A sigh of disappointment escaped from Perry. "May I look in on him for a moment?"
"Of course, Miss Perry. As soon as you slip this in your pocket." He held the money out to her once more and smiled as she did as he'd instructed. "Hunter's been given a drug to help him sleep, but you're welcome to visit." Abram opened the door and stepped aside, allowing her to enter. "I'll see that you're not disturbed. Take as long as you like." He slowly closed the door, leaving her and Hunter alone.
Timidly Perry moved to Hunter's bed. A single candle threw its yellow glow around the room. She watched Hunter's chest rise and fall in sleep. His hair half covered his sleeping eyes. She reached up and softly brushed it away so she could study his face one last time.
How could any man be so handsome? she thought. She may have saved his life, yet he added something new to hers. She'd never met a man who so fascinated her, whose slightest touch could make her blood run hot. She remembered the rainy night they'd spent in the plantation and how his words had made love to her. He'd given her one thing she'd never had: someone to dream about. Her body ached even now from the need to touch him.
Perry let her fingers drift down Hunter's cheek and touch his lips. Leaning over silently, she touched her lips to his lightly and the excitement thrilled her. She moved her palm to cup the side of his face, allowing her fingertips to brush his hair. He'd never know how much he'd added to her life. How in a moment of nightmares he'd given her the strength to go on, the hope to believe, the will to dream of another time besides war, another emotion besides hate.
Hunter moaned and his eyes opened slightly. Sleepy gray pools looked up at her as his lips thinned into a smile. He whispered, "Good night, my angel." Then he drifted back into sleep, as if her kiss were a nightly occurrence.
Perry's eyes widened in surprise. She remained only an inch from Hunter as she thought, He still doesn't think I'm real. He thinks he's dreaming. The idea intrigued her. She bent down again, touching her lips to his. Again she felt the warmth of his mouth, and a fire ran through her. She felt she was opening a door ever so slightly. If this were only a peek inside, think what must lie within. She allowed her lips to move slowly across his strong jawline. This night she must remember, for she might never see so clearly again.
Smiling, Perry lifted her head to look once again at Hunter's face. She couldn't say good-bye to him, for he would always be in her thoughts and dreams.
"Someday," she whispered in his ear. "Someday I'll lie next to you again. I know it in my heart."
Hunter gave no answer and Perry grew braver. "I'll visit you every day until I prove that I'm a real woman and not a dream." She slid her fingers along his bare shoulder, loving the feel of his tanned skin. "Someday you'll touch me with more than just your words."
As she leaned to brush her cheek against his, a knock sounded at the door. She reached the knob as the orderly met her. She avoided his eyes, not wanting him to interfere with her thoughts. "Where's Abram?" she whispered before he could speak, wondering why Abram had left his guard post.
"He got called away by some captain who stormed in like the devil were on his tail. They went off to yell at each other in the front office."
A tiny quiver of panic touched Perry's heart and she glanced around, half expecting to see Captain Wade Williams storming toward her with a hangman's noose swinging from his belt.
The orderly misread her frown and smiled a silly grin. "Now don't worry, miss. We'll have him ready to move to your house first thing tomorrow morning. When the doctor told me Captain Kirkland's fiancee was going to take him to her parents' home to recover, I never thought you'd come tonight."
Looking at the orderly for the first time, she stated, "Sir, I'm not Captain Kirkland's fiancée." Her words seemed to slap the orderly sober. His eyebrows raised in surprise and interest.
A commotion at the front desk saved Perry from any questions. A young woman and a man were arguing loudly in the center of the hallway. Their shouts echoed up and down the quiet halls likes cries through a canyon. As the orderly approached, the woman raised delicate gloved fingers toward him.
"Sir," she said, addressing the orderly, "would you be so kind as to show me Captain Kirkland's room." Sugar dripped from her words, a sharp contrast to what Perry had heard only moments before when she was arguing with her companion. The young woman was very beautiful, blond curls encircling her face. She was richly dressed and carried herself as one accustomed to luxury. Perry was reminded of a china doll she once had. All beauty and no warmth.
"You can't do this!" the man beside her yelled. "I won't have it, do you hear me? Not tonight."
The young lady turned on him. "I'm going to see Hunter. You have no right to tell me what you will and won't have. Tonight or any other night."
The man made an exasperated sigh. "All right, Jennifer, go see him. I'll wait for you in the carriage."
Jennifer smiled at him. "You always do, Richard." Though her voice was sweet, her words were venomous.
Perry slipped past the desk and the young couple. She was sure they could hear her heart breaking or see the tears bubbling from her eyes. Yet the two seemed wrapped in their own private war as Perry ran unnoticed the few feet to the entrance hall.
She didn't notice a young captain step from an office where he'd been talking to Abram. The captain raised a scarred eyebrow and followed her out of the hospital.
Chapter 9
The April wind whistled between the abandoned buildings in a night song of sorrow. Perry's throat constricted, imprisoning a sob.
"You've been a fool," she told herself. "A fool for believing you meant more to him than a dream means after dawn." Why had she allowed herself to believe there was a future? Hadn't her dreams been swept away from her often enough to teach her that fate was as heartless as a stone?
The evening shadows hid her heartbreak as she passed an intersection crowded with celebrating soldiers and vendors plying their trades. Perry saw the people only as obstacles to be maneuvered around, for in her mind she was alone. Always and forever alone! She built on Hunter's words until she'd believed they'd have a future someday. She'd been a naive child to heap her hopes atop a wounded man's dreams. The love he felt*toward her was only the passion he manufactured in a daydream, nothing more. Tonight the last threads of innocence snapped inside Perry and she vowed that rational thought would forever replace childish fantasy. She'd live without passion, both in her dreams and in her life.
The thunder of horses' hooves rumbled behind her. Perry lifted her skirt an inch and hurried toward Molly's place. The steady fall of hooves seemed to pound into her heart the same words, over and over. Hunter loves another. He loves another.
From deep within her came a pride that had always carried her through. She'd lived before she met Hunter and she would survive now. Yet his lies had stung her deeply. He'd whispered to her of loneliness and longing when he'd planned to marry another. He'd held her as though she were as vital to him as his own blood, and she'd believed she belonged to him. But he had held another close as well.
Perry rushed on, paying little attention as a carriage drew nearer. She turned down the side street half a block from Molly's gate. The buildings were large and close to the street, making the road seem like a tunnel through brick. The thundering horses grew louder. The clicking sounds echoed off the buildings like rapid gunfire. She glanced back, suddenly fearing being trampled.
The creak of the carriage door screamed in the darkness. Perry jumped back, pushing herself against the brick as a man bounded out of the speeding coach. He was dressed in black and carried a dark cape.
Perry screamed as he advanced. For a moment her feet seemed unable to move. She pushed harder against the wall, as if a hidden door would suddenly swallow her. The shadowy figure moved toward her with swift, intentional steps. Her sorrow was forgotten as fear climbed her spine. She glanced around the narrow street for help or an escape. Before she could move two steps, the huge cape came around her like the curtain of death and smothered out all light.