Ever After

  “You’re Hallie?” Jamie asked, his eyes wide. “But you’re not—” He broke off to look her up and down in a way that every woman hopes some gorgeous man will look at her. Not in that lecherous way that can make a woman feel exposed and vulnerable, but in a way that made her feel beautiful and so very, very desirable.

  Jamie grasped the side of the sink, as though if he didn’t support himself he’d fall down. “I thought someone else was coming, but you…You’re…” He didn’t seem able to say any more. When he leaned against the cabinet, his crutches fell backward, and Jared caught them.

  Hallie straightened her shoulders. It looked like to him, one female was as good as another. If he couldn’t have the divine Shelly, he’d take this one.

  But Hallie’d had too many years of guys trying to get near her so they could be close to Shelly. All she knew for sure was that this had to stop now!

  She took a step toward him and when he smiled broader, she frowned deeply. “Look, Mr. Taggert—at least I assume that’s who you are—I don’t know what you’re thinking about me, but it’s wrong. You’re here in my house so I can help you recover and that’s all. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said softly, his eyes widening even farther.

  She took a step closer to him, her finger pointed at his chest. “If you ever make an advance toward me that is the least bit unprofessional, you’re out of here. Do you understand?”

  Jamie was blinking at her as he nodded.

  “Professional!” She tapped her finger on his very hard chest. “Touch me and you leave. Got it?”

  When he said “Yes,” Hallie could feel his breath on her face. He smelled of man. Abruptly, she took a step back, then walked all the way around the table, around both men, and paused at the back door. She glared at Jared. “Short, stocky kid, huh?” She went outside, closing the door firmly behind her.

  Jared was the first to speak. “Now I’m going to be in the doghouse. What the hell were you thinking, coming on to her like that?” he half shouted. “This isn’t going to work! If you knew what that girl has been through…” He glared at Jamie. “That sister of hers—with my help—tried to steal this house from her.”

  Jamie hobbled over to a chair and sat down. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

  “If you mean the stepsister, no, I don’t think she is. To tell you the truth, I didn’t like her from the moment I saw her. She’s too much like the girls I used to date.”

  “Who is the stepsister?” Jamie’s puzzlement showed on his face.

  “The blonde,” Jared said, sounding like Jamie had no brain. “The photo on the passport, remember? The one who said she was Hallie.”

  “Oh,” Jamie said. “Her. I like this one better. She’s got beautiful eyes, and she is built, isn’t she?”

  Jared groaned. “Deliver me from the days of youth. What I want to know is if it’s safe to leave you here with her. She’s in this mess because of me and I plan to look out for her.”

  There was no smile on Jamie’s face. “Are you asking me if I’ll take what she doesn’t want to give?”

  Jared was taller and older than Jamie, but the younger man had the muscles of a bull. Jared didn’t back down. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m asking.”

  Jamie’s face softened. “It looks like there will be two of us protecting her. I apologize to you now and I will apologize to her for my behavior. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting…her. Tall skinny blondes aren’t appealing to me, but this one I like.”

  Jared grimaced. “I’m going home to my wife. The next time I talk to Hallie she’d better tell me that you’ve treated her well or I’ll call your dad to bring a cattle truck to haul you away.”

  “Spoken like a true Montgomery,” Jamie said, his eyes laughing. “Did you really tell her I’m a kid?”

  “You are to me.”

  Jamie was still smiling. “Go on. You can leave. She’s safe with me. She stands up for herself well, doesn’t she?”

  Jared had the idea that if he remained there he might have to listen to hours of whatever this young man was feeling, which he had no doubt was nothing but lust. “I’ll be back in an hour and I’ll ask Hallie whether or not you can stay here. If she even hints that you’ve come on to her, you’re moving into my house.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jamie said, his eyes sparkling.

  Chapter Two

  As soon as Hallie was outside, she realized that her anger was more about what her stepsister had tried to do than about the young man who needed her help. And her anger had increased when she realized she was attracted to a man who had hidden away photos of Shelly.

  Before her was a large grassy area crisscrossed by old brick pathways. There were high walls on each side and what looked to be beds for plants. The weeds had been cut, so someone was taking care of the garden, but it still had a barren look to it. There were a few scraggly bushes, but not much else.

  She walked to the end of the wall and saw a long, narrow strip of land that ran perpendicular. It too was walled. At one end was a big red gate, but at the other end of the garden was a building with a vine-covered arbor attached to one side.

  She went down the old brick path to the small building. The door was open, and inside was a lot of shiny new gym equipment. When Shelly had asked about rehabilitating an injury such as Jamie had, Hallie had been flattered. She’d been pleased to make a list of necessary equipment. Inside the little building Hallie found everything she had put on the list. Machines and free weights were in the center, and the walls were hung with rubber tubes and yoga equipment. When she went out the side door to the arbor, she saw a seating area and a lean-to that housed the massage table she would need. Overhead, grape vines had pretty, pale leaves that were beginning to unfurl. Massages under the arbor would be perfect.

  When she heard a cough to her left, she knew the man was letting her know of his approach.

  He stopped just under the edge of the arbor and leaned heavily on his crutches. “I apologize for my behavior,” he said. “I’m very sorry.”

  “And I for mine,” she answered. “It’s been a tough day and I took my anger out on you. Why don’t you take your clothes off and let’s start over?”

  Jamie lifted his eyebrows high.

  Hallie’s mind was so much on all that had happened that it took a moment to realize what she’d said. “I meant for a massage. To begin work on your knee.” She could feel her face turning red.

  “Darn!” he said with such feeling that Hallie couldn’t help but laugh, and he joined her.

  But he didn’t begin to disrobe. Instead, he made his way to a chair and sat down heavily. “That’s better.” He smiled at her as she took the other seat. “I would like to start over. I’m James, generally called Jamie.” He held out his hand across the little table separating them.

  “My name is Hyacinth, but thankfully I’m called Hallie.” When she shook his hand, his eyes seemed to be offering only friendship, and she was glad of it.

  Leaning back in their chairs, they looked out at the garden.

  “Isn’t Hyacinth the name of one of the original owners of the house?” he asked.

  “Yes. My father had only a small box of papers about his family. He didn’t talk about them, but my mother found them in the attic of the house I grew up in. She saw the name Hyacinth and gave it to me.”

  “And your mother’s name was Ruby, right?”

  “No. She was Shelly’s mother,” Hallie said tightly.

  “Sorry,” Jamie said. “I’m afraid I’m a bit confused about it all. I don’t know if Jared told you, but I exchanged some emails with a woman I thought was you. She said her mother was named Ruby and that Ruby had died when Hallie—or Shelly, I guess—was four.”

  “Part of that’s correct. My mother died when I was four, but her name was Lauren.”

  “My biological mother died when I was a baby,” Jamie said softly.

  We have that in common, Hallie thought but didn’t say, and
for a few minutes the air was heavy between them. Shared tragedy did not make for happy conversation, she thought, and wanted to change the subject. “So where does that gate at the end lead?”

  “I have no idea. I just got here last night and I slept late this morning. When I got up, I looked around a bit, then came out here to see the gym. I was just returning when Jared found me.”

  “But I saw you with an older woman. You looked like friends.”

  “That was Edith and we’d just met. She lives in the B&B next door, so the gate probably leads there. Her son and daughter-in-law run the place, but I think she visits here often.”

  “Maybe she was a friend of Mr. Bell’s and misses him.”

  “Could be, but she didn’t say so. Tell me exactly what your stepsister did.”

  “No,” Hallie said. “I’d rather not go into that. I really would like to have a look at your knee. And from the way you’re holding your shoulders, I think you’re carrying a lot of tension. I’d like for you to get on the table and let me see what’s going on with your body.”

  “As tempting as that sounds, I’m hungry and you must be starving. Did Montgomery feed you?”

  “We ate on the plane.” Hallie watched as he awkwardly stood up. It looked like she wasn’t going to get him on the table today. His leg was encased in the heavy brace and she knew that the slightest movement of his knee without it would cause him intense pain.

  “Let me help you,” she said.

  “Gladly,” he answered. He stood on one foot while she got the crutches and helped him put them under his arms, and they began to walk back to the house.

  “So tell me about your injury.”

  “Skiing. Being stupid. Nothing unique.” He paused. “It’s going to take me a while to remember all the things I told Shelly and that you don’t know. My aunt Jilly is getting married here on Nantucket soon and Edith was telling me that my family has booked all the rooms of the B&B for that week.” He stopped on the walkway. “I have a lot of relatives and they’ll be all over this place. Hordes of them. Like fire ants covering their territory.” He looked at her. “If that idea horrifies you, let me know now and I’ll keep them out.”

  “I don’t think it will bother me, but I’ve never had a large family so I don’t know for sure.”

  “Okay, but when they get here, if at any time they’re too much for you, tell me and I’ll send them away.” Jamie looked around at the garden. In front of them was an enormous oak tree with an old bench under it. “What are you going to do with this place?”

  “I haven’t had time to think about it. When I woke up this morning my only concern was getting some papers to my boss before he left for the weekend. It was my last assignment for him. Next week I was supposed to start a new job. Anyway, when the papers weren’t in my bag, I had to go back home to get them. Minutes later I was being told I owned a house on Nantucket and soon after that I was on a private jet.” She looked up at him. “Which I believe is owned by your family.”

  “True,” he said, “but not by me. My dad believes kids should pay their own way.”

  Hallie knew he meant to sound like an average guy, but not many people had their own private physical therapist. And from the healthy look of him, almost anyone could have helped him. His injury wasn’t unusual, and certainly not life threatening. She could see no reason for him to be isolated with a therapist. He could have stayed at home with his family and been driven to an hour-long session five times a week and he would have done well. “Why do you want to be here?” she asked. “Rehabilitation of your knee could be done anywhere. You don’t have to—”

  “Oh, look, Jared has already come to check on me. If you don’t give me a good report, he’s threatened to beat me up.”

  “I’d settle for lifting you onto the massage table,” Hallie said and went forward to greet Jared and reassure him that Jamie Taggert had been a perfect gentleman.

  Jared listened, glared in warning at Jamie—who smiled back at him—then left, and they went into the kitchen.

  Hallie opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. It was packed full of containers of food, all carefully labeled. Fruit and salad greens were in the crisper, and the freezer was also full. “Who did this?”

  “My mother sent someone to fill it.”

  “I thought your mother was…gone.”

  “Stepmom, then,” he said. “But she’s always been my mother, so…” Trailing off, he saw the weariness in her eyes. He led her to the old kitchen table. “You’ve done enough today, so you sit and I’ll microwave us a meal.”

  “But it’s—”

  “Your house and you’re the boss? You can claim all the power tomorrow, but tonight I’ll take care of you. What food do you like?”

  “Obviously, anything.” She was referring to the extra pounds she had on her. Her plan had been that she would start a regular exercise program as soon as she was in her new job.

  “What’s obvious is that every ounce has gone to exactly the right places.” He gave her such a warm look that Hallie almost blushed. “Sorry, please don’t tell Jared on me.”

  Hallie searched for another point of conversation. “Jared told me your mother is the mystery writer Cale Anderson.”

  “She is. She and my widower dad married when my brother Todd and I were just kids.” It wasn’t easy for him with the crutches, but Jamie was managing to get packages out of the fridge and carry them to the counter by the sink. He was beginning to like this woman. Yes, he was very physically attracted to her, but there was more than that. How many people would unexpectedly inherit a house in one day yet still put her patient first? As far as he knew, she hadn’t even looked at all the rooms. Instead, his welfare seemed to have been her first thought.

  “What was it like, growing up with someone so famous?”

  Jamie smiled. “Fame has never meant much to Mom. She writes because she likes doing it. When we were kids she used to have my brother and me act out scenes of her books so she could see how they’d work. Todd and I never thought anything about it until one day when we were in the third grade and some candy went missing. At recess we set up an interrogation room and asked some hard questions. That ended up with three kids crying in the principal’s office. And later, little Chrissy McNamara stepped up onto a pile of books and gave me a bloody nose.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “I’m not. I was in love with her until I entered high school.”

  Hallie smiled. “How much trouble did you get into?”

  “After the dust settled, everyone agreed it was all Mom’s fault. Dad was mad at her for an entire twenty-four hours. That may have been a record.”

  “So you had to stop acting out police procedurals?”

  “Not at all,” Jamie said. “Todd and I just learned to keep our mouths shut.”

  Hallie laughed hard. “I can see it all. She sounds like fun.”

  “She is. Dad is the disciplinarian, but Mom believes childhood should be a joy and that’s how she made it.”

  “How nice for you,” Hallie said, with feeling in her voice.

  Jamie put a plate of sliced roast beef, two warmed vegetables, and salad in front of her. “What about you? What was your childhood like?”

  “My dad sold pharmaceuticals and he traveled constantly. After my mother died, her parents moved in with us and Dad traveled even more.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jamie said. “You must have missed him a great deal.”

  “No, actually, we didn’t. My grandparents were wonderful. We had a huge backyard and Grams and Gramps were fabulous gardeners. We grew all our own vegetables and most of the fruit. I—” She broke off, seeming to be embarrassed.

  “You what?” He put his plate on the table and sat down across from her.

  “I was the center of their lives. What I did, who I liked and didn’t like, girlfriend fights, boys—they wanted to hear about all of it. I had slumber parties and big birthday parties. And when Dad came home we treated him like
visiting royalty. We were thrilled to see him arrive and breathed a sigh of relief when he left.” She paused. “I think maybe I was the happiest child on earth. But they moved to Florida a year after Dad married Ruby.”

  “Do you see them often now?”

  “They passed away before my dad died, within months of each other. I still miss them.” She took a bite of green beans. “These are good. Where did your mom get all this?”

  “She’s no cook, but she’s great at finding where good food is sold. So where did your stepsister come in?”

  Hallie waved her fork about. “That was later. Dad married Ruby when I was eleven, and she and her daughter moved into the house. We need to start on your treatment first thing tomorrow.”

  “All right,” Jamie said. He could tell that she didn’t want to talk about her life after her stepmother’s arrival. “What exactly are you planning to do to me?”

  “I have to see your injury first.” The shirt he had on was big and concealing, but it couldn’t hide the muscle underneath. “You look like you know how to pick up a dumbbell.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s from Dad and his brother. When they were young they competed in power-lifting matches.”

  “Did you compete?”

  “Never had the time,” he said.

  “What took up your time?” She saw his face change, as though he was about to tell her something but decided not to.

  “Would you like some cheesecake?” He had eaten three helpings of everything.

  Hallie looked away to hide her expression. Rich kid, she thought. He didn’t want to tell her that his time was taken up by skiing and other pleasures. So be it, she thought. She wouldn’t push him to tell what he didn’t want to.

  She moved her nearly empty plate away and stood up. “I’m worn out and I think I’ll go to my room. Will you be all right?”

  “I’m fine. I swear that I can bathe and dress myself.”

  There was a bit of tension in his voice, but she ignored it. She was too tired to wonder what was bothering him. She reached for her plate to take it to the sink, but he took it from her.