THE BACHELOR'S BED Read online

"Nothing."

  "No, you most definitely said something." She stepped closer, studying him intensely. "You said you can't remember why you were worried about me."

  Great, had he really said that out loud?

  "Why were you worried, Colin?"

  "You're hearing things."

  "I don't think so." She was right in front of him now, smelling like pine cleaner and shampoo and he wanted badly to haul her close and show her exactly what all this insanity did to him.

  "You chased me all over town? Really?"

  "So?"

  At that statement of brilliance, Lani let out a little smile, as if she found his rare petulance very funny.

  He didn't find anything even remotely humorous about it, and this time when she took another step toward him, he backed up.

  This made her eyes warm, though he had no idea why, and now in addition to the humor he could see so plainly on her face, he also saw affection and more emotion than he knew what to do with. He was painfully aware of their audience when she asked him softly, kindly, "Did you need me for something?"

  He stared at her. "Yeah."

  "Can you tell me what?"

  "Not in mixed company."

  Bessie and Lola snickered in delight and left them in peace. Finally.

  Silence reigned.

  With both his aunts gone, Lani's bravado seemed to fade. She clasped her hands, studied her feet, then played with a spec of dust on the floor with her toe.

  "Lani…" But nothing else came out. Now that he was here, with her right there within his reach, he hadn't a clue as to what to say or do.

  She solved that for him. "I'm sorry your marriage didn't work out, Colin." Her voice was quiet, full of sorrow. "I know you must have loved her very much if you haven't wanted to be in another relationship since. A real one anyway."

  * * *

  Chapter 9

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  Lani hadn't meant to just throw it out like that. She'd really intended to bring up Colin's marriage much more gently. She'd wanted him to understand that she was very sorry he'd gotten so hurt, that she understood how much he must have loved his wife.

  And if irrational jealousy pounded through her, she would keep that part to herself.

  But after her statement, Colin had carefully closed his mouth, grabbed a sponge and disappeared down the hallway of the medical building.

  Lani had let him go. This was neither the time nor the place to hash it out, no matter how much she wanted to comfort him, wanted to encourage him to give love another shot with someone who would never hurt him, with someone who would cherish him until the end of her life.

  And if she was thinking that that someone could be her, if she had conveniently forgotten she wanted no more of an emotional tangle than he did, she would live with that.

  "You're an idiot," she whispered to herself, shoving her hair out of her face. In one of the private patient rooms, she swept the floor with a vengeance.

  "Who told you?"

  She nearly dropped her broom.

  "I want to know how you know," Colin said, standing in the doorway, quietly furious.

  "It doesn't matter." Her heart ached because only a deep, unrelenting pain would cause him to be so upset. She knew first-hand how much damage that kind of anguish could cause. "I'm sorry you got hurt by it, Colin. I'm sorry your heart was broken."

  His jaw tightened. His eyes went hard. "I absolutely don't want to talk about it."

  "But—"

  "Never, Lani."

  "It's not a crime to still love her."

  The laugh that escaped him was short and hard. "You've got it very wrong."

  "Then tell me."

  "Just leave it the hell alone."

  She leaned on the broom and studied him. "You could tell me about it, you know. I'd listen and maybe you'd feel better."

  "I've got a better idea. Let's talk about you. About why you never tell me anything about yourself."

  "You've never asked."

  "Tell me about your family."

  "All right. I have only my great-aunt Jennie. It's been just us for a long time."

  "Does the reason for that have anything to do with your nightmares?"

  She paled, felt the blood drain right out of her face. "Yes."

  "It's also probably the reason you're alone now. Just like me, you're not interested in more hurt. Am I right?"

  She crossed her arms, chilled. "I don't think I want to talk about it."

  "Well then, we're even, aren't we?"

  Damn him for turning this around. It wasn't about her, it was about him. He'd never see that, not right now. "I have work."

  "Yes, well so do I." And he vanished.

  He'd go back to his work, she thought wearily, and bury both himself and his anguish in it, and it would be all the harder to reach him.

  She figured he'd done exactly that, so when she heard the crash from the next patient room, she assumed it was Bessie, Lola or Carmen.

  She went running, imagining all sorts of things, only to skid to a halt in the doorway.

  On his butt, on a very wet floor, surrounded by a spilled bucket and a mop, sat Colin.

  He wore a disgusted expression. Lani covered her mouth, but a laugh escaped anyway, making his frown all the more fierce.

  "I suppose you think this is funny," he growled.

  "Are you all right?"

  He shoved to his feet. "Physically? Fine." He patted the seat of his drenched trousers. "Though my ego just took a hell of a beating."

  "I'm sorry."

  "Yeah? Then why are you grinning?"

  Lani shook her head, but ruined it with another laugh that she quickly swallowed. "It's relief that you're okay. Honest."

  "Right." He pulled at the material clinging to him.

  "I thought you'd left."

  "I told you I would help, dammit, and I'm going to help. I just don't want to talk while I do it."

  "Then why did you come?"

  "You disappeared. I was worried."

  "I was working," she pointed out gently.

  "I didn't know. I thought maybe you were upset or mad. Maybe you'd decided that—" Swearing, he broke off and looked away. "Never mind."

  Her stomach twisted. "That I would leave? I won't, Colin. I told you that."

  But she was going to have to prove it, she realized. Not only prove it, but give him the time to accept it as well. She could do that. For him, she could probably do anything.

  "People don't always do what they say they're going to do," he said.

  "I do." She smiled at his noncommittal grunt. "Oh, Colin. You don't have to follow me around and mop and—" she gestured with her hand to his very wet backside "—do the slip and slide just to keep me."

  His eyes narrowed on her, and the laughter she'd been barely holding back escaped.

  With a suddenly wicked gaze, he came slowly, purposely, toward her. "You're laughing at me, Lani. Again."

  "Now, Colin—" She backed up, right into the door, which shut behind her. She held her broom between her hands like a shield. "I wasn't laughing at you … just with you."

  "Uh-huh." He kept coming, this big, sleek male animal. This big, sleek, wet, annoyed male animal.

  "It's that you're so cute," she said quickly. "Coming here, wanting to help me—"

  He was there in a flash, moving far more quickly and gracefully than she'd expected, sandwiching her between the door and his body.

  "I didn't realize how nice it would feel to have you care about me," she managed. Oh, he felt good, so very good, against her. "You gave up your own important work today to come here and fall on your butt—"

  He held her head in his big, gentle hands, his body imprisoning hers. "Stop it."

  "But it's such a great butt, Colin." She burst out into renewed laughter at his expression.

  "Lani? Be quiet." Reaching around her, he flicked the lock on the door, and with a loud, metallic sound, it slid home.

  The amusement backed up in her throat