that he had anything at stake in this other than wanting what was good for Estelle.
It was just that now that he’d seen Ally Rogers, he was hoping she had as much character as she did beauty.
When the doorbell rang at nine o’clock, Ally shot a glance up the stairs of her mother’s house, afraid the bell would wake Estelle. She hurried to open the door before whoever was there could ring again.
Jake Fox stood on the step.
Ally considered it a lapse in her own sanity that any part of her was happy to see him. But there was a part that took a little leap of…interest?
Hiding it completely, she said an almost challenging “Hello.”
“Hi,” he greeted in return.
She asked him in, still camouflaging her secret elation by making the invitation sound begrudging.
But if he noticed, he didn’t react to it as he came inside.
What he did react to was the sight of her suitcase, waiting beside the staircase.
“You can’t be leaving?” he said. “I checked with the E.R. I know Estelle’s wrist is only a sprain and she got a relatively clean bill of health otherwise, but that doesn’t mean this is over or under control by any means. The fall is nothing compared to—”
“My mother is upstairs asleep for the night,” Ally said to cut him off. “We didn’t get out of the emergency room until three this afternoon. I took care of a few things, got us some dinner and since she’s finally down for the count I was about to take my suitcase out to my own place.”
“Your own place?” he said, sounding calmer but confused.
“There’s a small sort-of apartment above the garage. It’s where I stay when I’m here.”
It was criminal how attractive the man was, even with a baffled expression on his face.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” she offered rather than remain where they were and risk that their voices might rouse Estelle.
Ally bent over to pick up her suitcase but Jake beat her to it.
It was an unexpected courtesy.
“Thanks,” she said, almost wishing he hadn’t done anything nice—it conflicted with the ogreish image of him that she was trying to hang on to.
She walked ahead of him down the hallway that ran beside the stairs into the dated liberty-green kitchen. Then she went out the back door and to a stairway that hugged the rear of the house and led to the upper portion of the attached garage.
The stairs creaked as they climbed them to the landing where Ally unlocked a scarred wooden door to let them in.
The apartment was a single room that was more like a big bedroom than an apartment. It was large enough for only a double bed and dresser, a sofa with a television close in front of it, a few kitchen cupboards and some old appliances lining one wall, and a closet and bathroom tucked into the far end.
“This is where you stay when you visit your mother?” Jake asked once they were inside, setting her suitcase on the floor.
“Actually, I haven’t lived or stayed in the house with my mother since I was sixteen. I adopted this as my own space then and lived up here through the rest of high school and all through college. After I left home and started coming back to visit, my mother said that she liked her privacy and was sure I’d want mine, so I might as well use it then, too. Which is what I’ve done.”
Ally could see that he found that extremely curious, but since he didn’t ask, she didn’t say more on the subject.
Instead, he said, “Estelle needs to have tabs kept on her. You can’t do that from out here.”
“As a matter of fact, I can. One of her friends from the center came by after we got home today and while she and Mother were visiting I went out and bought a state-of-the-art intercom system. It works for every room in the house, so I can monitor where she is at all times. It’s also connected to a motion detector that’s on the front and the back doors—a light goes on and a beeping sounds whenever either of them opens,” she said, pointing at the receiver. “Plus, I don’t plan to be up here during the day unless she has a guest or we need a short break from each other.”
“Impressive,” Jake said with raised eyebrows that made Ally think it surprised him that she’d done anything at all.
She picked up her suitcase from where he’d left it and took it to a trunk at the foot of the bed.
She didn’t ask him to sit, wanting to dish out a little payback for his earlier treatment, but also in denial of the fact that she was even slightly glad that he was there.
When she turned back to him she found him perched on the arm of the couch anyway. He looked relaxed and it flashed through Ally’s mind that under other circumstances Dr. Jake Fox might have an entirely different effect on her. An effect that would involve things a whole lot better than anger or frustration.
But these weren’t other circumstances, and to keep even the hint of those better effects at bay, she busied herself by opening windows to air the place out.
“How is Estelle doing?” he asked then.
“Good question,” Ally said, hearing the bewilderment in her own voice but glad to talk about her mother to further distract herself when all the windows were open and she had to face him again. “One minute she’s herself, and the next…I’m not sure. She did tell me when I brought her home today that I should be a nurse and marry a nice doctor like you—or maybe even you—so I guess we know who she thinks highly of.”
He smiled as if she’d caught him off guard with that and he couldn’t help himself. And when he smiled, deep grooves bracketed his lips in a way that lent an entirely new level of handsomeness to his features.
Not that she wanted to be aware of that any more than she’d wanted to notice the innate sensuality he exuded just sitting there…
“I’ll bet you squashed the idea of me being nice, let alone marriage material,” he said wryly.
Okay, so she couldn’t help a slight smile, herself, at the fact that he’d read her so correctly.
“You did, didn’t you?” he said with a chuckle.
“You’re probably married or engaged or living with someone and she forgot about it,” Ally countered rather than admit he was right.
“None of the above. Why? Did she forget that you’re married or engaged or living with someone?”
Was he interested, or merely checking on her mother’s mental capacities?
He couldn’t be interested and as disapproving of her as he’d been.
“No, she didn’t forget that about me either—I’m unattached,” Ally confirmed. “What she forgot was that I’m not eighteen and just making my decision about where to go to college and what to major in and do with my life. It was sort of a combination of revisiting a time
