by Dee Stewart
Waiting for Devon
The Waiting Game
Book Four
by
DEE STEWART
Waiting for Devon © July 2021 Dee Stewart
Published by Dee Stewart
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Published: Dee Stewart 2021: [email protected]
Editing: Grace Augustine, A Touch of Grace
Cover Design © Drew Hoffman Buonoamicipress
Formatting by Paul Salvette, BB eBooks
This book is intended for a mature audience of eighteen and older.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Books for Sale
Books Coming Soon
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
Devon gazed with concern at the Dalton baby being monitored in the pediatric ER unit of San Francisco General Hospital. “Page me immediately if the fever gets any higher, Jill. I’ll be in my office.”
“Yes, Dr. Brooks,” Jill answered and accepted the chart Devon handed to her.
After a lingering glance at the infant, Devon headed through the covered breezeway to the attached medical building that housed her office. As she stepped inside, her eyes widened in shock when she recognized the man standing beside her desk. Every muscle in her body tensed. She never expected to see him again nor did she want to, especially today.
He turned to face her. “You’re using your maiden name. I thought I made it clear I didn’t mind if you continued to use mine.”
“We’re divorced,” she said as she closed the door behind her. “I want no reminders of you or our marriage. Why are you here, Jack? Why today?”
“So you remember.” His eyes searched hers, perhaps for some sign of the love they once shared.
“Yes, I remember. Our divorce was final a year ago today. What are you looking for? A trip down memory lane?”
“I remember a lot of things about us.” Jack’s eyes caressed her.
“I’ll tell you what I remember. I remember how you turned your back on me after I miscarried our baby.”
“A mistake I regret.”
“I remember how you wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t look at me, and wouldn’t touch me after I had experienced the worst loss of my life.”
“I didn’t know how to comfort you.”
“You blamed me and hated me for losing our child.”
Jack expelled his breath. “I was grieving. Can’t you understand how much pain I felt?”
“You’re asking me that? I felt our baby growing and moving inside me for months! When I felt its tiny spirit slipping away, I thought my soul was being ripped from my body. I grieved for our child. Alone.”
“Devon,” Jack began, his tone earnest, “let’s forget the past. My life hasn’t been the same without you. I think about you constantly. I can’t eat or sleep. I want you back. Please, can’t we try again?”
“No. Absolutely not. You killed any feelings I had for you a long time ago. Please, Jack. Just leave.”
Jack strode toward her. He reached out and caressed Devon’s neck. “I remember how good it was between us.” Without warning, he bent his head and took possession of Devon’s lips.
The familiarity of his mouth moving against hers brought the past rushing back in a flood of painful memories. Memories of the life they’d once shared. Working side by side and planning their future family. Devon had fought hard to forget those memories, and now they overwhelmed her with sorrow and regret. She pushed him away and dragged her hand across her mouth. “You had no right to do that, Jack.”
“No? How long has it been since you were kissed like that?”
Devon gasped in outrage, and her palms itched to slap him. “Get out of my office, Dr. Taylor!” She yanked open the door.
“Okay, that was unfair. I shouldn’t have made such a stupid remark. I’m not going to give up this easily, though,” Jack warned her. “You know how persistent I can be when I want something.”
Heart pounding in fury, Devon slammed the door after him. Before she could gather her wits, Jill called her. “You’re needed back in the ER, Dr. Brooks.”
“I’ll be right there.”
After working a hectic ten-hour shift, Devon took a dinner break. At four-thirty in the afternoon, she left the ER. With her tablet tucked beneath her arm, she crossed Mulberry Street. Adjacent from the hospital was a pleasant outdoor café where she enjoyed eating. She found her usual table, and a waiter came to take her order of a chef salad and a glass of water. She released her hair from its usual messy bun and ran her fingers through a heavy mass of loose curls that fell well past her shoulders. For a few minutes she planned to lose herself in a novel she’d been reading on her tablet and put Jack out of her mind.
Shane Barrington strode with brisk steps down Mulberry Street after leaving a successful business meeting at a branch of his family’s business, Barrington Industries. His eyes narrowed in thoughtful consideration.
During his extended business trip, he’d been boasting to his family about his fiancée, whom his father, Jasper, expected to meet today. Shane couldn’t believe out of all the women he knew not a single one agreed to pretend to be engaged to him. They called him a jerk and a nutcase and threatened to tell his father, especially when he offered them money.
He didn’t understand why a simple proposition had to be so difficult. These situations always worked out in romance novels and in Hallmark movies. Though in his case, he had no intention of falling in love with his fake fiancée. Shane’s heart belonged to Alana Turner. If not for Jasper’s high expectations of a future Barrington bride, Shane would have proposed to the love of his life already. He’d learned at a young age, however, that love was never enough for a Barrington. Social prestige came with the name, and Alana was only a teller in one of his father’s banks.
Damn you, Dad, for being so tyrannical and unreasonable. Why can’t I have the woman I love and BI, too?
He glanced across the street and saw a woman he recognized from a San Francisco General Hospital fundraiser sitting alone at the Garden Café. Dr. Devon Brooks. They’d shared a few casual conversations during the time he
’d spent in San Francisco tending to business. He knew she’d been married before to a doctor and always appeared so sad.
It’s now or never. I can’t believe I’m doing this. Asking Devon to pretend to be my fiancée. It’s all for you, Alana, and our future together. As soon as I’m CEO of BI, I’ll be free to marry you, and Dad won’t have a damn thing to say about it.
He pulled his cell phone from his suit pocket and sent his father a text.
Shane: Meet me at the Garden Café on Mulberry Street. My fiancée is eager to meet you.
Dad: We will be there shortly.
Time to make my move. I hope to hell I can pull this off or I’m sunk.
Shane crossed the street and came up behind Devon. He leaned over her shoulder. “I’ve been looking for a woman like you all my life.”
His audacity caused an amused expression to cross her face as she continued to eat her salad and study her tablet. “Oh? Do you need a doctor, Mr. Bachelor of the Year?”
Devon referred to a popular magazine which featured him on the cover of the June issue.
Shane made a face. “Very funny, Devon. No. I need a fiancée.”
She choked and reached for her glass of water. “What an original line,” she returned with a slight smile. “I’ll give you props for your creativity, Shane, but I’m afraid I must pass.”
“A limousine is pulling up to the curb. My father and his lawyer are headed this way, and they expect to meet my fiancée. Please, I’m desperate. Just play along for a few minutes.”
Devon glanced toward the street. A sleek limousine parked parallel to the sidewalk, and two men, both dressed in sharp business suits, were approaching. Shane’s father resembled him, only his hair was streaked with gray, and he wore a stern, authoritative expression. The other man was a little younger, but he, too, carried himself with authority. “Shane, this is ridiculous…”
He laid a hand on Devon’s shoulder and nodded at his father and the lawyer. “This is my father, Jasper Barrington, and one of our corporate lawyers, Marshall Cleary. Dad, this is my fiancée, Dr. Devon Brooks.”
“Mr. Barrington.” She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Jasper Barrington stared at Shane through hard blue eyes, though his remark was addressed to Devon. “I find it difficult to believe you are the fiancée Shane has been raving about for the past month. He has never been interested in intellectual women.”
Shane tensed at his father’s insult. When he’d been a millionaire playboy in his twenties, he couldn’t deny it. He’d changed, though, soon after he’d started dating Alana. She wasn’t a dumb bimbo. She might only be a bank teller for the moment, but she planned to advance through the ranks.
Devon chuckled as she glanced up at Shane. “Why, Shane, darling,” she purred, “you never told me the Barrington men are intimidated by smart, independent women.”
Shane relaxed and returned her grin until he heard his father’s sharp question.
“You never said your fiancée was a doctor, Shane. What kind of medicine does she practice?”
“I’ll be glad to answer that, sir,” Devon responded. “I’m a pediatrician.”
Jasper studied her, then Shane. “Well, Miss Brooks, I’ll give you one week to find someone to cover your practice for you. After that, I expect to see you and Shane at the Barrington ranch so you can meet the rest of the family and make your wedding plans.”
“But, sir,” Devon protested. “I don’t have a private practice. I’m in charge of the ER pediatric care unit at San Francisco General Hospital. I can’t leave.”
“You will, Miss Brooks,” Jasper commanded in a voice that brooked no argument. “In one week you will accompany my son to Texas.”
When Jasper and his lawyer left them alone, Devon turned to Shane. “All right, Shane, I pretended we were engaged for a few minutes. It’s over now, so I’ll leave you to explain to your overbearing father why I won’t be joining you in Texas.”
“It’s not over, Devon. I’ll see you in an hour in front of the hospital.”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Devon threw money down on the table and dashed across the street.
Devon couldn’t help laughing to herself as she made her rounds. At least the bizarre incident kept her from dwelling on her former husband’s disturbing reappearance in her life.
Forty minutes later Devon checked on the Dalton baby. She listened to his tiny lungs and heart and took his temperature. When the infant smiled at her and cooed, her battered heart mended a little. During moments like these, she yearned for another chance at motherhood.
After she made a notation on the infant’s chart, her pager beeped. She picked up the nearest phone and dialed the hospital administrator’s office. “Mr. Linhart, you wanted to see me?”
“Yes. I need to see you in my office immediately.”
Puzzled by what seemed a peculiar summons, Devon knocked once on Mr. Linhart’s door and entered the office. He rose from his comfortable leather chair and smiled. “Congratulations, Devon.”
“Congratulations?” She frowned. “What are you talking about, sir?”
“I’m referring to your recent engagement to one of the richest men in America, Shane Barrington, of course,” Linhart explained, as though he had personally arranged it himself. “It’s little wonder you wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible.”
If she weren’t so stunned, Devon would have laughed out loud. She shook her head. “But, Mr. Linhart, I’m not…”
He held up a hand. “Now, I know what you’re going to say. Don’t worry about taking an indefinite leave of absence. It’s all arranged.”
“What in the world do you mean by that?”
“Your future father-in-law, Jasper Barrington, made arrangements for you to take a personal leave so you can join your fiancé in Texas before you get married.”
“He what?” she sputtered in astonishment. “He had no right to interfere in my life.”
Mr. Linhart coughed. “Well, I’m afraid he had every right. He gave San Francisco General Hospital a two-million-dollar endowment for children’s cancer research.”
Her eyes grew round. “But, sir, I have obligations here. I have patients and staff members who count on me. There is still so much to be accomplished in the pediatric care unit.”
“I interviewed a highly recommended pediatrician an hour ago who says he’s familiar with you and your work. He’s interested in relocating to San Francisco, and I think he’ll fill your position quite nicely. His name is Dr. Jack Taylor. If you decide to return, you will still have a position with this hospital. Frankly, I think you and Dr. Taylor would make a fine team. Good luck. You’ll be missed.”
Feeling herself dismissed, Devon left Mr. Linhart’s office in a haze of disbelief. If she didn’t know better, she would think she had just entered the twilight zone. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t having a horrible nightmare. No, she was definitely awake. An hour ago she had a career she loved and a safe, if predictable, life. Now she had neither. To make the situation even worse, a man she loathed was taking her job.
By the time she reached the ER, all of Devon’s colleagues were aware of her good news. Some clapped while others cheered and hugged her as they offered their sincerest congratulations. She tried to tell them her engagement was a misunderstanding, but, unfortunately, the man responsible was waiting for her with a huge bouquet of red roses at the entrance to the ER. Devon’s cheeks grew hot, whether from anger or embarrassment she couldn’t tell.
Shane smiled an apology as Devon glared at him. “I told you I would see you again in an hour.” He indicated his Rolls Royce. “Let’s go.”
“Who do you think you are?” Devon railed at him. “Do you realize your father stole my livelihood? How am I supposed to pay my bills without a means of support?”
“As long as you’re living on the family ranch in Texas, your needs will be taken care of. And there will be a payoff for you at the end.”
His calm tone of voice irked her even more. “What? What kind of a person do you think I am? I’m not going to Texas with you. I don’t know the first thing about you, other than you’re a rich playboy and businessman. Tomorrow I plan to get my job back.”
“I’m afraid my father didn’t leave either one of us a choice. He doesn’t believe we’re really engaged. By the way, where do you live?”
“I don’t believe this. You must be used to throwing your money around and having everyone jump at your command.”
“Well, yeah. Address?”
Devon fumed as she told him where she lived. She couldn’t believe she was allowing a casual acquaintance into her elegant Victorian home on the outskirts of San Francisco. Then again, nothing about her life made much sense today.
As they entered the cool interior, Shane surveyed his surroundings and remarked, “This is a beautiful home.”
“Thank you. Would you care for something to drink? A shot of whiskey, perhaps?”
He flashed an amused smile. “Whatever you’re having is fine with me.”
As she poured two glasses of Coke, Devon noticed Shane’s classical good looks—blond hair and bright blue eyes. He wore an expensive, tailored suit and stood slightly under six feet.
When they were both seated on her sofa, Devon began, “I know tai kwon do, and I will take you down if you try anything.”
“Good to know. I’m glad you can defend yourself.”
She lied, but he didn’t seem to know the difference. Now she wished she’d listened to her older brother Caleb when he’d suggested she and their sister Emmaline take self-defense classes. “Tell me why you’re so desperate for a fiancée.”
Shane sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know you’re familiar with Barrington Industries.”
“Yes, of course. A division of Barrington Industries is one of the hospital’s suppliers.”
“Barrington Industries is a large conglomerate with interests in medicine, cosmetics, oil, construction, and technology, to name a few. My grandfather built the company on nothing more than a dream and a vision of the future. When he died, my father took the reins and turned BI into one of the most powerful, successful corporations in America. Now it’s time for Dad to step aside and name his successor.”