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  “Listen, we probably ought to go.” Ty took a deep breath. “Thanks for coming out with me.”

  She put her hand in his. “Your parents loved you a lot, Ty. You know that. Terence never thought of you as his adopted son. You were the son of his heart.”

  “I know.” He’d been a father in every way. Which made the fact that Ty hadn’t been around for him much a pretty rotten guilt trip. “Hey, Jade.”

  “Yeah?” She looked at him with those big green eyes, and he felt himself falling in.

  “About your situation.” He gestured with a hand, feeling frustrated, not sure how to bring up such a delicate topic. “I know we were kidding around earlier about your, um, ovary—”

  “It’s okay,” she said quickly, trying to ward him off. “It was a while ago.”

  He scraped a hand through his short hair, a military-ready cut that reminded him he had a future he was heading to in a few brief days. “I missed a lot of things, not being around. But I want you to know that—” he took a deep breath “—I’m sorry for whatever you went through. I know it wasn’t easy.”

  “I had a cyst that burst.” She looked sad. “It wasn’t much fun, I’ll admit. Pretty horrible, actually.”

  “I’m so sorry.” He felt pain in his chest, physical pain, that she’d suffered in a way he could never imagine, not only physically but psychologically. He knew the emotional trauma was there, or she wouldn’t have brought up her wild plan of trying to get pregnant. Which was feeling less wild all the time, and somehow strangely like a really good idea.

  A clear sign it was time to leave. “Hey,” he said, pulling her close, “let’s blow this joint.”

  She relaxed against him just for a moment. “Good idea.”

  There was too much heat searing him. He was glad she wanted to leave as much as he did. Being alone with her wasn’t his best idea—there weren’t any barriers here. Nothing to keep him from making the huge mistake of getting entangled where he definitely wanted most to be tangled up.

  They went down the stairs together, side by side, not speaking. Suddenly Jade slipped, and he reached to grab her, and they fell the last few steps into the foyer.

  “Are you all right?” He got up, went to inspect her. She gazed up at him with those incredible eyes, looking stunned.

  “I’m fine. I think.”

  “Let me help you to the sofa.”

  “Not yet. Let me lie here a second and gather my wits.”

  He wasn’t sure his wits could ever be gathered if she’d gotten injured because of him. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m trying to figure that out. Don’t look, but I’m going to do an indelicate kind of roll to my side, get up kind of thing.”

  “Whatever works for you. Let me know how I can help.”

  His heart was racing way too hard. He was pretty certain she was blinking back tears as she got to her knees, thankfully making it to the large, soft rug that graced the living area.

  “I’m just going to lie here on this comfy rug for a few moments,” Jade told him. “Please stop looking like that. You’re scaring me.”

  “Do you want me to call someone? A doctor?”

  “I’m fine. I think I knocked the breath clean out of me and stunned myself. I see a few spots when I try to get up. I’ll be fine in a second.”

  He glanced back at the stairwell. “Luckily, it was only two or three steps. I’m sorry I didn’t catch you.”

  “My foot slipped right out from under me. I can’t imagine why.”

  She was wearing boots; maybe she’d caught a slick spot on the uncarpeted stairs. “Let me help you move to a sofa.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  He helped her to a sitting position. “How’s that?”

  “Fine so far,” Jade said.

  “Great. Put your arm around my neck, and—” Dear God, he could smell perfume and see just a bit of cleavage beneath her red sweater. Thankfully, she’d been wearing a puffy coat or she might have really hurt herself. Ty tried not to think about how warm and soft she was, and he was almost succeeding when he realized that holding Jade this close, her arm wrapped around him so trustingly, had given him an erection of epic proportions.

  This was not good.

  He was crazy about this woman. And she wasn’t exactly pushing him away. In fact, if he didn’t know better, he’d think she might have just snuggled a little closer against his chest, in the opening his sheepskin jacket provided. Close enough to feel his heart beating, which was thumping as hard as a drum in a parade.

  The front door opened, and Cosette peered in at them, her mouth opening a little in surprise.

  “Ty!” she exclaimed.

  “Hi, Cosette.” He noticed Jade trying to wriggle away from him, realized a strand of the red hair he adored was caught on one of his jacket buttons, making escape impossible.

  “I saw the lights on,” Cosette said, sounding breathless and worried. “I was on my way home. I wasn’t expecting you to be here, and I only ever leave the kitchen lamp on. The door was open—”

  “Cosette, it’s fine. I’m glad you’re here.” He really was—he desperately needed separation from Jade in more ways than one. “Can you help me with Jade?”

  “Of course! What’s wrong?”

  “I tumbled down the stairs,” Jade said, “although I don’t know if you can call three steps a tumble. And now I’m caught in Ty’s jacket.”

  “I can see.” Cosette nodded and closed the door, but didn’t do anything to help release her from the proximity of Ty’s chest. If anything, she seemed completely happy for Jade to remain in his arms, and Ty reminded himself that she was named Madame Matchmaker for the exact reason that she had a matchmaking business, and she was, in fact, damn fine at it.

  Too good, in fact, as testified by the matchmaking ledger she kept in her office.

  “Cosette, Jade’s hair is caught in my coat,” he reminded her. “Can you help her? Because I can’t see it, obviously.” Not with the way Jade was crushed up against his chest. He was afraid to move her lest he pull her hair and hurt her.

  “I feel like we need a photo of this moment,” Cosette said, pulling out her phone and snapping a quick picture. “There,” she said, pleased. “We’ll have something for the memory books. We do love our memory books in Bridesmaids Creek.”

  His jaw dropped, and yet he shouldn’t be the least bit surprised by anything the inhabitants of BC did. “Cosette, a little help, please? Jade is hurt and I want to get her to the sofa.”

  “Yes, please,” Jade said, sounding very tired suddenly.

  It scared the hell out of him. She was always so perky. He began to worry about a concussion, which was stupid, because he was pretty certain she hadn’t hit her head. But maybe he hadn’t noticed. His heart started that uncertain hammering again, reminding him that this woman meant so much to him he couldn’t bear for anything to happen to her. He should have protected her. How could a man feel like a competent protector when he let her fall down a staircase?

  “Have you had the stairs polished recently?” he asked Cosette, as she peered at the hank of Jade’s hair snagged on his button.

  “No,” she murmured. “They’re in fine condition. Your father made those stairs with his own hands, remember. We’re going to have to cut this, I’m afraid, Jade. Your hair got caught in the buckle.”

  “I guess it’s my just deserts for cutting Daisy’s hair,” Jade said.

  “No. It’s not any dessert.” Ty wished he could shrug out of his jacket so he could see how to help, but if anybody could figure out how to disentangle them, it was Cosette.

  “Where are your scissors?” she asked. “Never mind. They’re in a kitchen drawer.”

  He was happy to hear it, because he hadn’t lived here in so many years that he didn’t even know if a
pair of scissors remained. Cosette beetled off, and Ty wrapped his arms tight around Jade.

  “Let me get you over to the sofa.”

  “I’m fine. I just tried to knock myself silly, is all.”

  “That would be a very hard thing to do, since you’re one of the smartest women I’ve ever met.” He helped her to the sofa, and they sat down together.

  “This is so awkward,” Jade whispered. “Cosette is going to tell everyone about this.”

  “Hell, yes, she is. She has the photo to show. Luckily for us, it’s pretty tame stuff.” If she’d opened the door and found him kissing the daylights out of Jade, as he wanted to be doing—now that would have been awkward.

  He wished he had been kissing Jade. Ty felt that a golden opportunity had slipped away from him.

  Cosette returned, peering at him, her big eyes illuminated by her pink-cast hair. “Don’t look.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want you being a big baby about it,” she said. “It’s just hair. It’ll grow back. By the time you make it back to BC the next time, you’ll never be able to tell the difference.”

  “Very funny,” he said, noting her dig about his frequent absences. “Just do it, already.” If she didn’t get Jade away from him, get the sweet scent of her shampoo and body away from him immediately, he wasn’t going to be able to think straight for a month. He was already pretty much lost in the fantasy of kissing her—and that wasn’t going anywhere very fast.

  “There!” Cosette exclaimed, examining her handiwork as Jade pulled away, rubbing her head. “Free as a bird!”

  “Thank you, Cosette,” Jade said.

  “Ah, well, curly red hair has its dangers. And now I must be off!” The older woman wound her scarf tighter around her neck, beamed at the two of them. “Lock up tight, Ty.”

  “I will.”

  She went to the front door, hesitating as she watched him settle Jade on the sofa.

  “It’s good to see you back here in the old place, Ty,” Cosette said. “Good night, you two.”

  She went out, locking the door behind her.

  Jade looked up at him. “Sorry about that.”

  “Sorry for what?” He couldn’t imagine what she had to be sorry about.

  “For—I don’t know. Making an ass of myself.”

  He couldn’t imagine any woman ever being less of an ass than Jade. “You’ll be happy to know that you won’t miss this little bit of hair.”

  “Right. Because it’s right in the front.” Jade sighed. “It’s karma for what I did to Daisy.”

  “Nonsense. And you look totally hot with short hair. That angled look is really wickedly hot.” He wanted desperately to kiss her, so desperately that he decided to busy himself inspecting the staircase—anything to stay away from her until she felt steady enough to leave.

  The stairs had been barely used in all the years he’d been gone. Cosette hadn’t had them polished. Possibly Jade had simply had a clumsy moment, but she wasn’t a clumsy woman. He peered at the spot where she’d slipped, realizing there was a crack in the stairs. A slight crack only an eighth of an inch wide, separating the stair board from the box underneath.

  That would have to be repaired. Clearly, she’d somehow caught her heel on the uneven step and slipped. He moved his fingers along the edges to see if he could push them back together until it could be properly repaired. It wouldn’t do to have Cosette taking a tumble.

  The stair glided back into place as easy as a jigsaw puzzle piece locking into its correct match. He tugged at it to test the stability, and the wood moved toward him again. “This is definitely not secure,” he told Jade.

  She came to stand beside him. “Maybe the house has shifted, loosening the boards.”

  “Maybe.” Anything could happen, but his father had been a fine carpenter. He’d even built the balustrade and carved the stair rail, a beautiful, polished mahogany work of art that had stood the test of time. Ty tugged at the board once more, determined now to pull it apart so that Cosette wouldn’t step on it until it could be fixed.

  The wood piece completely separated from the stair, and though he expected to find nothing at all underneath, a metal box came into view.

  “Yikes,” Jade said. “This place is like a time capsule.”

  A strange sensation came over Ty, a sense that something wasn’t right. Nobody hid gray metal boxes in stairwells unless they didn’t want them found.

  No one could have put this here but his father.

  “Are you going to open it?” Jade asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Ty said softly. “I think I’m going to close up this house and get the hell out of Dodge.” While he still could. Before the tendrils of BC could pull him any deeper.

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe that’s a good idea.”

  “You think so?” Nothing good came of opening hidden boxes and releasing another person’s ghosts.

  “Yeah. Navy SEAL advice, remember? Get your affairs in order, and leave everything—”

  “Yeah. You’re right.” He pushed the wood piece back over the box, shoving it into place again. The hole disappeared like magic.

  Before he left town, he was going to buy some serious, ass-binding wood glue to seal this off. Whatever it took, that box wasn’t going to see the light of day again.

  “I guess it could always be gold,” Jade said. “Buried treasure.”

  “I’m not much for believing in fairy tales.” Besides which, his father had been an assiduous businessman. Everything had been noted down to the penny; the records and accounts had been easy to find and settle after his death. If he’d left gold, money or valuables in a safe somewhere, he would have marked that in his business records. There’d only been one safe deposit box, and then an old iron safe in the basement that would take a crane to move. Ty had known about those. But his father had built the stairs, and whatever he’d secured away there he hadn’t wanted to ever be found.

  Which meant nothing good was in this box. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Jade kissed Ty when he stood up.

  “What was that for?”

  “Because I think you’re brave.”

  He wasn’t brave. Not at all.

  But he wasn’t about to admit it. He pulled her into his arms instead, reigniting the passion they’d shared earlier, taking the gentle kiss she’d just given him into the inferno he wanted—needed—right now.

  The one thing he had in his life that was secure and sane was this crazy redhead who drove him out of his mind. He’d taken too long to admit it to himself, but he was going to miss the hell out of her.

  His affairs were not in order, not by a long shot.

  “Either we leave now or I’m going to lose the battle between my conscience and my—”

  She stopped his words with a kiss. “Lose it, already. I’ve waited way too long for you to get over that schoolboy conscience of yours.”

  Well, hellfire. There it was, the invitation a man could not pass up. He couldn’t, not when kissing Jade was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. He wanted to spend hours losing himself in her, thinking about nothing but her beautiful body and her sassy mouth and the way she made him grin.

  He carried her up the stairs to his old room, laid her gently on the bed, turned on a lamp.

  She stared up at him, her eyes huge in her pale face, the slight freckles standing out. He had never seen anything more beautiful, never desired anyone the way he did her. She pulled off the red sweater, revealing a white lacy bra with a tiny pink bow in the center, and something about that trusting, inviting gesture was so sexy that Ty knew in that moment that Jade Harper had completely, irrevocably stolen his heart, in spite of his best efforts to keep his heart selfishly to himself.

 
“You know what we’re doing here,” Jade said, and Ty halted in the act of diving in and ripping her clothes six ways from Sunday.

  “Making love?”

  “Avoiding the buried box.”

  He nodded, his full-on erection urging him to get on with the diving in he so desperately wanted to do. Still, if Jade was having a change of heart, he’d tell his poor, tortured body and soul that there’d be no diving of any kind today, unless it wanted to go for a really long, cold swim in Bridesmaids Creek. “Probably. Are you okay with that?”

  “I’m so okay with that.” Jade undid his belt buckle and looked up at him. “Whatever excuse works is fine by me.”

  There was sweet satin and lace waiting for him, and a redhead who wanted him. There might never be this much willing paradise in his life again.

  He dived in.

  Chapter Nine

  The hours of holding Jade in his arms could never be replaced by anything better—never. Ty felt as if he’d died and gone to heaven, on rocket propulsion and faster than angels flew. As she lay on his chest, he stroked her skin, trying to figure out what he was going to do now.

  He had to do something.

  “I’d better go,” Jade said. “It’s almost morning.”

  He didn’t want her to go. They’d spent hours making mind-blowing love, hardly speaking, letting their bodies do the talking. “I can’t let you.”

  She laughed softly. “I never thought I’d hear those words from the mouth of such a rolling stone.”

  “I’m not kidding.” He wasn’t. His life had changed in ways he couldn’t have imagined. You just didn’t make love to a woman and then go off as if it hadn’t mattered—at least not if you’d finally caught the woman of your dreams and something very, very close to love had smacked you right upside the head, bringing you to a very clear realization of how wonderful your future could be if you could keep that woman of your wild and crazy dreams.

  She rolled up on his chest to gaze down at him. “It’s not like I haven’t always been here in BC. You know where to find me.”

  “Yeah. So does Sam.”