Grace could see her aunt was getting worked up and at any minute she expected Leviticus 19:32 to be quoted. But Grace didn’t care. Nellie had embarrassed her. And she wasn’t about to act like it didn’t matter.
“Don’t talk to me about respect,” Grace said in a low tone, her gaze shifting to make sure no one was near enough to overhear. “You’re the one who implied that I’m sleeping with Nick.”
Even as Grace said the words, she knew they were a bit of an exaggeration. But they were close enough.
“Are you?” This time Nellie kept her voice to a mere whisper. “Have you and Nicholas—?”
“No,” Grace said, cutting her aunt off. “No, we’re not. And while we’re talking about this, I don’t know why you’re even asking me such a question. Did you ask Holly that when she and Tim were dating?”
“I did not.” Nellie’s green eyes met Grace’s. “I had no reason to suspect—”
“You have no reason—”
“—because I never saw Tim sneaking out of Holly’s room in the middle of the night.” Nellie completed the sentence as if she’d never been interrupted.
Grace stifled a groan even as she lifted her chin. “He wanted me to take a walk with him.”
“He had on pajamas,” Nellie said.
“They were flannel….” Grace started to explain, then gave up. “Believe what you want. It was all quite innocent.”
“A man in a woman’s bedroom is never completely innocent,” Nellie said emphatically. “Can you honestly tell me you weren’t tempted at all by—”
“He didn’t pressure me,” Grace said sharply, knowing she hadn’t answered her aunt’s question, but not caring. “That’s what I said and that’s what I meant. I refuse to discuss this another second.”
“Okay.” Nellie expelled a heavy sigh. “But remember that God said we should not put ourselves in the way of temptation. In the future, if Nicholas comes knocking on your door in the middle of the night, you shut the door in his face.”
Just the idea of such an action should have been laughable, but Grace didn’t feel like laughing. Because what Nellie didn’t understand was once Grace returned to St. Louis, Nick wouldn’t be at her door ever again.
“Okay, Aunt Nellie, I promise,” Grace said. “If Nick ever comes by in the middle of the night again, I’ll slam the door in his face.”
“That’s my girl.” Nellie patted Grace’s arm. “In the end he’ll respect you for it.”
“He’ll do what?”
Grace turned in surprise. Apparently Nick must have concluded his conversation with the minister and had shifted his focus back to Grace and Nellie. She wasn’t sure how much he’d heard of their conversation but she definitely wasn’t going to rehash it.
“I’m hoping you can refer me to a doctor in St. Louis,” Nellie said. “To someone you know who is good with knees.”
The request was so totally unexpected that not only Nick, but also Grace, was taken aback.
“I thought you just had surgery,” Grace said.
“I did,” Nellie answered. “But my knee isn’t coming along as well as the doctor hoped and he thinks I need to see a specialist.”
Grace’s gaze shifted to Nick. “Do you know of someone?”
He nodded. “I have quite a few colleagues who specialize in knee problems.”
“But they’re all in St. Louis,” Grace said. “There has to be someone closer you could see—”
“Of course there is,” Nellie said with a dismissive wave. “But I don’t know those people. Nicholas is in that field. I trust his recommendation.”
“St. Louis is a long ways from here,” Grace said, pointing out the obvious weakness in her aunt’s argument. “How are you going to get there? Where will you stay?”
“Oh, my dear,” Nellie said, casting Grace a pitying look as if the answer was so simple, she was a fool for not seeing it. “I’ll ride back with you two. And I thought I’d stay with Nicholas. That is, if he’ll have me after my faux pas this afternoon. I’m not sure at this point that I’d be able to handle those steps at your apartment.”
The horrified look on Grace’s face brought a smile to Nick’s lips. Though Grace had grown up around her aunt, he could tell Grace still hadn’t figured the woman out.
But he had. This maneuver was clearly designed to keep him and Grace together. After all, if Nellie was living with him, Grace would see him every time she saw her aunt. The woman definitely had a devious mind when it came to matchmaking.
No wonder he’d liked her instantly.
“Aunt Nellie, I’m sure Nick doesn’t want—”
Nick waved aside Grace’s words. He shifted his gaze to the woman staring at him with a speculative gleam in her eyes.
He and Nellie were on the same wavelength. How could he not go along with her plan? Nick smiled. “My house is your house.”
Chapter Five
The crystal glistened in the candlelight and the smell of fresh flowers filled the dining room of Nick Tucci’s home.
Grace placed the linen napkin on her lap and took a sip of wine, wondering if the crystal and china were de rigueur in the Tucci household, or if Nick considered this a special occasion.
It was the first time she’d seen him in almost a week. Granted, things at the clinic had been in an uproar and she’d worked late almost every night since she’d returned from Iowa. But he could have made some effort to get in touch with her. Although from what Nellie told her, Nick had been putting in some long hours, too. So she shouldn’t have felt slighted, but she did.
Still, she reminded herself, though he’d played the role of her boyfriend to perfection for four days and nights, it had only been a game. They’d had an agreement and he’d fulfilled it, end of story.
Then why did he kiss me? Why did he say he’d call?
Even as Grace asked the questions, she knew the answer. When he’d dropped her off after the long drive back, he’d been under a lot of pressure. Though her aunt had pretended to avert her gaze and had stayed in the car to give them some privacy, they both knew Nellie had been listening to their every word. The woman would have been disappointed if there had been no good-night kiss or promise to call.
Grace had expected a quick peck on the cheek. But Nick had pulled her into his arms and lowered his lips to hers. By the time he’d released her, Grace’s mouth had been trembling and her head was spinning.
She’d called him several times since she’d gotten back, to thank him for being her “date.” But she hadn’t been able to reach him. Even the invitation for dinner tonight had come through his housekeeper.
Grace wondered if tonight’s invitation was just Nick’s good manners surfacing. She turned her attention away from the disturbing thought and smiled at her aunt. Nick had finagled an appointment with one of his colleagues for her aunt and Grace had been dying to hear the outcome. “Tell me about your appointment today. What did the doctor have to say?”
“Dr. Placek says he thinks I’ll live,” Nellie quipped, casting a smile in Nick’s direction. “Actually he was very thorough and nice. He took more X rays while I was there and asked me a bunch of questions.”
“He must have spent a long time with you,” Grace said. “I tried to call you at three, but Nick’s housekeeper said you weren’t back yet.”
“I was done with my visit around one.” A tiny hint of pink touched her aunt’s cheeks. “Then Paul took me out for a late lunch.”
Grace widened her gaze, unable to hide her surprise. “Dr. Placek took you to lunch?”
Nellie laughed, a silvery tinkle of a laugh, and the color in her cheeks deepened. “Oh, my dear, no. Dr. Placek is scarcely older than you.”
Grace looked at Nick, wondering if he was making sense of her aunt’s remarks. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of his lips but he just took another sip of wine and shrugged.
“Okay, so I take it Paul is not Dr. Placek,” Grace said. “But I still don’t know who this Paul is or how you happen to know
him.”
“His name is Paul Morrow,” her aunt said. “And he’s an orthopedic doctor, too, but he specializes in hands, not knees.”
“And how did you meet Dr. Morrow?” Grace kept her tone light and conversational, feeling like a mother trying to get details from a teenage daughter on a new boyfriend.
“Paul is a colleague of mine,” Nick said, unexpectedly entering the conversation. “He stopped over the other night and I introduced them.”
“When he heard I had an appointment in his office building today, he graciously offered to take me to lunch,” her aunt added.
Grace sat back in her chair. She couldn’t remember her aunt ever dating, unless you counted Harold Peterman’s occasional presence at her bridge foursome. “Sounds like you two really hit it off.”
Nellie’s lips curved in satisfaction. “If you’re asking if we had a nice time, the answer is yes.”
“He’s not married, is he?” Grace hated to be blunt, but Nellie was a relative babe in the woods in the terms of dating, and she had no idea how devious men could be.
“Of course not.” Nellie’s hand rose to her throat and her eyes widened. “Paul is a gentleman.”
Grace’s skepticism must have still showed on her face because Nick chuckled.
“You can trust your aunt on this one. Paul would never have asked Eleanora to meet him for lunch if he was married,” Nick said. “His wife died a couple of years ago and he’s been alone ever since.”
“I guess it all sounds on the up-and-up,” Grace reluctantly conceded. “I don’t know why I’m making such a big deal out of a lunch date, anyway. You’ll probably never—”
The grandfather clock in the corner began to chime and Nellie glanced at her watch.
“I didn’t realize it was so late.” Nellie hurriedly pushed back her chair. “Paul will be picking me up at any moment and I’d like to freshen up before he gets here.”
Grace stared dumbfounded while her aunt stood, an almost girlish smile on her lips.
“You have another date with him?”
Nellie’s smile said it all. She gathered up her purse and left the room, a surprisingly lively spring to her step considering she was still nursing an injured knee.
“Two dates in one day.” Grace shook her head and took another sip of wine.
Nick sat back in his chair, twirling the stem of the wineglass between his fingers. “Your aunt is a beautiful woman, not to mention bright and personable. Why is it so hard for you to believe a man would be interested in her?”
“That’s not it at all.” Grace chose her words carefully. “I’m just worried she’ll get hurt.”
“Why would she be hurt?” Nick asked.
“Because when you date, you get hurt,” Grace said matter-of-factly. “It goes with the territory.”
“I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Nick said. “I’ve dated a lot of women and I’ve never been hurt.”
“That’s because you’re a man,” Grace said. “Women are the ones who get the short end of the stick.”
Nick tilted his head and his brow furrowed. “So, have you gotten the short end of the stick?”
“A couple of times,” Grace said. “But not lately. Now I know the score.”
She’d had her first lesson in the ways of men her junior year in high school when Tommy Doyle had asked her to the prom, then promptly changed his mind. In college she’d dated John Tucker for three months without knowing he was engaged. Then there had been Steve…
Grace shoved the memory aside. She had nothing to complain about. She had friends who’d been hurt worse.
“I think you’ve let a few isolated instances color your feelings,” Nick said.
“I think you’re incredibly naive,” Grace said, wondering why she’d ever let the conversation get on this track in the first place. The doorbell rang in a distant part of the house and she breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for an excuse to change the subject. “Do you think she’ll ask Paul in?”
Nick shook his head. “They’re going to the theater and they don’t have much time.”
Grace tried to hide her disappointment. She would have liked to have met her aunt’s date. “I guess it’s going to just be you and me for dinner.”
“That’s what I planned.” Nick smiled his thanks as Mrs. Prescott placed the salads in front of them.
Grace realized for the first time that only she and Nick had silverware at their place settings.
“But when your housekeeper called, she said it would be the three of us.”
“That was the original plan,” Nick said smoothly. “Until your aunt met Paul.”
“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble just for me,” Grace said.
“I wanted to see you,” Nick said, pushing the salad back and forth with his fork. “I’ve been so busy since I got back from Iowa, I haven’t had a—”
“You don’t need to make excuses.” Grace waved aside his explanation. “Our arrangement was only for the weekend. I didn’t really expect to see you again. Except at the clinic, of course.”
For a moment Nick was silent and Grace had the odd feeling she might have offended him with her bluntness. But that was crazy. Because she was simply stating facts and letting him know she didn’t expect anything at all from him.
“But what about…?” His voice trailed off and he nodded toward Nellie’s empty chair.
“Good point,” she said. “We should keep things up, at least while she’s here. Unless you think we should tell her we broke up?”
“No,” Nick said forcefully, then his tone softened. “Getting this orthopedic workup is hard enough on her. I wouldn’t want to add to her stress.”
Grace almost said that her aunt seemed quite laissez-faire about the appointments, but she stopped herself. Though it would probably be easiest on her own heart to break off all contact with Nick now, Grace couldn’t do it. “I agree.”
Her mood lightened at the thought of spending more time with him. He looked so good sitting there in his burgundy sweater and gray pants. If she didn’t know it was impossible, she’d swear he was even more attractive than the last time she’d seen him, than the last time she’d been in his arms. She remembered the feel of his hair between her fingers, the taste of his lips, the—
“Are you finished with your salad, ma’am?”
Grace jerked back to the present with a start and lifted her gaze. Though the housekeeper’s expression was inscrutable, the twinkle in her eyes told Grace the woman had a good idea where Grace’s thoughts had been headed. “I am.”
“But you only ate a few bites.” Nick’s dark brows furrowed in concern. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, Doctor,” Grace said with an impish smile. “I’m feeling quite well. I’m just not in the mood for lettuce.”
His gaze met hers.
“What are you in the mood for?”
Suddenly she was back home in her bedroom with his arms wrapped around her. And she could see by the look in his eyes that he knew full well what she wanted.
It was crazy. It would be the height of stupidity to get involved with a man who could eventually break your heart.
But right now, with that heart beating double time and the air fairly humming with electricity, Grace couldn’t walk away. In fact, she couldn’t move at all.
“Mrs. Prescott,” she heard Nick say through the roaring in her ears, “why don’t you take the rest of the night off? We can serve ourselves.”
“Very well, sir.” Mrs. Prescott’s hair might have been gray and her face wrinkled, but behind her thin wire rims, her gaze was keen and Grace guessed she missed very little.
Grace waited until the woman had left the room before she spoke. “She suspects something.”
“Probably.” Nick rose and circled the table coming to a stop beside Grace’s chair. He held out his hand and feeling oddly breathless and extremely reckless, Grace pushed back her chair and stood. “She knows how much I like you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, heaving a contented sigh. “I said she knows how much I like you.”
A warm rush of emotion flowed through her at the words. “Do you? Like me, I mean?”
He tipped her face to him and met her gaze before brushing her lips with his.
“For someone so smart—” he kissed her softly again “—you seem to have trouble getting the message. Let me see if I can make it clearer.”
His arms tightened around her and she let him pull her close, resting her head against his chest, drawing comfort from the warmth of his arms.
“I’ve missed you.” He pressed his face to her hair.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said. Her voice trembled with emotion.
Nick kissed her again, but this time his mouth lingered. Being in his arms again was heaven. His lips tasted like wine and Grace felt almost drunk with emotion.
With a start, Grace realized she was stroking the back of his neck, twining her fingers in his thick, soft hair. “Nick, I…”
He stopped her words by covering her mouth with his own. It was an exquisite kiss. Her lips parted before she had time to consider all of the ramifications of kissing Nick this way. And as Nick unhurriedly claimed her mouth, drinking her in, she stopped thinking.
She felt his hand move up her back, underneath her hair. His fingers sent both chills and warmth racing through her until she was nearly dizzy.
The quick rush of desire surprised her. How was it possible that she’d lived thirty years without ever feeling this, without knowing a kiss could be like this?
“Sir, I’ve…” Mrs. Prescott stopped short. She hurriedly placed two plates of food on the table then hastily backed out of the room. She was gone before either Nick or Grace could say a word.
Heat seared Grace’s cheeks. She could only imagine what the housekeeper was thinking. Though the roast beef and potatoes smelled delicious, Grace knew she couldn’t eat a bite. She pulled back from Nick’s arms, her heart still racing. “I’d better go.”
The Harvest Page 14