Part 15 (1/2)

”Oh, baby, please don't cry.”

The rough words only made her cry more, and she ended up leaning over a damp box, strangling on sobs.

He came over to pull her into his arms, and she gasped when the motion made her back catch again.

”What's the matter?” he murmured thickly. ”What hurts?”

”Just my back. It's fine.”

”No, it's not. You must have been down here for hours. I need to get you home.”

”But I told Grandmama I'd save all her treasures.” Her grandmother had regained consciousness that morning, and she'd even been able to speak. One of the first things she thought of was all the boxes in the bas.e.m.e.nt.

”I'll get some guys over here right away to take care of it.” He was stroking her hair. ”Why didn't you ask me earlier?”

”I don't know.”

”Yes, you do.”

She managed the energy to glare up at him. ”Why do you always insist on contradicting me?”

”Because you never tell me the truth.”

”I do too.”

He shook his head slowly. ”Not the whole truth. And I want the whole truth from you.”

The words disturbed her-deeply. There was no way she could tell him the whole truth, or she'd have to admit that her feelings for him had-quite unwisely-gone far behind the nature of a six-month marriage, no matter how hard she'd tried to keep them under control. ”Well, I wanted to do it myself so I'd have something to do. Something where I felt like I was helping.”

”That's what I thought.”

She frowned. ”If you already knew, then why did you ask?”

”Because I wanted you to tell me.”

There was a fond expression in his eyes that was as disturbing as his words, so she pulled away, rubbing her face and then reaching around to rub her back.

”I need to call to see how Grandmama is doing,” she said.

”I just called and talked to Kelly. She's been sleeping. She's doing fine. There's nothing you can do right now, so I'm taking you home so you can rest.”

”I'd rather-”

”I really don't care what you'd rather do.”

She sucked in an indignant breath but didn't have energy to argue. She trudged up the stairs in front of him and then went to his car and climbed in the front seat. As he drove them home, he called up someone to arrange for a crew to get down to the bas.e.m.e.nt to clean it up and save as many of the treasures as possible.

She didn't have the energy to talk, even after he'd hung up, so she closed her eyes and tried to relax. Her head was spinning, though, and occasionally she'd jerk with a surge of something akin to panic.

Every time she did, she'd glance over and see that Mitch.e.l.l was watching her in obvious concern.

It was almost embarra.s.sing, and there was no way to explain the strange behavior, so she just didn't try.

They finally made it home, and he walked around the car to help her out, even though she could have managed on her own.

She wasn't used to being taken care of like this. She wasn't used to being taken care of at all.

Everyone had always looked to her to take care of things.

”Are you hungry?” he asked, when they were standing in the entryway. It was only yesterday they were standing here, in the exact same place, and he'd grabbed her into a deep kiss.

She shook her head. ”I just want to take a shower.”

”Okay.”

They walked to her suite, and he went into the bathroom to turn on the shower. When it looked like he was lingering, she pushed him out and closed the door behind him. She took off her clothes and got under the hot water, and for some reason the hot spray caused her to release the building tension, and she sobbed quietly under the shower.

She had no idea what was wrong with her. She was never like this.

She felt a little better, though, after she'd soaped up, rinsed, and gotten control of herself again. She turned off the water and toweled herself dry, pulling on the tank top and pajama pants she'd been wearing the other night that had been left in the bathroom.

She towel-dried her hair as best as possible, and then just pulled it into one long braid so it wouldn't get everything wet.

Mitch.e.l.l was waiting in the bedroom, sitting in a chair, staring worriedly down at the floor.

Her heart was touched at the sight. ”I'm fine,” she said gently. ”I'll just rest some. You can go back to work if you need to or-” She gasped when she moved the wrong way and her back caught again.

It hurt so much she felt the blood drain from her face. She'd thought the shower would help it, but evidently not.

Mitch.e.l.l's lips tightened as he stood up, but he didn't say anything, which was a relief. She wasn't sure she was able to take another lecture.

He came over to help her walk to the bed, although she would have been okay on her own. ”Is it your lower back?” he asked.

”Yeah. I guess I was just bent over for too long. It will be fine once I rest it.”

He helped her lower herself onto the bed, and then he turned her over on her stomach. She felt helpless and vulnerable so she resisted. ”Mitch.e.l.l, I said I'm-”

”You're not fine,” he muttered. ”So, for once, stop being stubborn. I'm not going to hurt you.”

Stupidly-so stupidly-she felt on the verge of tears again. ”I didn't think you were going to hurt me,” she began, feeling like he wasn't understanding her at all. ”I just-”

”Shh.” He gently adjusted her again so she was on her stomach and started rubbing his hands up and down her back over her clothes. ”You don't have to explain.”

”But-”

”The longer you distract me by trying to argue, the longer I'm going to stay.” His voice was perfectly composed.