But instead of tiring Luc out, traipsing around Seattle only seemed to invigorate him. She supposed that life in the frozen north had built up his stamina and made him heartier than most.
Her subtle plan backfired. At the end of the day she was the one who felt as if she needed a dose of energy. But she’d made up her mind that he wasn’t going to go out into the wilds of Seattle’s nightlife in Pioneer Square without her. After all, he was from a small town and consequently sheltered. Without saying so, she appointed herself his protector.
One of the duties of a protector, she quickly learned, was being an available dance partner. Luc, it turned out, loved to dance. The fast tempo numbers sapped her energy.
But the slow dances were even harder on her.
She tried not to analyze her reaction and to look, instead, as if she were having fun. She tried so hard, she forgot she was trying.
“How big is Hades, really?”
The question brought a fond smile to his face. He could remember a time when the entire population could fit into one building. But that was before the zinc mine had opened up and industry of a sort had found its way to Hades.
“You could probably stick it in Seattle’s back pocket and have room to spare. Just enough people to make a good-size party.”
She looked around at all the bodies pressed into the small area that comprised the club. Anyone with claustrophobia would have taken one look and run out screaming by now. “Okay, how many in a good-size party?”
He thought for a second, recalling the statistic he’d read in the weekly newspaper. “About five hundred and three people. A little more if you count the Inuit village on the perimeter.”
“Oh.” There’d been more people than that in her graduating class in high school. For that matter, there might have been that many people in here. “What do you do there?”
“Until recently, I was part owner of the local saloon. Ike owns the other half,” he added. It’d been Ike who’d talked him into the venture in the first place, saying that he needed to do something with his money besides leave it in the bank.
“Until recently. Did you sell out?” Alison caught her tongue between her teeth, wondering if he thought she was prying.
But if he thought so, he gave no indication.
“No, bought in, actually.” He saw his answer confused her. Maybe the blow on the head had left him generally inarticulate. He certainly felt tongue-tied at any rate. “The general store.” Taking a breath, he backtracked. “The old owner wanted to sell and I thought after the fire, the place could stand a little renovation.”
She was trying to piece this all together and not having much luck. “You had a fire?”
“Yes.” He nearly laughed. She made it sound as if it was something unusual. Or maybe she thought of Hades as something unusual. That was probably more like it. People generally thought of Alaska as being a million miles away, a place only a little less distant than outer space. “We have fires, parties, births, just like regular people.”
This was not coming out right. She did better with a thermometer in her hand, leaning over a bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
His grin was quick, absolving and oddly warming. “Don’t apologize. I was only teasing.” Luc cocked his head, studying her. “Don’t people tease you, Alison?”
“My brothers do, but in general, no. At least, not often enough for me to get used to it.” To keep his questions at bay, she forced a smile to her lips. “I guess I’ve been on the serious side of life for so long, it’s hard for me to remember that there are two ways of looking at things.”
Because the music seemed to have increased in volume, even though the song was a slow one, he leaned his head in close to hers, whispering in her ear. “Sometimes more.”
The press of bodies was getting to her. Both the ones on the dance floor, sucking up the available oxygen, and his against hers. It all conspired to making it far too hot for her to withstand.
She turned her eyes away. That was the easy part. The hard part was anesthetizing her body to the feel of his against it. “So, you’re the general store owner and the bartender—”
“Used to be,” he corrected. Nowadays he tended bar rarely, only when Ike was away. “Ike handles that by himself now. He’s got some hired help, but he likes to spend his time behind the bar, listening to the miners swap stories.” He laughed softly. She knew it was crazy, but the sound seemed to glide along her skin. “He tells some himself.”
She tried to envision it, to see in her mind’s eye a place that was open and friendly, its families’ lives tightly interwoven. Sounded almost picture-perfect. And untroubled. “I guess the general store isn’t as colorful as the saloon.”
He thought of some of the disputes he’d been forced to settle on the spur of the moment. The only difference being that his customers had lists in their hands instead of mugs of ale. “It has its moments. Besides, Mr. Kellogg still works there with his wife.”
How much business could there be in a small town like that? “So you’re a man of leisure for the most part.”
He laughed at the laid-back image that called to mind. A couple bumped into them and he moved over slightly, guiding Alison away.
“Nobody is, in Hades. The weather won’t let you be idle.” He could see what was on her mind and smiled. Most outlanders thought that way. “We just don’t move as fast as everyone else, but we get things done.”
It was hard for her to think. It felt as if small, electrical charges were shimmying up and down her body. She wasn’t sure if that was a factor of having seen him naked this morning, or just because.
Alison searched for something to keep the conversation going and in the open. “Do you have a hospital?”
He began to laugh then, really laugh. She supposed the question was probably naive sounding at that.
He hadn’t meant to make it appear as if he was laughing at her. It was just that he could hear Shayne lamenting the fact that things were still so out of touch in Hades, and it felt good to remember even small things like that. “The closest any of us come to a hospital is when Sydney or Shayne fly us to the one in Anchorage.”
“And Sydney and Shayne are—?”
Maybe because of his own dilemma, he said the first thing that popped into his head. “Married.” Luc saw the incredulous look that came into her eyes and then realized why. “Sydney’s a girl.”
“Glad one of them is,” she murmured.
Something warm and good moved through him, though he wasn’t absolutely sure as to why. He did like the feel of holding her so close, Luc thought.
Luc realized that he was staring at her. But she did have beautiful eyes, even in this lighting. And he’d remembered his first impression of her when he’d opened his on the pavement. He’d thought he was looking up into the face of an angel.
The angel was creating some very unangelic thoughts inside his head.
“Shayne’s a doctor,” he told her. “And he’d sell his eyeteeth for someone like you.”
She tried to take that as a compliment, but something made her stiffen involuntarily. “I take it he’s not happy with Sydney?”
“Not happy…?” Luc’s voice trailed off as he tried to make sense out of her question. And then he laughed. He was going to have to try to be clearer when he spoke. “Anyone in his right mind would be happy with Sydney. No, I meant because you’re a nurse.” His tongue grew thicker as he tried to explain. “Shayne needs a nurse. He’s been trying to get one to come up ever since his brother left town almost two years ago now. Ben was a doctor, too, but he wanted to get out. Kind of like Ike’s sister.” He was rambling, he thought. Saying more in the space of these few moments than he customarily did in an entire week. But that was her fault. She was creating this energy within him and he wasn’t sure just how to handle it. “They could never get a nurse to come to Hades. Women are pretty outnumbered up there.”
That didn’t sound right, either. Reconnoitering, Luc pried his
foot out of his mouth and tried again. “I guess another way to say it is that women are pretty special up there.”
He had a nice way of looking at things, she thought. For the moment, because none of this was quite real to her, Alison laid her head against his shoulder. The music drifted through her, making her sway. Thoughts began linking themselves up in her mind.
Why not?
She raised her head and looked up at him. “Is he really looking for a nurse?”
Why would she think he’d make something like that up? “Yes, why?”
Maybe this was serendipity. She didn’t much believe in fate, but there were times when things just seemed to lay themselves out.
“Because, as I mentioned earlier, I’m looking for a place to earn the rest of my credits. I was trying to decide between going to work at this little clinic in Montevideo and a tiny two-man practice in the Appalachians.” Both had stirred her sense of charity. But both required a drastic severing of ties. She wouldn’t be able to come back home for visits often. “Alaska’s a lot closer than either one of them. The flight home wouldn’t take nearly as long.” She glanced over toward where Jimmy was entertaining not just one, but two women at the table. And Kevin seemed to be getting pretty cozy with the redhead he’d been talking to for a while now. “Not that either one of my brothers would notice I was gone.”
He didn’t see why she’d say something like that. “Oh, they’d notice, all right. Hard not to notice if someone like you was missing.” He cleared his throat, thinking that perhaps he’d gotten too personal. “I know Shayne would be overjoyed to have you.”
The more she thought about it, the better it seemed. This was just what she was looking for—a place to make a difference. And there’d be someone there that she already knew. Someone to talk to so she wouldn’t feel quite so alone.
She made her decision. “All right, then maybe you could call him tomorrow morning and ask if he hasn’t changed his mind.”
There was no need for that. He knew Shayne hadn’t. Luc studied her for a second. The comparison between Alison and Janice was inevitable. Janice had nothing but contempt for Hades, and here Alison seemed almost eager to go. “You’re serious.”
“Absolutely.”
“This is going to mean the world to him.” It pleased Luc no end to be able to be the bearer of this kind of news. Undertaken as a momentary getaway, his trip to Seattle had turned out to be fruitful, not just for Shayne, but for Hades, as well. “Shayne could more than use the help. With three kids to look after, and teaching the local kids, Sydney can only do so much.” And then his eyes sparkled with amusement.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just thinking that you’ve already gotten your feet wet as far as the citizenry in Hades is concerned.”
She didn’t quite follow. “You mean because I met you?”
The song changed, the tempo stepping up. He continued dancing as if it were a slow dance, oblivious to the people around them and their gyrations.
“No, because you’ve already seen me in the altogether. The rest should be a piece of cake.”
Alison could feel the blush working its way up her cheeks and was grateful that the lighting in the club made reading a menu a challenge. If the rest of the men in Hades looked like him, she had no idea why women weren’t overrunning the little town instead of being on the endangered species list.
“Let’s not count chickens before we’ve made a down payment on the incubator. Shayne still has to approve me.”
That wasn’t an obstacle. “You’re breathing, he’ll approve. Besides—” he smiled down into her eyes and she felt her knees shifting composition from solid to liquid “—I can vouch for your gentle bedside manner.”
With effort, Alison squelched the reaction she was having. She looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”
“The way you took care of me,” he explained. He saw the look in her eyes. He’d seen the same kind of look in the eyes of an animal with its foot caught in a trap. He had no idea what he’d said. “I didn’t mean to say anything out of turn.”
She was being an idiot. He was only trying to be nice, nothing more. Why couldn’t she just take things at face value? She damned the man who had stripped her of that right, stealing it from her.
Alison shook her head. “No, it’s me. I’m sorry. It’s just that—” She hunted for something plausible to blame. “Studying for finals has left me a little edgy, that’s all.” Alison shifted gears. “Why did you come here? On vacation?”
He thought of the letter he’d left on his bureau. “I just wanted to get away for a few days.” Without realizing it, he curled his hand tighter around hers. “Figure out what I was going to do.”
That sounded very abstract. “You mean with the rest of your life?”
“No, with a problem that’s coming home to roost in a few weeks.” She looked at him curiously. “I did something stupid.”
He didn’t strike her as someone who’d do anything stupid. On an impersonal basis, she felt she was a pretty good judge of character. “Oh?”
“Yes, I lied.”
He looked so solemn about it, she had to bite her tongue not to laugh. Without realizing it, she relaxed a little. “And I’m guessing that’s something you don’t normally do.”
“No.”
That would make him one of a kind. Everyone lied. Some more than others. She was guilty of it herself. “I’m surprised they don’t have a statue of you in the Smithsonian.”
“Why? Telling the truth isn’t that unusual.”
The man was an Eagle Scout. “You’d be surprised. What did you lie about?”
He didn’t think of himself as reclusive, but he wasn’t normally this talkative, either. Maybe it was because he needed to share this, and talking to a stranger was easier than talking to a friend. Especially a stranger with beautiful eyes.
“I told someone I was married.”
And that someone counted, she guessed. “An old girlfriend?”
He shook his head. “Not in the way you mean. It was to an old friend who ran off with an old girlfriend. Mine.” His mouth curved a little. That sounded almost humorous. It didn’t begin to touch the heartache he’d felt, standing there at the altar with his family and most of his friends in attendance, waiting for a bride who never came. “I ran into him in Anchorage about three months ago and we started talking.” He hadn’t meant for the conversation to go like this, but somehow one word had linked up with another until he’d found himself lying to Jacob. “He told me how happy he and Janice were and I—well, I—”
It wasn’t hard to fill in the words. “And you didn’t want him to pity you so you told him you were married and happy, too.”
It sounded innocent enough when she said it. But now he was going to have to face up to Jacob with the truth. And look stupid. Served him right, Luc supposed. Still didn’t make him feel better.
“Yeah, something like that. I wouldn’t have ordinarily but I’d just had a little too much to drink.” Even that had been out of character for him. “You’d think tending bar, I’d know not to overindulge, but—” At a loss, he merely shrugged vaguely.
There was a bond between them, a bond that had been formed in that out-of-the-way alley with its dank smells and overflowing Dumpster. She could almost feel his discomfort. And wanted to ease it somehow. “So now you need a temporary wife.”
He laughed at the thought. It was something Ike had said to him when he’d asked him about Jacob’s pending visit. “Yeah, I guess I do—if I don’t want to look like a complete idiot.”
The music was still pulsing around them, but she stopped dancing and looked up at him. It only took her a moment to make up her mind.
“Okay.”
It sounded like an announcement, or at the very least, an answer to a question. But he hadn’t asked anything. Luc could only stare at her blankly. Had he just had a relapse without realizing it?
Chapter Seven
“Okay what?” he fina
lly asked, looking at her uncertainly.
Alison flashed a quick, brilliant smile at him. Kevin had always accused her of thinking faster than she could form words, leaving normal mortals way behind. This was one of those times. “Okay, if that doctor in Hades—”
“Shayne,” Luc interjected, more for himself than for her.
She amended her answer. “If Shayne says that he wants me to come up and work with him, I don’t see why I can’t pretend to be your wife, too.” The incredulous look on his face was nothing short of priceless, she thought. It made her feel more comfortable about her decision. “It wouldn’t be for a long time, right?” She figured that if they kept the charade up for too long, someone was bound to stumble onto it and ruin things for Luc. But, if it was only for a few days, Alison saw no harm in it.
The music swelled and grew loud again. Luc felt a little the way he had when he was ambling through the maze of amnesia. Not sure where he was going, not sure where he’d just come from.
“No, it’d just be for a couple of days or so. Maybe a week at most.” He doubted Janice would want to remain in Hades for longer than that. Rather than pick up the tempo again, he took Alison’s hand and brought her back to the tiny table they were sharing with her brothers. “Just what is it that you’re saying exactly?”
She didn’t think it was that difficult to follow. Maybe his brain was still a little foggy from the blow.
“Well, I feel I owe you. You put yourself on the line for me and you didn’t even know me.” Every time she thought of it, it still struck her as pretty damn heroic of him. She had her own personal white knight and she meant to repay him somehow. Besides, she didn’t like being in debt. Debts had a way of piling up. “The least I can do is to help out when you need a favor.”
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