Elusive (16 page)

“Ah, I am here on family business. Very dull,
I’m afraid, but trying to make it more enjoyable by spending some
time seeing the sights.” She was so easy to talk to. He would have
to be careful around her, but he needed more time with her to find
out what he needed. “Perhaps you could join me after breakfast. I
planned to visit the Royal Museum.”

“Oh …oui, that would be lovely,” she agreed,
hesitating slightly. Surely being with him would be safe enough as
long as they were in public during the daytime, she thought. “I had
planned to see it today or tomorrow.” She had saved that one museum
as a treat for a time when she could spend the whole day.

Over breakfast Alexandre decided that, if she
hadn’t been an imposter, he would have really liked her. However,
since he knew she was up to no good, he remained on guard.
Gradually, he got her to talk about herself, although she was
obviously holding back, he felt he was getting some idea of her
real opinions. By spending the good part of the day with her at the
museum, he hoped he would be able to get a better idea of what the
real girl was like. Since she was using a second name, Blair
Delamare in France, now Rachel Wallace here, he knew he would have
to be very selective in what he believed.

For Blair, she was so lost in the moment that
she completely forgot to find out why he had shown up at Roddy’s
funeral.

***

As they walked toward the museum, enjoying
the displays in the shop windows, and the lovely weather as they
walked, he noticed the oddly familiar face in the approaching
crowd. He was uncertain about where he had seen the man before, but
his reaction was one of instant wariness. Then he saw the
knife.

He grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the
way just as the blade quickly rose upward toward her chest.
Instead, it caught Alexandre in the right arm from wrist to bicep.
The girl screamed, and passersby stopped to help Alexandre, during
which time the man disappeared easily in the mayhem.

His head swam as he dropped to his knees on
the walk. The pain in his arm told him that it wasn’t just a
scratch. Then he saw her leaning over him.

“Alex, are you alright? Someone went for the
police. We’ll get you to the hospital right away,” she assured
him.

He had never permitted the familiar
shortening of his name until now. He found he liked the way it
sounded when she said it. Then he realized that she was more shaken
than he was. “I’ll be fine, Rachel. Are you hurt?” His head was
spinning and she sounded as if she was far away, and yet those gray
eyes were close and focused sharply on his.

“No, I’m fine. I think you may very well have
saved my life. Alex, thank you. Thank you,” she said. Her eyes were
filling with the dreaded tears again. Once again, she didn’t seem
to have any control over them.

“It was the least I could do,” he replied,
hoping she wouldn’t look so helpless and lost. Damn, she played a
good game. It was going to be a challenge finding out her secrets,
but he thought he might just enjoy the effort—if his head would
just stop swimming. Then he heard the annoying whine of the
ambulance and all went black as he slid the rest of the way to the
street.

***

There she was, standing over him again. Her
face was so pale he wondered that she was still able to stand. If
he hadn’t known better, he would have believed the concern in her
eyes. “Well,” he said, quietly looking around the room and then up
at her as he realized he was in a hospital room. “I seem to have
missed the museum.”

“Oh, Alex, please do not joke about this. You
could have been killed. I would never have forgiven myself,” she
said, as the tears overflowed. The doctor had told her that, if the
knife had struck him less than an inch to the left it would have
hit an artery, and he surely would have bled to death.

“Rachel, please don’t cry. I’m fine, really.”
Why was it that women could turn on the tears and rip a man apart
at the drop of a hat? One tear from a woman and a man was useless
and left with his pride blowing in the wind. It was a reality that
had him feeling much more vulnerable than he had on the street
earlier.

Just then, the doctor came into his room.
“Aye, he’s fine, lassie.” The doctor smiled at Blair and continued
in his Scottish brogue, “Two hours of my superior skills in the
surgery has him on the road to good health. He passed out from loss
of blood, but the injury did nae permanent damage. As I explained
earlier, it could hae been much worse.”

Looking down at Alexandre, “The arm must
remain in the sling for a week or so. Now that we hae him back in
one piece, we will get a couple of good meals into him and watch
him for the next few hours. He should be able to leave tomorrow
morning.”

Why did doctors always talk
about
you
instead of
to
you, Alexandre wondered in a fit of piqué?

“No!” Alexandre said, as he rose a little too
quickly. To his surprise, his head swam briefly, and Rachel caught
his good arm and hung onto him. “I’m fine, really. Please get my
clothing, and I’ll take a taxi back to the hotel.

“Alexandre, are you sure you should do this?”
Blair asked, hoping he would listen to the doctor.

Well, now I’m Alexandre again, he thought.
Somehow he felt a little saddened by it. “Yes, Rachel. I’m certain.
Doctor, please have my clothes brought to me.”

It was obvious that his patient was not going
to cooperate and, since he could not force him to stay, he
cautiously gave in. “Alright. We’ll let you go, but I want your
promise that at the first sign of any fever you will return
immediately. An infection could undo all my superior surgical
work.”

Turning to Rachel, the doctor continued.
“Young lady, I will release him into your care. His bandage should
be changed three times a day for the next two days and daily
thereafter. Understood?”

“Yes, I’ll see to it,” she promised. After
all, the man had saved her life.

“When the police return to speak to you, I’ll
send them over to the hotel,” the doctor continued as he strode out
the door.

“Rachel, I do not want you bothered with
this. I’m sure that I can change the bandages myself,” he was
almost growling at her. He was uncomfortable with her so close, and
he had yet to figure out what she was up to. And then there was the
attack. Why was someone trying to kill her? Perhaps it was just
some street thug, but then why had the attacker seemed so familiar?
His arm ached, his head pounded. He was in no condition to think
about her or the attack any longer.

“If you are going to argue with me,
Alexandre, perhaps I should call the doctor back. Perhaps he can
just knock you out to keep you down for awhile,” she said, with her
arms folded in front of her and her expression set in
determination. “Perhaps a nice
big
needle filled with some
magical potion…?”

“Well, if you’re going to be nasty about it,”
he said, tentatively rising from the bed as the nurse brought in
his clothing. His jacket and shirt were ruined, but they would at
least get him back to the hotel.

“You have yet to see me get nasty, Monsieur!”
Blair turned on her heel and left the room—leaving him to dress
with the nurse’s assistance.

As she waited outside the door, Blair felt
her knees start to buckle. Alexandre’s doctor had been approaching
his room, and he grabbed her in time to prevent her falling on her
face.

Holding onto her he said, “Are you alright,
lass? Here, let’s get you to a chair. You just lean on me for a
moment.” He took her to the chair across the hall and lowered her
into it. “Let me check you out,” he said, as he looked into her
eyes, listened to her heart beat, checked her pulse. No doubt about
it, she was simply having a reaction to being attacked earlier and
to her companion’s injury.

He wondered how she had managed to stay alert
until now. Sometimes people didn’t react to trauma until after all
the excitement was over. Watching her he determined that, yes, now
that his patient was doing well and she no longer needed to remain
in control, the poor girl was finally letting loose of all the
nerves that had built up.

As Alexandre came out of his room, he saw the
doctor kneeling in front of the girl. “What’s wrong? Is she hurt?
Damn it, did that son-of-a-bitch hurt her?” Suddenly he found that
both the girl and the doctor were just frozen. The girl’s pouty
little mouth stood open in shock as she stared at him until the
doctor snapped out of it and spoke.

“She’s fine, lad—just fine. She’s just
reacting to the shock of everything that’s happened,” the doctor
told him.

“Oh!” Now in addition to all his other pains,
he really felt like an idiot! Covering for his gaff, he
rationalized aloud, “I thought perhaps she had been injured, and
she hadn’t realized it until now.” He cleared his throat and tried
to think quickly. “Delaying treatment could have been very serious,
could it not?” he asked the doctor.

“Aye,” the doctor replied, smiling at the
poor sucker who didn’t even realize he’d gotten hooked just like
those delicious trout he intended to catch in the loch this
weekend. “Aye, that’s perfectly logical.”

Helping the girl to her feet, the doctor
continued. “Now you two move along. And you lad,” he said, pointing
his finger at Alexandre, “You go to bed as soon as you get back to
the hotel.” In his opinion, if the lad was smart, he would take the
beautiful lassie with him.

“Yes, I will. Thank you, doctor. Rachel, are
you feeling well enough to go now?” She still looked a little pale
to him.

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” As she slowly
turned to leave, Alexandre grabbed her arm with his good one and
led her to the exit.

***

Damn the woman, he was drowning in her—her
sweetness, her kindness, her nearness. Pushing that aside, he let
his temper reign. Why wouldn’t she just go to her room and let him
be? Not that he minded being pampered, mind you. But did she have
to take her nursing duties so damned seriously? She had ordered
room service—soup, tea, toast—for God’s sake. He wanted a good cut
of beef! Not that he could have cut it one-handed, he realized as
he tamped down his temper again.

She was just trying to repay him for being
the one to take the cut earlier. Well, he decided he would let
her—for now. Maybe she would relax enough to slip up and tell him
something that would shed some light on why she was here.

In the meanwhile, he realized his room
smelled of her. That faint scent she wore permeated his brain as
though he were drowning in it. Shaking his head, he wondered what
was wrong with him—other than his arm?

“Alexandre?” Blair came into the room after
tapping gently on the door. “It is time to change your
bandages.”

She helped him into the suite’s large
bathroom where he sat on the straight-back chair near the sink. She
gently removed the shirt she had helped him into when they got back
to the hotel.

Once again she was struck with the beauty of
his build, the strong cord of muscles that stretched across his
back, the curling black hair that traveled from his chest to
somewhere—she dared not think of where—below his belt buckle. She
busied herself removing the bandage and felt the blood drain from
her head when she saw the wound.

“Now, don’t pass out on me!” Alexandre
shouted, grabbing her with his good arm.” I could hardly pick you
up with only one arm!”

She looked at him expecting to see that stern
expression he had when he was angry with her, which for some reason
seemed to be often. Instead she found him smiling at her, those
blue eyes just staring at her from between the thick, black lashes.
His mouth was just inches away from hers and, after the briefest
moment of hesitation, he lowered his to kiss her so gently she was
unsure at first that he had indeed touched her. After pulling back,
he looked at her again, and this time she knew she had been kissed.
Her head was spinning, but now it wasn’t from seeing his wound.

“I’m sorry, Rachel,” he said, as he backed
away from her again, gripping her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have done
that. After all, you hardly know me.” At the moment, he hardly
recognized himself.

She backed away from him and moved to the
table across the room to get the scissors. I am just sorry that you
regret it, she thought to herself without uttering a sound.
Returning, she finished rewrapping his arm. “I will let you get
some sleep now. I will stop by in a few hours to rewrap it.”
Backing away, she turned and walked out of the room. He stayed put
until he heard the door to his suite close behind her.

He had watched her during the process of
changing the bandage. She was distant—cold—not speaking to him
unless he asked her a question. Damn it all, he had apologized for
kissing her! Why was she still so angry? He was far from naïve; he
recognized her response—didn’t he? He’d step back, be sure he
didn’t touch her again. He didn’t seem to be able to control his
urge to touch her.

He rubbed his face with his hand and felt the
thick stubble of the day’s beard. Hum. And I’m going to have to
trust her to shave me? I’ll be lucky to get out of it in one
piece.

Shaking his head, he arose, and returned to
the bedroom feeling completely drained. He was still unable to
shake her and her scent from his mind—from his senses.

Blair continued to tend to his injury for the
next two weeks, until his arm needed very little care and the
stitches had been removed. She spoke to him as little as possible
throughout the process. He would just watch her with an interest
she did not understand, but he didn’t try to kiss her again. She
found that that left her more unsettled than the kiss itself.

Finally she decided she had to move on with
her plans, and she checked out of the hotel early in the morning
without saying goodbye to Alexandre. He had all but shut her out
since he had kissed her. Obviously he was not interested in her,
and her pride was more badly wounded than his arm.