"The doctors say she’ll be okay."

"Are you going to be staying around?"

Nick knew what Pete was asking. "I’ll stay long enough to tell her how sorry I am I got her into all of this."

"And then?"

"I’m leaving." His mind was made up.

"I see."

He glanced over at Pete. "Damn. I really hate it when you say that. You sound like a shrink."

"You can’t shield your heart, Nick. Running away won’t solve your problem."

"And you’re going to tell me what my problem is, aren’t you?"

"Of course I am," he agreed smoothly. "Loving Laurant makes you human, and that’s what’s frightening you. It’s that simple."

"I’m not running away. I’m going back to work. What kind of a life could I offer her? She deserves to be happy and safe, damn it, and I can’t guarantee that. Stark used her and Tommy to get to me. It could happen again. God knows, I’ve made enemies since I started working for you. What if another creep comes after her? No, I can’t let that happen. I won’t take that chance."

"So, you’ll isolate yourself even more than you already have? Is that it?"

Nick shrugged.

"You’ve made your mind up?" Pete pressed.

"Damn right."

Pete knew he wasn’t going to win this argument, but he felt compelled to interfere a little more. "Psychiatrists are trained to notice little things. We observe."

"So?"

"When I walked into Laurant’s room, I noticed you were putting the engagement ring on her finger. I found that very curious."

Nick couldn’t explain his actions. "I didn’t want her to wake up and think she’d lost it. She can take it back to the store and get a refund. That’s all there was to it. Now let it go."

"Just one more comment, and then I’ll stop hounding you. I promise. Actually, it’s a question."

"What?" he asked. He sounded miserable.

"Where are you going to find the strength to leave her?"

Chapter 38

A week had passed since Noah was shot. The agent was recuperating at the abbey, but he was getting very little rest, what with the anniversary celebration and the constant stream of visitors, most of whom were women bearing gifts. The abbot was thrilled. They had enough home-cooked food to last a month.

Tommy had just walked one of the parishioners to the door, thanked her for the casserole, and returned to the den where Noah was sprawled out on the sofa. Tommy dropped down in the easy chair and put his feet on the ottoman. He was catching Noah up on the latest developments, but he kept getting interrupted.

"Okay, where was I?"

"You were telling me what happened with Laurant at the hospital."

"Yeah, that’s right. Neither Nick nor I knew Laurant had a bullet lodged in her leg. So, the doctor comes out and tells us she’s been shot. Nick goes crazy then."

"Love will do that to a man."

"I guess so," Tommy agreed. "He was already acting nuts, but this news pushed him right over the edge."

"Yeah?" Noah asked, smiling. "I wish I could have seen it. He’s always so cool and calm. What’d he do?"

"He starts shouting, ‘What the hell do you mean she was shot? What kind of a place are you running here?’"

Noah laughed. "Who was he yelling at?"

"Dr. Benchley. You met him, didn’t you?"

"Yes. He’s a real charmer."

"He’s shouting back at Nick, ‘Hey, Buddy, I didn’t shoot her,’ but Nick’s out of his mind now, and I start to worry he’s going to shoot Benchley."

"So, then what happened?"

"Nick wouldn’t leave her side. He stayed with her all night, but he told Pete and me that, as soon as she woke up, he was going to say good-bye. He did too. He shook her hand."

Noah burst into laughter. "What’d she do?"

"She called him an idiot and went back to sleep."

"I do love your sister, Tommy."

"Nick was real determined. He had a lot of follow-up work to do, and that kept him in Nugent a few days. They found Lonnie holed up in a motel outside of Omaha. He’s been charged with arson."

"What about Brenner? Did they find the bank account the sheriff told Laurant about?"

"Yeah, they did. Brenner was altering the books and stealing from Griffen, the developers. Steve’s going to be going away for a long time. Hey, did I tell you what Christopher did?"

"The groom?"

Tommy nodded. "While he and Michelle were in Hawaii on their honeymoon, he spent a lot of time on the phone putting together a deal. He convinced Griffen to buy another parcel of land the city owns and leave the town square alone. The way he worked it out, some of the profits will go to renovating the square and bringing in new businesses. Christopher’s done a very good thing for this town. As soon as he gets settled, he’s going to hang his shingle two doors down from Laurant’s store. When the store opens, Michelle’s going to manage it."

"What will Laurant be doing?"

"Painting."

Noah smiled. "That’s good."

"It’s time for you to take another antibiotic."

"I’ll wash it down with a beer."

"It’s ten o’clock in the morning. You can’t have a beer."

"You priests are too damned strict."

Tommy got him a Pepsi and sat down again. "I heard that Wesson is thinking about resigning."

The smile left Noah’s eyes. "He should be encouraged to quit."

"You should cut the guy a little slack," Tommy said. "Nick told me he made himself a target in the cabin, trying to divert Stark and help Nick get a clear shot."

"It was too little, too late. I don’t want to talk about Wesson. Pete already filled me in on what went down. So, tell me," he continued, "did Nick leave her or not?"

"She left him."

"No kidding. Where’d she go?"

"To Paris." Tommy was beaming when he added, "She won the lawsuit. She got every penny of Grandfather’s money back, plus a heck of a lot of interest. She had to fly over to sign some papers."

"All’s well that ends well."

"I didn’t tell Nick why she went."

Noah raised an eyebrow. "What did you tell him."

Tommy shrugged. "That she went to Paris."

"Implying it was permanent?"

"I might have."

"There’s no way in hell he went after her. Getting on a transatlantic flight. He’d never do that, not in a million years."

Tommy looked at his watch. "He should be landing in Paris any minute now."

Noah laughed again. "He is nuts. It was okay for him to leave her, but he couldn’t stomach the notion of her leaving him?"

"Actually, he got to Des Moines before he turned around and drove back. Then I had to tell him she was gone."

"Forever."

Tommy nodded. "Tough love," he explained. "I love Nick like a brother, but I had to get tough."

"You mean you lied to him."

"Yes."

"Well, I’ll be damned. I think you just committed a sin. Want me to hear your confession?"

Laurant was exhausted. She cried most of the way to Paris, and when she wasn’t weeping, she was fuming because she had fallen in love with an idiot. She didn’t get any sleep at all, and as soon as the plane landed, she had to go directly to the law firm’s offices to sign the papers.

They wanted to celebrate. She wanted to go to Boston and find Nick, but couldn’t make up her mind what she would do once she found him. One minute she thought she would kiss him, and the next she thought she would give him a piece of her mind, but then, she didn’t know her mind anymore. She used to be such a practical, down-to-earth sort of woman, but Nick had changed her. She couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t do anything but cry.

She checked into the hotel and took a long, hot shower. She had packed a pretty nightgown, but she put on the red T-shirt with the open-mouthed bass on the front instead.

How could he leave her? The tears started flowing again, and that made her angry. She remembered his reaction when she’d told him she loved him. He’d looked horrified. She thought it was because she was complicating his life, but now she stopped fooling herself and accepted the truth. He didn’t love her. It was that simple.