Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) (18 page)

Eve got such a pained look in her eyes that Maddy’s chest started to hurt.

“I-I can’t tell you,” Eve whispered, giving her a wrenchingly sad smile as she reached out and took Maddy’s hand, and held it between hers. “I love you like a sister, but please don’t ask me to break my word to my husband. I can tell you this much, though: William and Kenzie are noble, caring, capable men, and I would trust either of them with my life—and with the life of my child. And so can you, Maddy. No matter what happens in the coming days, please, please, trust William.”

Maddy pulled her hand away to hug herself. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out. What’s going to happen in the coming days?”

Maddy jumped when the bell over the door suddenly tinkled, and Eve pulled her toward the counter when a customer walked in. “That’s something you’ll have to ask William,” she said softly. “But until
he
tells you what’s going on, you’re just going to have to trust him. And you can trust Kenzie, too. And me,” she finished, plastering a smile on her face when the customer approached them.

“I-I’ll see you later,” Maddy said, more than a little confused as she turned away. Feeling as if her very best friend in the whole world had just punched her in the stomach, she quietly walked out the door.

Chapter Twelve

“I
s there a reason you two ladies are moping around my station?” Maddy asked Lois and Charlotte when Charlotte sighed for the fourth time in as many minutes. “If your faces get any longer, you’re going to trip over them.”

“Elbridge told William that he knew a good place to have his truck windows replaced over in Oak Harbor, and they left over three
hours
ago,” Lois said.

“And they took Hiram with them,” Charlotte added. “And it’s a four-door pickup, so there wasn’t any reason we couldn’t have gone, too.”

“You just know Hiram’s going to suggest they stop at the Dairy Queen for a hot fudge sundae,” Lois muttered. “It’s been ages since I’ve had soft-serve ice cream.”

“And the sprinkles they serve here are nothing but colored wax,” Charlotte added. “The Dairy Queen has good sprinkles.”

Maddy felt her own face grow long. “William was here?” she asked.

Not that she wanted to see him or anything. She was just surprised that he hadn’t even bothered to come say hello. He should have at least checked to see how she was doing today; the last time she’d seen him, he’d been running into the shadows carrying a sword. “Wait, how did William get here?” she asked.

“He drove his truck,” Lois said, her tone implying that was a silly question. “The windshield was smashed, but you could still see out it.”

“He drove himself here? Alone?”

“Of course, alone,” Lois said, again implying Maddy was crazy for even asking. “The man might have money, but he’s not so uppity that he’d have a chauffeur drive him around.”

“He said the windows got smashed when he hit an animal last night on your way back from Oak Harbor,” Charlotte said, frowning at her. “His being new to the area, you should have warned him that deer are a major road hazard at night.”

Lois scrunched up her face, adding a few more wrinkles. “How come you didn’t tell us about hitting the deer, so we’d know at least
something
interesting happened on your date?” She made a
tsking
sound. “I still can’t believe you didn’t have the good sense to grab the boy by the cheeks and kiss him good night.”

“You expected
me
to kiss
him
?”

“Well, of course,” Lois said, this time her tone implying Maddy was an idiot. “You asked him out; it was up to you to take the initiative. You young women can’t have it both ways, you know. If you want equality, that means you have to be equally willing to chance getting your feelings hurt.”

“Excuse me?” Maddy asked, intrigued by Lois’s thinking even if she couldn’t quite follow it.

“Don’t you know that men have been taking chances of being rebuffed by women ever since we lived in caves?” Lois asked, her tone back to implying Maddy should have known that. “Haven’t you ever felt a young man’s damp palms on your face the first time he kissed you? That’s because he was sweating bullets, afraid you were going to rebuff him.”

“Or knee him in the groin,” Charlotte added with a snicker.

Maddy blinked from one woman to the other. Either she was punch-drunk again from sheer fatigue, or she
was
an idiot for feeling hurt that William had been here and hadn’t come to see her.

Not that she wanted to see him or anything.

At least not until she could decide how she felt about last night.

“We’re really disappointed in you, Maddy,” Lois said, her face growing long again. “We thought you had the courage to put the moves on a sexy, handsome man who eagerly accepted your invitation to go out.”

Oh, what the hell
, Maddy decided. It looked as if all three of them needed a little pick-me-up. Giving them a sly grin, she leaned over the counter. “Okay, then, ladies—what if I told you the truck windows got smashed because I was practically sitting on William’s lap and had my tongue halfway down his throat when that deer suddenly jumped out in front of us?”

Both women gasped so hard they nearly fell over, and Charlotte grabbed the counter when her knees obviously went weak.

“No!” Lois cried, her eyes growing huge. “Madeline Kimble, you didn’t!” She slapped the counter, making Charlotte flinch. “You did! You attacked the devil in the front seat of his own damn truck!”

“Shhh,” Maddy said, looking up and down the hall and then toward the sitting room. “This is just between the three of us, understand? I especially don’t want the men to hear about it. Hiram already thinks I’m a loose woman for asking William out.” She brushed down the front of her scrubs and shot the ladies a conspirator’s smile. “A girl has to protect her reputation, you know.”

“We promise, we won’t say a word,” Charlotte whispered, also looking up and down the hall before leaning closer. “So? How was it?”

“Yeah,” Lois echoed. “I bet that big boy can kiss the socks right off a girl.”

Maddy felt her cheeks prickle and wondered what in hell had possessed her to make up such an outrageous lie. She stifled a snort. A Long Island Iced Tea hangover is what, coupled with too little sleep. “I can’t really say how good a kisser William is,” she told them. “We were just getting started when we hit that . . . animal. And for the record, I wasn’t wearing socks, I was wearing sandals.”

“And your pretty red lace pushup bra?” Charlotte asked. “You know, the one you had Janice order from Victoria’s Secret last year, along with a matching pair of panties?” She leaned closer again. “And your scandalously short denim skirt; did you wear it, too, and that pretty yellow peasant blouse you can slip off your shoulder?”

Good Lord, did
everyone
think she was a slut?

Maddy sighed, realizing that she did have a tendency to dress like one sometimes.

“Earth to Maddy,” Lois said, waving her hand in front of Maddy’s face. “If you weren’t going to stop by last night, you were at least supposed to bring in a picture this morning, to show us how you looked.”

“You should always take a picture the night of your first date,” Charlotte told her, “so you’ll have it to look back on after forty years of marriage.”

Maddy laughed. “That would mean I’d have enough pictures to fill an entire album, I’ve been on so many first dates.” She shook her head. “I just haven’t been on a whole lot of second dates.”

“That’s because you’re too picky,” Lois chided. “You keep waiting for Prince Charming to come sweep you off your feet and carry you away to his castle to live happily ever after.”

“I am not picky, I’m discerning. And when was the last time you saw Prince Charming walking down Main Street in Midnight Bay?”

“I think William looks like a prince,” Charlotte said, her eyes turning dreamy. “He has really broad shoulders, and that goatee makes him look quite regal.” She leaned into the counter again, her smile somewhat . . . scheming. “And he’s building a castle down on Dragon Cove. It’s even going to have a tower. I bet that’s where he puts the master bedroom.”

“Can’t you just picture William carrying his princess up all those steps to his tower bedroom?” Lois said, taking over Charlotte’s fantasy. She slapped her hand over her bosom. “And not letting her leave until she agrees to marry him?”

Maddy started laughing. “Okay, that does it. I am calling the grange women and telling them no more historical romance novels allowed in the books they bring here. It’s time for a reality check, ladies. A mean old witch turned Prince Charming into a frog, and I draw the line at kissing frogs.”

“Even if they come bearing gifts?” a deep, lilting voice asked.

Only the owner of the voice had to drop his package on the floor to catch Charlotte when she gasped so hard that she really did fall.

“Whoa there, Charlotte, my sweet,” he said, clutching her to his chest just in the nick of time—which, of course, made her knees give out.

So William swept her into his arms, looked around, and set her in the wheelchair just down the hall. His eyes contrite, he leaned over and smiled down at her as he started wheeling her back toward the nurses’ station. “Forgive me, Charlotte. I didn’t mean to make ye swoon.”

Charlotte giggled like a schoolgirl, reaching up to pat his face. “You’re so good for this old woman’s heart, William. I swear if I was thirty years younger, I’d have asked you out before Maddy had worked up the courage to yesterday.”

Realizing that she was smiling like a schoolgirl herself, Maddy instantly sobered when William’s eyes locked on hers. “Hello, Madeline,” he said softly. “How are ye feeling today? Were ye able to get any sleep last night?”

“Now, William,” Lois said, touching his arm. “Maddy’s not some shrinking violet, and it probably isn’t the first time she’s crashed into a deer.” Her eyes took on a twinkling smile. “And the accident certainly wasn’t
your
fault,” she drawled. “It’s a known fact that men aren’t good at . . . multitasking.”

Maddy hung her head with a groan. Yup, her outrageous lie was going to come back and bite her on her baggy ass.

“What in hell is this thing?” Hiram asked, straightening from picking something off the floor—which for Hiram was no easy task—then holding it up for everyone to see.

Lois grabbed it from him with a shriek of dismay, stuffing it under her shirt as she spun around to stare wide-eyed at Maddy.

Knowing that her face was two shades short of purple, Maddy could only stare down at the lump under Lois’s shirt being made by her red lace Wonderbra.

Silence settled with a sickening thud.

Charlotte leaned over the side of her wheelchair and picked up the bag William had dropped in order to catch her, the crinkling of paper sounding like firecrackers going off. Everyone turned toward Charlotte, just in time to see a pair of matching red panties slip out of the bag and drop back to the floor.

William cleared his throat. “Yes, well,” he said gruffly, picking them up, the skimpy material disappearing in his large hand. He took the bag from Charlotte, stuffed the panties into it, but then his hand reemerged holding a small white box. He tucked the paper bag under his arm and thrust the box toward Maddy, two flags of red coloring his cheeks. “This is for you,” he said. “It’s a little something I had Janice include in the order she made on her computer last week.”

Honest to God, she couldn’t move to save her soul, she was so mortified.

He set the box on the counter in front of her then pulled the paper bag from under his arm. Rolling the end of it tightly closed, he set it on the counter next to the box. “I, er . . . I retrieved your clothes this morning,” he whispered, the red on his cheeks intensifying.

Silence descended once again.

“Maddy,” Lois quietly hissed out the side of her mouth, the older woman’s eyes boring into hers. “Open William’s gift.”

“Come on, Maddy,” Charlotte said quite loudly. “Show us what he got you.”

She stared at the box as if it held tiny venomous snakes.

“Oh, good Lord,” Lois snapped, reaching out with one hand, the other hand still holding the bra under her shirt. She picked up the box and thrust it at Maddy. “Where are your manners?”

They’re in the paper bag with my clothes, along with my dignity
.

She didn’t know how she managed it, but Maddy took the box from Lois, and with shaking hands that made the task nearly impossible, she lifted off the cover and stared down at a tiny . . . dragon?

“Well, what is it?” Charlotte asked, pushing out of her wheelchair and walking up to the counter. “Oh my, it’s beautiful! Take it out, Maddy, and pin it on your blouse.” The older woman spun to look at William. “No matter how much we tried, Janice wouldn’t tell us what else she ordered for you. She only said that you have excellent taste when it comes to jewelry.”

She spun back around to Maddy, leaned into the counter, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Janice also said it was painted enamel over solid gold and that she knew you were going to love it.” She pushed Maddy’s hand holding the tiny dragon—which was green and brown with bright yellow eyes and a red tongue—toward Maddy’s chest. “Will you pin it on?” she gritted, using her eyes to gesture behind her at William. “You’re going to hurt his feelings.”