losing his grip. Sierra was right. Maybe he had been working too hard. Still, his reaction to Jami proved it wasn’t fatigue. Instead, she sent his energy level soaring somewhere around the speed of light.
“We found it, so I’ll be on my way. Goodnight, Grant.” Now holding a bag full of knitting paraphernalia, Nell tottered out of the bedroom with Jami trailing behind and ready to catch the older woman at any moment.
“You can’t wander around the hallways alone this time of night,” Jami protested, again in position to catch the teetering woman.
“I’ll walk you to the family quarters, Mrs. B.,” Grant offered, slamming the drawer and moving forward to take Nell’s bony, paper-skinned arm.
She twinkled up at him. “You always were such a gentleman.”
“Ah, then goodnight, Grant,” Jami called, breathtakingly lovely as she hovered uncertainly by her bedroom doorway.
Damn, Grant thought, swearing at the timing. “Jami, I’ll be back in a few minutes, if you’d care for a nightcap with me?”
“Thanks, but it’s late.” Jami sounded breathy and nervous, as if she dare not spend more time alone with him. As he watched her turn and step back into her room, her exquisite beauty seemed to catch fire, reminding Grant of what he was missing.
He smothered an urge to beg Jami to wait up for him. “Goodnight, then.”
Feeling a tug on his arm, he glanced down to meet Nell’s keen gaze, her wispy white hair styled by an eggbeater. “These old bones don’t approve of night owl hours.”
“Then we’d better get you off your feet,” Grant replied, ushering her out into the hallway as Jami’s door shut with a firm click.
“That girl’s real special,” Nell commented, shuffling along beside Grant.
“I can’t argue that.”
Nell snorted. “You not argue? That’ll be the day.”
“Mrs. B.,” Grant said, caught between being amused and offended, “You make me sound difficult.”
“You are difficult, young man.”
Grant knew better than to disagree. Instead, he chose to quiz her about the Cupid key. At least his mind could have some relief, even if his body was forced to suffer. “Did Toby go into the outer suite by himself tonight?”
“Not when he was with me.” Nell clutched the knitting basket to her chest. “I may have nodded off a time or two, but if that boy would have stirred, I’d have been wide awake.”
“So Toby wasn’t in my room alone?”
“Nope. Why? Was something disturbed?”
“No.” Unless you count my sanity, Grant added to himself. Aloud he asked, “Mrs. B., do you believe in love charms and magic spells?”
Nell shuffled to her own door, pausing with one hand on the brass knob. “Love is magic, son.” She tapped a gnarled finger against his lapel, where Jami’s lipstick stain covered his heart. “If you don’t know that by now, it’s time you learned.”
Chapter 8
“Mom, I can see the fish!” Toby hollered, practically hanging upside-down from the wooden dock, his red hair fanning out from his head as he dangled.
“Toby,” Jami cried, dropping the picnic basket with a clatter as she dashed toward her son. “You’ll fall!”
“Then we’ll fish him out.” Grant moved with agile strength across the creaking planks, reaching down to the boy.
Toby grabbed the offered hand and let Grant swing him upright to perch on the pier edge. “Wow, that was cool.”
“You’ll think cool,” his mother scolded, retrieving the basket. “When you land in the lake with the fish.”
“I’m drip dry, Mom.” Toby grinned his lopsided grin. “You told me to do that when we got caught in the rain on the way home from the park, remember?”
“Drip dry?” Grant repeated, his left brow arched, amusement reflected in his face and voice.
Jami felt her face flush. “I wonder where Mike is?” she asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“Here,” the photographer called, lumbering toward them, loaded with his equipment. “We can get started as soon as I get set.”
“Here on the dock?” Jami asked. The water slapped against wood, punctuating her words.
“Turn around and check out that view over the lake.” Mike swept a hand toward the panorama behind them. “See how the greens of the forest frames the blues of the lake with the backdrop of mountain and sky?”
She spun around and immediately saw the beauty in the scene. “It is lovely.”
“Nature’s own backdrop.” Grant waved at the scenery with pride, as he placed Toby’s hand-carved boat on top of the cooler.
“Exactly,” Mike responded, extending the metal tripod legs and attaching his camera to the top. “I want to capture the romance of the Rockies.”