Shaking off unimaginable thoughts about his parents, Tyler unpacked the bag that Ella had put together for Charley, tucking sweats, flannel pajamas, T-shirts and lacy underwear that he tried unsuccessfully not to notice into a drawer that he cleaned out for her.

Ella had enclosed some family pictures, including a framed photo of their new baby nephew Caden that Tyler put on the bedside table for her. He stacked her e-reader and several paperbacks next to the photos and took her cosmetics bag into the bathroom and placed it on the counter, leaving that for her to unpack when she felt up to it.

The doorbell rang, and he went to answer it.

“Hey,” Ella said, when he let her in. “This is your house? Oh my God, Tyler! I love this place! It has the best views of any house in Butler!”

“Thanks, I like it. Feel free to come in through the garage any time you want.”

“I will, thank you. So the whole town was talking about this house when it was being built, and everyone wondered who the owner was.”

“I bought it under my corporation so people wouldn’t be talking about me. You’ll keep my secret, won’t you?”

“My lips are sealed, but only if you give me a tour.”

“You got it.” He opened the blinds so she could get the full impact of the view from the huge great room in the middle of the house.

“I have total house envy,” Ella said. “This is awesome.”

Through the big bay windows, they could see the deck he enjoyed in the summer as well as the town of Butler nestled in the snowy hills below. From this vantage point, the town looked as if it belonged on the front of Christmas cards. He led her down the hallway where there were four bedrooms, each of them with adjoining bathrooms. “Charley is asleep in there,” he said, pointing to his room. “Come see my office.” Tyler opened the door to the room he’d designed to maximize the view of the mountains. Multiple computer monitors and flat-screen TVs lined the interior wall that also housed a built-in desk with several laptop computers.

“What exactly do you do up here?”

“I run the world,” he said with a sly smile that made her laugh. “I buy and sell stock.”

“For who?”

“Myself primarily.”

“So you . . .”

“Manage stock with a goal of increasing my portfolio.” It had been days since he’d logged on to the computer to check his accounts. For all he knew, the market could’ve crashed while he’d been standing guard over Charley in the hospital.

“Ahhhh.”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“Not even kinda.”

“I’ll put it more simply—I make money.”

“That I understand.”

“I don’t tell people too much about what I do because it sounds pretentious if you don’t really understand it. I hope you don’t think I sound pretentious for saying it that way.”

“If you’re worried about that, it’s probably safe to say you aren’t. Pretentious people want others to know they’ve got money.”

“I suppose that’s true.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “Could I ask you something kind of weird?”

“Um, sure,” she said with a laugh. “Go for it.”

“Why did you guys go along with letting me bring Charley here?”

“You went to a lot of trouble to help her out.”

“Still, if you all weren’t in favor of her being here, she wouldn’t be.”

“She went for it, which is half the battle with Charley. The other half is that we like you with her. My grandfather was delighted to hear you’ve stepped up for her. In fact, if you two end up together, he’ll probably find a way to take the credit.”

Tyler felt like he’d been electrocuted at the thought of being “together” with Charley. “You think that’ll happen? That she’ll actually give me a chance?”

“I think she already has by letting you bring her here, Tyler. If she didn’t want to be here, she wouldn’t be. That’s one thing you can be sure of. You earned some big points with her and all of us by the way you stepped up for her after the accident.”

“I feel so bad that it happened in the first place. When I suggested we run up the mountain, I never thought she’d do it.”

Ella laughed. “Charley never backs down from a challenge—ever. We grew up with seven brothers who were always challenging us to do something we shouldn’t do. If you don’t really want her to do something, don’t challenge her.”

“That’s good to know.” He filed away the information for future reference. Perhaps someday he’d want something from her that he could only get by challenging her to do the opposite. “She’s a contrary sort, isn’t she?”

“That’s putting it mildly, but she’s also the most fiercely loyal person you’ll ever meet. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for any of us. There might be some lip involved, but she always comes through.”

Tyler glanced at the clock on his desk. “She’s due for pain meds in a few minutes. They said we should keep on top of it, so I’d better go wake her up. Unless you’d like to do it.”

“Ahhh, nope. I’ll leave that special joy to you.”

“Why do I feel like I’m being set up here?”

“Is that the time? Wow, I’ve got to go. Gavin will be home any minute now, and I promised I’d make dinner.”

“I’ll remember this.”

“Call me if you need anything! You have my number. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Tyler shook his head in amusement at Ella’s quick departure. Steeling himself to do battle with Charley, he took the prescription bags into the bedroom along with a glass of ice water. He turned on the bathroom light and sat on the edge of the mattress, careful not to go anywhere near the injured leg he’d propped up on pillows.

He gazed down on her face, angelic in sleep. “Hey, Charley? Time to wake up and take your meds. Charley?”

From far, far away, a voice beckoned. Once again, her eyelids felt too heavy to move and the sweet comfort of sleep too lovely to abandon just yet. From the vicinity of her leg, a throbbing ache made its presence known. If she just kept her eyes closed, she wouldn’t have to deal with what hurt.

“Charley, I know you can hear me.”

Him! Ugh, what now? “Go away, Tyler. I’m sleeping.”

“The nurses said you don’t want to get behind on the pain meds. You’re overdue.”

“I’m fine.”

“Charley.”

She forced her eyes open and immediately saw the exhaustion that clung to him. Then she looked beyond him to the unfamiliar room. On quick inspection, she saw that the walls were painted a dark beige color, the furniture was made of a rich, dark wood and the bed was huge—and comfortable. “Where are we?”

“My house.”

“How long have we been here?”

“A little while. Ella was here and brought your prescriptions.”

He was trying to help her, and she needed to remember that none of this was his fault, even if he wanted to blame himself. With that thought in mind, she pushed herself up onto her elbows and blanched from the pain that ricocheted through her body from even that slight movement.

“Easy,” Tyler said as he put pillows behind her shoulders. His dark hair was messed up, his jaw sprinkled with whiskers and his blue eyes were rimmed with red that she chalked up to fatigue. The poor guy had been a trooper.

She sank into the pillows, gritting her teeth from the unrelenting pain. “You said something about meds . . .”

“Right here.” He doled them out and handed her a glass of water.

Charley choked down the pills. “Freaking horse pills.”

“They’re big ones.”

“Let’s hope they work fast.” She handed the glass to him and confronted the next challenge—the fact that she needed to pee urgently. “I, um, what’s the bathroom plan around here?” For the first time since she was hurt, she desperately wanted her mother right then. Or Hannah. Or Ella. Anyone but Tyler Westcott, who’d been so amazingly amazing to her since her fall.

“I’ll carry you.”

“You can’t be carrying me around. You’ll throw your back out.”

“How do you think you got here in the first place? I’m much stronger than you think, and you’re light as air.”

“Whatever. You’re not going to the bathroom with me.”

“I’ll take you in there and leave you to do your thing in private.” He stood and crossed the room, returning with crutches.

“Where’d those come from?”

“The nursing company my mom used to work for set us up with everything we’ll need.” He disappeared into an adjoining room and returned a minute later. “Crutches are in place waiting for you. Do you want to wait until the meds kick in or go now?”

“I need to go now.”

“Okay then, I’ll go as slow as I possibly can. Tell me to stop if it hurts too much.”

Charley gritted her teeth in anticipation of agonizing pain that materialized as he gently lifted her from the bed. By the time he got her into the bathroom, tears were streaming down her face. The infection had left her body weak, and after he set her down, she wavered precariously.

“Hold on to me.”

She had no choice but to do just that.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her until the room stopped spinning and the pain retreated somewhat.

Charley breathed in the appealing scents of soap and fabric softener. “I’m getting your shirt wet,” she said after they stood there for a couple of minutes.

“I don’t care about that.”

“I shouldn’t be here. This is way too much to ask of you.”

“God, Charley, are you serious? There’s nothing I’d rather do than take care of you. I’ve been trying to tell you that for a long time now.” He drew back from her and brushed the sweaty strands of hair off her forehead and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. Then he kissed her forehead, leaving her breathless for reasons that had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with him.

Though she needed to pee urgently, she found herself asking, “Why? Why me?”

“Because you’re incredible. You’re gutsy and fearless and gorgeous and mouthy and challenging. You just do it for me.” He followed the revealing statement with a deep sigh. “And that’s probably way more than you wanted to know, but it’s the truth. All of it.”

Charley had no idea how to respond.

“Anything you need, just tell me. There’s nothing you could ask of me that I wouldn’t do for you.”

“Could you maybe help me get these sweats off?”

He smiled and winked. “With pleasure.”

“No looking.”

“I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”

And he was. He helped her drop the oversized sweats, easing them over the huge brace around on her leg, keeping his gaze fixed on her feet rather than the part of her that was now only covered by a thin strip of lace. Her sexy-underwear fixation was rather impractical in light of current circumstances, but it was all she owned.

“I think I can take it from here.”

He handed her the crutches and pointed out the special seat with rails that had been placed over the toilet. Tyler—or someone—had thought of everything she might need, and his thoughtfulness touched her deeply. “I’ll be right outside. Don’t do anything heroic, you hear?”

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”

Tyler waited until she was relatively steady on her good foot and the crutches before he left the room, seeming hesitant to leave her.

Agony was the word of the hour as she tried to gingerly lower herself onto the raised seat. If only the pain were contained within her knee, she might be able to cope, but it was a full-body kind of ache that wouldn’t subside until the meds kicked in. Any second now, please, dear God . . .

For a long time after she took care of business, Charley focused on breathing through the queasiness caused by the pain and the medication. She couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so shitty, but the nurses had told her it would be a week or more before she started to feel like her old self. And she was on some hard-core antibiotics that they said made the cure worse than the ailment.

“Hey, Charley?” Tyler said through the closed door. “Are you okay?”

“Um, well, sort of.”

“What’s wrong?”

Since she couldn’t exactly tell him she wanted her mother in the worst possible way, she said, “I could use a lift if you’re not doing anything.”

“Are you decent?”

She hiked her underwear up as high as she could get it without standing. “Sort of.”

“Is it okay if I come in?”

“Since the alternative is spending the night here, I guess so.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t look.”

Like before, he kept his gaze on her feet as he helped her to stand and got her back into her clothes, keeping his arms around her, which was the only thing that stopped her from falling over when a dizzy spell hit. “Hold on to me,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

His arms were strong around her, his scent appealing and his T-shirt soft against her face.

“In case I forget to say thanks for all this, thank you. From the bottom of my injured knee.”

“It’s my pleasure, Charley. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Tell me the truth.”

“Always.”

“Did you push me down that ravine so you could get into my pants?”

Laughter bellowed from him, making her smile. She liked the way he laughed. “If only I were so devious—and clever—I could’ve saved us both a lot of time by doing that a year or so ago.”

“I wouldn’t have agreed to this then.”

“Why did you agree to it now?”

“You’ve worn me down with your persistence. And you saved my life. That counts for something.”

“You shouldn’t give me credit for that when it was my fault you were up there to begin with.”

“You need to let that one go. No one is blaming you except for you.”

“I’ll let it go when you’re back on two feet and getting around like normal.”

“That’s going to be a while.”

“Good thing I’m a patient kind of guy. Do you think you’re ready for a ride back to bed?”

“So ready.”

This time when he picked her up she didn’t hurt quite as much, which she took to mean the meds were beginning to do their magic. He set her down gently, giving her time to catch her breath before he removed his arms, settled her injured leg on the stack of pillows and replaced the ice pack with a new one. They’d been told that controlling the swelling was critical the first weeks after surgery.

“You’re very good at transporting injured people.”

“I’m good at transporting you.” He pulled up the down comforter and tucked her in. “You have to be getting hungry. Mom made some stew and homemade bread for us that she brought over while you were sleeping.”

“I love Vivienne. That sounds delicious.”

“I’ll bring it to you.”

“You don’t want me eating in bed.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. What if I spill it?”

“You won’t, and if it makes you feel better, I’ll eat in here, too, so we can both make a mess. Okay?”

“If you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. Be right back.”

Charley watched him go, taking a good long look at the back of him, which more than lived up to the front. Tyler Westcott was hot when he wasn’t all put together. She loved the way he looked in basketball shorts and appreciated the broad shoulders under a gray Dartmouth T-shirt. Had he gone to Dartmouth? She had no idea. Hell, she didn’t know where he went to high school, but suddenly she wanted to know that and anything else he might want to tell her.

This is crazy, she thought. It has to be all the drugs that have me looking at him in a whole new light. Or maybe I’m looking at him differently because he’s been so nice to me since the accident. Whatever the reason, something had changed. That wasn’t to say she wanted to date him or anything, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to get to know him better.

Beyond that? Who knew?

He returned a short time later carrying a tray that held two steaming bowls of stew, a basket of bread, a beer for him and more water for her.

“No fair. I want a beer, too.”

“Not with that cocktail of pills you’re taking.”

“I know. Gonna be a while before I can drink anything other than water or do much of anything else that’s fun.”

“We can still have fun. Your family brought tons of movies, and I’ve got access to all the online movie channels. I’ve got Monopoly, but I should warn you that I’d kick your ass in that and then feel guilty for taking advantage of you in your injured state. I’ve also got Scrabble, but I’m crazy good at that, too. And then there’s Clue . . .”

“Let me guess. You rock that, too.”

“I probably should’ve been a detective.”

“Do you have Risk?”

“My all-time favorite.”

“Great. The one game I’m actually good at is your favorite.”

“You like Risk?”

“I love Risk. None of my brothers could ever beat me. Used to drive them crazy.”

He fanned his face. “That’s so hot.”

“Shut up,” she said, laughing.

“No really. It’s hot. I’ve never met a woman who liked that game.”

“Well, I’m not your average woman.”

“No, Charlotte Abbott, you certainly are not.”