Dream Shadow (16 page)

“I’m not hungry.”

“Eat or I’m going to let that nurse in here with something for that pain.”

Fighting the pain took too much of her strength. Grace didn’t have enough left to fight with Jacobs. Not in his present mood anyway.

She looked the tray over again and pulled a piece of fruit from it. Grace brought it to her mouth and began to nibble at it. She felt the weight of his stare before he turned on his heel and left her to her meal. The food dropped back onto the tray as Grace gave a short hiss of disapproval. She was generally disgusted with the entire human race at the moment. Men were currently at the top of the list.

Brice kept his footsteps even and steady as he approached the corridor of the medical center that was currently being occupied by a unit of Army Rangers. His office was swamped with complaints from family members of other patients. Brice kept his steps even because he didn’t want to startle the sentry that was on duty. It would reflect rather badly on him if he managed to get shot in the medical center hallway.

His lips twisted into a smile as he caught sight of Jacobs in the hallway. The huge man was softly conversing with the man posted at Grace’s door. Jacobs dismissed the man and he snapped a salute before leaving the area. Jacobs gave Brice a nod. But he rapped on the door and entered it.

Brice came to a halt and waited. Jacobs emerged a couple of minutes later with a food tray. His face was set into deep lines as he surveyed it. Brice ran his own eyes over the tray.

“Still not eating?”

Jacobs shook his head slowly and deposited the tray at the nearby nurses’ station.

“It’s the pain. She’s just stewing with it right now. Maybe tomorrow.”

“She’s too thin as it is,” Brice pointed out.

“You’re welcome to give it a shot, but when Grace doesn’t have an appetite
…
”

“And who could blame her?”

Both men whipped around as that statement came sailing down the hallway. Beth was calmly walking toward them, completely ignoring the sentry that was trying to stop her. The man seemed loath to physically restrain the six-foot-tall female, and he cast an uncertain look at his commanding officer.

“Return to your post.”

The man snapped a salute before hastening away from Beth at top speed.

Beth stopped in front of Jacobs. Lord, he was too handsome for words. She had spent the last two days trying to work up a plan on how to get over here to see him. She had finally found just the ticket that morning, and here she was. She just wished he wasn’t looking so furious with her. She stiffened her resolve and gave him the sweetest smile she owned. No guts, no glory.

“After all, that hospital food could be termed as cruel and unusual punishment in some people’s minds.” Beth breezed right on, hoping to not give them the chance to throw her out.

“Now, I happen to spend most of my days in the kitchen, and I would wager that Grace will find my cooking more to her liking,” Beth declared sweetly.

“Beth, you can’t be here.”

“Excuse me, Major Jacobs, but that almost sounds like you consider me to be a security risk.” Beth thrust her basket into Brice’s arms and rummaged around in her purse for a moment. Withdrawing a card of some type, she thrust it into Jacobs’s face.

Pulling the military identification card from her, Jacobs compared the photo with her face.

“I have to say that I don’t think my father would take too kindly to you insinuating that his daughter might be a traitor.”

“Who’s your father?”

“Hal Stewart. He’s retired now, but you need the discharge papers to remind him of that fact,” Beth informed him.

Jacobs assessed her for a moment. A smile began to break across his face. Damn, but this was a
woman
. She visibly relaxed as he smiled. She had guts. That was for sure.

“Since I heard you were held up here as well, I brought plenty.”

“Who have you been talking with, Beth?” demanded Brice.

Beth raised an eyebrow at his tone.

“Now, Sheriff Campbell, I do believe you are accusing me of being a gossip. I haven’t been talking to anyone.” Beth settled her hands on her hips. “I do, however, have ears and noticed that everyone in the county is talking about how this hospital has been turned into a military base. That’s because Gil Bryson swears that he needed a background check on his newborn son before his wife was even out of the delivery room.”

Both men had the good grace to look a little guilty. “I do hope you two didn’t think you had some kind of secret here? If that’s the case, I need to have a little chat with you about Benton County and its extremely efficient gossip chain.”

Beth took the basket from Brice and settled it on the top of the nurses’ station. As she lifted the lid the aroma had both men eyeing it with hunger. Beth pulled a plate out and started to fill it with several things. Finished, she draped a tea towel over the food.

“If you’ll excuse me, I intend to feed Grace. She’s just about the skinniest thing I’ve ever met.”

Jacobs did stop her there. Beth waited for him to voice his concern.

“Beth, Grace can be a little stubborn. It might be best if I took that in to her.”

Beth drew herself up to her full six feet.

“Such little faith, Major Jacobs. I’ll have you know I raced across a battlefield in a corset for that woman and I am not above throwing it in her face if it comes to that. Don’t worry, Dad says I could shame a fighter pilot into taking vows of chastity.”

Beth gave him a wink as she walked right past him and opened the door to Grace’s room. Grace raised her head up to investigate the intrusion.

“Grace, it’s so good to see you, I’ve been so worried. What are you wearing anyway? Insensitive men, leaving you in a hospital gown…” The door shut out the rest and Jacobs found himself laughing. Grace just may have met her match tonight.

“Are the men in this county blind?”

Brice was already filling a plate when Jacobs asked that question.

“She failed to mention her daddy’s stars.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jacobs glanced back at the closed door of Grace’s room. “A general’s daughter? That explains a lot.”

“Yes it does,” Brice confirmed.

There were only two kinds of women that couldn’t get a date on an Army base. Married ones and the general’s daughter. No man in his right mind would chance letting a broken heart ruin his career.

Jacobs bit into a piece of chicken and closed his eyes in ecstasy. No woman under the age of fifty should be allowed to cook so well. Taking another bite, he looked over what else the basket offered.

“Beth did say her father was retired, right?”

Grace sat on the bed and laughed softly. Beth’s humor was infectious. She had marched right in and sat on the end of her bed, starting up a conversation that was still going. She’d placed a plate of chicken directly in front of Grace before moving across the room.

“You need your strength to keep Brice on his best behavior. Men can be such brutes if a woman shows even a hint of weakness.”

Giving in, Grace started to nibble at the fried chicken. It really was good.

“What are you looking for?”

Beth pulled another of the closet doors open before she answered. Her lips pressed into a tight line before she sent it shut again.

“Some clothes for you. That gown has got to go.” The meager cabinets the room offered were empty. Setting her hands onto her hips, Beth stood considering what else was at hand. Her eyes lit on Jacobs’s duffel bag neatly stored in the corner beside the bed. She didn’t hesitate a second before pulling the thing from the floor and opening it.

“You just take over.”

“Hum?” Shaking out a shirt, Beth sent a look over to Grace. “When one is dealing with an officer, it is sometimes necessary to remind them that women are not grunts.”

Prize in hand, Beth replaced the bag before she began rummaging about the bathroom. Twisting her head, Grace tried to determine just what the woman was looking for now. Popping another piece of chicken into her mouth, she decided that Beth’s cooking skills were far more interesting.

“Who taught you to cook?”

“Desperation, books and the odd television show.” Emerging from the bathroom, Beth smiled as she removed the now empty plate. “I mean, have you ever tried to stomach what passes for food on an Army base?”

The laughter escaped her lips before Grace could stop it. “Regularly.” The bed shifted as Beth leaned behind her and pulled the tie that held her hospital gown in place. Beth had it stripped off her body and the shirt in place in almost the same movement.

“There. That will do for now anyway.” Beth sent her fingers into the tangled web of Grace’s hair as she pulled the pins from it. “Men don’t mind living like pigs, so they never notice that we women do.”

“Meaning what?”

Beth pulled the brush through the tangled mess of Grace’s hair before she answered.

“Meaning, neither of those two even thought about handing this brush to you. With your side torn up that way, it should have been on this bedside table, where you could reach it.”

Neatness, Grace understood. Vanity was almost a foreign language. Her appearance wasn’t considered because Jacobs was far more concerned with her immediate health. “Speaking of Jacobs. Just how did you get in here anyway?”

“Bluster and diversion.” Giving Grace’s hair a final pass with the brush, Beth placed it on the bedside table. “I was shaking in my boots. Jacobs sure can look mean when he takes a notion to.”

“I’ve noticed that myself a time or two,” Grace responded. A sleepy yawn caught her off-guard.

“I’d better let you sleep. I’ll come by again tomorrow and bring you something to wear. Men are so thick. They think nothing of letting a girl sit around half-naked and freezing.”

Grace gave Beth a smile before she disappeared out the door. She yawned again. She was tired but couldn’t fall asleep just yet. She considered what it was that she was waiting for. It dawned on her that she was waiting for Brice. He had come every night. She wasn’t sure if she should be annoyed with herself for longing for the man’s presence or not. The truth was she was just too tired to care at the moment.

Someone rapped on the door and she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face as Brice stepped into the room.

“Good evening.”

He tipped his hat again. He ran his eyes in a lazy course over her before returning to her face. A firm appreciation was reflected in his eyes.

“Looks like Beth had her way with you.”

“I think I got the better end of the deal.”

Settling himself on the side of her bed, Brice lifted a strand of her coal-black hair from where it rested on her chest. “How did you manage to keep this away from the base barber?”

Her hair was her only vanity. Actually, it was her only link left to a family long ago lost. Her mother used to sit and brush out her hair. The memory was a dear one.

“It’s been cut before.”

Brice moved his hand forward and slipped it into the black curtain of silk. “Not recently.”

Watching his fingers slip among the stands was strangely intimate. After reaching the ends, Brice moved his hand all the way to her head this time. He rubbed his fingers over her scalp before slowly combing down the length of her hair once again.

“I never leave it down.” Her words came out in a hurried rush. Her lungs didn’t seem to be able to draw in enough air and they increased their pace. Brice reached the end of her hair and raised his hand once more. A sure smile was sitting on his mouth as he laid his hand along her face again. It stayed there, cradling the side of her head while he aimed his eyes steadily into hers.

“You will take it down when we make love.” She shook her head, but he controlled the movement with his hand, leaning forward until his breath brushed her lips. “And I’ll comb my fingers through it just like this.”

Grace sucked her breath in as she felt the emotion surge up inside her.

“I have to tell you goodbye, Brice. You know that.”

He dropped the lightest of kisses onto her mouth before pulling back to sit upright.

“Not tonight, you don’t.”

A warm feeling spread through her. Maybe it was only a reprieve but it felt so much better than hard certainty. Her lashes fluttered and then slipped closed.

The morning and afternoon were gone by the time Grace woke up the next day. Brice was the last thing that she remembered. Her eyes fell onto the clock sitting beside the bed.
Sweet Mary
. It was after five in the evening.

Stretching her legs out, Grace sighed. She felt much better today. The pain still lingered, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Grace always woke with the dawn. Today she’d slept the day away. Guess she had Beth’s cooking to blame for that. The mention of food brought a complaint from her stomach. However, Grace had another priority at the moment. She wanted a shower and was feeling good enough to try it.