A Knight Before Christmas

by Alicia Dean

"Was anyone hurt?"

  "It was Jerome. He's injured. They're taking him to the

  hospital."

  "You stayed with him?"

  "Yeah. I didn't want to leave him alone. I couldn't call you

  because I was on the phone with 911 the entire time."

  Silence, then an exasperated sigh. "Oh, Heath. You're

  something, aren't you?"

  He smiled. "I don't know. I guess I am."

  She laughed. "I was so scared. I thought about the night I

  didn't hear from Rudy." She sucked in a breath. "And he

  died."

  Heath's heart seized. "Aw, sweetie. I'm sorry." He looked

  up. The attendants had extricated Jerome and were wheeling

  him to the ambulance door. "Listen. I'm going to see if he's

  okay. I may go to the hospital with him. I'll let you know."

  "Okay." She'd calmed now. "However long it takes, I'll be

  waiting for you."

  "See you soon."

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  He closed the phone and slipped it in his pocket. He

  grinned. He hated upsetting Nicolette, but he liked that she

  cared enough to worry.

  "Is he going to be okay?" Heath asked one of the

  attendants, a young guy with a goatee flecked with white

  snow.

  "He's stable," the guy said as he slammed the door shut.

  "We'll know more when we get him to the hospital. Were you

  in the accident with him?"

  "No. I was behind him. I saw the accident and stopped to

  help."

  The EMT nodded his approval. "I'm sure you saved his life.

  We'll take care of him."

  Heath thought of Nicolette at home and the injured

  Jerome, then reluctantly said, "Should I go with him?"

  The attendant made his way to the driver's door of the

  ambulance, and Heath followed.

  "I gave him morphine. He's kind of out of it," he told Heath

  as he climbed into the driver's side. "Will he have someone at

  the hospital?"

  "His sister is a nurse there, but I guess he didn't have

  anyone to call."

  "Your choice, buddy."

  The door closed and Heath stepped back. He trudged

  through the snow, then climbed into the Tahoe and dialed

  Nicolette.

  When he explained that they'd taken Jerome to the

  hospital, she said, "Are you going up there?"

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  "I hadn't planned to. I'm pretty sure his sister will be

  there."

  "I'd like to know how he's doing, but I don't want you to

  drive on these roads any more than you have to. Why don't

  you come on home?"

  "I will," he promised.

  He smiled as he drove back onto the snow-covered streets

  toward the house where Nicolette waited for him.

  Heath stomped snow off his feet on Nicolette's porch and

  reached out to knock. Before he could, the door swung open.

  "Heath? Oh, God." She went into his arms while he was

  still outside. "Are you okay?"

  He held her tight against him. "Yeah. I'm fine."

  "How's Jerome?" she asked, still clinging to him.

  "He'll be okay. We'll call and check on him in a little while,

  once they've had time to get him to the hospital and look him

  over."

  She nodded against his shoulder. "Thank you."

  He pushed her gently from him. "Let's go inside, how

  about it?"

  She laughed and wiped at her cheeks. "Oh, yeah."

  Heath took off his coat and hung it on the rack, then

  Nicolette took his hand and led him to the fireplace.

  "You need to warm up," she said.

  He held his hands in front of the blaze. Nicolette wore

  jeans and a soft pink sweater. Her hair was loose and her

  hazel eyes glinted in the light of the fire.

  "Ah, much better." Heath grinned down at her.

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  "Thank you for helping Jerome. I know you don't even like

  him."

  "He's not my favorite person," Heath admitted.

  "I mean, just last night you were about to kick his ass.

  Today, you saved his life."

  "Chalk it up to the Christmas spirit, I guess."

  "Right. Or, the fact that you're just a really, really good

  guy."

  Heath grinned down at her. "Yeah, there is that."

  She smiled and Heath thought of their lovemaking. Was

  Nicolette thinking about it too? What had happened to the

  easy, flirtation between them earlier?

  Nicolette rubbed her hands up and down her arms and

  looked at her feet.

  "You think we should talk about it?" Heath asked.

  Her head rose, and she looked at him. She pursed her lips

  and smiled. "About what?"

  "About what happened between us."

  She stared at him steadily for a moment then slowly

  moved toward him. He held his breath, watching her

  approach. She reached up and took his face between her

  hands. Her thumbs gently stroked his bottom lip. "I'd rather

  do this."

  She lifted her face and touched her lips to his. He groaned

  and swept his arms around her, pulling her close. Her hands

  moved to the back of his head. He pushed her sweater up and

  slid his fingers over the silky skin of her back.

  He wanted to strip her bare, take her to bed and slowly

  explore her body...take his time like he hadn't last night. He'd

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  been too excited. As her tongue moved over his, the pressure

  against his zipper increased. Damn. If he wasn't careful, the

  same thing would happen now.

  His cell phone rang, and he swallowed back a curse.

  Nicolette pulled away and looked up at him, her eyes

  glazed with passion. "Guess you'd better get that," she

  whispered.

  "Do I have to?" He grinned and dug his cell out of his

  pocket. Alex's number showed on the display. His baby

  brother had lousy timing. "Hey, bro," Heath said into the

  phone. "What's up?"

  "It's the girls." Alex's voice was filled with uncharacteristic

  panic. "They're missing."

  "Missing? The triplets?"

  "Yeah. They were in their room, and now they're gone.

  Shit, Heath. I'm scared."

  Heath's body tensed. He pictured the tiny girls out in this

  snowstorm, lost, cold, afraid. Or worse. He wouldn't think

  that. Wouldn't entertain the thought that some maniac had

  taken them. "Where are you?"

  "I'm near Zoe's shop. We're out looking for them, but I

  could use your help."

  "You got it. I'll call my buddy at the force. Have him get

  searchers out. We'll meet you."

  Nicolette looked at him worriedly, her teeth gnawing at the

  pad of her thumb. When Heath hung up, she said, "What is it?

  What's wrong?"

  "Alex's daughters are missing."

  "Oh, God. How?"

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  "I don't know. They disappeared from their bedroom."

  He dialed his friend, Peter McFarland. While he wa
ited for

  him to answer, he told Nicolette, "I'm going over there. I'll be

  back as soon as I can."

  Nicolette grabbed her coat. "I'm going with you."

  "No, you don't—" Peter answered the phone and Heath

  quickly explained.

  "I'll get some guys together," Peter said after Heath

  finished. "Give me the address."

  When Heath ended the call, he sighed and kissed Nic's

  cheek. "You don't need to go. It's nasty out there. Stay here

  where it's warm."

  "No way." She shrugged into her coat. "I couldn't rest

  here. I'd be a nervous wreck. I'm going."

  "Nic, please. I need to concentrate on finding the girls, and

  I couldn't do it with you there, having to worry about you."

  She pressed her lips together in disapproval, but nodded.

  Heath kissed her on the forehead and charged out into the

  biting wind, a fear like none he'd ever felt taking hold of his

  gut. Those tiny girls were out in this? Dear God, they were

  too small, too vulnerable. No matter what the reason for their

  disappearance, the longer it took to find them, the more likely

  it was that something bad had happened. No. He wouldn't

  think like that. He'd only just gotten to know his nieces. He'd

  be damned if he'd let anything happen to them.

  Nicolette had to do something to keep her mind off the lost

  little girls and Heath out there in this storm looking for them.

  First, she called the hospital to check on Jerome. She

  managed to get his sister, who told her Jerome would be fine.

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  Thanks to Heath. Warm affection filled her heart. Was there

  no end to Heath's goodness?

  After ending the call, Nicolette let herself into Heath's side

  of the duplex to clean. For a guy, his side had remained

  surprisingly neat. But then again, he hadn't been there all

  that much. There were a few whiskers in the sink. She used

  cleaner to scrub that, the bathtub, and the toilet.

  In the bedroom, she found his Pez dispenser on the

  nightstand. Heath apparently thought a lot of his friend's

  child, and he'd been frantic about his missing nieces. He'd

  had a look of pride in his eyes when he'd told her about them.

  Children he'd only seen a few times, and though they were

  his nieces, he hadn't known they existed until a few weeks

  ago.

  She bet he'd make a wonderful father. She'd thought that

  about Rudy, too. They'd talked about having kids, but it never

  seemed like the right time. Then the next thing she knew,

  their 'time' for having kids was over. Rudy was dead. And

  here she was, close to her mid thirties without a child and

  without a prospective father in sight. Heath was great with

  kids, but did he want them? Did it really even matter since

  the two of them could never be together?

  Although the bed was made, she pulled back the covers,

  held Heath's pillow to her nose, and inhaled. His scent filled

  her nostrils, and she smiled and hugged the pillow to her. You

  are a pathetic, lovesick fool. What the hell was she doing?

  Replacing the pillow, she smoothed the spread over it,

  then quickly went back to her side of the duplex. She was

  about one boiled rabbit away from being a stalker.

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  Her side was fairly clean, but the drawers in her office

  were messy with accumulated junk. When she'd been digging

  out Rudy's papers, she'd noticed she'd let crap pile up. One

  drawer at a time, she went through the junk, throwing away

  what she didn't need and sorting and filing things she did.

  In the bottom drawer, a black jewelry box caught her

  attention, and she sighed, pain welling in her chest as she

  withdrew it. Lifting the lid, she looked at the blue diamond

  ring, a gift from Rudy, although one he'd never had a chance

  to give her.

  It had been found among the wreckage, wrapped in a

  beautiful box with the words, To the love of my life, scrawled

  on a white card taped to the package. Rudy wasn't normally

  given to sentiment like that, but their tenth anniversary was

  coming up; he must have been feeling particularly romantic.

  Maybe he'd begun to think of how lucky they were to find

  each other and to have made it that many years in a day and

  age when over half of marriages ended in divorce.

  Whatever the reason, when the police returned it to her,

  she'd been at once thrilled and devastated. One short week

  away, and Rudy would have given it to her himself. She

  hadn't been able to bring herself to wear it. Not only was it a

  little flashier than the jewelry she normally wore, it was just

  too painful to look at every day.

  She took it from the box and slipped it on the third finger

  of her right hand. It fit perfectly now, but she'd lost weight in

  the past year. At the time Rudy bought the ring, it would

  have been too small. She smiled. Rudy most likely had no

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  idea what ring size she wore and knew that once he'd given it

  to her, it would be her responsibility to have it sized.

  She slid the empty box into the drawer. The pain of loss

  had dulled enough that now she could enjoy the ring's

  beauty. Now, every time she looked at her finger, she'd think

  of Rudy with a fond sadness rather than the gut-wrenching

  agony she'd endured the first several months after his death.

  Her phone rang just as she finished going through the last

  drawer.

  "Nicolette? It's Tonya."

  Tonya was one of her tenants. She was a single mom with

  an eight-year-old son. Her voice sounded panicked.

  "Yeah, everything okay?"

  "It's taking me forever to get home from work, and Josh is

  there by himself. I wondered if you could maybe go sit with

  him until I get there. I hate to ask you to get out in this

  horrendous weather, but he's scared now that it's getting

  close to dark."

  Eight years old was too young to stay alone, even when it

  was light, but Nicolette didn't want to criticize Tonya's

  mothering skills. Sometimes, people didn't have much choice.

  "Hey, no worries," Nicolette assured her. "I'll head down

  there now."

  "Thank you. You're a saint."

  Heath called as soon as she hung up to let her know the

  girls had been found, safe and sound.

  Her legs went weak with relief. "Oh, Heath. I'm so glad.

  Thanks for letting me know."

  "I'll be there in a little while."

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  How to tell him that although he'd told her not to come

  with him, she was going out in the blizzard anyway? "I may

  not be here, but I shouldn't be gone long."

  "What do you mean? You're not going out, are you?"

  "I have to."

  She explained about Tonya and Josh.

  "Nic, you don't need to be driving in this." His tone was />
  harsh and authoritative.

  "She only lives at the end of the block, I'll walk."

  "The snow is a foot and a half deep and piling up."

  Beneath his irritation, she heard worry, and she

  experienced a twinge of guilt. He'd dealt with enough of that

  for one day, but she couldn't leave a little boy by himself in

  this kind of weather.

  "Heath, I have to help. He's all alone." As she spoke, she

  bundled up in her coat and gloves.

  "I tell you what, I'll drive to her house and wait with you

  there."

  "She'll probably be home by the time you get here."

  Nicolette opened the front door, and a cold blast of wind

  slapped her in the face. She couldn't stay on the phone and

  tromp through the snowstorm. "I gotta go. I'll see you at

  home in a bit."

  [Back to Table of Contents]

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  Chapter Fifteen

  Heath cursed as he closed his phone. Damn her and her

  stubbornness.

  He headed to the duplex, his elation that his nieces had

  been found now tempered by concern over Nic. He had no

  idea which house the neighbor lived in, or he'd head over

  there now, even though she'd told him not to. She'd hung up

  without giving him the address, so he could either cruise her

  neighborhood hoping to spot the right place, or go home and

  wait like she'd asked him to.

  Even if he drove through the neighborhood, Nicolette

  would be inside whichever house it was, so he still wouldn't

  know. He just had to trust that she'd be okay, although there

  were people stuck all over town, and he'd heard a report on

  the radio that an elderly man had frozen to death.

  Damn. He didn't like Nic being out in this without him.

  Sure enough, when he reached the duplex, she wasn't

  there. He paced as he waited, casting frequent glances at the

  clock. Had time ever moved this slowly? He started a fire to

  knock the chill off the room, and to give him something to

  occupy his mind, other than worry over Nicolette.

  After a half hour of waiting, he tried her cell. No answer.

  The worry turned to abject fear. If she'd planned on being

  gone this long, she would have called him, or she'd damned

  sure answer her phone, knowing how worried he would be.

  She would answer it, that is, if she were able.

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