The Doctor and the War Widow (15 page)

“I’m sorry I made you relive something so painful.” Harley wiped the stray tear rolling down her cheek.

“No, you were right to ask. I’m only sorry I didn’t say something first before that woman did.” He touched her cheek lightly, tracing the path of her tears.

“Did you tell Kimberly about this?” Harley fought a surge of jealousy. She didn’t like that he’d shared any intimate information with Kimberly before he’d shared it with her.

“No, I didn’t.” He cupped her face in his hands. “Kimberly delved into my life when we were seeing each other. She found things on the Internet. She wanted to own me.”

“I see.” Harley gazed at the floor, shamed by her jealousy. “I hadn’t meant to pry.”

“No, you wanted to know.” He gazed at her. “You wanted to know because of John. You loved him. I understand that.”

Floodgates of loss cascaded over Harley. Her voice came out as one long sob. “I was only able to bury bits of him. He was so destroyed that—” She swallowed hard. Her voice shook. “I closed the coffin. They draped the flag over it.”

Abisi slipped an arm around her. She collapsed against him, sobbing.

“We’ve both lost so much, my Harley.” He kissed her with a lingering passion and drew her close.

Harley threw her arms around his neck and returned his kisses with a hungry desire. She moaned softly as his hands cupped her breasts in his hands and then ran her tongue along his neck until she found his lips. He slipped her blouse over her head and unhooked her bra with little effort. He stared at her with undisguised admiration and buried his face in her neck, whispering, “Never leave me, Harley.” She unbuttoned his shirt, running her lips along his chest and then making her way to his belt. She unhooked it with ease as he unbuttoned her pants. Within a few minutes, they were naked. He lifted her in his arms and made his way to the bedroom. Her legs locked around his waist as her arms closed around his neck.

Abisi deposited her on the bed, kissing her arms and legs with insatiable abandon. Harley groaned with rising desire as he sucked on her taut breasts. Warm liquid exploded inside her belly, sending shivers of hot delight through her body. Abisi let his lips linger along her flat stomach as white-hot surges of electricity made her limp. Harley clutched his shoulders tightly, drawing him down to her as her body gave way to every primal instinct within her being. She emitted a scream of unmitigated delight as the hot, erupting lava of his love spread through her insides.

The next morning, Harley awoke to the aroma of coffee and the alluring odor of fresh toast. When her arm fell on an empty pillow, she sat bolt upright, remembering their passionate night. She pulled on a T-shirt and shorts, making her way to the kitchen. Abisi was in the kitchen, applying butter to the toast. He smiled at her. He’d donned his pants but remained shirtless. She moved behind him, slipping her arms around his back. She gazed at his back. A hurricane tattoo now graced his other shoulder blade. Above it were etched the words H-A-R-L-E-Y. When had he added that body art? Harley giggled and kissed his back. He turned to her, wrapping her in his arms. “Would you like a repeat of last night?”

Harley traced the tattoo lightly with her fingertips and smiled into his face. “Why is my name over a hurricane design?”

“You, my darling, have created a hurricane within my soul. You’ve upset my very complacent life, and I like it.” Abisi cupped Harley’s face in his hands and kissed her lips until her body melted into his, breakfast forgotten.

Chapter 13

“I don’t want this woman bothering us again.” Harley looked from Carville St. James to his partner Joe Allen. A day had passed since Kimberly’s call, and she and Abisi had filed a restraining order against her.

Abisi slipped his hand into hers. He and Harley were sitting on the couch, facing the two police officers. The police sat on chairs across from them.

Carville cleared his throat. “Well, you filled out the paperwork, but there’s a problem.”

Harley’s gaze widened. “What kind of problem?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s right.” Joe Allen ran a hand over his balding head. “When we went to serve her, we couldn’t find the lady.”

Abisi’s hand tightened around Harley’s. “You mean she wasn’t home?”

“She’s never come home.” Carville gazed at Harley. “Joe and I are here to let you know we will pass outside the house more often to see that you’re okay. We have an APB out on her, but nobody’s seen her. She hasn’t shown up at her job, either.” He paused and frowned, “But I think you both need to be careful, really careful. It turns out this woman has had trouble in the past.”

“What kind of trouble?” Abisi stared at them.

Joe grunted. “Her ex-husband took out an order like you folks have. She apparently poured acid over his car one day.”

“She slashed my tires.” Waves of ice swept through Harley’s body. She shivered and leaned against Abisi.

“Now, you know that we will pass more often.” Carville smiled at her. “That’s a promise. My grandma is also watching this house, but like I said, you need to be careful.”

Harley nodded, smiled at the officers, and showed them out. She called after Carville. “Tell your grandmother I’m going to send her some of my cabbage.”

“Maybe you should move in with me.” Abisi enclosed her in his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.

Harley shook her head. “Nico, remember?”

“Nico can come with you.” Abisi let his lips linger along her face. “I’m developing a real affection for him.”

“She’ll just come after you then.” Harley bit her lower lip. She felt cold despite the warmth of his arms. “I’m not safe, and I won’t put you in danger.”

“We’re both in danger, anyway.” Abisi drew her closer. “Besides, it’s time I supported you. You’re not working.”

“Hey, I like being a bum. Nico and I sit around like old people. I write all day, and he sits at my feet.” As if to agree, Nico moved between them, gazing from one to the other while thumping his tail on the ground.

“Well, I’ll be calling you all the time when I’m not with you. The woman scares me, and I don’t like the thought of you being unprotected.” He cupped her face in his hands.

“I’ll be fine.” Harley feigned a lightness she didn’t feel. Then, a feeling of mischievous delight washed over her. “Besides, I need to start my next book. It’s about a psycho girlfriend.” She led him to her bedroom, her fingers locked in his.

“You’re joking, right?” Abisi laughed as he nibbled on her neck.

Abisi arrived home late the next day. He’d spent his late afternoon at a clinic when he’d left the hospital and was bone tired. He pulled into his driveway, anticipating a cold beer and hot shower. After the shower, he’d call Harley. As long as Kimberly’s whereabouts remained unknown, Abisi worried about Harley’s welfare. She was too stubborn and independent to move in with him. Well, he may just have to marry her. The prospect pleased him, but he was surprised by the direction of his own thoughts. His marriage to Maureen had been devastating and draining, but maybe marriage in the later years to a woman who accepted him as he was would bring him peace.

Abisi peeled his shirt off when he entered his bathroom and threw it in the clothes hamper. He made his way to the kitchen and took a beer from the refrigerator. It was then that he heard the shattering glass. Racing upstairs to the spare bedroom, he saw the inferno quickly engulfing the second story of his house. Someone had broken the window with a brick and then tossed a burning torch through the gaping hole. The odor of gasoline wafted toward his nostrils as he tried to fight the blaze spreading from his curtains to the wall and ceiling. He grasped a blanket from the bed and began beating the flames but to no avail.

Abisi began to choke as the smoke coiled around him. He beat at the flames and then retreated to his own bedroom. Frantically, he searched his closet for the few things he knew he could save.

Harley sat on her front porch with Nico at her side. He lay sprawled on her feet and gazed at her while she read the latest novel by James Lee Burke. Several neighborhood boys tossed a football to each other or whizzed by on skateboards. Harley sipped an iced tea and lost herself in Burke’s depiction of the South Louisiana landscape.

Jose, one of the neighborhood boys, ran up the steps of her porch. The boy was ten with dark skin and a mischievous grin, but he gazed at her now with large, dark eyes and gasped for breath. “You know Dr. Sharif,
si
?”

Harley closed her book and placed it at her side. She nodded. “
Si
, what’s wrong, Jose?”

Many of the neighborhood kids knew Abisi from the clinic and from the hospital. He only lived a few blocks away, and Harley had expected his call at any time. Since Kimberly had disappeared from the radar, Abisi called her sometimes four times a day. She didn’t expect him because he’d worked late, but she’d anticipated a call any moment.

Jose shifted from one foot to the other. “The house, Ms. Harley, it’s—”

Something was terribly wrong. Her heart almost stopped. “What’s happened to Dr. Sharif?”

The boy pointed in the direction of Abisi’s house. “A fire,
Senora
. The whole
casa’s
in flames. The doctor—” The boy stopped when the roar of a siren blasted the peace of the evening.

“Did you see Dr. Sharif? Was he in the house?”

“I don’t know, Senora.”

Harley raced from the porch like a marathon runner, Nico behind her. Her feet pounded the pavement, and her heart raced within her breast. She ran the whole way, finally rounding the corner to Abisi’s house. A fire engine was pulling into the street as she ran up the step. Nico was still at her heels. She rubbed his ears. “Get Donna and Mike.” They, too, lived a block away. The dog gazed at her doubtfully and tried to pull her away, nudging her with his nose and tugging on her pants with his teeth. “Go, Nico, I mean it!”

Nico glanced back at her as he ran in the direction of Donna’s house. Harley heard the firefighters yell for her to leave the premises. She heard Jose and his friends calling to her to come back, but she listened to none of them. Abisi was possibly hurt or suffocating inside that house, and Harley was determined to save him. She’d been too far away to save John. She wasn’t going to let another man she loved die. Pulling her blouse over her head, Harley held it over her nose and raced into the flames. She ran through every room. He wasn’t downstairs.

Her heart pounding like an anvil on iron, Harley headed toward the stairs. The familiar tightness gripped her chest. Only pure adrenalin kept her legs moving under her body. She was shaking and praying that she wouldn’t pass out. Harley realized with wrenching certainty that she’d sell her soul to save him or die trying. She wouldn’t leave the house without him.

Abisi had retrieved the photo albums containing his children’s pictures and jumped from the second story into a hedge immediately below the window. He cursed the day he’d ever met Kimberly Cheramie, but he had the memories of his children tucked safely under his arm. He prayed the witch would pay for destroying his home, but anything in it could be replaced. He’d heard the trucks. Maybe the house could be rebuilt. The pictures he had of Jordan and Jessica could not be recaptured, and luckily, he held them tight against his heart. Besides, he knew Harley would open her home to him if he were homeless. He would take care of her. Maybe he would even convince her to marry him. She was a traditionalist and would marry a man rather than live with him. Of that, Abisi was certain.

Abisi emerged from his clumsy jump with nothing lost but his dignity. Suddenly, he saw two small boys racing toward him. He recognized them from the clinic. One boy, eyes almost bulging from his head, exclaimed, “
La Senora
Harley ran inside the house.”

He dropped the photo albums and clutched the boy’s shoulders. “What are you saying, son?”

“
La Senora
thought you were inside. She ran in, too.”

“Sweet God!” Abisi sprinted toward the house and up the porch steps.

A brawny fire fighter placed a retraining hand on his shoulder. “Sir, you can’t go in there.”

“A woman’s in there!” Abisi threw off the man’s arm, but the other man only clamped on tighter.

“Once we have this under control, we’ll go in—”

Abisi hit him with a firm right hook to the jaw and ran inside.

The house was a cauldron of smoke and flame. Lifting an arm over his nose and mouth, Abisi ran through the house, searching for Harley. He found her upstairs. She was about to enter the room where the fire had started. He grabbed her arm. She turned a disoriented gaze on him. Her blouse dangled from her hand. She was only in her bra and jeans. Without ceremony, he threw her over his shoulder and headed downstairs.

Harley saw him approach like an apparition. She’d searched the whole house, running futilely from room to room. He was dead, and she’d never see him again. Suddenly, she didn’t care if the flames took her, too. What did life matter if the man she loved was lost in a furnace? Then, he was at her side, lifting her like a rag doll and racing down the stairs with her.

“You crazy woman!” Abisi set her on her feet but held her tight. “What in the name of God were you thinking?”

Harley’s heart thumped inside her breast. She fought for breath as she gazed up at him. He was supporting her. She couldn’t stand by herself, and her legs trembled painfully. Through blurred vision, she saw Donna and Mike run from their car with Nico trailing them. She gasped, “You’re alive. I thought you were dead. You’re alive.” Suddenly, the world was spinning out of control and went black.