on,” Scarlett managed, on a croak.
She felt the hard, cool shape of a cell phone pressed against her cheek, and the softer touch of a masculine hand. Daniel Porter’s hand. She scrabbled for the phone, managed to take hold of it and the hand went away. She made another attempt to open her eyes but the bright light whirled in a sickening way and twelve steering wheels danced like dervishes right in front of her.
Don’t try it, Scarlett, just breathe. “Andy?” she got out, after a moment.
“Scarlett, you sound terrible. What’s the problem?”
“Migraine. Vision problems and dizziness. I had to pull over. I need you to come.”
“I can’t,” Andy said blankly. “Not right now.”
Before she could stop herself, she let out a stricken sound.
“I have a patient under local anesthesia, and four moles to take off her back. I practically had the scalpel in my hand when you called. After that, okay? Immediately after.”
This time, she couldn’t keep back a moan. His voice had made her feel as if help was at hand, and now it had been snatched away.
“I’m sorry,” her brother said. “I can’t blow off a patient.”
“I know.” Scarlett wouldn’t have done it, either. She rounded her lips and blew out a careful breath, gaining enough control to tell him, “You’re right.”
“Listen, Daniel is a good guy. Straight down the line. A state trooper.”
“Yes, so he said.” Andy hadn’t met Daniel, six years ago, even though, indirectly, he’d moved to Vermont because of Daniel’s influence. He had no idea that Daniel and Scarlett had briefly been involved. Almost no one knew that. Their whole relationship had vanished into the past without trace.
“He’ll call an ambulance for you. He’ll wait with you till it comes.”
“I don’t need an ambulance. It’s just a migraine. I’ve had these spells before.”
“Like you’re having now?”
“Never this bad.”
“So the hospital—”
“Don’t make me go to the hospital.” She was so overdosed on hospitals. She’d been working ninety hours a week in one for years. She was the smartest one in the family, Dad always said, but somehow that didn’t seem like the best end of the deal when her skin always smelled like chemicals and she only ever saw the sky through tinted glass. “I just want to be lying flat in a dark room.”
“Put Daniel back on and I’ll ask him if he can drive you to my place.”
“My car …”
“He’ll drive your car off the road, park it somewhere safe. One of our office staff can drive it home for you later.”
“Home to your place.”
“Home to my place, it’s no problem, it’s not far. Put Daniel on.”
Blindly she held out the phone, gripping the wheel with her free hand to minimize the movement. “My brother wants to talk.”
A hand took the phone. “Sure,” said the gravelly voice. Daniel had been twenty-four years old when she’d known him, to her twenty-six. He must be thirty, now. His voice had deepened, matured, but he was as measured and careful with his words as he’d always been.
“Yes, I can do that,” he said to Andy after a moment. “Give me the address.” He listened. “Yeah, no problem. I had court, this morning, in White River Junction. Was on my way back, done for the day. It’s no trouble.”
“Thank you,” she said weakly, after she heard him put away the phone.
“No problem,” he repeated. “We’ll get you home, Charlotte.”
Charlotte … Andy must have said her name, only Daniel had heard it wrong. He didn’t know who she was. The thought came with a wash of relief. Maybe he wouldn’t even remember.
No, he had to remember. He’d brought her up here, six years ago, had given her a passionate, romantic weekend in a gorgeous bed-and-breakfast, and then she’d dumped him two weeks later—or they’d dumped each other, she wasn’t even sure—because …
Well, just because.
Too many reasons to count, and maybe she was ashamed of some of them, or maybe they weren’t all her fault. They’d both had issues that ran deep. They’d both had reason to be angry … and full of regret. She hadn’t been involved with another man since. She’d been burned, and it had been all too easy to retreat into her demanding work and conclude that the thing with Daniel—its intensity and its failure—was a warning sign.
He had to remember.
But right now, he wanted her to move, to climb out of the vehicle. He had one hand on her elbow and one on her shoulder, trying to ease her out from behind the wheel, trying to help her, but it was going to be impossible. She felt incapable of walking, and she couldn’t have corrected him about her name even if she’d wanted to.
And she didn’t want to, because …
Well, just because.
Because it was easier not to have him know who she was.
Not yet. Not until she’d reached a safer, better place than the verge of a county road.
Five and a half years ago, she’d sent Andy to the same bed-and-breakfast that Daniel had brought her to, at a time when Andy had been going off the rails due to stress and ambition. Her brother had found Vermont so good for his soul that he’d moved here, but that little leapfrogging connection wasn’t relevant now.
She doubted that Daniel had looked at her face yet, and might not recognize her even if he did, she must look so wretched, white-skinned against the contrast of the dark frames of her sunglasses. Oh, and she’d been in her blonde phase six years ago, too, the style of it perky and tousled and a lot shorter than it was now.
“Can you help me to your car?” she asked him. “I’m so dizzy.”
“Of course,” was all he said.
She waited for him to hold her shoulders or reach for her hand, hating this feeling of disorientation. Where was he? Which part of her body would he touch first?
Okay, here was his arm coming around her shoulder … and his other arm sliding across the backs of her knees. He was planning to carry her. He lifted her into his arms before she could protest, settled her closer against his body, and then she had to concentrate so hard just on breathing that she couldn’t say a word.
He didn’t speak, either.
She was pretty light, but she was still a grown woman, and this had to be hard for him, but he gave no sign of it, just held her and paced toward his patrol car, his stride as smooth as he could make it. He was trying not to bounce her and she was grateful for that.
Grateful
