Be My Guest (6 page)

"Drink this to help counteract the
shock"--he reached into the bucket and brought out some
crackers--"and these crackers might help the nausea."

The tea laced with honey tasted far too
sweet, but the cup’s heat warmed her icy hands. She sipped and held
the warm tea in her mouth before letting it slide down her throat
to soothe her quaking stomach.

When she seemed as comfortable as someone in
her battered condition could be, Will picked up the cell phone from
his bedside table. He gave thanks for the dial tone and called his
friend Nick's home number. When Nick answered, Will explained the
situation and added, "It's the head wound I'm most concerned about.
She seems a bit dazed and said she's thrown up several times."

His conversation with Nick ended, and Will
brought Aurora aspirin for pain and an ice pack for the lump on her
head. "Nick said aspirin are all you should take. He's afraid
anything stronger might cause you to sleep too deeply for someone
with a concussion. We definitely don't need you slipping into a
coma."

She took the aspirins and drank some more of
the tea. The aspirin made her nausea reappear, but she kept them
down by nibbling on the crackers and drinking the rest of the
tea.

"I know the aspirins won't help much, but
they'll ease your pain a little. Nick wants to check your injuries
as soon as the roads allow us to get you to Snyder." Weariness
showed in the slump of his body as he made his way to the other
side of the bed. He sighed and unfastened the buttons of his
shirt.

Aurora's eyes grew wide and her temper
flared. "What do you think you're doing?"

He took another deep breath before
answering, "Nick said I have to watch you, especially through
tonight, to make certain there are no serious complications from
your concussion.”

He nodded at the bed they were to share.
"This is a king-sized bed, and I'm far too tired to sit up the rest
of the night. I have to get this leg elevated and get some rest,
and it has to be soon. You just pretend I'm your grandmother again
and I'll lie right here and watch over you while you sleep."

She lay facing him, too weary to move. Her
brief spate of temper ebbed and with it any remaining strength.
Slowly, reason reappeared and she evaluated her position.
Maneuvering along the railroad track to rescue her must have been
torture for Will. He continued to help her here at the house when
he badly needed rest himself. She must seem an ingrate.

"Thank you for rescuing me...and for taking
care of me. I don't think I could have held onto that tree much
longer. There's no doubt in my mind that you saved my life
tonight."

Will sat on the side of the bed and glanced
over at her briefly and ran his hand through his damp hair. "You
had one hell of a day, didn't you?" He removed the boot and sock
from his right foot. Earlier he had attempted to protect the cast
on his left leg by encasing it in a plastic trash bag secured with
duct tape. He tore away the remaining strips of the now torn
plastic bag from the cast. "First you almost get kidnapped, then
you lose your car and almost drown. This is definitely not the tour
advertised by the local Chambers of Commerce."

No amount of good resolve on her part could
prevent her appreciation of his muscular body as he stood in the
soft lantern light. Without a shirt, his powerful shoulders
appeared even wider and his chest broader. Muscles rippled as he
picked up the pajama bottom and ripped off most of the left leg to
accommodate his cast in much the same way he altered his jeans.
Startled, she gasped when he unzipped his jeans and lowered them.
Aurora face grew warm with a blush, and she closed her eyes as she
burrowed her head into the pillow once more.

"I wondered how long you'd last," he said
quietly followed by a chuckle. Aurora pretended not to hear him,
embarrassed to have been caught staring.

With the wick on the lantern low, he lay
beside her. "I hope I can stay awake. If you need anything during
the night and I've fallen asleep, just reach out and shake me
gently to wake me."

"All right, but I think I'll be fine. Now
that I'm dry and warm all I want is to sleep for hours and
hours."

"Goodnight, Aurora."

A glimmer of her normal good humor surfaced
in Aurora's tired mind. "Goodnight, Grandmother." She paused.
"Will? You didn't say which Grandmother."

Will opened one eye and raised his eyebrow,
"Has to be Kathleen--Lord knows one Aurora is enough."

Chapter Three

Aurora
found sound sleep impossible
for what seemed hours. Even her toenails and eyelashes hurt.
Finally, the exhaustion of the day won and she drifted into a
fitful sleep.

Once again she fell into the raging
floodwater. Downward, downward, the flood sucked her as her lungs
gasped for air. She struggled to get to the surface, fought against
the force of the water and the debris it contained, to no avail. It
seemed her limbs bore heavy weights to prevent her saving herself.
Deeper and deeper she sank in the swirling water, lungs bursting
for air. Water invaded her mouth and nose as before, she choked,
drowning in the muddy water. Suddenly, she awakened with a start
and a muffled cry.

After the second of these dreams, Will asked
softly, "Are you having nightmares about the flood?"

"Yes. I'm sorry my wiggling disturbed you.
I'll try to lie very still. I dreamed about falling into the water
again. I swam, but I battled helplessly as I sank." Aurora lay with
eyes closed.

Her eyes flew open as the mattress moved.
"What are you doing?"

"Aw, Aurora, surely you don't think I'm
making a pass at you in your condition. I'm scooting a little
closer your way so you can give me your hand more easily. Maybe if
you hold my hand while you go to sleep, it'll keep away the
nightmares. It's always worked with my daughter.”

"Oh." Aurora held out her hand and he took
it in his larger one. Work calluses on the inside of his palm
rasped against her as she placed his strong hand between her two
smaller hands. Soon she drifted off to sleep, and this time slept
without the nightmares.

Pain in her back and shoulder caused her to
awaken. The lantern shed soft light. Will's eyes were closed but
she could not tell if he slept. From far away, she heard the low
call of a train whistle. All sense of time ceased earlier in the
evening, but she knew hours passed since her rescue. Hours to wait
in that tree in the storm for this train, if she could even attract
the engineer's attention with her little torch if the torch
batteries had not yet discharged. No way could she have managed to
hold on to that tree for this long, and she couldn’t fight that
raging torrent if she had fallen back into the water. Aurora
trembled uncontrollably.

Will patted her gently and he slid close.
"It's all right, it's all right. You're safe now." His voice was
soft and gentle. "Don't think about the water anymore. Think about
something pleasant and go back to sleep."

His breath teased her ear, and she turned
her face to rest against his bare shoulder. She slid her hand to
rest on his chest.

Will's arm tightened as he softly kissed her
hair. "Everything will work out, you'll see."

Nestled there, she believed him. She drifted
back to sleep, secure against the storm raging outside.

Gray light poured in the window between
parted draperies and raised blinds when Aurora awakened. She lay
immobile for a few minutes and gathered thoughts about her
experiences of the previous day. The pillow beside her bore the
indention of Will's head. She touched the pillow, moved her hand
against the indention. Very slowly, she turned to inventory the
room. Masculine and very attractive, just like the owner.

On one of the walls and on most pieces of
the furniture were photographs of a little girl at various ages. A
wedding photograph of a younger Will proud and carefree beside his
bride hung on the wall. Another photograph nearby showed an older
Will and the same woman with the little girl.

Aurora tried to focus on the face of the
woman. What kind of person had Will's wife been? The woman in the
photo appeared to be small with brown hair and eyes. She looked
kind, with a sweet smile on a face very much like that of the
little girl.

Nature called, and Aurora could lie there no
longer. Her second effort let her sit on the side of the bed,
though it made her head pound. The room swirled in her brain as she
fought to get her bearings. What happened to her handbag and
luggage? First things first. Find the bathroom, then check for
belongings and her host.

Will stood at the kitchen range in front of
a skillet of sizzling ham slices. Fresh jeans and a red plaid shirt
replaced the pajama bottom. He'd shaved, and his neatly brushed
hair glistened with moisture from his shower. A newscaster spoke
through the portable radio on the counter.

Windows across the wall of the breakfast
nook opened onto a patio and a door stood next to the windows of
the large, airy kitchen. Counter tops of pale granite on cabinets
of pecan colored wood brightened the room even on such a drab day.
Stainless steel appliances and sinks echoed the gray tile floors
and the gray sky visible through the window.

The contents of Aurora's handbag lay spread
to dry on the dark oak Windsor table in the breakfast nook. Nearby,
the briefcase sat open but apparently unmolested. The hum of a
machine from the direction of the garage must be the emergency
generator.

A frown furrowed Will’s brow. "You shouldn't
be up. You're supposed to rest, especially until Nick can check you
over." He let his gaze run over her, and a crooked smile replaced
the frown. "You're perkier than I would have expected, though."

"What are you doing?" she asked testily,
ignoring his remarks as she stood braced by the doorway. She tugged
at the hem of the pajama top and walked into the room.

Amazement overwhelmed Will at how attractive
this woman appeared, with a mass of tangled auburn hair, skinned
knees and clad only in an oversized pajama top. Those flashing
green eyes sparking directly at him created a strange sensation in
his stomach--and lower. The pajama top covered only the first few
inches of her thighs and left her long shapely legs bare. Even in
her disheveled and battered state she revealed herself as one hell
of a beautiful woman.

When he noticed her attention focused on the
contents of her handbag, he explained, "I tried to get the mud and
water out of the things from your handbag and lay them out to dry.
They aren't in very good shape, I'm afraid. Some are probably
ruined."

He nodded toward the briefcase. "The
briefcase seems to have made out great, though. The lid sealed
tight so no water got inside. The suitcase contents were mostly
just damp, but definitely smell strange." He turned back to the
range, grabbed the skillet, and turned out the flame of the burner
ring. "How do you feel?"

Aurora chided herself for thinking he’d
rifled through her things to satisfy his curiosity. "Like a
hundred-year-old woman who's been mugged. I'm in search of a hair
brush, toothpaste, and toothbrush." Aurora inspected the articles
on the table. Most of the items from her handbag had been salvaged
but a few, like her address book, would never be the same.

Will nodded toward another door. "The things
from your suitcase are in the laundry room. As I said, they seem
mostly just damp from the rain that soaked in through the canvas
shell, so they're in better shape than the stuff in your handbag.
Hurry up, though, or your breakfast will be cold."

Aurora went in the direction he indicated.
Her stiff and wobbly body moved slowly. Leaning forward to rinse
out her mouth after she brushed her teeth, she almost passed out.
She managed to avoid the area of her head wound while she brushed
the tangles from the rest of her hair. The effect was an odd,
lopsided hairdo.

Desolation hovered around her when she
wobbled into the kitchen with her cosmetic pouch in her right hand.
She found nothing more suitable to wear than Will's pajama top.
"Nothing has dried. I spread some things around the laundry room to
air dry so they won't mildew."

"While the electricity's off, I can unplug
the freezer from the generator and plug in the washing machine long
enough to wash the things that got wet--sort of mix and match with
the electrical appliances. Unfortunately, I have the generator set
up for 120 volts and it can't accommodate the 220-volt dryer. Maybe
I can rig up a line in the garage to dry some of them. Is
everything was okay?"

"Most of the things I brought were washable.
My new linen suit is probably a casualty, though." Aurora thought
sadly of the stunning suit she purchased in Dallas only a few weeks
ago.

"Too bad. Right now, how about some ham and
eggs?"

"I didn't think I could eat anything until I
saw the food." Aurora searched for a clean spot on the cluttered
table. "Maybe some solid food will quell this nausea. I’m known in
my family for my more than healthy appetite under any condition. I
inherited my grandmother’s amazing metabolism that lets me eat huge
amounts without gaining weight.”

"Let's sit at the breakfast island if you
feel well enough, or I can fix you a tray to have in bed. I seem to
have made a mess of the table."

"I'd rather eat sitting up." Aurora eased
her battered body gently onto a bar stool and laid the cosmetic
pouch beside her on the breakfast bar. Her green pajama top matched
the curtains at the windows as well as the rows of herbs
alternating with small green stripes on the wallpaper.

She tugged the pajama top down to cover as
much of her legs as possible as she realized just how much of her
seemed exposed. Match the kitchen or not, she wished she’d
remembered to grab that robe of Will's.