Gertie threw down the towel and dragged off her apron. “I’m going. I’m going.” She waved a hand as she headed for the door. “G’night.”
Pansy grinned and waved back. “Good night. Good luck!”
Gertie gave her a puzzled look and disappeared.
Pansy smiled as she lifted the last dish from the sink. She’d done her best to set the scene. Now it was up to Clive. She just hoped Gertie would appreciate her efforts when Clive invited her to go out with him.
Humming to herself, she carefully piled the dishes into the cupboard. Now she could go to bed and dream she was flying. All by herself over the ocean and on to foreign lands. What an adventure that would be.
Gertie stomped up the stairs, none too pleased at being cajoled into an errand that would make her late to relieve Daisy of her duties. Although, since Daisy had time off to go shopping earlier, it wouldn’t hurt her to stay up a bit longer.
That wasn’t what was bothering her now, though. After what Doris had said about Clive being in love with her, she was feeling awkward about seeing him again. Especially being alone with him in the darkness of the halls, late at night. Just thinking about it gave her goose pimples.
She was relieved to see that some of the lamps were still lit as she reached the foyer and crossed to the hallway. The long corridor leading to the ballroom was in darkness, however, and so far she’d seen no sign of Clive.
Just as she was about to find her way down there, she heard a scuffling sound from close to the ballroom doors. Squinting, she peered into the black shadows, but couldn’t see anything moving.
“Clive?” Her voice sounded loud, and a little shaky. She cleared her throat. “Are you there?”
From inside the ballroom came the shuffling noise again. She tried not to think of golden angels and missing locks of hair. The Christmas Angel couldn’t possibly be in the Pennyfoot, could he? She remembered Lizzie’s words, saying as how the killer went around chopping off people’s heads.
Little rivers of fear trickled down her back. Don’t be bloody daft. It’s not the killer. She called out again. “Clive?”
The scuffling stopped. The silence that followed was even more terrifying. Panic swept over her so suddenly she had no way to fight it. Uttering a yelp of fright, she dropped the box of wicks and spun around, intent on making it back to the foyer and the light. She charged forward and ran full tilt into a large, warm body.
“Oof!” Clive’s voice spoke in her ear as his arms wrapped around her. “What the devil?”
Warm with embarrassment, she shoved him away and backed off a few steps. “You bloody scared me to death,” she said, holding a hand over her heart. She could actually feel it pounding beneath her fingers.
“What are you doing up here this time of night?”
She peered up at him. He looked different against the flickering glow from the gas lamps behind him. Sort of dark and mysterious.
She felt awkward again, and wished he would go back to being the familiar friend who’d always made her feel comfortable. “I brought you some wicks.” Remembering that she dropped them, she looked back behind her. “They’re down there somewhere.”
“Wicks?”
His voice sounded funny, and she frowned. “Yeah, wicks. Pansy said you needed some new ones and she hurt her knee so I brought them up instead.”
“I see.”
He still sounded strange. She turned back to look for the box, mumbling, “I wish I did.”
“Never mind, Gertie. I’ll find them.” He came up behind her, and she flattened herself against the wall to let him pass.
“Wait!” Suddenly remembering what had scared her in the first place, she grabbed hold of his sleeve. “I think there’s someone in the ballroom. I could hear him moving around. I thought it was you.”
“In the ballroom? I’ll take a look. Wait here.”
“Not on your bloody life. I’m coming with you.” She took a tighter hold of his arm. “I don’t want to be alone out here.”
“All right, but stay behind me. Just in case.”
In case of what? She decided she didn’t want the answer to that. Creeping along behind his bulky body, she felt both scared and strangely exhilarated. Clive could take care of anyone, she told herself. Even the Christmas Angel. He would protect her. She liked the idea of that.
Clive halted, making her bump her nose on his back. “Sorry,” she muttered, then shut her mouth when he sharply lifted his hand.
She could just make out the outline of the doors to the ballroom. Very carefully, Clive pushed one open and stepped forward.
Gertie had a desperate urge to wrap her arms around his waist, but managed to restrain herself. She realized she’d been holding her breath too long and let it out on a puff of anxiety.
She heard the sound of rustling from across the room and ducked behind her protector, closing her eyes, though it was too dark to see anything anyway.
Clive stood so still she wondered if he was paralyzed with fright. Then, without warning, he uttered what sounded like a low curse and strode forward into the shadows, leaving her shivering alone by the door.
Her first instinct was to turn and run for her life, but the thought of Clive at the mercy of a deranged killer was too terrible to bear.
Flinging herself forward, she yelled, “You leave him alone, you murdering sod, or I’ll tear out your bleeding liver with my bare hands!”
Clive was over by the window. She could see his outline as she belted toward him.
He called out, “Gertie! Wait!” but she was on him, trying to drag him back toward the door.
“Come on, come on,” she said, over and over when he refused to move.
“Gertie.” His voice was gentle and not at all scared, like she would have expected him to be when facing a murderer.
It dawned on her then that maybe it wasn’t the Christmas Angel threatening him after all. In fact, she realized several things at once. That the window behind Clive was partly opened and the rustling sound was coming from the garlands hanging above them. That Clive smelled like the woods after a rainstorm-clean, fresh, and earthy. That he had his arms around her. That she liked it.
Coming to her senses and feeling foolish now, she backed away from him. “I thought…” She couldn’t finish what she’d thought.
“I know what you thought.”
Anyone else would have made fun of her, but he didn’t sound in the least bit amused. In fact, his voice sounded strange again, as if he was having trouble getting the words out.
She felt all shivery herself, hot and cold all at the same time. “So it was the wind making the decorations move,” she said, striving to sound normal.
“Yes.” He took a step toward her and she wished she could see his face. “Look, I don’t blame you for thinking it was… an intruder. I thought the same thing myself when I first came in here.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did. And, Gertie…”
“Yes?”
“That was very brave, and extremely good of you to come to my aid, considering what you thought was out there.”
She couldn’t seem to find the words she wanted. All she could manage was a mumbled, “That’s all right.”
“I won’t forget it, Gertie.” He took another step forward. “It meant a great deal to me.”
Warning bells started going off in her head. She didn’t want to feel this way. This was how it had started with Dan, and look at what had happened there. He’d broken her heart. She couldn’t go through that again. She didn’t ever want to hurt like that again.
“It’s nothing,” she said, backing away. “I would have done it for anyone.” With that, she turned and fled from the ballroom and didn’t stop running until she was safely inside her room with the door shut firmly behind her.