Chapter Three
WHEN Eden awoke she knew she was in a hospital. The smell and the sounds were unmistakable. She looked around the small room at the picture of the seashells on a beach hanging on the wall, and at the machine next to her bed, to which she seemed to be hooked. She saw the hard gray chair by the bed, and the roses on the table at her side. Sunlight was coming through the window, so she knew it was morning.
She lay back against the bed and closed her eyes for a moment. Vaguely, she remembered what had happened.
“Good morning.”
Eden looked up to see Braddon Granville standing beside her, a bouquet of spring flowers in his arms.
“Feeling better?” he asked, his voice full of concern.
“Better than what, Mr. Granville?” she asked, trying to sit up, but she hurt all over, so she lay back down.
“Brad, please. After what you and I went through last night, I think we’re on a first-name basis.”
“Who was he? What did he want?”
“Oh,” Brad said, looking at the floor.
Instantly, Eden knew that whoever the man was he hadn’t been a thief. She took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready. How big of a fool did I make of myself last night?”
“What do you remember?”
She turned her head away. Eden remembered the other attack, but that time she hadn’t woken up in a hospital. Her parents had allowed her to miss school until her bruises healed, but nothing more. She looked back at Brad. All she seemed able to remember was hitting, biting, scratching, clawing. Who had she hurt? “I don’t remember much about last night. I—”
She cut off because a police officer entered the room, smiling at her. He was young and strong-looking, and he seemed to be highly amused about something. “Is there really only one of you?”
“I beg your pardon?” Eden said.
“We were taking bets that there were at least three of you to do what you did to McBride. Brad, are you sure you want to tangle with this wildcat?”
“Come on, Clint,” Brad said, chastising the young man but also enjoying his connection to Eden. “She’s been through enough, so don’t tease her. I’m not sure she remembers what happened last night.”
“I can believe that,” Clint said. “But I still need to ask her some questions. What time did you get home?”
“I don’t know the exact time,” Eden said. She felt as though she’d been thrown by a horse and trampled on. Every muscle hurt, and every molecule of her body was tired. “Could you please tell me what happened?”
Clint started to ask another question, but Brad stopped him. “I don’t think there’re going to be any charges.”
“Charges? Are there charges against me?” Eden asked.
Brad put his hand over hers. “No, Eden, no one is going to charge you with anything. Young Clint here was wondering if you were going to press charges against McBride for trespassing and entering.”
“I guess McBride is the man I…?”
“Nearly killed with your bare hands?” Clint said, chuckling. “Yeah, he’s the one. Retired police. He said he’d fought two karate experts who didn’t fight as hard as you did. Of course, between you and me, I don’t think he fought back any. That’s why he got so beat up. They had to give him a tetanus shot for the bites. You should see the one—”
“Clint!” Brad said sharply, “would you mind your manners, please?”
“Yes, sir,” Clint said, obviously speaking to a man he’d known all his life.
“Why don’t you go get some coffee? I’d like to talk to Ms. Palmer now.”
When they were alone, Brad sat down by the bed and took Eden’s hand in his.
“What did I do to that man and who is he?”
“He’s your next-door neighbor. I started to tell you about him yesterday, but we got sidetracked. He rented what used to be the washhouse.”
“So why was he in my house?”
“Looking for the fuse box. I’d told him you’d be taking possession of the house soon, so he was on the lookout for you. There’re a couple of outdoor lights on timers at your house and last night they’d come on. But just before you arrived, McBride was using his table saw and blew out all the breakers in his place. When he looked at your house and saw that it was dark, he knew that you must be on the same circuit, so he went over there to find the breaker box. He said the kitchen door was open, so he called out, but when no one answered, he used the little light on his keychain to try to find the electrical box. He was searching for a panel by the fireplace in the living room when he saw you. He said that when he walked toward you…well, you sort of went crazy.”
Pausing, he looked at Eden for confirmation, but all she could do was turn away. She didn’t want him to see her face.
Brad’s voice lightened. “I think McBride was glad when we showed up. When you phoned me, I panicked and called both the sheriff and the rescue people. I was afraid of what could happen, so I wanted to make a lot of noise when we arrived.”
He squeezed her hand. She had her face turned away, still unable to look at him. “Eden, don’t be embarrassed. It could have happened to anyone. After all, you’ve been living in New York and—”
She looked back at him. “Is that what everyone’s saying?” She well knew that in a small town like Arundel this would be a big story. Everyone would be talking about it. “People are saying that because I lived in New York that now I attack anyone who tries to help me?”
Brad looked like he was going to tell her that, no, no one thought that, but then he grinned and said, “Pretty much.” When Eden groaned, he said, “Look on the bright side: No one within a hundred-mile radius is going to attack you. Hey! Maybe later you could give me a few pointers.” He put his fists up like a boxer and made a few mock thrusts.
In spite of herself, Eden smiled and tried to sit up. Brad put a hand behind her back and helped her, then gave her a sip of water from the glass on the table. “How is Mr. McBride?” she asked.
Brad raised his eyebrows. “He’ll live, but you banged him up pretty bad. As Clint said, he didn’t fight back. He let you hit him—and claw and bite him—while he seemed to have mostly tried to keep you from hurting yourself.” He gave her a crooked grin. “He’s a real hero. But then, I think he’s done that all his life. Clint said they received a fax of his record, and it showed that McBride was in a lot of fights when he was a cop. Shot, knifed. You name it. But he’d never met his match until he met you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did your wife like your sense of humor?”
“Hated it,” Brad said, grinning. “You know what the best thing about all this is? I was afraid that McBride was going to be my competition. You and him out there together. Alone. Him a big, virile-looking kind of guy, and you the best-looking thing to come to town since Susan Sarandon filmed a movie here. I was really worried.”
“But not now?”
“I think he may ask for a restraining order against you.”
“You are a truly horrible human being!” Eden said, but she couldn’t help smiling.
“There, that’s better.” He looked at his watch. “Unfortunately, duty calls and I have to go. They’re going to let you go home after the doctor sees you. You’re just tired from the workout. There’s not a dent on that pretty little body of yours.”
“You’re very fresh, aren’t you?”
Brad laughed. “Fresh. I haven’t heard that word in years. Don’t you watch reality TV? Don’t you know what people in the real world are saying to each other on the first date?”
“Not your generation and not mine,” Eden said primly.
Brad took her hand in his again and for a moment looked as though he was going to kiss it, but then he put her hand back on top of the sheet. “Young Clint gets off duty in two hours so I’ll make sure he drives you home. My housekeeper went out there this morning, gave the place a good cleaning, and”—he wiggled his eyebrows—“turned the breakers back on. I had to sign an affidavit swearing that you wouldn’t be there if she touched your, uh, breaker box.”
In spite of herself, Eden blushed. “You’re incorrigible. Go on, get out of here. I’ll be fine. It’s Mr. McBride I’m concerned about.”
“If I were you, I’d stay away from him. I doubt if he’s your biggest fan. Gotta go. I’ll see you at six tonight and I’ll bring dinner. You take a bath, wash your hair, make yourself pretty, and await my arrival.”
With that he was gone. As the door closed behind him, Eden grimaced. “ ‘Await my arrival’?” she said. “Who does he think he is?” But she smiled anyway and rested against the pillow until she had to get up.
“So help me, Bill,” Jared said into his cell phone, his teeth clenched, “if you don’t stop laughing I’ll remove two of your teeth the next time I see you—which will be soon.”
Jared listened, but his temper didn’t abate. “You didn’t tell me she was insane. None of you happened to mention that fact, and it was nowhere in the papers you had me read. I thought she was some poor woman who’d had a hard life. I thought—No, I’m not going soft on you. So help me, Bill, if you start laughing again I’ll…” Jared gave a nasty smile. “I’ll tell the whole department where I saw you last summer.”
Jared’s smile returned to normal. “That’s better. No, I’m fine. I’ve been a lot worse, but I look bad. No, I’m not being vain. I was sent here to seduce information out of a woman, wasn’t I? So tell me how I’m supposed to wine and dine her when I have a black eye, an arm in a sling, and bruises all over. I tell you, I’ve never seen anybody fight like she did! She was blind! Crazy.”
He listened for a few moments. “That’s nice that the house shrink has a rationalization for why she attacked me, but it doesn’t help any. I think you ought to send someone else out here to do this job. What about Lopez? He’s great-looking. So what if he’s fifteen years younger than she is?”
He paused. “I have no idea what she looks like! It was dark and she attacked me. I saw her snooping around, so I very calmly went to her, then she attacked me. I wasn’t expecting it, and I couldn’t very well attack her back, could I? I did everything I could to get away from her, but she’s an agile little thing, I’ll give her that. At one point, when I had almost scooted away from her, she bit me on the ankle. When I tried to push her head away, she bit my arm. And you should see the claw marks I have on me!”
Jared stopped talking and listened to his boss. He knew that Bill had been sent a full report of what had happened, but Jared wanted to exaggerate everything so, maybe, Bill would take him off the case. It was one thing to try to sweet-talk information out of a woman he was attracted to, but quite another to have to be around a woman whose brain cords didn’t connect properly. For all his undercover work, Jared was no actor. Maybe he could play the tough-guy parts, but not the romantic ones. That’s why he liked women who were reformed bad girls. They didn’t expect much from him—which is just what he gave. His professional life was difficult, so he didn’t want the same in his private life, what little there was of it.
“There’s something else that wasn’t in your reports on her,” Jared said. “She’s practically engaged to some lawyer in town. Yeah, I know she just got here, but they must have known each other before because they’re already a couple. Last night as I lay bleeding on a gurney, being sewn up and swabbed down, some kid of a deputy made it clear to me that little Ms. Palmer belongs to one of the town’s founding families—or whatever they are down here. Lord! Deliver me from the South. Everybody knows who everybody’s great-great-grandfather was and what his rank was in the war. Civil War, that is. No, I can’t calm down!” Jared said. “I’m in pain and I’m not the right man for this job. I think you should send a woman to befriend her. Maybe send an engaged couple, as I think Ms. Palmer is about two seconds away from being engaged herself. They’ll all talk to each other.”
Jared took a breath to listen. “No, nothing. I didn’t see anything in the house that looked out of place. Nothing. I only had about forty-five minutes and I had to use a penlight. I thought your people said she was spending the night in town.”
Jared listened to Bill defend his information while he looked out the window at the river at the bottom of the hill. In the next second, he came alert as he saw someone coming through the cut in the hedge that separated “her” house from his. Yesterday he’d done some exploring of the two connecting properties, mainly looking for hiding places and avenues of exit. He planned to explore every inch of the place, probably at night while Ms. Palmer slept the sleep of the innocent—if she was innocent, that is. There were a couple of places outside that Jared thought might be good to stick a couple of surveillance cameras. There were birdhouses and vines up the trees. He could hide the cords in the vines and the cameras in the birdhouses. No one would see anything.
Since last night he’d developed the opinion that Ms. Palmer was indeed guilty of something. He wasn’t sure what, but she was guilty. All the sympathy he’d built up when he’d read about her life had left him when she’d sunk her teeth into him for the third time.
Now he looked out the window and drew in his breath. Coming through the bushes was none other than the lady in question—and she was carrying a big ceramic dish, with a loaf of bread on top, pot holders covering her hands. While Bill was droning on and on about how Jared had to do the job and that if he were a good agent he could get it done in a matter of days, Jared got his first real look at Ms. Palmer. She wore jeans that were much looser than he liked on women and above that an oversize sweater that hid most of what was under it, but there was a breeze, and he could see the outline of a curvy little body that wasn’t half bad. He’d read that in New York she often went to the gym after work, but the report hadn’t said whether she went there to socialize or to sweat. From the look of her, she’d done a lot of sweating.
When the breeze lifted her hair and she moved her head to one side to get the hair out of her eyes, he saw her wince. Good! he thought. He hoped she was very sore from what she’d done to him last night.
Jared felt a tiny bit of guilt because he had been snooping through her house, and because his story about lights going off had been something he’d made up when the police arrived. And of course she had every right to call the sheriff or her boyfriend or anybody else, for that matter. And, yes, she was perfectly justified in thinking that he was a thief and therefore was probably going to attack her when he reached out to touch her arm. So, okay, maybe she’d been right on every count; but that didn’t heal his body or his pride.
Jared listened to Bill and in an instant saw a way around all the obstacles. Her guilt. If he’d ever seen a human being with a sorrowful look on her face, the woman walking toward him with her peace offering was it. “I gotta go and don’t call me back. She’s here,” he said quickly, then closed his cell phone. Jared ran to the chair in front of the empty fireplace. He hadn’t had time to lay a fire on this cool spring morning because he’d been snooping inside the old house next door while she was still in the hospital. That she’d stayed longer than he had he was sure was due to her big-deal lawyer’s word.
As Jared heard her walk up the front porch steps, he glanced at the coatrack by the door and saw three walking sticks, left, no doubt, by some previous tenant. He grabbed a stick, pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, then hurried across the room. By the time she knocked on the door, Jared was bundled up under what had to be the dustiest old blanket in the world, but he left his sling-bound arm outside so it would show. Beside him was the cane.
“Come in,” he said in the voice of an old man in pain.
Slowly, the door opened to reveal a pretty woman with a hot casserole. Jared had seen worse sights in his life.
“I…I’m Eden Palmer,” she said softly, looking at him with a combination of guilt and pity. Part of Jared wanted to jump up and show her that he was fine, that he looked worse than he was, but he made himself pull the blanket up around his chin in a protective way.
Eden took the few steps across the room to stand near him. “I don’t know where to begin to apologize about last night. Until recently I’ve been living in New York and maybe I’ve come to think that everybody is…” She trailed off, not finishing her sentence. “Could I put this down somewhere?”
Weakly, Jared nodded toward the kitchen at the other end of the house. He watched her walk away and decided that under her big clothes was a mighty fine little tush. She disappeared through the doorway into the kitchen and he heard nothing but silence for several minutes. He knew why. The kitchen was a mess. Yesterday he’d thrown food into cabinets and the refrigerator as fast as possible so he could start scouting the area before the Palmer woman got there. He’d run in twice to make himself a sandwich and had left everything as it was. He figured that after she moved into the house he’d have plenty of time to straighten up.
A few minutes later, Ms. Palmer came out of the kitchen with a little tray filled with food. He could smell what seemed to be homemade vegetable beef soup. The women he liked were very understanding and tolerant of what he did for a living, but none of them were cooks. It seemed to be a law of life that women who took their clothes off for a living didn’t cook, while women who went to church did.
“I, uh…” she said hesitantly. “I’ll just leave you to, uh, heal, and, again, I’m sorry that I…” She looked at his eye, which he knew was huge and black and purple, and which distorted his face as though he’d had a stroke. On the other side of his face were two deep scratches from her nails.
Jared couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw tears form in Eden Palmer’s eyes. “Could you put the food a little closer?” he whispered, as though talking was painful—which it was. “I think I can reach it if it’s a bit closer.”
“Yes, of course,” Eden said quickly, then moved the tray to the table next to Jared’s chair.
He pulled his uninjured arm from under the blanket and made a shaky attempt to get a spoonful of soup, but he dropped the spoon back into the bowl. He gave Ms. Palmer a look that said he was trying but couldn’t quite make it.
In the next second, Eden had pulled up a chair and was feeding him. It was all Jared could do not to smile at such luxury. But he had to concentrate on playing the invalid, and that meant no smiling.
It took thirty long minutes to feed him all the food, and they didn’t talk during that time. While he chewed, she scurried about the room, straightened up, and lit the logs in the fireplace.
“Thank you,” Jared said, collapsing back against the chair. “I needed that. Since I got out of the hospital I haven’t been able to do much for myself. I’m sorry the house is such a mess. You must think that I’m—”
“I don’t think anything at all bad about you, Mr. McBride. It’s me who’s at fault. When I think about what you were doing for me last night and what I did to you, I…Well, I…”
Jared reached out for her hand. Nice, he thought. Soft. He started to move up her wrist but then remembered himself enough that he gave a tiny moan of pain and flopped back against the chair.
“Can you walk?”
“A bit,” he said heavily. “I can get to the…you know, by myself.”
Standing up, she put her hands on her hips, and when Jared groaned, it was for real. He hated that hands-on-hips stance that women put on. It was the Earth Mother pose, and it suited this woman much too well. Deliver me, thought Jared. He was about to throw back the blanket and tell her to go home when she spoke. “I insist that you stay in my guest room until you can take care of yourself,” she said.
Jared wasn’t sure that any woman had ever been able to take his breath away in the same way that she had just done. “No, Ms. Palmer,” he said softly. “I couldn’t move in with you.”
“I’m not asking you to move in with me. It’s just until you can take care of yourself.”
He gave a sigh, then a wince as he moved in the chair. “This is a small town and people will talk.”
“They’ll talk more if they think I’ve left a man I’ve rendered helpless to fend for himself.” She sat down on the chair in front of him. “I’m going to be honest with you. I feel very guilty about what I did. Someday, maybe, I’ll tell you what happened inside my mind when you touched me in that dark room. It brought back some very unpleasant memories for me, and for a while I lost it. I apologize. But I can’t go back and undo what I did, all I can do is try to make amends. I can’t leave you in this dirty house to take care of yourself. I can’t afford to hire a nurse to look after you, and I don’t have the time to run back and forth to clean up your kitchen and keep fires going. This afternoon FedEx brought me a box of six manuscripts that have to be copyedited or critiqued within the next few weeks. Have you ever copyedited a manuscript, Mr. McBride?”
“I can’t say that I have.” He was watching her with amusement. She had put on an act of sternness, like a lady schoolmarm, but what she was saying was softness itself.
“They take a lot of time, so I need to have the time to give them. I really can’t see any other way except that you move into my guest bedroom and let me take care of you there.”
“And what about the lawyer?”
“Braddon Granville? Yes, he’s my attorney,” she said, puzzled, and the way she said it told Jared everything he needed to know. Maybe the lawyer and maybe the whole town thought that the Granville-Palmer wedding was a done deal, but it didn’t seem that cute little Ms. Palmer thought so.