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Megan leaned forward. “That’s up to Alex, but I have a great idea. Why don’t you go to his house to recuperate. There’s a guest suite with its own entrance. Mrs. Rodgers, remember Mom’s cleaning lady, she’s Alex’s housekeeper and still the best cook in Eastlake.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “It’s better than good. Alex needs someone like you and so does Johnny.”

  Laurel shook her head. “He told me about the divorce and her death.”

  Megan raised an eyebrow. “That’s more than he tells most people. You know, the day she walked out, she left Johnny alone in the house. At two years old. That poor baby was alone for hours until Alex came home from the office. Johnny was hoarse from screaming.”

  Laurel remembered the long hours she’d been trapped in the car with her unresponsive parents and how she’d screamed until she couldn’t talk. “I know how terrified he must have been. I’ll be glad to help, but I don’t have to live there.”

  An impish grim made Megan look like a naughty sprite. “Just think of the possibilities. You and my brother are a perfect match. Taurus. Scorpio. An opposition doesn’t have to be a disaster. You both want security. For you, a home and for him, someone he can trust.”

  Laurel shook her head. Would Megan ever change. “The last thing I need is a matchmaker. I need food, sleep and antibiotics.” As she spoke, an aide from dietary arrived with a tray.

  Megan waved. “See you later.”

  After her friend left, Laurel considered Megan’s latest matchmaking scheme. Tempting, but impossible. What do I know about turning fantasy into reality?

  *****

  After Alex left the hospital, he stopped by his office to sort through the mail. A wry smile crossed his face. Laurel Richmond had been quite a surprise. No longer gawky and shy, she’d become a beauty. She had appeared knowledgeable about the conditions in the countries she had visited, but he wondered how much actual nursing she had done for IHRM.

  At one time, he’d planned to spend a few years working in an area where doctors were needed. Then Rhonda had entered his life. By the time he’d finished his residency, he’d become a husband and a father. He’d come home to Eastlake and set up a family practice.

  His thoughts returned to Laurel. Her sad eyes haunted him. Each time he’d touched her, he had felt as though a bit of her had adhered. A bank as next of kin. What kind of injuries had she suffered? Who had given her love and comfort when he parents died? Who had guided her through the trauma of her teenage years? He didn’t know how Johnny and he would have managed without Megan and his father.

  As he drove through town and headed home, he thought about the fear in her amber eyes and the panic in her voice when she’d faced becoming a patient. With a start, he recalled the jolt of desire he’d felt when he’d held her in his arms. He gripped the steering wheel. Never before had a patient stirred sexual desire. He wondered about the wisdom of remaining as her doctor.

  Next July, Manon Blake would join his practice, but he needed an alternative now. He considered the other doctors in town and one by one rejected them. Laurel needed friends to care for her.

  Fifteen minutes after leaving the office, he pulled into the circular driveway of the house he had once hoped would be a home for his wife and children. When he’d first showed her the house, Rhonda had hated the state of disrepair, the small town atmosphere and the lack of flashy entertainment.

  Their meeting at her father’s bedside had sparked a roaring fire of sensuality. Their romance had blazed hot for almost a year. Her pregnancy had acted like water from a hundred hoses and had given her a reason to return to her father’s house where she’d be pampered and adored. For two years after Johnny’s birth, she’d played at being wife and mother. Then she’d gained control of the trust fund left by her grandfather.

  As Alex strode to the front door of the house built in 1780, he forgot his wife and planned an activity his son would enjoy. He opened the front door and glanced at the carved lintel that had graced the house since it had been built. Life had been simpler in those days, yet maybe not. The aroma of baking drew him down the center hall past the right front parlor, now a family room and into the kitchen wing. Mrs. Rodgers lifted a tray from the oven. Her broad face glowed from the heat. “You’re just in time for cookies.”

  “Where’s Johnny?”

  “At his secret place.”

  Alex felt guilty. Johnny never went there unless he was upset. Alex poured a glass of milk and sat at the build-in booth. “How long has he been gone?”

  “Maybe an hour.” She put a plate of cookies on the table. “Took an apple. Said he wouldn’t be too long.”

  Alex ignored the cookies. “I hate to disappoint him.”

  “Learnin’ to live with life’s disappointments is part of growin’ up.” Sarah Rodgers crossed her arms on her ample chest. “Somethin’ you need to do. What are you goin’ to do about Laurel Richmond when she leaves the hospital? I recall when she visited Megan. Poor child has no family. No one.”

  “She’ll be staying with Megan.”

  “How much rest is that poor girl goin’ to get stayin’ with that flitterbug? Bring her here. The guest suite’s waitin’ for a guest.”

  Alex stared at the table. Was this idea any better than keeping Laurel as a patient?

  “Well?” Sarah Rodgers asked.

  “I’ll ask her if she wants to come.” And pray she turns the invitation down.

  “You’ll be needin’ to do more than ask that one. Tell her as her doctor this will be the best place.”

  Alex groaned. And the worst for him. As her doctor, he had no right to want her. He walked to the back door. The screen banged behind him. He strode across the yard.

  Johnny dashed from the woods. His son’s bright golden hair blew in a dozen directions. “Daddy, charge!”

  Alex braced himself and held his arms wide. He caught his son in a bear hug. “Where were you?”

  “You know.”

  “Will you take me there?”

  “Someday.”

  Alex put Johnny on his feet. As they walked to the house, he held his son’s hand. Johnny pulled free and talked about school. Alex wished there were some neighbor children or brothers and sisters, but he had no wife. The muscle at the corner of his mouth jumped. A wife wasn’t in his plans.

  “Ready for our afternoon?” he asked.

  Johnny’s lower lip quivered. “No zoo, right?”

  Alex looked down at his son. “I didn’t promise. I said maybe.” He crouched and faced the boy. “I went to the airport to meet Aunt Megan’s friend.”

  “And she got sick. Mrs. Rodgers told me. Is she better?”

  Alex shook his head. “Not yet, but she will be. She’s in the hospital.”

  “Good. Auntie Megan will be mad if she don’t get better.”

  For a moment, Alex saw Laurel’s sad amber eyes and the brave front she’d donned. “I’d be mad, too.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “What about going to the farm to pick strawberries for Mrs. Rodgers so she can make jam and dessert.”

  Johnny wiggled free and ran to the house. “Hurry up. You got to change clothes so you don’t get messy.”

  The tension in Alex’s shoulders eased. Kids, he thought. Their emotions bounce like tennis balls. “I’m on my way. Ask Mrs. Rodgers for the baskets while I change.”

  At four thirty, Alex looked at Johnny’s berry-stained face and grinned. The afternoon had been fun. Though his lower back ached from bending to pluck the bright red berries from beneath the green leaves, he felt proud of the amount they had picked, not to mention ate.

  When they reached the house, Johnny jumped out of the car. “Auntie Megan’s here. Bet she ate all the cookies.”

  Alex opened the trunk and lifted out two of the berry baskets. What would he and Johnny do without Mrs. Rodgers?

  He wondered if Sarah and Jake ever thought about returning to the house they’d rented out when he’d needed som
eone to care for his son. The couple had been part of Alex’s life since the summer his mother had become ill, the summer Laurel Richmond had followed him around with adoration in her eyes.

  Megan sat at the kitchen counter. She snatched a berry from the basket. “Delicious.” She touched Johnny’s cheek. “Looks like I’m not the only taster.”

  Alex laughed. “You know how it goes.”

  “One for the basket and one for the mouth.”

  “How much dinner will he eat?” Sarah Rodgers looked at their feet. “Out of my kitchen with your muddy shoes before I take a broom to you. Tracking mud all through the house.”

  “I used the kitchen door,” Alex said.

  “Your son came in the front. I sure have my hands full takin’ care of the pair of you. Can’t wait to turn you over to a wife.”

  “Ugh.” Johnny scampered from the room. “Don’t want any old wife.”

  Megan’s glare was full of accusation. Alex shrugged. Maybe he’d colored his son’s opinion of marriage, but he hadn’t wanted to lie when Johnny asked why he didn’t have a mommy who lived at home. Alex hurried outside and returned with the third basket and Laurel’s duffel. He dropped the bag on the floor.

  “How’s Laurel?”

  “Behaving like a trooper. Is that hers?”

  “Forgot it in the excitement.”

  His sister’s impish grin promised trouble. “She wanted some tee shirts and since Mrs. Rodgers didn’t know when you’d be back, I borrowed some of yours. Do you mind?”

  Alex sucked in a breath. The thought of Laurel wearing one of his shirts caused his abdominal muscles to tighten and heat to rush to his groin. He had to turn her care over to another doctor before he stepped across the line between professional and personal interest.

  “No problem.” He kicked off his sneakers. “What were her vitals? Did you get the sputums? Start the IV antibiotics?”

  “Temp 101. She was sleeping when I left. Got two sputums. First antibiotic went up at three.”

  “Good.”

  “She’s got a lot of grit. You should see her left leg. You know the summer she was here, she never went swimming or wore shorts. Now I know why. She has scars from her knee to her hip.” Megan looked up. “She was in the car with her dead parents for hours and then spent months in a hospital. No wonder being a patient terrifies her.”

  An ache for the frightened child Laurel had been spread through his chest. Knowing this bit of her history helped explain the panic he’d seen in her eyes and the tension he’d felt in her body when she had begged him not to admit her to the hospital. He splashed water on his face. “I’ll read your assessment in the AM.”

  She made a face. “Sure, let the nurses do the work.”

  “You were the ones who wanted to expand your scope of practice.” He held his hands up to fend off her swat. “Okay, your assessments are better than a lot of the doctors’”

  “Thank you.” She slid from the stool. “Sarah agrees with my idea of Laurel coming here.”

  Alex groaned. “Not a good idea.”

  “And just why not? I’ve already told her.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She’s no more in favor than you are.” Megan’s grin broadened. “Me thinks thee both doth protest too much.”

  “Megan!”

  “Seriously, she needs to be where someone will make sure she eats and rests. If she stays with me, she’ll end up taking care of me.”

  “Just what I said.” Sarah strode back into the room.

  Alex shook his head. “Spare me from managing women. Tell her tonight.”

  Megan hoisted the duffel and grabbed a stack of tee shirts. “It’s your house. Take her a piece of shortcake and do your stern doctor I-know-what’s-best-for-you act. See you tomorrow. I’m for home and then the Hot Doggery. Laurel wants chili dogs.”

  *****

  The next morning, Alex sat at the doctors’ desk in the Four East nurses’ station and read Laurel’s chart for the third time. He looked at his watch. His other hospital patients had been seen and if he didn’t visit Laurel in the next few minutes, he’d be late for office hours.

  After gulping a breath and repeating, “She’s just a patient,” several times, he walked to her room and paused in the doorway.

  Laurel stood at the window. Her brown hair brightened by streaks of sun-bleached gold hung in a single braid down her back. He remembered the soft texture and how the strands had clung to his arm as he carried her into the hospital.

  The white tee shirt she wore ended at mid-thigh. Bright green bike shorts showed beneath the hem. He saw the white scars Megan had mentioned. Laurel turned. He swallowed. The mountains on the tee shirt rose in a way they never had when he’d worn the shirt. “How are you feeling?”

  She pushed the IV pole to the bed. “Trapped, weak, rested, hungry.”

  “Fifty-fifty. Good.” he placed the plastic container of shortcake on the bedside table. “A bribe from Mrs. Rodgers.”

  “A bribe?”

  “A sample to entice you to accept my invitation to stay in the guest suite at my house when you’re discharged.”

  Her gaze slid past his face. “I’ll stay at Megan’s.”

  “She won’t have you. Megan and Mrs. Rodgers set this up.”

  “Or are playing at matchmaking.”

  Alex laughed. “You may be right, but we don’t have to bite.”

  “Agreed.”

  He felt a twinge of disappointment over her too eager agreement. “I need to examine you. Let me find a nurse.”

  “Why?”

  “Hospital policy. When examining a female patient, the doctor must be accompanied by a member of the nursing staff.” Three minutes later, he returned with Betty Greene, the aide who had made Laurel’s bed.

  Laurel sat on the edge of the bed. Alex stood behind her. Her cheeks reddened. Why? He hadn’t meant to make her uncomfortable. For a moment, he wondered if he could listen to her heart and lungs without revealing his lust-filled thoughts. He raised the back of the tee shirt. The thought of brushing her skin with his lips shook him. He couldn’t entertain such ideas.

  “Inhale...Exhale...Again...Again...” His fingers brushed her warm skin as he moved the stethoscope bell over her back. The scent of jasmine filled the air each time he touched her. He let the shirt fall into place.

  As he moved to face her, he thanked the designer for the loose cut of his slacks. “No change from yesterday. We’ll continue treatment.” He carried the chart to the door.

  “Alex.”

  Her voice sounded like she was moments from tears. He turned and fought an urge to hold her close. “Yes.”

  “Thank Mrs. Rodgers for the cake and the invitation. If I can’t persuade Megan to change her mind, I’ll stay for a few days.”

  “Will do.”

  Outside the room, he leaned against the wall. Years ago, she had driven him crazy and she was doing it again. He stood at the counter that surrounded the open nurses’ station and completed his notes. Who could he ask to take over her case? Dad, he decided.

  “How is she?” The pair of voices reminded him of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

  He nodded to his sister and Jenessa. “Not much change yet. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I’m turning her case over to Dad.”

  Megan chuckled and looked from Alex to Jenessa. “Why does Laurel need a neurosurgeon?”

  Before he devised an answer, they strolled away. Why Dad? Because I haven’t desired a woman for three years. Because Laurel is beautiful. Because she needs a friend. Because of lust. He chose to ignore the way she stirred his protective instincts and reached for the phone to call his father.

  *****

  Laurel sat with her knees nearly to her chin and willed her body to relax. She still felt the imprint of his hands. The moment he’d touched her, her breasts had tightened and her nipples had become hard kernels. Had he noticed? Had the aide?

  She lowered the head of the bed, closed her eyes and savore
d his touch, the aroma of his aftershave and the beauty of his athletic body. The desire she’d felt just moments before was a hundred times stronger than the fantasies she’d built around him.

  Had she seen a flare of desire in his dark eyes? The instant he’d entered the room, she had felt a surge of energy. He had taken that strength when he left.

  She slid into a fantasy. When she called his name, he turned. Their eyes met and instead of leaving, he came to her.

  Guilt rose in her thoughts. The dream changed into the nightmare that had triggered her flight from India and her return to the closest place to a home she’d ever known.

  “You can’t live on dreams,” Neil had said.

  The door of the private room banged against the wall. Laurel clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. She exhaled. Jenessa and Megan bounded into the room. Twin grins curved their lips.

  “You’ve knocked him silly,” Megan said.

  “He’s turning circles.” Sunlight brought out red highlights in Jenessa’s brown hair.

  “What are you talking about?” Laurel asked.

  “My brother.” Megan giggles. “He’s turning your case over to Dad.”

  “A neurosurgeon yet,” Jenessa said.

  Laurel closed her eyes. “Have you gone batty and joined Astro Matcher Inc.? I suppose she dabbled in your romance.”

  Megan sat on the foot of the bed. “I prodded her in the direction revealed by the stars. Good thing Jim Bishop was plotting to sell the hospital to some corporation he owned. Those two would still have been making goo-goo eyes.”

  Jenessa lifted the plastic container. “What’s this?”

  “Alex brought it,” Laurel said. “It’s a bribe.”

  “Trust you to find food,” Megan said.

  “Are you going to eat it?”

  “Dessert for lunch.” Laurel took the covered dish from Jenessa. “It’s mine.”

  “You win.” Jenessa touched Laurel’s forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”

  “Then can I get out of here? Megan, call Alex. Bring my clothes.”