Fire and Ice - Anne Stuart [90]
“Sorry, we’re not responsible for dreams. If you need a prescription for pain, I can give it to you.”
“Never mind,” Jilly said, defeated. “The next one would probably be a nightmare. So I can leave now, Dr….” For some reason she wanted to call the young woman Dr. Yamada, but considering that she was a Nordic blonde, that name seemed unlikely. Jilly checked her name tag. “Dr. Swensen,” she said.
“Just as long as you promise to take it easy for the next few days. You’ve had a nasty shake-up, and you’re lucky you didn’t have a head injury.”
Jilly wasn’t as convinced of that; the hallucination last night had been so real, felt so real. But she wasn’t about to say anything—she wanted to get the hell out of there, back to the safety of her family’s gated Hollywood mansion. If fate was kind enough to send her the same dream, or maybe even a more sexually active one, then she’d be happy. Otherwise she’d just sleep.
She glanced up once as Jenkins helped her into the backseat of the limo. Her body still hurt—for having no real injuries she was feeling like shit, and she could only see out of one eye. She’d taken a fleeting look at herself in a mirror after the nurse helped her dress, and shuddered. It was a good thing it had only been a dream—she looked like a witch who’d met the wrong end of a broomstick.
The day was dark, ominously so. “Is it going to rain, Jenkins?” They hadn’t had rain in weeks, maybe months, according to the KTLA weather report.
“It’s the fires, miss. They’re looking bad this year. That’s smoke overhead. A good rain might help, but there’s none expected.”
Jilly tried to summon up a shred of anxiety. “We’re not anywhere near the fires, are we?”
“We’ll get word if we need to evacuate, miss.”
That wasn’t the most comforting response he could have come up with, but she wasn’t going to worry about it. The chance of the wildfires making it all the way to the Hollywood Hills was unlikely. There was a hot breeze blowing, bringing smoke on the air. It was late for the Santa Ana winds, but the dragon breath had an angry feel to it.
By the time she managed to limp into the house she was ready to collapse, and the sight of her mother waiting for her in the hallway didn’t help matters. Until she took a closer look. Lianne was wearing her traveling Armani, and her matched luggage was waiting in the hall.
“You’re leaving?” Jilly said, trying to keep the hopeful note out of her voice. The last thing she wanted was Lianne in her nurturing-mother role. Lianne would have thrown herself into it with a vengeance, and it could be really annoying when she did. Right now Jilly just needed peace and quiet, not Lianne hovering.
“Darling, I forgot that I promised I’d meet your father in Prague. I can always cancel my flight if you want—I hate to leave you here all alone.”
Jilly wondered exactly what her mother might do if she asked her to stay. It was almost worth it, just to watch Lianne try to wriggle out of it. “I’ll be fine. And I won’t be alone—Consuela and Jenkins will be here.”
“Well, actually, I hadn’t expected you were going to be here. After all, the semester started last week, and I’ve never known you to skip school in your entire life. I told them they could have the week off. Consuela’s already left, and Jenkins and his wife have a vacation planned. The gardening staff will be here, but God only knows if any of them speak English.”
Jilly was so used to her mother’s casual racism that she didn’t rise to the bait. “I’m perfectly capable of being on my own here.” She limped into the living room, sinking down on the couch carefully. The room was dark from the smoke-filled sky outside, and she turned on one of the lights. “As long as I have Diet Coke and a television I’ll be fine.”
“Of course you will. And we have the best security system in the city. Not that there’ll be any problem—there never is. Even so, I put in a call to the temp agency and they’re sending a couple of people out after the weekend.”
“I’ll be fine. I don’t want strangers wandering around here.”
“You need to do this for me, sweetie.