LITMIR.BIZ

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She sighed. “I was looking forward to it, too, if I got the chance. This is so embarrassing.”

      The handful of diners looked up curiously as Nico made his way through the dining room with Grace in his arms.

      “You’re enjoying this,” she said, her hair tickling his chin.

      “I am not,” he said, chuckling. “I hate having a beautiful woman in my arms. I would rather be rolling out pasta dough and scolding the interns. I would rather be scrubbing saucepans and cleaning ovens.”

      “You’re too important to wash pans yourself, and you certainly don’t clean the ovens. Hi, Mr. Stanford. Did you ski today?”

      “Sure did, Gracie,” the gray-haired gentleman replied. He had the remnants of a chocolate cake and half a cup of coffee in front of him. “What happened to you?”

      “I twisted my ankle a little.”

      “I hope you’re being well taken care of,” he said, giving Nico a warning look.

      “I’m going to get her to a doctor,” Nico assured him. “Right now.”

      “Good.” He smiled at Grace. “I’ll check with Noelle later and find out how you’re doing.”

      Nico managed to get out of the restaurant, down the stairs and to the front desk with only about nine more people asking Grace what happened. Three young women in ski gear had giggled, obviously thrilled to see such a romantic sight, two men had eyed him suspiciously and several children asked Grace if she was being kidnapped.

      Patsy met him at the bottom of the stairs.

      “I just heard,” she said, peering at Grace’s foot. “It doesn’t look good, sweetie, but I love the red nail polish.”

      “I had it done yesterday,” she said. “You can put me down, Nico. Really. You can.”

      “All right.” He headed toward the sofa that fronted the fireplace. “Is this okay?”

      “My office—”

      “Doesn’t have a couch,” Nico said.

      “It’s not as bad as it looks, but it’s starting to hurt a little bit more,” she told the hovering Patsy. “Nico has kept ice on it and that really helped.”

      “What happened? Brian said you slipped and needed a doctor. I’ve called the two that I know are here, but they’re either still on the mountain or in town. I’ll take you over to the clinic. I called and they don’t close until seven.”

      “I’ll take her,” Nico said, reluctantly settling his dream woman on the couch. She’d felt good in his arms, all curves and soft skin, her yellow curls tickling his face. She smelled of vanilla. Hand lotion, maybe? Or perhaps she used the homemade soap from the fancy bath shop in town.

      “I think I just need to rest it a bit,” Grace said. “There’s no reason to make a big deal out of this.”

      Patsy exchanged a look with Nico.

      “One word, Grace,” he said. “X-ray.” He turned back to Patsy. “If you’d get her coat and purse and whatever else she’ll need, I’ll take her over to the clinic.” He hated the fact that she had hurt herself, hated that she was in pain. And since she’d hurt herself in his kitchen, he felt responsible. Getting to spend time with her was the silver lining on his guilt-filled cloud.

      Grace protested again. “I just need some Tylenol and the ice pack. I’ll go home and take care of it myself.”

      But Patsy wasn’t buying it. “And just how are you going to get up the stairs?”

      Nico ignored the crowd that had gathered around the sofa. Children held cookies, parents held coats and the most recent guests checking in stood next to their luggage and stared. He tucked another velvet pillow behind Grace’s back. “Stairs?”

      “She lives in a second-floor condo,” Patsy informed him. “Outside stairs. No elevator.”

      “Grace can come home with me,” Nico declared. “I have four bedrooms. And a ramp.”

      Patsy looked impressed. “Why do you have a ramp?”

      He shrugged. “Grace will find it easy to get around. I live right down the street.”

      “Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,” Grace grumbled. “Are there any rooms available?”

      “I’ll check.” Patsy tried to hide her smile, but Nico saw a twinkle in her eyes when she turned back to him. “But I think Noelle already filled the rest of the rooms.”

      “That was fast,” Grace said. “I thought we’d have cancellations after the guests heard about the wedding.”

      “I have some news about that,” Patsy said. “But I’ll call you later and fill you in.”

      “Hey, Pats! Grace! What’s going on?”

      Nico turned to see three burly young men approaching. They were stuffed into identical navy down jackets and looked as if they’d been outside for hours.

      “I slipped and fell,” Grace said, looking mortified. “Do not make a big deal about it, okay?”

      One of the guys edged Nico aside and lifted the ice pack. “Uh-oh. Looks like a bad sprain or even a fracture. Come on, babe, let’s do it.”

      Babe? Do it? Nico couldn’t let that go. “I’m taking her,” he said.

      “It’s no problem,” the kid said. “We’ve got the vehicles here and Doc will have her fixed up in no time.”

      “But what about the fund-raiser?” Patsy asked. “Aren’t you in charge of that?”

      “Yeah, but there are enough other guys coming early. They won’t miss us.” He grinned, showing acres of white teeth. “We can take care of Gracie, easy enough.”

      “Fund-raiser?” Nico wanted to deck him, if for no other reason than the sight of his hand on Grace’s bare leg.

      “For Search and Rescue,” Grace explained. “You’re catering the appetizers, remember?”

      “Oh yeah.” Twenty pizzas, and cheese and crackers. Done and done. Not exactly a culinary challenge, but that’s what the group ordered.

      “I’ll get your things, Grace,” Patsy said. “You’ll be back here in no time and I’ll see what I can do about a room for you.”

      Shoved to the sidelines, Nico watched as Grace was bundled into her black cashmere coat. In a matter of minutes she was out the door, being carried by one of the local EMTs and surrounded by two others. The men joked and laughed as if they were going to a party.

      “Don’t look so sad,” Patsy said, touching his arm to get his attention. “You’ll have your chance.”

      “I just did. And there it went.”

      “Maybe, maybe not.”

      That got his attention. “Please tell me there’s no room at the inn.”

      She grinned. “There is one room available, but I won’t tell if you won’t.”

      “Deal.”

      “Don’t you dare break her heart.”

      “I won’t. But she might break mine.”

      “I know.” Patsy tapped his chest with her finger. “I’ve watched you mooning over her since you started working here.”

      “It’s that obvious?”

      “Oh yeah. For a big TV star, you’re kind of pathetic.”

      “Not anymore,” he declared. “Not anymore.”

      

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