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Tilting his head, he asked, “Are you always this honest?”
“I try to be. Tactful, too, I hope,” she added teasingly.
“I see.” With amusement in his eyes, he took a step closer. “There’s honest and blunt, and honest and tactful. I’ll try to remember that.”
They were standing less than a foot apart. She could almost feel his intensity, sense his heat, see his defenses. For a moment she’d made him laugh.
Now he became serious again, his voice low. “Get your coat. I’ll make sure everything’s locked up.”
Five minutes later he held the truck door for her as she climbed in beside his father. The truck seat was roomy, but once Jed shut his door, his down jacket touched the sleeve of her camel wool coat. His trousered leg brushed against hers and Brianne’s breath caught. What was it about this man that excited her so? Although she might be intrigued by him, this excursion to his house could be a colossal mistake. Being impulsive wasn’t in her nature. Yet around him, she almost felt reckless. That was dangerous territory for a virgin who didn’t want to lose her heart.
“Here we go,” Al said, windshield wipers clearing the snow away while heat poured from the vents.
When he pulled onto the street through the six-inch-deep snow, Brianne rocked against Jed. He didn’t move and neither did she, and the heat between them seemed a lot more intense than what was coming out of the vents.
Was it purely her imagination? Certainly, he wasn’t affected by her the way she was affected by him. Yet when she glanced at his profile, she saw the nerve in his jaw twitch.
There was no one on the roads, and a short time later, Al pulled up in front of a one-and-a-half story house. It was painted blue and accented by black shutters. The porch light was glowing, so apparently the power lines in this part of town hadn’t been damaged.
Jed opened his door and climbed out, waiting for Brianne. The snow was getting deeper, and when she jumped from the truck, she discovered it was over the top of her leather boots. She wrinkled her nose at the cold sensation, realizing that by the time she walked to the house, her feet would be wet.
Jed sized up the situation promptly and swung her into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she gasped. He’d moved so quickly, she felt as if she were floating in midair. She wrapped her arms around his neck for security’s sake.
“You need a pair of real boots.”
“These are real boots. I’ve worn them all winter.”
“Real boots don’t make a fashion statement. They’re snug around the calves and go to your knees.”
He had a point. Although it snowed quite a bit, she wasn’t out in it very much. She liked to look feminine and stylish. She did own a pair of tie boots with lamb’s wool inside, but they would have looked hideous with her skirt.
Thoughts of boots vanished as Jed carried her to the front stoop. He was as solid as a granite cliff. Held against him as she was, she could feel the breadth of his shoulders and the strength of his arms. Under the overhang of the porch, there was only about an inch of snow. He set her down lightly, as if she were fragile enough to break. She felt so small beside him. So slight. So feminine. The green depths of his eyes mesmerized her as they stood close together.
He fingered a stray curl along her cheek, and she thought she’d melt right there on his porch. “Hats are a good idea in this kind of weather, too,” he advised huskily.
“I’ll remember that the next time it snows,” she murmured, knowing that coming here with Jed was a very big mistake.
Al suddenly came up behind them. “Want my key?”
Quickly Jed dug into his jacket pocket. “Nope. I’ve got mine.” He opened the door and let Brianne enter before him.
As she took a quick look around, Jed shrugged out of his coat and switched on a light. “It’s like stepping back into the fifties, isn’t it?”
Glancing around the interior of the house, she saw what he meant. There was warm wood flooring, but it didn’t have the finish modern floors had. The brick fireplace was simple, without a hearth, but with an alcove to store wood next to it. A gold-and-green flowered sofa sat against one wall, near a comfortable-looking tweed recliner that had seen years’ worth of use. Beyond the living room she could see the kitchen, with its linoleum floor, and yellow and white ceramic tiles behind the appliances and sink. The counters were gold swirl and the cabinets birch.
“There wasn’t anything wrong with the fifties,” Al mumbled.
After Brianne removed her coat, Jed took it and hung it in the closet beside his. “I’ll get a fire started. The house has always been drafty.”
Brianne heard Al harumph as he went into the kitchen and hung his jacket on a rack there.
When she crossed to the fireplace, she studied the pictures on the TV console next to it. “You have a brother and a sister?” she asked, looking at a family portrait, the only one in the room from what she could see.
As Jed touched a long match to the kindling, he answered, “Yes.”
“Older or younger?” She knew she was pushing, but she wanted to know more about this man.
“They’re both older.”
“Do they live around here?”
Crouching down, Jed placed two logs on the fire. “No. None of us could wait to escape small-town life in Sawyer Springs. Ellie is out in California producing documentaries, and Chris is a colonel in the army now.”
“You’re all successful. I’ll bet that makes your parents proud.”
With a last look at the dancing flames, Jed closed the mesh screen, stood and faced her. “Mom instilled the idea in us that we could rise above anything, be whatever we wanted to be. She died during my residency, but she knew we were all on our way.”
So Jed knew how it felt to lose a parent. Thinking about it, Brianne felt she’d lost hers twice—once when she’d found out she was adopted, because nothing had been the same after that, and then again after the accident. “I’ll bet your dad’s proud of what you’ve accomplished.”
Jed turned away and gazed into the fire for a few moments. “I’m not sure what Dad feels. And my idea of success has changed over the past few years.” A haunted shadow crossed his face again.
Wanting to be honest with him, she admitted, “I know you were a plastic surgeon in L.A. before you went to Alaska. Did something happen to—”
Al returned to the living room then, unaware that he was interrupting. With a broad smile, he addressed Brianne. “We’ve got leftover rotisserie chicken from the deli and a bag of potatoes. Anything you can cook up with that?” Al Sawyer apparently was the kind of man who assumed that all women knew how to cook.
“Dad, you can’t expect Brianne—”
“That sounds like the beginnings of a scalloped-potato-and-chicken casserole to me. What do you think about that?” she asked seriously.
Grinning, Al nodded. “Now you’re talkin’. I knew it was a good idea bringin’ you along home.”
Brianne laughed and Jed just shook his head. “You really know how to win a girl over, Dad.”
“Maybe you should try it sometime,” his father replied.
Jed’s face went still and the hint of a smile vanished. But his tone was even when he said, “Dad keeps a stash of frozen cakes in the downstairs freezer. I’ll get one of those for dessert before we all start peeling potatoes.”
Deciding to put her best foot forward—what trouble could she get into cooking supper?—Brianne smiled at Jed’s father. “Mr. Sawyer, why don’t you show me around your kitchen?”
As he jammed his hands into the pockets of his coveralls, he muttered, “It’s Al. Come on, and I’ll show you where everything is.”
After supper, washing dishes while Brianne dried, Jed tried to figure out why he felt turned inside out whenever he was around her. Her presence stirred up emotions he hadn’t felt in years. He told himself she was young and beautiful, and that’s all it was.
He was placing the last dish in the drainer when his father went to the back door and looked out. “The snow shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. I think I’ll go out and shovel the front walk.”
“I bought the snowblower so you don’t have to do that, Dad. I’ll take it out later for its first pass.”
“That thing runs away with me,” Al grumbled. “I prefer a shovel.”
“You should prefer the living room in front of the fire, and let me take care of it.”
His face reddening, Al demanded, “And just what happens if I let you take care of everything and then you leave and I’m stuck with it again? I’ll be out of shape and not used to countin’ on myself. If you’re so dad-blasted set on running the snowblower, I’ll go upstairs and work on that jigsaw puzzle in my room.”
“Mr. Sawyer?” Brianne said as he started toward the living room.
Al gave her a look that said she was supposed to call him by his first name.
“Al,” she amended. “I don’t want to disrupt your evening. If you want to watch TV—”
“You’re not disrupting anything. I’m almost finished with that puzzle and I want to see it all put together. Jed will find you anything you need for tonight. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you in the morning.” He left the kitchen abruptly without saying good-night to his son.
Jed took the dish towel from Brianne’s hands. “Let the rest drip dry. Would you like a glass of brandy?”
The house was drafty, and the idea of a glass of brandy in front of the fire with Jed was appealing. “Sure.”
A few minutes later as he joined her on the sofa, he handed her a small snifter, took a sip of his, set it on the coffee table and ran his hand through his hair. She could tell the interchange with his father was still frustrating him.
“Your dad doesn’t take to change easily?”
“That’s an understatement. Every time I try to do something for him, there’s a battle.”
“It sounds as if he doesn’t think you’ll be staying here.”
Shifting toward her, Jed replied, “I’m not sure I will be. How about you? Where do you want your career to take you?”
Before she’d accepted the position at the Beechwood, she’d applied for a job with Project Voyage—a team of doctors and nurses who volunteered their time helping children in South America. But she hadn’t heard from them, and when the position at the family practice had opened, she’d decided it was just what she needed while she settled her parents’ estate and got her life in some kind of order. “I’m not sure where I want it to take me.”
“Why didn’t you go to med school and follow in your father’s footsteps?” Jed’s gaze was probing.
“I’m not sure how to explain.” She thought of Bobby and how she’d helped nurse him every day after school. “I like caring for patients, not just listening to their symptoms and prescribing medication. I saw my father’s life—how he wanted to give more time to each patient but couldn’t always, the kind of hours he kept, being called out in the middle of the night. If I ever have a family, I’d like to keep working. But I also want to be there for them. Do you know what I mean?”
Jed knew exactly what she meant. Caroline had accused him often of not being available, of his patients always coming first. He didn’t feel it was true. Especially after their daughter was born. Trisha had been the light of his life, and sometimes he’d thought Caroline was jealous of that. She’d been a pampered, spoiled rich girl, used to being the center of attention. Unfortunately, he hadn’t realized that until after he’d married her.
Brianne came from money, too. Nevertheless, he’d felt her compassion, could see what a caring nature she had. Maybe that’s why his desire for her was only part of what was going on. Her soft, bronze-colored sweater had a round neck that molded to her creamy throat. Her calf-length wool skirt draped enticingly over her slender hips and curvy legs. When he’d carried her earlier and her arms had gone around his neck, he’d realized he’d been alone for a long time now.
The flaming wood in the fireplace popped and crackled. The sip of brandy he’d taken made a burning path down his throat. Yet the heat inside him had nothing to do with the fire or the brandy.
Brianne was looking up at him with such complete absorption…
“Brianne,” he said huskily.
She didn’t move, just kept studying his face, his lips, as if she was as curious as he was about the chemistry brewing between them.
Bending his head, he savored the moment of wanting her…of needing her. He reveled in the feeling as his blood started racing faster and his hunger built. His lips hovered over hers and he heard her sigh, then catch her breath. But she didn’t move away.
I feel alive again, he thought as his lips touched hers.
Fascinated by the soft curls and their fiery color, Jed was unable to resist sliding his hand into Brianne’s hair. His tongue instinctively slipped between her lips, and when her hands went to his shoulders, he brought her closer. Breathing her in, he delved into her mouth, giving himself up to the kiss, to Brianne, the fire and the brandy.
Numb as he’d been to his physical needs for the past four years, Jed felt more aroused now than he’d ever been in his life. Brianne’s soft moan, her surrender to the desire between them, her sweet beauty, spun him into turmoil and excitement and hunger.
It was the hunger that stopped him—the soul-deep, aching hunger that he knew he could never satisfy. He couldn’t use Brianne as a Band-aid. He wouldn’t take advantage of her. He shouldn’t become involved at all.
Tearing away from her, controlling the mind-drugging sensations of holding her, tasting her and kissing her, he shifted until there was space between them.
He waited until he saw the sensual haze in her eyes dissipate a bit. “That was a mistake that won’t happen again.”
Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked embarrassed and vulnerable.
“We have to work together,” he added. Then, as if he needed more reasons to keep his distance, he continued, “And I’m much older than you are. I’m not looking for an involvement.”
“I see,” she murmured, studying her hands now, rather than him.
He stood. “I’d better see to that snowblower. Your room is the one at the top of the stairs. I put towels on the bed.”
Trying to act casual, she repositioned a sofa pillow. “Do you think we’ll be able to get out in the morning?”
“I’m hoping the plow will come through.”
Finally her gaze met his. When he looked into her eyes, he remembered the kiss and saw she was remembering, too. He’d been an idiot to give in to the moment. He wouldn’t do so again.
As he turned away from Brianne, he tried to shut off everything that kiss had stirred up inside him. But as he left her staring into the fire, took his jacket from the closet and went out into the swirling snow, he felt as if a locked door had been opened.
And he might never be able to lock it again.
The mattress was lumpy, but that wasn’t the reason Brianne couldn’t sleep in the simple pine bed. Her nose and hands and feet were cold. To distract herself, she thought back to the memory of Jed’s kiss. Why had she let it happen? Why hadn’t she backed away? He’d given her time. But she’d been overcome by curiosity, by a sense of adventure she’d never experienced before.
The howl of the wind sounded through the window, and she shivered.
There was a knock on the door to her room, then it opened. “Brianne?”
She recognized Jed’s voice immediately. “I’m awake.”
When he came into the room dressed in a white T-shirt with gray sweatpants, he was carrying a flashlight. “Now our power is out, too. The temperature in the house has dropped. Do you want to come down and sleep on the sofa by the fire?”
“What about your dad?”
“He’s sound asleep and snoring. I laid a down-filled quilt over him and that should do the trick. But we only have one of those.”
“What time is it?” she asked, unable to see her watch.
“It’s three. If you get warm, you could still catch a couple of hours of sleep before you have to get up.”
“All right.” Suddenly she realized the predicament she was in. “Can you turn around while I dress?” She’d crawled under the covers in her slip. Her sweater and skirt lay over the chair.
His gaze went to the clothes and then back to her. “I’d go on down, but you’re going to need the flashlight. Just tell me when you’re finished.” Then he turned and faced the door.
