The Thunderbolt - Lori Wilde Page 0,32

Lacy than a friend.

“Come, sit down.” She patted the bed beside her. “Let me tell you about my thunderbolt.”

Thunderbolt.

Wasn’t that what Lacy had called him last night while she was oozy on painkillers? An edgy panic gripped him.

Great-Gramma reached out and folded his fingers over the cuff links resting in his palm. “Please.”

Not knowing how to get out of it, Bennett cleared his throat and edged over, easing down up the bed.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Great-Gramma told him a wild story about how something she called the thunderbolt had struck her when she’d first met her husband and how she’d known from the moment she laid eyes on him that he was her true love. The cuff links, she told him, had been commissioned in honor of their love.

It was a touching, if somewhat batty, story. The exact opposite situation, it seemed, from what had happened to Bennett’s parents. Love at first sight that lasted for a lifetime instead of ending in a bitter divorce. What a fanciful idea.

“Your family deserve these cuff links. I can’t accept them.”

“The thunderbolt cannot be denied. Take them,” she whispered. “You must.”

The more she thought about her great-grandmother’s deception, the more exasperated she became. Lacy, an honest person by nature, disliked subterfuge.

First, she’d allowed herself to be influenced by Janet and CeeCee’s advice, dressing sexy, flirting, pretending she was something she wasn’t, and now this. Great-Gramma was pulling the strings, and she expected both Lacy and Bennett to dance to her tune.

Thunderbolt, indeed.

It angered her to think that she’d spent her entire adulthood waiting for the legendary whack of love at first sight. She’d even used the thunderbolt as an excuse to hide behind her shyness. She’d put her life on hold. She’d held her figurative breath and waited for the proverbial knight in shining armor to come swoop her up.

Lies. All lies.

To realize that all this time she could have been having fun, meeting fun men, coming out of her shell, learning and growing. Just as CeeCee and Janet had been trying to tell her. Yet she’d been too steeped in family tradition to take the chance.

But part of her clung to a belief that the thunderbolt was true. That she and Bennett were indeed meant to be together for a lifetime. Silly. Fanciful fable.

Lacy paced the hallway on her crutches. What was Great-Gramma telling him? She pressed her ear against the door and heard nothing but muted whispers.

Unable to stand not knowing what was going on inside that bedroom for one minute longer, Lacy knocked then pushed the door open. She saw Bennett sitting on the bed beside Great-Gramma.

Her gaze met his.

He winked at her, and her heart lurched.

They had to leave before things got really awkward and since Great-Gramma was fitter than a Stradivarius, there was no time like the present.

“Since you’re feeling better, Great-Gramma, I think Bennett and I will go back to Houston.”

“What’s your hurry, drahy? We don’t get to see you often enough. Besides, you haven’t had any sleep. See, your young man is yawning.”

Indeed, Bennett was covering his mouth with his palm. He looked sheepish.

“Yes, but Bennett has a patient waiting for a heart transplant and he would like to be there if one comes in. It’s better if we leave right away.”

Great-Gramma laid a hand across her chest, leaned her head against the pillow, and closed her eyes. “Oh! My heart just gave a strange flutter.”

In an instant, Bennett had his hand on her great-grandmother’s wrist, checking her pulse, a look of concern in his dark eyes.

“It’s not going to work,” Lacy said. “We’re leaving.”

Great-Gramma opened one eye. “Fine. Scoot. Leave when I need you most.”

“If you were really sick, you’d let us take you to the hospital.” Lacy wasn’t going to give in to her great-grandmother’s maneuvers. Not this time. Enough was enough.

“Lacy,” Bennett said. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to agitate her?”

“Trust me. She’s fine.”

“Could I talk to you in the hall?” Bennett asked.

“Sure.”

Once outside the room, Bennett lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in close. “Listen, Lacy, I don’t mind staying awhile longer to make sure your great-grandmother is all right. If you want to leave on account of me, don’t even consider it a problem. Laramie said it’s not vital that I be there if a heart should become available for Mr. Marshall.”

“But would your first heart transplant with Dr. Laramie and that’s why you came to Saint Madeleine’s. To work with the