Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3) - Page 48

At three Raine got on the table. By that time Hallie was frustrated from her failure to find Jamie. She hadn’t seen him or his brother since before breakfast.

She smiled at the sight of Raine’s big body. It was more like Jamie’s. “Where is he?” she asked as she began trying to get deep down into his muscles. She didn’t explain who “he” was.

“With Todd,” Raine said. Of the three men, he talked the least, but she had an idea that he saw and heard the most.

“Is he hiding from me?” she asked, her hands paused in their work.

“My guess is yes,” Raine said.

“And the lot of you are trying to keep me entertained so I don’t notice?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

Hallie wanted to think that she wasn’t hurt by Jamie’s behavior, but she was.

“Jamie has—” Raine began.

She knew he was going to say “problems,” but she didn’t want to hear it. “Bad manners,” she said and felt a chuckle from Raine.

“Very bad,” he agreed.

She did the rest of the massage in silence, mostly because she needed all her energy to dig into Raine’s thick, heavy muscles.

The men insisted on taking her out to dinner and they all went to Kitty Murtagh’s. It was like an old tavern and Hallie enjoyed herself, but she missed Jamie.

At that thought she wanted to bawl herself out. Every female in the restaurant was looking at her with envy. With the way the children went from her to Raine and back again, it looked like they were a married couple and the kids were theirs. In fact, more than once she caught Raine looking at her from under his lashes in a way that made little chills run up her spine. Of the whole group of gorgeous men she’d met, he was by far her favorite. She liked his quietness, his humor, and the way he listened. In other words, whatever about him was like Jamie, that’s what she liked.

By the time they got back to the house, the men were discussing who was going to sleep on the cot downstairs. At first she thought perhaps they believed Nantucket was a dangerous place, but then she realized that they were worried about Jamie’s nightmares.

Maybe they were being protective of him or maybe of her. Whichever it was, she didn’t like what they were saying.

Against their protests, she ran them all out of the house. The two Montgomerys seemed ready to stay anyway, but Raine led them away.

When she went upstairs she hoped Jamie would be there, but he wasn’t. The house was eerily quiet and she didn’t like that. He had been there since the first day. It was their house, not just hers.

As she took a shower, she tried to get herself under control. She’d known from the beginning that Jamie Taggert wasn’t for her. All day his cousins had mentioned schools and countries and events, even sports, that she’d only read about. Once Jamie’s leg was healed he’d get on the family jet and she’d never see him again. At best, she’d get a Christmas card.

When she got out of the shower, she put on a pair of pajamas instead of her usual big T-shirt and headed for her bed

. But she wanted to know if Jamie had returned. His bed was empty.

All her resolve left her. “Damn you, Todd!” she said aloud, then told herself to calm down. The main question was why she was so upset that Jamie wasn’t there. It wasn’t as though they were a couple. She’d told his cousins that and it was true.

She went back to her own bed and was asleep almost instantly. As had become a habit, she awoke at two A.M. and lay there listening, but she heard nothing. No moans or groans. She turned on the light and went through the sitting room to Jamie’s bedroom.

His nightlight was on, but his bed was empty. On impulse she opened his closet door. Had he packed and gone back home to Colorado? Would she get a card from him saying thanks, he’d had a good time?

But his clothes were still there, mostly sweatsuits big enough to cover up even him, and the one nice outfit he’d worn to dinner.

On the back of the door was one of those big terry cloth robes and she put it on, pausing for a moment to snuggle it around her body. Barefoot, she went downstairs and it too was empty. He wasn’t sleeping on the narrow cot.

When she noticed a light on in the tea room, she opened the door. In the far corner of the room was a tall, gray-haired man wearing an elegant blue silk robe and slippers. He was sitting on the old couch and reading.

“Ah,” he said when he saw her, sounding as though she was the person he most wanted to see in the world.

“You’re either a ghost or Uncle Kit,” she said.

He put his book and reading glasses down and stood up. “How perceptive of you, and tonight I feel that I may be both of them. The tea is hot and I find the accompaniments delightful. Perhaps you’d join me.”

Tags: Jude Deveraux Nantucket Brides Romance
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