Guarding Jeannie

'Are you all right?'

'Yes, I'm … I'll be fine. Thanks to you. I feel safe, here at home.'

'Well, the safest place for you, for the time being, is going to be inside this house. You don't want a repeat performance of today's events, do you?'

'I can't allow my life to be disrupted this way,' she said.

'I'm afraid you have little choice in the matter.' Sam took the biggest chair in the room, a floral-tapestry wing chair. 'The best I can promise you is to keep you safe, to protect you from the press and anyone else who won't leave you alone, especially this fanatical minister you told me about when you called.'

'I will not let my life become the three-ring circus it was when my mother and Randy Foley were alive.' Knotting her hands into fists, Jeannie held them in front of her. 'From the time I was six years old and Randy persuaded my mother to take me to a revival meeting, until I was thirteen and they were both killed in a car crash, my life was a living hell.'

'I've read all the newspaper accounts,' Sam said. 'The recent ones from the past couple of days, and the old ones from when you were a child. Your parents made a lot of money off of you, didn't they? They must have died millionaires.'

Ollie knocked at the door, then entered, carrying a silver tray. She placed it on the marble-topped mahogany table in front of the settee.

'Thank you, Ollie. That will be all for now.' Jeannie lifted the silver teapot.

'Ollie,' Sam said just as the housekeeper started out the door.

'Yes, sir?'

'Keep watch at the side entrance,' Sam told her. 'We're expecting Dr. Howell.'

'Yes, sir.' Ollie left the parlor.

Jeannie added sugar to her tea, then lifted the china cup to her lips, sipping leisurely. She eyed Sam over the rim of her cup. 'Randy Foley was my stepfather,' she said. 'And yes, my mother and Randy did die millionaires.'

'Money they fleeced off suckers who believed that little Jeannie Foley possessed a special power from God that could heal them.'

'Yes. Money that poor, gullible fools handed over to Randy eagerly, just to have me lay my hands on them and take away their pain, to give them a temporary healing.' The cup in Jeannie's trembling hand quivered on the saucer. She set her tea on the silver tray.

Just to have me lay my hands on them and take away their pain. Was that what the woman who'd found Sam on the beach six years ago had done? Had she laid her hands on him and taken away his pain? Sam could remember those hours vaguely, could remember soft, caring brown eyes filled with tears—his tears, tears she had cried for him when she drew his pain out of his body and into hers.

Hell, it hadn't happened that way. It couldn't have. He had imagined the whole thing, hadn't he? He'd been burning up with fever and conscious only part of the time. For a few minutes, he'd thought he had died and that the woman who held him in her arms was an angel. Didn't that show how crazy he'd been? How totally out of his head?

'How long have you lived here in Biloxi?' Sam asked.

'Since I came out of the hospital, when I was thirteen. Julian and his wife, Miriam, became my foster parents.'

A door slammed shut. Feet tramped up the hallway. The parlor door opened, and Dr. Julian Howell walked in, followed by Marta McCorkle.

Julian rushed to Jeannie's side. Sitting beside her, he took her hands in his. 'My dearest girl, are you all right? There's an enormous crowd hovering around outside.'

'I'm fine, Julian. Really I am. With Mr. Dundee acting as my protector, how could I be otherwise? Besides, Mr. Dundee has telephoned the police. They should arrive shortly and take control of that unruly crowd.'

Marta McCorkle walked over to Jeannie and handed her a wooden cane. 'I was able to pick this up before we left the school. I know it's your favorite, and I was afraid someone would take off with it.'

'Thank you, Marta. You're right, it is my favorite cane. Miriam gave it to me.'

Turning, Jeannie gazed up at Sam, her lips curving into a warm smile. Sam felt as if he'd been hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer. Dammit, this had to stop, and stop now! He couldn't allow himself to feel anything special for this woman, couldn't allow their relationship to become personal.

Who was he kidding? Their relationship was already personal, about as personal as a relationship could be without sexual intimacy. Sam shuddered, his big shoulders moving only slightly. His guts knotted painfully. When a man owed a woman his life, anything that happened between them was personal.

Standing, Julian offered Sam his hand. 'I'm Julian Howell. I can't tell you how glad I am that you agreed to take this assignment yourself. I knew you were the only man for the job.'

Every nerve in Sam's body came to full alert. Of course he was the only man for the job. No one else owed Jeannie as much as he did. No one else was as highly trained to protect her as he was, or as prepared to die for her.

'All of us who love Jeannie are grateful for your presence, Mr. Dundee,' Marta said.

Turning to Julian, Jeannie squeezed his wrinkled, age-spotted hand. 'I've told Mr. Dundee that I would like to continue living my life as normally as possible.'

'And I've told Ms. Alverson that what she wants will be impossible,' Sam said.

'Oh, my dear, Mr. Dundee is right.' Julian shook his head, grunting sadly. 'Until this scandal dies down, I believe the safest place for you is Le Bijou Bleu. No one could reach you except by boat or helicopter, and it's doubtful anyone would discover your whereabouts there.'

'I will not be run out of Biloxi!' Jeannie jerked her hands out of Julian's grasp, positioned her wooden cane, then stood and confronted Sam. 'I have my work at the school. The children need me. They're very special children, with special needs. You're going to have to find a way to protect me. Here in Biloxi. I intend to hold my head high and see this thing through to the end, without running away, without shirking my duties to the students at the Howell School.'

Marta, who still stood at the side of the settee, reached out and patted Jeannie on the back. 'If continuing to work at the school puts you in any danger, we can make do without you for a while.'

Sam stared into Jeannie's eyes, those faded brown eyes that he would never be able to forget. Julian Howell had mentioned Le Bijou Bleu, the island where Sam had washed ashore. Memories of those hours when Jeannie Alverson had acted as his angel of mercy flooded Sam's mind.

'You're the boss, Ms. Alverson. We'll do things your way,' Sam said. 'But it won't be easy for you, and the minute things get out of hand, we start playing by my rules, no questions asked. Agreed?'

Jeannie was unaccustomed to men like Sam Dundee. Men who issued orders. Men who put their lives on the line to protect others. Men who carried guns. She had felt Sam's holster when he held her in his arms.

'I agree to your terms,' Jeannie said. 'We do it my way, and if that doesn't work, then we'll do it your way.'

'All right.' Sam turned to Julian Howell. 'I'll need a room as close to Ms. Alverson as possible. At this point, I think the physical danger to her isn't life-threatening. The reporters will continue to hound her as long as they think the public is interested. My main concern is this Reverend Reeves. Fanatics are unpredictable, especially those who are under the false impression that God is on their side.'

'The reporters are a nuisance,' Julian said, 'and I feel sorry for those poor people who are begging for Jeannie to heal them, but you're quite right—what concerns me most is that this Reverend Reeves has threatened her. He and his congregation have accused Jeannie of being the devil's daughter. Reeves told her that if she didn't join his church, he would destroy her.'

'We can handle the threats,' Sam said. 'As long as these people don't act on them. If that happens, we'll be in for some real trouble.'

'Maynard Reeves is the worst of his kind,' Marta said. 'He uses every opportunity possible to get himself on TV and in the news.'

'Mark my words,' Julian said, 'Reeves will do more than make threats. Jeannie has sensed he wants to kill her.'

Dammit, Sam thought, was Jeannie claiming to be telepathic, as well as empathic? He didn't believe she was