MM02 - Until Morning Comes (17 page)

“You two would do well to forget about Dr. Gray's assets—whatever they may be—and get back to work.” She adjusted her cap once more and marched down the hall, stiff-backed.

Geraldine Martin rolled her eyes. “Nurse Vampire's back.”

o0o

Colter's patients were impressed by his unexpected visits. They seized their opportunities to regale him with their latest aches and pains and to spin endless tales of woe about the hospital food.

He listened to them patiently. Then he spent an hour reassuring them. Finally he carried his charts to the nurses' station. Fortunately, Nurse Martin was down the hall answering a distress call. Otherwise he would have been treated to another of her quizzes.

He left the hospital and drove to his clinic. It was closed on Sundays. He let himself in the back door, and without switching on lights, made his way to his office. He sat in his swivel chair and propped his feet on his desk.

He'd been fooling himself to believe that he could put Jo Beth out of his mind by working today. He crossed his ankles and leaned back to think. He loved her; that hadn't changed. He wanted her—more than ever, if that was possible. And she wanted him.

He smiled. There was no doubt about her desire. What he didn't know was her intention. Since he couldn't read her mind he'd have to deal with facts. She'd turned up at the baseball game and the marina. Coincidence? He didn't think so. She was stalking him.

The sudden revelation brought his feet crashing to the floor. Why hadn't he seen that before? She was using his technique—the Indian way of courtship—but with her own unique flair. The second stage was giving presents. And the third stage... He stared off into the distance thinking about the third stage of Apache courtship.

He couldn't expect Fate to keep dropping Jo Beth on his doorstep. If he covered her with his blanket this time, he'd for damn sure better not let her go. Instinctively, he knew that he wouldn't get a third chance. This was it.

He opened his desk drawer and took out a notepad and his favorite pen, the thick one with the big tip. He divided the paper into two columns. Then he began to list problems and possible solutions.

The process took hours. When he had finished, his future was outlined in bold black letters.

He put the pad in his desk drawer and the pen in the pencil holder. Then he leaned back in his chair, satisfied.

“Jo Beth McGill, I'm ready to let you conquer me.” He chuckled. “But I promise you, it won't be easy.”

Chapter Ten

Jo Beth knew Colter's habits. Jim and Hannah Roman had been knowledgeable and more than willing to help.

She sat on the deck of Jim's houseboat, waiting for Colter to appear. Jim had said Colter spent hours each night sitting on the deck of his boat, communing with nature.

Jo Beth glanced at her watch. It was already eleven-thirty. If Colter didn't show up soon, there wouldn't be any nature left to commune with. Clouds had been building in the sky since afternoon. Now they all but obscured the few stars that had been brave enough to shine.

Her feet tapped impatiently on the polished wood, and she was just getting ready to go below when she saw a shadow across the way. She leaned over the railing and squinted into the darkness.

“Out for a stroll, Jo?”

Colter's voice floated across the bay, rich as music and bright with good humor.

“I'm enjoying the cool night air. How about you?”

“I'd enjoy it more if you were by my side.”

“Is that an invitation, Colter?”

He laughed. “Do you need one, Jo?”

She didn't reply immediately, but lolled against the railing and lazily lifted her hair off her neck. She knew exactly what the sight of her hair in the moonlight did to Colter Gray Wolf. Only a sliver of moon was visible tonight, but it was enough. She stood directly in its path and fanned her hair through her fingers.

“If that's for me, I approve.”

She leaned over the railing once more and pretended innocence. “If what's for you?”

“That performance.” He clapped his hands, and the sound was magnified across the water. “Bravo, Jo.”

“Thank you. I do love an appreciative audience.”

“Do you love music, too, Jo?”

“Yes.”

He walked to a small table and turned on a portable radio. The melodic strains of “As Time Goes By” wafted across the bay. Colter reappeared at the railing.

“We missed our dance in the mountains, Jo. May I have this one?”

“Won't that be hard to do with you over there and me over here?”

“I can remedy that.”

Once more he left the railing of his boat. She saw him walking across his deck and watched while he disappeared over the side. She was still leaning forward, looking across at his boat, when he tapped her on the shoulder.

She whirled around. “How did you get here so quickly?”

“Apache secrets.” He caught her shoulders and gazed down at her. “You're wearing the blue dress.”

“I felt festive tonight.”

“Any particular reason?”

“It's this city, I guess. It's very romantic. Especially here on the water.”

His right hand slid down to caress her bare back. She shivered.

“It's a little cool for a bare back, Jo, even in California.”

She'd been thinking the same thing as she'd shivered in the breeze for the last two hours, waiting for him. But, of course, she didn't tell him so.

“I have warm Mississippi blood.” She wet her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. “Hot blood.”

“Let's find out just how hot your blood is.” He put one hand on her cheek, and she lifted her face toward his. He leaned down until he was only an inch from her mouth, and then he chuckled.

She jerked her head back.

“Did you think I was going to kiss you, Jo?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You were all puckered up.”

“I never pucker, Colter.”

He smoothed back her hair, watching the play of moonlight in its bright strands. “I remember, Jo.” His voice had gone as low and gentle as the murmur of a mountain stream. “You never pucker. You open.” He traced one finger around her mouth. She wet his finger with the tip of her tongue.

He brushed his lips against her temples. “Do you want to keep playing the game, or shall we put an end to it?”

“What game?”

He leaned back and looked into her eyes. He had his answer. She wanted to play out the game. He'd done more than send her away in the White Mountains. Without meaning to, he'd rejected her. He understood that now. He also understood that she had to get him back in her own way. She had to have her moment of triumph.

He'd give it to her.

“Let's dance, Jo.”

He put his arms around her waist and held her close. Her dance rhythms were the same as her love rhythms, beautifully fluid and impeccably timed. He leaned his cheek on her hair.

“I've never danced with you, Colter.”

“Do you like it?”

“Immensely.”

His arms tightened. For the first time since he'd left White Mountain, he felt Apache music stir his soul. He leaned close and began to murmur in his native tongue.

Jo Beth almost lost her step. The words she had waited so long to hear were falling upon her ear like a gentle spring rain. She had no idea what the words meant, but she understood them anyhow. They were the poetry of Colter's Native American soul. They were words of mystery and beauty. They were words of love.

Her spirit soared. She had found Gray Wolf. He had not vanished in this city of neon and noise—he had merely been waiting for her to bring him out.

When the words stopped, she tilted back so she could look into Colter's face.

“That's beautiful. Will you tell me what it means?”

“In the red light of evening I come to you. With wings of eagles I lift you up and carry you into the sky.”

The music of his radio stopped, but still they danced. Her skirts rustled in the breeze off the bay and her hair whispered around her face. In that moment, if he had held out his hand and said 'Come,' she would have gone with him. If he had called her Yellow Bird or told her she was his woman, she would have gone into his houseboat and never looked back.

But he didn't. Instead, he dipped her low, so low that her hair hung down and touched the deck. With one strong arm supporting her back, he leaned close to her face.

“Could you live in San Francisco, Jo?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“A point of interest.”

“It's so far from home... so far from Mississippi.” He raised her up and held her at arm's length. “But if the right man asked me,” she continued, “if someone I loved very much said to me, 'Jo Beth, come make your home with me,' I would.”

“What if that someone asked you to live in the desert or in the mountains?”

“Any specific desert? Any specific mountains?”

“Arizona.”

She tried to keep the hope from shining in her eyes and trembling in her voice. “Then I would say yes. Home is not a place, Colter. It's where love abides.”

“You once told me you didn't believe in love.”

She almost said,
That was before I met you, Colter.
But she remembered her purpose just in time. Make him ache for her, make him wait for her. And then, when she was certain he would never want to send her away again, only then would she speak of love.

“How can I know?' she said lightly. “It takes two to make love.”

“So it does, Jo.” He ran his hands lightly over her bare back. “If I had a tepee, I would take you captive.” He leaned over and ran his lips down the side of her throat.

She started to speak, and he moved his mouth to the front of her throat. His tongue found her pulse spot. She felt her resolve weakening.

“But I don't have a tepee,” he whispered against her throat. Then he straightened, smiling. “Good night, Jo.”

He left as quickly as he had come. She stood on the deck of her borrowed houseboat, astonished.
She
was the one who was supposed to say no. What was happening to the game?
Playing hard to Get
” had worked out fine, but Phase Two,
Willing but not Easy
, wasn't working out so well.

She kicked a deck chair. “Damnation.”

“Did you say something, Jo?”

Colter's voice floated to her through the sudden mists. She looked up, but could see nothing except fog. She assumed he was standing at his own railing.

“No,” she said. “I just bumped into something on my way to bed. Good night, Colter.”

“Good night, Jo.”

o0o

Jim Roman was just finishing his first cup of Monday morning coffee when his phone rang.

“Jim, I'm going to have to change my plans.”

“Jo Beth, is that you?”

“Yes. I hope I didn't wake you.”

“No. My little warriors have been up for an hour. What's up?”

“Coming to your houseboat was a really grand idea. And it's working... up to a point. But what I really need is a place where I can have Colter's undivided attention. I thought about it all last night, and here's what I want to do.”

She told him her plan.

After he had finished laughing, he agreed to help her. He had just hung up and was reaching for the coffeepot when the phone rang again.

“Jim, it's Colter.”

Jim chuckled. “Love does make early birds, doesn't it?”

“Has Jo Beth already called you?”

“She has. How long did it take you to figure out what was going on?”

“Not long. Everything clicked when I saw her on your houseboat. Jim, I don't intend to lose her again. Tell me her plans.”

“Hey, I'm double-crossing you, remember?”

“I'm asking for a double double cross. A man who would haul an antique bathtub up a mountain to win the woman he loves is capable of anything. Now, tell me her strategy so I can plan mine accordingly.”

“Whatever happened to Fate, Colter?”

“Fate is sometimes fickle. I'm not leaving my love life in the hands of Fate this time around.”

“Neither is she, buddy.” Jim outlined Jo Beth's plans.

o0o

Colter was not surprised when the call from ER came late that afternoon. In fact, he'd been expecting it for two hours and had begun to wonder whether Jim was pulling yet
another
double cross. His friend did have a wicked sense of humor.

“Dr. Gray, this is Nurse Langley in ER,” the nurse in charge of the hospital emergency room identified herself. “There is a patient here who insists on seeing you. She's adamant.”

“Who is she?”

There was a pause while Nurse Langley consulted her chart.

“A Jo Beth McGill. She was brought in by friends, a Jim Roman and his wife, but quite frankly I can't see a thing wrong with her. All her vital signs are fine and she looks healthy as a horse.”

“What's her complaint?”

“They're all very vague. First it's her heart and then it's her back and then it's her head.” Nurse Langley sighed. “I told her that Dr. Wright is the physician on duty, but she refuses to see him. What shall I do?”

“We can't be too careful these days. Too many lawsuits. I have one more patient to see, then I’ll be right down.”

Colter stifled his chuckle. Nurse Langley had done beautifully. Everything was in place—the staff was informed, a room in the unused wing of the hospital had been readied, and he was set to capture his Yellow Bird for all time.

o0o

Jo Beth hadn't bargained on this wretched hospital gown when she'd hatched her plan. She readjusted the tacky gown, trying to arrange it so only her best body parts showed through the openings. Then she looked at her watch for the fifteenth time. She'd been waiting an hour.

“Colter's not coming,” she said.

Hannah Roman, who was beautiful even in her ninth month of pregnancy, patted Jo Beth's hand. “Don't worry, he'll be here.”

Jim took his eyes off Hannah long enough to add his opinion. “Why don't you use some more of that powder? You don't look sick enough to me.”

Jo Beth re-powdered her face and practiced going into a decline on the narrow examining table. “How is that?”

“Perfect,” Hannah said. “You'll have Colter eating out of your hand.”