nightmare will be over.”
She nodded.
“Anything hurt?”
“Everything,” she said.
He grinned. “Yeah, dumb question, huh?”
He turned his head away. She could see a change of expression on his face and guessed he was speaking to someone out of sight.
More debris shifted and bits of plaster rained down on her. She yelped, drawing his immediate attention.
“Everything okay?” he asked, his expression filled with concern.
She nodded, her gaze locked with his worried brown eyes.
“Good. Then here’s the deal, Allie. I imagine you want to know what we’re up to out here, right?”
“Yes.” She wanted to know everything, even if she didn’t like it. She’d learned a long time ago that she could cope with just about anything as long as she knew what she was up against.
“Okay, then. I’m going to disappear for just a minute. We’re not happy with this approach, so we’re going to come in a different way. It’ll take a little longer, but there’s less risk. Are you all right with that?”
She wanted to protest the delay, but he was the one who knew what he was doing. She had to trust him. Gazing into his eyes, she found that she did. And even though she didn’t want him to move, didn’t want to lose sight of him, she nodded again. “Okay.”
She turned her head away to hide the tears that threatened. Suddenly she felt what seemed to be a deliberate dusting of powder sprinkle down on her face. She glanced up to find him watching her anxiously.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I needed to get your attention. I promise you’ll see me again in no time. I never leave a pretty woman in distress.”
She almost laughed at that. Even when she wasn’t under a ton of debris, no one in recent years ever said she was pretty. Now she imagined she must look a fright. She had been dressed for bed when disaster struck, wearing a faded Florida Marlins T-shirt and nothing else. At the end of the day, her hair was always a riot of mousy-brown curls, thanks to Miami’s never-ending humidity. She imagined she looked pretty much like a dusty, bloody mop about now.
“Go,” she told him. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
He chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
And then he was gone, leaving Allie to wonder if it was possible that angels ever came with dancing eyes…and looking like sin.
Ricky was still chuckling as he eased his way off the mound of debris. Allie Matthews was something, all right. Scared to death but doing her level best not to show it. He’d caught the occasional glimpse of panic in her amazing blue eyes, but not once had she complained. She had to be in pain, as well, but beyond her one joking admission, she’d never mentioned it again.
“You find something funny about this?” Tom asked, regarding him with curiosity as he leaped to the ground beside him.
“You probably had to be there,” Ricky admitted.
“How’s she doing?”
“Her sense of humor’s intact, but she can’t move. No way to tell if that’s because she’s pinned down or because of an injury. Bravest woman I ever saw, though. She’s not hysterical, but those eyes of her are killers, blue as the ocean and shimmering with tears, though she’s fighting them like crazy.”
Tom shook his head. “Leave it to you to go all poetic about a woman’s eyes in the middle of a rescue.”
“I was hoping to motivate you,” Ricky claimed, though the thought of Tom getting ideas about Allie bothered him more than he cared to admit. It was crazy to be jealous over a woman to whom he hadn’t even been introduced.
He gazed at the rubble with frustration. “Any idea how we can get in there without bringing this mess tumbling down around her?”
They stood surveying the crazy haystack of debris. It was far from the worst they’d ever seen. There had been whole apartment complexes to dig through in earthquake disasters. But Ricky had never felt a greater sense of urgency. Something about Allie’s spirit and bravery had caught his attention in a way that few women did. In just a few minutes he had felt some of that strength and resilience that her neighbor had bragged about.
For the next few hours Ricky, Tom and the others worked with tedious patience to reach Allie. When they finally had a clear view of her through a tunnel that seemed safe enough, Ricky was the one who inched forward on his belly, clearing more debris bit by bit until he could reach out and touch her hand. Again those huge, luminous blue eyes latched on to him and held him captive.
He passed a water bottle to her, but she couldn’t seem to negotiate it to her mouth. She stared at her immobile hand with evident frustration.
“It’s okay,” he soothed. “I’ll get it to you. Hang in there.”
He eased forward an inch at a time, waiting between movements to make sure that the precarious arrangement of debris wouldn’t shift. Finally he was close enough to touch the plastic straw to her lips. She drank greedily, her gaze never leaving his face.
“Is Jane okay?” she asked the minute she’d satisfied her thirst.
“Jane?”
“Next door. Mrs. Baker.”
He thought of the woman who’d guided them to Allie. “About seventy-five? Five-two? Feisty?”
“Yes, yes, that’s her. She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“A cut on her forehead and possibly a sprained ankle, but you’re the only thing that seems to concern her,” he said. “She hasn’t budged since we started trying to reach you. She found a lawn chair down the block and planted it right out front so she can keep an eye on us.”
Allie grinned. “That sounds just like her. And the rest of the neighbors? How are they?”
“We’re checking on all of them now,” he said, unwilling to mention that so far there was one dead and several unaccounted for. Fortunately, she seemed to take his response at face value.
“How long have I been down here?” she asked.
“Not so long. A few hours. We got the call shortly before six a.m. It’s just about noon now,” he told her. “Must seem like an eternity to you, though.”
She nodded.
“Well, it’s almost over. You stay perfectly still, querida. I’ll have you free in no time,” he promised.
“Couldn’t move if I wanted to,” she said as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I—” her voice faltered “—I think I might be paralyzed.”
“Now, don’t go getting any crazy ideas. Looks to me as if it’s just because of the way you’re wedged in here,” he reassured her. “No need to panic. Once you’re out, I’ll take you
