Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,2
his broad shoulders to hold on, her hand spread beside his neck. He was warm and comforting. It had been a long time since she’d been held by anyone, and it had never felt like this.
Santi knocked on the door.
Bernie could have told him that he could just walk in, but he wasn’t from here, so he didn’t know.
Plump Mrs. Brown opened the door, still wearing her apron because she offered supper to her roomers. She stopped dead, with her mouth open, as she saw Bernie being carried by a stranger.
“I fell,” Bernie explained. “He was kind enough to stop and bring me home...”
“Oh, dear, should you go see Dr. Coltrain?” she said worriedly.
“I’m fine, really, just a little bruised dignity to speak of,” she assured the landlady. “You can put me down,” she said to Mikey.
“Where’s her room?” Mikey asked politely. He smiled at the older woman, and she flushed and laughed nervously.
“It’s right down here. She can’t climb the stairs, so she has a room near the front...”
She led the way. He put Bernie down in a chair beside her bed.
“You need a hot bath, dear, and some coffee,” Mrs. Brown fussed.
There was a bathroom between Bernie’s room and the empty room next door.
“Can you manage?” the big man asked gently.
She nodded. “I’m okay. Really. Thanks.”
He shrugged broad shoulders. He frowned. “You shouldn’t be walking so far.”
“Tell her, tell her,” Mrs. Brown fretted. “She walks four blocks to and from work every single day!”
“Dr. Coltrain says exercise is good for me,” she retorted.
“Exercise. Not torture,” Mrs. Brown muttered.
The big man was thinking. “We’ll see you again,” he said quietly.
She nodded. “Thanks.”
He cocked his head. His eyes narrowed. “First impressions aren’t always accurate.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Gosh, was that an apology?”
He scowled. “I don’t apologize. Ever.”
“That didn’t hurt, that didn’t hurt, that didn’t hurt,” she mimicked a comedian who’d said that very thing in a movie. She grinned. Probably he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
He threw back his head and roared. “Police Academy,” he said, naming the movie.
Her jaw fell.
“Yeah. That guy was me, at his age,” he confessed. “Take a bath. And don’t fall in.”
She made a face at him.
His dark eyes twinkled. “See you, kid.”
He walked out before she could correct the impression.
* * *
He stopped at the front door. “That room to let,” he asked Mrs. Brown. “Is it still available?”
“Why, yes,” she said, flushing again. She laughed. “You’d be very welcome. We have three ladies living here, but...”
“I’m easy to please,” he said. “And I won’t be any trouble. I hate hotels.”
She smiled. “So do I. My husband was in rodeo. We spent years on the road. I got so sick of room keys...”
He laughed. “That’s me. Okay. If you don’t mind, I’ll have my stuff here later today.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
“How much in advance?” he asked, producing his wallet.
She told him. He handed her several bills.
“I don’t rob banks, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m a businessman. I live in New Jersey, and I own a hotel in Vegas. Which is why I hate staying in them.”
“Oh! You have business here, then?”
He nodded solemnly. “Business,” he agreed. “I’ll be around for a while.”
“It will be nice to have the room rented,” she confessed. “It’s been vacant for a long time. My last tenant got married.”
“I’ll see you later, then.” He hesitated, looking back toward the room where he’d left Bernadette. “She’ll be okay, you think?”
“Yes. She might look fragile, but Bernie’s tough. She’s had to be.”
“Bernie?” His eyes widened.
She laughed. “That’s what we call her. We’ve known Bernadette all her life.”
“Small towns.” He smiled. “I grew up in one, myself. Far from here.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “The lower number is my cell phone. If she needs anything tonight, you call me, okay? I can come and drive her to the hospital if she needs to be seen.”
Mrs. Brown was surprised at that concern from a stranger. “You have a kind heart.”
He shrugged. “Not always. See you.”
He went out, motioning for Santi to follow him. They got in the limo and drove off. Mrs. Brown watched it go with real interest. She wondered who the outsider was.
* * *
Mikey was all too aware of the driver’s irritation. “They told me to keep an eye on you all the time,” he told Mikey.
“Yeah, well, I’m not sharing a room with you, no matter what the hell they told