Almost Midnight (23 page)

Fritz chuckled. “No, hiding is not Max’s way.”

“You know, Grandpa, every time I see you with that mountain stick, I think you’re either mad at one of my uncles, or my dad, or ready to make them marry somebody.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy laughed. “Just don’t think about using it on me someday. I’m never getting married.”

Fritz laughed. “I can’t promise that, but let’s work on one man at a time.”

Jeremy waved to his Uncle Rafe who was surrounded by four beautiful women. “He looks kind of lonely, even with all those pretty ladies by him.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. But we’ll make sure he isn’t lonely for long. Okay, partner?”

“Okay, Grandpa.”

While staring at Rafe, Fritz bent over and whispered in Jeremy’s ear.

Jeremy laughed and shifted his gaze back to his uncle Rafe.

Rafe looked up from his drink and stared back, a frown forming on his lips.

Fritz waved his cane Rafe’s way. “You know, Jeremy, I’m starting to like this matchmaking after all.”

Jeremy giggled as Rafe started walking their way. “He knows something, Grandpa.”

Fritz snickered. “That boy of mine thinks he knows everything. It may take more than a few months, but after I’m done with him, he’ll realize that love is the most important thing of all...”

CHAPTER ONE
(ALMOST TWILIGHT)

Almost Twilight

Excerpt, Copyright © Teresa McCarthy, 2012

All rights reserved

It wasn’t as if Candy Richards wanted to be stuck on top of her best friend’s roof on a lovely summer day, but she had no intention of jumping two stories either. In fact, she had no intention of moving at all.

“Don’t jump,” nine-year-old Jeremy Clearbrook called up to her as he palmed the rescued baseball in his catcher’s mitt. “You’re right. The ladder broke when it hit the ground.”

“I am not going to jump. Just let me think.”

Sweat beaded along Candy’s brow as she lifted her gaze toward the horizon where a blanket of pink ribbons settled gently over the Rocky Mountains. The scene reminded her of the layers of pretty frosting she had seen in one of the children’s books she read to the kids at the hospital.

Clearbrook Valley was one of the most beautiful areas in Colorado, especially at sunset. She could easily see why the Clearbrook ancestors had chosen this area to settle. Yes, it was even fit for their ancestor the Duke of Elbourne. She wondered what the Clearbrook family had been like when they had lived in England two hundred years ago.

She looked at the ground and groaned. At least she wasn’t stuck on the roof of some English castle. But hey, what was the difference? Two stories or five? The drop could kill her either way.

She brushed a lock of chocolate brown hair from her eyes and caught Jeremy’s eye.

“You can think while I go for help,” he shouted. “Uncle Rafe told me never to panic in times like these.”

“Well, don’t call him,” Candy cried, trying to figure a way down. The young, handsome Dr. Rafe Clearbrook was the last person she wanted seeing her like this. “Jeremy, do you hear me?” 

But her cry fell on deaf ears as Jeremy disappeared past the front steps of the Clearbrook mansion, the screen door slamming closed behind him.

With a groan of despair, Candy forced herself to count to ten and relax. At twenty-five-years old, one would think a woman her age would have thought twice about climbing a rickety ladder to retrieve a stupid baseball.

Never mind that she was the one who threw the ball up there in the first place, or that she felt responsible since she was Jeremy’s babysitter for the night. Never mind that she was a pushover for kids, always had been, always would be. Never mind that she was stuck up on the roof, looking like a fool. Never mind, period. She just wanted down.

It would have been a glorious night to sit back on the Clearbrook patio, sip on a homemade strawberry daiquiri, and take in the smells of the clean, mountain air and fresh cut grass.

But no, like a super hero, she had to offer to retrieve Jeremy’s baseball from the gutter.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes, feeling the cool breeze ripple along her T-shirt. It was going to be dark soon. Daydreaming wasn’t going to help her here. Duke or not, she just hoped Jeremy was calling the right Clearbrook!

The boy’s father Tanner and step-mom Hannah, who was Candy’s best friend, had forgotten their cell phones, both of which were still charging on the kitchen table.

The couple had been barely married a year and were still acting like newlyweds. They had gone out to the movies only five minutes ago, so they wouldn’t be coming to her rescue.

Even Fritz, Jeremy’s grandfather who acted much younger than his sixty some years, was out playing checkers down at Pete’s Deli. The wonderful man would help her in a minute, and he did have a cell phone, but unless it was an emergency, he’d told Jeremy to call Rafe. The older man was in some tournament, and he meant to win.

This was an emergency in a way, but Candy didn’t want anyone seeing her like this. She knew how ridiculous she looked stuck on top of Tanner Clearbrook’s roof. But whoever Jeremy called, there would be fireworks.

Given a choice of rescuers, she’d prefer the fire department, or yes, even Fritz, but not Jeremy’s uncle, Mr. Handsome-as-sin-know-it-all himself.

Steadying herself, she spread one hand on the roof beside her. The ceramic tiles beneath her jeans were bumpy, uncomfortable, and slightly cool. She realized she wouldn’t be in this sorry predicament if she had just extended her lease on her apartment like she had wanted to. Yet living with Jeremy’s parents did have its blessings, and she would have babysat for Jeremy anyway, so what did it matter?

She was saving money to buy the house she wanted, and at least her dream home didn’t have a high roof like this one.

She dropped her gaze to the neatly mowed front lawn and grimaced. Calling Fritz wouldn’t help, she realized. There really was no one to help her but the fire department. Then everyone in town would know what she had done. It was all so humiliating. 

At that moment, something flitted near her head. A bat! No, two bats! 

“Jeremy?” Her voice was a pleading squeak. Nothing but silence, then the rumble of a car zipping up the street.

“Jeremy, would you come out here, please?” 

She closed her eyes again and bit her bottom lip.

Bats. She hated bats.

What had she been thinking, climbing that ladder? She, a nurse of all people, should have known better. She was lucky she hadn’t broken a leg. But the night was young, she thought glumly. Young and filled with bats.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?”

Candy’s blood froze at the sound of Rafe Clearbrook’s amused voice. Dreading the inevitable, she shifted her gaze to the brick driveway below.

The sight of the dark-haired doctor stepping out of his red Porsche sent her heart skidding to a halt. He was dressed in a blue polo shirt and a pair of ragged jeans, not the usual attire of a millionaire doctor on his day off. He usually visited his brother Tanner, Jeremy’s father, at least two times a week.

Why not today and make her night complete? 

As she continued to glare at him, his smoky gray eyes seemed to crinkle with amusement. Even his tanned face seemed to glow with mischief at the absurdity of her situation.

Good job, Candy. This is all you need.

She purposely looked over his shoulder, not caring for the warm feeling that shot through her veins every time she met his gaze.

“I’m taking in Clearbrook Valley’s lovely scenery,” she said, answering his absurd question. “Just go away.”

Acting like a cocky teenager, he leaned a pair of long legs against his car and crossed one muscled arm over the other, resting them against his chest. “Looks to me that you’re plain stuck up there, sweetheart. Want some help?” 

Help? From him?

He seemed to be enjoying this bit of revenge, and help was the last thing she’d ask from that egomaniac. If she weren’t mistaken, the man was still upset because she had turned him down for a date last night.

When another bat flew by her head, she forced herself not to react like a complete idiot and clenched her hands against her jeans. “Don’t c-call me, sweetheart.”

The man had the audacity to laugh. “All right, Nurse Richards, don’t get your hackles up. You jump. I’ll catch you. How about that?”

“Sounds like some Saturday morning cartoon.” 

Her words were cool and clipped, but inside an embarrassing heat crawled down her spine.

Was he kidding? Dr. Rafe Clearbrook, one of the most eligible bachelors in Clearbrook Valley, was intelligent, shrewd, and powerful, not to mention a millionaire who had dated every eligible nurse in the hospital but her, and that was exactly how it was going to stay.

Just because that come-hither-to-grin had most women falling at his feet, it wasn’t about to change her decision to jump in the least. No falling at his feet for this petite brunette. Nope, no, and no!

He stared up at her, his eyes never leaving her face. “I am assuming Tanner and his lovely bride are out tonight and you are home alone?”

“No, I am not home alone,” she snapped. “Jeremy is home with me, so no need to worry. We have this situation totally under control.”
What a lie that was!

His laugh rippled along the roof. “It sure doesn’t look like you have everything under control. That is, unless you’re a roofing contractor.”

She glared at him. “That is not very funny, Doctor. J-just go away.” She didn’t need him to be here when the fire truck arrived. That would be mortifying.

He put a hand to his chin, studying the situation. “This may take some thinking.”

She took in a shaky breath, hoping the firemen would get there soon. Her courage was deserting her. “Would you please leave?”

“I don’t think so. Besides, this isn’t a game of twenty questions, sweetheart. You are bigger than a bread box, but if you hang yourself over the side, I assure you, I
can
catch you.”

“Hey, Uncle Rafe!”

Candy caught sight of Jeremy vaulting onto the mansion’s manicured lawn. Hopefully the boy had called for help because the man below sure wasn’t taking any steps to get her down. He seemed to love every minute of her humiliation.

Rafe stepped forward, ruffling Jeremy’s light brown hair. “Hey, buddy, looks like this calls for some emergency thinking.”

Candy groaned. Emergency thinking? The man was a doctor for heaven’s sake. What could he do for her unless she fell?

“I was calling the fire department,” Jeremy said, frowning as he glanced up at Candy, “but when I heard your car, Uncle Rafe, I told them to forget it because my uncle just pulled in the driveway.” The boy shifted his gaze back to Rafe. “I would have called Grandpa, but he’s at that checkers tournament, and he doesn’t like being bothered when he’s winning.”

Candy moaned. No fire department. That was just great!

Rafe raised a smiling, but arrogant brow toward the roof. “Ah, so it’s just you and me, Jeremy. And of course, Nurse Richards.” 

He flashed Candy a set of sparkling movie star teeth. “So, you see, sweetheart, it looks like all there’s left is for little old me to rescue little old you.” 

His eyes roamed over her body as if indeed she were a pintsize thing, which to her frustration, she was, especially compared to him.

“Alas, how inconvenient for me,” she replied icily.

She wondered if she would get down from the roof before morning. Those bats were bound to come back any minute, and knowing Rafe, he might use them to his advantage.

She narrowed her gaze toward the man below. That smirk hadn’t left his face. “Don’t look at me as if you’re wondering how I got up here.”

Rafe rubbed his hand across the light stubble of a five o’clock shadow. “Hmmm, and I thought coming down from there was the problem.”

Candy let out a frustrated sigh. Why? Why her? 

“You fly up there?” he asked sarcastically.

Jeremy let out a belly laugh. “That’s a good one. Fly.”

“Jeremy,” Candy snapped, cutting off the boy’s laughter. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get down from here within the next millennium.”

Jeremy’s eyebrows rose about an inch. “Oh, yeah, sure thing. What should we do Uncle Rafe? She broke the ladder.”

Candy gasped, her doe brown eyes widening in outrage. “I did not break the ladder.”

Rafe walked across the grass and inspected the loose ladder rung resting on top of the burning bush near the bay window. After a few seconds, he shook his head in disgust, tilting his head back to her, his mouth twitching in amusement.

“Hate to say it, little woman, but looks broken to me.
Busted
is more like it.” 

Candy gritted her teeth. That man! “So help me, if you don’t stop joking and start thinking of a way to get me down from here—”

Another bat came whizzing by her head. She screamed. Her entire body jerked, whipping her brown hair across her face.

“Candy!” 

Jeremy’s shout couldn’t help her. At that moment, her feet flew out from under her. Her sandals flipped into the air. Her arms flapped against her sides. And that’s when she started to slide. Her heart pounded with fear a second before her body left the roof.

“Hold on, sweetheart. Just hold on.” 

Dr. Rafe’s voice was as calm as a summer wind, and if Candy weren’t hanging onto the gutter by her fingernails, she would have walloped the man.

“What do you think I’m doing, flying?”

“Okay,” Rafe countered, as if he were speaking to one of his patients. “You can let go now. I’ll catch you.”

Candy could barely see past her chest. Her fingers were slipping, scraping against the gutter. She was about to fall one and a half stories. Not much by a skydiver’s standards, but she could break something valuable...like her head. “I can’t hold on much longer. I wish Jeremy had called the fire department!” 

“Trust me, sweetheart. Just let go.”

A lump of sheer panic lodged in her throat. “I c-can’t see you.”

Jeremy yelled up to her. “He’s right below you, Candy. Uncle Rafe is real strong. I saw him carry Betty Spikes from the pool last summer, and she weighs at least as much as you.”