as she gazed back at Grant. Soon he would be just a memory, too. Why not enjoy the moment? “I guess we could go camping with you.”
“Whoopee!” Toby leapt up into Grant’s arms.
Startled, Grant caught the child midair and they bounced onto the bed together laughing. “Isn’t it past your bedtime, partner?”
“I guess.” Toby climbed off the long, tall Texan and crawled under the covers, not losing his grin. “We get to go camping, huh?”
“We do.” Grant shot a sheepish glance at Jami and removed himself from her bed. “So get your rest tonight.”
Jami bent to tuck the sheet under Toby’s chin and kiss his forehead. “Grant’s right, tiger. You get to sleep.”
“I’ll say goodnight to both of you.” Grant stood watching them, then moved toward the doorway as Jami picked up the comic book from the floor and dimmed the overhead light.
“Good night, Grant.” Jami faced him, wondering why he had invited them camping. Did he really enjoy their company or was theirs just better than the alternatives available at the lodge? He couldn’t have ulterior motives with Toby along. Could he?
Grant returned her gaze, his dark midnight blue eyes searching her face as if seeking answers of his own. “You okay about the camping trip?”
Jami shrugged, conscious of her ratty old bathrobe and her nakedness beneath. “Why not? It makes Toby happy.”
“I’d like to make you happy,” Grant said softly, his hand on the doorknob as he pulled it closed.
The door clicked shut, removing him from view. She knew he hadn’t expected an answer from her. In fact, Jami had a haunting suspicion that Grant Carrington was just as confused as she was about their relationship.
Restless and unable to sleep, it was near midnight when Jami wandered to the bedroom window overlooking the gardens. Thinking she heard voices, she pushed the curtain aside and quietly cracked open the window, peering out into the moonlit darkness. Rustling leaves cast night shadows below where two people stood close together. Lovers? Who?
As the couple moved apart, a shaft of moonlight revealed the unmistakable waxen skin and ebony hair of Raven McGuire gazing up at a broad-shouldered, golden-haired man who could only be Grant Carrington. Jami’s stomach knotted, she bit her lip, and her mouth grew dry. Eyes adjusting to the night, she watched Raven move again toward Grant, while it appeared he took a step back. The woman touched his arm in an intimate manner.
Jami spun away from the window, unwilling to witness more. Why did the scene bother her? Raven was a beautiful woman, and Grant had every right to arrange midnight assignations with whomever he pleased. Cupid match or not, Jami had to admit she had no real claim on the man. Nor did she want one.
Chapter 11
After breakfast the next morning, Jami went with Nell and Toby to pick berries as part of Toby’s supervised KP duty. Nell showed them the berry patch at the rear of the garden, where strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries grew profusely. Jami instructed Toby how to pick the berries without getting pricked or squishing the berries, and he caught on quickly, filling his basket faster than his mother or Nell.
“Mine’s full,” Toby announced, proudly displaying his harvest.
“Then you can help Nell fill hers.” Jami gestured to a shaded rock. “Please, sit your basket there so you don’t spill any.”
Toby obeyed and skipped between bushes to join the elderly woman now bedecked in a pink ribbon trimmed straw hat. Nell stooped to search a raspberry bush for the ripe, easy-off-the-bush berries as the boy reached her side. Jami watched them with a smile as she knelt to pluck juicy red strawberries for her own basket. She knew it was good for her son to interact with Nell and Homer. She wanted him to grow up with respect and admiration for older people, even though he had no grandparents or great-grandparents of his own. All the lectures in the world couldn’t compare to a dose of one-on-one experiences, she decided as Toby’s giggles merged with Nell’s tittering chuckles.
“How’s it going?” Grant asked, moving up behind Jami with a silent tread.
“Fine,” Jami replied, hiding the fact that his arrival had disconcerted her. She stood, turning from the strawberry vines to face him. “I think Toby is enjoying his KP duty.”
“The kid has character. He could be pouting, instead he’s treating it as an adventure.” Grant studied Toby as the boy put a handful of berries into Nell’s basket. “You ought to be proud of your son.”