Edge of Time (Langston Brothers Series) by Melissa Lynne Blue Page A

sensation was so profound he was taken aback, but a quickening in his chest had alerted him to her even before she’d passed through the door. To Marissa he continued, “I’ve already discussed your working here with Major Bernstein and he thought it would be fine to give you a try. Lord knows we need the help.
    “Unfortunately we’ll have to pay you in Confederate currency, which, as you know, is almost completely worthless. ” His voice dropped a fraction. “ To be perfectly honest I can’t promise we’ll be able to pay you regularly at all . A payroll shipment due a few days ago never came in .”
    “Whatever the hospital can manage is fine,” Marissa said. “I’m just happy to do my part.”
    “Oh, I’m certain of that.” Kirsten’s tinkling laugh drew everyone’s attention to her — as she’d no doubt planned. Craig knew Kirsten was only happy when all focus was upon her. “Craig, darling, aren’t you going to introduce me?” Once more, she tucked her daintily gloved hand into his elbow. He couldn’t remove it without appearing rude.
    He cleared his throat. “ Of course. Do excuse my rudeness. I’m completely forgetting my manners. “Marissa,” his eyes fixed on her oddly tight-lipped face, “ This is Miss Kirsten Jamison. Kirsten, Miss Marissa McClafferty, who has come from Atlanta to stay Mrs. Harris, her aunt, whom you already know.” Once more, he slipped his arm free of Kirsten’s grip.
    “Now,” he added, smiling at Marissa, “if I haven’t scared you away, may I give you a tour of the hospital?”
    “I... Yes. Of course, Doctor.” He wondered at the toneless voice, at the way her eyes avoided his direct gaze. She seemed... different, somehow today. Was it the thought of working with him as her superior that made her act so strangely?
    He turned back to Kirsten, whose presence she had never explained. She frequently dropped in to visit, and good manners forced him to acquiesce unless he was in surgery. “Good day, Kirsten. Please give my best to your mother.”
    “Oh. ” T he brunette pouted. “May I not take the tour as well?”
    “No ,” Craig said brusquely. “Miss McClafferty is not here on a social visit, but to learn if she is willing to work among the patients.” He nodded politely and once more said, quite firmly, “Good day, Kirsten,” before turning completely away from her.
    *               *               *
    Marissa made a concerted effort to breathe normally and nod politely as the Brunette’s gaze raked her from head to toe, then appeared to dismiss her as of no consequence. Kirsten fluttered her lashes at Craig and murmured a sweet farewell to him, one th at suggested without words she’d be seeing him again in a very short time.
    Marissa wanted to smack the woman, even as she sashayed away, skirts swinging. Stop it, she ordered herself. You are here to concentrate on the hospital.
    Hospital?
    The term, in her opinion, scarcely applied. The building consisted of thre e large over-filled wards, one o n each floor. On the first floor, a room toward the back served as an operating room. There were a few small offices for the physicians and officers, and a couple of even smaller rooms where the doctors on duty could catch a few hours of sleep. With all the windows tightly closed, and filthy, a more desolate place she’d never seen. But it wasn’t just the forlorn misery pervading every corner of the building, but the smell.
    Death.
    Death had a very distinct odor, one Marissa could never quite describe but never failed to recognize, and this “hospital” reeked of it.
    “This place is beyond belief,” she said, sweeping her eyes across the first ward. “Completely unacceptable.”
    “Excuse me?” Craig sounded more than a little incredulous.
    “This,” she gestured broadly to the room, “is totally unsatisfactory. When is the last time the floor has been so much as swept, let alone washed? Is this the dark ages? Do you