Ever After (7 page)

He finished his set before speaking, then picked up a towel to wipe his face. His thick shirt was soaked with sweat. “I'll tell Mom thanks for you.”

“I want to see your leg.”

“It's fine today. No need to go poking around.” He gave her a smile of such promise that she was sure it had made many women forget their resolve.

Hallie smiled back at him with the sweetest look she could manage. “Do you have your cell phone with you?”

“Sure. Want to check your emails?”

“No. I want to call Jared and tell him that you're not allowing me to treat you.”

After a moment's hesitation, Jamie laughed. “All right, you win. But we keep it to the leg.”

She didn't know what he meant by that, but she went outside to get the big massage table and set it up. When Jamie came out on his crutches, he was still wearing his heavy clothes.

“Everything off,” she said as she began coating her hands and forearms in almond oil. “Or if you're modest, leave your undies on. I'll keep you covered.”

He was frowning at her, as though trying to decide what to do.

She knew that people varied in their sense of modesty. Some people quickly stripped down to their skin while she was in the room; others wouldn't remove their shoes without absolute privacy. It looked like he was the latter version. Excusing herself, she went into the gym for a few minutes.

When she returned, Jamie was on the table, but he'd only partially undressed. He still had on his heavy sweatclothes, but on the right side, he'd slipped out of the pants and rolled their
leg to one side. Except for his brace, he was nude from waist to toes. But his left leg and the upper half of his body were completely covered by his heavy gym clothes. “This isn't what I meant,” she said. “You need to—”

He didn't let her finish. “This is what you get,” he said in a tone she'd not heard him use before. His usual manner was teasing, as though he were on the verge of laughter, but now he looked as though he were daring her to take what he was offering—and if she didn't, he'd leave.

Angering an injured client was not something she was going to do. “This will be all right,” she said in a cheerful voice. “Want to lie back?”

He was leaning on his hands, his arms rigid behind him. “This works for me.” That tone was still there.

Smiling, she began to unfasten the Velcro bindings of the big brace. “Whatever you do, don't move. I want to see how your leg is healing and I'm going to do some gentle massage. Okay?”

He didn't answer, and his face seemed to be settling into a deeper frown.

His knee was very swollen, but worse, every one of the big muscles of his leg seemed to be tied into a knot. Hallie had long ago learned that a person's body often told a different story from what could be seen on the outside. It looked like Jamie's easygoing manner was hiding a great deal of stress.

“Will I pass?” His voice had an edge to it, as though he were challenging her.

She kept smiling. “I can't answer that until I get my hands on you.” She picked up the bottle of oil. The thickness of his leg muscles meant they would take some work.

“You've seen my leg, so that's it,” he said. “I'll do some leg extensions and we'll be done.” He started to get off the table.

She put her hand on his chest. “You move that leg with the brace off and I really will call…” She narrowed her eyes. “I will call your mother.”

Jamie blinked a few times, then the frown left and he genuinely smiled. “And she'll tell Dad. You do know how to terrify a man. All right. One leg and that's it.”

“You are kindness personified.”

Hallie coated her hands in the oil, then set to work. She'd worked on a few bodybuilders and it took a lot to dig into their muscles, but Jamie was the worst she'd ever encountered. There was so much tension in his body that his muscles were the consistency of hard rubber tires. As her fingers dug deep, she thought she might be hurting him, but she could feel him beginning to relax, and finally, he lay back on the table.

At his knee she moved the skin around gently, trying to get the blood and fluids to start to flow again. She attacked his thigh and calf, digging as deeply as she could manage.

It took over an hour on his leg before she felt that she'd done as much as she could. As she refastened the brace, she wished she could get at the rest of his body, but since he had left most of his clothes on, it was covered. He didn't move, just lay quietly on his back on the table, his eyes closed.

Tentatively, she went to his left foot. It was bare so maybe he'd allow her to work on it. When he didn't protest at her hands, she massaged pressure points in his feet, flexing his ankle back and forth. She thought he had fallen asleep, but when she slipped her hands under his sweatpants at the ankle, he immediately tensed and she withdrew.

She massaged his hands. He had beautiful fingers, long and strongly made. From there she began on his head. The amount of tension he was holding in his neck was horrible to feel. There were lumps of lactic acid at the base of his trapezius muscles. She went over his head, feeling his short, dark hair. Her hands roamed over his face, massaging, caressing. Cheekbones, his nose, his lips. Her fingertips touched them all.

She kept remembering the kiss of early this morning. But
from the way he'd greeted her, he didn't seem to remember any of it.

He had an extraordinarily beautiful body! As her hands slid over his skin, she remembered being held in his arms, kissing him.

Maybe she was losing herself more than she realized in the pleasure of touching him because when she put her hands on his shoulders, she started to move down his shirt and over his chest. But Jamie caught her hands before she could pass his collarbone. He held on to her wrists for a moment, then released them. It looked like she wasn't to touch the areas covered by his clothing.

Embarrassed, Hallie stood up straight. “Sorry,” she murmured and stepped away from him. There was a water spigot nearby with a hose attached and she thought about turning it on. She would like to douse herself in icy water. Just hold the hose over her head and let it flow.

Behind her, Jamie sat up on the table.

“Do you feel better?” she asked, forcing herself to smile but thinking, I need a boyfriend!

“I do,” he said. “Thank you.” He started to get off the table but then halted and looked at her.

It took Hallie a few moments to realize that he was waiting for her to leave before he stepped down. Why? Because he was afraid that his movement would allow her to see more of his nude body? What an odd man, she thought as she walked into the garden.

When Jamie was again fully covered, he joined her. They walked around together, speculating on how the garden had once looked. At the big oak tree, they found a little brass plaque that said,
In memory of my beautiful ladies, Hyacinth Bell and Juliana Hartley. Henry Bell
.

“Your namesake,” Jamie said.

As they sat down on the bench under the tree, Hallie told
what she'd learned: that she wasn't related to the Bell family at all but to Leland through his second marriage. “It makes no sense that Henry Bell would leave the house to
me
.”

“Maybe he really was in love with women who died long ago and you're the closest person he could find,” Jamie said.

“Which would mean that Henry had no relatives of his own. But then…” She shrugged. “My question is, did he decorate the upstairs for them?”

Since Jamie hadn't seen the second floor, they went back to the house and up to the two bedrooms. It wasn't easy for him to go up the stairs on crutches, but he did it. Only when they were in the bedroom did Hallie remember seeing her few pieces of luggage downstairs. Jamie insisted on hauling them up the steep, narrow stairs, and that caused some hilarity. He kept pretending he was about to fall, so Hallie got behind him and pushed on his lower back.

While she unpacked and put her toiletries in the bathroom, Jamie looked around. “Very girly. You're right that these rooms were decorated for women.” He sat in her bedroom on a chair covered in blue and pink chintz and watched her. “Whose bedroom was whose, do you think?”

Before she thought, she said, “This one belonged to Hyacinth.”

“How do you know that?”

There was no way she was going to tell him that she kind of, sort of, maybe, possibly heard two female voices telling her which bedroom to use. “I like this one better, so I'm sure it belonged to the sister with my name.”

“Makes sense to me.” He looked over his shoulder into the sitting room. “I bet you can see the garden from that window.” It was as though he momentarily forgot about his injured knee. Leaving his crutches leaning against the bureau, he made almost a leap across the little sitting room to the window seat.

“So help me, if you hurt your knee, I'll—”

He waited. “Come on, what's the threat now? You've used Jared and my mother. Who's next?”

As she sat on the opposite end of the seat, she gave him a little smile. “The next time I massage your head, I won't lean over you so very far.”

After a quick look at Hallie's ample breasts, Jamie put his hand to his heart and fell back against the wall. “Bring me the hemlock. My life is over. I have nothing more to live for. Even the prospect of losing that soft but very firm, luscious treat will take away all that I have left in life. I will—”

Hallie's face was turning redder by the second. His very intimate description was too much! “Will you stop it? You're my client, not my—”

“Patience is what I have. I will wait forever if it means that I may—”

“Look!” Hallie said loudly as she nodded toward the window.

“I can only see you. I can see no one else but—”

“Okay! I'll smash my entire chest up against you for head massages! Now will you look?”

With one more glance at Hallie's bosom, he looked out the window. Edith was leaving the side of the house and walking quickly toward the red gate.

Jamie pushed up the window and leaned out. “Edith!” he shouted in a voice so loud that the force of it nearly knocked Hallie backward. She had an idea that he may have been heard in Boston.

Hearing it, the little woman halted and smiled up at them. “Jamie? Is that you? I can't stay, but the Tea Ladies left something for the both of you. Is that Hyacinth with you?”

Hallie was a bit startled at being called that, but then she leaned close to Jamie and put her head out the window. “It is me,” she called down. “It's very nice to meet you. Stay and we'll come down and have something to eat.”

“Thank you, dear, but no,” Edith said, her hand up to shield her eyes. “I'm full now. At least for a few minutes.” For some reason she seemed to find this statement highly amusing. “Maybe tomorrow. Kiss Jamie for me.” Turning away, she began to hurry toward the gate.

“Good idea,” Jamie said.

Hallie realized that she was practically lying against him, his face close to hers.

“I think you should kiss Jamie,” he said in a low, seductive voice.

Ignoring his words, she moved back to the opposite side of the seat. “I thought you just met her, but she's sending you kisses?”

“What can I say? Women fall for me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “And do they manage to get your clothes off you?”

“Only if it's very, very dark.”

Laughing, Hallie stood up and got his crutches. “What did she mean that the Tea Ladies left us something? And who are they?”

“I have no idea. Maybe they work for the B&B.” When he took the crutches, he acted as though he'd forgotten how to use them. “I'm going to need help getting down the stairs.”

“What if I remind you that the food is downstairs and you can't have it unless you get down there?”

“I think part of being a good physical therapist is making sure your patient is fed.” He sounded serious.

“No, it's not. In fact, even the massages aren't part of it.” Smiling, she was walking backward toward the staircase. “I learned that art form in totally different classes that I took before I became a physical therapist. Used massage sessions to pay for school. In fact, they were—”

She broke off because she tripped on a loose corner of the big floor rug and was about to fall. But in a lightning-fast move,
Jamie dropped his crutches and reached out to grab her. They went down together. He hit the floor hard, with Hallie on top of him, his braced leg to one side.

Hallie's head hit his chest almost as hard as his back slammed into the floor. “Jamie! Are you all right?”

He lay on the rug, utterly still, his eyes closed.

She clutched his head in her hands. “Stay here.” Her voice was frantic. “I'll call an ambulance.” She started to roll off him, but his arm held her tightly against him. “Let go! I have to—”

When she realized that he wasn't even near being unconscious, she lay where she was, her upper body on his wide chest. “Let me guess. High school football taught you how to take down your opponent.” She saw the tiniest of smiles on his lips. “What were you? The entire defense team?”

His smile grew and she felt his stomach move in laughter.

“Let me up or I'll—” Since she couldn't think of anything to threaten him with, she put her elbows in the two spots on his chest where she knew she'd cause the most pain and pushed down.

“Yeow!” Jamie yelped, his eyes flying open.

Hallie rolled off him and stood up. “Can you get up by yourself or do I need to get a crane?”

“I think my back is broken,” he said, smiling up at her.

“That's too bad. I guess I'll have to get scissors to cut your shirt off and have a look at your bare back.”

Jamie gave a sigh, rolled over, grabbed a crutch, and stood up.

“It's a miracle,” Hallie said and went down the stairs, Jamie not far behind her.