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will you? He broods.”
    “He’ll have to give me up one day,” she remarked.
    “You aren’t thinking that Granger might propose, for God’s sake?” he burst out, laughing coldly. “Marry a sweet little nobody like you? Fat chance, honey.”
    “I’m not your honey,” she shot back.
    “You were,” he said, his voice rough and soft all at once, his eyes intent. “You were the sweetest honey I ever tasted.”
    “The beehive is out of order,” she replied stiffly. “You’ll have to appease your appetite elsewhere.”
    “There isn’t anywhere else,” he said absently, watching her as the cigarette smoldered in his hand, its glowing tip as red as his waving hair. “There hasn’t been for a long time.”
    “I don’t believe in fairy tales,” she said. “If you’re quite through, I have things to do.”
    He shrugged. “Turned out into the cold,” he said, watching her. “Heartless woman.”
    “It’s spring, and it isn’t cold. And you’re one to be accusing someone of not having a heart.”
    “You don’t think I have one, Eleanor?” He laughed. “You might be surprised at the bruises on it.”
    “I would, if there were any.”
    “Nurses are supposed to have compassion,” he reminded her.
    “I have, for those who deserve it. I have dishes to wash, sandwiches to make….”
    “Wash your damned dishes, and forget making any sandwiches for me,” he muttered, turning to go. “The way my luck’s running lately, you’d probably make mine with a live pig.”
    She heard the door close and went back to her soapy water. It took a long time for her heart to calm down, and she thanked providence for removing his disturbing presence. She didn’t want to remember that night. Why couldn’t he go away and let her forget it? Just the sight of him was a constant reminder, an eternal opening of the wound. She closed her eyes and went quickly about her tasks.

Chapter Three
    E arly Saturday morning, Eleanor left her father sleeping soundly and drove to the Red Barn to get biscuits and coffee for herself and Darcy. The older nurse with whom she worked was still in her housecoat when Eleanor reached her small efficiency apartment downtown.
    Darcy blinked, yawning, her pale brown eyes bloodshot, her round face blank. “Coffee and biscuits,” she murmured dreamily, closing her eyes to smell. “Wonderful!”
    Eleanor laughed, following her friend into the apartment. The furniture was in about the same shape as that in Eleanor’s house, and she felt comfortable here. Not that Darcy would ever have put on airs, even if she’d had gobs of money. The two of them had become friends years before in high school. Darcy had done her nurse’s training in Lexington, while Eleanor had gone to Louisville. But now they found themselves workingat the same hospital, and it was as if the four-year absence had never been. They were as much alike as ever and had fallen back into their easy, close relationship with no trouble at all. Only Darcy had known just how deeply in love Eleanor had been with Keegan, although Eleanor hadn’t told even her best friend the full extent of her stupidity. But Darcy knew why Eleanor had left town when Keegan announced his engagement because Eleanor had cried on her shoulder for hours afterward.
    They sat at Darcy’s small white kitchen table and ate the fluffy sausage biscuits, washing them down with coffee. It was just after nine, and the city hadn’t started to buzz yet. Soon, however, the downtown traffic would be murder.
    “I needed that. Thanks!” Darcy smiled.
    “Oh, anytime.” Eleanor grinned. “Now, about that dress…”
    Darcy burst out laughing. “You shrewd operator! Okay, come on in here and let’s look it over.”
    It was a dream of a dress, silk chiffon that fell in soft folds around Eleanor’s slender body, a pale gray that emphasized her dark eyes and soft brown hair. She smiled at her reflection, liking the demure rounded neckline and the transparent sleeves