by Donna Hill
Mellow sun-kissed days turn into sultry nights made for mutual pleasure…
After ten years of service as chief of the E.R. at a New York City hospital, Dr. Kai Randall decided to trade her scrubs for a calmer existence in Sag Harbor Village. The only thing that has interrupted her serenity in months is the photo she snapped of a handsome, solitary stranger. The image haunts her. But that’s nothing compared to how she feels when she comes face-to-face with the man from her dreams.
When Assistant District Attorney Anthony Weston barges into Kai’s house frantically looking for his young daughter, he meets one beautiful complication. Anthony’s career ambitions caused him to lose his marriage—and now he’s on the cusp of a huge promotion. His life is in the city that Kai left behind, but his heart is in the soul-stirring passion they share. Is this just another sizzling summer fling or could this be the beginning of forever?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for joining me once again as I venture into the town of Sag Harbor. You’ll come across some old friends like Desiree and Lincoln. Melanie Harte also makes an appearance, in addition to Layla Brooks from Touch Me Now. Sag Harbor welcomes two newcomers in For You I Will: Dr. Kai Randall and Assistant District Attorney Anthony Weston. Both are driven individuals with totally different goals, plenty of emotional baggage and a chemistry that neither can deny.
I had a great time researching Sag Harbor and creating two characters that I know you will love as much as I do. Anthony, on the fast track to being district attorney for New York, has a four-year-old daughter and a troublesome ex-wife. His life is in Manhattan. Kai Randall has had her fill of the harsh, fast-paced life of the big city and big-city hospitals. Her life is in Sag Harbor. Hmm… Someone will have to give in if their relationship is ever going to work.
Be sure to read the other books in the Sag Harbor Village series: Dare to Dream, Heart’s Reward and Touch Me Now.
You can always follow me on Twitter @donnahill and on Facebook at facebook.com/donnahillfans.
Until next time,
Donna
Dedicated with love and appreciation to all of my readers who have supported this wonderful job of mine for 23 amazing years! Thank you!
Table of Contents
For You I Will
Touch Me Now
Mistletoe, Baby
For You I Will
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Prologue
The air over Sag Harbor was charged and ready to joust with the storm that loomed on the horizon. A blanket of gray and white hung over the treetops and roofs of the homes that dotted the landscape. The residents of Sag Harbor were accustomed to the sudden spring storms and after two years away from the frenetic pace of New York City, Dr. Kai Randall had gotten used to them, as well. So well in fact that she no longer closed herself inside her quaint home during these outbursts but welcomed them, capturing nature’s power from behind the lens of her camera.
For Kai, picking up stakes and leaving New York Presbyterian Hospital wasn’t a matter of a simple getaway; it was to save her own sanity. The bureaucratic pressure, the fourteen-hour days, and being a constant witness to pain and suffering had begun to take its toll on her physical and mental well-being. And after ten years on the front lines as chief of the E.R., she packed her stethoscope, her skills as a surgeon and returned to her ancestral home on Sag Harbor in the neighborhood known as Azurest. Kai’s great-great-grandfather Isaiah Randall had fought side-by-side with Warren M. Cuffee, a soldier in the black regiment of the Union Army who championed the liberation of blacks from slavery. Isaiah built his home on Azurest when he married Kai Seneca, a Native American who was said to have stolen Isaiah’s heart with one look from her luminous black eyes. Decades later, Kai was named after her great-great-grandmother whose name means “willow tree.”
Kai had visited the two-story family home with the wraparound porch that faced the water off and on during her childhood and fewer than a dozen times as an adult. Her hectic schedule didn’t allow for much downtime. And even then, she could never be too far away from the hospital in the event of an emergency. Finally deciding she needed a better quality of life, Kai sold her condo on the Upper East Side, traded in her Lexus for a Ford Explorer, her scrubs for jeans and flip-flops, and planted new roots in Sag Harbor Village. It took her a while to grow accustomed to the quiet and the slower pace, to realize that businesses closed at dusk and all the residents knew each other by first name and they didn’t text all day long but actually had conversations and made phone calls.
Now, more than two years later, Kai Randall was a fixture in Sag Harbor Village. With the urging of Melanie and her own restless need to “fix things,” Kai had converted her detached garage into a small medical office, complete with state-of-the-art equipment, from X-ray machines to nebulizers to sonogram machines. She ran the place herself. There wasn’t much need for a staff. Actually, most of her doctoring was done in house calls. That was Melanie’s doing as well. She referred all of her clients, family and guests to Kai, who was more than happy to pay them a visit when they were under the weather.
It was a good life. Easy. And for the first time in longer than she could remember, she was able to pursue her other passion of photography. She took real pictures, the old-fashioned way, and developed them herself in the attic that she had converted into a darkroom. She’d even donated a few to the Grenning Gallery in town, and Desiree Armstrong, a renowned artist in her own right, had suggested that Kai put up a show of her own.
But Kai hadn’t left the demands of the big city to get caught up in the demands of a small town. She liked things the way they were. No complications. No deadlines. No demands on her time or ability. Besides, most of the pictures that she took were of the people in the Village. She couldn’t begin to imagine the headache that would come as a result of needing people’s permissions to use their images. No thanks. Life was fine just the way it was.
Kai stood in the archway of her front door, her eyes lifted to the darkening sky. She estimated that she had an hour, maybe two, before the rains came. She hurried up to her attic studio and gathered up her equipment.
It was a great day for shooting. While many photographers preferred sunshine and blue heavens, Kai did some of her best work during storms and overcast skies, capturing scenes in stark black and white juxtaposed against the silhouettes of buildings or crashing waves. Today was one of those days.
She packed up her equipment in her car along with her dog, Jasper, and headed into town. From the mouth of the town proper, Kai parked her car and took out her equipment. The outline of the businesses, turn-of-the-century streetlights and the masts of the sailboats docked at the pier set against the backdrop of the overcast skies formed the perfect composition. She shot a quick roll of film and then strolled down Main Str
eet to capture the silhouettes of patrons beyond the glass windows, just as the rain began to fall. She put in another roll of film, snapped her final shots and hurried back to her car with Jasper hot on her heels just as the skies opened up.
After drying off, she went straight to her studio and removed the film from the camera. This was the part of the process that she enjoyed the most, watching the images come to life.
As she took the last photograph from the solution and hung it up to dry, she was once again fascinated by the transformation that happened in measured increments, an image coming to life right before her eyes.
All at once the profile of a man, with his head slightly bowed, his fist pressed against his forehead and seated alone in the coffee shop, emerged, and something inside of her shifted. She barely remembered taking the shot, but obviously she had. Her heart pounded as she looked closer. But it was more than his face through the plate-glass window that unsettled her. It was the aura of aloneness that wafted over him like the storm clouds. Everything within her wanted to fix him and make whatever it was that weighed down his spirit go away. How ridiculous, she thought. It was only a picture.
Yet, days later, she found that at the most inopportune moments, his image floated in front of her or that jumpy feeling in the center of her stomach wreaked havoc. At night she thought of him, and during the days she found herself hoping to catch another glance of him. But as the days turned to weeks and spring into early summer, Kai cataloged the image away.
Chapter 1
“You’ll be fine, Mrs. Anderson.” Kai snapped off her rubber gloves and pulled her stethoscope from her ears. “It’s your allergies.”
“Are you sure it’s not the flu? I feel like it’s the flu.” She sniffed hard and blinked against watery eyes.
Kai’s amber-toned eyes crinkled with humor. “No, Mrs. Anderson, it’s not the flu.” She handed her a tissue. “With all the rain we’ve been having and with the blooming flowers and grass, I’m surprised you haven’t been bothered before. I’ll give you a new prescription for your allergy medicine.”
Mrs. Anderson almost looked disappointed. Kai tucked away her smile. “You can get dressed and then come to my office for the prescription.”
“Are you sure?” she asked again.
Kai stopped at the door and glanced over her shoulder. “Positive.”
Mrs. Anderson huffed and Kai closed the door softly behind her. When she stepped out into the small waiting area that was really only equipped to handle six people including her, she was stunned to see all the seats occupied. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson and their three children were huddled together as if they’d recently been washed ashore.
“Oh my goodness.” Kai looked from one to the other and instantly saw the flush in their faces and the wan look around their eyes. “I’ll be with you all in one moment.” She started off toward her office but stopped when she remembered Mrs. Anderson, who already believed she had the flu. If the Hanson family had anything contagious she needed to get them out of the front room as soon as possible. Her triage skills from her years in the emergency room kicked into gear.
The office was small. She had three exam rooms, a tiny office and the waiting area. She quickly ushered Mr. Hanson into a room with the oldest son who was on the verge of turning six. Mrs. Hanson was placed in the adjacent room with the twin three-year-old girls. Today was a day she could use an assistant.
After getting them settled, she went to her office to write the allergy prescription for Mrs. Anderson and was just finishing when Mrs. Anderson knocked on the partially opened door.
“Come in.” She tore the prescription from the pad and handed it across the desk. “Get this filled as soon as possible and I guarantee you will feel much better.”
Mrs. Anderson took the rectangular piece of paper and placed it in her purse. “Thank you so much, Dr. Randall. I appreciate it.”
“Of course. Never hesitate to come in if you’re not feeling well. It could have been something more serious, but fortunately it wasn’t.” She smiled.
“Thank goodness for that.” She turned to leave. A wail from one of the twins pierced through the walls and halted her step. “Oh, my. That’s some cry. Must be something terribly wrong.”
Kai got up from behind her desk and ushered Mrs. Anderson out. “Kids cry. That’s what they do,” she said with a placating smile. “You be careful going home.” She gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Mrs. Anderson was a sweetheart but everyone knew she had the biggest mouth in the town of Azurest. If she even thought for a moment that an entire family was ill she would create panic in the streets of Sag Harbor before lunchtime.
Kai secured and locked the door and put her closed sign in the window then quickly went into the room with the wailing baby, who had in turn, gotten her twin involved in the symphony. Kai went to the sink and thoroughly washed her hands, put a disposable smock over her clothing and snapped on rubber gloves.
“Christine, I’m going to check out the twins first.” She picked up one of the girls from her mother’s arms and sat her on the exam table. “I can never tell them apart.”
“That’s Cara. This is Carmen,” she said, indicating the baby in her arms.
Kai talked softly and soothingly to Cara while she made a game of placing the child thermometer in her ear. “How long has everyone been sick?”
“This is the second day. The only one who hasn’t been sick is my husband, Mike. But I know taking care of a house full of sick people is going to catch up with him at some point.”
“She has a slight fever.” She tossed the disposable tip of the thermometer in the trash. “Any vomiting?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm,” Kai murmured deep in her throat while she checked Cara’s ears, nose and throat. She listened to her chest and then did it all over again with her sister, Carmen. She pushed out a breath. “They both have low-grade fevers. And with the vomiting, I’m concerned about dehydration. When I’m done with my exam of Monty, I’m going to give my colleague over at General a call. He’s a pediatrician. I’ll see what he suggests. Okay?” She offered an encouraging smile. “I’m sure it’s only a virus and it will run its course, but until it does, I want to make sure we’re doing all that we can.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Sure. I’m going to examine Monty and then I’ll come back and check you out.” She took off her smock and gloves and ditched them in the trash then went into the next exam room.
An hour later she sent the Hanson family to the local pharmacy and also advised that they get to bed early.
Kai went about cleaning and sterilizing the rooms and was ready to call it a day when the office phone rang. One of these days she might actually hire a receptionist, she mused as she hurried to the front desk.
“Dr. Randall. How may I help you?”
“What’s up, doc?”
His corny greeting always made her laugh. “Dr. Drew.”
“I’m calling to check up on my virtual patients.”
She leaned her hip against the desk. “They should be on their way home by now and following your advice.”
“Good. I so love doing business with you, Dr. Randall.”
She could hear the laughter in his voice. That was a unique quality of Andrew Clarke. He was always upbeat and could make anyone around him feel the same way. It was probably why he was such an incredible pediatrician.
“I aim to please.”
“The real reason for my call is that there is an author reading at the Grenning Gallery tonight. I know how much you love thrillers and mysteries and it’s the mystery writer—Harlan Coben—that will be the guest.”
Her eyes widened. “Right! I totally forgot. Harlan Coben is a favorite of mine.”
“So...you’ll go with me?”
She hesitated. They’d been out t
ogether before—casually—with a group of his colleagues from the hospital. But she always had the sense that if given the chance, he’d want more. This would be the first time they would actually be going out “together.” Is that what she wanted? He was good-looking, and smart and funny and available...
“Sure. I’d love to go. I can meet you there—”
“Don’t be silly. I can pick you up. I’m out of here early today for a change. Reading starts at eight. Maybe we can grab something to eat first or afterwards.”
Oh, so this really was a “real date.” “Uh, okay. I’ll be ready.”
“You want to grab something first or after?”
She was having momentary brain freeze. If they had dinner first then went to the reading it wasn’t as romantic, whereas a late dinner gave off all kinds of signals. Didn’t it? It had been so long since she’d been on a date, she really didn’t know.
“I guess we could eat first.”
“No problem. How ’bout I pick you up at six?”
“Works for me,” she said, forcing cheer into her voice.
“See you then.”
“See ya,” she chirped. She slowly hung up the phone. Her right eyebrow rose ever so slightly. A date. Well, stranger things had happened.
Chapter 2
“You finally gave in to Dr. Feelgood. It’s about damned time,” Tiffany teased Kai as she sipped her iced tea during their etched-in-stone Wednesday afternoon brunch. They’d decided several years earlier that with their hectic lives they needed time for themselves and designated Wednesday afternoon for just that. They would always have brunch and when time and opportunity allowed they either went window-shopping or to a movie. Although Tiffany’s import business of fine jewelry and fabrics often took her out of town to shop, she and Kai made it a point to keep their Wednesday afternoon dates. In the early days it had taken a bit of getting used to, with one or both of them often forgetting about their “date.” But once they got into the swing of it, not hell or high water would keep them from getting together for some girl time.