by Diane Saxon
The boy nodded, gave a snotty sniff, and hung his head in total dejection.
Kate called for Sandra to take Billy Ray to x-ray. She snapped off her gloves and threw them into the disposal unit and then soaped up her hands.
Jack came to his feet, but the sudden move had him reeling. The sexy doctor blurred while she washed her hands, and black clouds descended to obscure the edge of his vision. Queasiness gripped his stomach while his world made a sudden lurch toward the floor. His fingers turned numb and he released his grip on the ice pack, letting it slap onto the tiled floor at his feet.
“Hey.” Kate’s unruffled voice came from a million miles away. “You’re not going anywhere, Sheriff.” Cool hands guided him until the back of his knees touched the gurney.
“You have something in mind, Doc?” His brain must have ceased to work, because the thought escaped through his mouth without his knowledge.
“Sit,” she instructed, her hand firm on his arm. His head swam as he obeyed her. “I need to look at your head before you move again.”
“I have to go with Billy Ray, in case he tries to run.”
“Sorry, Jack, you’re not going anywhere. My hospital, my rules.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but a swift wave of nausea washed over him and the clouds obscuring his vision thickened and darkened.
“Where are your deputies?” Kate pulled on another pair of latex gloves, and Jack’s narrowed vision focused as she flexed her fingers.
Determined to concentrate, he closed his eyes. The left one burned like hell. “Bill’s with Tyrone, Sean has Delilah.” His mind went blank. There was someone else. He needed to think.
Perry poked his head around the curtain, right on cue.
“I’m here, Sheriff, I’ll go with Billy Ray.”
Aware of them leaving, Jack clenched his jaw and leaned back to let the darkness envelope him.
“Do you want to lie down?”
He cracked open his good eye and perused the beautiful woman in front of him. “Only if you join me.”
With a small quirk of her lips, she moved closer, her voice a light whisper he barely caught. “Well, there’s an invitation no doctor could ever resist.”
The downward shift of the gurney as she pulled the lever left his stomach up in the air. He only wished he was capable of continuing his verbal sparring with her, but he had a sick feeling he was about to faint.
Kate pulled up a stool, sat down, and slid between his legs so her face was on a level with his. She drew the instrument trolley beside her and leaned in to study his face. Her blonde eyebrows dipped as she sucked a small breath in through her teeth and clucked her tongue at him. As she exhaled, her breath stroked his cheek and made the mists recede.
“Jack, are you okay?” She leaned closer. Her fingers remained gentle but firm on his face as she probed at his injury.
“It’s nothing.” He held still, determined not to flinch.
“Mmm hmm. Don’t you think you’re getting a little old to get into brawls?” She poked at the cut near his eyebrow, and he almost shot off the gurney as she set about cleaning it.
He ground his teeth and concentrated on Kate. “Never too old to brawl, honey.”
She lifted a cotton wool pad up to his eye. “Close.”
With instant obedience, he shut his eye and trusted her to press the pad against it. An ice-cold jet hit his brow, and he jerked away from the sharp sting.
“Don’t be a baby, Sheriff. That was only a local anesthetic.”
She withdrew the pad and held up a long, thin needle in front of his face, her grin sharp. “Keep still, this won’t hurt a bit. It’s just a little prick.”
His quick glance up to see if she was kidding earned him nothing but a bland stare as she leaned in to attend to his cut. She might find it funny, but he was a little too much in pain to appreciate that humor.
It hurt like hell, and the tiny tugs she made to tighten up the stitches made him think she was about to pop his eye out, but he was determined not to flinch again while he gazed straight at her.
Her hand was steady, her breathing deep, slow and concentrated. Her full lips curved into a satisfied smile as she finished up. She turned to dispose of the needle and then raised her hand to run her finger across his eyebrow. He could attribute his shallow breathing to the pain, but it would be a lie. The anesthetic had pretty much numbed it. No, it was the proximity of the doctor, and the waft of her cool, fresh smell over his senses. She may well drive him crazy with desire.
He drew back from her touch and squinted at her through his puffy eye, but she didn’t react, hadn’t noticed his withdrawal. He wasn’t sure if he could bear her so close any longer without taking a hold of her for another kiss. The steaminess of it from that morning still fogged his mind.
“You might have a slight scar, not much. My stitches are really small, so you have seven. Most doctors, it would only be five.” He closed his eyes as she pressed a small bandage against his brow. “Take this off tomorrow, keep the area clean, and come back in five days to have your stitches removed.”
She whipped her latex gloves off once more and threw them into the nearby bin.
Her lips tilted up at the edges as she patted his cheek. “You’re done.”
He caught her hand in his. Her quick flash of surprise slowed him down but never deterred him. It was too late. His instincts had already made the decision before his brain could object. He raised her hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss against her palm, drawing the stool closer so she was back between his legs.
“Thanks, Doc.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
Dismayed as she slipped her fingers from his, he leaned in a little closer before she could push away. He wracked his brain for something to keep her there. Anything.
“Kate, I meant to ask you, we’ve got this department thing on Sunday, the sheriff’s office take on the rest of the town’s best at basketball a couple of times a year. I wondered if you’d like to come along?”
Her gilded lashes fluttered down to shield her expression. If he leaned just a touch closer, he could probably persuade a kiss out of her, but the sounds of activity outside the curtain became louder and he just hoped no one disturbed them.
She met his gaze, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. “Are you asking me on a date?”
“Hell no.” He reared back. He hadn’t realized that’s what it sounded like. He could bite his own tongue off. His brain must be addled. He might want to have a smooch with her, after all she oozed sex appeal, but that was as far as he was willing to go.
Her features froze as she pushed the chair away from him and came to her feet. Regret at his reaction rankled, but she’d panicked him for a moment. He wavered as he stood upright. Determined to put it right, he reached out a hand, but she took a step back, her frosty gaze meeting his.
Perhaps if he qualified his request, it wouldn’t sound as bad as it had obviously come out. “The boys just wanted to know if you would come along and be our volunteer medic for the day.”
She blinked. Swallowed.
The ice in her stare sluiced over him.
“Oh, the boys want me, not you? You don’t want me?”
He wanted her, more than he’d wanted any other woman, but he knew the risk involved. He clenched his teeth. She wasn’t going to catch him out.
The silence stretched between them. This was precisely why he didn’t want a relationship. The woman already had him cornered. It was time for him to move on without showing any fear.
He took two faltering steps forward and flipped open the curtain. “Thanks for patching me up, Doc. If you can make Sunday, around three o’clock, the sheriff’s department would really appreciate it.”
There, that should do it.
He let the curtain drop between them.
Jack ran a cautious finger over his eyebrow while he chewed over the exchange he’d just had with Kate. A high-maintenance woman. The kind who’d want a ring and marr
iage and all of the shit that went with it, just like any other woman he’d ever known. He’d seen it too many times—uncles, cousins. They all took the fall, and when they did, they changed. No more poker evenings, no more freedom, because the women wanted kids and commitment.
She’d want commitment, and he wasn’t ready for it. Never would be as far as he could tell. He didn’t do commitment. The last thing he’d seen before the curtain had dropped back in place was her controlled Englishness as she lifted her goddam perfect eyebrow as though nothing he said could rile her.
Christ, she was driving him crazy. Date, my ass. Why would he ask her on a date? He shouldn’t even be contemplating sex with this woman, because he knew it wasn’t going to be simple. He should run.
See, this was what women did to you! You ask them to an event to help out, and they have to make a big thing out of it. Next thing you knew, they were telling their girlfriends and choosing a color scheme.
Christ, it wasn’t even as though he’d thought of the idea. It was the guys who’d asked, just to make sure they had cover, in case there was an accident. And there were always accidents.
He took off along the hospital corridor, reached the end, and turned back. He rubbed his aching chest and paused. He might have to get that seen to. He’d been doing it a lot lately. He’d also been short of breath. He swung on his heel and marched back to the exit. Perhaps he’d have to speak to the doc about it.
Compelled to apologize to Kate again, he whipped around to make his way back.
“Are you ready to leave, or are you going for another circuit?”
“Huh?” He jerked his head up. His brain reeled in slow, sickening circles as Bill skimmed past him toward the exit doors.
“Sean came in to swap. He’d rather I questioned Delilah.” She scanned his face for a split second before she broke out in a broad grin. “Jack, you sound really fucked up when you talk to yourself.” With a sly wink she stepped through the automatic doors back into the sweltering sunshine of the day.
Chapter Seven
For five whole days he’d managed to avoid the sexy doctor, but it didn’t mean she hadn’t invaded his mind. His gut tightened in anticipation every time he visited The Shake and Bake Shack in case she was there.
His stitches pulled tight when he frowned, which seemed all too frequent. The swelling had reduced but not gone entirely, and the black and blue around his eye had turned a sickly green and yellow. Reluctant to visit the hospital in case he got Kate, Jack felt like a fool. He may not have seen her, but his mind was consumed with her. It was safer to stay away. She was a temptation he wasn’t prepared to take on.
He smoothed his fingers over the puckered skin above his eye. He’d kept it clean enough once he’d removed the little bandage after the first day. His brain had been blitzed at the time, but he was pretty sure she’d said five days until the stitches should come out. He was going to catch shit from her if he left it any longer.
He leaned back against the wooden bench to watch the guys congregate for the basketball match. There was another area he’d goofed. They weren’t too impressed when he let them know Kate wouldn’t be there, but how could he explain he’d messed up so she’d thought he was asking her on a date? He snorted. He was a coward. The woman frightened him to death, and it wasn’t just the way she wielded her scalpel. It was on a whole new level for him.
Bright sunlight scorched his face. His sunglasses pressed against his swollen cheekbone, so he’d removed them and squinted to get a better look at the people converging on the fire station yard where they were about to start the game. Pain radiated from his eyebrow, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been and was nothing he wasn’t used to. He’d had a few knocks in his time. It came with the badge.
The bright gold of her hair as rays of sunshine bounced off it grabbed his attention.
She’d come.
Heat curled in his belly, spread over his skin, and pulsed over his damaged face.
The woman had come.
He stifled a grin. She hadn’t been able to resist. He raised his fingers to his mouth to smother the chuckle and realized he was acting like a schoolboy on his first date.
With an abrupt move, he shot to his feet, the smile dropping from his face. Hell, he was confusing himself. He wanted her, but he didn’t want her to want him back, and he certainly didn’t want to want her.
He raised his hands and scrubbed them through his hair. Goddammit, but he wanted her. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from her.
Dressed in a pretty navy blue pleated skirt that finished just an inch above her knees, she glided with serene elegance and showed her legs off to perfection. He’d noticed it about her the first time he’d met her. Shapely legs. Together with the cool, white shirt she wore, which clung in all the right places, the woman was perfectly edible.
Instead of being in its customary plait, she’d tied her hair in a high ponytail so it swished from side to side with each step she took. It made her look years younger, and he scowled at the thought of her looking so fresh. Fresh as a goddamn daisy.
What the hell was she trying to do to him? If she thought she was going to tempt him any more than she already had, she was absolutely right. Not that he was going to let her know she was.
He skimmed his gaze over the crowd. Guys turned to give her the once-over, but Kate continued to walk through them, ponytail doing that sexy swish, oblivious to the attention she’d attracted.
Mac sidled up beside him, gave his shoulder a firm jolt with his own. “So, this is the one.”
His gaze still on Kate, Jack automatically bumped his cousin back. “Huh?”
“The doc.”
Jack glanced up at Mac, who towered over him, a full head taller, and then back to watch Kate. One of the guys stepped up to her, naked chest, T-shirt flung over his shoulder. Jack stepped forward, a red haze over his vision, when Mac thumped his hand down on Jack’s shoulder and kept him still. “Yeah, Bill told me about the doc.”
With a slow turn of his head, Jack met Mac’s lascivious gaze, and his already heated blood started to boil. “Great.”
He shook off the giant and made a break for it, straight toward Kate, but Mac stuck to him like glue.
“Introduce me.”
“Not going to happen.”
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d fought with his cousin over a woman, but that had been when they were fourteen. He’d never cared enough about another woman since.
“Why not, you’ve never been possessive about a woman before? Easy come, easy go.” Jack shot a quick look over his shoulder as Mac pursued him, disgusted to see his cousin’s deep, famous smile spread across his face. “You haven’t managed to get her into bed yet. Oh my Lord, Jack, she hasn’t slept with you and that’s what the bug is up your ass.”
As Jack turned to face him, Mac towered over him, all even white teeth gleaming in the sunlight and a question in his eyes. Unimpressed with the intimidation tactics which they’d grown up using on each other, but never grown out of, Jack shouldered past him once more. But then he turned back to poke his cousin in his solid chest.
“Stay,” he growled, pointing at the ground, and then he jerked his thumb in the direction of Kate. “Mine.”
With one last poke at Mac’s pecs for emphasis, Jack lowered his brow and regretted it as pain shot through his face.
He spun on his heel, intent on rescuing Kate from the clutches of the bare-chested individual, but she’d disappeared.
He whipped his head around, surveying the area for the doctor, but she was nowhere in sight. His pulse stumbled. She’d gone. The woman had made a habit of disappearing on him.
“She’s in the medic tent.” Mac’s stifled laughter came from behind him.
Without any acknowledgement he’d heard his cousin, Jack strode off in the direction of the tent.
Kate yanked on her white doctor’s coat as he walked in. She turned with a ready smile, and he scowled back at her. The smile dropped from her face, bu
t her lush lips still quirked up at the edges. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope.” He perused her for a moment and then crossed his arms over his chest and his scowl deepened. He didn’t care how much his face hurt. Goddammit, she had no right to have such good legs.
“O…kay.” He met the calm sapphire of her eyes, before she gave him a dismissive nod and then started to check her antiseptic creams and sprays, sutures, plasters, and bandages on the tray in front of her.
“You decided to come then?” He should be pleased she’d accepted his invitation, but he didn’t want her chasing him.
“Yes, Bill invited me. Properly.” Her unruffled voice washed over him as she continued to sort through the supplies, her deft fingers putting each piece just where she wanted as she turned items label side up.
The small bump of disappointment that she hadn’t come for him surprised him. He watched those slender fingers run through the supplies and imagined them on him. The memory of them clutching his flesh flashed into his mind, and he let out a low grumble.
He was really going to have to do something about this—he was almost ready to crawl over broken glass to get to her. He knew he was being contrary, but he really didn’t want her to feel the same way. It would end in tears.
He’d learned his lesson long ago. He’d only been twenty-one when he’d become engaged to Charlotte. Charlotte, Christ. He raised his hand to touch his eyebrow while he watched the efficient doctor and deliberately allowed Charlotte to curl through his memory and remind him of why he should run from the woman in front of him.
For a twenty-one-year-old, Charlotte had been a dream. Wild about sex, she’d barely let him out of her bed for the first six months. Then she’d barely let him out of her sight. When the first flush of passion was over, he’d known it wasn’t love. But she’d clung. Demanded. Cried. Threatened. And just as he was ready to walk away, she told him she was pregnant.
As a young deputy, he knew his life was over. He’d disappointed his family and lost half his friends. Mainly because Charlotte hadn’t liked them or didn’t want him to spend time with them instead of her. But he did his duty and got engaged. He’d barely had enough money to scrape together the price of a ring, but she didn’t seem to mind.