“Does she need a doctor?” someone asked.
“Is it a heart attack?” someone else queried.
“Oh, my God!” Delia cried.
“Water started to drip from the ceiling again,” Joe explained to the audience at large. “I had to tell her.”
Elise choked. “Joe, it’s okay. I just forgot to eat lunch, that’s all.” Then her face crumpled into laughter again, which the crowd mistook for pain. The whole situation was just too much! One misunderstanding followed another.
A hand came out to shield her face, turning it in to the fine woolen material of a blazer. “I think she just needs some time alone,” Robert Fairmont said quietly but with dignified authority.
Pauline rushed up, called away from the children by someone who had witnessed the scene. Her round face was pallid, full of fear. “What’s happened?” she demanded. “What’s wrong? Elise?”
Robert swept Elise fully into his arms. She kept her face buried against his shoulder. Suddenly she wanted to cry. Laughter had evolved into tears.
“I’m taking her home. She needs to rest,” he said. He turned to Joe Santori. “Why don’t you call her later this afternoon to let her know what the plumber says. I’m sure she’ll want to know.” Joe nodded agreement.
Elise took a series of unsteady breaths as she felt herself being transported through the front door and onto the porch, then along the sidewalk to the line of parking slots that angled off the street. She peeked around the architect’s shoulder and saw that the little group of concerned people had followed them onto the porch. They watched as he placed her feet on the ground and dug in his pocket for the keys to a dark blue Mercedes.
He opened the door and bent to lift her inside, but she stopped him.
“I can get in myself,” she said.
He pulled back to look at her. “Are you sure?” he asked.
She nodded wordlessly.
He stood back, ready to lend assistance if needed. But it wasn’t needed...not this time. While crossing to the driver’s side, he waved to the small crowd and called out something, something she didn’t understand.
She watched as he slid behind the wheel, secured her seat belt and his own, then brought the engine to life. The car smelled of leather and a good men’s cologne, and its engine purred with understated power and efficiency.
Certainly this wasn’t the way she had expected to leave the library today!
“WHAT DID YOU SAY to them?” she asked.
“I told them you were better. There’s no use in them continuing to worry.”
“Thank you,” she said simply.
He shifted position. Obviously his intention was to look over his shoulder and reverse out of the parking slot, but he stopped short to look at her. The shiny buttons of his blazer had been set free and the material spread to show that no spare flesh hung over his belt when he sat down. The belt itself was of high-quality leather, black, matching his shoes. The creases in his slacks were precise, disappearing only along the hard muscles of his thighs.
Elise’s gaze whipped away. She wasn’t accustomed to examining men so closely. Particularly men whose masculinity vibrated forcefully in the air around them.
“You are, aren’t you?” he asked.
Elise had to search for his meaning. Finally she connected it to his earlier assurance to the crowd. She nodded tightly. “Oh, yes. I’m fine.” Yet her hands twisted in her lap and her body was as taut as an overstrung bow. He continued to watch her. Unable to stand it any longer, she at last demanded, “What is it? Why are we still sitting here? I thought you said you were going to take me home.”
She knew she sounded the exact stereotype of a spinster librarian who found herself in close confines with an attractive, eligible male. Instinctively, her gaze shot to his left hand. He wore no ring, but that didn’t signify anything. Any number of married men didn’t wear rings anymore.
He smiled and she twitched uncomfortably in her seat. Had he seen her quick glance at his hand? Elise wanted to leap out of the car, but her legs felt like twin weights. They didn’t want to move.
“Well, I was,” he explained drolly, “but I don’t know where ‘home’ is. Would you like to direct me?”
Elise bit her bottom lip. “Go down this street to the right. Turn left, then left again after the fourth stop sign.”
“It’s all right, you know,” he said calmly, not having moved.
“What is?” she asked. She didn’t want to look at him anymore or talk to him. She just wanted to go home, go upstairs and stretch out in her bed. Maybe she had pushed herself a bit too far.
“To laugh when everything seems darkest. Sometimes it’s the only thing a person can do to protect his sanity.” He shifted the car into reverse and backed into the street.
There was a great difference between riding in a Mercedes and riding in her Escort. Bumps in the road were barely noticeable. Trees and grass and houses seemed to glide by in a haze of comfort. He took the first turn smoothly, effortlessly. But instead of relaxing, Elise grew more tense. Ultimately she burst out, “I shouldn’t be doing this! I’m needed at the library. And my car! What am I going to do about my car? I’ll need it later.”
“Can’t someone at the library drop it off for you?” he asked.
“I can’t ask anyone to do that! No, this is silly. Take me back, please.”
He glanced at her. “They won’t be happy to see you return so soon. They were ready to call an ambulance.”
“But you know I wasn’t that bad!”
“I do, yes. But they don’t. If you go back now, they’ll worry. They’ll watch you, dissect your every move. Is that what you want?” When she didn’t answer, he continued, “Tell you what. Why don’t you take off a couple of hours. Get some rest. Satisfy everyone. Then I’ll take you back to the library myself.”
“I still don’t think...”
“It won’t fall down without you, you know. Contrary to popular belief, the building looks fairly sturdy. And even if you were there and it did fall down, would you be able to hold it up all by yourself?”
“You’re making fun of me!” she accused.
He glanced away from the street. “Not really.”
The Mercedes slid to a halt at the final stop sign before making the next left. Elise wanted to continue to argue, but held her tongue as she reluctantly admitted that what he said was true. Everyone would watch her, waiting to see if she might weaken again. And she would hate that, even if it was done in the name of caring. Also, there was the concept of living to fight another day. Maybe, just this once, she should take a little time to gather her strength so that she could deal with all the difficulties that were to follow...which included her meetings with this architect! It was apparent that she was going to need every bit of energy she could muster.
* * *
“TURN RIGHT at the next corner,” Elise said, continuing her instructions.
Her voice held a musical quality even as she perched stiffly on the seat next to him. Robert did as she requested, steering the car onto a street of houses that looked to have been built sometime between the two great wars. None contained any unique