“Oh, my God! He was here?” she cried.

Addie and Robbie fell silent and solemn, just looking at her.

She started gasping for breath. “I think I might hyperventilate. He was really here?”

They nodded.

“He saved me from the rioting brides?”

“He did,” Robbie confirmed. “It was like something out of Gone with the Wind. Rhett and Scarlett on the stairs and all.”

“James Elliott was here, and he carried me up the stairs? To my room? This room?” She tried breathing faster and faster, conscious but in that fuzzy-headed way of one who’s slept too long and can’t really wake up.

“We followed as soon as we could,” Robbie said.

James must have been here for a while. She vaguely remembered him touching her softly, sweetly, his body pressing hers down into the mattress, his mouth on hers, just as hot and sexy as ever.

Chloe lifted up the covers and peeked beneath them at herself. Yes, she was completely dressed, and he was definitely a man to completely undress a woman in those kinds of situations, though she wasn’t confirming or denying any of that to Addie or Robbie.

So, he’d just kissed her? And held her? And then left?

“How long was he in my room with me?” she asked finally.

“Thirty-seven and a half minutes,” Robbie said.

They’d timed the visit? Of course.

“We were thinking of breaking in—”

“Because we thought … I don’t know, maybe you’d lost your mind or something, and we should try to save you from yourself,” Addie finished. “Should we have been saving you from yourself?”

“Probably. Yes.” Then she had a new, even more horrible thought. “He knew why those crazy brides were here?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She looked up into their equally worried faces and felt anew the sinking feeling of complete humiliation. Not just the rest of the known world, but James, too, knew her ex No. 3 had a thing for men, and he’d been here to witness the aftermath of her latest disastrous relationship.

“What in the world was he doing here?” she asked finally.

“He said he was having a business meeting with Adam Landrey when they heard about the riot. Adam was here, too,” Addie told her.

“I still can’t believe it. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He was here? Yes, she could still smell him in her bed. That fresh, clean, citrusy smell of him. She thought she could feel his arms around her, her body snuggled up to his, could remember feeling safe and cherished and so turned on. Why would he charge in, rescue her from the crazy brides and then carry her up here and kiss her? Then leave without a word?

Addie frowned at her. “He thought you might have been hit in the head, that you were a little out of it, a little confused.”

Oh, perfect. At least she had an excuse for whatever she’d done.

“Do you need a doctor?” Robbie asked.

“A mental-health professional. We should probably keep one on call.”

James was whistling as he approached the newsstand the next morning, then saw that Vince was waiting for him, tabloid in hand.

Uh-oh. Did they have photos of the mob scene from Chloe’s?

But as he got closer, he saw that Vince was beaming at him. “Today, it’s on the house! This and your Wall Street Journal.”

This, it turned out, was a tabloid with a cover shot of him saving Chloe from the mob!

“You’re the first one of my regulars to make the cover of a periodical I carry!” Vince said. “How ’bout that? I’ve been telling everybody this morning that I know you, that I see you here every day!”

James groaned and looked again. Could anyone—except maybe people who saw him every day—tell that was him? In the photo, his head was bent down toward Chloe’s as he carried her through a sea of rioting brides. She looked like a waif, a beautiful, fragile, helpless waif. And he was mostly just a dark suit with dark hair, he thought.

“So, you and that designer get back together?” Vince asked.

“Not exactly.”

“Hey, come ’ere.” Vince motioned for James to lean over the counter, closer to Vince, who’d pulled out his cell phone and held it out in front of them.

“No!” James pulled away as the flash went off. He could only hope he’d gotten out of the way in time. “No pictures. Not today.”

Vince looked mightily disappointed. “I was gonna put it up on the newsstand. You know, to show people that I really know you.”