Twin of Fire Read online

  “Damn it, Blair,” Lee shouted, then closed his eyes against the pain at his side. He looked back at her. “Maybe for once you should be an observer. I’ve told you what I can. I don’t want you involved any more than you are.”

  “So, I’m to stay innocent, is that right? At your trial, I can honestly say that I know nothing, that even when my husband came home with two bullet wounds, I remained innocent.”

  “Something to that effect,” Lee mumbled, then put down his fork and looked at her. “You say you love me, maybe that you’ve loved me for years; well, now’s the test. If you do love me, you’ll have to trust me. For once in your life, you’re going to have to put aside your defiance and your participation. I need you now, not as a colleague or an equal, but as a wife.”

  Blair stood looking at him for a long time. “I think you’re right, Lee,” she said softly. “I think that maybe until now I never realized what a wife was supposed to be.” Her voice lowered. “But I’m going to try to learn. I will trust you, and I won’t ask you again where you went. But if you want to tell me, I’ll be here to listen.”

  Much of the pain began to leave Lee’s face as he leaned his left hand on the table and raised himself. Blair went to help him.

  “Lee,” she said. “Why don’t you go to the clinic today? You won’t have any surgery to do, Mrs. Krebbs will be there to help you, and it will be easier. Besides, a Pinkerton man will look conspicuous amid all the women.”

  “That’s a good idea,” he said, kissing her forehead. “That’s the kind of talk I like.”

  “Just trying to be a good wife. Here, let me help you dress.”

  “What about you? Shouldn’t you be getting dressed?”

  “To tell you the truth, I think I’m a little tired today. After the dreadful experience of yesterday morning, and then last night, not to mention today, I think I’d like to stay home and pamper myself.”

  “Why, yes, of course,” Lee said. She made sense, but he’d never heard Blair say such a thing before. “You stay home and rest. I’ll take care of the clinic.”

  She smiled up at him through her lashes. “You are the kindest of husbands.”

  Five minutes after Lee left the house, Blair was on the telephone to her sister. “Houston, where can I buy a twenty-pound box of bath salts? And where can I get a manicurist and an hourly supply of chocolates, and where can I buy silk yarns? Don’t laugh at me. I’m going to become the epitome of the perfect wife by this evening. I’m going to give my dear husband what he thinks he wants. Now, are you going to giggle all day or answer my questions?”

  Chapter 32

  When Leander got home at six, he found Blair stretched out on the couch in the parlor, a box of chocolates on the floor beside a litter of magazines. Blair, seemingly unaware of his entry, was sucking on a piece of candy and avidly reading a novel. As he walked toward her, he could see the word “seduction” in the title of the book.

  “This is something new,” Lee said, smiling down at her.

  Blair slowly moved her head to look up at him, a slight smile on her lips. “Hello, dear. Did you have a pleasant day?”

  “It wasn’t until now,” he said, eyes alight as he bent toward her. But Blair turned away just as his mouth came near hers, and his kiss landed on her cheek.

  She put the entire piece of chocolate into her mouth, and from the difficulty she was having chewing, it must have been a caramel. “Would you be a dear and go get me some more lemonade while I finish this chapter? And then, you’d better dress for dinner. Mrs. Shainess and I have arranged something special.”

  He stood, taking the empty glass she handed him. “Since when have you and the housekeeper done things together?”

  “She’s really a very good woman, if one knows how to talk to her. Now, Leander, please go. I am perishing from thirst, and you wouldn’t want to keep a lady waiting, would you?”

  With a puzzled look, he backed away. “Sure, I’ll be right back.”

  When he had gone, Blair finished chewing her candy, smiling to herself as she continued reading her book. She hoped the heroine would break a chair over the “sardonic” hero’s head and tell him to go drown himself.

  “Why, Lee,” she said when he reappeared with her lemonade, “you haven’t changed for dinner yet.”

  “I’ve been too busy fetching lemonade for you so you won’t perish,” he snapped.

  Instantly, Blair’s eyes filled with tears, and she applied a lace-edged handkerchief to the corners. “I’m so sorry I imposed on you, Leander. I just thought that since you were up and I…Oh, Lee, I’ve been working so hard today and—.”

  Lee winced as he knelt beside her, taking her hand in his as he pushed three magazines aside to get to her. “I’m sorry I was cross. But it’s nothing to cry about.”

  Blair sniffed delicately. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. Everything seems to upset me.”

  Lee kissed her hand, stroked it. “It’s probably nothing. All women get this way sometimes.”

  He had his head down and didn’t see Blair’s eyes flash fire. “You’re probably right. I’m sure it’s just female problems, the vapors or something.”

  “Probably,” he said, smiling, as he stroked her forehead. “You just rest while I change. A nice dinner will make you feel better.”

  “You’re so wise,” Blair murmured. “I have the very wisest of husbands.”

  He stood, smiling down at her, then, with a wink, he left the room.

  When Blair heard him go up the stairs, she jumped off the couch and stood with her back to the fireplace, her hands on her hips and glared toward the direction of their bedroom.

  “Of all the vain, imperious—,” she said aloud. “‘All women get that way sometimes’! He’s worse than I thought.” Her anger made her begin to pace. “I’m going to give you ‘women problems,’ Leander,” she said. “You wait and see if I don’t. I’m going to be more of what you think a woman is than you ever dreamed.”

  By the time Lee had bathed and dressed for dinner, Blair had managed to calm herself so that she could smile at him again. He was very solicitous, holding her chair for her, carving the meat and serving her. Blair was quiet and calm, not saying much, but smiling demurely as she cut her meat into tiny little pieces.

  “Something interesting came into the clinic today,” Lee was saying. “The woman thinks she’s pregnant, but I think it’s a cyst. I’d like you to look at her tomorrow.”

  “Oh, Lee, I can’t. Houston made me another appointment with her dressmaker, and then Nina and I have a luncheon engagement, and in the afternoon I need to be back here to supervise the house. I really have no time at all.”

  “Oh, well, I guess it can wait until later in the week. So, you won’t be at the Women’s Infirmary again tomorrow?”

  “I don’t see how I can be.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “It takes more time than I thought being a wife. There seem to be so many things that need to be done. And now that I’m going to be a part of Chandler again, I really do think I should help with the charity work. There’s the Ladies Aid Society and the Christian Mission and—.”

  “The Westfield Infirmary,” he added. “It seems that what you’re doing there is more than enough to help the town.”

  “Well, of course,” she said stiffly, “if you insist, I’ll go to the clinic tomorrow. I’ll cancel the dressmaker, and I’m sure the other wives can get along without me. They’ll have to understand that you want me to work outside the home. I’m sure I can make them understand the concept of a woman having to help pay for the food on the table.”

  “Pay for—!” Lee gasped. “Since when have I made you pay for anything in this house? When did I ever fail in my duties of supporting you? You don’t have to work tomorrow or ever. I thought you wanted to work!”

  Blair looked close to tears again. “I did; I do. But I had no idea being a wife took so much time. Today, I had to plan meals, that new maid was utterly impossible, and when the rib