“Sorry about that,” he told her. “It was Guy checking to see how you were. He’d heard about the accident from Avery.”
“Oh, that’s nice of him.”
The phone rang again and Blake reached for it. “Yes, she’s fine, Gavin, but I’ll be keeping an eye on her anyway.” She saw Blake listen, then dart a look at her, before turning away. “You’re a funny guy, Gav.” Then he hung up.
Curious, she asked, “What did he say?”
“Nothing much.”
Had Gavin made a brotherly comment about keeping an eye on her? Not that she minded. It might work in her favor. “That’s good of your family to be checking on me.”
“You’re supposed to be resting. I don’t want them interrupting that.”
His comment warmed her as she glanced at the wall clock, surprised to see the time. “I must have been asleep a while.”
“An hour.”
So he’d been keeping an eye on her. “That long? I didn’t realize.”
“I did.”
The phone rang again and he muttered something low. This time it was Trevor. No sooner had he hung up than they heard car doors slam shut and Blake strode over to look out the window.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Melissa and Shane.”
She watched him start toward the front door and quickly called his name. He stopped to look at her. “You will let them in, won’t you?”
His mouth tightened. “For a short while.”
“Be nice,” she chided gently, and he shot her a look saying that was a given. “You know what I mean, Blake. I think it’s wonderful of your family to be concerned for me.”
His mouth softened a little. “Yeah, they’re pretty good when they want to be.”
Soon Blake’s sister Melissa and her new fiancé, Shane McDermott, came into the lodge, bringing a breath of crisp, fresh air.
Melissa’s long, wavy, blond hair flew behind her as she made a beeline for the couch. “Samantha! We heard you’d had an accident. Are you okay?”
Samantha was touched that they’d thought to drop by. “I’m fine, Melissa. Thank you for thinking of me.”
“She’s fine for the moment,” Blake said, standing closest to the door, as if ready to open it in a moment’s notice. “But she needs to rest as much as possible.”
Shane stood beside him but he at least smiled at her, unlike Blake. “Good to see you, Samantha,” he said, inclining his head in the cowboy way.
Samantha smiled back at the handsome man. Shane was the architect who’d designed the resort’s riding stables. He might look urban and sophisticated, but he’d been raised on a nearby ranch and his cowboy status couldn’t be disputed. “You, too, Shane.”
Melissa sank down on one of the lounge chairs and frowned at Samantha. “You do look pale. So tell me. What happened?” Without giving her time to reply, she glanced at the men. “Blake, I’d love a hot chocolate so be a dear and make me one, won’t you?” She darted a look at Samantha. “What about you, honey?”
Samantha wrinkled her nose. “Blake won’t let me.”
Melissa seemed to consider that, then darted a look at her brother before nodding at Samantha. “Yes, that’s probably best.” She looked at her fiancé. “Shane, darling, would you mind helping Blake in the kitchen? I’m not sure he knows his way around it,” she teased.
Blake eased into his first smile since they’d arrived. “You’d be surprised, Melissa.”
Melissa patted the small hump of her stomach on her slightly curvy figure. “You’d better hurry. This baby is getting hungry.” She winked at Samantha.
Samantha smiled but as the men left them alone and she looked at Blake’s sister, she felt a tug deep inside her chest. Melissa had a radiant glow about her. She’d only recently announced her pregnancy to Shane and they were soon to be married. They’d had a few ups and downs but now all was well.
Samantha was very happy for Melissa, and yet she felt sad for herself, with this inexplicable ache in the region of her heart. One day she wanted a baby and a family of her own, but she couldn’t imagine any man she wanted to father them—except for maybe Blake. That would mean he would have to marry her, but he didn’t believe in happily-ever-after, and she wasn’t ready for that either.
Still, she couldn’t shake off the thought of cuddling Blake’s baby in her arms. It was natural for a woman to think about having children with the man she was attracted to, right? Strangely, she didn’t ever remember thinking about having Carl’s children. Her notion of being married to him had merely been about them traveling the world together. It hadn’t progressed further than that. Thank the Lord!
“Are you okay, Samantha?”
She managed a smile. “Apart from a small headache, I’m fine.”
Melissa’s piercing blue eyes suddenly seemed so like Blake’s. “I hear you’re leaving us soon?”
This was why the other woman had got the men out of the way. Melissa wanted to question her.
Samantha tried to look at peace with her decision. “Yes, it’s time to move on to new pastures.”
“Blake will miss you.”
“So everyone keeps telling me,” Samantha said wryly, but was grateful that Shane came back in right then to ask Melissa a question about how hot she wanted her drink. Once he left again Samantha changed the conversation to the ranch where Shane had grown up. Melissa was more than happy to talk about her fiancé.
The other couple stayed for a while, until Blake shooed them out, reminding them that a certain person needed to rest up.
“Right,” Blake said, once they’d gone. “I’ll get some more work out of the way, then how does an omelet sound for dinner? I don’t think you should eat anything too heavy, just in case. It’s not a good thing to have a full stomach.”
She looked at him in mild amusement. “Is this Doctor Jarrod speaking?”
He didn’t seem to find that funny. “Yes, so take note.”
“I would, only you won’t let me work,” she quipped.
“Funny,” he muttered, then went back to his paperwork. She sighed. He was taking it all so seriously, and while that was sweet of him, it wasn’t necessary.
After that, Samantha was itching to get up and move around but knew it was best she take things easy. For something to do while she was waiting for Blake to finish working, she popped a movie in the DVD and began watching it with earphones so that she didn’t disturb him. It was a romantic comedy she hadn’t seen before and it made her giggle. She didn’t realize she’d been laughing loudly until suddenly she became aware of Blake standing near the couch.
She paused the movie and looked up at him as she pulled out her earbuds. “I’m sorry. Is this interrupting your work?”
“No.” He went still. “It’s good to hear you laugh. You don’t do it often enough.”
Her pulse was skipping beats. “The job isn’t exactly a laugh a minute,” she joked. Then realized how that might sound. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant,” he said easily enough as he leaned over and pulled the earplug cord out of the television. Picking up the remote, he turned the movie back on, only instead of going back to his work he sat down on the other chair.
She blinked in mild surprise, then tried to concentrate as he began watching the movie with her. He’d only missed about fifteen minutes of the story, so they both watched it together. It was amusing enough that she could feel herself relax, and when it was finished even Blake looked relaxed. She was glad about that. He worked too hard at times, and took his responsibilities too seriously.
Later, in spite of him telling her to stay on the couch, she followed him into the kitchen where he was going to prepare dinner. “I need to walk. My legs are getting numb.”
His brows immediately drew together on full medical alert. “They feel numb? Are you getting any pins and needles? Is it hard to walk or are—”
“Blake, I was merely trying to say I wanted to move around,” she cut across him, somewhat bemused by his agitation.
He grimaced. “Okay, so that was a mild over-reaction.”
“Mild?” she teased.
He gave a self-deprecating smile, then jerked his head toward the bench. “Go sit over there and take it easy.”
She ignored that and turned toward the cupboard. “I’ll put out the place mats and cutlery first. We can eat in here.”
He must have known it was a waste of time to argue because he nodded, then went back to preparing the omelet. It was a strange feeling watching him cook for her. It would be another memory to take away when she left.
Soon they were sitting down on the tall stools to eat and the next hour flew by as they chatted. As if they both didn’t want to ruin the moment, neither of them spoke about her leaving.
Then he mentioned Donald Jarrod in passing, and that made her think. Blake had never spoken about his father while they were in Vegas, but now they were in Aspen she’d managed to put two and two together. “Your dad was pretty hard on you, wasn’t he?”
He tensed even as he gave a light shrug. “After my mother died, he was hard on all his children.”
She considered him. “But harder on you.”
A flash of surprise crossed his face. “Yes. How did you know?”
“You were the eldest. He seems to have been a man who had set ideas about the order of things and didn’t give an inch.”
“He was. Very much so.”
“Tell me more.”
He paused and for a moment she didn’t think he would tell her. Then, “Guy was only younger by a few minutes but it could have been years in my father’s eyes. I was the oldest, so it was up to me to make sure I took responsibility for everything. None of us ever really got to play while growing up, but I suppose I got even less time than the rest.”
The thought upset her. “That’s sad.”
He shrugged. “My father actually did us a favor. We grew up being very independent. We don’t need anyone.”
She could see that. And that was even sadder, but she didn’t say so. She tilted her head. “It still would’ve been hard losing your mother like that when you were just a small boy. And then having your father distance himself would have made it far worse. Children don’t understand why love has been withdrawn. They just know.”
His expression suddenly bordered on mockery and she knew she’d touched a nerve. “And you understand the way a child’s mind works when he loses a parent, do you?”
She pulled a face. He knew very well both her parents were alive. “Well, no, but—”
“I rest my case.”
“Blake, I don’t think it’s too hard to comprehend what you must have gone through.”
Anger flashed across his face. “Enough, Samantha. I don’t want or need your sympathy for something that happened a long time ago.”