“C’mon Mr. Bayer, do your best,” she rasped. Once again, a smile formed at her new voice--the only benefit to how rotten she felt.
Images of hanging on Wolf’s arm flashed through Sarah’s mind and revitalized her. She moved back into the bedroom on wobbly legs, and removed her terry cloth wrap. With jealous thoughts whizzing through her mind, determination more than energy propelled her to pull on her form fitting one-piece. Although not surprised, she widened her eyes again at having so much skin exposed. Of course, she’d seen herself naked a zillion times, but never had she gone out in public with so much of herself displayed. Even her best push-up bra didn’t make her size C breasts look like the mini beach balls she peered down at.
Sarah moved to the full-length mirror and struck a sexy pose. The elasticity of the costume gave her curvy body an even more corseted look. Her waist appeared so much tinier about the outlined curve of her hips. The high-cut of the legs made her glad she’d done a good landscaping job in the shower. Not a pubic hair in sight. Who was this sexy woman? Even without the boots and bangles she had left to don, Sarah released a satisfied sigh.
Dragging herself away from the mirror, she went back into the bathroom. There, she found the baby oil and carefully applied a shining coat to her arms, legs, and chest. She waited for the fragrance to abate before dabbing her favorite cologne behind her ears, at the pulse spot of her throat, and for good measure, a little between her bulging bosoms. Dang, she looked…and smelled great. Who would know she was sick?
A glance at the clock showed nearly seven and time for the party to start. Marie would be there to greet the guests. She’d never reneged on her word. Sarah picked up her shoes, red shin leggings, and golden bracelets and went into the living room. Her headache gone, Sarah swiped her earlier-heated brow with the back of her hand and noted her skin now felt cool. Maybe an additional aspirin would keep her feeling better. She slipped on her germ-free shoes and sashayed back into the bathroom. Four of a kind beat a flush, didn’t it?
Back on the sofa, Sarah bent and wrestled to get her mock boot tops in place and laced. Once on, she straightened, fighting the spin of the room and feelings of disorientation. She grasped the arm of the couch and decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to let the blood rush to her head for such a prolonged period of time. When the motion ceased, Sarah slipped on her armbands, leaned back and released a loud breath. This wasn’t exactly how she wanted to feel tonight, but at least she wasn’t disappointed in her costume choice. “Watch out, Peg,” she rasped, despite the weakness she felt, “you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell with Wolf tonight.”
Chapter Six
Sarah paced. Her boot tops slipped up and down with every step. This practice of forcing a habitually early person to make late appearances sucked. Still, the whole idea was to make a grand entrance, wasn’t it? She set seven twenty as her ideal time, and realized she had ten more minutes to wear a path in the carpet.
“Oh, these damn boots.” Sarah hunkered down and tightened the laces. Every time her heel came off the floor, the red leather slid out of place. “Mental note,” she mumbled. “Adjust the dang things before you go inside.” Her initial entrance had to be perfect. Just to make certain, she dialed Wolf and Molly’s number. No answer. Perfect. They’d already gone to the party.
She hung up the phone and went back to the mirror to don her mask and make one last examination of the ‘new’ Sarah. The red feathers edging the sequined red satin hid just enough of her face to make her even less recognizable.
She certainly didn’t want to carry a purse, but no way was she leaving her apartment unlocked. After struggling to remove the key from the other assorted ones on her ring, she tucked the cold metal safely in her cleavage. Satisfied, she headed for the door.
* * *
The sound of voices spilled into the hallway from the party site. The moment of truth seized Sarah like an iron fist. She peered down at her outfit. What had she been thinking when she decided to waltz into the room, especially dancing in half-naked? She was sure not to only garner Wolf’s attention, but all eyes would be on her. Oh Lord! Jealousy had robbed her of her good senses. She sagged against the wall just outside the door, her hand to her abdomen to quell the nervous nausea.
Okay, Sarah Collins, she mentally chided, if you want Wolf to notice you, you have to pay the piper. Hold your head up like Peg would and get your sexy little ass inside. “Yeah!” From somewhere inside, her agreement surfaced loudly.
Funny, she thought, how the little voices in her head instilled bravery she didn’t feel.
Steeling herself, Sarah made a visual check of her ‘boots then took a deep breath. She fixed a smile on her face, and like a prisoner walking to the gallows, stepped into the doorway. Marie stood just inside, and her eyes turned the size of silver dollars. Dressed as black cat, she hadn’t done anything to disguise her face other than draw on some whiskers. She opened her mouth to speak, but if she said something, Sarah missed it as her gaze focused on Wolf. She gasped and swallowed hard despite the soreness of her throat.
Dressed in the very buckskins she recalled, he was a vision straight from her dream. Next to him, Molly, dressed her very part in a gingham dress and matching bonnet, right out of the pioneer era. The shock stole Sarah’s breath. She’d taken a giant step back in time…back to the very moment she’d first gazed upon the two people she now called neighbors. Affirmation mixed with her bafflement, made her head spin.
Until this moment, she’d barely noticed being the center of attention. She gazed around at the looks on her friends’ faces…more surprise displayed than the shock she expected. Even Wolf’s mouth gaped…and then she noticed. Wonder Woman had already made an entrance. She stood next to Sarah’s dream man, her claws firmly indented in his buckskin sleeve.
Sarah’s jaw tightened and embarrassment sent a flash of heat surging up her neck. Even with a half-mask, Peg’s confident, sexy stance and the familiar taunting smile gave away the identity of the person dressed in the same costume. Of course, Peg’s wig looked like natural hair, her boots were the real McCoy, and the gold cuffs on her wrists were far superior to the brassy imitation Sarah wore. What were the chances of all the costumes in the world…?
The tiled floor sucked Sarah’s feet firm. She wanted to flee but couldn’t move. Her headache returned with a pulsing throb, and once again the room spun. Her legs turned jelly-like, and before she could utter a word, she buckled into a heap of darkness.
“Oh, my heavens,” were the final words she heard before all around her faded to black.
* * *
Sarah opened her eyes slowly to a bright overhead light. Nothing about it or the ceiling looked familiar--so white, so pristine. After blinking a few times, Wolf’s handsome face came into focus. Worry etched his brow. “Thank God, you’re okay. The doctor assured me you’d wake up soon.” He took her hand and patted it.
Confusion clouded her thoughts. Hadn’t she already lived this moment? Waking up and looking into his eyes? “Where am I? What happened?” She caught site of the IV in her arm and had a partial answer.
Recollections flooded back. The costume party…being sick. Oh, crap, she thought. The nylon cap! Did he see her looking like that? She raised her arm and splayed her fingers through hair. She didn’t care whose at the moment. Feeling foolish for worrying about vanity, she cast her curious gaze upon him and waited for his response.
“You’re in the ER. You fainted and we called 911. Marie said you’ve been sick all week. Why didn’t you say something?” He squeezed her fingers this time, concern true in his voice.
She yearned for a moment of her own truth…to divulge to him all the reasons she wanted the party, all the lengths she went to in order to draw his attention, but how…how could she tell him about feelings he wouldn’t understand? In his mind, they’d only known each other for a short time. In hers, she pictured sharing his lifetime. If only she could make the dream as real for him as it had been for her.
> “I-I didn’t want to disappoint people by calling off the party…especially after everyone went to such trouble and expense to find costumes.”
He still wore his buckskin outfit and harkened back memories of him without the shirt when he bathed along the trail. Did his back really bear the scars she saw? What a ridiculous question to ask him, although she yearned to peek to solidify her feelings for him. She needed something to be real about the time she believed they spent together.
Still feeling fuzzy, her gaze wandered the length of the hospital sheet covering her, noting someone had put her into a gown. Surely it wasn’t him, although in the dream, he had tended her injury and removed some of her clothing. She hoped he’d at least noticed her feminine attributes tonight before she’d landed in a heap on the floor. The costume hadn’t come cheap, and she’d spent so much time…clearly, her fever caused illogical thoughts.
“Well, I see our patient is awake as I predicted.” A deep voice sounded from behind Wolf.
He stepped away from the gurney to make room for a slender, gray-haired man, clad in a white doctor’s coat, a stethoscope clasped about his neck. “How are you feeling?”
“Horrible.” Besides being truthful, she longed for the warmth denied when Wolf released her hand.
“Well, I’m not surprised.” The physician perused the chart he carried. “You have a pretty high temperature, and I suspect you fainted from being dehydrated. Your glands are severely swollen and I’ll bet you have a very sore throat.”
Sarah nodded. “I probably should have sought medical attention, but I didn’t want to miss work, and I…” Her voice failed, the pain intensifying with each word.
“She also had planned a party tonight,” Wolf chimed in.
The doctor’s smile broadened. “Judging from the costumes, I’d say it had something to do with Halloween. I must say hers was quite a fetching choice.”
The heat in her fevered cheeks climbed a notch. What must the man have thought to find Wonder Woman as a patient? The costume definitely didn’t fit the name, as the attire left little for folks to ‘wonder’ about.
A shiver chased away her worries. Doctors saw everyone in their birthday suits. She bet he had more interesting stories to tell.
“So, what’s the course of action?” Before Sarah found her voice, Wolf asked the very question she proposed.
“Well, Cochise. “He paused and laughed. “Since she’s been running a fever for a while, I’ve ordered an injection of antibiotics to get the medicine into her system, and I’ll write a prescription for a ten-day regime. I want to keep her here long enough for the IV bag to empty and replenish her missing fluids, and then she can go home, as long as she promises to rest a few days and drink lots of liquids.”
“I’ll make sure of it, sir.” Wolf sent an entirely different shiver through her as he reclaimed her hand. “I live next door and I’ll make her my personal project.”
The doctor nodded his approval and departed. Wolf pulled up a chair and sat next to her, taking her hand again as he had so many times in the dream when he nursed her back to health from a snakebite.
“Looks like you’re going to be stuck with me for a while. I hope you don’t mind.”
Mind? She minded that the economy sucked, she minded there wasn’t world peace, she even minded being sick, but spending time with him? Her plan to stun him as Wonder Woman might have failed miserably, but somehow, she’d become the center of his attention, after all.
She scrunched her face. “Are you kidding? I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but what about school? What about Peg? I‘m sure she‘s upset that you left the party.”
“The next semester doesn’t start for a while, so I have free time, and Peg is only a friend, albeit a pretty clingy one.” He laughed, and then turned serious, bending closer to smooth a stray hair from her brow. His hazel eyes hypnotized her. “I’d much rather spend my time with you.”
Did he mean that? Oh, God, she prayed he wasn’t just saying what she so needed to hear. And what about Peg? Was what he said truly how he felt about her?
Somehow, Sarah had to make him remember their relationship…the passion with which he proclaimed his love in the dream, yet kissed her goodbye because she deserved better than life with prejudice against a half-breed. She focused on his full lips and imagined them claiming hers again with the fervor they’d shared. But how? She couldn’t just blurt out the truth; he’d probably have her committed to the mental ward.
The silence grew awkward, but every question in her mind seemed inappropriate--prying. If he didn’t work, how did he support himself? Molly wasn’t working either. Surely they both couldn’t live on one military income.
“Molly and I lost our folks within months of one another. I think mom died from loneliness for my father. She just gave up on living. I hope they’re together and happy now.” He paused, sadness stealing with twinkle from his eyes, but straightened in his chair. “Although I can’t describe the gap losing them caused in our lives, from tragedy sometimes comes fortune, and our parents left us with quite a sizeable chunk of money and property. Plus, because I’m part Native American, I received a nice scholarship to cover my education.”
He must have read her mind, and now he’d opened a door for further inquiry.
“I’m sorry for your loss. My parent’s are both gone, too. My mother died first, and my father passed in an accident.” She pulled her lips to the side. Was she relaying information from the dream or her real life? Were her parents both deceased? She scanned her memories.
She’d lied. Her parents were still alive and in Arizona. Still, what did it matter to Wolf? If she got the chance to make sense of everything, someday she might share the truth. For now, her untruth created a common bond.
That awkward silence encompassed the room again.
“So…I understand why you’re in New York, but why is Molly if your parents left you real estate?” The warmth from him rubbing the back of her hand radiated up her arm and spread into her chest.
“I couldn’t leave Molly to fend for herself, so we decided to lease out the house and come here together. Since Gil’s deployment , she’s been like a lost puppy.”
God, what a wonderful and caring man Wolf was. Sarah thanked her lucky stars they choose her to live in her apartment building given all the choices in the city. And his sweet sister…the friend she’d never truly gotten a chance to know.
Sarah stared at the multitude of dots on the acoustical ceiling until they blurred and the Molly from the dream flashed in her mind. Recalling the grievous tears and pain the injured woman had endured when Gil’s death was revealed, Sarah prayed he came home safely from the war. No woman should have to lose the man she loved twice…even if her first loss wasn’t real. There was that word again…real. The life she dreamt possessed her every thought, her every emotion. How could such finite details not be true? Maybe she needed to be in the psych ward.
The alarm on the almost empty IV bag startled Sarah, and as if summoned by the loud and continuous beep, a nurse appeared. Her flowery ‘scrubs’ spoke of modern dress as opposed to the starched white uniforms from years back. She stilled the annoying noise. “Looks like you‘re ready for discharge, Ms. Collins. How are you feeling?” She worked at removing the needle from the bend in Sarah’s arm.
“Much more human than Wonder Woman.” Already, her throat didn’t hurt nearly as much, although her voice still maintained a thick rasp.
“Speaking of…” The nurse went to the wardrobe door and withdrew a plastic bag. Here are your…clothes. You’ll need to change out of our gown.”
Sarah’s breath seized. Oh, the humiliation.
“Wipe that panicked look off your face.” Wolf smiled and produced another bag from underneath the gurney. “I hope you don’t mind, but I used the key the doc found when they undressed you, and had Molly bring you something a little more suitable for the trip home.” His smile turned to a chuckle. “I have to say, that was one of the best smelling
keys ever.” He sniffed his fingers. “Nice choice of fragrance.”
Sarah remembered where she’d stuffed the key and her cheeks flushed at his inference. She peered into the brown grocery sack and fished through the contents, happy to find her jeans, a tee shirt, and jacket. Molly had even remembered to bring panties and a bra. Bless her heart.
With a band-aid marking the puncture mark, Sarah slid from the gurney. Grasping her gown closed, she clutched the bag of clothing Wolf brought and backed into the restroom. Although still a little woozy, she felt much better. A peek in the mirror made her grimace. The hair she felt had been her own, but it was a matted mess. She looked horrid…eye make-up streaked, lipstick smeared…and Wolf had seen her looking like this. Obviously he must feel something for her if he didn’t run from the room screaming when he got a glimpse of her. Or, maybe he was just being the kind and compassionate person she knew him to be.
She combed her fingers through her hair and dampened a wash cloth, then cleaned her face. Once dressed, she didn‘t measure up to Peg’s standards, but she didn’t look like a five dollar hooker either. After stashing the gown in the provided laundry bin, she took a breath and opened the door.
“I’m ready.”
But was she?
* * *
“I’m carrying you, and I won’t take no for an answer.” Wolf scooped her from the taxi seat as if she weighed nothing at all. She grabbed the sack holding her costume on the way out, her fingers twined around the plastic handle.
Sarah's Passion Page 5
