Theo’s head was spinning. He landed on top of the woman. He heard her groan and desperately tried to find the strength to get up. He thought he might be dying and he didn’t think that would be such a bad thing if death would make the pain go away. It was unbearable now. His stomach rolled again, and another wave of intense agony cut through him. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be stabbed over and over again. He passed out then, and when he next opened his eyes, he was flat on his back and she was leaning over him.
He tried to bring her face into focus. She had pretty blue eyes, more violet than blue, he thought, and freckles on the bridge of her nose. Then, as suddenly as it had stopped, the fire started burning in his side again, so much worse than before.
A spasm wrenched his stomach, and he jerked. “Son of a bitch.”
The woman was talking to him, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying. And what the hell was she doing to him? Was she robbing him? Her hands were everywhere, tugging at his jacket, his tie, his shirt. She was trying to straighten out his legs. She was hurting him, damn it, and every time he tried to push her hands away, they came back to poke and prod some more.
He felt her open his jacket, knew she could see the gun holstered above his hip. He was crazed with pain now, couldn’t seem to think straight. He only knew he couldn’t let her take his weapon.
She was a damned talkative mugger. He’d give her that. She looked like one of those J. Crew models. Sweet, he thought. No, she wasn’t sweet. She kept hurting him.
“Look, lady, you can take my wallet, but you’re not getting my gun. Got that?” He could barely get the words out through his gritted teeth.
Her hand pressed into his side. He reacted instinctively, knocking her back. He thought he might have connected with something soft because he heard her yell before he went under again.
Theo didn’t know how long he was out, but when he opened his eyes, the bright lights made him squint. Where the hell was he? He couldn’t summon up enough energy to move. He thought he might be on a table. It was hard, cold.
“Where am I?” His mouth was so dry, he slurred the question.
“You’re in Brethren Hospital, Mr. Buchanan.” The man’s voice came from behind him, but Theo couldn’t see him.
“Did they catch her?”
“Who?”
“J. Crew.”
“He’s loopy.” A female voice he didn’t recognize made the comment.
Theo suddenly realized he wasn’t in any pain. He felt good, in fact. Real good. Like he could fly. Odd, though, he didn’t have the strength to move his arms. A mask was placed over his mouth and nose. He turned his head to get away from it.
“Are you getting, sleepy, Mr. Buchanan?”
He turned his head again and saw her. Blue Eyes. She looked like an angel, all golden. Wait a minute. What the hell was she doing here? Wait…
“Mike, are you going to be able to see what you’re doing? That eye looks bad.”
“It’s fine.”
“How’d it happen?” the voice behind Theo’s head asked.
“He clipped me.”
“The patient decked you?”
“That’s right.” She was staring into Theo’s eyes when she answered. She had a green mask on, but he knew she was smiling.
He was in such a happy daze now and so sleepy, he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Conversation swirled around him, but none if it made any sense.
A woman’s voice. “Where did you find him, Dr. Renard?”
“At a party.”
Another woman leaned over him. “Hubba, hubba.”
“Was it love at first sight?”
“You decide. He threw up all over me and ruined my new dress.”
Someone laughed. “Sounds like love to me. I’ll bet he’s married. All the good-looking men are married. This one’s sure built. Did you check out the goods, Annie?”
“I hope our patient is sleeping.”
“Not yet,” a male voice said. “But he isn’t going to remember anything.”
“Where’s the assist?”
“Scrubbing.”
There seemed to be a party going on. Theo thought there were at least twenty or thirty people in the room with him. Why was it so damned cold? And who was making all the clatter? He was thirsty. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton. Maybe he ought to go get a drink. Yeah, that’s what he would do.
“Where’s Dr. Cooper?”
“Probably passed out in the dessert by now.” Blue Eyes answered the question. Theo loved the sound of her voice. It was so damned sexy.
“So you saw Cooper at the party?”
“Uh-huh,” Blue Eyes answered. “He wasn’t on call tonight. He works hard. It was nice to see him having a good time. Mary Ann’s probably having a great time too.”
“You.” Theo struggled to get the word out. Still, he’d gotten her attention because when he opened his eyes, she was leaning over him, blocking out the glaring light above him.
“It’s time for you to go to sleep, Mr. Buchanan.”
“He’s fighting it.”
“What…” Theo began.
“Yes?”
“What do you want from me?”
The man hiding behind him answered. “Mike wants your appendix, Mr. Buchanan.”
It sounded good to him. He was always happy to accommodate a beautiful woman. “Okay,” he whispered. “It’s in my wallet.”
“We’re ready.”
“It’s about time,” the man said.
Theo heard the chair squeak behind him, then the stranger’s voice telling him to take deep breaths. Theo finally figured out who the man behind him was. Damn if it wasn’t Willie Nelson, and he was singing to him, something about Blue Eyes cryin’ in the rain.
It was one hell of a party.
Theo slept through recovery. When he awoke the following morning, he was in a hospital bed. The side rails were up, and he was hooked to an IV. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. What the hell had happened to him? He couldn’t remember.
It was past ten o’clock when he opened his eyes again. She was there, standing beside the bed, pulling the sheets up around his waist. Blue Eyes. He hadn’t imagined her after all.
She looked different today. She was still dressed in surgical scrubs, but her hair wasn’t hidden underneath a cap. It was down around her shoulders, and the color was a deep, rich auburn.
She was much prettier than he remembered.
She noticed he was awake. “Good morning. How are you feeling? Still a little drowsy?”
He struggled to sit up. She reached for the controls and pushed a button. The bed slowly rose. Theo felt a tugging in his side and a mild stinging sensation.
“Tell me when.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Thanks.”
She picked up his chart and started writing while he blatantly stared at her. He felt vulnerable and awkward sitting in bed in a hospital gown. He couldn’t think of anything clever to say to her. For the first time in his life he wanted to be charming, but he didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it. He was a die-hard workaholic, and there simply wasn’t room for social graces in his life.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” she asked, glancing up from her notes.
“I had surgery.”
“Yes. Your appendix was removed. Another fifteen minutes and you definitely would have ruptured.”
“I remember bits and pieces. What happened to your eye?”
She smiled as she started writing in his chart again. “I didn’t duck fast enough.”
“Who are you?”
“Dr. Renard.”
“Mike?”
“Excuse me?”
“Someone called you Mike.”
Michelle closed the folder, put the lid back on her ink pen, and tucked it into her pocket. She gave him her full attention. The surgical nurses were right. Theo Buchanan was gorgeous … and sexy as hell. But none of that should matter. She was his phy
sician, nothing more, nothing less, yet she couldn’t help reacting to him as any woman naturally would react to such a fit specimen. His hair was sticking up and he needed a shave, but he was still sexy. There wasn’t anything wrong with her noticing that… unless, of course, he noticed her noticing.
“You just asked me a question, didn’t you?” She drew a blank.
He could tell he’d rattled her, but he didn’t know why. “I heard someone call you Mike.”
She nodded. “Yes. The staff calls me Mike. It’s short for Michelle.”
“Michelle’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”
It was all coming back to Theo now. He was at a party, and there was this beautiful woman in a slinky black evening gown. She was breathtaking. He remembered that. She had killer blue eyes and Willie Nelson was with her. He was singing. No, that couldn’t be right. Obviously, his head hadn’t quite cleared yet.
“You were talking to me … after the surgery,” he said.
“In recovery. Yes,” she agreed. “But you were doing most of the talking.” She was smiling again. “And by the way, the answer’s no. I won’t marry you.”
He smiled, sure she was joking. “I don’t remember being in pre-op. I remember the pain though. It hurt like a son of a …”
“I’m sure it did.”
“You did the surgery, didn’t you? I didn’t imagine that?”
“Yes, I did the surgery.”
She was backing out of the room. He didn’t want her to leave just yet. He wanted to find out more about her. “You don’t look old enough to be a surgeon.” Stupid, he thought, but it was the best he could come up with at the moment.
“I hear that a lot.”
“You look like you should be in college.” That statement, he decided, was worse than stupid.
She couldn’t resist. “High school, actually. They let me operate for extra credit.”
“Very funny.”
“Dr. Renard? May I interrupt?” A male aide was standing in the hallway, shifting a large cardboard box under his arm.
“Yes, Bobby?”
“Dr. Cooper filled this box with medical supplies from his office for your clinic,” the young man said. “What do you want me to do with it? Dr. Cooper left it at the nurses’ station, but they wanted it moved. It was in the way.”
“Would you mind taking it down to my locker?”
“It’s too big, Dr. Renard. It won’t fit. It isn’t heavy, though. I could carry it out to your car.”
“My father has the car,” she said. She glanced around, then looked at Theo. “Would you mind if Bobby left my box here? My father will carry it down to the car for me just as soon as he arrives.”
“I don’t mind,” Theo said.
“I won’t be seeing you again. I’m going home today, but don’t worry. You’re in good hands. Dr. Cooper’s Chief of Surgery here at Brethren, and he’ll take good care of you.”
“Where’s home?”
“In the swamp.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No,” she said. She smiled again, and he noticed the little dimple in her left cheek. “Home is a little town that’s pretty much surrounded by swamp, and I can’t wait to get back there.”
“Homesick?”
“Yes, I am,” she admitted. “I’m a small-town girl at heart. It isn’t a very glamorous life, and that’s what I like about it.”
“You like living in the swamp.” It was a statement, not a question, but she responded anyway.
“You sound shocked.”
“No, just surprised.”
“You’re from a big, sprawling city, so you’d probably hate it.”
“Why do you say that?”
She shrugged. “You seem too … sophisticated.”
He didn’t know if that was a compliment or a criticism. “Sometimes you can’t go home. I think I read that in a book once. Besides, you look like a New Orleans kind of woman to me.”
“I love New Orleans. It’s a wonderful place to come for dinner.”
“But it won’t ever be home.”
“No.”
“So, are you the town doctor?”
“One of several,” she said. “I’m opening a clinic there. It’s not very fancy, but there’s a real need. So many of the people don’t have the resources to get regular medical care.”
“Sounds like they’re very lucky to have you.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no, I’m the lucky one.” Then she laughed. “That sounded saintly, didn’t it? I am the lucky one, though. The people are wonderful, at least I think they are, and they give me far more than I can give them.” When she spoke, her whole face lit up. “You know what I’m going to like best?”
“What’s that?”
“No games. For the most part, they’re honest, ordinary people trying to scrape a living together. They don’t waste a lot of time on foolishness.”
“So, everyone loves everyone else?” He scoffed at the notion.
“No, of course not,” she replied. “But I’ll know my enemies. They won’t sneak up behind me and blindside me. It isn’t their style.” She smiled again. “They’ll get right in my face, and I’m going to like that. Like I said, no games. After the residency I just finished, that’s going to be a refreshing change.”
“You won’t miss the big beautiful office and all the trappings?”
“Not really. There are rewards other than money. Oh sure, it would be great to have the supplies and equipment we need, but we’ll make do. I’ve spent a lot of years getting ready for this … besides, I made a promise.”
He kept asking her questions to keep her talking. He was interested in hearing about her town but not nearly as much as he was fascinated with her expressions. There were such passion and joy in her voice, and her eyes sparkled as she talked about her family and friends and the good she hoped she could do.
She reminded him of how he had felt about life when he had first started practicing the law, before he’d become so cynical. He too had wanted to change the world, to make it a better place. Rebecca had changed all that. Looking back, he realized he had failed miserably.
“I’ve worn you out, going on and on about my hometown. I’ll let you rest now,” she said.
“When can I get out of here?”
“That’s Dr. Cooper’s call, but if it were up to me, I’d keep you another night. You had quite a nasty infection. You need to take it easy for a couple of weeks, and don’t forget to take your antibiotics. Good luck, Theo.”
And then she was gone, and he’d lost the only chance he had to find out more about her. He didn’t even know where her home was. He fell asleep trying to figure out a way to see her again.
JULIE GARWOOD
is the author of seventeen New York Times
bestsellers, including Mercy, Heartbreaker, Ransom,
and Come the Spring. There are more than thirty
million copies of her books in print.
This book is a work of historical fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents relating to nonhistorical figures are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance of such incidents, places, or figures to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1988 by Julie Garwood
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN 13:978-0-671-73783-2
ISBN: 978-1-4516-8188-8 (eBook)
ISBN 10: 0-671-73783-X
First Pocket Books printing December 1988
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Co
ver photo by Derke/O’Hara
“Julie Garwood attracts readers like beautiful heroines attract dashing heroes....”
—USA Today
Praise for Julie Garwood’s splendid
New York Times bestseller
RANSOM
“AN ENTHRALLING TALE.... In this powerful story, passion, loyalty, friendship, and mystery superbly blend with realistic, three-dimensional characters.”
—Romantic Times
“PURE ENTERTAINMENT. . . . TRULY UNFORGETTABLE. Romance never felt so good.”
—Rendezvous
“A KEEPER.... Anyone who has had the pleasure of reading Julie Garwood’s classic tale The Secret will remember the two lovable rogues Brodick Buchanan and Ramsey Sinclair. Now they star in their own story. . . . The plot is crisp, entertaining, and makes medieval England seem real.”
—Under the Covers Book Reviews
“A RIP-ROARING ROMP, full of humor, romance, sword fights, and crisp dialogue.... So much fun, it begs to be read in one sitting.... Characters feel like old friends, and readers will regret to see the story end.”
—The Cedar Rapids Gazette (IA)
“Wonderful.... RANSOM provides suspense, passion, and humor.”
—All About Romance
“Julie Garwood’s stories happen in a different world, and she makes that world palpable. Readers ... appreciate the fragility of life in a time when death was omnipresent.”
—The Kansas City Star
BOOKS BY JULIE GARWOOD
Gentle Warrior
Rebellious Desire
Honor’s Splendour
The Lion’s Lady
The Bride
Guardian angel
The Gift
The Prize
The Secret
Castles
Saving Grace
Prince Charming
For the Roses
The Wedding
Come the Spring
Ransom
Heartbreaker
Mercy
The Clayborne Brides
One Pink Rose
One White Rose
One Red Rose
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Julie Garwood - [3 Book Box Set] Page 71
