Warrior's Embrace (17 page)

“Hmmm,” she said, snuggling under the covers.
“Much.”

“Do you need anything else?”

Bolton. I need Bolton.
Did she
actually say those words? Or did she just think them?

A large warm hand closed around hers. So
comforting. So strong. Virginia held on.

When she woke up she’d have to thank Dr.
Mason for being so kind... if she ever woke up.

She felt the hand on her forehead smoothing
back her hair.

“I’m tired,” she whispered.

“Rest, my love, just rest.”

Why was Dr. Mason calling her his love? Or
was she dreaming? He was caressing her cheeks now, and murmuring to
her in some strange and beautiful language. She felt as if she were
on the mountaintop with Bolton, lying on his blanket, and listening
to the sound of his voice. If she was dreaming, she didn’t want to
wake up.

There was a sound of running water. Was it
the mountain stream where Bolton had released her fish?

No, that wasn’t right. She had left the
mountain. She would never see him again. The tears were hot on her
face.

“Don’t cry, Virginia. I’m here.”

Dr. Mason gently wiped her cheeks. She’d have
to reward his kindness by taking him and his wife out to
dinner.

“Mother... Can you hear me?” Candace needed
her, but she barely had enough energy for herself. “How do you
feel, Mother? Does it hurt?”

Why was her daughter asking her that
question? Why should she hurt? She drifted back to the mountain
top, back to the stream where the sound of water gurgling over
stones mingled with the sound of wind in the trees lulled her into
a sense of peace unlike any she had ever known. The murmur of
voices came to her from a long way off—Jane’s quiet reassuring
tones and Candace’s husky questions.

Virginia held on to the big, warm hand,
anchoring herself to that source of comfort and strength.

“Virginia, open your eyes and look at me.” A
brisk masculine voice. Dr. Mason. Why was he being so curt? She
preferred his gentle bedside manner to this intrusive noise that
disturbed her rest.

“Come on, Virginia. Time to wake up. You can
do it.”

Her eyelids were heavy and uncooperative, and
she had to fight off the desire to sleep. Slowly she forced her
eyes open.

There was a face near hers, a dear, familiar
face, and for a moment she thought she’d conjured him up. Then he
smiled...

“Hello, Virginia.”

Everybody started talking at once—Candace,
Jane, Dr. Mason—but the only person she saw was Bolton Gray Wolf,
the only person she heard was her beloved Apache warrior.

Bending down, he kissed her softly on the
lips.

“Don’t talk, don’t even think, Virginia. Just
know that I am here and that I love you.”

She hadn’t dreamed him. His was the hand
she’d held, his the voice that had comforted her, his the lips that
had soothed her.

Suddenly, she was aware of the tight bandage
around her breast, of the pain, of an overwhelming sense of loss.
Her lips formed a protest, but he kissed it away.

“Later, Virginia,” he whispered. “We can talk
later.”

Then he was gone, a magnificent man glowing
with strength and vitality, a man now completely out of her league
and out of her reach. She had many lonely days ahead to think about
that, but right now she had to concentrate all her energy on
fighting a battle against the hateful enemy that had invaded her
body.

“You came through the surgery just fine,
Virginia,” Dr. Mason said.

She felt the bandage around her chest. It was
pulled tight, flattening her so that she felt as if she had no
breast at all. Panic set in.

“They didn’t take my breast?” She grabbed his
hand. “Dr. Mason, did they take my breast?”

“Relax, Virginia. Dr. Davidson did only the
lumpectomy.”

“Was it...”
Cancer.
She couldn’t
make herself say the word.

“The lab results on the frozen section will
be back in about three days. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.
Meantime, you can go home where you’ll be more comfortable.”

“How soon?” Jane asked.

“If she has no problems, about four
hours.”

“You’re sure it’s safe?” Candace said.

“Absolutely. After you get home, if you have
any questions or if anything unusual develops, call me.” He patted
Virginia’s hand. “You did great, Virginia. The nurse will be in to
give you instructions before you leave.”

Dr. Mason left the three women staring at
each other, speechless with the fear that still nagged at them all.
Virginia fumbled at her bedside table for water, and Jane came over
to pour it for her. Candace moved the glass menagerie from the
windowsill to the shelf that held the television, then back again.
Keeping busy, all of them.

“I can’t stand this not knowing,” Candace
burst out. “I thought he said the pathologist could tell by
looking. Why didn’t somebody ask him what the pathologist
thought?”

If looks could kill, Jane’s would have felled
Candace in her tracks.

“I’m just saying what’s on all our minds. Why
didn’t we ask?”

Virginia placed her hand over the bandage.
“Because I don’t want to know.”

She just wanted to float off in limbo and
stay until all this was over.

“I just want it all to be over,” she
whispered.

“It will,” Jane said. “Soon.”

Virginia believed Jane because she had to,
because believing that it was not going to be over soon would drive
her mad. She lay against the pillows, exhausted.

“Did Bolton leave?” she asked.

The door opened, and he came into the room,
bringing with him hope and memories too wonderful... and too
painful to bear.

“No,” he said. “I’m not leaving you,
Virginia. Not now, not ever.”

Virginia knew she should send Bolton away,
but she didn’t have the heart, nor the energy. Besides that, his
quiet strength gave her a comfort she couldn’t get from Jane or
from Candace. If she could hold on to him, then maybe everything
would be all right.

“I’m glad you’re here, Bolton,” Jane
said.

“Thank you, Jane.”

How easy he was with people, Virginia
thought. It was a natural ease born partially of his experience as
a photojournalist but primarily of his innate kindness and
generosity of spirit.

Candace was not as comfortable with their
visitor as Jane. The flush on her cheeks and the nervous movements
of her hands gave her away. She cleared her throat.

“I... uh... I’m glad too,” she finally
said.

“That means a lot to me, Candace.”

“The last time you were here I was pretty
rotten to you, and I apologize.”

“Apology accepted.”

“All of a sudden, I’m starving.” Jane grabbed
her purse. “Candace, let’s go down to the cafeteria and get a
bite.”

“I already...” Jane gave her a look, and she
blushed. “Okay. See you in a little while, Mother.”

Virginia was too exhausted to protest about
Jane’s obvious scheme. After the door closed behind them, Bolton
came to her bedside and smoothed back her hair.

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable alone
in my presence, Virginia. You’ve been through a tough ordeal, and I
have no intention of making it worse by saying things that might
upset you.”

“Good.” She closed her eyes, and he sat in
the chair beside her and took her hand. “Bolton... thanks for
leaving me alone with Jane and Candace when Dr. Mason came.”

“That was a private conversation about
something very personal and very painful. If there is anything you
want me to know, you’ll tell me.”

“Don’t take this as any indication that I’ve
changed my mind... but you are the most wonderful man I’ve ever
known.”

He smiled. “I don’t expect an easy victory
with you, Virginia. But make no mistake, I do expect victory.” He
gently squeezed her hand. “Rest now. You need to build your
strength.”

“I think I will close my eyes for just a
little while.”

It felt so good to hold his hand, to know
that he was there watching over her.

While she slept Bolton prayed. Silently he
invoked the gentle Father Creator to spread his great wings of
comfort and healing over the beautiful fragile woman who lay in the
narrow hospital bed. In the language of the Apache he asked the
Great Spirit of his people to imbue Virginia with the strength of
the bear and to lift her on wings of eagles so that she might once
again soar.

He asked guidance for himself, as well. The
wisdom of his ancestor Cochise, Chiricahua Apache Chief, flowed
through him, and he poured out his petition in Athabascan.

“Great Spirit, when I ask my beloved for her
hand, grant that I may speak straight so that my words will go as
sunlight into her heart.”

A kind of peace settled over him, and on the
bed Virginia smiled in her sleep. Bolton kept watch, and after a
while Jane and Candace tiptoed into the room to take up their
silent vigil.

When the nurse came Virginia was still
sleeping. She quietly instructed them about the patient’s care.

“I’ll bring a wheelchair now,” the nurse
said, “and you can take her home.”

“She won’t need a wheelchair,” Bolton
said.

He lifted Virginia so tenderly that she never
woke up, not even when they got into Jane’s car. She didn’t open
her eyes until he was on the staircase that led to her bedroom. She
was vividly aware of Bolton’s arms around her and his fiercely
possessive stare.

For a moment she thought they had just met,
and he was taking her upstairs to make wild passionate love to her.
A twinge of pain and the tight bandage around her breast reminded
her that she had neither the body nor the energy to arouse passion
in anyone, let alone a man as virile as Bolton Gray Wolf.

If she’d had the strength, she would have
kicked something. Hard.

“Put me down,” she snapped. “I can walk.”

“You’re stronger, I see,” Bolton said,
smiling as he continued his march to her bedroom.

“I said put me down. Where are Jane and
Candace?”

“In the kitchen, preparing food.”

Just ahead her bedroom door yawned open. She
couldn’t bear seeing Bolton in that intimate setting again.

“This is as far as you go,” she said.

His arms tightened around her and his stride
never faltered. As he stepped over the threshold, memories burned
through her.

“Here you are, Virginia,” he said as he
lowered her to the cool sheets. “Our playground.”

“It’s no longer our playground.”

“It will be.” He pulled the covers over her,
then spent an inordinate amount of time arranging them.

She was too selfish to tell him to stop. For
a little while she let herself enjoy the feel of his hands on her
body. He smoothed the sheets over her legs from ankle to thigh.
Would she ever again know the joy of pure desire?

“Until morning, Virginia.” He kissed her
softly on the lips.

Tall and handsome, he walked toward her door.
He took her breath away, and she didn’t find her tongue until he
got to the door.

“Where will you stay?”

“I’ll check into a hotel.”

Let him go,
her mind said, but she
couldn’t bear that kind of rudeness.

“There’s no need for that,” she said. “Since
you’ve come all this way, the least I can do is offer the guest
cottage to you.”

“I accept.” His smile was there and gone, the
same fleeting smile she had found so appealing when they had first
met.

What did that smile mean? She had plenty of
time to ponder it.

Bolton had barely left when Candace and Jane
came into the room, bringing armloads of roses and the glass
menagerie. They fussed over the arrangement of roses until Virginia
told them both to sit down.

“I need to go down to my room to study,
anyhow,” Candace said.

“I want you to go back tomorrow,” Virginia
said. “There’s no need for you to miss classes hanging around
here.”

“But, Mother, what about you?”

“I’ll take care of her,” Jane said. “Don’t
you worry.”

“I don’t need taking care of,” Virginia
snapped.

Candace shot Jane a helpless look, and Jane
grinned.

“Just let her try to run me off,” she
said.

Virginia was too tired to argue. Jane settled
onto the chaise longue with Virginia’s latest novel, and she
drifted into a restless sleep.

A couple of hours later, Virginia jolted
awake and reached for her robe. Jane was on her feet
immediately.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked,
snatching the robe from Virginia.

“To the bathroom.”

“Oh...” Looking chagrined, Jane helped her
into the robe.

“Why don’t you go on home, Jane. You’re
exhausted.”

“You need me, and I’m staying.”

A wave of pain hit Virginia, and her hand
shook as she took a painkiller. In a little while the physical pain
would be gone, but not the emotional agony, not the harsh mental
anguish that made her want to scream and kick furniture.

“I don’t need you hovering over me. I’m not
some sick old woman.” The minute the words were out of her mouth,
Virginia regretted them. She reached for Jane, and they ended up in
each other’s arms. “How can you put up with me?” she whispered.

“I need you, Virginia,” Jane said. “I need to
be here because I love you too much to leave. If that makes me
selfish, so be it.”

They leaned back and looked at each other,
and Virginia smiled.

“Help me to the bathroom, Jane.”

“Lean on me.”

When Virginia was back in bed, Jane fluffed
the pillows and smoothed the covers.

“Now, how about a nice hot bowl of chicken
soup. Grandma’s remedy.”

Virginia glanced at the clock. “It’s almost
ten.”

“You have to keep up your strength.”

“If soup will give me strength, bring a bowl.
When did you have time to make Grandma’s soup?”