At once he saw the strange woman sitting in the rocking chair and knitting. “Where’s Jenna?” he asked.
“It’s her day off. I’m Roberta Shane. I’ll be working relief while she’s here.”
“You’re a nurse, too?”
Roberta looked indignant. “Of course I’m a nurse.”
“Sorry, but why didn’t Dr. Hall send you here instead of Jenna in the first place?”
Roberta put down her knitting. “Because I don’t take full-time cases like this. Not many nurses do.”
“Oh.” Wondering why Jenna Elliot, golden girl, would take a demanding case like this, Bram went over to the bed and smiled down at his grandmother. “Hello, Gran. How’re you doing?”
“Sheriff, she’s never going to answer you, you know,” Roberta said.
The cruel comment angered Bram, and he turned hard eyes on the relief nurse. “Don’t you ever say something like that in her presence again.”
Roberta looked affronted, but she didn’t say another word. Bram didn’t care if she was affronted or not. Thank God that Dr. Hall hadn’t sent a cold woman like her to care for Gran, he thought as he headed to his own room.
“Come on, Nellie,” he said as he passed the pretty collie, who happily got up to follow her master. In his bedroom, Bram felt the sting of anger, and he almost went back to Gran’s room to tell Roberta Shane to never set foot in his house again.
But Jenna had to have time off, and maybe Roberta was the only nurse available to take her place.
“Damn, damn, damn,” Bram mumbled thickly as he removed his badge from his shirt and then took off his leathers, including his holstered gun, and put everything in a dresser drawer. He hated what had happened to Gran and he didn’t like how out of control his life was now. Out of his control. He was a man with a penchant for routine and organization, great traits for a law enforcement officer to have. But those same traits made unexpected bumps in one’s personal life tough to take.
He wondered when Jenna would be back. Tonight? Tomorrow morning? Clenching his teeth, he sat on the edge of his bed and thought about her. No man deserved to suffer the way he did over Jenna. Just her image in his mind made him so saturated with longing that even his bones hurt. He hadn’t been sleeping well, just because she was in the house. He never ate at home anymore because he might have to eat with her, and he couldn’t bear the thought. How much more of this torment could he take?
Jenna arrived at seven-thirty. She walked into the master suite, immediately went into the bathroom to wash her hands and then returned to say hello to Bram and Roberta. The relief nurse had already gathered her knitting bag and her purse.
She left after saying, “See you next Thursday.”
Jenna let her find her own way out, and picked up Gloria’s chart to make sure Roberta had done everything that was necessary that day.
Bram had gotten to his feet and he stood there wishing Jenna would look at him.
She finally did. “May we speak in another room?” she asked.
Surprised, and wondering what was going on now, Bram nodded, then followed Jenna to the living room. She turned and faced him.
“I talked to Dr. Hall today. We are both concerned with Gloria’s lack of progress. I’m rarely blunt when discussing a patient with a family member, but in this case I feel I must be. She’s not trying to help herself, Bram. She has given up.”
Bram flinched as though struck. “How dare you—”
Jenna cut him off harshly. “Don’t start something you can’t finish! Are you trained to recognize dangerous symptoms? Well, I am, and if we can’t change her attitude she will die.”
Bram’s voice was unsteady when he spoke. “How…how do we change her attitude?”
Jenna turned away and began pacing the carpet. “I’ve racked my brain trying to think of something to do that isn’t already being done. She has a loving family, and some of them visit her every single day. I’m doing everything medically possible—everything Dr. Hall told me to do—and I’m sure she must appreciate all the time you spend with her every evening. Bram, she’s never alone, except for brief moments like this. She can’t possibly feel neglected. Her diet is restricted, of course. There are many things she might never be able to eat again, but are certain foods really that important? Plus, she absolutely will not concentrate on the exercises I’ve been trying to teach her. She just turns her head and shuts her eyes whenever I even mention exercise. I’ve been massaging the muscles of her arms and legs to keep them supple, but…”
“In other words, you’re doing everything you can and nothing is working,” Bram said dully.
Jenna’s eyes misted and she could only nod. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered huskily. She wasn’t looking at Bram, so she didn’t see him walk away. But she heard his footsteps, and when she turned around, he was gone.
A few minutes later she returned to Gloria’s room, and there was Bram, telling corny jokes to his grandmother and chuckling over them himself.
All Jenna could think was that maybe laughter was the only medicine they hadn’t yet tried, and maybe it would work. She mentally patted Bram on the back for his willingness to do anything to save Gloria from herself.
Jenna deliberately slept lightly, keeping attuned to her patient’s slightest movement or sound. Even in a semi-slumber, though, she dreamed, and she had a nightmare around midnight that was so frightening that she jumped out of bed. Grabbing her robe, and taking a quick peek at Gloria to make sure she was asleep, Jenna left the bedroom and went to the kitchen.
Still shaken by the nightmare, she switched on lights and made a cup of cocoa, using a mix and the microwave. She was about to sit at the table to drink the cocoa when Bram walked in.
He stopped cold. The kitchen light had been on and he’d thought nothing of it, but seeing Jenna at the table was a shock he had trouble concealing. His mind grew fuzzy for a moment; he should turn around and get out of there while he could, he realized vaguely. But then he recovered some dignity. This was his house, after all, and Jenna was the intruder in this room, not him. He managed to say, albeit a bit thickly, “I can’t sleep, either.” He began preparing a cup of cocoa for himself.
Jenna watched his every movement with a heated sensation in the pit of her stomach. He had been so diligent about avoiding being alone with her that this unplanned midnight meeting felt like a tryst. Probably not to him, she told herself, but then he wasn’t burdened with bittersweet longings the way she was.
She drank in the sight of him. He had pulled on his jeans, but that was the only clothing on his marvelously masculine body. His chest was smooth and hairless, his shoulders wide and muscular. He hadn’t buttoned the waistband of his jeans, merely zipped the fly, and he was barefoot. His thick black hair, normally so neatly brushed, was tousled and looked so sexy to Jenna that she could barely swallow small sips of her cocoa.
With his cup in the microwave, Bram clenched his jaw and looked at Jenna. He could hardly pretend she wasn’t there, after all. “I know why I’m having trouble sleeping, but she’s my grandmother. Does every patient in your care cause you insomnia?”
My God, is he actually going to talk to me? Jenna was so surprised she nearly choked on a swallow of cocoa. She managed to answer him, though. “I was sleeping. A nightmare woke me.”
The microwave went off and Bram took his cup to the table and sat across from her. Bram Colton joining her for midnight cocoa surprised Jenna so much that she wasn’t