Black Lace Read Online Free Page B

jammed my ankle.”
    “How’s your hoopty?”
    “Totaled, looks like.”
    “Well, no great loss. You needed a new car anyway.”
    “You sound like my mother.”
    Ida laughed before asking in a more serious tone, “Was anyone else hurt?”
    “No.”
    “Was it your fault?”
    “No. I’ll call you tonight and give you the 411.”
    “Okay. I’m going to cancel everything for the rest of the week.”
    “That’s fine. I should be back by Wednesday the sixth.”
    “Do you need a ride home? I can come get you.”
    “No. I’ll take a cab or something. Nobody should be on the roads today.”
    “Okay,” Ida replied, “but make sure you call me when you get home.”
    “I will. ’Bye.” Lacy closed the phone. She’d deliberately downplayed the details surrounding the accident because, like Val, Ida would start fantasizing on her hooking up with the mayor, and right now she wasn’t up to it. She gingerly moved her neck. The stiffness was getting worse and she could feel it spreading into her spine and shoulders.
    Denise’s aide finally came back from the pharmacy with the prescribed meds. The mayor handed Lacy a paper cup of water, and as he placed the pills in her hand, his skin brushed against hers, sending a sweet shock up her arm. Her surprised eyes flew to his. His eyebrow arched speculatively. Grabbing ahold of herself, Lacy tried to play the whole thing off, but her hands shook a bit as she put the pills in her mouth and washed them down with the water.
    She placed the empty cup into his outstretched hand but was careful not to touch him again.
    Dr. Carson gave her his business card and a yellow instruction sheet detailing care for the ankle once she was home. “If the swelling doesn’t go down or if it gets worse, you call me.”
    Lacy glanced at the sheet. “I will. Thanks.”
    “Nice meeting you.”
    “Same here.”
    He then shook the mayor’s hand. “Your Honor, I’ll see you soon.”
    “Thanks, Reg.”
    Dr. Carson waved as he exited.
    Once she and the mayor were alone again, Lacy could feel whatever was going on between them rising in the silence. She tried to talk it away. “Do you think Denise has a city phone book around here somewhere?”
    “Probably. Why?”
    “So I can call a cab to take me home.”
    “I’ll take you.”
    The richness of his tone coupled with the depth of his gaze made her voice softer than she intended. “That’s not necessary.”
    “As your attending physician it’s my duty to make sure you get home.”
    That said, he walked over, took hold of the handles on her wheelchair and slowly propelled it forward.
    They both waved good-bye to Denise.
    Lacy picked up the conversation while he rolled her down the hall. “Your duty?”
    He stopped the chair. “Yes. My duty.”
    Lacy studied him for a long moment. She didn’t mind that he was trying to charm her; the man was fine. However, she hoped he didn’t think this whatever-he-was-playing-at would go any further than her front door. She tried to downplay the fact that every time she met his eyes her heart did a weird kind of samba. “As my attending physician, and as one of the people responsible for me being here in the first place, giving me a ride home is okay, I suppose.”
    He flashed that legendary smile. Admittedly, it touched her, but she shook it off. He was a heartbreaker for sure, and she was too old to be picking herself up and dusting herself off.
    As he wheeled her toward the exit, she spotted agaggle of reporters and TV camera crews waiting by the door. Someone must have dropped a dime on the mayor’s presence in the hospital. Lacy wasn’t pleased to see them. Neither was he, if the soft curse he gave was any indication.
    He stopped the chair. “I’m real sorry about this.”
    She shrugged and smiled. “It’s what I get for hanging out with you.”
    He smiled back. “Let me see if I can convince them not to put you on the six o’clock news.”
    “Good luck,” she answered.
    His approach