Just slightly miffed, April raised her chin. “I’m single because I choose to be.”
He did admire a woman of spirit, Jimmy thought. “Touché.”
April’s eyes narrowed as she turned the tables. “How about you?”
“At the risk of sounding like I’m plagiarizing, ditto.”
Suddenly loathe to have the last bit of the evening end, April found herself drawing the conversation out. “You must meet a lot of women in your line of work.”
Jimmy inclined his head. His eyes, lit with amusement, met hers. “You must meet a lot of men walking out your front door.”
She wasn’t sure where this was going, but she was on her guard again. Life here had taught her that. “I don’t live here, remember?”
He leaned against the railing, his body turned to hers. “But you did until you were eighteen.”
Her mouth hardened unconsciously as she thought of her mother. “I wasn’t about to fall in love and ruin the rest of my life.”
He moved a little closer to her, pulled in by the sadness in her eyes. A sadness he had a feeling she was entirely unaware of. “Is that how you see love? As something that ruins your life?”
April sighed. “It did my mother’s.” She looked at him suspiciously, unable to read what was in his eyes. Defenses immediately fell into place. “You’re laughing at me.”
“No, I’m not. Really,” he added when she didn’t appear to believe him. “I’m commiserating.”
“Meaning?”
He heard the suspicion in her voice and thought again that she must have really been hurt by what had happened between her parents. “It’s the way I felt, except it was about my father.”
April tried to fill in the gaps. “Your mother left your father?”
The shrug was slight. “In a manner of speaking. She died. And he just crumbled.” The man had been a tower of strength, to see him lose his grip on life had been devastating. Rousing himself, Jimmy looked at the woman in front of him. “The upshot of it was that they both left me and that was when I discovered that attachments hurt.”
His sentiments echoed her own. How many times had she thought the very same thing? April smiled and something within her relaxed. “We do think alike.”
“Yes,” Jimmy replied, framing her face with his hands. “We do.” Unable to hold back any longer, Jimmy brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her.
April stopped relaxing. Her arms went up around his neck and she leaned her body into his.
If she hadn’t enjoyed kissing and being kissed by him so much, she would have paid more attention to the alarms that went off inside her head. Warning her that this was not just an innocent way to pass the time. That there was real danger here.
But she was too busy trying to anchor herself to the earth while her head went madly spinning somewhere else to take heed of the signs.
Here, safe on the back porch of her grandmother’s house, April surrendered herself to the fantastic feeling of his lips upon hers. To the wild, mindless sensation that darted through her veins at speeds impossible to gauge.
The excitement both pleased and surprised him. In his vast experience, the first time for anything with a woman, whether it was a kiss or making love, was usually the best. Rarely did it get better for him. By the third time he kissed a woman, there was a certain familiarity to it that took the edge off.
This was nothing if not edgy and utterly exhilarating.
It made his body yearn. Anticipation hummed through him. Before he left to go back home to Seattle, he wanted to make love with this woman. He had a feeling it would be a memorable event for him. He knew he meant to make it so for her.
Her heart felt as if it was slamming against her ribs as she haltingly pulled back. April swallowed discreetly, afraid her throat was far too dry to do anything but croak out the words if she didn’t.
“I’d better be getting back before Gran starts printing up invitations to the wedding.” She nodded toward the house.
Looking, Jimmy saw the woman standing at the window. Sighted, Ursula made no effort to step back. “Because I kissed you?” he asked.
“Because I let you,” April corrected. She knew that Gran would make a huge deal about that. There had been men in her life on occasion, but none that Gran knew about. And certainly none that she had personally anointed the way Gran apparently had with the good doctor. “The woman is an eternal optimist.”
Waving at Ursula, he accepted the excuse. He did better without an audience, anyway. Jimmy looked at the woman who had very effectively unsettled him and made him want more of the same. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then? To continue sight-seeing,” he added when she didn’t respond immediately.
April bit her lower lip, hesitating. She could still taste him, taste the tangy flavor that even now sent her pulse scrambling again. Okay, why not? Why not agree to see him again. This was as safe as a relationship could get.
“All right.”
Smiling to himself, Jimmy got into his borrowed vehicle.
As he drove away, he thought, You did more than let me kiss you, April Yearling. You almost burned a hole in my shoes. And I think you know it.
Things arranged themselves as neatly as if they’d been placed by some unseen hand. While she wasn’t exactly feeling one hundred percent better—because the woman knew that would have April returning to Los Angeles—Gran insisted that she was well enough to take a turn at running the post office in the afternoons, when business was lighter.
Which conveniently left April’s afternoons free to take Jimmy sight-seeing.
It wasn’t a hardship. The way he took in everything, with gusto and enthusiasm, made April see Hades in a new light. One that was admittedly less dark than before. Though it was still a great place to be from rather than to be in, she had to admit Hades had its merits, both in its beauty—which she’d never disputed—and in its simplicity and grace.
By the third afternoon, after being coaxed twice to do so by Jimmy, April had brought her camera along and began taking photographs of the places they visited. Something she’d never done before. On occasion, when he wasn’t looking, she’d snap one of him.
And, in between driving and photographing, he made her smile. And he made her itch. Itch for a physical union that would gratify all the yearnings that had been echoing softly and increasingly within her from the very first moment he’d looked at her.
With the knowledge that he felt the same as she did—no strings, no commitments, no hurt feelings—the pressure of worrying about consequences lifted from her and vanished. There would be no consequences, no obligations and no reproach at the end of the idyllic time that was unfolding itself in front of her.
Because she was free to enjoy his company this way, she allowed herself to do so. It was the best of all worlds with each day being a micro-lifetime within itself. And, like a woman with a limited life expectancy, April was enjoying every shred of it.
Enjoying the way he talked to her, the way his eyes seemed to touch her intimately when he lowered his voice to share an observation or a joke. Enjoying the way his hand felt when it brushed against her face just before he kissed her.
Enjoyed him.
When he brought her home the third night, she found herself lingering on the porch again, wishing that there was somewhere they could go without attracting attention. Somewhere they could be alone to enjoy one another.
But maybe it was better this way, she decided after he left and she made her way up the darkened stairs. If they did make love, it might somehow ruin everything. Better the thrill of the promise than the disappointment of the reality.
Or so she told herself.
Bone-tired, April decided to not bother turning on any lights on the second floor but just to make her way to her room. She’d sufficiently memorized the obstacle course that comprised her grandmother’s second floor so as not to walk into anything in the dark.
Besides, if she turned on any lights, that might bring Gran out and
she wasn’t up to playing twenty questions. Or even one.
The faint light coming from the living room only registered peripherally. Until she heard the deep voice.
“Correct me if I’m wrong—” Max’s voice emerged from the recess of the worn leather sofa “—but I don’t ever remember seeing you smile quite like that before.”
Stifling a gasp, April stopped short. The heart that hadn’t yet stopped pounding because of the kiss she’d just shared on the doorstep now leaped up to her throat before landing back where it belonged and launching itself into triple time.
Recovering, she made a beeline for the sofa and faced her brother. Damn, but he had given her a start. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark?”
“Not the dark.” Max pointed to the fireplace. With only the starlight tripping lightly inside, the crackling flames gave a soft, timeless glow to the room. “I was just sitting here, thinking.”
“Is it Gran?” She turned her head toward her grandmother’s room, immediately alert. “Did something happen to—”
He caught her wrist before she could dash off to check for herself. Max was accustomed to seeing a far cooler April than the one he was looking at now. This thing with Gran had really shaken her up, he thought. But then, he remembered how hard she’d taken their father’s leaving. As distant as his sister tried to pretend to be, he knew differently.
“Nothing happened to Gran.” His voice was authoritative, soothing. “She’s happier than I’ve seen her in years. I just stopped by to visit and was told that my sister was out gallivanting with the new doc.”
That gave certain unspoken connotations to the situation that just weren’t true. “I’m not out gallivanting, Max, and he’s not the new doc. He’s just passing through.”
Releasing her wrist, Max studied her face. She was protesting too much, he mused. “Is that why you let him make you smile that way?”
She hated it when people assumed things about her. Even if those people were her own family. “You’re the sheriff of a very small town, Max, don’t try to pretend you’re an FBI profiler. It’s not a hat that fits you well.”
They’d grown up trading barbs. Hers rolled off his back. “Oh, I don’t know. A sheriff has to be able to read people pretty well and fast.”
Taking off her jacket, she tossed it over the back of the sofa. “Nothing is fast here.”
He indicated the hand he’d held a moment earlier. “Your pulse was just so a minute ago.”
She frowned at him. “That’s because you were playing ghost.”
The look he gave her was smug. “Couldn’t have anything to do with you being glued to Jimmy’s lips now, could it?”
Damn it, did everyone here spy on her? “How did you know he kissed me?”
“Good guess,” he replied, satisfied with himself. It was a natural conclusion, seeing that her lips were mussed. “And if I know you, April, you weren’t just meekly standing still for the kiss, you were kissing him right back. For all you were worth,” he added. “You were never one to take anything placidly.”
She sighed, then shrugged noncommittally. “Okay, I’m enjoying his company.” Turning, she pinned her brother with a look. “No law against that, is there?”
The look he gave her was framed in innocence. “None I know of. Hey, I’m happy for you. Nice to see you finally settling down.”
There he went, assuming things again. “What ‘settling down’?” she demanded. “He’s going back to Seattle. I’m going back to Los Angeles. This is just a shipboard romance without the ship.”
A smile cracked Max’s wind-tanned face. “Romance, huh?”
Exasperation pricked at her. He would pick up on that. “Figure of speech.”
Max picked up his Stetson and put it on. “Seems to me you’re hiding behind a lot of figures of speech to deny what’s happening.”
“There’s nothing happening.” She knew the more she said it, the less convinced he would be, but she refused to just let this slide.
“You’re happy.”
“Of course I’m happy,” she snapped, then caught hold of her temper. Max had always been able to bait her. They were too close in age. “I’m always happy—since I left here.”
Standing, a head taller than his sister, he looked down into her eyes. Even in the firelight, he could see things in her eyes. Things he knew mirrored her soul.
“This is me you’re talking to, April. You were never all that happy. You always had the weight of the world on your shoulders.” He saw the anger rise up, but pressed on. They’d skirted around this a hundred times. It was time to say it out, plain. “And you always acted as if it was you they left.”
“Drop it, Max.”
Max looked at her pointedly. She’d let this eat at her long enough. “I will if you will.”
“You brought it up.”
“You carry it with you.”
The last thing she needed or wanted was a lecture, even from someone she loved. “Max, why did you come here, to harass me?”
“No, I told you. To pay a visit to Gran. And you.” When he smiled, his entire countenance changed. The gruff face that drove fear into the hearts of his opponents disappeared, to be replaced by one of gentleness. “And to see how things were going.”
“They’re going. He’s going in a few days,” she emphasized, “and I guess I’m going since it seems Gran’s okay.”
He wasn’t all that convinced that Gran was all right. Or that April really wanted to leave—no matter what she said. “Why don’t you stay a while longer? You’re freelance, emphasis on ‘free.”’
Hadn’t he been paying attention? “Because I don’t like it here.”
He remembered other things, things she had conveniently put from her mind. “You used to. When you were a kid you used to think this was the greatest place in the whole world.”
She turned from the fireplace to look at him. “Like you said, I was a kid. I didn’t know any better.”
He hadn’t come here to argue with her. If she was leaving again soon, as she’d said, they didn’t have that much time together and he’d missed his sister, bossiness and all. “So tell me about Jimmy.”
The fire leaving her, a smile played on her lips. “Playing the part of the patriarch now?”
He raised a brow. “Should I be?”
“No.”
The denial came far too quickly and heartily. “He’s a great guy, April.”
“He’s okay.” She realized that Max had stooped down beside her and was looking into her ear. She clamped her hand over it. “What are you doing?”
Rising again, he looked at her innocently. “Just trying to see if I can see Gran’s figurines through the hole in your head.”
Annoyed, April pulled back her head. “Look, I know Gran wants me to get married and you and June want me to stay here, but it’s just not going to happen. Either of it. My life isn’t here.”
Max thought of the letters from April he kept in the old strongbox he’d found in a deserted mine shaft when he’d gone exploring with April one summer. They had postmarks from all parts of the world. It seemed as if April never remained anywhere for long. “Seems to me that your life’s a little scattered.”
A defensive look came into her eyes. “My choice.”
There was an edge in her voice, but he ignored it. She had to be made to see reason. “Doesn’t that get a little old, living out of a suitcase?”
It did, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “When it does, I’ll stop.”
He looked at her significantly. He wanted to believe that. “Promise?”
Max was only concerned about her. She felt guilty for getting annoyed. April crossed her heart. “And hope to die.”
“No, April, not die. Live.”
Rising on her toes, April brushed her lips against his cheek. “I know you mean well, little brother, but tend to your own house first. Find yourself someone and settle down if you think that’s the right thing to do.”
He�
�d been seeing someone for several months, but it hadn’t worked out. As private as his sister at times, Max didn’t think the matter bore mentioning now.
“First I’ve got to marry you off.” He grinned. “It’s tradition. First born, first married.”
“Then, little brother—” she had to reach up to pat his face “—I’m afraid you have a very long, singular life ahead of you.” She was suddenly very tired. “Now you can stay here and stare into the fire all you want, but I’m going to bed. Don’t forget to lock up when you leave.”
He was already on his way toward the stairs. “I’m the sheriff, April, you’re not supposed to feel you have to tell me that.”
“You’ll always be my little brother, that means I get to boss you around.” She kissed him affectionately and left the room.
Max shook his head and went down the stairs to make his rounds one last time for the night before returning to the small building he’d appropriated when he had won the last election.
Chapter Eleven
Having time on his hands was something Jimmy wasn’t accustomed to. Between his work at the hospital and his heavy social calendar, time to do nothing but kick back and listen to the wind commune with the trees was completely foreign to him.
Not that dating a bevy of women could exactly be placed under the heading of hardships, he thought, smiling to himself as he walked through the haphazardly arranged streets of Hades. But it did add a somewhat hectic flavor to his life.
He looked around, thinking of Melinda, the woman who was to have come with him on the cruise. Had she come, he had no doubts now that Melinda would have gone out of her mind up here. There definitely wasn’t all that much for a woman accustomed to the excitement of a regular nightlife to do.
Funny how things arranged themselves. If Melinda had accompanied him, then he would have never gotten together with April and he knew he wouldn’t have wanted to miss that for the world.
He didn’t have a handle on her yet, and probably wouldn’t, he mused. But he knew he liked her, liked being around her. There was an edgy, unpolished excitement to her. What there was, was genuine. There were no games, no pretenses. Honesty, he mused, was a highly underrated attribute.
The M.D. Meets His Match Page 12