of spun-gold hair that in her urgency to be free had spilled across her face.
‘Don’t move,’ Rodrigo told her firmly. ‘I’ll be straight back.’
True to his word, he was, bringing with him the ceramic bowl refilled with fresh tepid water and a newly rinsed washcloth. Without words he began to apply the cloth to Jenny’s face, neck and shoulders, tugging down the thin straps of her nightgown to do so, smiling directly into her eyes when her gaze dazedly fell into his.
After a while he said, ‘You were screaming, “Fire!”’ Neither his expression nor the tone of his voice changed as he stated this. Calmly and methodically he continued to cool her heated skin with the gently wrung-out cloth.
‘I haven’t had that nightmare in ages.’ A violent shiver bounced up Jenny’s spine like tumbleweed tossed around by strong winds. Desperately she tried to push away the cloying dark remnants of the stark cold horror that had visited her. She felt so weak and ill. But even more than the longing to be free of her sickness she craved the comfort and reassurance of someone who cared about her.
What did it say about her life that in her time of need she had to depend on the man who had left her? Was she destined to pay the price of the poor choices she had made for the rest of her days? She was so tired of being afraid, so weary of waiting for some new disaster to yet again destroy everything she’d once depended upon, leaving her with the sense that she was nervously walking a precipice that at any second she might plunge off.
‘So…what makes you have such disturbing night-mares? Do you know?’
As Rodrigo touched the cool washcloth to the area just below her throat, Jenny shivered again. ‘The house burned down. I—I lost everything…my parents’ photos, the mementoes of mine and Tim’s childhood, all our furniture and belongings…everything.’
‘You were not there at the time? You didn’t get hurt?’
‘No. I was away when it happened, thank God. But every time I dream about it somehow I’m there in the middle of it all and I can’t get out.’
‘Why did you not let me know about this?’ Her ex-husband’s voice sounded fierce for a moment.
‘We’d parted. We were no longer together and it was up to me to handle it.’
Rodrigo breathed in deeply. ‘So what caused this fire?’
‘The police investigation concluded it was an electrical fault.’
‘That was the most incredible bad luck. But we won’t talk about such distressing matters right now. It won’t help. I’m going to give you some more medication to help lower your temperature and then you will sleep again.’
Letting the cloth drop back into the bowl, Rodrigo moved the items onto the nightstand then turned back to Jenny to lightly curl his hand round her delicately made wrist. Adjusting his palm, he thoughtfully stroked the pad of his thumb across the finer skin at the base of her fingers.
‘And this time it will be a healing, dreamless sleep, I am certain…no more nightmares.’
‘You sound so sure.’
‘I am sure.’
‘Why?’
‘Because my intuition tells me so.’
‘You believe in that?’
‘I do.’
After swallowing down the two capsules that Rodrigo gave her with a few sips of water, Jenny smiled shakily. ‘You should have been a doctor.’
‘What? And deprive the hotel business of my incredible flair and superb know-how?’
‘You’d be superb at whatever career you chose, Rodrigo. You would have made the best carpenter too.’
Unable to ignore the weariness that was like a powerful warm wave taking her under, Jenny slid back down into the bed, her eyelids closing even before her head touched the pillow. She’d happily accept the idea of a dreamless sleep, she silently admitted. But she’d equally welcome another dream of a man with sable eyes deep enough to swim in and a gentle sure touch that was far more healing than any medicine…
For a long time after Jenny had returned to the land of
‘Don’t move,’ Rodrigo told her firmly. ‘I’ll be straight back.’
True to his word, he was, bringing with him the ceramic bowl refilled with fresh tepid water and a newly rinsed washcloth. Without words he began to apply the cloth to Jenny’s face, neck and shoulders, tugging down the thin straps of her nightgown to do so, smiling directly into her eyes when her gaze dazedly fell into his.
After a while he said, ‘You were screaming, “Fire!”’ Neither his expression nor the tone of his voice changed as he stated this. Calmly and methodically he continued to cool her heated skin with the gently wrung-out cloth.
‘I haven’t had that nightmare in ages.’ A violent shiver bounced up Jenny’s spine like tumbleweed tossed around by strong winds. Desperately she tried to push away the cloying dark remnants of the stark cold horror that had visited her. She felt so weak and ill. But even more than the longing to be free of her sickness she craved the comfort and reassurance of someone who cared about her.
What did it say about her life that in her time of need she had to depend on the man who had left her? Was she destined to pay the price of the poor choices she had made for the rest of her days? She was so tired of being afraid, so weary of waiting for some new disaster to yet again destroy everything she’d once depended upon, leaving her with the sense that she was nervously walking a precipice that at any second she might plunge off.
‘So…what makes you have such disturbing night-mares? Do you know?’
As Rodrigo touched the cool washcloth to the area just below her throat, Jenny shivered again. ‘The house burned down. I—I lost everything…my parents’ photos, the mementoes of mine and Tim’s childhood, all our furniture and belongings…everything.’
‘You were not there at the time? You didn’t get hurt?’
‘No. I was away when it happened, thank God. But every time I dream about it somehow I’m there in the middle of it all and I can’t get out.’
‘Why did you not let me know about this?’ Her ex-husband’s voice sounded fierce for a moment.
‘We’d parted. We were no longer together and it was up to me to handle it.’
Rodrigo breathed in deeply. ‘So what caused this fire?’
‘The police investigation concluded it was an electrical fault.’
‘That was the most incredible bad luck. But we won’t talk about such distressing matters right now. It won’t help. I’m going to give you some more medication to help lower your temperature and then you will sleep again.’
Letting the cloth drop back into the bowl, Rodrigo moved the items onto the nightstand then turned back to Jenny to lightly curl his hand round her delicately made wrist. Adjusting his palm, he thoughtfully stroked the pad of his thumb across the finer skin at the base of her fingers.
‘And this time it will be a healing, dreamless sleep, I am certain…no more nightmares.’
‘You sound so sure.’
‘I am sure.’
‘Why?’
‘Because my intuition tells me so.’
‘You believe in that?’
‘I do.’
After swallowing down the two capsules that Rodrigo gave her with a few sips of water, Jenny smiled shakily. ‘You should have been a doctor.’
‘What? And deprive the hotel business of my incredible flair and superb know-how?’
‘You’d be superb at whatever career you chose, Rodrigo. You would have made the best carpenter too.’
Unable to ignore the weariness that was like a powerful warm wave taking her under, Jenny slid back down into the bed, her eyelids closing even before her head touched the pillow. She’d happily accept the idea of a dreamless sleep, she silently admitted. But she’d equally welcome another dream of a man with sable eyes deep enough to swim in and a gentle sure touch that was far more healing than any medicine…
For a long time after Jenny had returned to the land of
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