In Blackhawk's Bed. Barbara McCauley

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СКАЧАТЬ My friend, Lori, is going to work with me two or three days a week, plus Mrs. Peterson next door has already offered her help if I need it. I’m not foolish enough to think I’ll have full occupancy the minute I open my doors, but there’s only one motel in town and we get quite a few people traveling through here.”

      “Looking for the world’s largest fruitcake?”

      She smiled, didn’t seem to take offense at the slight mocking tone in his voice. “As simple as it might sound to you, the giant fruitcake Wilhem’s Bakery bakes once a year is this town’s claim to fame. Most of the people who live here take it very seriously. And believe it or not, we get our fair share of tourists. With only one small motel in Ridgewater, I should be able to make a living, at least enough to support me and the girls.”

      She turned at the knock on her front door. Her expression was apologetic when she looked back at him.

      “My neighbors kept a respectable distance while the doctor was in here with you,” she said with a sigh. “But they can only be held at bay for so long. Whether you like it or not, you’re a hero, Mr. Granger, and the town of Ridgewater, Texas, home of the world’s largest fruitcake, is about to welcome you.”

      Three

      Hannah kept a safe distance from Seth for the rest of the evening. Not that she could have gotten close to him even if she’d wanted to. The town’s phone wires had been burning up since Detective Granger had plowed through her fence and rescued Maddie, and there’d been a steady stream of people coming through the house for the past two hours to meet this mystery man. And though Hannah certainly didn’t approve, Maddie and Missy were the belles of the ball, receiving as much attention as Seth, with everyone telling them what brave little girls they were and patting them on the head. The twins were eating it up and had been eager to retell the incident over and over, embellishing the story each time, until it appeared that Seth truly was the man of steel.

      The only thing missing was his red cape and a big S on his chest.

      While Maddie and Missy sat together on a chair in the living room and told their story one more time to Helen Myers, a waitress at the town’s diner, Hannah stood by the kitchen door and watched Billy Bishop attempt to pump Seth for information. Though he’d been stiffly polite to the people who had come to meet and gawk at a real, live superhero, Seth was having no part of Billy’s questions.

      He still sat on the sofa, his leg on display as if it were a war monument, his face looking as if it might crack at any moment. Everyone oohed and ahhed and shook their heads with sympathy while Billy asked Seth what he’d been thinking when he’d so selflessly snatched Maddie from the tree branch. Seth glared at the twenty-three-year-old, spiky-blond-haired reporter, and Hannah doubted that Billy really wanted to know what Seth was obviously thinking at the moment.

      Like it or not—and clearly he didn’t—Seth Granger was big news in Ridgewater. Outside of barbed wire and armed guards, Hannah could see no way to keep her neighbors and townspeople away.

      At least they’d come prepared, she thought as she looked at her dining-room table. At present count, she’d received three casseroles, a broccoli-bacon salad, two apple pies, a pecan coffee cake and one half-frozen fruitcake. Since Hannah had set out plates, silverware and coffee, the noise level in the room had dropped several decibels while people ate.

      “I saw the whole thing,” Hannah heard Mrs. Peterson tell George Fitzer, who’d just arrived on the scene and was filling a plate with macaroni and cheese. “He was amazing. Truly amazing.”

      “We should give him a trophy,” Mrs. Hinkle, the town librarian said.

      “For heaven’s sake, Mildred.” Mrs. Peterson rolled her eyes. “The man didn’t bowl a perfect game, he saved a child.”

      “Well, maybe a medal, then.” Mrs. Hinkle reached for the last piece of coffee cake. “Or a plaque.”

      “I know what I’d like to give him.”

      Startled, Hannah turned at the sound of the voice behind her, saw the look of appraisal in her best friend’s eyes as she stared at Seth.

      “Lori Simpson,” Hannah whispered over her shoulder, “shame on you. You’re a married woman and mother of three.”

      “What?” Lori, a pretty redhead with big green eyes, gave Hannah an expression of complete innocence. “I was going to say a coconut cream pie.”

      Hannah lifted one brow in doubt.

      Lori stared across the room and grinned. “And after I smeared the whipped cream all over his body, I’d slowly lick it all off and—”

      “Stop.” Hannah felt her cheeks start to warm. In fact, she felt her entire body start to warm at the image Lori had just given her. “You have a gorgeous husband who adores you. How can you talk like that?”

      “Oh, Hannah, I’m kidding.” Lori looked back at Seth. “Sort of. And for heaven’s sake, it’s not as if I’d ever do anything like that. Well, except with John, of course. That man is absolutely amazing in the bedroom. Just last week he—”

      “Stop!” Hannah put a hand over Lori’s mouth. The last thing Hannah wanted to hear about right now was her best friend’s bedroom escapades. She didn’t want to hear about anyone’s bedroom activities, for that matter. Since her own sex life was so abysmal, it was better to simply leave that subject alone. “Where’s John?”

      “He’s home with the kids. Patrick is working on his one-year molars and Nickie, my little drama queen, had a wart burned off her pinkie today and is walking around as if the doctor had amputated.” Lori watched Elma Thumple walk in with a plate of brownies and snagged one as the woman passed by. “Bless his heart, John offered to stay home so I could come over and meet the man who saved my goddaughter’s life. So give me details. Tell Auntie Lori exactly what happened.”

      Lori might not officially be Maddie and Missy’s aunt, Hannah thought, but Lori had been through the worst of everything with Hannah for the three years since her divorce. Hannah didn’t know how she would have made it through everything without Lori’s friendship. As far as Hannah was concerned, Lori was as real a sister to her as if they had shared a mother.

      “Maybe later, Lor.” Hannah shook her head, blinked at the sudden moisture in her eyes. “It’s been a long day. A tough one.”

      “Oh, honey.” Lori frowned and slipped an arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “Knowing this town, I assumed the accounts had been grossly exaggerated when you hadn’t called me yourself.”

      “I—I was just so…dazed. And frightened. It all happened so fast.” Darn it, where were these tears coming from? The last thing she needed was to start blubbering in front of all these people. “I’m sorry.”

      “Never mind.” Lori hugged her. “We’ll talk later, over a bottle of wine and a box of tissues.”

      Hannah had replayed the scene over and over in her mind at least a hundred times in the past three hours: Seth climbing out on that branch while Maddie hung in midair, Seth pulling Maddie up, then handing her over. The crack of the branch and Seth falling. Every single time those images flipped through her brain, Hannah felt her breath catch and her heart stop.

      She looked at Seth now, and once again her heart stopped. Only this time, it was because he was looking at her.

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