Affair of the Heart by Joan Wolf Page A

stayed by the window for five minutes and then she could see the figures of two men coming up the road to the house. It was Joe and Jay. They were walking very close together. In his left hand Joe was carrying a rifle. His right arm was laid across Jay’s shoulders. They went into the house, and Caroline got back into bed and went to sleep.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Caroline awoke the following morning with a feeling of vague anticipation. At first, sleepy and fuzzy-minded, she did not remember what it was she was looking forward to. And then the realization struck her. Jay’s home, she thought. Jay’s home.
    She got herself dressed in pale-green slacks and a yellow shirt and brushed her hair until it shone. She dusted a little blush across her cheeks, put on mascara and lipstick, picked up her crutches, and went downstairs.
    Ellen was alone in the kitchen. Caroline felt a stab of disappointment, but she smiled, leaned her crutches against the wall, and sat down at the table. Ellen chatted briskly the whole time she was fixing Caroline’s breakfast and sat down to have another cup of coffee with her. Ellen had come to approve of Caroline. “She don’t complain,” she had told Joe after Caroline came back from the hospital. “She’s hurting, I can see that, but she don’t complain.” Ellen had all the Irish admiration for stoicism in the face of pain, and Caroline had risen inestimably in her opinion. So now she told Caroline all about the hunting trip and Jay’s reception in Montana. The men had breakfasted an hour ago and disappeared. “It’s a nice morning,” Ellen said as Caroline finished her coffee. “Why don’t you go and sit on the terrace?”
    “Okay.” Caroline smiled at Ellen, picked up her crutches, and went outside.
    Regent was gone. Caroline sighed, sat down on the chaise longue, and picked up her book. She was still there an hour later when the jingle of spurs told her someone was coming up the drive. She glanced up and there he was, walking with his own peculiar grace, coming straight at her, his dog at his heels. Caroline looked at him and suddenly felt as if something inside her had been put through a wringer. She put her book facedown on her lap and waited.
    He stopped next to her chair and looked down at her gravely. “How’s the leg?” he asked.
    “All right. Getting better.”
    He nodded, looked around for a chair, and sat down. The reality of his lean, bronzed presence was overwhelming her. “Dad says you’ve been a model patient.” His voice was very quiet. It sounded a long way off through the banging of her heart.
    “Yes, well, I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself. It was my own fault I sprained it in the first place.”
    “Dad said I shouldn’t have given you Dusty.”
    “It wasn’t Dusty. I can handle him. It was my own carelessness.”
    “I know you can handle Dusty.”
    “So.” She shrugged. “I go in to the doctor tomorrow, and I expect he’ll give me the okay to start putting some weight on it. I’ll be able to leave by the end of the week.” He didn’t say anything, and she changed the subject. “I hear you got your mountain lion.”
    “Yeah.” His dark-blue eyes were veiled and enigmatic. “Have you just been sitting here for ten days?”
    “I’m afraid so.”
    “I’d rather hunt lion any day,” he said dryly.
    Caroline gave her husky laugh. “So would I,” she admitted. She put her hand down on Regent’s silky head. “But I had company. This guy was keeping vigil for you.” The dog looked up at her as if he understood, and she murmured softly to him and scratched his ears.
    “Jay!” A cowboy was standing halfway up the drive and calling. Jay turned his head, and Caroline regarded his admirably chiseled profile. For the first time she noticed that he had his mother’s nose. “Joe wants you at the feed lot!” the man said, and Jay nodded and stood up. The dog immediately moved to stand next to him.
    “I’ll see you later,” he