by Janice Lynn
Will crossed his arms and took on a stubborn look. “Not really, although I hadn’t really thought about it. Is there any particular reason why you would have wanted to see him?”
Knowing she was revealing too much by questioning her brother, she shook her head. “No reason.”
She got ready to leave for their dinner, but Will lingered.
“Look, sis, you should know that Jared…” He glanced around the room as if he’d find whatever word he searched for. “Well, he’s got a bit of a reputation.”
Ah, here came another brotherly warning. She’d known she’d said too much. “A reputation?”
“As a ladies’ man.”
She could remind her brother about his own reputation, but opted to hold her tongue, especially as she hadn’t seen much to warrant that reputation since she’d moved to Madison. “And?”
“You shouldn’t get any thoughts about him.”
“Thoughts?” She blinked innocently, although she knew exactly what he meant.
“Non-professional ones, because in the long run you’d end up getting hurt. He’s never gotten over Laura.”
Chelsea sighed with great exaggeration. “This is unnecessary, Will. I’m going to dinner with all the providers I work with, including you. Not on a date with Jared.”
“Yes, but you’re a beautiful woman and he’s…” An irritated look came over his face.
“He’s what?” she prompted, trying not to let her brother’s offhand compliment sidetrack her from the real issue.
“Not blind,” he ground out.
“Are you saying you think Jared might find me attractive?”
God, she hoped so. How pathetic was that when, even if he did, a relationship between them would never work?
“Not if he wants to live.” Will smacked his fist into the palm of his other hand with emphasis.
Enough of the theatrics. She couldn’t have her brother going all macho on his best friend. “Will,” she said softly, “there’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”
“I’ll be concerned when you’re eighty when someone as jaded as Jared is involved.”
She met her brother’s stern expression and resisted the urge to hug him for loving her so much.
Will raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s my friend, a brilliant doctor, and we’re lucky to have him, but he goes through women like a proctologist goes through rubber gloves.”
“Eww.” Chelsea scowled at her brother’s analogy. “Bad comparison.”
“But true.” His jaw tightened. “Jared has only had one use for women since Laura died. I saw how you looked at him this morning, and I don’t want to see you hurt, Chels.”
He’d seen that look? No wonder he was issuing warnings.
“Will…” She sought the right words to tell her brother how much she loved and appreciated him, but wanted him to butt out when it came to her love life. Or lack of one, in this instance. “I’m twenty-eight years old and can decide for myself whether or not someone is worth the risk of getting hurt. Believe it or not, I’m not totally inexperienced,” she said.
“Give me a name.” Will’s teeth gritted, his fists clenched at his sides, and she believed he really would go and fight for her honor.
Chelsea laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Will’s outrage was so adorable. “You can’t go around bloodying every guy who finds me attractive.”
“Wanna bet?”
She snickered in a very unlady-like way. “Lighten up. I’d like to marry and have kids someday.”
Jared’s babies. She closed her eyes and pictured blue-eyed, black-haired imps who called her mommy. Oh, what a fantasy.
“Just so long as you don’t actually want Jared.”
Had he read her mind?
“Even discounting the little-sister factor,” he continued, “which is huge by the way, think how difficult a crash and burn between the two of you would make things at the office.”
A nervous flutter gurgled in her belly, but she refused to acknowledge the warning. She gave him a smile meant to be light, but her attempt came out as forced. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re only going out for dinner as a group of coworkers, then.”
“You’re making fun of this, but I’m serious, Chels. Jared is a good guy, but Laura’s death messed up his head. He’s not been close to anyone since.”
After ten years of carrying Jared in her heart and knowing she’d never have him, Will’s warning fell flat.
Picking up her purse, she gave her brother a bright smile. “I’m going to dinner with my new coworkers. No big deal. Coming?”
After all, there was no reason for Will to get so worked up when, other than that brief moment this morning, Jared had looked as if he’d rather have his nails ripped off than have to spend five minutes in her company.
The recall of the cold look he’d given her earlier sent shivers racing down her spine. What had happened to cause his expression to go from burning hot to freezing cold?
Then she knew.
Will must have seen Jared’s look, too, felt the sparks, and done what he’d just attempted to do with her.
Only Jared would have seen Will’s warning as a sign that Chelsea was still interested in him, that she still wanted him.
He probably really was afraid she was going to corner him and jump his bones. Great.
No wonder he’d gone from hot to cold.
CHAPTER FOUR
AT THE restaurant, a cell phone buzzed and, after taking a call from the emergency room, Jennifer reluctantly excused herself from the group. Chelsea sat next to Will, opposite Jared, and Leslie between the two men.
She’d caught Jared looking at her several times while they’d waited for their table and after they’d been seated, but he always averted his gaze and distracted himself with conversation with Will.
Chelsea wanted to beat her head against the wall. Did he really think that after ten years she was going to doggedly pursue him? She’d barely pursued him after that wonderful week they’d met.
For ten years regrets had haunted her for allowing Jared to push her away so easily. Of course, a few weeks later the girlfriend Chelsea hadn’t known about had died. She’d tried contacting him, wanting him to know she felt his pain, that she would be there for him if he needed anything, that she’d turn eighteen in another week. She’d wanted him to know she missed him.
It had taken all her nerve to sneak into Will’s things and find Jared’s number, to dial it, and leave her message of condolence and ask him, please, to call her.
He hadn’t called and that had spoken volumes. Heartbroken at yet again being rejected by someone whose love she’d craved, she’d resolved to focus on the things in her life that she had had control of. Like her medical career.
Besides, she was no longer a teenage girl with a crush. No, the heaviness clutching at her chest wasn’t a teenage crush. But she daren’t give a name to how Jared made her feel. How he’d always made her feel.
If whatever Will said to him was why he’d gone so cold on her she had to set the record straight, to let him know that she didn’t expect anything more from him than friendship. Wanted, yes, expected, no.
After they placed their food order, she bit back the ball of nerves stifling her breath and locked gazes with him.
His blue eyes bore into hers with a ferocity that made her insides ache.
Which made her feel extremely self-conscious.
She held his gaze and reminded herself to be brave, to go after the personal life she wanted. Of course, she also wanted him to look at her and see beyond the flaws marring her body, to not care if she wore the badges of her parents’ relentless efforts to make her into something she wasn’t and never would be: perfect.
Too bad Cinderella’s fairy godmother wasn’t making house calls in Madison, Alabama.
Although her brother kept a watchful eye on her, he seemed distracted by the perky redhead to his left, who chatted a mile a minute about chan
ges to the hospital’s nursing staff.
If Jared was going to give her the cold shoulder, he had to stop looking at her with those hot eyes.
“Tell me how your first day went,” Leslie said after the waiter served their drinks. She pushed a lock of her curly red hair away from her face.
Smiling at the woman she’d grown to like during her visits to Madison before coming to work at the clinic, Chelsea raved about her day, letting her real excitement overshadow all the doubts deep within her.
“You’re going to live with Will for a while?”
“For now,” she admitted. Will had insisted she stay with him, to give them time together. “I’ll eventually look for a place of my own.”
“There’s no rush,” Will interjected. “My place is big enough for us both.”
His place was a gorgeous beach house that Chelsea had fallen in love with the first time she’d seen it several years back. Of course, she loved anything to do with the Gulf. Ever since the spring break she’d spent with Will and his friends in Gulf Shores, she’d adored the beach, felt energized when near the water.
“The view is spectacular,” Leslie added, only to look away when Chelsea gave her a startled look. When had Leslie seen Will’s view? She glanced back and forth between her brother and the nurse practitioner, searching for clues.
Leslie’s quick smile and change of subject was clue enough.
“Jared, I’ve barely seen you since you got back from Guyana,” she said, color high in her cheeks. “Tell me about your trip.”
Jared traced his finger over the condensation forming on the outside of his glass. After a short hesitation he launched into tales of the people he’d met and treated during his six-week stint.
Having finished eating, Jared half listened to the conversation going on around him. Really, though, all his energy was focused on the woman sitting across from him. All evening he’d fought looking at her, fought the urge to find an excuse to touch her. God, she was beautiful. She’d taken her hair down from its ponytail at some point before they’d left the office. The dark, shiny strands teased her shoulders.
He’d like to run his fingers through her hair, to refresh his memory on just how soft her silky tresses were. Only he didn’t recall wanting Chelsea this desperately all those years ago.
Yeah, he’d wanted her badly, enough that he’d made a horrible mistake, had hurt both Laura and Chelsea, but this burning inside him threatened to consume him.
His gaze met hers and his breath caught at the intensity with which she looked at him.
Great expectations shone in her sparkling eyes.
Which scared the hell out of him.
The only expectation he had in regard to Chelsea came with a hazardous-to-health warning.
Hadn’t he learned his lesson? He couldn’t have Chelsea. Not now, not ever. How could he do that to Laura’s memory?
Very simply, he couldn’t.
Not to mention the other hundred and one reasons why he had to throw barriers up between him and Chelsea. Things like her brother, the fact they worked together, the fact that although there were sparks between them he sensed just as much hesitation in her as he himself was experiencing. Perhaps more.
That hesitation intrigued him, made him want to peel away the layers covering who Chelsea really was.
But he wouldn’t.
“I’ve got to run to the ladies’ room,” Leslie announced to no one in particular.
Jared didn’t have a clue what had been said up to that point. All he’d noticed had been the dark desire in Chelsea’s eyes, the tempting swell of her lips, the cautious tilt of her chin.
“Be back in a few.” Will pushed his chair back and stood before Leslie had taken three steps away from the table.
Did they think they were fooling anyone? Perhaps he should give his friend a talk similar to the unnecessary one they’d had earlier in the day about Chelsea.
“Tonight has been fun. I’m glad you were able to make it after all.” Although her voice remained upbeat, her eyes flashed with momentary uncertainty. The fact he found himself wanting to reassure her pushed him into doing the opposite.
“I really didn’t have a whole lot of choice.” He purposely roughened his voice. He couldn’t deal with the awareness she caused. Not at the moment. Not when he was having to remind himself of his loyalty to Laura’s memory. Not when he felt weak in the wake of Connie’s bad news. He felt too raw inside. “As it was a business meal.”
Chelsea picked up her napkin, folding it neatly at the crease. “We may not like the options, but there’s always a choice.”
“Your choice was to come to work in Madison?”
“To be near Will, yes.”
“That’s the only reason?”
“Not the only one.” Her sultry eyes flashed with sweet meaning that was quickly masked, and he had to physically force himself not to take her hand in his. She didn’t want him to see her attraction to him. Couldn’t she feel the chemistry sparking between them?
Silence stretched, but he couldn’t touch her comment, couldn’t touch her.
“The Gulf,” she added, taking a sip of water, clearing her throat when she drank too quickly. “Since that spring I first visited the Gulf, I’ve dreamed of living here.”
“The hurricanes don’t scare you?”
“Not enough to convince me to live somewhere else.” A slight tremble in her fingers, she set down her water glass. “What about you? The hurricanes bother you?”
“It’s the winds no one knows are there until they drop down on you and rip everything in their path to shreds that bother me most.”
“Did you have a lot of tornadoes in North Carolina?”
“Not many.” He arched a brow that she knew where he’d grown up and tried to recall just how much he’d told her that week when, as a teenager, she’d utterly fascinated him. To the point he’d forgotten she was his best friend’s kid sister and that he had already committed to another.
When Chelsea’s innocent lips had kissed him, he’d burst into flames, had forgotten she’d only been seventeen, a babe in many ways. Because in his arms she’d felt all woman and he’d wanted her more than any other woman, ever. Still did.
But that want had been wrong, had led him to another wrong, and in the end Laura had paid the ultimate price and he’d vowed to never make that mistake again.
Guilt hit him that he was sitting at a table with Chelsea, that he couldn’t even look at her without wanting her, that even in a restaurant filled with a million smells, her sugar-cookie scent called to him.
Chelsea took a deep breath and even before she spoke warnings sounded in his head. “Have I done something to upset you?”
How the hell was he supposed to answer that?
“Because ten years is a long time to carry a grudge,” she continued. “If you’re worried I’m going to embarrass either of us by throwing myself at you again, don’t be.”
“This isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is. We work together, and it’s clear you have issues with me working at the clinic. For everyone’s sake, we need to at least be able to coexist.”
She was right, of course. He’d known for months that his days of being able to avoid Chelsea had been coming to an end. That end was now here, and he was being forced to find a new way to deal with the guilt that seeing her gave him.
“We were once friends. I’d like us to be friends again, but perhaps only time will prove whether or not that’s possible.”
She wanted to be his friend? He couldn’t do it. How could he ever justify that to Laura’s memory?
“But if nothing else, we’re going to have to at least develop a business relationship.”
“Fine,” he answered flippantly. “We’ll have a business relationship, but make no mistake, Chelsea. There will never be anything more between us.”
“I don’t recall asking you for anything more,” she reminded him in a soft but steady voice. “At least, not in this decade.
”
Wincing at his own stupid arrogance, Jared watched Chelsea abandon him to be the sole occupant of their table.
If he’d been Chelsea, he’d have walked away from his sorry butt, too.
The worst of it was, he didn’t want her to walk away. Anything but.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE following morning Jared was dreading going into his next patient’s exam room. Inside sat Connie Black, anxiously awaiting news on why her hip hurt so much. No doubt she expected him to tell her she had osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease. Maybe even that she was going to need a hip replacement.
She wasn’t expecting to learn that her cancer, the cancer she’d thought she’d beat, had metastasized to her left hip and destroyed the joint and surrounding bone tissue.
“You OK?” Leslie asked when she caught him lingering outside the doorway. She gave a concerned look and if he didn’t get on the move she might ask what was wrong. Or she might ask more questions about last night’s dinner because neither Will nor Leslie had bought his story about Chelsea needing some fresh air.
Memories of Chelsea’s hurt expression caused Jared to momentarily question himself. A sense of foreboding hung over his head, like there was no escaping the emotional surge that went through him at just thinking of her. But he’d done the right thing to nip in the bud any thoughts she had about a relationship with him. If she disliked him, she wouldn’t welcome his fascination for her. The fascination that had played out in vivid color during what little sleep he’d gotten the night before.
Regardless, he didn’t want to go into the million and one things that had kept him awake most of the night.
He gave a quick nod of acknowledgement toward Leslie and knocked on the exam-room door. He’d procrastinated long enough and delaying the inevitable had never been his style.
He entered the exam room and instantly met Connie’s pale blue eyes. When he’d first met her he’d thought her eyes similar to a Siberian husky’s. Each time he saw her unusual eyes he was again struck by the image.
She sat in a chair against the wall opposite the exam table. The top of an elaborately carved dragonhead cane rested between her fingers. With all they’d been through the past few years, Connie was much more than a patient. More like a favorite aunt.