The Good Doctor (9 page)

They'd split a piece of white chocolate cheesecake, and now Violet pushed the empty plate aside. Candlelight flickered in the globe lantern on the table, and with fascination, she watched the shadows from it play on Peter's face. He wasn't just good-looking in a quiet, casual yet determined sort of way, but his face was full of character, too. It showed in the fine lines around his eyes and the set of his jaw.

Time had sifted much too quickly through the hourglass as they'd talked and laughed and eaten. She felt like Cinderella and had to remind herself that this wasn't a real date. Peter hadn't asked her here of his own free will. She'd bought the pleasure of his company and she'd be a fool to forget it.

A band had started playing while they were eating and couples danced on the dance floor. There wasn't much room but no one looked as if they minded.

“How about another piece of cheesecake?” Peter asked.

Violet shook her head. “No, thank you. My jeans are already getting tight. In New York I usually live on black coffee and yogurt.”

“I don't think you have a thing to worry about.”

Peter's compliment, as well as the look in his green eyes,
sent her pulse racing. She really wasn't used to this man-woman interplay and wasn't sure how to handle it.

He took the necessity of a response out of her hands. “If not more dessert, how about a dance?”

Her pulse raced at the invitation. “I'd like that.”

He rose from his wicker chair and came around the glass-topped table to lead her to the tiny dance floor.

“I'm rusty at this,” he murmured as he took her into his arms.

“No rustier than I am,” she admitted, thinking maybe she shouldn't have.

“No time to date and dance, or no inclination?”

How did she answer that one? “I don't need to tell you that when I have the inclination, I don't have the time. When I have the time, I'm usually too tired or have too many errands to run to have the inclination.”

“Maybe you could explain that to Linda and Stacey for me. They seem to think that when Friday or Saturday night arrives and I'm not on call, I should be painting the town red. I can't seem to get through to them that a night at home alone is a good thing.”

“Do you want more?” Violet suddenly wanted to know.

“Eventually. Someday. With the right person.”

“How are you going to know?” she asked and swallowed hard. It seemed to be such an important question.

“I'll just know.”

Everyone thought that and the idea seemed so simple. But nothing was simple as Peter looked down at her and pulled her a little closer. Her blood ran hot and she knew her reaction to him was about more than chemistry. She suspected he did, too.

With his lips close to her temple, he said in a low voice, “If we spend time together, we're going to get into trouble.”

Remembering his kiss, remembering him holding her, she knew that was true. Yet for the moment she didn't care. With
so many people in such a small space, no one was paying attention to anyone else. The atmosphere around them became steamy with their thoughts and Violet wondered if Peter's were as X-rated as hers. She'd never felt this way with a man. Never.

Leaning away slightly, he gazed at her lips and she was filled with anticipation.

“Trouble,” he repeated. His head lowered and his mouth pressed firmly onto hers as rockets seemed to explode in the room.

When his tongue breached her lips, the kiss became an event like standing in the middle of Times Square on New Year's Eve, like riding the rapids down the Colorado River, like flying to the moon. When his hand pressed up and down her back, she knew he could feel her bra strap, she knew he could feel her tremble, she knew if he ever made love to her she probably wouldn't recover. Then he angled the kiss differently and one of his hands slid between them, and she knew he was feeling as reckless as she was. When his thumb found her nipple through her top, her soft moan was lost in the kiss, lost in the music, lost to her and found by him. He answered it with deeper strokes of his tongue, with a more erotic caress of her breast, with the pressure of his lower body against hers.

Suddenly she wished they were anywhere else but here. Somewhere private, somewhere where they could undress each other and let their hands wander over each other's bodies. When she thought about kissing Peter other places—

His hand slid from her breast as he leaned back slightly. “Like I said. Trouble,” he muttered.

She almost smiled at his chagrin, but his comment wiped her smile away.

“Do you intend to return to New York when this business with Ryan is over?” he asked.

She knew what would happen if she said no. She knew what would happen if she said yes. But she had to be honest with him. That was the only way she knew how to be. “Yes, I'll be returning to New York. My practice is there. My life is there.”

“That's the way I feel about Red Rock.” For a moment he rested his chin on her head. “Your career takes up most of your life,” he concluded as if that wasn't a noble thing.

“Yours does, too.”

“I'm not denying that, but I tried a relationship with a doctor before. Her career came first and she—”

He stopped and Violet desperately wanted to know how that woman had hurt Peter. From what he'd told her about his mother and the way he'd grown up, she already suspected that he wanted a relationship with a woman who could be devoted to him and a family. Apparently he'd found that out the hard way, just as she'd found out when she was fifteen that a woman could look for love in all the wrong places, that a woman could believe a man's desire for her could make her less lonely…could make her happy.

The song ended and she realized her date with Peter had ended, too. They didn't have anywhere to go from here. If they gave in to their attraction, they'd both get hurt…badly.

When he led her back to their table, he didn't have to say a word.

She picked up her purse while he paid their bill. They left the restaurant in silence, and for the first time in Violet's life, she wished she'd taken a different career path.

L
ate Sunday morning when Celeste's little arms came up around Violet's neck and gave her a huge hug, Violet felt tears come to her eyes. She willed them away. She wasn't a woman prone to crying. However, in the past few weeks she couldn't seem to help herself.

Tears made her feel weak.

Every time she had to leave Celeste, her heart hurt. That was so odd because she'd never felt attached to a child in just this way before.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” Celeste asked. Her medications were being withdrawn slowly and she was more alert now.

“I'll come back tonight,” Violet assured her. “I'll bring a new book. I think we've read the ones here twenty-five times each.”

“Not that many,” Celeste said with a smile.

An hour later when Violet left Celeste's room, she won
dered if it wouldn't be better if the six-year-old wasn't alone, if she had some company in her room. She'd have to talk to Peter about it.

Besides the private and semiprivate rooms in the pediatrics unit, there was a ward with six beds. As Violet passed it now, she heard a woman's voice reading a familiar story. She recognized the voice. It had rung loud and clear when she had put Peter up for bid at the auction.

When Violet peeked her head into the room, Stacey Clark saw her and held her finger up for Violet, signaling for her to wait.

With most of her day free, Violet didn't mind. She stood outside the room and listened. Stacey was a good storyteller. It wasn't long until Stacey finished the story, closed the book, chatted with the kids a few minutes and then came into the hall. “I didn't mean to hold you up.”

“That's all right.”

“How did your date go on the Riverwalk?”

That was a minefield. “The Riverwalk is beautiful at night.”

Stacey tilted her head and eyed Violet shrewdly. “That was a sidestep if ever I heard one. What did my brother
do?
”

“Your brother was a perfect gentleman.” At least for most of the evening, she amended to herself.

“So that's what he did wrong!”

Violet had to laugh. “Peter was perfect. We had a wonderful dinner and even danced a little.”

“Hmm. Will I get any more info if I ask
him?
”

“I doubt that,” Violet answered wryly.

“You're getting to know him already.” Then Stacey's expression turned serious. “I was just hoping—”

“What were you hoping?” Violet prompted.

“That you two would fall madly in love and he'd have something else in his life besides work.”

Although Violet didn't know whether to find Stacey's honesty daunting or totally refreshing, it took her aback. “Don't you think he can run his own life?”

“Oh, he runs his life. On a fast track. But he doesn't have time to stop and smell the roses. The way he looked at you, I was hoping you'd sidetrack him.”

“For a second, maybe,” Violet admitted. “But he wants a lot more than I can give him.”

After Stacey studied her for a few moments she muttered, “Peter expects too much.”

“He knows what he wants—a life here in Red Rock and a woman who's all about home and hearth.”

“You
do
know him already.”

The past two weeks had been so strange. She and Peter hadn't been intimate. Not in the real sense of the word. However, intimacy had seemed to flow between them, whether they liked it or not. They'd been plunged into a situation where they'd gotten to know each other very quickly.

“Are you going to see him again?” At Violet's sigh, Stacey added, “I know, I know. I'm nosy and a meddler. But
are
you?”

“Probably only in conjunction with Celeste.” That idea didn't please her at all.

Suddenly Stacey snapped her fingers and her face brightened with a wide smile. “I have a great idea. There's an anniversary party for my dad and his wife tonight at the community center room at the Town and Country condo complex. Why don't you come?”

“I don't know your dad or his wife. Wouldn't that seem a little strange?”

“Not at all. You know me and Linda and Peter. And I'd like you to meet them. I think you'd like my stepmother. She's involved in a cause I really believe in. And, to be a bit self-serving here, she can always use donations for it.”

“What is it?”

“Why don't you come and let her tell you?”

“I don't know, Stacey.”

“Look, this is how it is. Peter will probably come late and leave early. You might not even see him. We're having a buffet at seven and the party will end when it ends. Please say you'll come.”

A good cause and a glimpse of Peter. “Do you need an answer right now?”

“Nope. Come if you want, stay at home if you please. If you don't come, I'll find another way to introduce you to Charlene.”

Violet was curious as to why Stacey seemed to like her stepmother so much, but Peter had backed off from her. “It sounds as if you and your stepmother have a good relationship.”

“Charlene's great. She filled a huge gap in our lives. It couldn't have been easy, taking over three kids that weren't hers plus two foster children, learning how to become a mom and a wife all in one fell swoop. She didn't have an easy time of it with Peter, but she never became indifferent to him, either. She was just always there.”

Now Violet's curiosity was really piqued.

Stacey glanced at her watch. “I've got to get going. I told Linda I'd meet her at the community room and make sure everything was ready for tonight. I really hope you'll join us.” With a grin and a final wave, Stacey went down the hall to the elevator.

Should she or shouldn't she go tonight? Did she want to see Peter again?

Yes.

Did he want to see her? That was questionable.

 

After she'd dressed for the evening, Violet applied lipstick. Whether she was being wise or not, she'd decided to attend
the anniversary party for Charlene and George Clark. She didn't have to stay long. She might not even see Peter. But since Stacey had extended the invitation, Violet would like to accept the overture. She was also interested in whatever Charlene Clark's charity might be.

When Violet's phone rang, she capped her lipstick. Crossing to the sitting area of the pool house, she picked up her cell phone lying beside her purse. “Hello.”

Patrick Fortune's deep voice boomed through the phone lines. “I want to know what my long-lost daughter has been doing for the past two weeks, since she didn't seem to have time to call me.”

Violet hadn't called her family for a very good reason. If they asked about Ryan, she didn't want to lie or evade. “Do you check up on Miles, Clyde, Steven and Jack when they haven't phoned you for two weeks?”

Her father chuckled. “You always did know how to make a point. We miss you, that's all. How's it going in Red Rock?” Then he added gently, “And give me the truth, not what you think I want to hear.”

Her throat tightened. Her father was a wonderful man. She hadn't seen him much as she was growing up because his work as president of Fortune-Rockwell Banking kept him away for long hours and took him on business trips. But after her rebellion at fifteen and her search for someone to love only her had left her with an ectopic pregnancy that had almost taken her life, she'd gotten to know her father better. After her emergency surgery, he'd cut back his hours and his business trips. She hadn't asked him to do that, but he'd sensed why she'd reached out to a boy with no sense of responsibility, with no idea of where he was going in the future. Through his actions, her father had proved to her that she was important to
him. At that point in her life, it had mattered more than almost anything else in the world.

“There's a lot going on here,” she told him now. “Ryan's under a lot of stress from the murder investigation. Steven and Amy are finalizing preparations for the awards ceremony at his ranch. I'm…in and out of all of it.”

“And in your professional life?” he asked gently. “Do you still blame yourself for Anne Washburn's death?”

Her father had always been a cut-to-the-chase man. Peter had that quality, too. “In part. But I'm helping with one of Peter Clark's patients. He's a neurosurgeon here.”

“Helping? You mean consulting?”

“No, not exactly. Her name is Celeste and she's six.” She told him a little about the girl. “I'm spending some time with her, talking to her, reading to her. I think it's helping me as much as it's helping her.”

There was a long pause, as if her father was debating about his next words. But he said them anyway. “If you want children of your own someday, you're going to have to take a few risks.”

“How do you know I haven't?”

“You're afraid you're going to find the wrong relationship again. You're afraid an ectopic pregnancy will happen again. You work to fill up your life, but it's not filling up. How am I doing?”

“Too well,” she murmured. “I don't consciously think all of that.”

“Of course you don't, because you're an intelligent woman and you can reason your way through it. The problem is, your heart doesn't accept the reasoning.”

“You should have been a psychologist instead of a financier.”

He laughed. “I don't think your mother would agree with that. Sometimes she insists I'd rather live in the Dark Ages
than see the light of the new millennium. And she's probably right. The Dark Ages are more restful.”

Now Violet laughed with him. Her mother was a fireball—a go-getter, a forward-looking, forge-ahead kind of woman. During her childhood, Violet had seen Lacey fight for her causes—better schools, good day care, laws to protect battered women—and she'd believed that those causes came first.

Her triplet brothers had been older than Violet, involved in sports, dating and general ruckus, determined to fend for themselves like their oldest brother, Jack. Violet, feeling outnumbered by males, had turned inward and had somehow gotten lost for a while. But Lacey was the one who had found Violet when her ectopic pregnancy ruptured. Lacey had been the one who had sat by her bed hour after hour, night after night. There had been no doubt, then and after, that her mother loved her, cared about her and wanted only the best for her.

It had been her mother who'd hired a tutor and, knowing her daughter's capabilities, had exposed her to professions she'd be interested in. She'd encouraged her to become whatever she wanted to be. Her dad was happy she loved her work. Her mother, however, was so proud when she introduced Violet as her doctor-daughter, that Violet never wanted to let her down.

“Are you seeing much of your brothers?” her father asked.

“Jack and Gloria are away on vacation. I had breakfast with Clyde and Jessica after they got back. They're still in newlywed heaven. Miles is either working or out on the town tonight. Rumor has it he dates a different woman every week. When I ask him about it, he just smiles, shrugs and says he's sowing his wild oats. But I don't know if he's having as much fun as he's pretending to have. A pretty nurse bid on him at the bachelor auction and I think they had a good time on their date. But I don't think he's going to see her again.”

“Did
you
bid on a bachelor at this auction?”

She hesitated a moment then answered, “Yes, I did.”

“Does this bachelor have a name?”

“Actually, it's Dr. Clark, the neurosurgeon I mentioned.”

“The one with the patient you're getting attached to?”

Her dad always summed things up in a nutshell. She
was
getting attached to Celeste. “Yes, that doctor.”

“And?”

“And, nothing. He's not interested in a woman whose career is as demanding as his. Especially not if she's in New York.”

“Hmm. I seem to remember thinking your mother was too spirited, too intense and too passionate for me to handle. But Cupid has a way of changing our minds. If he wants to shoot an arrow in your direction, maybe you should welcome it.”

“You're full of advice today.”

“Uh-oh. That's my cue to hang up. Don't want to overstay my conversation. Your mother and I have been thinking about making another visit to Red Rock soon, so don't be surprised if we show up.”

“No warning?”

“That depends.”

“I love you, Dad,” she said.

“I love you, too, baby. See you soon.”

If she'd had doubts about attending this anniversary party for Peter's parents before her father called, she didn't have them now. She was going to take a risk, even if it wasn't a very big one.

 

Peter was late.

He'd gotten tied up at the hospital. As he looked back over the afternoon and the crisis with one of his patients, he hoped his father and stepmother didn't look at his lateness as a slight. He had a decent relationship with them both now, and he didn't want to spoil that.

Their condo was part of a complex that was like a village. It even had a small convenience store. The community room was used for square dances and bingo and Tupperware parties. Now it was festively decorated with an anniversary banner and helium-filled balloons. The buffet table was long and still full.

His gaze unerringly found his dad and stepmother, along with his sisters. When he saw who was with them, he stopped short. What was Violet doing here?

Stacey saw him and beckoned him over. His brows rose as he looked at Violet and she pinkened a little. Telling himself her presence didn't matter, he congratulated his father and stepmother and wished them many more years together.

After Charlene studied him, she asked, “Do you mean that?”

“Very much. You've made my dad happy. After he retires, you can do things together you've never had time to do. Maybe take that Grecian cruise.”