The Lady Who Lived Again (18 page)

They returned to their meal, sampling one delicious item after another. A plate piled high with currant tarts and apple turnovers made the rounds, not to mention more claret and beer.

Philip approached, this time to serve Maddie a plate of Saratoga chips. “I recall that these were your favorite.”

Maddie stared at the chips, stunned he’d remembered this from so long ago. Her heart warmed at his kindness. “They are.” She accepted the thoughtful offering with a genuine smile. “Thank you, Philip.”

“My pleasure.” With a cursory nod to Jace, he strode away.

“He’s smitten with you,” Jace said, watching Philip’s departure.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “Gentlemen always cater to the ladies during picnics.” She repressed a grin. “Besides, he’s well over the crush he had on me when we were young.”

Jace’s brow rose in surprise. “So you admit he had a crush on you?”

She couldn’t resist. “I admit that lots of boys had crushes on me.”

“No doubt,” he muttered.

With a teasing grin, she nudged him with her elbow. “If I didn’t know better, Doctor Merrick, I’d think you were jealous.”

“If I didn’t know better, Miss Sutter, I’d think you might enjoy that.”

She laughed, and he shook his head, lips quirking.

“Come on, everyone,” Caroline called. “The scavenger hunt is about to begin. Ladies grab your baskets and your hunting partners. We’ll all meet back here in one hour to determine the winning team!”

Jace and Maddie joined the others, following one of the many trails into the woods. The air was cooler in the shade of the trees and thick with the scent of pine and sap. Jace unfolded the list of twenty items as they walked a path of scattered pine needles and cones. The distant sound of the other couples faded as they forged deeper into the woods.

The mere fact that they were alone roused excitement within her. Jace bent to pluck a mushroom from the bark of a felled tree, and Maddie tilted her head for a better view of his appealing backside. He placed the mushroom in the basket she held.

“Only three items to go,” he said, though she could not care less.

Searching for the remaining items on the list, they continued along the deserted trail until they came to a small clearing. Maddie’s leg ached, and she was relieved when Jace suggested they sit for a while.

Adjusting her skirts, she wrapped her knees to one side, settling nicely on the lush blanket of moss.

“Does it bother you much?” Jace asked, sitting next to her. “Your leg?”

She glanced to the knee she hadn’t realized she was rubbing. “During lengthy walks,” she said.

“I can prescribe something for the pain.”

She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“You prefer to face it head on.” He smiled and his blue eyes sparked bluer in the open sunlight.

“Believe me, I’ve taken my fair share of pain remedies.”

His smile faded. “Tell me about the injury.”

While she’d rather avoid the subject of her recovery entirely, she couldn’t dodge his questions forever. Disclosing a detailed account of her case was part of their bargain, and she had to remember that. After all Jace had done for her today, she owed him. “Doctor Filmore said my leg was badly broken. He set it as best he could, then warned me I’d walk with a terrible limp and the assistance of a cane for the rest of my life. In the worst case scenario, I would be confined to a wheelchair.”

“You just had to prove him wrong, didn’t you?”

“You’re starting to sound like Grandfather,” she said with a smile.

“I’m starting to know you better.”

She laughed, enjoying his playful and easy demeanor.

He sat with his elbow resting casually on his bent knee, his other leg stretched out before him. “How did you treat it?”

“I depended on a constant dose of pain remedies at first. But after a month or so, I decided to stop.” She chose her words carefully. “I used wraps soaked in hot water to combat the pain. Then I’d massage my leg for hours. Each day the pain lessened a bit.” She eyed him nervously, awaiting his reaction.

“Heat and massage can be effective in stimulating blood flow to the muscles.”

“Most effective,” she said with an overeager nod. “After forcing my weight on it daily, I was finally able to take a step without falling. Quite an achievement, since I’d become rather intimate with the floorboards during previous attempts.” She smiled. “But I managed that first step. That gave me faith.”

“Faith,” he muttered. He all but rolled his eyes at the word.

“You don’t believe in the concept?”

“My patients’ spiritual beliefs don’t concern me.” His arrogance shot to the surface, piercing each word.

“They should.”

He frowned. “I’m a doctor. I treat bodies, not souls.”

“And faith has no place in it?”

“I put my faith in science.”

Maddie knew Jace’s rigid worldview was the direct result of his disappointment with his father. She couldn’t blame him for that, but she did feel profoundly sorry for him. A person might find a great deal of comfort in the idea that there were some things reason alone could not account for—that there were other possibilities, earthly or divine, which could offer us hope. Jace allowed his profession to limit his spirit. To smother it. A pang of sadness crept through her. “That sustains you?”

“It has to,” he snapped. His profile tensed. Crossing his feet stiffly, he stared into the trees. “It used to.”

The surprising vulnerability in his admission touched a place deep inside her. She could only imagine the horrors he’d endured at Pittsburgh Hospital. The despair. The need to comfort him, as he’d comforted her, rose in her chest as naturally as a breath. “It must have been difficult working in the emergency ward.”

He stared at his boots, as though weighing his answer. “One day a man was brought in who’d been crushed between two train cars.”

Maddie did her best not to grimace.

“I’d seen a lot of fatal injuries during the early months of my residency, but nothing like this.” He shook his head. “His torso and legs were pulverized, but he was alive. I moved by rote, attempting to treat untreatable injuries, and all the while I wanted him to die. To stop suffering, and die.” His voice sank in remorse. “That was the first time I wanted to give up on a patient.”

“You never give up on your patients?”

“No, I do not. First, I do everything medically possible to save them. And if I can’t do that, then I do everything in my power to ease their pain until it is ended.”

Her thoughts turned to Doctor Filmore and how easily he’d given up on her. Even after he’d realized his mistake in pronouncing her dead. She admired Jace so much. “You’re a dedicated doctor.”

“I believe I could be, under the right circumstances. At the hospital everything happens so fast. We’re trained to treat and release patients as quickly as possible. Some we never see again, others we see over and over. Pathetic addicts, starving and beaten children.”

“It sounds horrible.”

“It was my job. And I did it well.” He averted his eyes. “Or so I’d thought until Kathy Fitzsimmons.” He turned back to Maddie, answering before she could ask. “Kathy was a young woman who was dragged by a carriage when her skirt got caught in the door.”

Maddie cringed, picturing the horror of the poor woman’s ordeal.

“Her fiancé was run over and killed while trying to save her, but Kathy survived. During her weeks in the hospital, she complained of feeling guilt and terrible fear. Since I was more concerned with her healing bones, I insisted she put the accident behind her, reminding her that she was lucky to be alive. A month after being released, she was brought in after slitting her wrists.”

“Oh, Jace.”

“She begged me to let her bleed, to walk away, to just let her go.” He shook his head. “I stitched her up good as new, then sent her home with her parents. But not before I suggested she find a hobby to occupy her mind.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Three days later, they pulled her body from the Alleghany River.” He lowered his eyes. “She couldn’t overcome the trauma of the accident. She was physically recovered, and yet that accident killed her.”

Maddie swallowed hard. “Now I understand your interest in me.”

“A part of it, yes,” he said. “At first.”

Her aching heart skipped a beat. “And that’s when you left the hospital?”

“Losing Kathy… I needed to understand why.”

“She didn’t have a reason to hope,” Maddie whispered.

“She didn’t have a doctor who knew how to save her.” He shook off his obvious frustration. “It’s the profession I chose, but my inadequacies haunt me.” He lowered his eyes. “I’m my father’s son.”

“But you’re not your father.” Jace’s anguished expression tore her to pieces. “You’re only human, Jace,” she continued.

“I’m a doctor.”

“You’re a man.” She reached to his cheek, tracing the tense line of his jaw. “A good man.”

His lips parted, and he drew a long breath, his chest swelling with restraint and everything that was wound so tightly inside him. Everything she wanted him to release. She stared into his eyes, lured by all that she saw there, all that he was. She drew his face closer, lifting her mouth gently to his.

He stiffened at the contact, his lips wooden and still against hers. His hesitation filled her with dread. She drew back a fraction, steeling her will. Ignoring the reluctance in his troubled blue eyes, she cradled his face in her hands and kissed him again, with a desperate insistence she wouldn’t let him deny.

As he exhaled a groan of surrender, his tense lips finally softened. She parted her lips, kissing him with all she was worth.

And to her utter delight and surprise, he didn’t resist.

Jace slicked his tongue against Maddie’s, driving into the warmth of her mouth. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she welcomed him with a lingering sigh. His pulse lurched madly. He grasped her waist, pulling her toward him. The crush of her breasts against his chest made the confinement of his bulging erection in his trousers almost too much to bear. His tongue stroked hers, delving deeper.

Since the first time he’d seen her, and every time since, he’d fought this relentless attraction. But today, when he’d watched her on the sideline of the horseshoe game, his resolve had shattered beyond repair. The sound of her laughter, the allure of her smile, the way she looked in this dress…

Kissing her deeply, he cupped the firm roundness of her bottom, then lifted her to his lap. She heaved up her skirts, straddling him, and he feared he might spill on the spot. He pulled her against his hardness. The contact, the blazing heat between her legs, stilled his breath.

She arched her hips closer. Drawing her mouth from his, she gasped for air, tossing back her head. Her parted lips glistened, eyes half closed beneath the fringe of her lashes. Sunlight poured through the treetops, dancing across her flush face. Golden rays framed her features, creating a dreamlike image of a woman’s pleasure. Lovely. Her breasts jutted toward him, inviting his touch.

Running his hands up her sides, he skimmed the silky fabric of her dress, tracing the curve of her waist, the swell of her ribs. He inched his trembling fingers higher. The weight of her breasts filled his palms to perfection. She moaned, arching her back as he cupped and kneaded. Blood spiked in his veins.

Her body’s response drove him wild. Lowering his head to her breast, he nipped through the fabric, lifting her into his mouth. She raked one hand through his hair, clutching his shoulder with the other. Spreading her legs farther, she ground her hips against him. “Mmm, Jace,” she murmured.

His name carried on that breath, filling his ear with a sound he’d dreamt so often of hearing. Sweet Maddie. A brush of guilt stirred his conscience, but he shrugged it away. As Maddie had declared, she was a grown woman. A woman with the guts and fortitude to get what she wanted.

He felt lucky as hell that she wanted him.

He pulled her face toward his and kissed her again. The sweet taste of claret, of her, flooded his senses. Reason flowed away. The feel of her parted thighs flanking his waist, the heat of her pressed to his rock-hard erection pulsed through him as his tongue meshed with hers.

The unwelcome sound of the others in the distance echoed through the woods.

Maddie stilled, pulling back, eyes wide. “They’re heading this way.”

He ground out a curse as she swung her leg over his, shifting off him. She plopped next to him on the moss, her skirts a tangled heap around her thighs. Straightening the layers over her legs, she adjusted the bodice of her dress into place, then scampered to her feet.

Jace remained seated, spewing a succession of curses and trying to get his bearings. He was still in a state of slightly dazed arousal.

“We mustn’t dawdle too long, or people will talk,” she said, breathlessly. He choked out a rumbling laugh in response.

“I believe you misunderstand the definition of ‘dawdling’ if you think that’s the activity we were just engaged in,” he said with a cheeky grin as he shoved to his feet. He received a playful shove in response.

“How do I look?” she asked, adjusting the slant of her hat.

With surprisingly little effort she’d managed to pull herself together quite neatly. Jace was impressed and a tad wary of her efficiency. Just how practiced was she in escaping compromising positions? Her cheeks were still flush with desire, her lips moist with his kiss. Blowing out a long breath, he resisted the urge to wrestle her back down on the moss and finish what they’d started. “Beautiful,” he answered, honestly.

Rising on her toes, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

She scooped up her basket, and they headed back toward the others. They all returned to the picnic grove, where Jim and Abigail collected their prize for winning the scavenger hunt. After settling back on their blankets, the guests enjoyed more claret accompanied by watermelon and strawberries.

Jace couldn’t think about eating. He could think of nothing, save the lust burning inside him. Every glance at Maddie enflamed his desire and tightened the knot in the pit of his stomach.