did not give her my new number. Tell me you did not give her my new number.”
“I didn’t give her your new number,” Aaron said dryly, huffing slightly as if Stephen had questioned his loyalty. “That way she can keep calling me and pleading to speak to you.”
Stephen looked away. “Tell her I’ll talk to her when I’m better.”
“I’ve been telling her that. She says if she doesn’t speak to you soon, she’s coming over here.”
Stephen seemed to dismiss that out of hand. “She doesn’t know where I am.”
“She knows where I am,” Aaron pointed out. “She knows where the arena is and the team offices.”
Stephen’s head jerked around, an appalled look on his face, but then he sighed. “I can’t deal with this now, Aaron. Find a way to put her off. Now, give me the phones.”
Aaron threw up his hands and went back to pawing through the bags. “I’m just saying…”
Confused and curious, Kaylie helped Stephen into a prone position.
“Get me the other pillow, will you?” he mumbled, his gaze averted. “I’ve spent enough time flat on my back.”
“All right.”
She went to do as requested, aware of Stephen and Aaron speaking quietly together in the next room. She returned with the second pillow and, after making Stephen comfortable in a semi-reclining position, she distributed the goods about the room, placing each item where it would be most handy. Meanwhile, Aaron and Stephen discussed the phones and their functions. Eventually, they called her over, and Aaron explained what amounted to a miniature handheld computer with a touch screen, camera, microphone and speaker. The thing was amazing and must have cost a fortune. She turned over the sleek contraption in her hand and looked to Stephen.
“This really isn’t necessary, you know.”
“I think it is,” he said dismissively, failing to meet her gaze.
Aaron jumped in, using his “good buddy” voice. “I’ve programmed in Steve’s new number, mine and the doc’s. The roll-up keyboard works like this.” He demonstrated, adding, “Makes it easier if you’re not used to phone-pad texting. This way you just type.”
“Okay,” Kaylie said, pocketing the sleek new gadget. “If you say so.”
“One thing,” Stephen insisted, deigning to look at her. “I want your word that you’ll keep that with you at all times. Understood?”
Kaylie just barely refrained from rolling her eyes. “I’ll keep it with me at all times. And when you don’t need my assistance anymore, I’ll return it.”
Stephen bobbed his head in a curt nod. Aaron split an uncertain look between the two of them and clapped his hands together with forced joviality. “Okeydoke. I am off to see the little woman.” He walked backward toward the door. “Either of you need anything, you give me a shout.” He paused in the doorway long enough to point a finger at Stephen and say, “I’ll see you in a day or two, kid. You behave yourself and let nurse darlin’ take care of you. Understand?” He winked at Kaylie and blew her a noisy kiss, exclaiming, “Angel of mercy!” With that, he turned and hurried from sight.
Stephen put his head back and closed his eyes, dismissing her as effectively as if he’d turned his back on her. Unfortunately for him, she’d had a good deal of recent experience in dealing with hardheaded men. Leaning a shoulder against the bedpost at the foot of the bed, she folded her arms and regarded him thoughtfully. Kaylie very much wanted to ask Stephen about the “she” whose phone call to Aaron Doolin had so obviously upset him earlier, but she had no plausible professional reason for doing so. She didn’t see anything to be gained by taking him to task for his attitude, but the accident, on the other hand, seemed well within her purview, her personal curiosity aside.
“It might help me to know about your accident,” she said after a long moment of silence.
He opened an eye and peered down his nose at her. Closing that eye again, he settled more comfortably. She assumed that would be the end of it, but just as she dropped her arms and started to straighten away from the bedpost, he spoke.
“I accidentally drove my car through the garage wall and into my house. What else do you want to know?”
Horrified, she shook her head, grasping the bedpost with both hands. “How on earth did such a thing happen?”
Sighing richly, he opened both eyes and stared up at the ceiling. “Some friends had driven my car and left it parked outside with the