Silas hesitated.
“Give it,” Mary demanded, a cough racking her lungs.
The older man handed her the microphone.
Mary waved the cameraman closer. “For the record, Santa will be fine, he isn’t selling Christmas Towne, Operation Santa will go according to schedule and Christmas will happen as it does every year. Merry Christmas, everyone.” Then she forced a smile. Once the cameraman lowered the camera, Mary threw the microphone as hard as she could. It landed with a soft whoosh in a snowdrift. A loud round of applause rose from the people gathered around to witness the spectacle.
Satisfied she’d set the record straight, Mary collapsed back against the stretcher and proceeded to cough so hard she thought she might hack up a lung. The EMT pulled the mask over her face and the coughing eased. As he wheeled Mary toward the second waiting ambulance, she had only one thought left in her exhausted brain. Where was Nick?
* * *
Nick staggered through the shattered, gaping front door of Christmas Towne in time to hear Mary’s speech and the applause of onlookers. When rescue workers pushed her stretcher toward a waiting ambulance, Nick gathered his last bit of energy and hurried toward her. He had to know she was all right.
Long, blond hair matted with soot lay tangled against the clean white sheets. Her dirty face stared up at him, perhaps the most beautiful sight he’d seen, ever.
“Move it, buddy.” The EMT tried to push past Nick. “She needs medical attention.”
“No, wait.” Mary pulled the mask off her face and smiled up at Nick. “You made it.”
“I had incentive.” He lifted her hand in his and squeezed.
Her eyelids swooped down and he could swear that beneath the smudges of ash, her cheeks reddened. “And what was that?”
“What do you think?”
She sucked in a breath and let it out in a cough. “I’m too tired to guess, just tell me.”
He lifted her smoke-smudged hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “You, Mary Christmas. You were my incentive.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Does that mean you’re going to ask me out on that real date you mentioned?”
“Absolutely.”
“Could you hurry it up, then?” The rescue worker stamped his feet in the snow.
“Well, will you go out with me?” Nick stared down at Mary. “Even though I’m a man who has more secrets than he has hairs on his arms? I promise, I’m not married, nor have I ever been.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “I guess I can risk it, just this once. For some foolish reason, I can’t stop trusting you. Oh, and one other thing...” Her brows drew together.
Nick’s heartbeat kicked up a notch. Would she tell him she only wanted the one date, then for him to get the hell out of her life? He’d do as she asked, but he’d rather she didn’t ask him to do that.
“Someone needs to catch up with Gordon Thomas. He murdered Jasmine Claus and tried to kill Reuben Tyler when he was a soldier in his unit. Oh, and if you check the other man’s body, you’ll find Jasmine’s bullet in it.” Her voice cracked and she coughed, pulling the mask back over her face.
“Interesting. I’d like to hear the rest of the story.”
“You will,” she wheezed, “if you stick around.”
While the ambulance driver opened the rear of the ambulance, Nick held Mary’s hand, delaying her departure for just a moment longer. “I’ll see you later.”
“Promise?” She held tighter.
“Promise.”
The door closed, Nick’s last image of Mary was that of a medic inserting an IV into her arm.
If he didn’t have more work to do, Nick would have ridden with her to the hospital. He straightened, sucking in a deep breath that sent him into a coughing fit.
“You need to be in that ambulance.” Kat appeared at his side, her jacket covered in snow as though she’d been in a scuffle.
