wooing justin
The Cameron Family Saga Book Two
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright c 2016
All rights reserved
Cover art by Madelene Martin
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
Published by Shirley Larson
Table of Contents
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 1
“Here,” Justin Cameron said, tossing the velvet box containing a diamond ring at me as I walked into his hospital room. “My ex-fiancée doesn’t want this. Why don’t you try it on for size?”
Most people wouldn’t consider it an insult to have a diamond ring thrown at them. I knew that it was. Justin was mocking me. I was the last person he would ever think of marrying. But he was the only man I’d ever wanted. I tried to remember he was in a hospital bed and not feeling all that great. “You need to save this for someone who’s interested in you, Justin.”
“And you’re not.”
“No.”
It was a lie, it had to be. Anne Wentworth had to be interested in me. Otherwise why did she come to see me every day? Unless it was pity. I hated pity.
Anne looked tired. Something about her, the look on her face, the droop of her shoulders stirred a feeling in me I didn’t want stirred. Anne was attractive in an off-beat way. She filled out those scrubs very nicely. Nice breasts. Big. A man’s handful. Her ruby-colored hair was pulled back into a neat bun at the nape of her neck in a way that made my fingers itch to pull out the pins and see that glorious mane come tumbling free. Damn. These accursed sexual thoughts that kept cropping into my head about her were all the more reason to get her out of my room. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, Anne had troubles of her own.
A small voice inside me said, “Then let the hell up with the smart ass remarks.” But jackass that I am, I didn’t listen. “You’re not interested in me. Yet you’ve come to see me every day that I’ve been confined inside this medical mausoleum. Why else would you be here?”
“Professional courtesy? Although right now I’m not feeling very professional…or courteous.”
Good. I’d irritated her. Maybe I could annoy her enough so that she would stop coming to see me. Every time she came through that door, I got this gut feeling that here was a woman who was worthy of any man’s love…but mine. I wanted her out of my room. I wanted her out of my sight. I wanted her out of my life.
I tried to remember that Justin was a proud, vigorous man who resented being confined to a hospital bed. He’d also just had the woman he loved tell him she didn’t want to be with him anymore. I had the misfortune to come into his room minutes after Andrea walked out.
“I’m sorry about Andrea,” I said. I had to resist the temptation to open up the velvet box and at least get a glimpse of the kind of ring I’d never possess. I laid the box on his night stand.
“The hell you are. You don’t give a damn. And neither do I. Why did I ever think I wanted to marry her? Why did I think I ever wanted to marry anybody? I must have been out of my mind.”
He sank back on the bed. I gazed at him, my heart breaking. I’d gone to school with Justin, been in the same classes. Of course I loved him. I was an emergency room nurse in this same hospital with a critically ill sister. My visits to Justin had to be squeezed in between my shifts and my visits to Natalie, who lay in another hospital bed one floor down. The only way I managed coming to see Justin was to cut short my precious hours of sleep.
Even with his long, lean form stretched out in a hospital bed, Justin looked incredibly attractive. He was a blond with sun-streaked hair and green eyes. He had the perfect features all the Cameron men had. He’d just come back from Afghanistan with a head wound that had not impaired his ability to think…or lash out at anybody who tried to placate him. He was subject to migraines and the loss of brain fluid through his nostrils.
“How about,” Justin raised up on one elbow, “you take your false sympathy and your long face and walk out of here on your rubber shoes?”
“I can do that,” I said with a touch of acid in my voice.
“And don’t come back.”
“Oh, no. You don’t get off that easily. I’ll be back, Mister. And I suggest you try being a little more civil. There are lots of people in this hospital who are worse off than you. Get a grip, Justin. And stop feeling sorry for yourself.” With that, I turned my back on him and walked my rubber shoes out of there.
I lay back in that damn hospital bed and felt like a jackass. Anne Wentworth was right on all counts. There were a lot of people in this hospital in worse shape than me. I should stop feeling sorry for myself. I’d just swung my legs out of bed when my big brother Hunter walked through the door. “I’m getting out of here.”
“Like hell you are. Doc says you need to stay at least another three days until all the tests are done.” Hunter gave me that I-know-better-than-you look, one he’d perfected with long practice.
“Just because you think you’re so much older and wiser…”
“Damn straight I’m older and wiser. I have been for several years.” He walked to the night stand and picked up the black velvet box. “What’s this?”
“That,” I said, trying to sound gleeful, “is the last remnant of darling Andrea’s love.”
“Good. I never liked her. I knew she wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Hunter, I want out of here. I’m done being poked and prodded…and pitied.”
“You listen to me, little brother. You’re going to stay for another three days until the doctor is ready to release you.”
“I’m not…”
Brother Alex strolled into the room. “Having trouble, Hunter? Do we need to tie him to the bed?”
“Nobody is going to tie me to the bed. Guys, come on. You’ve got to get me out of here. I can’t sleep at night and when I just get nicely asleep in the daytime, some damn body comes in to take my temperature, or ask how I’m feeling, or thinks he’s going to give me an enema.”
“That I’d like to see,” Alex said, smiling gleefully.
I looked at my two big brothers who looked enough alike to be twins even though they were four years apart. Hunter was older and heavier but they both had dark hair, navy blue eyes and the same chiseled chins. I was the changeling. I had the coloring of my mother’s side of the family.
“Hunter, do something. Or I’ll get dressed and walk out of this place when no one is looking, I swear.”
Hunter thought for a minute and then said, “Stay another day and I’ll talk to the doctor about releasing you.”
“You’re a lifesaver, brother.”
“I said I’d talk to the doctor. It’s not a done deal, Justin.”
“Oh, I think it is. I’d be a hell of lot better at home than I am here. At least I could go to the can without showing the whole damn world my butt.”
“But it’s such a cute little butt,” Alex said.
“If I weren�
��t in such a weakened condition, I’d get out of this bed and rearrange your face,” I growled.
“Knock it off, you two. Justin, try to get some rest. I’ll let you know tomorrow if I was able to get the doctor to release you.”
“Doctor or not, I’m going.”
“Shall I kiss you and make you better?” Alex leaned over as if to put his lips on my forehead. I caught him by his fancy jacket lapels and backed him off.
“Hey, easy on the threads, bro.” Alex was the dandy in the family. He was always turned out in a three piece suit with a shirt and tie. Hunter’s style of dressing was a more relaxed. He had on his executive suit, but his shirt was open at the throat.
“You come that close to me again brother, and you’ll have a bloody nose.”
“Mom sends her love.” Alex grinned at me.
“I’ll let her kiss me when I get home. You’d better be watching around corners for me.”
Alex just laughed. “You were in no danger of having your lips meet mine. Trust me on that, brother.”
We said our goodbyes and they left the room. They were two very large pains in the ass, but I loved them. There were no two people on earth I trusted more.
Anne
At the end of my shift, I changed out of my scrubs and released my tangle of red hair from my cap. Then I went outside to grab a breath of fresh air. My Friday night had been the usual emergency room mayhem, staunching the blood flow of a kid’s gut from a bullet hole he‘d caught in a drive-by shooting, holding the hand of a woman I had to tell there was really nothing we could do for her two broken ribs that she’d gotten from “falling down the stairs.” But now, even though I was dead tired, it was time to go back in the hospital and take the elevator to the second floor. Outside the door of 214, I stood for a moment, composing myself. Then with a smile pasted on my face, I went in.
I walked to the bed where my sister Natalie lay. Her beautiful red hair was almost gone. Her blue eyes, once bright like mine, were dark and sunken. She was thin, so thin it broke my heart to see her clavicle visible through her veined skin. The leukemia was slowly but surely taking its toll.
“Anne.” She reached out her hand to me and smiled. I sat next to her and took her hand in mine. It was so cold. “I’m so glad you came. I wanted to tell you how much better I’m feeling. I should be able to leave here soon and go home.”
Natalie said this every time I came. It was a patent lie, of course. She wasn’t better and she wouldn’t be coming home. But I said the same thing I always said. “That’s wonderful news, baby.”
“I knew you’d be pleased. I’ve been trying to stay awake so I wouldn’t miss you, but now I…want to sleep. And you look tired, too.”
“I am, baby. You sleep now. I’ll come back after I’ve had my nap.”
It was two weeks later and I no longer had a visit to Justin in my schedule. He’d been dismissed several days ago. On a Friday morning, I walked out into a crisp November day in the fair city of Rochester on the Ontario. A drift of gray clouds obscured the sky. It would be a great day for hiking along the Erie Canal path. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done anything except work and talk to my despairing heart about Natalie.
Inside my little brick house on Dewey Avenue, it was too quiet. I dropped my keys in the blue bowl by the door.
I didn’t want food. I thought only of heading for my saggy double bed in the back bedroom. I wouldn’t even feel that sag today, that’s how tired I was. I had just shed my coat when a knock came at my door. I considered not answering, but maybe it was a neighbor needing a nurse. When I saw who stood on the threshold, I had to catch my breath. What could this incredibly successful man and his wife want with me?
“Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cameron.” Mrs. Cameron was heavily pregnant. Hunter Cameron stood there in his expensive overcoat, his hand under his wife’s elbow. “May we come in, Anne?”
I nodded and said, “Of course,” but what I really wanted to say What on earth do you two want with me?
My house was a decorating disaster, faded green shag carpet, worn red frieze davenport. I grabbed up the newspaper I’d left on the cushion and gestured for them to sit down. I hated to have the two of them perched on my shabby couch, but there was no other choice.
Mrs. Cameron began. “We know you’re just getting off work, and we won’t keep you. It’s…well…we need your help.”
“If you’re looking for assistance after your baby is born, I really don’t do that kind of work…”
“No,” she said, a bit anxiously. “Our request has nothing to do with me. It has to do with Justin.”
Justin. I steeled myself. “You need a nurse for Justin?”
“Well, yes…and no,” said Mrs. Cameron. “We’re very concerned about him. He’s depressed about his condition. He’s even stopped playing guitar.”
To me, this was the most alarming thing she could have said. Justin lived to play guitar. When he was playing, it was as if the guitar was an extension of his soul.’
“We’ve explored every possibility with doctors here in the United States. We’ve heard there’s a doctor in Puerto Rico who’s done gene therapy on cases like Justin’s. We finally got Justin to agree to try it. He can’t fly because of his condition, so he’s going on a cruise ship. Obviously I can‘t go with him, and my husband doesn‘t want to leave me. Justin has adamantly refused to have Alex or Lynn accompany him because he says Hunter will need Alex more than ever for the business now that Justin is leaving, and Lynn has a wonderful opportunity to star in a show. His mother Amelia is beside herself with anxiety but she realizes that if she had trouble with her heart she’d be more of a liability than an asset. So we thought of you. We knew that you were in school with Justin.”
“That was many years ago.”
Gently, Liz Cameron said, “We also know that you came to see him every day in the hospital.”
That made me a little uncomfortable. Did they keep tabs on every person who visited Justin? “Just as I would do for any old friend.”
Liz smiled. “Any good friend.
Liz Cameron couldn‘t have been much older than I was. But maybe being pregnant gave her that motherly air.
“The problem is,” Hunter continued, “you can’t travel with him as his nurse. I know what he’d say to that. The only solution is for you to book passage on the voyage and accidentally run in to him.”
“You mean…pretend I’m there on my own enjoying the sea air? No offense, Mr. Cameron, but that’s ridiculous. Justin knows I could never afford to take a trip like that.”
“We’ve thought of that. You could say that the hospital is funding your trip to attend a seminar on trauma first response and you were afraid to fly.”
“That’s ridiculous, and untrue.”
“Sometimes…if it’s for a good cause,” Liz said, “it doesn’t hurt to bend the truth a little.”
I shook my head. These two were considered a ’power couple’ in New York City and no less so here in Rochester. I was taking on two formidable people but I had reason on my side. “You’re asking me to leave my job and my sister for two weeks and get on a ship where I’ll tell Justin a whooping big lie about why I’m there. Doesn’t even sound plausible, let alone doable.”
“We understand your concern.” This from Hunter. “We’re willing to compensate you for your time. We’ll pay all your expenses.”
That brought my dander up. “Oh, that’s much better. I’ll be a paid liar. No. I won’t do it. Go find someone else to be his companion.”
“Someone who doesn’t care about him as much as you do?” Liz asked in that gentle tone. “Put yourself in our place. Why would we want to engage somebody who only cares about the money? Being offered money upset you. That’s a good indication to us that you are exactly the person we need to watch over Justin. Suppose he passes out on the way over?”
“They have medical doctors on cruise ships.”
“Yes.
But it will be a doctor who won’t have firsthand knowledge of Justin’s condition,” Liz Cameron said.
“Anne, forgive me.” This from Hunter, who sounded more determined than ever. “You say Justin knows your financial situation. Well, we do, too.” Liz covered her husband’s hand with her own as if warning him to be careful.
“We know your sister Natalie is in the hospital with leukemia and the prognosis isn’t good. You are deeply in debt and your insurance has been maxed out. You don’t have the money to cover the expense of a bone marrow transplant.”
I rose to my feet, more furious than I thought I could ever be at someone related to Justin. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Mr. Cameron looked ready to get to his feet and challenge me, but his wife stopped him with her hand on his arm. “The last thing in the world we want is to insult you.” Mrs. Cameron’s gentle voice appeased me. “The truth is, no one is more qualified to accompany Justin on this trip.”
I had a feeling that, when it came to her family, this woman was used to getting what she wanted. She rose then, graceful even with her baby weight. Mr. Cameron rose too, his attention all on his wife.
Liz Cameron said, “I understand that this is a shock to you, to appear unannounced on your doorstep with this request. I also understand that while we’ve had time to think it through, you haven’t had any time at all. Please, just consider it over the weekend. You can give us your answer Monday.” She put her hand on my arm, and I felt the force of those huge green eyes, that aura of caring that surrounded her. “I know that your pride may have been hurt a little, but I’d like you to remember that it’s Justin we’re talking about here. We’ll do whatever is in our power to make sure he doesn’t go on this trip alone.”
“My sister must be the focus of my attention.”
“That’s as it should be. If you agree to accompany Justin, all your sister’s medical bills would be taken care of…” I could feel Liz watching me very closely, “…as well as the cost of a bone marrow transplant.”
Wooing Justin: The Cameron Family Saga, Book Two Page 1