why you look so sad,” Benjamin said. “We both know you’ll be curled up in my bed at my feet before morning.”
Minutes later, as he eased down onto his king-size bed, his thoughts returned to Edie Burnett. She’d been quiet during the meal but he had a feeling quiet wasn’t really in her character.
He burrowed down and closed his eyes. It was just his luck that the first woman in a long time who had stirred something inside him was only in town for a couple days.
From what she’d told him, she’d have a mess on her hands when she got back home. She had to find a new job and another place to live. He didn’t want to think about what she was going to do if Walt’s problem wasn’t a quick fix.
He drifted off to sleep with visions of lush lips and green eyes playing in his dreams and was awakened some time later by the ringing of his phone on the nightstand.
He was awake instantly, his heart drumming a rapid beat. He glanced at the clock as he fumbled in the dark for the receiver. Just after midnight. Nothing ever good came from middle-of-the-night phone calls.
“Yeah,” he answered as he sat up.
“It’s me,” his brother Tom said. “I’m at the hospital. Somebody beat the hell out of Walt Tolliver and he won’t talk to anyone but you.”
“I’m on my way.” Benjamin hung up as he climbed out of bed. As he pulled on his clothes he wondered what the hell had happened to Walt and where the hell Edie had been.
Edie rolled over and looked at the clock next to her bed. Just before midnight and she still hadn’t managed to fall asleep. When she’d come back into the house after Benjamin had left, she’d grabbed her keys and then moved her car into the garage. When she’d returned she’d wanted to ask Poppy more questions about the space aliens he thought were trying to take over Black Rock, but she was afraid to indulge the delusion. She was hoping to talk to his doctor and ask how she should handle the situation.
Even if she’d wanted to talk to him about it, the opportunity didn’t arise. Immediately after, Poppy had gone to sleep in the bedroom just off the living room.
She’d climbed the stairs to her room, but knew that sleep would be elusive. She’d taken a long hot shower and tried not to think about Benjamin Grayson. But thoughts of the man kept intruding.
She’d been rude to him with her little remark about being too fast for a small-time deputy, but even though she’d just met him, she’d felt an inexplicable need to distance him from her. His smile had been far too warm, his eyes had been too brown and for just a moment, she’d been afraid that he might make her forget that she’d sworn off men for the rest of her life.
She’d been an accident waiting to happen when she’d met Greg. Reeling with grief over her mother’s unexpected death, she’d met him in a bar two weeks after the funeral. It had been love at third drink.
They’d dated for two months before he’d moved in with her and she realized now she’d been far too naive, hadn’t asked enough questions and instead had believed everything he’d told her about himself.
They’d talked of marriage and children and he’d filled the loneliness that the absence of her mother had left behind. He’d told her that he was an entrepreneur between projects and that his money was tied up in his latest endeavor. God, she’d been such a fool.
One thing was clear, she didn’t need anyone in her life. When she got back home she’d focus on finding a new job, a new place to live and cleaning up her messes. She would be just fine all alone for the rest of her life.
She must have fallen asleep because she knew she was dreaming. Pain ripped her body, but it was a pain tempered with a sense of joy. A bright lamp nearly blinded her as the pain intensified. A murmur of voices took on an urgency that was suddenly terrifying and at the same time a bald-headed man wearing a doctor’s mask glared at her with accusation and a phone began to ring.
She awoke with a gasp, the taste of overwhelming grief and crushing guilt thick in her mouth. Disoriented for a moment, she looked around the moonlit room. Then she remembered where she was and that the phone she’d heard in her dream was actually the phone ringing in the house.
As it rang again … and again, she realized Poppy either didn’t hear it or didn’t intend to answer it. She looked at the clock. Twelve forty-five. Whoever was calling was persistent, for the ringing didn’t stop.
She jumped out of bed and left her room. Flipping on the hall light, she ran down the stairs and grabbed the receiver of the phone in the living room.
“Hello,” she said half-breathlessly.
“It’s me, Benjamin.” His deep voice sounded irritated. “I’m here at the hospital with Walt.”
“What?” Confusion sifted through her as she looked at the closed door of Poppy’s bedroom. “But he went to bed earlier.”
“Apparently he went out. Somebody beat him up and he managed to flag down a car that brought him to the hospital. He’s going to be all right, but I think you should be here.”
“I’m on my way. Where is the hospital?”
“Go straight down Main to Chestnut and turn left. It’s about halfway down the second block. You can’t miss it.”
She murmured a goodbye and then raced back up the stairs to get dressed. Her heart beat an uneven tattoo as she thought of somebody beating up Poppy.
Why, oh, why, had he left the house in the middle of the night? This delusion of his about space aliens obviously had a dark undertone.
Within minutes she was dressed and in her car creeping down the darkened Main Street, seeking Chestnut. Benjamin had sounded angry, as if it were somehow her fault that Poppy had been out wandering the streets. What did he expect her to do? Strap the man into bed at night?
She found the hospital, a two-story brick building with a large parking area near the emergency room entrance. She easily found a parking space, and as she hurried into the door she prayed that Benjamin was right and Poppy was going to be okay.
Once again she kicked herself for staying away for so long. She didn’t need Poppy, but it was obvious he needed her. The first person she saw when she walked into the waiting room was Benjamin.
His dark, thick hair was tousled as if he’d just climbed out of bed, making him look even sexier than she remembered. He jumped up from the plastic chair he’d been in as he saw her.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“Where were you?” he countered, his shoulders rigid with tension. “Didn’t you know he had gone out?”
“He went to bed just after you left. I went upstairs to go to sleep, as well. What was I supposed to do, tie a little silver bell around his neck so I’d know if he was on the move?” she asked belligerently.
The tension slid off his shoulders and he smiled. “You’d need a ball and chain because I’m afraid he’d be able to get a little silver bell off.” He rocked back on his heels and slid a hand through his unruly hair. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to come at you like that.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t have a ball and chain on Poppy,”
