Sweet Home Colorado (The O'Malley Men) (3 page)

“What’s up?” he asked. “Your face is flushed again.”

To prevent Jack from asking any further questions she stuck out
her hand. “If I agree to your outrageous terms, do we have a deal?”

What was she saying? She couldn’t get out of town fast enough
to prevent Jack from somehow discovering the truth, yet here she was agreeing to
stay and help. Then again, it wasn’t like she had anything else to do for the
next few months—so why not stay? She owed him that for making time in his
schedule and she really needed to have the house restored before it completely
fell to pieces. She couldn’t live with that sort of disgrace.

And besides, how hard could it be watching Jack working under
the hot sun? Seeing him again, she couldn’t get rid of the notion they had
unfinished business. Business that had nothing to do with the child they shared,
but a whole lot to do with sex.

She’d kept her secret safe this long. She could keep it to
herself a bit longer.

Jack took her hand and held it. “Deal.”

His hand felt warm and strong. Grace didn’t want to let it go.
Where was Jack when she’d broken down at the hospital the other day? She was
sure if she’d had his strong shoulders to lean on, she wouldn’t have had such a
public meltdown.

Chapter Three

“Boss!”

They jumped apart at Al’s shout.

“I’m done with the estimate for the outside. I’ll leave the
rest to you, okay?” he said. “Maria’s giving me hell about getting home for
dinner with the kids tonight.”

“Sure, sure,” Jack said. “Stop by Mrs. Carmichael’s and pick up
a big bunch of flowers for that wonderful wife of yours.” Jack drew his cell out
of his pocket. “I’ll call Mrs. C. She’ll be waiting outside her shop.”

Al’s face broke into a wide smile. “I knew there was a reason I
worked for a slave driver like you!” He saluted Grace. “Bye, ma’am.” A moment
later he disappeared through the front door.

Grace listened while Jack called the florist. He seemed to be
close to her since he could order flowers over the phone without credit card
details.
And
have the woman waiting outside her shop
to hand Al a bouquet as he drove by!

Jack hung up and said, “Now, how are you going to cure me of
this itching? And please don’t say it’s bedbugs!”

* * *

G
RACE
LAUGHED
.
J
ACK
LOVED
the sound of
it, deep-throated and sexy as hell. He’d been a hormonal teen when he’d first
laid eyes on Grace in his English class fifteen years ago. He fell for her hard.
After they started dating, he’d assumed they’d eventually marry, stay in Spruce
Lake, have kids. He made a face at the memory of his teenage delusion.

Turned out she’d had other plans, ones that didn’t include him
in her future.

During his time in the seminary, he’d worked hard to suppress
his memories of her, his desire to hold her and make love to her again.

Grace touched his arm and he reveled in the warmth and
silkiness of her fingertips on his skin.

“If I suspected you were suffering from bedbugs, trust me, I’d
have hightailed it back to Boston.”

He tried to smile, but the thought that Grace might leave again
filled him with dread.

“You have eczema.” Her voice became serious as she examined the
angry red rash. Her hands felt warm on him. Too warm. Too good. “It’s not
contagious and it’s easily curable. Do you suffer from allergies?”

“None that I know of. Why?”

“Because it’s often due to an allergic reaction, either to
grasses or something you’ve been eating. Stress can set it off, too. Does asthma
run in the family?”

“Mom has it, but nothing severe.”

“Uh-huh. Do you drink acidic juices, like orange, pineapple,
stuff like that?”

“Not usually, but lately I’ve been swigging OJ as a
pick-me-up.”

She nodded. “That’s about the worst thing you can do. I’ll make
a list of foods to avoid and write you a prescription for a medicated cream.
That should take care of it.”

“How can a Massachusetts doctor write me a prescription?”

“I took the precaution of getting licensed to practice in
Colorado a couple of years ago, in case Aunt Missy was ever moves to a care home
in Denver and needed me around for a while.”

He considered this, then said, “Doc Jenkins has given me creams
before.”

“Probably not the right ones. Has he ever talked to you about
your diet?”

Jack shook his head, tongue-tied because Grace was
absentmindedly stroking the inside of his arm. Didn’t she know what it was doing
to him?

“Doesn’t sound like much of a doctor to me.”

“You got that right. He should’ve retired years ago, but he’s
the only family doc in town, so we’re stuck with him.”

“You mean to tell me, after all the years I’ve been away,
there’s still only one doctor in Spruce Lake?”

Not wanting to imply that the town only attracted worn-out old
coots like Doc Jenkins, he said, “There’s a couple of orthopedic guys who come
for the winter. They do very well out of all the skiers and snowboarders who
break their bones.”

“And if a woman would prefer to see a female doctor?”

“Then she has to go to Silver Springs.”

“Which, in spite of its proximity to Spruce Lake, is an
inconvenience.”

“You could always set up practice here,” Jack suggested.

“I’m a pediatrician,” she said. “Not an OB/GYN.” Grace wandered
into the kitchen and turned back to him. “If you want to do your estimate, I can
swing by the pharmacy and get your cream.”

“Sounds good. But first you’d better tell me what you want done
with the place.”

“We’ll get to that in a moment, but since you’re insisting I
stay in town, I’d like to live here while you do the renovations.”

“Hoo, boy.”

“You seem to think that’s a bad idea.”

“Do you realize how much dust’ll be involved?”

“No.”

“That was a rhetorical question. Trust me, you’d be better off
renting somewhere during the reno.”

“Since I won’t be earning an income while the renovations are
going on, I don’t want to waste money on rent.”

“Yet you were about to embark on an expensive trip through
Europe for a couple of months?”

“I seem to remember foolishly offering to pay you double your
estimate to get the work done,” she said with a shrug.

Jack grinned. “Yeah, there is that.”

Grace flashed him one of her brilliant smiles and he said, “I
wasn’t going to take you up on that, so go find somewhere else to live. People
post ads at the supermarket all the time.”

“Great idea.”

“So how is it you came to inherit the house and not your
father?” he ventured.

“I didn’t inherit it—I bought it from Aunt Missy years ago. You
might remember we lived here rent-free in exchange for my dad taking care of the
place.” She grimaced and Jack understood what Grace meant by it. The house
could’ve been better looked after. Things had come to a head—there’d been
accusations of money going missing and Grace’s parents had moved on. Grace had
stayed to finish high school.

“I was the only person in the family who kept in touch with
her. A couple of years after I graduated from med school she wrote and offered
me a deal—I buy the house at a reduced rate and she could then afford to move
into the Twilight Years. She wanted the house kept in the family. Aunt Missy
knew full well that if she willed it to my father, he’d sell it and fritter the
money away, so she came up with a plan. Since she was asset-rich but didn’t have
a lot of savings after my parents fleeced her, and I’d started working and had
enough for a down payment, I took out a mortgage and bought the place from Aunt
Missy. It was a pretty sneaky way of keeping my father’s hands off both the
house and the profit he’d make by selling it, but it’s what Missy wanted and I
was happy to help her out. Aunt Missy moved into the Twilight Years and I rented
out the house to help with the mortgage payments. When Missy died, my father
flipped out because there was nothing for him in her will and he tried to get me
to sign the house over to him. Forget it!”

Jack said, “You and Aunt Missy were sure cut from the same
cloth. Smart as whips. And your relationship with your parents?”

“Not good. Not that it ever was. I worked hard to win that
scholarship to a college so far away partly because I wanted to get away from
them.”

* * *

I
MMEDIATELY
AFTER
SHE
’
D
said it, Grace wanted to take the words back. Jack
would think she wanted to get away from him, too. But that was far from the
truth.

She wished, for one fleeting moment, that when she’d discovered
she was pregnant with Jack’s baby, they could have married, kept their child.
But after weighing the pros and cons, she’d decided that if they followed that
path, there was no way she’d be able to stay in college and keep up her grades.
They’d have struggled financially for the rest of their lives. Grace had been
there, done that with her parents and she had no intention of repeating their
mistakes.

Her lip curled as she thought,
Yet here
you are, a dozen years later, with a rewarding career, a lot of money and no
one to love. That’s some definition of success.

“I’m sorry your relationship never resolved itself, Grace. I
couldn’t imagine not being part of a close family,” he said. “I love everyone in
my family. And I love that all my brothers are married now and have wives and
children. It’s the cycle of life.”

Grace smiled. “That is such a nice compliment to them. They’re
very lucky to have someone like you in their lives.”
If
only I had someone who truly cared about me.

* * *

H
ER
HEARTFELT
WORDS
filled Jack with warmth. He
was about to ask her more about her family when Grace turned and headed toward
the stairs.

“Now, what needs to be done up here?” she asked, heading to the
second floor.

Jack caught her seconds before she put her foot though a broken
board. “For a start, I replace some of these treads. I’ll show you which ones to
avoid.”

“I’m impressed you can pick them out. They all look the same to
me.”

Ignoring her compliment, he said, “I can put through an order
for some oak tomorrow.”

Grace smiled. “You can really start that soon?”

“Provided you’re happy with my estimate, I can start on this
first thing in the morning. At least make it safe to climb the stairs without
breaking your neck.”

Grace frowned and said, “I guess I should talk about stress
management. I don’t want you to work so hard you’ll end up feeling too stressed
to finish the job.”

Deep in his heart, Jack knew he couldn’t walk out on Grace,
couldn’t leave her and this magnificent house in the hands of another
contractor. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’ll be an honor to work on a
place like this.”

They took the last step onto the top landing. “Keep away from
the railing. It’s loose,” he warned before they made their way toward the master
bedroom.

* * *

G
RACE
STEPPED
INTO
her parents’ old bedroom but
wasn’t prepared for the memories that assailed her. Aunt Missy had given up her
beautiful bedroom with the view of the town for Grace’s parents to use. And
they’d rewarded her by duping her out of her money. She turned away.

“You’ll want to talk to an interior designer,” he
suggested.

“You don’t do that yourself?”

He shook his head. “No, I only perform miracles on the house
itself. I know how I’d decorate, but I recommend consulting a professional.”

Grace nodded, impressed with Jack’s professionalism and
attention to detail as she watched him make notes in a booklet.

“Now, the roof,” he said. “The insulation—what’s left of
it—should be replaced. And although the slates seem to be in pretty good
condition, I noticed stains on the ceiling, which means water’s getting in. I’ll
have a roofing contractor take a look.”

He made another note in the booklet, tore out the page and
handed it to her. “This is the number of an interior designer I’ve worked with
before. Get her out here as soon as you can. Feel free to use my name if you
have to.”

Grace took the proffered paper. “I’ll see if she can meet me
here tomorrow morning.”

“That might be pushing it, but I’ll mark the loose steps as we
go out, in case she comes when I’m not here.”

“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.” She followed him down the
hallway and paused at the top of the stairs while Jack bent and marked each
unsafe step with a piece of chalk.

“Careful,” he cautioned as he reached to take her hand. “It’s
darker than when we came in. I’ll get the power connected tomorrow.”

He glanced at his watch. “How about if you go to the pharmacy
while I finish measuring?”

“I’m on my way.”

* * *

G
RACE
RETURNED
TO
the house thirty minutes later.
Jack was sitting on the front porch, once more scribbling in his notebook. The
way he bent his head, the book resting on his forearm, brought back memories of
him at school, struggling to read a passage in class.

She knew he hated having to read out loud or do oral
presentations. Some of the kids had laughed at him when he stumbled over the
words. She’d guessed he was dyslexic and felt some of his pain. Grace knew what
it was like to be different. She’d hush the other kids, turning to glare at
them, surprised when they’d complied. After that, she’d volunteered for peer
tutoring.

Jack got up and walked over to meet her as she climbed out of
her rental. She handed him the pharmacy bag, saying, “The instructions for use
are on the package. Stop the orange juice and I’ll check your progress in the
morning.”

Jack pulled out his wallet, but she stopped him. “It’s on me.
Consider it gratitude for agreeing to this project on such short notice.”

Jack glanced at his watch again, leaving Grace with the
uncomfortable feeling that he had better things to do than spend time with her.
“I’ve got a dinner engagement, so I should go,” he said. “If there’s nothing
more you need to discuss tonight, I’ll head out.”

Sorry he had a date and miffed that he hadn’t asked her out
instead—although why should he, given their history?—Grace shuddered at the
sense of melancholy she felt. She hated this time of day between dusk and dark.
She didn’t like being alone then.

After the divorce, the friends she thought she could count on
were more faithful to Edward than to her. Understandable since most of them had
been his friends first. He’d kept her so isolated, she’d had little chance to
cultivate true friendships for herself. She knew no one outside the medical
world apart from her hairdresser and Pilates instructor.
How pathetic is that?
she thought.

“You okay?” he asked, his eyes reflecting his concern.

Grace forced a smile. “Just tired. It’s been a hell of a week.
I need to check into my hotel in Silver Springs, take a long, hot shower and
crawl into bed.”