Read Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2) Online

Authors: Kate Hardy

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance

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BOOK: Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2)
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Carol’s eyes glittered and she opened her mouth, clearly about to dispense more bile.

He got in first. Just to make sure she didn’t hurt Rachel again. “But actually, they did us both a favor. They introduced us when we wouldn’t have had the time to introduce ourselves to each other. And if you were implying that Dr. Cassidy could only get a date if someone bought it for her, then you couldn’t be more wrong. Because I can assure you that Rachel Cassidy is an incredibly desirable woman.”

He strode over to Rachel, took her hand, spun her into his arms and then bent her backwards slightly while he kissed her. Extremely thoroughly. She tasted of vanilla and coffee, and her mouth was so warm and soft and responsive. His skin tingled where it touched hers, and he couldn’t help pulling her closer.

By the time he broke the kiss, they were both shaking and some of the customers were cat-calling and whistling.

He straightened up and looked Carol straight in the eye. “It’s a pity my grandmother never taught you, Mrs. Bingley. Because she would’ve told you to think about what you say before you open your mouth. To think about whether what you’re just about to say is truthful, helpful, necessary or kind – and if the answer is no to any of those points, then don’t say it at all. Maybe you should try that in future.”

Carol was almost puce, but for once she was mercifully silent.

“Well said, Ry,” one of the other customers said.

And suddenly everyone else in the pharmacy was actually
clapping
.

Rachel looked shell-shocked; and Ryan knew he needed to get her out of here before Carol recovered and came back with some spiteful comment. So he simply put his arm round her shoulders and guided her out of the shop.

*

Rachel still couldn’t
believe what had just happened.

Ryan Henderson had kissed her stupid in the middle of the pharmacy – in front of Carol Bingley, of all people.

How to spread gossip in ten seconds flat
.

Panic lanced through her. She’d hated people gossiping about her at the hospital when her marriage to Nick had collapsed. The last thing she wanted now was to be the focus of gossip in Marietta, however well-meaning. She didn’t want all the knowing looks and the whispers or, worse still, the obvious change of subject when she walked into a room.

“Thank you for standing up for me, Ryan, but I was handling it,” she said coolly.

“By ignoring that woman and letting her say what the hell she liked, however bitchy and uncalled-for?” he asked.

“Everyone knows what Carol is like and nobody really listens to her venting her spleen.”

“Or maybe,” Ryan said, “she’s just a regular bully and someone needs to tell her to stop. I get what you mean about ignoring spite, but sometimes you need to speak out.”

“Speak out?” She sighed. “People are certainly going to be talking about us now.”

“So?” He shrugged. “Let them.”

“What if it gets back to my family?”

His eyes widened. “So you’d be ashamed to date me?”

“No, of course not.” She sighed. “Look, Ryan, I’m divorced.”

“I know that. And I also know that your family and friends all worry that you’re lonely, and they try to fix you up with someone who’ll mend your broken heart.”

“Something like that,” she agreed wryly. They’d all be thrilled at the idea of her dating Ryan Henderson. And then when Ryan realized the same thing that Nick had – that she wasn’t enough for anyone to really love – she’d have to deal with the fallout.

“That makes two of us.”

She blinked, trying to work out what he meant. “You’re divorced?”

“No. Lucille and I didn’t get round to getting married – but our breakup was just as messy as if we had been. And since I’ve been back in Marietta people have been trying to pair me off.”

“I’m not looking for another relationship,” she said.

“Neither am I. I can’t give my heart to someone and just ride off into the sunset with her, not when Gram needs me.”

“So where does that leave us?”

He spread his hands. “Right now, I’d say on the corner of Main Street and Second in Marietta, with a few passers-by looking at us and speculating.”

She groaned. “Especially anyone who saw you kiss me in the pharmacy just now. Carol Bingley’s going to dine out on that for months.”

“I don’t think so,” Ryan said. “Not after the way people were clapping when I said what I did. I think she’s going to realize how much people dislike her gossiping. She said some awful things about Melinda MacCreadie when the poor woman was trying to cover up how sick she’d been. So I hope what just happened will make Carol stop and think before she spouts off in future.”

Rachel smiled at him. “You’re a good man, Ryan Henderson. Though every patient I saw today has told me that and sung your praises.”

“Everyone I’ve seen today has done the same thing about you.”

The townsfolk really held her in such high esteem? Given that she’d been away for so long, Rachel hadn’t expected that. But it warmed her all the way through. “If the situation was different, I might have plucked up the courage to ask you out.”

“But you’re not looking for a relationship.”

“And neither are you,” she reminded him.

“But you could almost tempt me to change my mind.”

His dark eyes were soulful and hot, and she remembered how it had felt just now when he’d kissed her – taking her from a place of misery and embarrassment to a place of bliss. It pushed her into her own admission. “And you could almost tempt me to change
my
mind.”

“What if we didn’t have a relationship, as such?” he asked. “What if we had a crazy fling instead?”

“No strings, no promises?”

“Exactly,” he said. “Maybe we can get each other out of our systems. And on the positive side we’re talking about pleasure.” His voice was almost a purr. “And desserts.”

“How’s a girl meant to say no to that?” she asked. “And we have… unfinished business.” She still felt guilty about the fact he’d brought her to an earth-shattering climax but hadn’t taken his own pleasure, thanks to the fact that neither of them had had a condom. And she could feel the color rising in her cheeks as she thought about the way he’d touched her.

“I think that I,” he said softly, “really need to go to Bozeman.”

She wasn’t following this at all. “Why?”

“Supplies,” he said.

Condoms, he meant; and she felt the blush in her face deepen further. “Bozeman.”

His eyes glittered with amusement. “I sure as hell can’t walk into the pharmacy right now and ask Carol Bingley for supplies, can I? Or the pharmacy near the hospital. Or any of the restrooms where someone might see me feeding money into a machine.”

She smiled wryly. “That’s the thing about a small town – everyone knows everything, and if they don’t they’re quite happy to add two and two to make five.”

“So, you and me.” His voice was husky.

She leaned closer. “Dessert, you said.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And Lily Taylor says your food is almost better than sex.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And your food,” she said, “is amazing.” She held his gaze. “How you made me feel on Saturday night was even better than that.”

He sucked in a breath. “It’s been a while for me, so I’m not making any promises. The first time you make love with someone new, it’s a lot like the first time you make a complex recipe and it all goes wrong… but with a bit of practice you learn to get it right, how to handle things.”

Excitement coiled deep inside her. “You think you could learn to handle me?”

“I think,” he said, “I’d very much like to try. And I would really love you to handle me.”

His words turned her knees to liquid. And she could feel a slow heat seeping all the way through her. Handling Ryan. Her fingers against his skin. Exploring, learning…

“Go to Bozeman,” she said, “and text me to tell me when you’re free. And if anyone asks, we’re just good friends, or intending to be.”

“It’s a deal.” He looked at her. “I’m tempted to seal that with a kiss, but I’ll take a rain check. The anticipation makes it all the sweeter.”

And that idea took away the last of any words that might have been in her head. All her senses felt scrambled. If just a hint and a suggestion and the memory of the way he’d touched her could do that, then actually making love with Ryan Henderson was really going to blow her mind…

Chapter Six


“I
’m so sorry
that I didn’t manage to pick up your prescription,” Rachel said when her neighbor answered her door. “I did get the bread you asked for, but…” Not the prescription. She could hardly walk back into the pharmacy on Main Street and get it after Ryan had kissed her stupid and harangued Carol Bingley like that.

“That’s all right, love. It’s a few days until I run out of my pills anyway. It was kind of you to offer to fetch them for me in the first place. I know you’re busy.” Mrs. Jacobs smiled at Rachel.

“I’ll get them tomorrow, I promise,” Rachel said. And hopefully Carol Bingley wouldn’t have any new venom in store tomorrow. Though, even if she did, Rachel was feeling pretty immune to it after the way Ryan had stood up for her.

By the time Rachel let herself into her own apartment, her phone was ringing and it looked as if there were several messages already on the answer machine.

She picked up the phone, recognizing her best friend’s number.

“Hey, Rach. I hear the windows got pretty steamed up in the pharmacy this afternoon,” Lizzy said.

Rachel had known that the gossip would spread, but she’d had no idea that it would happen this fast. No doubt the rest of the answer machine messages were all on the same subject, then. She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t quite like that, Lizzy.”

“No? Ryan Henderson bent you back over his arm and kissed you in the middle of the pharmacy. Is that steamy, or is that steamy?”

“It was just for show,” Rachel explained. “Carol Bingley made one of her bitchy comments, and Ry overheard her.”

“A bitchy comment about you?” Lizzie’s voice sharpened from teasing to anger. “Oh, for pity’s sake. Who does that woman think she is?”

“If you heard about the kiss, then you probably heard about the rest of it,” Rachel pointed out.

“Something about Ryan telling her to think before she opened her mouth in future,” Lizzy agreed. “I wish I’d been there to hear it.”

“I think most of Marietta will have heard about it by now,” Rachel said wryly.

“If it makes that woman mind her manners in future, then that’s a good thing.” Lizzy said. “Are you okay? What did she actually say?”

“I’m fine, and it doesn’t really matter what she said.” It had hurt at the time, ripping off the top layer of the scars that Nick had left, but Ryan’s actions had taken away much of the sting. “It’s over now.”

“If it made Ryan kiss you in front of the whole town, it must have been something personal – and, knowing her, mean-spirited.”

“It was a typical Carol Bingley comment, but I’m not going to make this into a witch hunt. It’s forgotten.”

“You’re a better woman than I am. I’d want her groveling on the steps of the Town Hall in front of everyone,” Lizzy said. “So if that kiss was just for show, does this mean you’re not seeing Ryan, after all?”

Not exactly, but Rachel wasn’t going to admit to their agreement. Their fling was going to be just between the two of them. “We’re just good friends,” she said lightly.

Her phone was red hot for the rest of the evening, with all her family and friends calling to check she was okay – to the point where Rachel actually considered making a recorded message explaining everything, because she had to repeat herself so much. It was good to know that people cared about her, but at the same time she hated being the subject of gossip. Even if it was substantially kinder than the gossip had been when her marriage had imploded.

*

BOOK: Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2)
10.46Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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