“Sleeping,” he emphasized. “You close your eyes and the next thing you know, it’s morning.”
She relaxed a little, but she was still wary.
“All the doors are open,” he pointed out, nodding toward the hall. “They’ll stay open. Nobody will notice that I’m in here.”
Winnie walked past the doorway and smiled. She stopped suddenly, turned and stared.
Boone glowered at her. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked his sister. “Haven’t you ever seen a man in pajamas and a robe before?”
“You’re in bed with Keely,” she stated. “She’s still fragile,” she added worriedly.
“That’s true, but her father’s friend is something of an escape artist,” he agreed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a worn-looking Smith & Wesson .38 caliber police special. He put it up again. “Nobody’s getting past me.”
Winnie stopped looking shocked and began to grin. “I get it.”
“Good. While you’re getting things, how about getting Bailey and his bed out of my room and bringing them both in here?” he added. “He’ll start howling if the light goes off and he’s alone in there.”
“He really does,” Winnie told Keely. “He thinks Boone will die if he isn’t there to protect him.”
Keely smiled. “He’s a sweet old boy.”
“Who, me?” Boone drawled, peering at her wickedly over his reading glasses.
“The dog!” she emphasized.
“Oh.” He went back to his spreadsheets, oblivious to the world.
Winnie chuckled. “I’ll get Bailey.”
* * *
She did. She also got Clark and Mrs. Johnston. They all peered in from the hall, fascinated. Boone had never even brought a woman upstairs in living memory, and here he was in bed, in his pajamas, with Keely.
Clark started to speak. Boone lifted the gun, displayed it, put it back in his pocket without looking up from the spreadsheet.
“I haven’t said anything!” Clark protested. “You shouldn’t threaten people with guns just because they’re curious!”
“It’s for Keely’s father’s evil friend,” Winnie told him.
“Oh. Oh!” Clark finally got it. “Okay.”
Mrs. Johnston was grinning from ear to ear. Her white hair seemed to vibrate. She and Clark and Winnie just stood, staring and grinning. Boone reached in his other pocket and brought out a jeweler’s box, just the size to contain a ring. He displayed it, still without looking up from the spreadsheet, and put it away again. Now Keely was looking breathless, too.
“Here’s Bailey and his bed,” Winnie said as she put the dog pallet on Boone’s side of the bed. “We’ll close the door on our way out.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Boone told her curtly. “This is a respectable household. No hanky-panky above stairs.” He glared at Clark. “From anybody.”
Clark threw up his hands. “I once, only once, sneaked a girl into my room for immoral purposes. He never forgets!”
“It was an act of charity,” Winnie chided Boone. “He found her wandering all alone on a street corner and brought her home to get a blanket to put around her.”
Everybody burst out laughing, even Clark.
“All right, that’s enough. Everybody out. I’ve got work to do, then we’re going to have a decent night’s sleep.” He glanced down at Keely, who was watching him with openly worshipful eyes. He smiled tenderly. “Some of us could use it more than others.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Keely replied.
While they were looking at each other, their audience vanished.
