Found In Lost Valley

“Six months!” She was aghast. “I can’t lie around for six months. I have a ton of work to do. Honey and I are going to remodel the carriage house this winter.”

Honey was married to another Dalton cousin and rented the carriage house for a dance and exercise studio.

“No way,” Beau said quite cheerfully. “You can’t lift drywall or anything heavier than a mop bucket for the next several weeks. You’ve pulled some ligaments and it’ll take time for them to heal. If you’re careful and do the exercises, you’ll be fine. If not…”

Amelia felt her spirits sink as Beau shrugged, indicating it was up to her. Money was an issue. She’d managed to break even after three years and had made a profit during the four years since then, but it wasn’t a big profit. Other than part-time help, she did everything herself, which was how she’d been able to survive.

“She’ll do exactly as you tell her,” Seth said in his no-nonsense manner. “It was my fault she fell. I left my shoes beside the bed, and she tripped on them.”

A beat of silence followed this statement. It wasn’t until Beau glanced from his cousin to her, humor and speculation rife in his gorgeous blue eyes, that Seth’s words—and their implication—dawned on her.

“No,” she quickly corrected, “he didn’t mean… It wasn’t like that.”

“Right,” Seth chimed in. “I meant the sofa, not Amelia’s bed. I left my shoes by the sofa in her sitting room, not her bedroom.”

“I understand.” Beau bent forward and closed the black bag, but Amelia knew he was hiding a smile.

“All the rooms were full, so Seth slept on the sofa bed in my sitting room,” she explained.

“It was late when I arrived,” Seth added, “so I thought I would stay here rather than go out to the ranch in the storm.”

“I tried to sneak out without disturbing him this morning,” Amelia continued, “but without a light on, I didn’t notice his shoes. I tripped and fell right on top of him.”

“Scared me out of a sound sleep. I thought I was being attacked and grabbed her, pinning her to the mattress. I didn’t realize she was hurt.”

Beau grinned openly. “Not a bad way to wake up—having a beautiful woman fall into your bed and your arms. I’ll mention it to Shelby.”

The doctor had recently gotten engaged to his nurse. With two Daltons married and a third engaged, Amelia knew their uncle Nick was pleased. He planned on getting them all settled before he kicked the bucket, as he so delicately put it. At the thought, her eyes went to Seth.

He was looking at her, too. As clearly as if she could read his mind, she knew he was recalling those moments when, surprised out of sleep, he’d rolled her under him, his strong masculine body covering hers like a living shield, holding her there while his consciousness caught up with his instinctive self-protective reaction.

A tremor assailed her as she also relived those breath-stealing moments. The intimacy of the early morning hour. The mussed bed. The sleepy warmth of his body. The hardness that pressed into her abdomen. The excitement that had drummed through her. And through him.

“Where’s that lunch?” Beau demanded.

“I’ll get it.” Seth went into the kitchen and returned with a loaded tray. He served soup, made by Marta before she left, and tuna salad sandwiches. He gave Amelia a big glass of milk and told her to “drink up” when she asked for tea, as if she were a child who needed the extra nourishment.

“You’re in for it now,” Beau warned her. “When Seth takes you under his wing, there’s no escape. He’ll boss you around and drive you nuts until you realize he’s relentless. It’s best to just give in from the first.”

“Yeah?” Seth challenged. “The way you guys do when I suggest ways to maximize your savings and minimize your taxes?”

Beau rolled his eyes heavenward. “A dollar a week isn’t a reasonable amount for spending money.”

Amelia listened to the affectionate give and take between the men while they finished the meal. She’d once wished desperately for a family like that. She’d been twelve before she’d accepted that it was never going to happen. She was always going to be the only child of parents who argued over every decision, every turn in their marriage.

“Enough of this frivolity,” Beau declared shortly, glancing at his watch. “Time for me to be back at work.”

After he left, Seth cleaned up their dishes, then disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back, he hoisted Amelia into his arms. She instinctively flung her own arms around his neck and held on.

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded. Her voice came out husky instead of stern.

“To bed.” He grinned and raised one thick black eyebrow in challenge. His eyes, so close now, met hers briefly, then returned to the hallway. “Time for your nap.”

She found that the sitting room had been put to rights and the gas logs blazed merrily. He placed her on the restored sofa with a pillow under her head, then fluffed the blanket he’d used during the night over her supine form.

“Sleep,” he suggested, his voice also husky.

She hesitated, then said, “Thanks for your help this morning. I never would have made it.”

“No problem. Yell if you need me.”

He left her alone in the sitting room, which had been her grandparents’ bedroom during their fifty-six years of marriage.

The African violets on the windowsills were a personal legacy from her grandmother. Gran had loved the flowers, and Amelia did, too. They were the one thing she prized and took infinite care in growing. They rewarded her efforts with profuse blooms.

Like children, she thought, they thrived under loving care. That part of her life was empty, and she wondered if she missed it. She’d planned on having two or three or even four kids so they wouldn’t be lonely.

As she’d been lonely?

The question pinged around inside her like a ball ricocheting off the walls of a handball court.

Yes, she admitted with a yawn. Vagabond children, sent hither and yon at what seemed like the whim of adults, were always lonely.

“No, I’ll stay here until I can get things settled,” Seth said into the telephone.

“The accident was your fault?” Uncle Nick asked.

“Yeah. As you often told us—don’t leave your things out so others will trip over them. I left my shoes in the way and Amelia stumbled over them. Beau says it’s a bad sprain. Pulled ligaments can take up to a year to mend.”

“You’re going to stay there and nurse her for a year?”

Seth frowned impatiently at the gleeful mischief in his favorite relative’s voice. “Of course not. However, it makes sense for me to stay in town while I’m establishing an office here. The B and B is perfect for that.”

There was a pause on the other end of the telephone line. “I’m glad you’re coming home,” Uncle Nick told him, “but is this a good time, what with the economy in a bad way and all? CNN reported the stock market was down again.”

“Well, I’m starting slow,” Seth reminded the older man. “I’ll work Thursdays and Fridays in the office I’m setting up at Beau’s place, and stay in the city Monday through Wednesday while I see how it goes.”

Uncle Nick gave his approval. “Good thinking. Sharing expenses at the office should help a lot.”

“It will.” Seth checked the time. “I’ve got to call my law partner in Boise, see Beau about the office, then it’ll be time for the social hour here. A man’s work is never done,” he quipped, then said goodbye and hung up.

He finished his business calls, then went quietly to Amelia’s private quarters. Yep, she was sleeping like a cherub on the sofa, which was a lot more comfortable than the Victorian one in the great room.

He realized she would be in the house alone and asleep if he left. The doors of the B and B weren’t locked during the day, so that guests could come and go freely. He tried to decide what to do.

After a moment, he smiled in exasperation. It wasn’t like him to hesitate. He settled upon the best course and got on with it. However, he had to admit this woman had given him pause last night and this morning.

When she’d let him in, wearing a soft pink velvet robe and fuzzy house slippers, he’d been rather taken aback by her appearance. This morning she’d fallen into his arms like a dream come true. His body had responded with rampant hunger. He hadn’t been able to disguise that fact while he’d had her pinned beneath him, her gaze startled, then wary.