.
She was typing up a policy when Connor came out of his office. He clicked off the hall light and stopped at her desk.
“Are you leaving early too?” she asked.
“I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” She smiled at him. “I hope you have a productive trip to Savannah.”
“Me too, but there is one way it can be more productive.” He leaned on her desk.
“How’s that?”
“Will you go with me?”
“Where do you want me to go with you?”
He chuckled. “I’m talking about Savannah, Nicole. Will you go on this trip with me?”
“Uh...”
“I cleared it with Paul, and I’m sure Dad won’t mind. He’ll be back tonight. That’s why I have to go to Savannah. I’m going to finish up what he started.”
“But...I don’t have any clothes...and I...”
“We’ll go shopping and get you some clothes.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
“I can’t just. I mean...”
“Please, Nicole.” He reached out and took her hand. “I need you there on Monday at the meeting. I haven’t handled anything this big since the accident. If you’re there, I know I can pull it off.”
She dropped her head and thought for a minute. He waited.
Finally, she said, “I need to get some things. I’ll go shopping Saturday, and I guess I can be ready by Sunday.”
“We’re not going Sunday. I need to relax before the meeting. We’re going tomorrow.”
“But tomorrow’s Saturday.” Nicole was completely confused.
“I know. Savannah is a wonderful place to explore and to relax. I thought we could do that together.” He smiled at her. “Paul thought it was a good idea, too.”
“But, Connor, I’ll have to make arrangements with Lita. I promised to help her go through some of her husband’s files, and I need to go shopping.”
“I’ve already called Lita. I told her I was going to ask you to dinner, and then I told her I was taking you shopping.”
Nicole shook her head. “You’ve taken care of everything, haven’t you?”
“Not really. I thought you should be the one to tell her you were going to Savannah. That is if you’ll go with me. It all hinges on your answer. I’m not pressuring you, but I’d love to have you with me. There are still things I want to talk to you about.”
She looked at him and saw his eyes searching hers. “How can I say no to that?” she w
hispered.
He smiled. “Then save your work, turn off your computer, and switch the phones to the answering machine. I want to go shopping with my best friend, then take her to dinner, then maybe shop some more.”
She did as he said. Taking her purse from the bottom drawer, she asked, “What about my flowers? I want to take my flowers home.”
“Okay. We’ll drop them at your house. Lita can enjoy them this weekend.”
Chapter 20
At breakfast the next morning Lita looked into Nicole’s eyes. “Do you know what you’re doing, my dear?”
“I think I do, Lita.”
“Connor is a complicated man. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Nicole reached out and touched the older woman’s hand. “I know how complicated he is, Lita. He told me about his family.”
Her eyebrow shot up. “Everything?”
“I don’t know if it was everything or not, but he said he was driving and he feels their deaths are his fault. I think he was very hurt because he didn’t get to attend their funerals.”
“He must really feel comfortable with you, Nicole. I’ve heard he won’t talk about the accident to anyone. Even his brother or his parents. I understand his in-laws have nothing to do with him now.” She took her last bite of sausage and waffle. “Now, I’m going to play the protector. Has he gotten a separate room for you in Savannah?”
Nicole blushed, but said nothing.
Lita went on. “Well, has he?”
“He hasn’t said, but to be honest I hope not.”
“Nicole!”
“I’m sorry if you’re disappointed in me Lita, but I feel like Connor needs someone. I want to hold him in my arms and let him know this world is a safe place. I want him to know nobody blames him for the accident. I want him to know I care.”
“Can’t you convey all that to him without getting into his bed?”
Nicole shook her head. “It may be a moot point. He probably did book two rooms.”
“I certainly hope so.” Lita stood and took her plate to the dishwasher. She turned and looked at Nicole. “In case he didn’t get you an extra room, you protect yourself. I don’t want you to go off down there and come home pregnant.”
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