Don't Tell (19 page)

He’d taken his seat again, but his gaze was fixed on a point behind her. She slid her hand under his palm, linking her fingers through his. And said nothing.

„It was David that brought me back. He’d saved his money from a part-time job and flew out to LA.“ The lips that had kissed her so thoroughly thinned to a mere line. „Found a pretty major party going on at my place. He was so disappointed in me. I was so pissed at him. Arriving unannounced like that.“ Then a glimmer of a smile lit his eyes. „The party broke up soon after he got there. Wasn’t much use in anyone staying once Dave had thrown all the booze out the window. He pretended to be a priest, of all things. Told my so-called friends they’d burn in hell.“ A chuckle rumbled deep down. „He should have stayed in LA. He would have had an Oscar by now.“

He glanced over at the stove. „I’d get up to turn that again, but I don’t think I’d make it to the stove without my cane.“

Caroline jumped to her feet, took the food off the stove and set it aside. Maybe she’d have an appetite later. Taking her seat, she nodded. „Go on.“

„So I went home with Dave and made up with Pop. Pop and I came here to Grandma’s to be alone. Away from the others. He cried.“ Max stared down at his hands. „I’d never seen my father cry before that day, even when Ma lost the babies. He sat right here at this table and cried. And told me he loved me. That he was proud of me. That was probably the most profound moment of my entire life. And I have that“ – he swallowed hard – „as the last thing my father ever said. On our way back home I slid on some ice and drove my car into a tree and down into a ditch.“ His hands splayed flat against the table and he flinched when Caroline placed her smaller hands over his.

„And he died.“ She could say it for him. At least that much she could do.

„Yes. Thank God it was instantaneous. It would have killed Ma if he’d suffered.“ He drew a great breath, then let it out quietly. „There were many days I wished I’d died with him.“

Her heart tightened. „You were hurt in the accident.“

„I was hurt. My back was broken and I was paralyzed. My career was over. My father was dead and my mother was a widow.“

„And you blamed yourself.“

„Oh, absolutely.“ He turned his hands over and steepled his fingers with hers before lacing them and holding on. „It was my fault. Even if it wasn’t, it was. Still is.“

„And?“

Max raised his gaze to find her eyes brimming and lifted their joined hands to brush at her lower lashes, sending the tears streaming down her face. „Don’t cry for me, Caroline.“

She shook her head. „I’m not crying for what you are, or even what happened to you. I’m crying for what you felt, laying there in a hospital bed. Alone because you thought you had to be.“

Astonished, for a moment he could only stare. She’d hit the truth squarely on the head, a truth he’d never disclosed to another soul since the night he left his mother without a husband and his brothers and sisters without their father. „Exactly right,“ he said slowly. „I was more alone then I’d ever been in my life. And ready to give up.“

Caroline tried to pull her hand free, but he wouldn’t let her go, so she sat and sniffled until he put a napkin in her hand. „But you didn’t give up. What happened?“

„David happened. He wouldn’t let me give up. He pushed and prodded and nagged until I went to rehab just to shut him up. It took a long time just to be able to support my own weight and still I was in a wheelchair.“ He took a huge swallow of the water at his elbow. „I decided to finally do what Pop wanted.“

„You went to Harvard and got your Ph.D.“ Her tears well under control, she regarded him inquisitively. „How did you get into Harvard if your grades were so bad at UK?“

„Well, I stretched a little there. I never studied, but I managed A’s most of the time. B’s sometimes.“

„And that was by the skin of your teeth?“ she asked, faintly amused.

„For me, yes. I used to get straight A’s in high school without lifting a finger. Used to make Ma so mad at me. ‘You’ll never learn any responsibility, Max,’ she’d say.“

„She was wrong.“

„And you’re being kind,“ he returned with a smile and watched her eyes smile back. „So, yes I went to Harvard with my resident roomie, David. He went to make sure I did my exercises and all my rehab. Gave up some of the best years of his life to get me walking again.“

„I’d bet he considers it one of his greatest investments. He seems like a remarkable person.“

„He is. He liked you.“

Pleasure filled her eyes. „I’m glad. I’d like to meet the rest of your family someday.“

The merest glint of a grin tilted his lips and some of his sadness drained away. „Then come here on Saturday. All my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews will be here. It’s supposed to be a surprise party.“

„Then how do you know about it?“

„Ma let it slip yesterday. I have to promise to look shocked.“ He let his jaw drop and his eyes bug out. „How’s this?“

Her airy laugh filled the room and the pendulum of his emotion swung from melancholy to basic greed in a heartbeat.

„I’d say leave the acting to your brother,“ she responded, rising to salvage their dinner, then shrieking her surprise when he pulled her onto his lap.

Startled, Caroline stiffened when panic grabbed at her, but the fear was fleeting, simply melting away when his mobile mouth took charge once again, sending her deep into the heat of him. She lifted her arms around his neck and freely relinquished any thoughts of dinner or tragedies, allowing herself to absorb the wonder of being so desired by such a man. And that he desired her could not be disputed, the evidence currently pulsing against her hip. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and resistance never entered her mind. She hummed her satisfaction as he claimed the interior of her mouth as decisively as he’d seized her lips. He twisted, surrounding her, one arm around her waist and the other firmly grasping her upper arm as he pushed the back of her head against his shoulder and… plundered.

He couldn’t get enough, was the only thought that slipped through the dark haze. He’d explored every inch of her mouth, inside and out, turned her lips plump and pouty and it still wasn’t enough. His hand kneaded the softness of her arm but it was a poor second to the sensation he craved. Her full breasts pressed against his chest, the pebble hardness of her nipples taunting him through the barrier of their clothing. To hold her breasts in his hands had long surpassed mere wanting. It had become a blind compulsion and his fingers dropped her arm of their own accord, splaying across her ribs until his thumb and forefinger bracketed the full underside of one breast. Her quick gasp made him hesitate.

The damned telephone made him stop.

Swearing under his breath he lifted his head, drawing in great gulps of air, feeling as though he’d run a four-minute mile. She struggled in the circle of his arms.

„The phone,“ she panted.

„Let me machine pick it up,“ he growled.

„I can’t. It might be Tom. He’ll worry.“ She struggled again and he opened his arms with a scowl. Testing her balance, she gripped his shoulder with a trembling hand. Stifling a giggle at his glare, she drew a breath and lifted the receiver. „Hello?“

Max watched her face light up and felt his disgruntled attitude dissipate. It was hard to be angry when she was so happy.

„Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Hunter…. All right, then. Phoebe.“

Max winced in mild dread as Caroline’s dimples appeared in full relief. She was laughing at him, he thought, eyes narrowing. Revenge would be… sweet. The thought cheered him immensely even as his mother chattered in Caroline’s ear.

„He’s already invited me, but thank you.“ Blue eyes danced at his discomfort. „I’m looking forward to meeting the whole Hunter clan.“

Chapter Ten

Hickory, North Carolina

Thursday, March 8

8 p.m.

„Step aside. Sir!“ The „sir“ was tacked on, more afterthought than any show of respect.

Winters pressed his back against a wall to avoid the oncoming gurney with its accompanying team of trauma medical personnel. A nurse in bloody scrubs brought up the rear, running just behind the gurney holding an IV bag high in the air. The gurney with its entourage disappeared behind double swinging doors. A sobbing woman ran up to the doors wringing her hands.

„Mrs. Daltry, please!“ Another nurse wearing a smock covered in teddy bears caught the sobbing woman by the shoulders. „You can’t go in there. You need to let the doctors do their job.“

„Please,“ the woman sobbed. „She’s my baby.“ She hunched forward, and the nurse put a comforting arm around the woman’s shoulders. „She’ll be so afraid. I don’t want her to be afraid.“

„She’s getting the best possible care,“ the nurse soothed. „Let me find you a place to rest. Are you hurt anywhere?“

„No, just Lindsey. Oh, God, there was so much blood. How can she lose so much blood?“

„Sshh.“ The nurse stopped by an uncomfortable-looking chair. „Sit and try to calm down. Is there anyone I can call for you?“

„No, there’s no one.“ Dazed, the woman sunk into the chair. „No one,“ she whispered.

With a sympathetic look back the nurse walked to the station, then assumed her position behind it. Winters looked both ways before crossing the hall and approaching the nurses’ station. He cleared his throat and the nurse with the teddy-bear smock looked up.

She was in her mid-thirties, her dark brown hair dappled with gray. She’d be pretty enough if she dropped twenty pounds. Her name was Claire Burns and she’d worked in the orthopedic ward at Asheville General for ten years, up until she transferred four years ago. Importantly, she’d been there the same summer as Mary Grace. She was sixth on the list of hospital personnel provided by Randy Livermore, kid hacker extraordinaire. The first five had turned up nothing. He had some high hopes for Nurse Burns.

She was married to a Hickory-based CPA who’d met her at a charity fundraiser five years ago. She’d been working a booth, selling kisses for a dollar. The CPA contributed over a hundred dollars to whatever cause she was working for that day. They’d conducted a long-range relationship and he’d finally popped the question, married her and moved her to Hickory. They wanted to have a baby, but they’d been totally unsuccessful and had applied for adoption. They always kept their lawn mowed and never left their trashcans out on the street after garbage pickup day. She had very, very chatty friends both in Asheville and in Hickory. He doubted she’d be pleased at the information he’d obtained without even trying. Her tweezed brown brows rose in greeting.

„Yes? Can I help you with something?“

Winters smiled and smoothed his mustache with his thumb and forefinger. No slippage. Good. „I hope so. I’m looking for Claire Gaffney.“

The woman smiled distractedly. „That’s me. Or at least it was me. Gaffney is my maiden name. Now it’s Burns. Excuse me a moment.“ She leaned on one foot to look around him. Winters looked over his shoulder to see the mother of the injured child get up and walk toward the double doors to surgery. Nurse Burns opened her mouth, then closed it again as the woman stopped a few feet short of the doors, folded her arms across her chest and rocked, crying softly.

„I’m sorry,“ Nurse Burns said softly. „I just hate cases like this. The other guy walked away without a scratch. They got him at a point two on the Breathalyzer.“ Her fist clenched as she clutched one lapel of her teddy-bear smock. „I’m glad they took him someplace else.“

He’d been first on the scene of enough DUI wrecks to agree with her. „Will the little girl live?“

She shook her head. „I don’t know.“ Then she straightened and folded her hands on the purple semicircular desktop. „Why are you looking for me? Do I know you?“

„No, you don’t. I’m actually looking for a nurse who worked at Asheville General Hospital about nine, ten years ago. I understand you worked there then.“

She narrowed her eyes, suddenly on guard. „I did.“

He smiled again. Sadly this time. Her eyes stayed narrowed. He expected nothing less. Any woman cautious enough to use a Club to lock her steering wheel in a protected parking garage and who carried a spray canister of mace on her key chain was bound to be suspicious. „My reasons are completely aboveboard, I assure you. I had a sister. Her name was Jean. Jean died a few months back and in going through her things I found a letter addressed to someone named Christy. I remember her talking about Christy being a nurse at Asheville General around ten years ago. I’m trying to track her down, to give her the letter. I’ve checked the hospital records, but they didn’t have anybody by that name on the roster. I’m wondering if anybody remembers her.“

Nurse Burns tilted her head, eyes only slightly less narrowed. „How did your sister know this Christy?“

„Jean had gone to live with our grandmother who was really sick. She met Christy when she took Ma-Maw into the hospital for her treatments. That would have been summertime, nine years ago.“

Nurse Burn’s face relaxed. „Okay.“ She glanced over at the mother who was now pacing up and down the hall outside the double doors. Her brows scrunched as she thought. „I don’t remember a Christy at Asheville General. We had a Carla and a… Carol Anne. But no Christy.“

„Did you have any other employees named Christy? Any nurses in training perhaps?“ Winters had no idea the name of the woman he was looking for. Christy had been the name of the last hooker he’d arrested for soliciting. Christy had been anxious not to be arrested. They’d worked out a solution agreeable to them both. Very agreeable.

Burns shook her head. „No. We did have a summer volunteer that year, though. Her name was Susan. Susan Crenshaw. Pretty little thing. Couldn’t have been more than eighteen at the time. She was going to get her nursing degree. She shadowed the head nurse, Nancy Desmond.“

Tiny hairs on the back of Winters neck came to full alert, Bingo. „Doesn’t sound like the person I’m looking for. Did she have a lot of contact with the patients? The woman I’m looking for would have worked in oncology. My grandmother had cancer.“