Heart of Winter

by Diana Palmer

  Winthrop turned and walked out the front door. His footsteps were so soft, and the closing of the door so quiet, that the occupants of the study didn’t hear him.

  He hadn’t expected Nicole to be like that. He’d been sure that her ardor was real, that she’d felt the same tenderness he had. And here she was telling Gerald that there was no chance Winthrop could turn her head. He felt sick to his stomach and furiously angry. He couldn’t bear the thought of being near her anymore, not after hearing her conversation with Gerald. What a close call, but at least he’d been spared. His face hardened as he began to work out what he was going to do. Thank God, she’d never know just how close she’d come to getting under his skin.

  There was no sign of Winthrop for the rest of the evening, and the next morning, Gerald found a note waiting for him when they sat down to breakfast. He read over it, obviously puzzled.

  “Winthrop,” he said, waving the slip of paper. “He’s gone to Omaha, God knows why. Something about a cattle deal. He said he’s sorry about this evening, but he’ll have to take a rain check on your dinner date.”

  “That’s all right,” she said, hiding her disappointment. “I’m sure he couldn’t help it.”

  Gerald, who knew his older brother a little better than Nicole did, was uneasy. Winthrop hadn’t offered to take a woman out to dinner since that blond barracuda did him in. Nicky had touched something in him, something cold and dormant, and now Winthrop seemed determined to fight it to the last breath. Gerald studied Nicky, wondering if she had any idea how disturbing Winthrop must find her. Probably not. She was a sweet person, a little reserved most of the time. Gerald was fond of her, in a brotherly way, and he felt responsible for Winthrop’s unexpected coolness toward her. Knowing how his brother felt, Gerald should have been more wary of bringing a woman to the ranch. But it had been Winthrop who’d mentioned bringing Nicky. Come to think of it, Winthrop had asked a lot of questions about her after he’d seen her that day at the Chicago office. He pursed his lips. Well, well. Big brother had an Achilles’ heel, it seemed. He smiled as the thought warmed his mind. And now that Winthrop had the quarry near the hook, he was going to play her for a while, was that it? Or had he gotten cold feet and was now running?

  “You’re very quiet,” Nicole said hesitantly.

  “I’m just thinking. By the way, with Winthrop gone, would you rather spend tonight at Sadie’s?” he asked with old-world politeness.

  She smiled. “You’re a nice man. Would you mind?”

  “Heavens, no,” he murmured. Besides, it would give him an excuse to see Sadie again the next day, when he went to fetch Nicky. And it would kill any potential gossip stone dead. Winthrop might appreciate that one day.

  They went that night to have dinner with Sadie. She was a tall woman with blond hair and soft brown eyes. Nicky had always liked her, and the two of them found plenty to talk about when Sadie had come by the office to wait for Gerald.

  “I’ll be delighted to have you stay the night,” Sadie told her enthusiastically. “It gets lonely with just me for company. Mother likes people.”

  “How is she?” Gerald asked gently.

  Sadie sighed and shook her head. “No better. No worse. She just lies and looks at the wall and begs to die.” She bit back tears. “Here, Nicky, help me get the food on the table, will you? Gerald, would you like to go in and ask Mother if she needs anything?”

  “Certainly,” he agreed, and paused to exchange a look with Sadie that was long and bittersweet.

  Sadie watched him leave the room, her eyes wandering over his tall figure in the becoming tan suit.

  “I’m hopeless,” Sadie sighed, smiling shyly. “I love him to death, but there’s not a thing I can do about it. I love Mother, too. I can’t leave her.”

  Nicky studied the wan face. “He hasn’t been well, either,” she said.

  Sadie glanced up. “Oh, dear.”

  “An ulcer,” Nicole said. “Just an ulcer. But he pushes so hard.”

  “He always has. Competing, you know,” she added with a loving smile. “He feels he has to come up to par with Winthrop.”

  “That would be a tall order,” Nicky said without thinking as she laid the table.

  Sadie glanced at her as she filled cups with steaming black coffee. “He’s a cold man.”

  “Not really,” Nicole replied softly. “He’s just hurt, that’s all.”

  The older woman pursed her lips. “How did you wind up on the ranch?”

  “Mr. Christopher wanted to come home for a month to rest and work. I have car payments, furniture payments, payment payments…” She grinned. “I couldn’t afford to lose a month’s pay, so I came, too.”

  “And now Winthrop’s done a vanishing act. Why?”

  “I don’t know,” Nicky said honestly. “He asked me out to dinner tonight, and then this morning he left.” She shrugged. “He’s very difficult to understand.”

  “He always was. I’ve known the two brothers for years. I went to school with Gerald.” She filled the coffee cups and then placed them in their lovely china saucers on the linen tablecloth. “Winthrop was always a loner, although he was something of a rounder in his younger days. He broke hearts…”

  “I’ll bet he did,” Nicky murmured. She looked up. “Did you know about the blonde?”

  “Everybody around here knew about the blonde,” Sadie replied. “It was a nine-day wonder. The gossip went on forever, as it does in small communities. Winthrop got back on his feet and lived it down, but I imagine he hasn’t really gotten over it. She was a first-class barracuda. She’d have cut him up like fish bait if they hadn’t been in that wreck. She’d have taken him for everything he had, and left him bleeding without a backward glance. She married an oil millionaire, you know. They say she’s got a closet full of mink coats.”

  “How sad,” Nicky said genuinely, her green eyes full of bitterness. “So many people marry for money. Or try to.”

  “I’ll bet you never would,” Sadie said unexpectedly. “Gerald always did like you. I’m a bit jealous of you.”

  “Me?” Nicky grinned. “Thanks, but he’s too nice a man to make a play for his secretary. I’d do anything for him, but only in the line of duty. I’m shy that way. Most men don’t appeal to me physically.”

  “Does Winthrop?”

  Nicole flushed and flapped around while Sadie burst out laughing.

  “I’m sorry, but your guilty secret is safe with me,” Sadie said with a laugh. “Oh, Nicky, what a man to get hot and bothered by. The iceman!”

  “It could be worse. I could develop a case for some married man with twenty kids.”

  “True, true.” She put the finishing touches on the table arrangement. “Come and meet Mother, and then I’ll show you where to put your overnight case.”

  “You’re nice to let me stay,” Nicky said. “You and I know that nothing would go on, but people talk. I don’t want any gossip about my nice boss.”

  “Neither do I, and I’m glad you’re old-fashioned.” The nurse narrowed her eyes. “You really are old-fashioned, aren’t you?” she asked with startling perception.

  Nicky cleared her throat. “I always thought…well, marriage is nice. They say white only means it’s your first marriage, but it means a lot more than that to me. I had old-fashioned grandparents.”

  She didn’t add that she had wildly liberated parents and a succession of stepparents, or that her grandparents had gone to court to save her from the glitter.

  “Good for them,” Sadie said. “Her room’s through here.”

  Sadie’s mother was small and withered and very quiet. She looked like a little doll lying there, white hair and pale blue eyes and a beaten look about her. She could only move one side of her body—even one eye and part of her mouth were affected. It must have been a massive stroke.

  “Mama, this is Nicky,” Sadie introduced her.

  Gerald moved. He’d been sitting on the bed beside the little old woman, holding her hand. He got
up so that Nicky could sit and take the wrinkled little fingers in hers.

  “Hello, Mama,” Nicky grinned. “Or should I call you Mrs. Todd?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “You may call me Mama if you like,” Sadie’s mother said, with the first hint of a twinkle in her eyes.

  “That would be nice,” Nicky said, smiling. “Mine died a long time ago. I don’t have one. So if Sadie doesn’t mind, I can share you. It’s a pretty big deal,” she added with mock solemnity. “I live on a tight budget, so working another person into my Christmas shopping list is a great honor. I give Godiva chocolates as presents,” she whispered.

  The old lady actually laughed. Her thin fingers tightened on Nicky’s. “Do you?” she whispered.

  “Do you like chocolates?”

  Mama managed to smile. “I love them!”

  “Lucky you, to have just adopted me,” Nicky said. She searched the tired old eyes. “I’ll bet you were as beautiful as Sadie, at her age,” she mused.

  “Yes, I was,” the old woman said emphatically. “Sadie…show her.”

  “This was Mother at my age.” Sadie held up a small portrait study. The woman in the photograph was standing beside a tall, dark man, and she was the image of Sadie.

  “Weren’t you a dish?” Nicole sighed, studying it. “You’re still a dish,” she added, glancing down at the smiling woman. “What can we bring you to eat? I saw roast beef and mashed potatoes and a salad….”

  “Mashed potatoes and gravy,” the woman replied eagerly. “And is there pudding?”

  “Yes,” Sadie said quickly, although there wasn’t and she’d have to rush back and make one.

  “I’ll have pudding, too,” came the pleased reply. “Now go and eat,” her mother said. “Then Nicole can visit with me while you and Gerald put everything away.”

  “Nicky’s staying the night. Winthrop’s away,” Sadie explained.

  “If it’s all right,” Nicky asked.

  “It’s all right,” the old woman said fiercely. “Go and eat, child. If I adopt you, you must be fattened up. I don’t want any thin children.”

  Nicky laughed, her green eyes sparkling in her elfin face as she got to her feet. “I’ll double up on portions. And I’ll bring your pudding myself.”

  Sadie just shook her head when they were back in the dining room. “Never,” she whispered, smiling. “I’ve never seen her so animated. She just lies there and hates it. Tonight, for the first time, she came alive. Nicky, what did you do?”

  “I stirred her up,” Nicky said with twinkling eyes. “That’s all. People need stirring up now and again, especially when they’re bitter.”

  “You should see what Nicole did to Winthrop,” Gerald mused. “He left home.”

  “That wasn’t my fault.”

  “Tell me about it,” Gerald invited, a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes.

  “It wasn’t. All I did was…” She hesitated, her face turning red as she thought about what she’d done and the way she and Winthrop had kissed so hungrily in the woods.

  Gerald raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Sadie.

  “Is everything on the table?” Nicky asked quickly, sitting down.

  With the subject safely changed, they took their places and began to eat. Watching Gerald and Sadie, she could easily see that they felt something for each other. Nicole’s gentle heart went out to them, because it was obvious that they couldn’t have any kind of future together in this situation. Putting Mrs. Todd in a nursing home would be condemning her to death. And Nicole had a feeling that she was very possessive about her daughter, perhaps without realizing it. Sadie was shy and so was Gerald, to a large extent. It was a difficult situation.

  Sadie made a vanilla pudding and when it was dished up, Nicole took a tray to Mrs. Todd’s room.

  “I haven’t enjoyed anything so much for a long time,” Mrs. Todd sighed when she finished. “It’s so hard to bear, being like this. I was always active, able to do as I pleased. And now…”

  “Won’t you get better?” Nicole asked quietly.

  “I don’t know. The doctors said I might. But that was a year ago; I think they’ve given up now.”

  Nicole put the tray to one side. “That’s a nice bird feeder outside the window,” she remarked, glancing at the elaborate chrome and glass affair.

  “I love birds,” the old lady explained. “I can watch them.”

  Nicole pursed her lips. “Do you have any binoculars?”

  Her eyes gleamed. “No.”

  “I’ll get you some. How about a book on birds, so you can identify them?”

  The old eyes got brighter. “I’d love it!”

  “Done. Just give me a few days. Now, how about a good murder mystery? There’s one on television, one of those Agatha Christie ones, and I won’t even tell you who done it.”

  Mrs. Todd actually laughed. “You should be with the young people, Nicole.”

  “The young people are—what did you flappers call it—spooning,” she whispered conspiratorially. “At least, I hope they are. Gerald’s very shy, and I think your daughter is, too.”

  “Yes, she is, poor child. She’s such a good girl, and she’s been so sweet to come and look after me. A lot of children would have turned their backs, or put me in a nursing home,” Mrs. Todd said worriedly. “She hasn’t said anything about it, but I know she’s lonely here.”

  Nicole patted the old hand. “She loves you.”

  Mrs. Todd looked up. “And that young man…is he yours?”

  She shook her head. “But I think he might be Sadie’s. Would you mind?”

  Mrs. Todd thought about it for a minute. “Well, no. He’s a good boy. Not a patch on Winthrop, mind you, but the Christophers are fine people. I knew their mother. She was a dream girl.”

  “I hear their father was a nightmare man,” Nicole said, fishing for information.

  “Oh, no. He was a dynamo. We were all so jealous when he went to New York after Margaret. She didn’t want to come, they’d had some terrible falling out. But he made her, kept her down at that house a virtual prisoner, until she agreed to marry him. Just between you and me, I think he took unfair advantage, too, but she loved him like a tigress. They were very happy.”

  “Did he look like Winthrop?” Nicole asked softly.

  The old eyes seemed suddenly young. “Yes.”

  “A big man?”

  “Body and heart. How is Winthrop? Is he getting over that woman?”

  “I don’t know him that well.”

  “Of course you don’t, but you light up when I mention him, all the same. Turn on the television, child, and save your blushes. And then why don’t you say good-night to the young lovers for us both and we’ll hope something nice develops.”

  Nicole laughed delightedly as she followed the smug instructions. She tiptoed down the hall. It was unusually quiet, and when she reached the hall door, she saw why. Gerald, who seemed such a quiet and shy man, had Sadie in an embrace that spoke volumes and the way they were kissing said everything. Nicole tiptoed back and shut Mrs. Todd’s door.

  “Did you say good-night?” she asked Nicky.

  Nicky said no with a straight face. “They’re having a lively discussion. I expect it will be some time before we hear from them.”

  Mrs. Todd settled back against her pillows. “Lovely. I think it would do Sadie good to have company more often.”

  Nicole just smiled and settled down to watch the movie.

  It was late the next morning before Nicole heard the sound of a vehicle coming up the driveway. That would be Gerald, she thought and she smiled at Sadie.

  “I’ve had a lovely time,” she told the other woman. “Thanks for letting me stay.”

  “I’m glad you did,” Sadie mused. “Mother hasn’t enjoyed herself that much since the stroke. You were just what she needed to shake her out of her lethargy. And now that I know you aren’t making eyes at my Gerald, I’ll be your best friend.”

  Nicole’s eyebro
ws arched in surprise. “You didn’t think that?”

  “Of course I did,” Sadie replied, amused. “So did everybody else. Gerald isn’t the kind of man who brings women home, even secretaries, unless they mean something to him. Or at least, that’s what we all figured.”

  Nicole wondered then about Winthrop’s strange behavior, and if he could have thought the same thing. She went back over her easy friendship with her boss and began to see what an outsider might have seen.

  “He’s a very nice man,” Nicole began quietly, “but…”

  “That ‘but’ saved your life,” Sadie whispered conspiratorially. She looked up as a knock sounded on the door and she went to open it with wide, bright eyes. But it wasn’t Gerald standing outside. It was Winthrop.

  Chapter Five

  Sadie’s face fell, although she tried not to let her disappointment show. “Oh, hello,” she faltered. Winthrop’s expression didn’t encourage any pleasurable outbursts. He looked out of humor and unapproachable. Nicole, watching him, thought that he’d had time to build walls again, and he’d done it with enthusiasm. So much for her optimistic outlook on the future; the iceman had frozen over.

  “Where’s Gerald?” Nicole asked hesitantly. Her question made the situation even worse.

  He positively glared at her. “He’s at home on the phone, coping with some office disaster that one of his vice presidents is in the middle of. He’s drinking buttermilk by the gallon, eating antacid tablets by the handful and generally getting sicker by the minute.”

  “Winthrop, you should have disconnected the phone,” Sadie sighed.

  He smiled at Sadie. “How’s your mother?”

  “Doing better, thanks, and all because of Nicky. She built a fire under Mama,” Sadie grinned.

  Winthrop stared at Nicole speculatively. “She’s good at starting fires, all right,” he said, but it wasn’t a compliment. He was spoiling for a fight.

  Nicole glared back. He was wearing jeans with a chambray shirt and the familiar sheepskin jacket, and a wide-brimmed hat shadowed his cold face. He looked very Western and deliciously sexy. Nicole wondered why he always seemed to button his shirts up almost to the throat, and found herself unexpectedly curious about what was underneath. Hair peeked out at his throat, and she remembered the springy feel of his chest under her hands that evening he’d caught her on the steps….