He'd had to go and say that, and something inside her had melted. It was just a simple little compliment, nothing very creative or romantic at all. But it didn't matter. She'd heard it, and this dopey grin had appeared on her face, and she knew she must have looked like an absolutely simpering fool, all because of a few little words from a man.
Not just any man, of course. Cole Brady could never be just any man.
"Annabel, darling, are you feeling all right?"
She blinked and looked up from the notebook in her lap. The pencil in her hands had stopped moving, and she wondered how long ago she had lost track of what Mrs. Noone was saying.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Noone," Annabel said quickly. "I'm afraid I'm just not the right person for this job. I've always worked out-of-doors."
"Oh? Doing what, dear?"
Annabel hesitated before replying. She couldn't keep everything bottled up inside, she realized; she really would go crazy if she did. And if anyone in San Francisco might understand, it would probably be Frances Noone, who had been making her own way in the world for quite some time now.
"I was a firefighter," Annabel said quietly. "A lady fireman, I guess you would say."
Mrs. Noone's pale blue eyes widened. "My word!" she exclaimed. "Really?" Annabel couldn't detect any hint of disbelief on her face or in her voice, just surprise.
"That's right."
"Then it's no wonder you and young Mr. Brady get along so well. You have that in common."
Annabel smiled ruefully. "I'm not so sure about that. The getting along part, I mean."
"But I know he's very fond of you. He sounded so solicitous about you when he telephoned here a few days ago."
"Cole is a very . . . kind and generous man. But I'm afraid that's as far as it goes."
Mrs. Noone leaned back in her wheelchair and shook her head. "I think you're wrong, my dear. I may be an old woman now, but I was young once, you know. I can still remember what passion looks like in a man's eyes. And I saw it in Cole's eyes when he looked at you."
Annabel felt her heart begin to beat a little faster. "Do you really think so?"
"I'm certain of it."
"Well, I saw him again today," Annabel admitted, "and the only thing he seemed passionate about was the fact that he regards me as an idiot."
"My stars, I can't believe that! Why would he think such a thing?"
Since she'd started baring her soul, she might as well go on, Annabel thought. "Because I told him I want to enter the competition that's coming up between the San Francisco Fire Department and the Oakland Fire Department."
To Annabel's dismay, Mrs. Noone looked so flabbergasted by that pronouncement that for a second Annabel thought the elderly lady was going to take Cole's side in the argument. But then, Mrs. Noone inclined her head in thought for a moment and said, "Well, it's a bit unorthodox, I suppose, but why not?"
"For one thing, I'm not a member of the fire department. But I'd like to be. I told Cole that I would compete for the San Francisco department, and if I did well enough, they could hire me."
Mrs. Noone nodded. "An eminently sensible idea. It might take some bending of the rules, but I don't see anything wrong with that, do you?"
Annabel smiled. "I've been bending them all my life."
The elderly woman clapped her hands together in delight and said, "You know, I can believe that, my dear. You remind me a great deal of an old friend of mine, darling Lillie Hitchcock. She used to dress as a man, you know, and run after the fire wagons when they went racing through the town."
Suddenly, Annabel sat up straighten "What did you say?"
"That you remind me of Lillie Hitchcock."
"No, the part about how she dressed like a man."
Mrs. Noone laughed. "Oh, it was scandalous, I suppose, but San Francisco has a long history of harboring eccentrics, you know. I was acquainted with the Emperor Norton. A very sweet man, but mad as a hatter, of course."
Annabel tried to get her landlady back on track. "This Lillie Hitchcock went to fires dressed as a man?"
"She's Lillie Coit now, since she's married. And yes, sometimes she dressed in masculine attire. She became a sort of unofficial mascot of the fire department, almost an honorary member."
Annabel knew the story of Lillie Coit, having seen Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill nearly every day of her life until the past week. She hadn't recalled that the woman's maiden name was Hitchcock.
Being like Lillie Coit wasn't what Annabel wanted. She wanted to be a full-fledged fireman, not some sort of mascot. But the story had given her an idea. A plan began forming in her mind, a plan she might be able to fall back on if the lieutenant of Cole's engine company reacted to Annabel's challenge the way Cole expected him to.
"Why, my dear," Mrs. Noone said, "if I didn't know better, I'd say that you suddenly have a gleam in your eye which is positively devilish!"
****
"Absolutely not!" Lieutenant Driscoll exclaimed. "Have you lost your mind, Cole?"
From across the room, Patsy O'Flaherty said, "I told ye he's gone daft, Lieutenant."
"Wait just a doggone minute," Cole snapped. "Did I say I thought it would be a good idea for Miss Lowell to take part in the competition?"