“This sounds so familiar.” Spring sighed. “You wouldn’t believe the number of times my parents had to rush her to the closest emergency room when she was a kid. She was always breaking something or cutting something or spraining something. Lucky for her that she doesn’t scar badly or she’d look like a patchwork quilt.”
Intrigued, Jeff cradled the receiver more comfortably against his ear. “Accident-prone, was she?”
“More accurately a daredevil. There wasn’t anything she was afraid to try, especially if someone actually dared her. She’d climb trees, jump off roofs, ride unbroken horses, whatever took her fancy at the time. Daddy threatened to tie her up and keep her in a closet, only letting her out on a leash.”
Jeff could picture Autumn as a redheaded tomboy, climbing trees and jumping off roofs. He was glad that Spring couldn’t see his undoubtedly besotted grin as he turned his eyes toward the closed bathroom door. “Why does this not surprise me?”
“Did she tell you about the time she broke her hand?”
“I know she broke some bones, but she didn’t tell me how she did it.”
“Oh, well…” And Spring related the story with great relish, making Jeff laugh heartily.
“You’re kidding!”
“No. Sure you still want to go out with her?”
Jeff sobered abruptly. “I want to marry her,” he informed Autumn’s sister, knowing that Autumn would strangle him if she knew he’d announced his intentions to her family. But he figured he needed all the allies he could get.
“Does she know?” was all Spring asked.
“She’s getting the message.”
“Good luck, Jeff. You’ve got your work cut out for you. She’s scared to death of getting tied down like that.”
“I don’t intend to tie her down. I intend to set her free,” Jeff stated unequivocably. He didn’t explain that he meant to set Autumn free from her fears and insecurities, but Spring seemed to understand, anyway.
“Now I really can’t wait to meet you. I plan to give you a big hug as soon as I see you,” Spring told him with obvious approval.
“I’ll look forward to it. I’ll tell Autumn you called, Spring.”
“Okay, thanks. Bye, Jeff.”
Score one for his side, Jeff thought with a smile as he replaced the receiver. He’d known he’d like Autumn’s family when she’d first told him about them. He was genuinely eager to meet them. Just as he’d become impatient to introduce Autumn to his own family.
Climbing out of the bed, he pulled on his briefs and jeans, leaving the button at the waist undone, and strolled into the bathroom.
Autumn was soaking as comfortably as possible in the hot water, her injured arm propped on the side of the tub. She lifted an eyebrow at him. “You said you were going to take a nap.”
“I thought you might need help washing your back.” He perched on the edge of the tub and smiled down at her, his eyes taking in every inch of the luscious body exposed to him through the clear water. “You look good wet.”
She didn’t quite blush, but Jeff sensed with amusement that she’d made an effort not to do so. No sophisticated flirt, his love, and he wouldn’t have her any other way. “Can it,” she muttered with her usual sweet charm.
Jeff laughed and lifted her right hand to his lips, licking a drop of water from her knuckles before kissing them, delighted when the gesture made her shiver. He caressed the hand, his thumbs tracing the faint ridges of once-broken bones he’d discovered on the day they’d met—almost four months earlier, he realized. “You never told me how you broke your hand.”
Sternly lifting eyelids that had gone heavy, she straightened in the tub and pulled her hand from his. “I told you, it was an accident.”
“You know what I’d bet? I’d bet you broke it punching somebody. Maybe you found a football jock twice your size picking on a scrawny kid and you walloped him one.”
Autumn sighed deeply and reached for a towel. “You’ve been talking to one of my sisters. Which one called?”
Laughing, Jeff stood and helped her out of the tub. “Spring. Did you really try to break some kid’s jaw?”
“Yes, I did,” she answered reluctantly. “And I ended up breaking two bones in my hand. But it was worth it. He was an obnoxious bully.”
“Guess you learned your lesson about taking on someone bigger than you.”
“Nope. But I did learn how to throw a punch without breaking my hand,” she answered sweetly. “Perhaps you should take that as a warning.”