Down from the Mountain. Barbara Gale

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СКАЧАТЬ find her modesty laughable, but it wasn’t anything she was used to. So she struggled to remain calm, trying to find him with her sightless eyes.

      David understood immediately. “I’m here, to your right. We have to talk.”

      “Now? In the middle of the night?”

      “Sorry, but I wasn’t watching the clock. Unfortunately, Harry Gold is. And I wanted to know why you disappeared today.”

      “Why I disappeared? What about you? You made yourself pretty scarce, too!” Ellen sniffed.

      “True.” He couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at his mouth. Her indignation was charming, but in giving him the cold shoulder, Ellen had unintentionally given him another wonderful eyeful. Scanning the smooth sweep of her elegant shoulder, the delicate curve of her spine, the satin sheen of her skin in the moonlight, he thought it was ironic that he’d been asked to protect the one woman in the world who might need protecting from him. Having not seriously looked at a woman in years, he was susceptible to a pretty face. A few years back, when he’d still harbored hopes of a normal life, he’d fallen hard for a little blonde from Lake George. It had been a complete disaster. Although the girl had been willing to see him, her parents had come down on him as if he were a freak. It was his last attempt at a normal relationship. The enchantment of romance would never be his. If it happened sometimes that the grief that lingered challenged the thin veneer of his pride, like now… Well, he thanked God that Ellen couldn’t see his fists clenched at his side, see how dry his lips had become, see how hard he strove to speak.

      “Look, lady,” he finally rasped, trying to sound as normal as possible, “let’s not equivocate. Harry needs our decision by noon. What’s it going to be?”

      “That’s up to you, isn’t it?” Ellen reminded him, impatience coloring her voice.

      “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “That I’m at your mercy, for goodness’ sake! Either you agree to help me, or you don’t, but I certainly can’t win an argument over this. I can’t force you, can I?” she exclaimed.

      In the face of such odds, David admired her spunk. “True enough. Okay, then. This operation of yours. What’s it all about?”

      Ellen didn’t know how to answer. How did she explain the chance of a lifetime—or at least, the hope of one? How could she describe what successful surgery would mean to her? How could she describe its failure? It served no purpose. Since David had no idea what it meant to be handicapped, she wasn’t sure she could find the right words to explain it. In the end, she decided not to try, to just stick to the facts. He wasn’t stupid, just ornery. He’d figure the rest out for himself.

      “There’s a doctor in Baltimore named Charles Gleason. Have you ever heard of him? He’s been doing a great deal of research on my type of eye condition, using laser beams. He’s had success—in varying degrees—returning sight to the blind. It gets him a lot of press coverage. And guess what?” she laughed, though there was no humor in the sound. “It seems his father was a friend of your father’s from their college days. When John read about this research, and found out who was doing it, he begged—well, maybe ordered is a better word—the famous Dr. Gleason to examine me, to see whether I was a viable candidate for his research. I had nothing to lose, you see.”

      She shivered, but David knew she wasn’t cold because he heard the resignation in her voice. Disturbed, he paced the room. For the first time he noticed how carefully the furniture skirted the walls. In deference to her blindness, he supposed. Come to think of it, most of the house was set up like that, even if it was a fancy mansion. Was this what his father intended for him to do the next two months? Keep Ellen out of harm’s way; wrap her in cotton wool until the big day?

      Baby-sit, for chrissake?

      “Go on,” he prompted her while he tried to get comfortable on a delicate lady’s chair never meant for his bulk. “The operation?”

      Ellen jumped, startled by the sudden force of David’s deep resonant voice, so how unlike his father’s light lilt. In her world, so heavily invested in sound, David’s husky voice was mesmerizing. She could have listened to him speak for hours, he cut right through to her senses. Too bad the rest of him came with that great voice. Even now she could detect the irritation he tried so unsuccessfully to hide.

      “Right,” she sighed. “Dr. Gleason. Well, there’s not much else to tell. No one could refuse John Hartwell once he’d made up his mind, and he convinced Charles to take me on.”

      “Charles?” David frowned.

      “Dr. Gleason insists that I call him Charles,” Ellen said lightly. “He says it’s more friendly-like.”

      I’ll just bet, David swore to himself as he stared at the rise and fall of Ellen’s breasts in the watery moonlight.

      “Be that as it may, there was quite a waiting list and I couldn’t be scheduled for surgery until this fall, October fourth, to be exact. It’s been a long wait, well over a year, and something tells me John knew he wouldn’t be there. Now that I think about it, that would explain his curious will, wouldn’t it?” she said thoughtfully.

      David didn’t answer. He was still mulling over Charles.

      “Anyway,” Ellen continued, reining in her sorrow, “I need to be in Baltimore a day or two prior to the operation, for a battery of tests. I can stay in a hotel, but I obviously can’t negotiate Baltimore alone. I need an escort and I guess John thought you were the best candidate.” She shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry.”

      David was incredulous at her casual apology. “Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about? You’ve just inherited two million dollars. That’s a helluva lot of seeing-eye dogs!”

      Ellen’s mouth twisted wryly. “You don’t mince words, do you, Mr. Hartwell? I’m simply trying to say that I’m sorry you’ve been assigned this distasteful job, I’m sorry that you’re being blackmailed for your share of your rightful inheritance, and I’m sure sorry that I can’t do something about it. But like I said, you don’t have to help me.”

      “Oh, sure, right, like I have a choice. I just walk away and live with my conscience for the rest of my life, knowing that I blew your opportunity to live a normal life!”

      “I know,” Ellen agreed sadly. “It’s blackmail, any way you look at it. I just hope you believe that I had no hand in the matter.” She waited for his assurance, but wasn’t surprised when it wasn’t forthcoming. A hex on the strong, silent type, she swore silently, and tried another tack.

      “Would it help if I said I wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

      His skeptical laugh ruffled her feathers.

      “I’m perfectly able to care for myself,” she continued. “I can even cook, once I know where everything is…sort of.”

      David’s silence was unnerving until it occurred to Ellen that she was looking at the situation solely from her point of view. “Oh, you’re afraid I’m going to invade your privacy! Oh, don’t be,” she begged. “I’ll be the original invisible woman. Women!” she gasped. “Oh! You’re afraid I’ll be in the way of you and your…er…women friends.” She blushed hotly.

      “Dammit all!”

      “Oh, СКАЧАТЬ