Midnight Kiss (13 page)

He wrapped his arms around her. How was he to combat the truth? He wasn’t God. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t keep Paddy alive forever. “He’s a tough old bird, honey. His condition is stable, and with the proper care he should be able to continue to cheat at checkers for a long” --he wiped away a tear with his thumb-- “long, time.”Autumn sniffed. “You’re just saying that.”

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a tissue. “Why should I be nice to you after what you did tonight?”

“The deal had been called off.” She blew her nose.

“Not by me it hadn’t.” He caught a lone tear clinging to her lashes with his finger. “Making that deal is one of the best things I have ever done in my life.”

She blinked. “It is?”

“It’s what brought us together.”

Autumn’s heart slammed against her ribs. “It was, wasn’t it?” She encircled his neck and toyed with the ends of his hair. She felt something sticky and pulled her hand away. Her fingers were black. “Does this stuff wash out?”

Thane held up her fingers and scowled. Without saying a word he dragged her to his office and turned on the sink faucet. He squirted a mound of liquid soap onto her palm. “Scrub.”

She scrubbed and rinsed. Without lifting her eyes, she grabbed the dispenser again and pumped a small mountain of soap on her hand. Her fingers were turning bright red from the rubbing when Thane turned off the water and handed her a paper towel. Three fingers still had a grayish tint. “Maybe shampoo will work better.”

Horrified, he stared at her hand. It hadn’t washed off.

“Now, Thane, calm down.” She poked a finger into the black strands. It looked hopeless. It was going to take days to get all the coloring out of his hair. “I’ve got some shampoo that should take it right out.”

A groan sounded deep in his chest. He had seen the look on her face when she examined his hair. It wasn’t coming out.

“Tell you what, I’ll even volunteer to shampoo it.”

A tiny spark gleamed in his eye. Maybe having his hair permanently dyed wasn’t that bad. “In the shower?”

Autumn saw the heat in his gaze. “I don’t know. You remember what happened the last time we were in the shower?”

Thane grinned. “How could I forget?”

Autumn laughed as she backed away. “I’m beginning to think I’ve been set up.”

He glanced at his watch. “This is almost over, right?”

“It should be.” She heard the distant voices coming from the dining room. “Let’s help clean up so that we can go home.”

Thane bowed, gently cupped her elbow, and steered her out into the hall. “That, Ms. O’Neil, is the best offer I had all day.”

Autumn chuckled at the picture they created walked regally down the corridor. The count and his banshee woman. Her chuckle faded as they entered the dining room. Instead of the residents drifting off to their rooms, they appeared to be settling in for the remainder of the evening.

She spotted Reko arranging some residents in a circle. Shrugging at Thane, she walked over to Reko. “What’s going on?”

“No one got to hear any of the stories or play any of the games we had set up because of the movie. So, the staff got together and we decided the residents could stay up longer than usual if they wanted to.”

Thane felt his promised shower slipping away. “Why wasn’t I consulted?”

Reko grinned at the gruesome couple. “I didn’t think you’d want to be disturbed.”

Autumn flushed scarlet under her makeup and avoided looking at Thane. She’d bet the entire staff knew about the scene Reko had walked in on earlier.

Thane moved protectively closer to Autumn. “You could have disturbed me anytime you needed.”

“We can stay up, can’t we, Doc?” Augusta asked.

“Please, Doc. We didn’t get to do anything yet,” Beatrice whined.

Thane looked at the elderly pair and glanced around the room. Nurse Russell was passing out pumpkin cookies and orange punch. The kitchen staff had prepared trays of orange Jell-O in preparation for making jigglers. A group of six ladies were positioned around the trays fighting over who was going to use what cookie cutter to cut out the jigglers.

He glanced at Autumn. She had noticed the fun and excitement filling the room. He mustered a small smile, thinking,
When you can’t beat them, join them.

Autumn read Thane’s answer in his eyes. She flashed him a winning grin that promised he won’t be sorry for staying.

Thane put his arms around Beatrice’s and Augusta’s shoulders and gave Autumn a last wishful look. He led the pair over to the refreshment table and flashed his fangs. “Do I look like a party pooper to you?”

“Lord, child,” Paddy said as he climbed into bed, you look terrible.”

Autumn smiled sweetly at her grandfather. She knew exactly what she looked like. What makeup was left on her face was smeared or globbed, her hair resembled a haven for bats, and her costume looked as though she had slept in it for a month. She could give banshees a bad name. “It runs in the genes.”

“Brat.” He settled under the covers and yawned. “You don’t have to worry about me chasing the Kissing Bandit any longer.”

“I don’t?”

He flashed her a toothless grin.

Autumn sat down on the bed. It was late, past Paddy’s normal bedtime, and she was anxious to start on a promised shampoo job. She wasn’t in the mood for a guessing game. “I give, why?”

His chest puffed out. “Lil said I was her real-life hero.”

Impressed by her grandfather’s prowess, she asked, “What brought that on?”

“She heard about how I gave security the slip and staked out the women’s wing.”

Autumn didn’t have the heart to point out that the night nurses weren’t security. “Ah, now that you have Lillian’s undying admiration, the Bandit doesn’t upset you?”

“Right.” His eyelids started to droop. “Even told Doc to leave him be. He’s the other guys’ problem now.” A small, satisfied smile touched his lips. “Let the other guys figure out how to sneak by old hatchet face Nagel.”

She brushed back a lock of his hair and kissed his cheek. “’Night, Paddy.”

“I remember a time when I use to tuck you into bed.” His eyes drifted shut. “Isn’t it funny how things change?”

“Get some sleep.” She stood and turned off his light. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

Autumn stood in the darkened room and watched as her grandfather drifted off to sleep. Thane didn’t have to expose the Kissing Bandit, Paddy would be kept safe, and the ladies would still have their mysterious visitor. Everything was working out. Or was it? Thane was still a hero, and she was still a coward on the run.

She slumped against the door and hugged herself. The man she loved was going to despise her when he found out. With each passing day the feelings she had for Thane grew. The first night they made love she knew she was in love. It had grown so much since then, she was unsure what her feelings were now. Was there something beyond love?
Love
was such an inadequate word. It was used so frequently that it didn’t seem fit to use it to describe what she felt toward Thane.

Thane came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Ready?”

She leaned into his warmth. Whatever her feelings were toward him, she wasn’t about to sabotage their growing relationship willingly. “Yeah.”

He picked up on the distress in her voice and peered into the room. “Is Paddy all right?”

“He’s fine.”

Thane tried to study her expression but he couldn’t see beyond the makeup. “Come on, Cinderella, time to go home.”

Autumn looked down incredibly at herself. “Cinderella?”

He hugged her closer to his side as he led her down the hall. “To me you always look like a princess.”

#

Autumn looked up from the child’s rocker she was painting and grinned at Thane. He was covered in dust and scowling at the mess surrounding him. “I told you it was hopeless.”

“Nothing is hopeless until you have given up hope.” He climbed over a desk and rooted through a cardboard box. “I haven’t given up hope yet.” He pulled out a crystal candy dish and a bamboo basket in the shape of a fish. “Hey, these are in pretty good shape.”

She went back to painting the small picture she had sketched on the back of the little rocker. “You said that about the brass-monkey bookends and the nature encyclopedias too.”

“Well, they were in great shape.” He opened up another box. When he had accompanied Autumn to Second Chances, he had had an objective in mind. He wanted to straighten out the back. It was proving to be a bigger job than he had anticipated. The room was crammed with undiscovered treasures. Every box unearthed another prize for his inspection. “Where did you say Paddy got all this stuff?”

“Most of it came from flea markets and auctions.” She bit the end of the paintbrush and studied the drawing. It was turning out even better than she had hoped. “Paddy loved spending his days off looking for bargains. If he found an old vase with a price of five dollars, he’d offer two and then sell it for seven.”

Impressed, Thane inspected a kitchen clock. “Nice profit.”

Autumn chuckled as she put the finishing touches to the rocker. “Paddy’s problem was he liked to haggle and buy, but he didn’t like to part with any of his finds.”

Thane glanced around. “I’ve noticed.” He repacked the clock, a tennis racket, and canteen he had just pulled from the box. The job was hopeless. Autumn would have to open the doors and give the stuff away to make a dent in the room.

He shifted a microwave cart out of his way and plowed a path back to Autumn. “Do you go to flea markets and auctions too?”

“No, the only stuff I’ve bought so far is from people who come in off the street.” She closed up the paint and dunked the brushes into an old mayonnaise jar filled with water.

Thane examined the rocker. If he hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have believed it. The plain pink chair had been sitting on top of the workbench when they opened the shop at nine. It was now twelve, six customers later, and the chair had been transformed into a keepsake. Autumn had painted an adorable teddy bear wearing a floppy straw hat and a string of pearls on it. Any little girl would love it. “You never told me you had art lessons.”

Surprised, Autumn stopped cleaning up. “That’s because I never took any.”

“You’re kidding! You painted this with no formal training?”

“Thane, I realize you probably went to college, medical school, were an intern, and served your residency, but running a used-goods shop doesn’t require formal training.”

“I know that, but you are a very talented artist.” He waved his hand at the sketches she had pinned to a cork board over the worktable. “Why didn’t you study art in school?”

Autumn started to tighten the lid on every paint bottle jammed on the shelf. “I’m not an artist, Thane. I’m just somebody who enjoys fixing things up.”

“With paint?”

“Yes, with paint, nails, screws, or whatever else is needed.” She nervously lined up a set of screwdrivers by size.

He knew her and with insight he said, “But mostly with paint.”

Exasperated, she snapped, “Paint hides a multitude of sins.”

“Why are you denying your talent?”

“What talent? I’m a doodler, Thane, nothing more. Talent is something you’re born with.” She gazed at the rocker. It was cute, but there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it. “Believe me, artistic abilities don’t run in the O’Neil blood.”

Hearing the underlying tension in her voice, he quietly asked, “What does run in the O’Neil blood?”

Autumn avoided his perceptive gaze. How could she tell him police work had run in her family for the past five generations? His next question would be why wasn’t she still on the force. She’d give up carrots before she’d admit to being a coward. She’d not only frozen up while on the job, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to save her own life. Every O’Neil, especially Uncle Liam, who died in the line of duty, must have rolled over in their graves. “Every O’Neil to date has red hair and green eyes.” She turned off the light above the work area and prodded Thane toward the patchwork curtain. “Are you hungry? There’s a little shop around the corner that sells one of the best Italian hoagies I’ve ever tasted.”

Thane frowned as she locked up the shop. She dodged his question like a pro. Except she forgot one very important fact. Being Paddy’s doctor, he knew the family history. Every O’Neil since Paddy’s grandfather, down to every one of Autumn’s four brothers, had been or was a police officer. That was the second time she had avoided the subject of police work, the first one being when she made a comment about her hair clashing with the blue uniform.

He held open the car door and waited while she slid in. A staggering thought occurred to him as he shut the door—she was hiding something! Open, straightforward, delightful Autumn was concealing a secret. The woman who could make him lose control with just a touch was holding back. The lady who had brought laughter and love into his life didn’t feel comfortable enough with him to share something from her past.

Thane started the car and headed in the direction Autumn indicated. If they had a chance at all of making it together, they needed to talk, not only about their pasts but about their present and especially their future. “I have an idea.”

Autumn breathed a sigh of relief. For a while there she thought he was going to resume the subject of her painting. “What’s that?”

“We’ll pick up lunch and drive out into the country. It will be the last chance to see the colors of fall. Winter will be upon us before we know it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Great, and when we get back, I’ll show you where I hang my clothes.”

“You mean besides my closet?”

Thane pulled up to the curb in front of a small sandwich shop. “I do have my own bed, you know.” He reached over and lightly brushed a kiss across her mouth.

Teasing, she asked, “So, why have you been sleeping in mine for the past two weeks?”

“Because” --his mouth returned to hers for a more heated kiss-- “that is where you have been.”

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