Gil glanced at the clock. It was the middle of the gosh-awful night and he needed to get Maddy back to the hotel. She looked exhausted. It had been such a long night. The police had come quickly after he called, but they’d taken over an hour to get all the facts down while a few officers went off in search of the man who had robbed them. But Gil had seen it in their faces—darn tourists don’t know enough to stay out of side streets late at night.
But the police couldn’t hold him in as much disdain as he held himself. What if Maddy had been hurt even more? Her stark white bandage on her neck mocked him.
“You doing okay?”
He saw Maddy stir a bit when he asked the question. She looked at him and just nodded.
“You sure?”
“Just tired.” Her voice trembled slightly.
He wanted to get up and cross the room and gather her in his arms and apologize and say everything would be okay. But before he could even consider acting on his thought the doctor came back into the room.
“Okay then, let’s get you stitched up.”
Good plan, because he needed to get Maddy out of here before she fell apart again, not that he’d blame her. It took all his self-control to keep from shaking when he thought about what might have happened to her due to his stupidity. He’d let that man get hold of Maddy. He closed his eyes to try and chase away the image. Maddy with her wild eyes, so frightened, begging him silently to help her.
A stinging sensation prickled his arm where the doctor was stitching him up. Good. Go ahead and tug away on those stitches. He deserved the pain. He was such a failure. He hadn’t paid attention to where they were going, and Maddy had innocently followed along with him, trusting him. He was some big fat failure in the trust department. He’d been such a fool.
CHAPTER NINE
Gil got a cab to take them back to the hotel. Maddy didn’t say more than a couple of words on the ride back to the hotel. Mainly yes or no answers to questions he asked. He paid the cabby and reached out a hand to help Maddy out of the vehicle.
“We’ll need to get you a replacement door key card for your room.”
Maddy just nodded and waited for him while he explained to the front desk what had happened and got the new key card. He wanted to put his arm around her, to steady her. She looked so fragile, like she was going to crack into tiny shards of glass.
He punched their floor number when they got into the elevator. When they got up to the floor, Gil walked Maddy to her room and opened the door for her. She took one step inside and turned to face him.
“I… I don’t want to be alone.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“I’ll come in for a bit. No problem.” It was the least he could do for her.
“Thank you.” Her voice cracked with exhaustion or emotion, he wasn’t sure which. They walked into the room and just stood there. He didn’t know what to say. What to do. He’d apologized to her so many times already.
“I’m going to just rest a bit.” Maddy sat on the bed and pulled off her shoes.
He saw her dainty heeled shoes drop to the floor. He wondered if after all the stumbles she’d taken tonight she’d give up wearing high heels. They were so not practical for walking in the Quarter. Though, of course she didn’t have any others here to switch into. Maybe he’d offer to buy her another pair in the morning.
He went over and sat in the chair in the corner, resisting the urge to pull it close to the bed and watch over her. “Get some rest. I’ll be right here.”
With that, Maddy sank down into the pillows. Before long he could see she’d fallen asleep. Thank goodness. She needed some rest. The chair was uncomfortable, but then, he deserved that, too.
Sometime later, he wasn’t sure when, he awoke to the sounds of Maddy whimpering in her sleep. He got up and crossed over to the bed, looking down on her tear-streaked face in the light coming through the window. She whimpered again and started thrashing her arms. “No!”
“Shh. Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.” Gil sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms.
She opened her eyes, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t really awake. She curled up into his arms and he settled back against the pillows. Before long she relaxed against him, back in a deep sleep. He couldn’t resist pushing a wayward curl back away from her face. She sighed in her sleep and it tore at his heart. He’d make it up to her. For his bad judgement, for putting her in danger, for not being able to save her from having her throat cut.
He stayed awake for quite awhile just watching Maddy sleep, assuring himself that she was okay. He bent his head down and kissed the top of her head. “I’m so sorry, Maddy.”