by Lori Wilde
“Not those kinds of talents!” she snapped at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Gregory.”
“What?” Gage shrugged, feigning innocence, as if he hadn’t been mentally picturing her swinging naked from a trapeze in his bedroom.
Actually, he was kind of enjoying putting Doctor “Ice-wouldn’t-melt-on-her-tongue” in the hot seat. Whenever she got flustered, which granted only seemed to be around her mother, her deep-indigo eyes took on a sexy sheen, and twin spots of color rose high on her patrician cheekbones.
Gage had the strongest urge to reach over and muss her perfect hair, to smudge her flawlessly applied lipstick.
Hell, who was he kidding? He wanted to kiss her again and hold her against the length of his body. He wanted to nibble on that long swanlike neck and strum his tongue back and forth across her earlobe.
She was such a challenger with her sharp, cynical wit and that keep-your-distance facade. He knew she would never go out with him for real. Especially now. He had mucked things up when he’d told Gracie they were dating, and he had only been trying to help.
The Good Samaritan got kicked in the teeth sometimes.
Gracie clapped her hands, bringing him back to reality. “You two are just so cute together.”
“You’re not burning something, are you?” Janet asked her mother, but her flinty-eyed stare remained fixed accusingly on him.
“What?” That distracted Gracie, which had been Janet’s intent.
The older woman scurried to the stove and lifted lids and poke at the contents with a fork. The hearty smell of burgundy, sour cream, and beef burst forth and mingled with the earthy, yeasty bread aroma.
His stomach rumbled, but he wasn’t ready to eat. Not yet, because after dinner he was going to have to break up with Janet and he sorta enjoyed being her boyfriend.
What’s the problem, pal? You’re not really dating her. Dine and ditch.
“Darling, would you mind pouring the iced tea into glasses?” Gracie asked Janet.
“I’ll do it,” Gage volunteered, pulling open the freezer compartment of the fridge and getting out ice trays.
That earned him another dirty look from Janet.
“Aren’t you sweet.” Gracie beamed. “And very handy. Your young man is quite a find. You’ve done much better hooking a mate on your own than I could ever do for you.”
“Remember that, Mother. Okay? From now on, there will be no more matchmaking.”
“Don’t worry. Now that I know you’re with Gage, there’s no need. I can rest easy.” Gracie patted one of his biceps. “He’s got great genes. Your babies are going to be so gorgeous.”
“Mother! Stop. You’ll chase him off.”
“I don’t mean to embarrass. Did I embarrass you, Gage?”
“Not a bit, ma’am.”
“See there, he’s not embarrassed.”
Janet sighed and shook her head.
Truthfully, he felt sorry for her. It couldn’t be easy having your mother constantly flinging guys in your path. Getting to know Gracie was helping him understand Janet better. That wall she kept around her heart was as much to ward off Gracie’s unwanted suitors as to protect herself.
Well, he wasn’t one of Gracie’s suitors, and Janet didn’t need to protect herself from him. He meant her no harm.
“We’re almost ready. Janet, you bring the salad to the dining room.” Gracie shoved the salad bowl in her daughter’s hands, and Janet pushed backward through the swinging kitchen doors. “Gage, we’re going to need one more glass of iced tea,” Gracie said to him.
“One more?”
“Please.”
“Mother, why are there four place settings at the table?” Janet came storming back into the kitchen, glowering.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? We’re having company.”
“Wait a minute! I specifically asked you not to tell anyone that Gage and I were dating. Give it up, Gracie. Whom did you tell? Aunt Rhonda? That flake Nadine? And please don’t tell me that our mystery guest is gossipy Mrs. Tattersol.”
“No dear. I kept your secret.”
“Totally?”
“Well...”
“Who’s coming to dinner and why?” Janet sank her hands on her hips.
“Okay, so I told one person.”
“What one person?”
Why was Janet getting so upset? So what if Gracie spilled the beans to a close relative. No harm done.
Right?
Apparently not.
“Don’t get mad, sweetie. He was really happy for you. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this excited about anything. It just so happens he’s heard of Gage, knows his reputation in the medical community, and he’s very impressed.”
Janet blanched and trembled.
Gage set the glasses of tea he’d had clutched in his hands on the counter and hurried to her side. “Are you all right?”
She reached out to him and gripped his hand for support.
He liked that she was leaning on him, but her reaction confused him. What was going on here?
“Whom did you invite, Mother?” she whimpered, sounding almost like a lost little girl.
The sound jerked on his heartstrings. This wasn’t the proud, independent young doctor he knew. What man could cause this kind of change in her? Was it an old boyfriend? He wondered in a momentary flare of jealousy. Was a bad heartbreak the reason she didn’t believe in love?
“Don’t ask me why, I told him. I suppose I wanted to impress him. After all these years, I guess I’m still trying to win that man’s approval.”
“Who are you talking about?” Janet’s eyes were wide as saucers. Her hold on Gage tightened. “Who’s coming to dinner?”
Gracie looked chagrined. “Why, dear, your father, of course.”
8
At that fortuitous moment, the doorbell chimed.
All three of them stared at each other.
Janet’s heart leaped. Her father was at the front door. The man she had spent a lifetime trying in vain to impress.
Old childhood memories flashed through her head. Infrequent memories when Father would come by the house to pick her up for that occasional birthday excursion or Christmas outing.
If she had tried to kiss him, he would tell her that her face was sticky. If she ran to him for a hug, he would scold her unladylike behavior. If she tried to hold his hand, he’d tell her to quit draping herself over him like kudzu.
“Men despise clinging, dependent females,” he’d told her frequently. “Nobody enjoys being smothered.”
She’d understood because Gracie had a tendency to smother. Was that why he’d left, she’d wondered a million times. Because her mother had been one of those clinging-vine women? Or was she the clingy one? Janet had spent her childhood trying to prove that she was anything but needy.
Even now, knowing her father was standing in the foyer made her feel like that awkward little girl who repeatedly failed to please him no matter how hard she tried.
Janet knew why her mother had let the cat out of the bag about her relationship with Gage—except that she had no relationship with Gage beyond colleague and neighbor. Gracie held a trump card in her ongoing emotional tug-of-war with Niles Hunter, and she had played it. Janet knew her mother far too well. Her motive in asking him to dinner was twofold.
One to scoop her ex-husband. And two, to turn up the pressure on her daughter to get married and have babies. What better way to accomplish her goals than to tell Niles that Janet was dating one of the few men in the world her father would respect? Gracie knew how much Janet craved his approval, and she was using it against her.
Queen Machiavelli.
Gracie had ensnared her and at this very instant, her mother looked quite pleased with herself. That nutty Nadine had probably instigated the whole deal.
“I’ll get the door,” Gracie said when she saw Janet glowering at her, and she darted from the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Gage asked.
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Janet turned to him and wrapped her fingers around his upper arm. “I’ve got a tremendous favor to ask of you.”
“Sure. Whatever you need.”
“The breakup is off.”
“What?”
“Don’t break up with me in front of my father. Please.”
“I’m right beside you,” Gage whispered, his mouth close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her skin. “Backing you up. Whatever you need.”
She flashed him a grateful smile and her knees went weak with relief. Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath, swallowed her fear, and followed Gracie out of the kitchen. Gage walked right beside her as he had promised.
She shouldn’t count on his support. She didn’t like depending on him, but this was an emergency and his hand at her elbow felt so darned reassuring. Besides, Gage didn’t seem to mind.
Her father had stepped over the threshold, his tall, broad-shouldered frame almost filling the foyer. He wore a dark-blue suit and black dress shoes polished to a high sheen. Janet had never seen him in jeans or shorts or even a pair of chinos. He dressed impeccably, no matter the occasion.
He presented a sharp contrast to Gage, who at this very moment wore faded denim jeans, a garish Hawaiian print shirt, and brown sandals. When he’d shown up at her door, she’d marveled at how relaxed he looked, how easy it was for him to be himself. Janet had spent many happy childhood hours watching reruns of old beach movies with Gracie, and she had developed a certain fondness for beachcombers and surfer dudes.
But now she could only imagine what her father must think about his unconventional attire. Moon Doggy meet Prince Charles. She suppressed a shudder and wished she had a spare Armani suit tucked in her purse for Gage to slip into.
Stop trying to make Gage over. His unconventionality is what you like about him.
Gracie nervously wiped her hands on her apron. She looked so incongruous beside her ex-husband. Janet couldn’t help wondering for the millionth time how the two of them had ever gotten together. They were as different from each other as leaded crystal and Solo cups.
When her father saw Gage, he broke into a smile and extended his hand. “Dr. Gregory, I presume.” He didn’t say it as a joke, a takeoff on the classic, “Dr Livingston, I presume.” That formal greeting was actually the way he spoke. “I understand you’re dating my daughter.”
Gage shook his hand. “How do you do, Mr. Hunter. I’m very pleased to meet you, sir.”
Janet cringed. Oh no! She had forgotten to brief Gage on one very crucial essential. Her father was one of the most renowned plastic surgeons in Texas.
“Mister?” Her father swiveled his head in Janet’s direction and drilled her with a hard-eyed glare. “You didn’t bother to tell your friend that I’m a surgeon?”
“I-I...” Janet stuttered.
“The mistake is all mine, Dr. Hunter,” Gage said smoothly. “Please forgive me. Janet told me you were a physician, but it was a slip of my tongue.”
I owe you big-time, Janet mentally telegraphed to Gage.
He must have caught her vibes—by sharing an office with him she’d already discovered he was good at picking up on her moods—for his eyes met hers and he gave her a reassuring wink.
“That’s all right,” her father said magnanimously. “I’m sure you must be very busy setting up your practice here in Houston to worry about incidental details like my credentials.”
It frustrated her how easily her father forgave a complete stranger. Where his forgiveness was concerned, Janet never felt absolved. Sometimes it seemed her greatest transgression had been being born female, and there was nothing she could do to correct that mistake, short of a sex-change operation.
What was so magical about having a penis?
“Setting up a practice,” Gage echoed and dropped an admiring gaze on Janet that warmed her to the core. “And dating your lovely daughter.”
She studied Gage intently, observing his lively, intelligent eyes that were the focal point of his face. Those chocolate-brown eyes could easily sucker you in, make you feel special and cared for.
Be careful, rational voice warned. Don’t mistake gratitude for more than it is. Don’t start buying into Gracie’s fantasy. You could have nothing permanent with Gage. You ’re both too different. And besides, there’s your career to consider.
“How on earth did my daughter attract an accomplished surgeon like yourself?” her father asked and placed a hand on Gage’s shoulder. “You should have seen the riffraff she used to bring home when she was in college.”
“Perhaps she was just going through an experimental phase,” Gage offered.
He was only trying to help. She appreciated that, but why did she feel as if he was overstepping his boundaries, taking liberties and assuming things he had no right to assume?
Decide, Janet. You can’t have it both ways. Either you want his help or you don’t.
“Experimental?” her father replied, the displeasure in his tone unmistakable. “Rebellious is more like it. She was simply trying to make me angry.”
It was true. In college she’d purposely dated ne’er-do-wells merely to irritate her father. At that stage in their relationship, she had abandoned seeking his approval and gone straight to driving him crazy. Negative attention was better than no attention. Right?
“Um...” Gracie spoke up for the first time since Janet’s father had entered the house. “Dinner’s ready; why don’t we all go into the dining room?”
“So, tell me about how you developed the Gregory method,” her father encouraged Gage as they entered the dining room. “I’ve heard all about you. Your story is amazing and an inspiration to young surgeons around the country. Plus, I also heard you were once a child actor. You know, I appeared in a few plays myself back in college. Seems we have a lot in common. And to think you’re dating my daughter.” He glanced at Janet as if he couldn’t possibly imagine what a man like Gage could see in her.
She should be accustomed to her father’s cavalier treatment by now. A leopard couldn’t change his spots. But still it hurt. On some foolish level, she kept secretly hoping that one day he would accept her for who she was and be proud of her.
Good thing you’re not holding your breath on that one. You’d have had a cerebral hemorrhage decades ago.
Janet helped Gracie set food on the table, then slipped into her chair next to Gage. He and her father were discussing the finer points of plastic surgery. It had been a long time, if ever, since she had seen her father so animated.
Why couldn’t she put that excited expression on his face? Why couldn’t he be as proud of her as he was of a man he didn’t even know?
And she felt something else. An ugly green-eyed emotion that made her ashamed of herself. Envy. Yes. She was jealous over a man who’d done in five minutes what she hadn’t been able to do in thirty years.
Win her father’s respect.
“So why did you leave plastics, Dr. Gregory, if you don’t mind my asking? Why the switch to pediatrics?”
Gage probably hadn’t picked up on it, but Janet clearly heard the disdain in her father’s voice when he said the word “pediatrics.” She knew he was uncomfortable around children. Throughout medical school she had tried to rally an interest in plastic surgery to please him, but she had excelled in working with children and more than one instructor had urged her to become a pediatrician.
Still, she pursued plastic surgery, until her father had refused to give her a recommendation for the internship program.
“Stop being so needy,” he’d snapped. “Stand on your own two feet. Be independent.”
After that, she’d joyfully embraced pediatrics, even though he turned his nose up at her chosen specialty.
Gage hesitated for a moment, weighing his words carefully. He was aware he was treading on eggshells. “After I invented the Gregory method, I felt as if I’d accomplished as much as I could in cosmetic surgery.”
Janet’s father shook his head.
“It’s such a shame. A man of your talents wasting it on chicken pox and croup and bedwetters.”
Gage had to clench his fists to stay his anger. The man had insulted him. He thought of a smart retort but bit it back. What good would it do to make an enemy of Niles Hunter? Even though he considered the man a pompous windbag who did not deserve a daughter as fine as Janet or an ex-wife as sweet as Gracie.
“The Stroganoff is excellent,” Gage told Gracie to change the subject. “The best I’ve ever eaten.”
“Then you’ve never been to Moscow,” Janet’s father said. “Now that’s true beef stroganoff.”
What a snob. Gage wondered what was wrong with the man that he couldn’t pay his ex-wife a simple compliment. He was also beginning to understand what made Janet such a perfectionist and why she sometimes acted defensively with little provocation. Trying to please this uncompromising man couldn’t have been easy.
A new tenderness for her swept through him. After putting up with Niles Hunter for her entire life, she deserved a little extra TLC whether she recognized it or not. And Gage would love to be the man to give her that tender loving care if he could.
If she were his woman, he would indulge her with warm bubble baths, and he’d gently scrub her lush body with sweet-smelling soaps. Afterward he would wrap her in a towel warmed in the clothes dryer, then massage scented lotion into her silky skin.
He would surprise her with thoughtful tokens of his affection, from a fragrant bouquet of wildflowers to sexy notes tucked into her briefcase to a box of sinful chocolates left on her bed.
If she had a cold, he would plump up her pillows and serve her chicken soup in bed. He’d feed her ice chips from a spoon for her fever, buy her the softest tissues he could find, and put a humidifier in her room.
He would wash her car and keep the gas tank filled. He would grind her favorite coffee beans and program the coffeemaker to start just before she woke up every morning. He would rub her feet when she’d had a hard day at work. He would either help cook supper or order takeout.