Free If There Be Dragons by Kay Hooper

remembered what she’d very nearly forgotten: that this man claimed to be in love with her. She found herself staring blankly at a box she’d taken from a cabinet and wondering rather desperately why she kept forgetting it. Was it a part of Cody’s plan, or was her own mind playing tricks on her?
    “Why’re you staring at a box of breakfast cereal as if it were whispering the secrets of a universe?” Cody asked politely.
    She blinked at him. “Oh…just thinking.”
    Cody’s eyes narrowed suddenly, and then one corner of his mouth lifted in a funny little grin. “Hey, I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it. You were thinking about me, weren’t you?”
    “That’s called vanity,” Brooke managed firmly.
    He looked hurt. “You weren’t thinking of me?”
    Brooke shoved the box of cereal back into the cabinet, more rattled than she looked—she hoped. Ignoring his question, she asked, “Is beef stew all right with you? We can give the leftovers to Phantom tomorrow.”
    “Fine.”
    He was watching her, Brooke knew. And with a disquieting smile, dammit. He hadn’t read her mind. No way. He’d just guessed again. She’d have enough trouble coping with a dragonslaying prince without adding telepathy to all his other virtues.
    Virtues?
    Damn the man.
             
    After lunch Brooke removed the cold compress from Cody’s ankle to find that the swelling had begun to go down again. She bound it up in an elastic bandage, then found a pair of crutches left over from Josh’s broken leg, and told Cody that if he put any weight on the ankle before she said he could, she’d throw him out into the snow to fend for himself. Somewhat meekly Cody promised to obey the command.
    The promised storm was fully blown by three o’clock, the wind howling outside, and a mixture of snow and sleet pelting the windowpanes. Brooke had turned on the kitchen radio, and the weather forecast from Butte was not in the least encouraging—unless one were a polar bear. Up to two feet of snow was forecast, and the announcer cheerfully mentioned power failures and impassable roads. He also told listeners to have a nice day.
    Tacitly agreeing not to leave their canine houseguest alone in the kitchen, Cody and Brooke settled down at the kitchen table with a Scrabble game. Phantom, further warmed and filled by a second helping of chicken broth, blinked sleepily and then seemed to doze off, his pointed ears twitching occasionally at the sounds of their voices.
    “That’s not a word.”
    “It is too. Asphodel. It’s a Mediterranean plant.”
    Cody looked suspicious. “Are you a botanist?”
    “No. It was a hobby of Josh’s.”
    “Great.”
    “I guess I should tell you that Josh tutored me for years. And he was a brilliant man.”
    “Uh-huh.” Cody sighed.
    “Buck up. If you can just make a word with that Z, you’ll beat me. More points, you know.”
    Cody frowned in thought for a moment, and then triumphantly produced ZENITH.
    Brooke wrestled silently with an X for a while before coming up with XENON. She smiled at Cody across the table. “We’ve conquered two of the roughest letters; it should be downhill from now on.”
    “Oh, yeah? What can I spell with this Q?”
    “I can think of six words right off the top of my head.”
    Cody stared at her, then defiantly spelled out QUACK on the board.
    “Your mind’s telling on you,” Brooke observed.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Quack. As in charlatan. You’re doubting me.”
    “For your information I was thinking of the sound a duck makes.”
    She bit back a laugh. “My mistake.”
    “That’s quite all right.”
    “You’re very gracious,” she said approvingly.
    “I’m a hell of a guy.”
    “And modest.”

    That first day spent together told Cody quite a lot. Though beginning to piece together the events of her past through the little Brooke had told him so far, he discovered that he was actually learning more about her just by being with her in the present.