“Fine, if you enjoy imaginary tea and biscuits.”
“Ah, then, we should scrounge up a real cup of tea, shouldn’t we? It’s about that time of day…and perhaps you’ve had enough sun for one afternoon.”
“Always the physician, Adam Whitaker. You can’t help yourself,can you?” She feigned a sigh, enjoying teasing him more than she cared to admit. He seemed to enjoy it, too, from his broad smile, and had told her more than once that her banter was a sign of how far she’d come since her injury.
Adam looked so handsome today, more than she’d ever admit as well. He was her doctor after all, though Donovan, Corie, and Estelle treated him as a brother and the children,a devoted uncle.
He’d moved into Arundale Hall after accompanying her from Cornwall at the end of January, taking a room in the opposite wing from hers. Adam had told her soon after she’d regained consciousness that he intended to dedicate himself to her care until he was certain she no longer needed him…though Linette couldn’t imagine such a day. In truth, she couldn’t imagine life without himat all.
He stared at her now, just as she stared at him, a masculine hint of orange and sandalwood causing the niggling pain in her head to reappear. He had told her, too, that he’d arrived in Porthleven just before Christmas, so she hadn’t known him long at all before she’d been hurt.
She wished so desperately that she could remember kissing him beneath a ball of mistletoe, as Paloma had recountedmore than once, giggling all the while. Or that Linette had grown to like him very much in so short a time, as Estelle had insisted, though her younger sister had claimed they had seemed at odds more often than not.
Why? Over what? She liked him so much now, and they weren’t at odds at all. He’d been so good to her, so kind, and so reassuring when her head hurt as she tried so hard to remember—
“Easy, Linette. You cannot force things,” he said gently, his expression grown sober as she rubbed her aching temple. “Let’s go find some tea.”
He helped her up from the chair, always the gentleman, always so attentive, and offered her his arm to walk with her toward the house.
A gentle breeze blowing. The daffodils a brilliant yellow in the sunlight. The spring grass so green and fragrant andthe sky so blue. A perfect afternoon…just like the one when she and Estelle had gone riding—
“Adam.” She swayed slightly, grown dizzy from the sudden sense of elation that swept her. “I just remembered something, I’m certain of it. That day Estelle and I went for a ride…the blue sky with no clouds at all…”
He drew her closer, his gaze intently searching her face, when just as suddenly the windowof light that had opened in her mind seemed to slam shut. Try as she might, she couldn’t recall anything else of that day, her head beginning to throb.
“I…I think perhaps I should lie down.”
He nodded, not hurrying her through the garden but not delaying, either, until at last they reached the double doors leading into the house. They had no sooner entered the high-ceilinged foyer when Donovan’svoice rang out from the direction of the library.
“Adam, I must speak with you.”
Wondering at her brother-in-law’s urgency, Linette let go of Adam’s arm. “Go on. I’ll be all right.”
He didn’t appear convinced, and waved over one of the liveried footmen from the opposite side of the massive foyer.
“Accompany Miss Easton to her room.” Then, to Linette, “I’ll come upstairs to check on you assoon as I can.”
Touched more than she could say by his unflagging concern, she nodded and then he was gone, striding to the library.
