been awestruck when Alex Caine, only child of the town’s richest man and the prince in the Caine castle, had made the effort to be kind to her. She’d felt like Cinderella when he’d led her into the elegant room lined with books and shown her the window seat next to the fireplace where she could curl up and read. Not that she’d ever done it when there was a chance his formidable father might find her.
“So we’re old friends.” The smile that came too rarely lit his lean face, causing an uncomfortable flutter somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. “Alex will do.”
“Alex,” she repeated, trying not to linger on his name. “You know how stubborn Aunt Maida can be. I’m sure she was just doing what she thought would cause the least trouble. If she could have delayed the surgery, she would have, but the doctor insisted.”
She wanted to say the words that would convince him to let her stay, but she couldn’t find them. Instead, she swung back to her worries about Maida.
“She told me Dr. Overton retired. Someone else took over his practice.”
“You can have confidence in Brett Elliot,” he said promptly, apparently reading her concern. “He’s an excellent doctor, and I’m sure he’s recommended the best surgeon.” A hint of a smile touched his lips again. “And I’m not saying that because Brett’s an old friend.”
She suddenly saw herself as a child, peering from the housekeeper’s cottage toward the swimming pool. A teenage Alex entertained two other boys: Mitch Donovan and Brett Elliot, his closest friends.
“Aunt Maida seems to trust him. That’s the important thing.”
He nodded, hand on the door. She could sense the impatience in him, as if he wanted to be elsewhere, as if only his deeply ingrained politeness kept him standing there.
She probably should let this go, but she couldn’t. She took a breath. “I know Aunt Maida’s suggestion has put you on the spot. But it really would ease her mind if she knew I was staying.”
She knew instantly she’d pressed too hard. He seemed to withdraw, putting distance between them even though he hadn’t moved. His face set in bleak lines.
Alex had never looked that way when she was growing up. He’d always been surrounded by a golden aura nothing could diminish. But that had been before his wife left, before he’d spent too many weeks in that hospital himself.
“Let’s get the immediate situation taken care of first,” he said. “You settle Maida at the hospital. If she needs anything, she just has to ask.”
“I know that. I’m sure Maida does, too.” She tried to deny a wave of resentment that he could so easily grant any wish of her aunt’s, while she couldn’t.
He clasped her hand, sending a surge of warmth along her skin and stealing her breath. Then he dropped it as abruptly as if he’d felt that heat.
“Maida will be glad to have you with her for the operation. I know how much she enjoyed it when you worked here.”
He almost seemed to stumble over the words, as if he found this situation as awkward as she did. It surprised her. Smooth, sophisticated Alex had never been at a loss for the right phrase. That ability was something else the upper crust seemed to be born with.
All the things she didn’t want to say about the time she worked in the Caine mansion skittered through her mind. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to remind him that his son already knew her. “I appreciated the chance to take care of Jason. How is he?”
“Fine.” His face seemed to stiffen again. “Looking forward to summer vacation after the rigors of second grade.”
She had the sense of something suppressed, something he didn’t want to say about his son, and thought again of Aunt Maida’s worries about the boy.
“He used to be such a happy child. But his mother went away, and then Alex was in the accident and in the hospital all those weeks. Jason’s changed. He’s all curled up inside himself, and I don’t know how to help him.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing him.” She tried to keep the words casual. “Does he really want a fast-food burger, or did you just make that up?”
“Believe it or not, he does. Maida and I try to educate his palate, but he’s very much a seven-year-old in his tastes.” The skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled. “I think you gave him his first trip to get fast food when you took care of him, didn’t you?”
“I’m afraid so.” She remembered it as if it were yesterday. Jason’s excitement at ordering from the counter, the awed look on his face as he sat across from her in the booth. The feelings that welled up at how much he resembled his father. That emotion struck her again, as strong as if someone had hit her.
Lord, what’s happening to me? I thought I was over this.
Alex’s dark, intent gaze penetrated the barrier she’d so carefully erected to shield her errant emotions. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She looked up and summoned a smile that felt tight on her lips. “Everything’s okay.”
She’d like to convince him. She’d like to convince herself. Alex couldn’t know that, thanks to the accident, for nearly two years she hadn’t been able to remember the crash or the months that had preceded it.
He didn’t know that the memories of the time she’d spent in this house had fallen out of the hidden recesses of her mind a week ago, as fresh and as emotional as if they’d happened yesterday.
And prominent among them was the fact that the last time she was here, she’d fallen in love with Alex Caine.
Chapter Two
“D ad, is Maida going to come back?”
The forlorn note in his son’s voice touched Alex’s heart. What did Jason fear? That Maida had gone away and would never come back, like his mother?
Careful, careful. “What makes you think she won’t come back?”
Alex glanced across the front seat of the car. Jason, who’d seemed happy enough at the restaurant, now sat clutching the plastic action figure that had come with his meal.
He frowned down at the figure, then looked up, his small face tightening into the mask that frustrated Alex as much as it did Jason’s teachers.
Where has he gone, Lord? Where is the sunny little boy Jason used to be?
He felt almost embarrassed at the involuntary prayer, and his hands tightened on the wheel with determination. He was all Jason had, and he wouldn’t let him down.
His son shouldn’t have to worry, about Maida or anything else. Naturally he’d had to tell Jason something to explain Maida’s absence, but he’d said as little as possible.
“She’s just tired,” he said now, trying to sound cheerful. “She needs to rest more. It’s nothing you have to be concerned about. She’ll be back before you know it, and everything will be fine.”
They passed twin stone pillars and swung into the driveway. Paula, still
