Free Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) by Tina Wainscott

Remember that. Follow a big family, and you’re set for food for a week. Fanny Farmer’s was giving out free samples of their butter toffee. Yum. You should come with me sometime. There’s all kinds of goodies at the mall.”
    “Maybe sometime.”
    Maudine scooped up her caps and deposited them with the many others she toted around her neck. They were as valuable as gold to her. She braced her chin on her hands. “Tell me about Adrian again, what he looks like, and I’ll spy on him for you. Maybe he’s an alien or something. Someone should keep an eye on him.”
     
     
     

CHAPTER 5
     
     
    “Wait.”
    Nikki scooted towards Crackers and pulled the two yellow flowers from between the cracks of the asphalt before the puppy sprayed them. She smelled the tiny bouquet, remembering the fresh flowers the maid had put in her room every morning when she lived in the mansion. Nikki didn’t particularly miss the jewels in her box, the fancy clothes, or especially the droll parties where everyone tried to outdo each other with dress and drunkenness. She did miss silly little things, like the flowers…and Häagen-Dazs ice cream. And bubble baths.
    She returned to the van, putting those flowers in a cup of water. Because the flowers didn’t smell, she lifted the cap off her Opium perfume bottle and inhaled. Then, for the heck of it, she deposited a tiny drop on her wrist.
    She removed the robe, then her silk nightgown, and put on her wool sweater and jeans. Over all that she put on her shawl to hide her braided hair and the overcoat. Grabbing her camera, she rejoined Crackers where she’d tied him to the bumper.
    Her main purpose in life was surviving, but beyond that, taking pictures filled the greatest moments. The rest was an empty space that dreams had left behind. If she could spend every waking hour taking photographs, she would, but that was impractical. Last night, as she lay in her bed tossing and turning, she thought of some great shots with a crippled puppy in them. Today, she would turn those thoughts into film.
    The cold front had swept through the night before, bringing with it rain and even colder air. Wispy clouds scudded across the sky, leaving streaks of blue where they thinned the most. Soon they would dissipate altogether, leaving a glorious day. For now, the weather would be a good backdrop for her pictures.
     
     
    Midmorning, when the sun began to dominate the sky, Nikki was still posing Crackers, this time in Seamus’s baby stroller. She knew he allowed it only because he was far into another world today, and hadn’t realized what she’d asked. That was why she wanted to get the shot and be on her way. Now that her creativity was percolating with ideas, she wanted to find Maudine and pose her with Crackers, sharing a treat together. That was what she wanted her photographs to show, that the homeless were people too, and that they enjoyed the same simple pleasures everyone else did.
    “You’re going to spoil that puppy crazy,” a low voice said behind her, and she jumped just as she made the exposure.
    Whirling around with her hand on her heart, she stood to face Adrian. He looked extraordinarily handsome at that moment, with the sun gleaming off almost black hair and a devilish smile on his face. She looked away, not wanting to notice those things about him.
    “I was just posing him.”
    Crackers had already struggled out of the stroller and waddled over to Adrian, obviously recognizing him as his savior. Adrian knelt down and scratched the puppy’s chin. In a sweatshirt, his chest looked even larger than before; she could imagine him wrapping his arms about a woman and making her feel very secure. Her hand went to her lips at the feelings that thought invoked. Not this woman, she reminded herself, looking away. The feeling lingered, though. It had been so long since a man had held her. The thought of it seemed like heaven.
    “He looks happy. You must be a great nurse.”
    “Okay, I am