Black Ice - Anne Stuart [26]
She paid her bill and went outside, peering down the street for some sign of the Porsche. The streets were empty, the wind was whipping her skirts against her legs, and when she turned back to the café the door was firmly closed, with Fermé displayed on a sign in the window.
At that moment the first fat raindrop hit her, followed by another. She considered going back to the café, banging on the door, but they’d probably ignore her. They hadn’t seemed too happy to have a customer in the first place, and they were probably long out of hearing range by now. Or they’d pretend to be.
She headed back toward the bookstore as quickly as she could, but that, too, was closed and locked. She ducked under the portico, shivering slightly, pulling her coat around her as the drops of rain began to turn into a light mist. The town was so small there were no other public buildings that she could see. The post office would close midday as well, and if there were other shops they were nowhere in sight.
What was in sight was the old church. Chloe stifled a pang of guilt—getting in out of the icy rain was a poor reason for finally setting foot in a church, but she had little choice. The church was on the corner of the main square—she could keep an eye out for Bastien more easily, and it would be warmer than standing outside.
She was halfway to the church when the rain let loose its full fury, soaking her to the skin. The too-tight high heels were making it slow going, and she paused long enough to pull them off before sprinting the rest of the way to the carved wooden doors of the old church.
They were locked as well. What the hell kind of town was this, where they locked the church? What if she were some poor sinner in need of absolution or a moment of meditation?
Well, she was a poor sinner by the church’s standards, though she hadn’t had the chance to sin nearly enough over the past few months. But clearly this small town didn’t have much call for daytime sanctity. She plastered herself against the door, trying to keep as much of her body out of the rain as she could, and watched the water beat down on the street, running in rivulets through the cobblestones that should have been charming but had nearly broken her ankle. The temperature was dropping, and she wrapped her arms around her body, shivering. And then she realized that somewhere along the way she’d lost the books she’d purchased.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered, then stopped herself when she remembered where she was. It only needed this to make the day complete. Bastien had been gone for hours, and with her luck he wouldn’t return. She’d be stuck in this unfriendly, nameless town, die of pneumonia, and Sylvia would have to find a new roommate.
Headlights speared through the rain, illuminating her as she huddled in the doorway. The Porsche pulled up in front of her, and she stood unmoving as he rolled down the window. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, sounding not the least bit sorry. “I told you you should have brought an umbrella.”
“Fuck you,” she muttered, finally reaching her limit as she snatched up her discarded shoes and stepped out into the driving rain once more. She climbed into the passenger seat, and proceeded to shake her soaking hair in her best impression of a wet dog.
He didn’t complain, which would have been half the fun. “Sorry,” he said again. “Where are the books?”
“Lost them.”
“You’re a mess,” he said, eyeing her critically. “That outfit is ruined.”
The thin silk shirt was plastered to her chest, to the bra that was slightly too small for her, and she plucked it away from her skin. Sylvia had always loved that shirt—it would serve her right for getting Chloe into this mess in the first place.
“You’re cold,” he said.
Chloe thought of several responses, most of them along the lines of “duh,” but she resisted the temptation. “Yes, I’m cold,” she said, shivering as she reached for the seat belt. Her hands were shaking too much to fasten it, and eventually she gave up, sitting back in the leather