“You can tell me,” he said.
She took a breath. “Please don’t be jealous, but I just thought of Braden.”
He kissed her sweetly. “I’m not jealous of him anymore. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Of this. Of you and me. I’m going to have to break Braden’s heart. It’s just that he isn’t who I thought he was.”
Jamie turned onto his back and put her head on his shoulder. “Tell me,” he said.
“I guess I’ve always seen Braden through a child’s eyes,” Hallie said. “But then he’s always been so very good to me. Even when he was a teenager and a big shot at our school, he always had time for the little kid that I was. Sometimes the other football boys would laugh at him for giving me a ride home or asking me about my homework or fixing a toy for me. But Braden was always glad to see me.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m going to have to tell him that yet another female is turning down his marriage proposal. Oh, Jamie! He was so awful at the wedding! It was embarrassing to see him with your dad and your uncle Mike. I was so annoyed by him that when Leland showed up, I had him sit between Braden and me. I tried to be nice, but at the reception, all Braden could talk about was how glad he was that I was bringing the connection of your family to him. He said it was like my dowry.”
“He was obnoxious, wasn’t he?”
“Yes!” Hallie said. “That’s the perfect word. Why didn’t I see this when I was growing up?” She put her hand over her eyes. “The worst thing is going to be trying to explain to his mother. She and I…This sounds ridiculous, but we used to talk about how I’d grow up and marry Braden and she’d be my mother for real.”
Hallie looked up at Jamie. “What am I going to tell her?”
“Tell her that she has raised a son who is a man of honor. That he is willing to sacrifice what he wants in life so he doesn’t hurt other people. Tell her that she should be very, very proud of him.”
“Wow!” Hallie said. “What in the world did you two talk about this morning?”
“Just guy stuff.” He wasn’t going to answer that question and betray Braden’s trust. He started kissing her neck as his hand moved downward.
But Hallie moved away from him. “We have to get up because I need to work on your knee.” She got out of bed, picked up his T-shirt off the floor, put it on, and went into the bathroom.
“You seem to like wearing my clothes,” he said as he piled up pillows behind his head.
“And you seem to like going without them.”
“Beauty such as this shouldn’t be covered.”
She looked at him in the mirror. When she’d first met him he’d been so embarrassed by his scars that he didn’t want anyone to see them. But now he often pulled off his shirt—and every time he did, Hallie felt like melting. She no longer saw the scars, just the beauty of the man underneath them. “I agree completely,” she said, smiling at him.
“I think my leg is fine for today. You should come back to bed.”
“Absolutely not. The only thing your b
rother likes about me is that I’m good at my job. I don’t want to lose that accolade.”
“Why did you stand there and listen?” Jamie sounded more annoyed than he meant to.
“Ask Juliana and Hyacinth. I think they wanted me to hear.” Hallie went back into the bedroom. Jamie was stretched out on the bed wearing nothing but the big brace on his leg, a sheet corner across his middle. He was certainly glorious to behold! Honey-colored skin over muscles from the neck down. Abs that rippled. Thighs like tree trunks. He was like a god of old come to life.
“Hallie,” Jamie whispered.
Somehow, she managed to turn away and step into her closet.
“Damn Todd!” she heard Jamie mutter as she pulled out a clean T-shirt.
“Hallie?” Jamie said and there was a serious tone to his voice. “This morning Braden said something strange to me. He said he didn’t think you know that I’m a doctor. I told him that wasn’t true because Jared gave you my medical file—didn’t he?”
That astonishing bit of information made Hallie feel like someone had knocked the wind out of her. She leaned back against the closet shelves to give herself a moment to recover. When she’d been given his medical report she’d been so upset over Shelly trying to steal her house that she couldn’t keep her mind on what she was seeing. But whatever the cause, no, she didn’t know that about him. Part of her felt angry that this had been hidden from her. Or maybe she was angry at herself for not figuring out something so very fundamental about this man.
But she wasn’t going to go the route of anger. She looked around the doorway at him. She well knew that humor worked best with him. “You mean you can get a job? Earn a living? That you aren’t going to live off a trust fund set up by some relative who probably had two jets?”