She twisted his hand until his knuckles were on top, and she brought them to her mouth. Her lips were cool and soft. His hand enveloped hers. Swallowed it completely. Even as she kissed his knuckles, her blue eyes met his. There was a curious melting sensation in his chest, right over the region of his heart. He was a doctor and he knew it was impossible for a heart to actually melt, yet she managed to give him that illusion.
“You know, no matter how good of a healer you are, you can’t save the world. I thought I could as well, but I learned it was impossible. You know that.”
He nodded, expecting her to drop his hand back to her lap, but she didn’t—she pressed their clasped hands under her chin, as if she held something valuable and precious to her close.
“I do, but sometimes it feels as if I’m continually saving strangers. I want to save them, but it isn’t personal. It isn’t the same as the ones I care so much about. I feel like I’m always losing them. I try to distance myself, but one by one they fall until I’m alone. I hold too tight to Diego. He’s a good man. He deserves a life, and he could have it if he weren’t so busy standing guard over me all the time.”
“He knows he has a choice,” she pointed out. “In any case, he probably feels exactly the same way. You’re lucky you have each other.”
Her voice had a way of working its way inside of him. He had to look away from the intensity of her blue eyes. If he didn’t, he’d be kissing her again, and it took discipline and control to put the brakes on the last time. He’d all but run out of that.
“I try never to take him for granted,” Rubin said. He slid his thumb over her knuckles. “I would try to always do the same with you, Jonquille. I know it bothers you to think that Whitney paired us and you don’t want anything to do with that, but I’ve had the advantage of witnessing so many of his pairings really working out to be genuine love matches. I don’t want to waste time fighting it. I’m not a dating kind of man. I’d rather accept what feels like a tremendous gift to me and go from there.”
Her lashes fluttered down. Rubin wasn’t certain if it was because her lashes were so long and thick but light colored, almost bluish silver they were so blond, that she appeared vulnerable when they veiled her eyes, but he instantly felt protective of her.
“I come at things as logically as I can. It just seems to me that we work, Jonquille. I can direct energy away from you so you can be in a room with others. You can use your healing skills when you feel the desire to do so. It isn’t a perfect answer, but it buys us some time to find one. There is one, we just haven’t found it yet.”
Her gaze jumped back to his. “You can do that? Direct energy away from me?”
“I believe I can. I came up here to practice a little, directing lightning to specific targets. If I can direct that amount of energy, surely I can direct a much smaller amount. We can practice with Diego and then you can go with us to one of our regular patients and see how you do. If it doesn’t work, you can wait outside.”
She sent him a small smile, but there was hope in her eyes. “I might get pitchforked if I’m alone outside.”
“That’s only if they have an eligible daughter they want married off.”
Jonquille groaned. “I hadn’t even thought of that. An outsider comes up to the mountains and nabs the most eligible, hot-looking doctor around. I’m definitely not going to be popular.” Her smile faded. “You were telling me about the Sawyer family. You said they were your favorite family and were telling me why.”
“The Sawyers,” he repeated. “They’re really good people. Patricia has three sons, including my nephew, and a daughter. It’s not easy to make a living up here. More than most, she’s open to modern ways and education. She sent all of them to school and then to college. It wasn’t easy, but she managed without them. That’s the kind of woman she is. She would have been a pioneer.”
“You admire strong women.”
He smiled at her. “I do. I hope to introduce you to Wyatt’s grandmother someday. She’s a strong woman, and you would love her. I think you’d really like Patricia as well. Diego and I hired two of her sons to look after our property for us. Her youngest, Edward, went to school but really had a difficult time being away from the mountains and came back as soon as he could. One of his older brothers, Rory, had an accident in the mill where he was working as a supervisor, and he came home. He’d always been interested in keeping the trees healthy. He had studied the subject in college, minoring in it, but that was his real interest. Like Diego and me, he doesn’t want to see West Virginia lose our part of the Appalachian Mountains.”