she’d probably never see again. “Thanks for the advice. I’ll talk to Ben and see how he feels about it.” She offered BB a tired smile. “I think I need to sleep for a week. Thanks for rescuing us.”
He grinned. “I think you did that all by yourself, but you’re welcome.”
He escorted her to her door and left her there with another reminder not to worry, before heading down the stairs.
Silver managed to change into the cotton nightdress, drag herself down to the bathroom for her first shower in over a week, and get between the crisply ironed sheets of the bed. Should she check in on Ben again? If she did she might end up in his bed and she didn’t even want to imagine how that would go down the next morning.... Even as she considered the idea, her eyes closed, and she knew nothing more.
Chapter Twelve
Silver was sitting in the kitchen enjoying both Mrs. Morgan’s cooking and her conversation, when a man she hadn’t met before came through the door. He was an older guy with silver streaks in his hair, hard gray eyes, and weathered skin.
“Morning, Ruth. Where’s Ben?”
Mrs. Morgan turned to regard the intruder, her spatula raised in a rather threatening manner.
“Jeff Miller, where are your manners?”
The man blinked at her. “I said good morning, didn’t I?” His gaze fell on Silver and he frowned. “You look familiar. Is this one of your grandson’s girlfriends, Ruth?”
“No, I’m not.” Silver stood and offered him her hand. He looked nothing like Ben at all. “Hi, I’m Silver.”
He shook her hand and continued to stare at her, his brow furrowed. “You sure do look familiar. Do you work in the bank?”
Mrs. Morgan advanced toward them. “Now, you just leave her alone, Jeff, and tell me what you’re here for.”
His brow creased. “I already said. I’ve come for Ben.”
“Dr. Tio says he’s to stay put for the next couple of days.”
“And what does that youngster pretending to be a doctor know about anything? He told me I had high blood pressure, and I’m not fat and I hardly drink!”
“Dr. Tio knows what he is doing, and if he says Ben has to stay here for a couple of days, he’s not going anywhere,” Mrs. Morgan repeated with some emphasis.
For a second, Silver held her breath as the two of them faced off.
Jeff sighed. “All right. If I can’t take him off your hands, can I at least see him?”
Mrs. Morgan turned to Silver. “Why don’t you go and see if Ben is ready to receive visitors, and tell him that his father is here.”
Silver nodded and hightailed it up the stairs. She’d peeked in on Ben just before she’d come down for her very late breakfast, but he’d been sleeping.
She knocked on his door and went in to find him awake and alert. His slow smile did something funny to her heart.
She smiled foolishly back at him. “We made it.”
“Yes, we did.”
She went over and sat on the side of the bed. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Way better than I did two days ago.” He slid his left hand into her newly washed hair. “You look clean, and you don’t smell of woodsmoke and the great outdoors.”
“Does that make me immediately unattractive?” Silver asked.
“Nope.” He bent his head and kissed her very thoroughly. “Thanks for getting me out.”
The sound of loud throat clearing at the door made them leap apart like guilty teenagers to find Jeff Miller standing there.
“You’re obviously not feeling that bad if you’ve got the energy to canoodle,” Jeff remarked as he came into the room.
Canoodle? What did that even mean? Silver leapt to her feet and backed away from the bed.
“Hey, Dad, do you remember knocking? It’s something you insisted on us learning when we were kids.” Ben looked at his father. “And why are you here, anyway?”
“I had to go into Dr. Tio’s office for some silly test, and he asked me how you were doing today.” Jeff scowled at his son. “Imagine what a fool I felt when I had no idea what the hell he was talking about!”
Ben eased himself back against his pillows. “I was going to call you when I was ready to come home.”
“You should have come home in the first place instead of bothering Ruth Morgan. Don’t you think she has enough to do?”
Silver glanced apprehensively from Ben to his father and decided to speak up. “The helicopter landed here and the medical team brought him to