The Doctor's Dating Bargain

by Teresa Southwick

  “What guy?” Anger curled through him.

  “Stan Overton, the sleazy guy we saw at the diner that night. Obviously he was following me and snapped this picture. I was so sure it was all behind me. If I’d thought for a second you’d be involved, I’d never have—”

  Ben touched a finger to her lips. Partly because he hated to see her so upset about this trash, but also to keep her from revealing their secret. Mr. Daly was watching intently.

  “Let’s go put all this stuff in the car,” Ben suggested.

  She looked at him, then the man, and comprehension flared in her eyes. “Okay.”

  Together they carried all the bags to his SUV and stowed them in the back. Then he put her in the passenger seat and jogged around to get behind the wheel.

  “I’m so sorry, Ben. I should have known better than to get you mixed up in this.”

  “It was my idea, remember?” He was angry, but not with Cam. It was with the bottom-feeders who victimized someone like her. She’d been through the devastating loss of her brother and hadn’t been allowed to act out without every move ending up on the front page. If her family hadn’t had money, no one would have cared. “You’ve got to shake this off. Don’t let them get to you.”

  “I’m not worried about me. Although when my father sees this, and he will, my odds of getting a better assignment at a bigger property are about as good as managing a motel on the moon.” She met his gaze. “You need to find someone else to run interference for you.”

  He didn’t want someone else. “Don’t be hasty.”

  “Seriously. Associating with me could jeopardize your credibility at the clinic. I couldn’t stand being responsible for that.”

  “You underestimate the people of Blackwater Lake. They can separate personal from professional.”

  The outside parking lot lights illuminated the shadow of betrayal in her eyes and Ben badly wanted to make it go away. If they hadn’t been sitting in the car, he would have taken her in his arms, so it was probably a good thing they were here.

  She shook her head. “This is a lousy situation without recourse. The public believes that someone with monetary resources is fair game for their entertainment. In their minds the question becomes: Is the crown too tight? Are the jewels too heavy?” She sighed. “So I just have to suck it up. If it ruins my life, there’s not much I can do. But I won’t let them take you down, too. You need to distance yourself from me—”

  “No.”

  She blinked at him. “What?”

  “You don’t need to protect me. I can take care of myself.”

  Distance was the last thing he wanted. Taking care of her was the first order of business. This protective instinct was usually reserved for his patients. He channeled it into his profession. With Cam it was personal, more than he’d expected.

  “I’m sure you can protect yourself, but dealing with negative tabloid publicity isn’t something they taught you in medical school.” She wadded up the newsmagazine. “They twist the truth or print outright lies. I’m a demanding diva who cracks the whip. I broke up a perfectly good housekeeping team because they talk too much.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “They talk at the top of their lungs.”

  “That part was conveniently left out because it doesn’t sell papers. I’ve dealt with it all my life. But they’ll try to dig up dirt on you, too. It’s best if we don’t see each other and cancel the camping—”

  “Let me stop you right there.” He took her hand and the delicacy of her fingers and wrist twisted him up inside. “A backpacking trip is just what the doctor ordered. We’ll get away. Let the dust settle. By the time we get back, the whole thing will have blown over.”

  “That would be running away, and Hallidays don’t do that.”

  “Neither do McKnights.”

  She was quiet as she studied him, but didn’t pull away when he linked his fingers with hers. “Don’t be a martyr, Ben.”

  “The thought never crossed my mind.” He laughed, then turned serious. “Don’t let them win, Cam. It’s an opportunity. I can show you how beautiful Blackwater Lake is so you can pass it on to guests at the lodge. First-person experience.”

  “You’re saying this is all about business?”

  “Exactly.” Sort of. Although it was feeling a little more personal than he’d expected.

  “Okay, then. Let’s go backpacking.”

  * * *

  “I must have been high on clean air when I let you talk me into this.” Cam walked the uneven trail beside Ben.

  There was a slight grade and that took them steadily uphill. Fortunately gym workouts and stair-stepper sessions had kept her in good enough shape so as not to be embarrassed. But at the fitness center you didn’t have to carry on your back all the stuff you needed for one night and two days in the mountains. Ben had shown her how to attach her sleeping bag to the lightweight frame.

  “You’re going to love this,” he predicted.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to be airlifted in by helicopter?”

  “Of course. But there are several problems with that scenario. First and most important, the trees are too thick for a chopper to get through.” He looked down at her. “Second, while hiking you get to appreciate the beauty and awesomeness of these spectacular mountains. And—”

  “There’s more?”

  “No pain, no gain. You’ll appreciate it a lot more where we’re going if it’s not easy to get there.”

  “So it’s like banging your head against the wall? Feels good when you stop?”

  “Something like that.” His gaze was assessing as he looked her over, checking for fatigue. “Are you sorry yet about insisting on bringing the wine?”

  “Never.” She shook her head emphatically. “Just because this is the wilderness doesn’t mean we have to be uncivilized.”

  “Unlike the offensive bottom-feeders who write stories for the rag sheets.”

  “Yeah. Like them.” She brushed the back of her hand across the perspiration on her forehead. Wearing a baseball cap, she’d pulled her hair through the opening at the back, getting it off her neck. “That still makes me mad enough to spit.”

  “Self-control,” he warned. “You don’t want to dehydrate.”

  “Gotta love the great outdoors. And, speaking of that, it seems pointless to put myself through this when there’s a very good chance that tabloid story will put an end to my career before it even gets started.”

  Ben handed her one of the refillable water bottles that was strapped to his pack. The plan was to refill them at the stream where they’d set up camp. “I disagree about your downward career trajectory.”

  “This will not endear me to employees who already think I’m a privileged, ditzy diva. And you don’t know my father.”

  “Then he doesn’t know marketing strategy. You’re famous. Any publicity will be good for the lodge and the town, too. Local businesses will be grateful for all the customers you bring in and you didn’t have to pay for it.”

  “Not out of pocket, but there’s still a price.” Self-esteem. Reputation. Dignity. Respect.

  “The people who know you won’t believe that trash. And everyone else doesn’t matter.”

  “It’s easy for you to say that because your life has never been turned upside down by someone who stalks you with a camera then writes lies about the pictures that are flashed all over the world.”

  “Speaking of that...” He pulled out his digital pocket camera. “Everyone in town is expecting pictures of us.”

  She snorted. “We could stage them. Photoshop everything. Paparazzi do it all the time.”

  “I’m not an underhanded reporter trying to make a buck by slandering a celebrity. And it’s the most natural thing in the world for us to take photos on a camping trip. We’re supposed to be a couple.”

  “About that...” She took a drink of water, then looked up, but couldn’t see his eyes behind the aviator sunglasses. “I wouldn’t blame you if you changed your mind ab
out the bargain. It’s not easy being my boyfriend.”

  “So far it’s been pretty stress-free.”

  “Because we’re pretending. What happens because of that picture of you kissing me will be very real. Now you’re a target, too. If there’s anything to find they’ll drag your name through the mud.” She handed back the water bottle. “I’d like to apologize in advance for that.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He hooked the bottle on his backpack. “And don’t worry about me. I’m a big boy. I know what I’m getting into.”

  “No offense, but you really don’t. They’ll say that you’re only with me to kick-start your medical practice in backwoodsville. Or you came back to a small town because you weren’t good enough to make it in the big city. Possibly that a love affair gone bad turned you into Grizzly Adams, a recluse who can’t hack it anywhere else. They make stuff up. That’s what they do and it’s the reason I’ve been single so long.”

  “Because of unscrupulous reporters?”

  “Yeah.” She glanced up at him as her boots scraped across the dirt trail. “They make up front-page lies and the truthful retraction is buried on the second-to-last page days later. But trash sells. Some guys wanted to be with me to get their name in the paper, to get noticed by producers, directors, people who could fast-track a career.” She shrugged. “Other guys didn’t want anything to do with me because the circus that is my life could spill over into theirs. I’ve found it’s just easier to be on my own.”

  “Again, I need to remind you that this bargain was my idea.”

  “Only because you didn’t fully understand what dating me would entail.”

  “There’s some truth to that.” He nodded. “But we’ve spelled out the rules and both of us know why we’re doing this. I am using you for my career—to keep women from turning my medical practice into a farce.”

  “And I’m using you to rehabilitate my image with everyone in Blackwater Lake. As far as I can see that tabloid story makes us zero for two.”

  “I think you’re wrong.” He glanced down. “The goal was to spread the news that I’m not available. One picture is worth a thousand words.”

  “I hope you still see it that way after you fully experience the fallout from this. Believe me, you’re going to be relieved that this relationship is fake.”

  Cam looked up when he didn’t respond to that statement and realized that part of her wanted him to refute what she’d just said. Part of her wanted him to say that so far it had been fun playing out their secret arrangement. But she didn’t get that vibe from what she could see of his face.

  There was an intensity tightening his jaw and with the stubble darkening it, he looked decidedly uncivilized—in the sexiest possible way. Her heart stuttered and her stomach shimmied in a way that had become unfamiliar, a way she’d put aside because that was easier than giving her heart to a man only to be disappointed yet again. She was attracted to Ben McKnight and it had nothing to do with the agreement they’d made.

  Wanting him wasn’t part of the bargain, but that didn’t stop it from being true.

  * * *

  “Are you warm enough?” Squatting by the campfire, Ben put more kindling and wood on the glowing embers.

  “Yes.”

  The fire was lovely, but Cam was plenty warm admiring how the glow of the sparks highlighted the lean, rugged angles of his face and broad, muscular shoulders. She was warm from the tips of her toes to the top of her head from watching the competent way he’d set up the tent and arranged the sleeping bags inside while she’d gathered rocks and arranged them in a circle for the fire. They’d refilled water bottles, then Ben had fished in the stream, eventually catching the trout that he’d cooked.

  “That fish you made was as good as anything I’ve eaten at the lodge’s five-star restaurant.”

  “Too bad we don’t have Montana’s best seven-layer chocolate cake for dessert.”

  He looked over his shoulder and grinned before standing, looking all masculine mountain man. In two steps he was beside her, then lowered all that lean strength to a sitting position next to her, so close that his shoulder brushed hers. Sparks from the friction felt as real as the ones she’d seen when he stirred up the campfire.

  “At least there’s wine.” She sighed and it had nothing to do with the absence of cake and everything to do with the presence of this sexy, competent doctor.

  He made her feel safe and she hadn’t thought any man could make that happen. They were sitting on a blanket with their backs braced against a fallen log, legs stretched out in front of them, holding plastic wine glasses.

  “If I’d known fish was the main course, I’d have brought a nice white instead of Pinot Noir. But when you’re roughing it in the godforsaken wilderness, beggars can’t be choosers.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you have a finely tuned flair for the dramatic?” He shook his head. “We’re a couple hours’ hike from town, not on an expedition to the wasteland of the North Pole.”

  “Still...” She finished the wine in her glass and refilled it from the bottle beside her. When she held it out to him, he shook his head.

  “What do you think of camping so far?” he asked.

  “It’s not hideous.”

  He laughed. “Wow. I’m not sure the Blackwater Lake Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Guide is going to want that as a slogan for their advertising campaign. I can see it now—‘Come to Montana. It’s not hideous.’”

  She laughed, too. “Let me frame that comment better so you’ll understand where it came from.”

  “I can hardly wait to see how you can spin it to rehabilitate that remark.”

  “It’s about me, and I don’t mean that in a self-centered way.” She took a sip of wine even as the relaxation from the first glass slid through her. “I wasn’t sure how I’d hold up just getting here. Would I collapse in a heap on the trail? Break a leg? Snake bite?”

  “I can’t believe how optimistic you are.”

  “Seriously. I didn’t know if I had the stamina and intestinal fortitude. Heck, I had no idea if I was in good enough shape.”

  He let his gaze trail over her hiking boots, past the jeans on her legs and long-sleeved T-shirt. His eyes narrowed and filled with naked intensity. “Your shape looks pretty good to me.”

  Oh, my... Her heartbeat went all weird and thumpy. “Thanks, but I wasn’t looking for a compliment, just explaining that I’m happy I made it and proud, too. You know?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in a long time.” If the paparazzi could follow her here, then more power to them. She took another sip of wine. “The campsite is cozy. Food was delicious.”

  “Always is in the fresh air.”

  “It’s so clean and pure. Beautiful here.” She dragged in a deep breath, then wiggled to get comfortable. “Although I can’t say this log is especially comfy.”

  “Lean forward.” When she obeyed, he put his arm behind her as a cushion, then pulled her against him.

  “Much better. Thanks.” She automatically curled into him as if she’d been doing it for years, and that was a different kind of danger from navigating the great outdoors. But at this particular moment she was too comfortable and content to worry about danger.

  She leaned her head against his shoulder and stared at the sky. The beauty was breathtaking. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars in my life.”

  He looked down at her and their mouths were only inches apart. When he spoke his voice was a little deeper, a lot huskier. “That’s probably because there’s too much nuisance light in L.A. or New York.”

  “But not here,” she said reverently.

  “No, not here.” He gently put his fingers on her chin and held it at just the right angle for their mouths to meet. Searching her gaze he said, “I’d really like to kiss you.”

  Me, too, she wanted to say but barely managed to hold back the words. “That isn’t part of the bargain.”
r />   “It should be.” There was a hint of irritated frustration in his voice.

  “Why?”

  He thought for a moment. “Couples kiss openly all the time.”

  “PDA.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Public display of affection,” she explained.

  “Right.”

  “The thing is, we did that and ended up on the cover of a nationally syndicated magazine.” Funny, she thought, right here and now with a sky full of glitter and the scent of pine surrounding her, the bad stuff just didn’t seem to matter as much.

  “To convince the skeptics, we need to do it again and make it look good, like it happens all the time in private.”

  She blinked up at him. “You’re saying that we have to practice kissing?”

  He nodded. “What do you think?”

  That this is trouble, she thought. Trouble she could enthusiastically get behind. “I think if you think practicing is a good idea, then it’s probably okay.”

  “That’s not exactly wholehearted agreement.” He glanced up at the sky. “Can you think of a better place?”

  It was the most romantic spot she’d ever been in her entire life. “No,” she whispered. “This is perfect.”

  “Okay then. Practice makes perfect, too.” He shifted his shoulders toward her, getting ready to move in. “This first one we’ll need around town. The playful peck on the cheek.”

  “You name kisses?”

  “Don’t you?”

  It had been so long she couldn’t remember. “Not really.”

  He brushed his thumb over her chin. “Now stop talking and concentrate.”

  “Okay.” She realized she’d spoken and said, “Sorry.” She shrugged.

  “Here goes.” He dipped his head and gave her a quick kiss just in front of her ear.

  She felt his breath stir her hair and that raised tingles on her arms. “M-my family does that, but it’s an air kiss.”

  He nodded. “Next up is the haven’t-seen-you-all-day. This will come in handy at the lodge if you happen to be at the registration desk when I get back from the clinic.”

  “Definitely important to practice that one,” she agreed, anticipation trickling through her.