Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

When Maja heard what happened, her temper flared. "Why didn't you say

something before you went up there? Now you're just beating yourself up after the fall—what's that supposed to fix?"

Dean reached over to take her hand, hoping to calm her down. "In the end, I couldn't help much anyway. Someone else is fixing the house now."

Maja pulled her hand away, annoyed. Just great-now she had a patient to look after.

She wasn't exactly graceful, but with Dean's guidance, she managed to set his leg, more or less. "Well, looks like you're not going anywhere for a while. Guess it's your turn to save me. That makes us even after you took care of my sprained ankle. You think this is... destiny or something?"

Dean gave her a look. "Destiny's got bigger things to worry about."

Maja was grumpy for days. She hated that her plans were ruined. But every time she remembered how Dean had looked after her when she couldn't walk, she forced herself to keep it together.

Slowly, she started getting used to things.

Whenever someone came by for help, Dean would greet them at the door. Since he couldn't fetch the medicine himself, he'd call out, "Maja, can you get the herbs?"

At first, Maja had no idea where anything was. Dean started giving her directions like a code. "Fourth jar on the third shelf, that's crow-dipper. Second row, ninth jar, that's peony root..."

through the shelves and

Dean would hand the money to Maja. "Put it in the drawer. When my leg's good, I'll go into town for supplies. If you need anything, just tell me—I'll

the drawer and grinned. "Not

before. This little bit isn't going

a life, I'd

drawer, not a hint of

on medicine, and

quickly learned the common complaints in the area. Sometimes Dean would say, "Same as Uncle Gan's case-grab

right to

teach her more-how certain herbs worked, which ones you

interested. She started to recognize the medicines and could even put

day, Dean told her, "This way, if you ever have to leave and get hurt, you won't be waiting around for someone to save you. You'll know what to do." Maja glanced at his leg.

"Nope."

rate, I'll have to learn how

how to wash rice, but you're a

rolled her eyes but

was still the one cooking