“Hallie?” he said with exaggerated patience. “What’s going on?”
She saw a basket with a big napkin in the center of the table. It held an assortment of muffins. There was also a full teapot. When she sat down and began to eat, Jamie took the place next to her. He was waiting for her to speak.
She sighed. Obviously, he wasn’t going to give up. “Braden’s had a hard time lately. Well, maybe not just recently but ever since he was in college. I guess you could say he’s been very unlucky in love.”
“You’re saying that a bunch of women dumped him so now he’s going after you?”
“Yes, I mean no. He was upset last night, that’s all, and he showed me the ring that had been returned to him.”
“And you put it on?”
“Actually, he slipped it on my finger. I tried to take it off before I went to bed but it stuck and I couldn’t get it off this morning either.” She held out her hand. “What do you think of it?”
“Garish. Flamboyant. Not like you are. Mind if I try getting it off?”
“Be my guest.” He pulled her up and led her to the sink, where he spent nearly half an hour working to remove the ring. He tried bar soap, liquid soap, Crisco, butter, and bacon grease. None of them budged the ring.
Through all of it, Hallie kept smiling. She liked standing so close to Jamie, liked his concentrated effort to get the ring off.
“I think my finger is swollen,” she said, “and until the swelling goes down, the ring will stay there.”
“There’s a toolbox in the—”
; “No!” she said and curled her hand up. “Could we please just have breakfast? What time is the wedding?”
“Ten. I showed you the church. After the ceremony, we’re all moving to Alix’s chapel for the reception. There are big tents there.”
“It sounds great. Will there be dancing?”
“Into the night. Tell me about you and Braden. Is he why you were sulky all day yesterday?”
“I wasn’t sulky! I just wanted—” She was not going to be put on the defensive. “Braden is my friend and he’s always been there for me. Whenever something bad—or good—happened in my life, Braden was there. I wouldn’t even have gone to college if it weren’t for him.”
“What did he do?”
“It’s a long, boring story, but if it weren’t for him I probably would have gone from high school to working in a burger joint. But besides the big things, Braden held the back of my first two-wheeler. When a toy broke, Braden fixed it. One time when I was in high school, he heard that I’d gone out on a date with some kid he knew and Braden came to get me. He knew that my date often bragged about what he did with girls in the backseat of his dad’s car. I was really mad at him then, but later the boy nearly raped a girl. Braden saved me. See? He and I have a long history together.”
“It sounds like my little sister and me,” Jamie said. “I took her on her first ride on a horse. I walked her pony over her first jumps. I’ve become an expert at putting heads back on dolls. I can even rebraid the hair of a Barbie.”
“But you two are related. It’s different with Braden and me.”
“It seems so,” Jamie said, “if he asked you to marry him. You two set a date yet? Choose your wedding colors?”
She got up from the table. “You’re being a jerk and I don’t want to talk about this any longer. Tomorrow I’m going to the local hospital to talk to them about temporary work.” She put her dishes in the sink.
He went to stand beside her. “You can’t be thinking of moving back to Boston to live in some perfect little house with him. Is that really what you want? No ghosts floating around? No bothersome naked cousins? No man who freaks out when a car backfires?”
“Stop it!” Hallie said. “Braden is—” She wasn’t sure how it happened, but suddenly their anger turned into passion.
Jamie pulled her into his arms and kissed her. At first the kiss was hard and she pushed at him. But his big body against hers made her pull him closer. His lips on hers softened and the kiss deepened. His tongue touched hers.
Hallie forgot who she was, where she was. Only this man and this moment mattered.
When he lifted her and set her on the table, she didn’t protest. His hands went under her shirt and her bra unsnapped. He took his lips away only long enough to pull her shirt over her head so she was bare from the waist up. In the next second, his shirt came off.
His beautiful chest, scarred as it was, was against her breasts, his hot, bare skin next to hers.