“Thanks,” she said in sarcasm. “Looks like my hour with a curling iron was wasted.”
Laughing, Jamie held out a chair for her. “Are you kidding? The cousins are raving about you. They think you’re beautiful and smart and that you have magic hands.”
Hallie poured the tea. “Your brother hates me.” When Jamie said nothing, she glared at him. “You’re supposed to say that he doesn’t hate me, that he’s…I don’t know, cautious or something.”
“It’s more like he’s protecting you from me.”
“Would you please reassure him that I’m not really planning to kidnap you or seduce you or whatever just to get the family jet?”
Jamie nearly choked on one of the anise seed cookies he liked so much. “Is that what you told him you were going to do?”
Hallie shrugged, then looked at Jamie. “More or less. Too much?”
“For him, yeah.” Jamie was still laughing.
“Think he’ll put me in handcuffs?”
“What an enticing vision,” he said softly and gave her a look of such heat that the hair on her neck seemed to stand up straight.
“Jamie…” she whispered and leaned toward him.
Instantly, he moved away and his face changed. “So tell me who you’ve met.”
It took Hallie a moment to calm herself. Okay, she’d missed him, but that was her problem, not his. He was her patient and maybe, possibly, they could become friends, but that’s all there ever would be. “Your uncle Kit.” She was pleased to see the surprise on Jamie’s face.
“I didn’t even know he was here.”
“That’s because you ran away somewhere. If you’d stayed here and let me treat you, you’d have seen all your male relatives. Tell me, how does your family reproduce without any women?”
The smile came back to him. “The women are drowning in wedding activities: cakes and flowers and who sits where and—I don’t know. I told Aunt Jilly to come find you. I think it’s all too much for her.”
“Yes, do send her to me.”
Reaching out, he smoothed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I still want to know why you were in bed with me.”
She thought quickly. “I heard a noise and when I went to see about it, you pulled me into bed with you. You’d worked me so hard that day I was too tired to get up.” She stared at him, waiting for him to question her more.
Jamie took his time before he spoke again, seeming to decide whether or not to pursue that. “When did you see Uncle Kit?”
“Two A.M., in here. We had tea together. Seems he’s been dreaming about the Tea Ladies.”
Jamie’s eyes widened. “Yeah? About what?”
Hallie opened her mouth to tell him all, but didn’t. “I’m not telling you anything until I see you on the table. I want to look at your knee, and you’re slumping to one side again. And—” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I want your clothes off.”
Immediately, he stiffened in the chair. “You haven’t had your hands on enough men in the last few days?”
“Yes, I have, and they’re all flawless specimens of mankind. I’ve never before seen such perfection. They don’t need anything from me.”
“But I do?” Jamie had his head down and his voice was low.
She put her hand over his. “Yes, you do. You carry a lot of tension in your body and I could help you.”
Jamie stood up so abruptly that his chair fell backward and hit the floor hard. When the sound echoed in the room, he grabbed a crutch in a way that looked like he was about to defend the two of them from something.
Hallie stared at him in astonishment. “Jamie! Are you all right?”
It was a while before he seemed to know where he was. He picked up the other crutch and leaned on them. When he looked at Hallie, his expression was cold, distant. “I don’t need help. I don’t need pity. I don’t need—” Breaking off, he quickly went across the room and left, the double doors slamming behind him.