Mommy Heiress (Accidental Dads #2)

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  As he treated patients that afternoon, he heard about Cori’s trip to the bank. Her dealings with Loretta, Pudge’s wife, and how Loretta lost the battle. He wondered who sent her money. Had she broken down and called her father? Maybe he’d sent the money for her car repairs. The idea she could be leaving town in the next few days left an oddly empty sensation inside him.

  Naturally, the news regarding Cori didn’t end there. He also learned about her trip to the grocery store. What she bought. Even that Chuck Mayfield delivered the groceries.

  “Is there a reason why there’s a Cori alert going on?” he asked Ella once the last patient had been ushered out and the door locked. “I doubt she’s taken one step without my hearing about it.”

  “They felt you would be interested.”

  Ben narrowed his eyes. There was more to her explanation, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to tell him. Not until she was ready. While Ella was a talkative sort, there were also times when she could have been called the sphinx.

  “Why would I be interested?” He cursed himself for asking when he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.

  Ella smiled. “Maybe it has to do with the interest you’ve shown in her since she’s arrived. People can’t recall the last time you’d shown that kind of attention to a woman. Of course, you never did say what you did at that medical conference a few months ago.” She eyed him speculatively. “What did you do there?”

  “Listened to boring talks on new methods in family practice.” He affected a yawn by patting his palm against his open mouth. “I did hear how a nurse can be replaced by a computer.”

  “In your dreams, Cooper.” Ella picked up her purse and draped the straps over her arm. “No computer can do what I do.”

  He cocked his eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?” He figured one of his favorite pastimes was yanking his nurse’s chain.

  “Yeah.” Ella gave him the same look she would give one of her own sons if she felt they were getting out of line. “You get yourself a good night’s sleep. You’re starting to look a little ragged,” she said over her shoulder as she walked out. “Good night.”

  “Night, Ella.”

  Ben stayed in his office long enough to look over the latest medical journal and scan his mail. By then, he hoped Ella was home. He had started to walk out the back door when his beeper went off. Smothering a sigh, he turned back to the phone. The idea of relaxing that evening was off to a rocky start.

  Before Ben left, he headed for the cottage. Since he knew Cori had to be there and she didn’t answer his knock, he tried the doorknob. And smiled when he found it twisted easily under his touch. He found a light burning in the kitchen, sending a soft glow over the woman asleep on the couch. He crouched down by her head and ran the backs of his fingers across her cheek.

  Soft velvet, he thought, touching her cheek again as he whispered her name. “Cori.”

  She frowned at the intrusion into her dreams. “Go ‘way,” she muttered, flicking her fingers at his.

  “Sorry, babe, nap time’s over,” he continued to speak quietly. “I have to make a call outside of town and thought you might like to ride along.”

  Cori squinted her eyes as her mind rose slowly from the depths of sleep. Ben hid his smile. A smile that abruptly disappeared when she licked her lips, which were dry from her nap. His gaze focused on her mouth.

  “Are we talking about something that involves blood?” she murmured.

  “No, but I might have to give a shot.”

  She slowly sat up. “As long as I don’t have to look.” She arched her neck and stretched her arms over her head. The action thrust her chest forward, molding the fabric of her dress against her breasts.

  “You, ah, you might want to wear something a little more casual,” Ben said hoarsely. He stood.

  Cori nodded woodenly as she stumbled to her feet. She mumbled a thank-you when he grabbed her arm to steady her.

  “I’ll just be a minute.” She yawned widely. “I never sleep during the day!”

  “You forget. Your body is changing. Hormones are taking over, and for a while when your body wants to sleep, it will sleep whether you want to or not.”

  “Oh, goody.” Cori disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door after her.

  Ten minutes later, she came out looking remarkably alert, considering her state when she first woke up.

  Heeding his suggestion, she had put on a pair of jeans and topped them with a bright coral T-shirt that she had tucked in. A narrow black leather belt circled her trim waist. She had brushed her hair and added a pair of coral earrings. Her idea of casual was a bit dressier than his, but he enjoyed what he saw.

  “Come on.” He held out his hand.

  “Wait a minute. I slept through lunch.” She ran into the kitchen and returned with two apples. She threw one to Ben and munched on hers as she walked out ahead of him.

  “A woman giving a man an apple,” he murmured, biting into his. “What a concept.”

  “I heard that, Dr. Cooper,” she called over her shoulder. “And I know what you meant.”

  “I sensed you were a smart lady, Miss Peyton.” He trotted over to pull open the passenger door to his truck for her.

  Cori settled in the seat, tucking one leg under her. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Has that ever stopped you before?” he explained, starting up the truck and pulling around to the front of the building.

  “No, not really,” she agreed, “but I thought I’d be polite and ask first.”

  “Go for it.”

  Cori finished her apple in a couple bites, grabbed a tissue from the box on the truck’s floor and carefully wrapped the core before continuing. “How come you don’t live in the cottage?”

  “It’s always been used as sort of a recovery area for patients who needed hospital care but didn’t want to stay a hundred miles from home,” he explained. “My dad set it up. The family could bring in food and the spouse could stay and help out. It also saves them having to put out hospital and nursing fees. They pay a small fee for the use and everyone’s happy since they know there’s a doctor at all times across the yard. The upstairs of the clinic is fixed up as my living quarters. Dad stayed there sometimes, such as when we had a bad outbreak of influenza. I stay there now. He wanted to set up an operating room upstairs, but it meant putting in an elevator and he didn’t have the funds. Someday, I’d like to build a small hospital that can serve the neighboring towns. Maybe then we could keep a few more kids in town if we had more jobs to offer.”

  “Except building a hospital isn’t cheap,” she said. “I’ve worked on fund-raisers just for a new hospital wing and the figures for that were astounding.”

  “Out here, we wouldn’t need a hospital the size of Mount Sinai,” he countered. “Just a facility where I can handle any heavy-duty emergency that comes up without having to call in for a medical helicopter. Where I don’t have to worry that a patient will die before real help comes.” His voice turned pensive. He concentrated on the road so hard it took a moment for him to realize a hand rested lightly on his arm. He looked down, saw the slender fingers curled around his forearm, the polished nails gleaming in the dusk light.

  “You’ll have your hospital, Ben. I know you will,” Cori said softly. “Just in the short time I’ve been here I’ve seen your dedication to your patients. I would think they would be more than willing to help you get that hospital started.”

  He shook his head, the wry smile on his lips telling her she couldn’t understand.

  “Cori, we’re not an affluent community. More leave every year because the jobs aren’t here. The day after graduation, the kids leave either for college because they were lucky enough to get a scholarship and want to make something of themselves, or because jobs are so scarce around here they have to move to a bigger town. It’s a fact of life.”

  “If you feel the town is dying, why did you come back?”

  “Because my dad had been their doctor for more than forty years and t
hey needed someone to take his place,” he said without hesitation. “Besides, I was getting tired of the politics and the pressures in a big city hospital. Here, if an afternoon’s slow, I can take off and go fishing. People can reach me through my beeper. I make house calls. That you don’t see in the big city. My nurse reminds me every day she knows more than me and I better not forget that. Most of my patients either remember me as a snot-nosed kid or went to school with me.” His arm flexed under her touch as he turned the wheel, steering the truck down a dirt road. The vehicle lurched as he negotiated past potholes.

  “But the town isn’t all that far off the highway. And you’ve spoken of neighboring towns. How far away are they?”

  He thought for a moment. “There’re three within a ten-or fifteen-mile radius. One carries the status of having one of the very few drive-in theaters still operating. Another has a nice little strip mall.”

  “But nothing that could lure the tourists off the highway,” she mused, sitting back. “It seems like a shame. When I think of all the towns that have some sort of gimmick or tourist attraction. You know what I mean. Like towns that have these twenty-foot dinosaurs kids can climb or caverns with odd rock formations. I even heard of a town motel where the rooms were actually built to look like Native American tepees. But I guess that wouldn’t work here, would it? What kind of Native Americans lived in Kansas? I guess it was Plains, wasn’t it? History was never a strong subject for me.”

  Ben braked to a stop. “Cori.”

  She was engrossed in her ramblings, her hands moving in expressive gestures. “What about famous Civil War battles? No, I guess they all happened on the East Coast, didn’t they? We have a town in California that’s Danish. I mean the buildings! They look like they came from Denmark. People love to visit there. Or maybe…”

  “Cori!”

  She stopped and turned her head, cocking it to one side.

  Ben placed his fingers over her lips. “How often do you go off like that?”

  She looked upward in thought. “Whenever I get excited about something.”

  His lips twitched. “This could prove real interesting. But for now, we’re almost at the Williams house so let’s not let them think all those rumors about you floating around are true, okay?”

  She wasn’t the least bit offended. “Whatever you say. Although I do think I’m on the right track. I find that the more I talk, the more things fall into place for me.”

  Ben shook his head, bemused by her breezy reply. He put the truck in gear and started forward.

  “What kind of emergency are you out here for?” Cori asked.

  “It’s not exactly an emergency,” he answered, soon parking in front of a sprawling two-story house. “Just checking on their kids.”

  “House calls. How quaint,” she murmured, opening the door and hopping out of the truck.

  “Hey, Doc,” a man, around the same age as Ben, greeted them. He looked at Cori with little curiosity.

  “Stan, this is Cori Peyton. Cori, Stan Williams.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Cori smiled, putting out her hand.

  Stan smiled shyly and took her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

  She felt the rough callouses on his palm, but didn’t draw away. “It’s all right. I’m sure you’ve heard all the nasty stories. Please be assured only half of them are true.” She stepped inside. She turned around and frowned in thought. “Unless you heard I was an alien.”

  “Now that’s a new one!” A lilting voice exclaimed, walking into the kitchen. “I hope that story’s as good as the others.”

  Cori turned to see the woman she assumed to be Stan’s wife. Shoulder-length dark red hair was pulled back into a braid and tiny wisps of hair framed a face that couldn’t be considered textbook beautiful, but no one would have noticed, or cared, due to the warm smile on her lips and in her bright green eyes.

  “Hi, I’m Denise Williams,” the redhead said. “I’m afraid to say you don’t look anything like an alien.” She turned to Stan. “Wasn’t it Claude Fielding who claimed to have been abducted by aliens?”

  Stan nodded. “‘Course, they sent him back. Can’t blame them. The man has the intelligence of an aardvark.”

  “He also said he saw Elvis at some truck stop when he was in Tennessee,” Denise added.

  “And that’s only in the past three months.” Ben grinned.

  “And people say we Californians are Looney Tunes,” Cori spoke up. “All I can contribute is knowing someone who believed some kind of rare Asian oil was going to keep her looking twenty-five forever.”

  “Did it?” Denise asked.

  She shook her head. “She conveniently forgot that using the oil meant no tanning. Her skin is already looking like leather.”

  Denise looked at Ben. “She’ll fit in just fine.” She turned toward the stove. “Coffee for anyone?”

  Cori turned to Ben. “I thought this was a house call for you,” she said, confused by the almost festive air.

  “In a way, it is. Their youngest is diabetic. I come by to check on him and make sure he’s doing what’s necessary.”

  “I heard you’re expecting,” Denise said to Cori. “Congratulations.”

  Cori winced. “I’m still in the shock phase.”

  “That’s natural.” Denise patted her arm. “Come on, the coffee’s decaf.” She ushered her over to the kitchen table. “Stan and Ben can handle Ronnie.”

  “We’re dismissed,” Stan said, giving Ben a wry grin.

  Denise waited until she heard the two sets of footsteps climbing the stairs.

  “Until I saw you I had no idea someone could look gorgeous wearing jeans and a T-shirt,” she said, shaking her head.

  Cori’s spirits sank. She had hoped Denise wouldn’t see her the way everyone else seemed to. “Since I arrived here, people act as if I’m a species they’ve never seen before. They follow me and make fun of me.”

  Denise set a mug in front of her, gestured for her to help herself to coffee creamer and sugar. “We’re not all that way, hon. Sure, we have a few, but I’m sure you do out there in Beverly Hills, too.”

  “I’ve known my share,” she admitted.

  Denise sat down across from Cori, cupping her chin in her palm. “So what do you think of Ben?”

  He’s a fantastic kisser was the first thing that came to mind, although Cori would have died before admitting it out loud.

  “He’s very nice,” she said instead.

  Denise made a face. “Nice is something you say about the weather. Not when you’re talking about a hunk like Ben.” The freckles on her nose seemed to dance as she grinned. “Stan and I grew up with Ben. He was Stan’s best man at our wedding. You won’t find a better man than Ben, and his family is wonderful.”

  “That’s a lovely recommendation, but there isn’t anything between us.”

  Denise’s smile broadened. “Easy for you to say.”

  “I am saying it!”

  “Now where are my manners?” Denise jumped up. “I made a pie today since I knew Ben was coming over.” She opened a cabinet and pulled out plates. She looked over her shoulder. “Do you know if he had any dinner? More times than I’d like to think he’d skip dinner and show up here and never say a word.”

  “No, he didn’t. He said he came over to get me after he finished with his last patient. He didn’t expect to find me asleep. But then, I didn’t expect to fall asleep, either.”

  “Don’t think anything about it. I took at least four naps a day during my pregnancies.” Denise looked at her sharply. “Wait a minute. Didn’t he feed you? That rat!” She changed direction for the refrigerator.

  “No, I didn’t mean you had to feed me!” she protested.

  “Nonsense, I usually feed Ben when he shows up. You having problems with a queasy stomach? What I’m asking is if you think you can handle a roast beef sandwich?”

  Cori’s mouth was already watering. “With mustard?” she asked in a soft voice.

  “No
problem.”

  “And pickles.”

  Denise pulled jars out of the refrigerator.

  By the time Ben and Stan returned, Cori was happily munching on a sandwich she could barely fit her mouth around.

  “Don’t get that hangdog look,” Denise chided, gesturing to a filled plate next to Cori. “I made you one, too.”

  “I can see Cori made herself right at home,” Ben teased, pulling out the chair next to hers and sitting down. “The kid’s fine,” he told Denise. “The little hustler tried to get me to play Super Nintendo with him, but I reminded him what a sore loser I am.”

  “How many children do you have?” Cori asked.

  “Three, but sometimes I think I have four. Such as now.” Denise slapped Stan’s hand, which hovered over her sandwich. “Just wait for your own, buster.”

  During the next few hours as they graduated from roast beef sandwiches and potato salad to peach cobbler for dessert, Cori learned Stan and Denise were married the day after they graduated from high school and their three children were all boys—seventeen, twelve and six. Denise had had two miscarriages and was hoping to have another child.

  “I want a girl this time,” she told Cori. “I feel so outnumbered at times!”

  “Yeah, and guess who rules this family!” Stan laughed.

  Cori felt a sense of loss when Ben stood and announced it was time to go.

  “Some people have to get up at the crack of dawn,” he kidded Stan.

  “Yeah, but I don’t get called out in the middle of the night to deliver babies and stitch up people.”

  “It’s the glamour of the job. Bye, gorgeous.” Ben dropped a kiss on Denise’s cheek.

  “Ha! After seeing Cori, that name won’t mean a thing to me.” She hugged him before turning to Cori and hugging her, too. “Next time I get into town we’ll meet for lunch. And don’t worry about any of the gossiping biddies.”

  “At the rate I’m going, they’ll soon have something new to say.”

  Cori was quiet as she and Ben walked out to his truck.