Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)(2)

She paused, listening. There was a sound from the hallway. She turned, umbrella poised. If necessary, she would hit the guy, then run. She was pretty sure Webster would run with her, thinking this was just more happy puppy fun.

The bathroom door opened and a guy stepped out. A tall guy wearing nothing but jeans. He had a towel in one hand and was using it to rub his just washed hair. In fact, staring at the tall, well-muscled man, Noelle would guess he’d just washed the rest of himself, too.

She paused in the middle of the hallway as several thoughts moved through her brain. First, few burglars bothered to shower while on the job. She didn’t have actual working knowledge of that as fact, but was willing to assume it was true. Second, while she knew she’d never seen the man before, something about him was familiar. Third, he was really handsome, with light brown hair and dark blue eyes. And had she already mentioned the body to her brain? Because it was good, too.

They stared at each other and she remembered her list. Right. Fourth... Her gaze dropped and she swallowed. He had a nasty-looking cut on his left hand—complete with raw flesh, black thread from stitches and—

“Oh, no,” she whispered as the edges of her consciousness seemed to fold in on herself. “Not blood. Anything but blood.”

For someone who had been through what she had, it was pretty funny that the sight of blood made her woozy, but there it was. Life with a sense of humor. Her stomach roiled, her skin got clammy and she knew she was about an eighth of a second from crumpling to her knees. If that happened, she didn’t think Webster was up to saving her.

She bent down to shorten the distance to the floor and hopefully save herself from a lasting brain injury.

* * *

Gabriel Boylan stared at the half-collapsed blonde. “This is why I hate the suburbs,” he told her as he dropped his towel and moved toward her.

“Can you hear me?” he asked, speaking loudly.

She waved toward his hand. “Keep that away from me.”

Her voice was weak and she seemed to be swaying. He swore under his breath, noticing even as she started to go down that she was still brandishing that ridiculous umbrella in his direction. Great. His brother had fallen for someone insane.

He grabbed the umbrella and twisted it out of her grip, then lowered her the rest of the way to the floor. She groaned. He took in her paleness and rapid breathing and figured she was close to fainting.

The annoyed, I-really-don’t-like-people side of him wanted to let it happen. At least unconscious she would be less trouble. But the doctor in him knew that wasn’t the right decision. He shifted her so she was on her knees, then pushed her head down.

“Head lower than the heart,” he told her. “Slow your breathing. You’re fine.”

“You can’t know that,” she managed to say.

“Want to bet?”

When it seemed like she was going to stay conscious, he returned to the bathroom and quickly wrapped his left hand. The deep cut was still tender and oozing. He was lucky—he’d been stupid to get injured in the first place, but while it was ugly, no permanent damage had been done. A good thing considering he needed his hands to make a living.

When the tape was secure, he shrugged into a clean, long-sleeved T-shirt, then walked back into the hallway.

The woman had straightened and was staring up at him. Her gaze dropped to his hand, then darted away.

“Thank you for covering up,” she said, her voice low.

He assumed she meant the wound and not his chest. “You’re welcome.”

The puppy settled next to her, leaning heavily on her, ready for the next round of whatever it was they were playing.

“You’re sensitive to blood,” Gabriel said.

The woman winced. “I know. It’s ridiculous. I always have been. You’d think I would get over it, but no. Oddly, I can deal with getting a shot, as long as there’s no bleeding. Otherwise, I have to close my eyes.” She drew in a breath, then looked at him. “Who are you?”

Gabriel frowned. “Gideon didn’t tell you?”

“I haven’t talked to him recently.” She paused, as if trying to remember how long it had been. “I guess I’ve seen him in town but we haven’t spoken.”

Now Gabriel was confused. “You’re not Felicia?”

The woman scrambled to her feet. She was a tall blonde—too skinny for his taste, but pretty enough. She wore black jeans and a ridiculous sweater decorated with tiny Santa heads. Like he’d said before—the suburbs sucked.

“No, I’m Noelle,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Gabriel.”

He was going to say more but her blue eyes widened. “Gideon’s brother?”

He nodded, unable to figure out why someone he’d never heard of was chasing people with an umbrella in his brother’s house. Not that there was an appropriate place for that sort of thing.

She smiled. Whatever else he was going to grumble about faded as her mouth curved. Because the second she smiled, he felt a whole lot better about nearly everything. His hand hurt less, he wasn’t as tired and the avalanche of regret he felt at showing up in Fool’s Gold reduced itself to a small rock-slide.

Talk about a trick.

The smile widened. “Oh, wow. I didn’t know you were coming for sure. You’re the doctor, right? Felicia mentioned she’d asked you to stay for the holidays, but I thought you’d said you couldn’t make it. I’m Noelle Perkins. Felicia and I are friends. I have a store in town and I know Gideon, of course. And Carter.”