Darcy sank wearily back against the seat. She held her hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, I give up. You win. You’ve outmachoed me!”
Bill said nothing, but Darcy detected the hint of a smirk on his face in the murky parking lot light. His lips twitched as if he were trying not to smile.
She’d give him the benefit of the doubt, since he was trying. But, she wouldn’t let him get away with it for long. She had to live with the guy.
Starting to buckle her seat belt, Darcy paused. What had she been thinking? They were just sleeping under the same roof. That was all.
Her brain seemed to have gotten the concept loud and clear. Too bad her heart was still a little slow on the uptake.
THE HOUSE was dark when they arrived and testified to the haste with which Darcy and Momma had left. Bill strode through the small house, glancing around to be certain that no intruders had been there before he would let Darcy come inside.
They didn’t have a lot of crime in the Mattison community, but still, it never hurt to check.
He flicked on the light in Darcy’s bedroom and made a cursory check. Everything seemed in order. Bill shrugged. He guessed it was safe to let Darcy come in. He turned to go out to call her, but collided with her instead.
His breath caught in his throat and his pulse raced at the sudden, unexpected contact with warm, soft flesh. “What the hell?” he muttered. “I thought I told you to wait in the car until I checked the house.” He took her by the shoulders and set her at arm’s length from him. Just that brief touch had awakened urges he should be too damned tired to even think about.
Darcy rolled her eyes, made a face, and stepped out of his grasp. “Bill, Billy, we’re in Mattison, not some crime-riddled inner city. Your Jeep is the only vehicle out there. Unless a sneak-thief hitchhiked, there’s no evidence that anybody’s here.” She stood there, her hands on her hips, and looked at him as if she had to explain in one-syllable words and very short sentences.
He should have thought of that. Bill didn’t have a response, so he said nothing, just stubbornly set his jaw and looked down at her.
How could such a diminutive woman turn his knees to Jell-O and another part of his anatomy to stone?
“Oh, get over it, Bill. It’s late and I’m tired.” Darcy tried to brush by him, but Bill caught her by the arm.
He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t dare. After all, as tired as he was, they were alone in this house, and if he wanted to—and, oh, he wanted to—he could take her right then and there.
He let go of her arm.
“Good night, Darcy. And thank you again.” He turned to leave, but this time, Darcy grabbed his hand and drew him back. “What?”
“You’re a good man, Billy Hays,” she said simply, then she rose on her tiptoes and brushed a quick kiss against his lips.
Bill was too stunned to react, and by the time he could think again, she’d ducked under his arm and entered her room. He stood there in the open doorway, watching as she drew a nightgown out of a dresser drawer. He stood there as she began to unbutton her smock.
She must have realized he was still there, for she turned and smiled. “Good night, Bill,” was all she said, but that was enough. She put down the nightgown and crossed the room in several quick strides.
Bill swallowed and backed out of the doorway. “Good night, Darcy,” he said huskily as she shut the door firmly between them. Then he turned and trudged to his empty room and his empty bed.
IN SPITE OF the late hour she’d gone to bed and the even later hour before she had finally succumbed to sleep, Darcy had gotten “up before the rooster” as Bill had so quaintly put it. She was by no means rested and not the least bit refreshed, but she couldn’t lie in bed when she knew Nettie was still in intensive care.
Doctor Williamson had told her to take all the time she needed, so she didn’t have to worry about calling in to the doctor’s office. She headed for the shower and found evidence that Bill had been there before her. Funny, she hadn’t heard anyone stirring. Had she slept more soundly than she thought?
When Bill had gotten up was the least of her worries. She stepped quickly into the tub, only to pause when she considered that Bill had stood, naked, in the same spot only minutes before. As she soaped up, she wondered about the fact that this bar of soap had touched parts of his body that she longed to…
No, she shook her head. She had no business thinking about that. Nettie was lying ill in intensive care at Pittsville General, and Darcy had no right to be lusting after Bill. She quickly shampooed her hair, thinking about the song Nellie Forbush sang in South Pacific, humming the tune softly as she rinsed, she almost managed to forget why the song was meaningful to her.
Almost managed. Bill Hays came marching back into the front of her mind as soon as she stepped out from behind the curtain and spotted his shaving kit hanging from the towel rack. Darcy sighed and toweled herself dry.
Last night had seemed like forever when she’d been waiting for Bill. Now that he was here, the day promised to be longer still.
She dressed quickly—no need for a uniform today—in jeans and a T-shirt, and stepped out of the bathroom to be greeted by the aroma of coffee brewing.
At least, there was that.
Maybe after a stiff cup of coffee or two or three hundred, she’d be able to face the day.
And Bill.
Bill looked up as Darcy entered the kitchen, yawning and stretching and looking none the worse for wear after a night that had been long on tension and short on sleep. Even right from a shower and without a trace of makeup she looked more beautiful than any woman had a right to at this time of the morning. Her short hair was still damp, drops of moisture beaded on the back of the neck of her soft pink T-shirt and she smelled like his mother’s Cashmere Bouquet soap.
“Why are you up so early?” Darcy murmured through a yawn. She reached for a mug and served herself a cup of coffee. “But I’m glad you are. I need coffee, and I need it now.” She raised the mug to her lips and drank without doctoring it with her usual milk and sugar.
Bill shoved the milk carton and sugar bowl toward her as she grimaced and sank into the chair across from him. “I guess you’ll still be needing this?” he said dryly.
“Thank you,” she murmured, spooning a generous amount of sugar into the dark brew. Then she added an equally large amount of milk.
“Like a little coffee in your milk, do you?” Bill said wryly as he rose to turn the bacon. “I’ll have breakfast ready in ten and then we can eat and go.”
“I never liked the taste of the stuff, but sometimes I do need the effects,” she said as she raised the doctored brew to her mouth. “I’d just as soon have a diet cola. It has caffeine in it, too.”
“Yeah, but it won’t put hair on your chest,” Bill said, lowering the flame under the skillet.
“Like I really need hair there,” Darcy said, producing the first real smile Bill had seen this morning. “You never did answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Why you’re up so early.” She put the mug down and stirred, using the spoon as something to keep from looking at him, Bill suspected.
“Early? Hell, this is late for me,” he said over the sizzle of bacon. “I’m usually up at zero-five-thirty. Have to eat, get dressed, and be at physical training by six-thirty.” He yanked a couple of paper towels off the roll, laid them on a plate, then began to fish strips of bacon out of the grease. “I grew up in the country, remember.”
“Well, you sure acted like a city boy when you were lounging around in bed until who-knows-when last week,” Darcy commented wryly.
He couldn’t tell her he’d been avoiding her, something he’d given her a hard time about at the Dinner Belle last Saturday, but that had been the reason. He shrugged. “I was on vacation. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but I was trying to see how the leisure class lives.” He poured the bacon grease off into a can, and reached for a carton of eggs. “It wasn’t a
ll it was cracked up to be.”
Darcy looked at him over the rim of her coffee mug, but said nothing. She arched one tawny eyebrow, then took another sip.
“How many eggs?” Bill asked as he cracked a couple into a bowl.
Darcy shrugged. “I don’t know. Truthfully, my stomach is just a little unsettled, but I suspect having a little something in it might straighten it right out. I never did get anything for dinner last night. You decide, and I’ll make some toast.” She pushed herself out of the chair and went to the cupboard where the bread was stored, and by the time she’d loaded and set the toaster, the eggs sizzled as Bill poured them into the pan.
Bill rather liked the domesticity of the moment. If it were always to be like this, sharing friendly banter and a quiet breakfast, he’d almost consider revising his decision not to marry. But he knew the demands of his job. He’d be sitting in some chow hall at some distant base while Darcy was stuck at home alone with all the responsibilities. He wondered how long she’d be able to take it.
And what the hell was he doing thinking like that anyway? He barely knew the woman, and he was thinking about her in terms of forever. He blew out a long, exasperated breath and shook the notion from his head. Hell, if the air force wanted you to have a wife, they’d have issued you one.
“What was that about?”
Bill looked up, startled at the question. “What?”
“You shook your head. What were you thinking?”
“Nothing,” Bill lied. “I was just trying to avoid the steam from the skillet.” He grabbed a pot holder and lifted the frying pan. “Here. Eat it while it’s hot.”
At least, as long as they were eating, they wouldn’t be able to talk. And Bill was getting damned tired of having to watch his every word and thought. Damn, this woman was getting under his skin.
BILL HAD ASKED Darcy to inquire about Nettie’s condition, claiming that she was more likely to understand the medical jargon than he, but Darcy suspected that he needed a moment or two to pull himself together before facing the hospital.
Watching a loved one hooked up to tubes and monitors could be unsettling to anyone, and Darcy didn’t fault Bill for that. And she appreciated the chance to get the details before they tried to soften them for the family.
She stepped into the ICU waiting room and was surprised to see Earline and Lougenia already there.
Lougenia rose quickly and hurried toward her. “Good news,” she announced, a smile brightening a face that otherwise looked far too wan for first thing in the morning. Obviously, she’d had trouble sleeping, too. “Doctor Williamson said she could go to a regular room as soon as she’s had the rest of her intravenous meds.”
“That’s great, Lou. I’m sure Bill will be thrilled,” she said, glancing into the cubicle where Nettie’s intravenous fluid pouch appeared half empty. It wouldn’t be long. She also noted that Nettie was awake and talking softly to Reverend Carterette. He bowed his head and in a moment raised it again to smile at Nettie.
Bill arrived as the reverend got up from the chair beside Nettie’s bed.
“I’ll see you in church Sunday week,” Reverend Carterette said to Momma, then turned to Bill, clasped him on the shoulder, then shook his hand. “I hate that I’ll be gone with the youth group to that church raising in Mississippi next week, but I’ve talked to the nurses and they expect your mother to go home in a matter of days. Lucy will come by to see her while I’m gone.”
“Thank you, Reverend Carterette. I appreciate it, and I know Momma always enjoys Lucy’s visits.”
The reverend squeezed Bill’s arm, then turned to Lougenia and Earline.
“It’s good news, Bill,” Darcy said, stepping forward. “Lou said she can go to a regular room as soon as she’s finished receiving the medication in that IV.”
Bill let out a long breath. “That’s good to hear. I have to admit it scared me the way she looked last night with all those machines and tubes.”
“Those machines and tubes are what is making it possible for her to get better,” Darcy told him, touching him lightly on the sleeve.
“I know, but still….” His words trailed off as he looked up and realized that Doc Williamson had come into the ICU.
“Let me go talk to Doc and see what he says about her condition.” He turned to go, but stopped, and looked back over his shoulder. “Maybe you should come, too, to translate,” he said.
He damned sure wasn’t going to let on that he needed her for anything else.
DARCY LOOKED UP from the hard plastic chair in the ICU waiting room to see Bill stumble out of Nettie’s cubicle. Looking as though he’d received a severe shock, Bill sank heavily onto the chair next to her. Panic raised the fine hairs on Darcy’s arms.
Had Nettie had a setback? No, that couldn’t be! Alarms would have been going off all over the place. Besides, she had just spoken to Doctor Williamson, and the news had been encouraging. The way Bill looked, though, he might well have heard something dire. Or seen a ghost.
She grabbed his arm, and he looked at her blankly as if he hadn’t seen her or realized that she was there. “What?” he said in a tone so disconnected that it had Darcy worried.
“What’s the matter with you? You look like you’ve had the wits scared out of you.” He acted that way, too.
He looked at her again, and slowly shook his head. He blinked as if to clear his eyes, and then swallowed and cleared his throat. “Nothing,” he said hoarsely. “My mother wants to ask a favor of you.”
Relief washing over her, Darcy smiled and released Bill’s arm. She didn’t need the distraction of the warmth humming up her arm from his. “Is that all? You had me worried there for a minute. I’ll do anything for your mom. You know that.”
“You may not be so willing when you hear what she has to say,” he said, still appearing shell-shocked, and looked around. “Where are Lou and Earline?”
“They had to go to work. You know they count on their paychecks, and since your mother is doing better, I told them they didn’t need to stay. They’ll both be back at lunchtime after your mother gets out of ICU.”
“Oh,” he said, still looking as fogged as he had when she’d first spoken to him. “I’ll just sit and wait till you’ve talked to Momma.” He turned his attention to the television set hung high on the waiting-room wall.
Darcy didn’t know what to think. Why was he acting as though his world had just ended? And why did he seem to be so interested in the morning news? She drew in a long, deep breath and stepped into Nettie’s room.
Nettie’s face was pale and her eyes were closed, but they drifted upward when Darcy entered. “I didn’t mean to wake you, Nettie,” Darcy said. “I can come back later when you’ve rested.”
“No. Please stay,” Nettie said, her voice reedy and thin. “I was just restin’ my eyes. Seems like such a waste of time to sleep when I have so little time left.”
Darcy managed an anemic smile and settled on to the chair by the bed. She patted Nettie’s hand. “Now don’t be saying such things. Doctor Williamson tells me you’re recovering well.” She managed another smile, this one a little stronger, and squeezed Nettie’s hand. It was papery and cool, and Darcy’s smile faltered for a moment. “Remember, he can’t fool me,” she said. “I understand all his doctor talk.”
Nettie smiled at that and motioned her closer. “Come closer, I have a favor to ask of you,” she said, her voice still showing the effects of her flooded lungs.
Still holding Nettie’s hand, Darcy did as she was asked. “You know I’ll do anything for you.”
“Hush, child. And listen. All this excitement is tiring, and I’d like to take a nap when we’re done.”
“Yes, ma’am. What can I do for you?”
“Take care of Billy. I know you and Billy told us you wanted to have a long engagement,” Nettie said, then she stopped to catch her breath.
Darcy started to say something, but Nettie silenced her with a slight wave of her hand.
; “But I know my time’s almost come. Doc Williamson might pull me through this time, but I don’t reckon that he’s goin’ to be able to do it too many more times.” She paused again, and her breath came in long, painful gasps.
“I know it ain’t what you planned, but it would sure make me go easier if I could see you and Billy happily married before I did.”
Chapter Ten
Darcy gasped. How could Nettie ask this of her?
And how could she, Darcy Stanton, who had escaped from one ill-advised wedding with little more than the clothes on her back, actually be considering Nettie’s request?
Now she understood the reason for Bill’s dazed expression. He had to be as shocked as she was.
“Billy’s gonna need somebody when I go,” Nettie went on. “He’s way down there in Florida all by himself. He might be a big, strong, strappin’ man, but he’s got a tender heart, and he feels things deep down in it. He’s gonna need you to sustain him. You will comfort him, won’t you, Darcy?”
Darcy couldn’t believe she was about to agree, but she swallowed and answered. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do whatever it takes. I promise.” She looked at her watch, the dial blurring in front of eyes filling with tears. “I think I’ve exceeded my five minutes,” she said, then bolted from the room.
And right into Billy’s arms.
The shock of landing so squarely in the middle of his hard chest knocked some of the panic out of Darcy. Bill put his arms around her and drew her closer to him. She could barely breathe. She didn’t know whether it was because of what Nettie had just requested or Billy’s closeness, but she took a couple more breaths and tried to collect herself.
Not an easy task with the reason for her confusion so close that she could hear his heart beat and could almost taste that warm, man scent unadorned with fragrance or aftershave. One sniff and she was hot and aroused and weak in the knees.
“Now you know why I was so shell-shocked when I came out of Momma’s room,” Bill said quietly, his voice seeming to rumble from deep within his chest.
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