by Jillian Hart
She helped him up. When he couldn’t straighten, she almost pushed him back down. He needed a doctor. Now, not later. But he took one limping step out of her reach. He was one determined man. His back was slightly stooped and his shoulders slouched from the pain. His face was ash-gray.
The poor man. Julie grabbed the heavy back door before he could, and pushed it open. The wind roared in, snatching the blanket from his shoulders.
She caught hold of the wool and smoothed it back into place. A fierce desire took root in her heart, one she didn’t understand. She needed to take care of him, to make sure he came through this all right. She’d give Misty or Susan a call and ask them to take care of things. The party would go on just fine.
All that mattered was this man at her side. The one who seemed so alone.
She knew how that felt, too.
Noah swore hours had passed, but he’d been watching the clock on the pickup’s dash so he knew it was exactly seventeen minutes later when Julie pulled into the well-lit driveway. The red flash of ambulance lights glowed eerily in the snowfall. Pain seized him up so tight he could only breathe in little puffs.
Noah was dimly aware of a cold gust of air when she opened the door. She called out to someone by name, and the next thing he knew he was being hauled from the passenger seat and laid on a gurney.
He searched for Julie, but couldn’t find her. Strangers’ faces stared down at him as the world around him blurred and the gurney bumped over the concrete and through the electric doors. The ceiling tiles flashed above him like lines on a highway.
I don’t want to be here. I’ll do anything, Lord, if I can come out of this all right. I’ll work less. I’ll eat better. I’ll take a vacation. I’ll listen to my sister. I’ll do everything my grandmother says. Just get me through this.
He knew he was bargaining. Pain roared like an erupting volcano in his chest, and he didn’t know what else to do. He only wanted the pain to stop.
More strangers crowded around him. A needle pricked his arm. Cables tugged at the skin on his chest. Monitors beeped too fast, or it sounded that way. He worried about that, too.
We need to run some tests, the doctor back home had told him. But there had been meetings that couldn’t be delayed, deadlines that had to be met and a business to tend to.
It was easy to put off a few tests, because a lot of people depended on him for their jobs. Jobs that made their lives better. That was important, and the attack he’d had was due to stress, so it was nothing to worry about.
Now he wasn’t so certain.
As the people worked around him, grim and efficient, he had to admit it. Something was wrong. He couldn’t deny it any longer.
“Your EKG looks good.” The doctor jotted something down on a clipboard. “We need a few tests.”
Relief left him feeling numb. That meant it wasn’t a heart attack, right? He’d been fairly certain it wasn’t—it hadn’t been last time. But the pain had been so fierce, he’d started to wonder. It was probably just stress again. He would stop working on weekends maybe and get more exercise. That ought to take care of it, right?
A light tap of heeled shoes sounded on the tile floor near the door. Julie? He hoped so. This place was feeling lonely, and he wouldn’t mind seeing a familiar face.
The shoes hesitated on the other side of the blue curtain, then a chair rasped against the floor. “Sarah,” a stranger’s voice said to someone else on the other side of the curtain on the other bed.
Noah stared at the partition. So, it wasn’t Julie. He wasn’t disappointed, really. He didn’t mind being alone. She’d probably become bored and went back to the party.
That was okay. Alone was his choice. It was much better than the alternative. He believed that with his whole heart. All he had to do was remember his parents and their marriage. Their fighting and their constant discord.
They’d been so polished in public, because appearance was everything, that no one outside the family would ever have guessed the truth. Noah suspected many marriages were like that—pleasant on the outside, but painful on the inside.
A soft voice broke through his thoughts. “Hey, they said the drugs are helping.”
“The pain is better.” He opened his eyes to see Julie at his side, looking out of place in her beautiful party dress. “What are you still doing here? I thought you’d want to go looking for excitement.”
“I called my friends, and they’re taking care of everything at the party. You just close your eyes and relax. I’ll stay right here with you.” Her hand curled around his. Her gentle touch was sweeter than anything he’d ever known.
He held on tight. “What about your boyfriend?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend. I decided you men weren’t worth the hassle.”
That’s right. The broken engagement. “You should be dating someone, a pretty woman like you.”
“Me? What about you? A smooth-talker like you has to have five girlfriends on a string. Do you want me to call one of them so she can play your angel of mercy?”
“I’ll leave that to you.”
“I’m terrible at mercy, but I can teach you the alphabet.”
“I already know it.”
“How about finger painting? How to color between the lines?”
“Already mastered both.” He could picture her, firmly guiding a classroom of small children. Her students probably adored her. “I’m hooked up to all these monitors, but I am cognizant enough to notice you changed the subject.”
“Which subject?”
She looked to be all innocence, but she didn’t fool him. He hadn’t built his company from a basement operation by luck alone. “Your boyfriend. He’s probably pining for you, brokenhearted.”
“I’m not dating anyone, Mr. Nosy. I think they gave you too many painkillers. If you were in more pain, you wouldn’t have the energy to interrogate me.”
“It helps pass the time.”
“Then maybe I should torture you?” She lifted her chin, all challenge, all sparkle. “I guess I don’t have the time. They’ve come to take you away.”
An orderly pulled back the curtain. “They’re ready for you down at X ray.”
X ray. That didn’t sound too painful.
Julie’s squeezed his hand before she stepped away, a final show of comfort, and then they were wheeling him away, leaving her behind.
He’d never felt more alone in his life.
Chapter Five
The glow from the church windows seemed to light up the parking lot, reflecting off the falling snow. Noah took another swig from the water bottle he’d picked up at the drugstore. The pain pills were in his breast pocket, unopened. He was hurting, but it was getting better.
It looked as though tomorrow morning he’d be going in for more tests. He’d talked the doctor out of an overnight hospital stay, but a flight back tonight was out. Whatever the problem was, it needed to be dealt with. Noah clamped his jaw tight. He hated doctors.
“Are you sure you can make it home?” Julie pulled the parking brake, leaving the engine idling. “I can drive you. Granddad can return Nora’s car tomorrow morning.”
What was with Julie? Why was she helping him? Nobody was that nice. That was the lesson life always seemed to teach him. Every time he trusted a woman, she turned out to be someone different. Someone who wanted something from him. Every single time.
The glow from the dash lights illuminated the concern on her heart-shaped face. A genuine concern, no different from what she’d shown the little girl they’d rescued in the storm. Julie Renton was a bona fide nice person. There was no other explanation for it.
“You can stop helping me, now.” He tugged the tie from his pocket and shook the folds from it. “Because of me, you missed most of the party you planned and paid for. You missed being with your friends. You didn’t get dinner or dessert.”
“True, but I got a lovely tour of the hospital and a new friend. That’s not a bad deal.”
“Tha
nks for hanging out with me.” He didn’t know quite how to say it. How did you tell someone you hardly knew how alone you were? “You made things better for me.”
“You really scared me, Noah.”
“I scared me, too.” Words caught in his throat. He wasn’t used to speaking honestly about his fears.
“I’d better get in there.” He grabbed the door handle. Didn’t want to go. “About the E.R. visit. You won’t say anything to my grandmother?”
“It’s yours to tell. Or not.”
He leaned across the seat and kissed her cheek. Her hair smelled as fresh as strawberries. Her sweetness clung to him as he opened the door. “Thank you.”
His chest felt tight with emotions. He couldn’t begin to sort them out, so he stepped into the cold and dark. The snow was slick beneath his shoes as he circled the truck.
He caught her elbow as she was climbing from the cab, her long skirt swirling in the wind. “Couldn’t wait for me to open your door, could you? Whoever the guy was who broke your heart, he was no gentleman.”
“So, you’ve already heard about that? Nothing’s a secret in a small town.” Snow clung to her hair, shimmering like priceless diamonds in the light, this friend the Lord had sent to him on this night. “No, he wasn’t. If he’d been more like you, I might have kept him.”
“If he were rich, you mean.” Noah wasn’t fooled. He knew the way the world worked. Love always had its price.
“No.” Julie sounded angry, and she looked angry, too. “If he were as nice as you. Kind beats out rich any day.”
She was a kindergarten teacher. He had to remember that. Julie Renton spent her days reading stories to little kids and teaching the alphabet. She probably drew happy faces in the dots over her i’s and put gold stars on every child’s school page. She wore rose-colored glasses to view the world, but it was a nice outlook. It made him like her more.
“The caterer’s truck is still here.” Julie pointed through the hazy snow to a white van parked at the edge of the crowded lot. “I’m going to go scare up a couple plates of food. There has to be leftovers.”
“See if there’s any cake left. Chocolate, if they have it.”
“Chocolate, huh? I may be forced to raise my opinion of you.”
“Of me? What? Do you think I’m an undesirable city slicker?”
“With those shoes? You betcha. Any self-respecting Montanan wears boots.”
“You’re in heels.”
“True, but I couldn’t find a pair of boots to match my dress.”
“I had the same problem, so I went with trousers.” He held the door, wincing a bit. His chest was still sore, but it hardly mattered. Julie was chuckling at him, and it had been a long while since he’d had anyone to laugh with.
Julie couldn’t believe it. Noah was standing up straight. Except for the strain at his jaw and the dark circles beneath his eyes, no one would ever know he was hurting. He moved slowly, holding his grandmother tenderly, making her laugh as they danced to a Cole Porter tune.
She set Noah’s plate on the table.
“Julie, what happened?” Misty circled the table. “I’ve been worried about you. Susan said she thought you were at the hospital. She heard sirens in the background. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She’d sworn to keep Noah’s secret, so she didn’t elaborate. “You’re wonderful for managing all this. I owe you and Susan a dinner out, my treat.”
“I would hope so.” Susan joined them, feigning distress. “It was a nightmare. One disaster after another.”
Misty winked. “That’s right. Maybe you should spring for lunch and dinner.”
“Funny.” Julie collapsed into the closest chair. “Everything went all right?”
“Perfect. You had everything done ahead of time.” Susan dropped into the chair next to her. “You and Mr. Billionaire left about the same time.”
“Mysteriously,” Misty added. “Is he nice?”
“Very.” He had been terribly ill, but he danced the last dance of the night with his grandmother. Without a single word of complaint. That was nice, in her book.
Susan slipped off one high heel and rubbed her toes. “Is it true what everyone’s saying? Did he really rescue the little Corey girl?”
“He did.” The image of him wading through the harsh storm-tossed creek with little Hailey safe in his arms remained. She’d never forget it. “I saw it with my own two eyes.”
“You were alone with him then, too.” Susan’s gaze narrowed. “Is there something you want to tell us? Did you go steal that handsome rich man right out from under us?”
“I wish.” Julie clamped her hand over her mouth. Where had that come from?
“I knew it!” Misty clapped her hands with glee. “Fine, if I have to lose him to someone, it may as well be to my best friend. As long as you let me come stay at your Hawaii beach house.”
“Yeah. And at your New York penthouse,” Susan chimed in.
“And sail on your multimillion-dollar yacht.”
Julie’s face flamed. “Enough, you two. Heaven’s sake, I played chauffeur for the man. I didn’t propose to him.”
“Why not?” Susan demanded with a wink.
“I would have.” Misty waggled her brows.
“Ladies.” A man’s pleasant baritone broke through their laughter—Noah. “I couldn’t help noticing the beautiful women at this table.”
Julie’s face burned hotter. How much of their conversation had Noah heard? He stood there, humor curving his mouth, a little too pale and very tired looking. But every bit a gentleman as he took Susan by the elbow and swept her out of her seat.
“Did you see that?” Misty drained all the lemon-lime punch from her glass. “He simply whisked her away. Just like on my favorite soap, when Pierce whisked Jessica away and they fell in love. Oh, this is too unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable.” There was no other word for it.
“Is he a good dancer?”
“Oh, yeah.” Julie couldn’t help sighing a little as she watched Noah spin Susan around, slow and sweet. She knew exactly what it felt like to be swept away by him.
“Look at your grandfather,” Misty whispered. “He was pretty worried where you went, but I smoothed things over. Look at the way Nora is gazing into his eyes. Now, that’s true love.”
Absolutely. Granddad held Nora tenderly, distinguished in his dark jacket and white shirt, joy transforming him. See? True love did exist. She couldn’t wish for more for her granddad. Thank you, Father, for bringing love into his life again.
“Since I’m not needed here, I’ll go help clean up.” Julie climbed to her feet, stealing one more look in Noah’s direction. He had Susan laughing and the attention of every woman in the room.
Misty pushed out of her chair. “I’ll give you a hand, too, since Susan has the billionaire all to herself.”
“Stay put. I happen to know you’re next.”
“Really? Oh, thank you!”
Several people stopped Julie on the way to the kitchen to ask where she’d been or to comment on the lovely party. It was beautiful. Candles flickered gentle and low. The decorations sparkled like stardust. Flowers scented the air as she pushed open the kitchen door.
“The caterers are almost done.” Her friend Karen, who owned the town coffee shop, plunged her hands into the sink. Water sloshed as she scrubbed a pot. “Thought I’d pitch in, so we wouldn’t be here cleaning up all night.”
“You’re an angel.” Julie took a dish towel from a nearby shelf and grabbed a soup kettle from the drying rack.
She and Karen talked while they washed and dried. The music from the band kept them entertained, and so did the caterers who dropped nearly everything as they packed their van.
Susan poked her head in after a while. “Harold and Nora are getting ready to leave.”
Julie left the dishes and joined the crowd in a long line down the hallway. Shouts of good wishes and congratulations rang in the corridor as Nora and Granddad par
aded by. Julie called out her good wishes along with everyone else.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Noah!” She spun around, startled to see him there, looking pallid. “Why are you still here?”
“I’m ready to leave. Just wanted to see them off.”
The party was dispersing, voices ringing out in the hallway so loud, it was hard to hear. Julie leaned closer. “This is why you were in the emergency room. I bet you weren’t feeling well all day, and you ignored it.”
“I refuse to answer that. I’m pleading the Fifth.”
For the first time, she got a really good look at Noah Ashton. He wasn’t perfect like some airbrushed magazine-cover photograph. Not flawless like a dreamed-up perfect man. He was real and strong and vulnerable all at once, and a man who kept his promises.
That mattered to her. “You didn’t have to dance with my friends tonight.”
“I wanted to. You see, there’s this very nice person who helped me tonight. I didn’t want to let her down.”
“You do that a lot, I bet. Try not to let people down.”
“I try.” His gaze strayed to the doorway, where Nora was waving out the passenger window of Harold’s pickup.
Noah was so different from the man she expected. Julie touched his sleeve. “I’ll be inside if you need anything. Like a ride home. You can’t drive if you take painkillers.”
“I know.” He nodded, in control. “I’m fine.”
She watched him take a few steps. “You’re limping.”
“I’m not.” He shuffled forward. “My ankle is tired from all that dancing.”
“You’re hurting. You should take a pill and let me drive you home.”
“My knee’s tired, too. I’ll just take it slow down the hall. I’m fine.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Maybe that’ll make it true.” He tossed her a wink before shouldering through the door.
Julie watched him limp all the way to his grandmother’s car.
A handful of kids ran down the hallway, coats dragging, shouting as they went. A cold draft from the open door breezed over her, reminding her that she had work to do. She could still see Noah through the glass in the door, digging car keys from his pocket.
