by Tina Beckett
“And you and Jess met at the hospital?”
This time it was his daughter who answered. “Yes. We work in different wards, but see each other from time to time.”
Yes, they did. Except that Jess hadn’t expected Dean to even know who she was. There was something about that that bothered him. Really bothered him.
He’d joked about her invisibility cloak, but now he wondered. Did she really think she was that invisible? He’d noticed her from the time she’d started working at Cambridge Royal four years ago. The way her blonde ponytail swished from side to side as she walked. The way she had of lifting a hand to wave at colleagues instead of simply nodding to them.
The way she smiled as she looked down at her patients.
He’d noticed all of that? When?
He realized everyone was staring at him. “Sorry?”
“My dad asked what our most romantic date was.”
The sardonic tilt of her brow told him he really should have thought this through a little better, or at least planned for the obvious questions. Hmm...well, they wanted romantic? He would give them romantic.
“Well, after the ‘falling in the lake’ bit that Jess mentioned, we seemed to hit it off. I think our most memorable afternoon was when I took her for a nice little hack in the countryside. Just the two of us on horseback. We took a hamper of food. And—”
“You took her out for a hack?” Her dad interrupted him, and he could have sworn the steady gaze now held a hint of suspicion.
And Jess. Well, she looked just plain horrified. He had a feeling he was about to find out why.
Gloria took up where Norm left off. “Jess is afraid of horses. Has been ever since she was thrown from a pony when she was young.”
“I—I got over it. Dean helped me see there’s really nothing to be afraid of.” Except she looked pretty afraid right now.
Perfect. He had to choose the one thing Jess was terrified of, and her dad had called him on it.
“Well I, for one, would love to see some pictures of that. Wouldn’t you?” Norm’s question was aimed at Jess’s mum.
“Definitely.”
He and Jess had two choices. They could either come clean and tell the truth—which meant her sister might start back up with the accusations—or he could continue to do his best to make this look real.
“I don’t have any of those shots with me at the moment.” His mind scrambled to find a solution. “I know you’re leaving tomorrow—perhaps I could email them to you?”
“Perfect. We’ll be expecting them.” There was definitely an edge to the words this time.
Jess glanced at him, a frown on her face, but she didn’t contradict him. Instead, she said, “I’ll have Dean send them to me, and then I’ll forward them to you. How does that sound?” She dropped her fork onto her almost empty plate. “Well, I need to save room for some of that delicious custard tart you made, Mum.”
The rest of the evening revolved around small talk and chatter about some of the cases they’d worked on. Somehow, though, he didn’t think her dad was going to forget about those pictures. Which meant he and Jess were going to have to do some creative maneuvering. Like editing a photo to show her on a horse?
No. That wouldn’t work.
He was going to have to actually get her on one and snap a few pictures.
And if he couldn’t talk her into it?
Well, he was going to have to, because if they didn’t do something and fast his impulsive decision was going to wind up coming back and biting him right on the ass. Which would be fine, if it were only him. But he didn’t want Jess to pay the price for his mistakes.
No, he was going to have to sweet talk her into agreeing. And unlike at the pub a few nights ago, he was going to have to make sure she said yes.
CHAPTER SIX
“YOU WANT ME to do what?”
Surely Jess hadn’t heard him correctly. Dean wanted her to get on a horse? Her dad was right. She was afraid of horses. Terrified of them. They were huge and all kinds of scary.
“Just for a couple of pictures.”
“I think I’d rather just tell my parents we’ve decided not to see each other anymore.”
Dean leaned against the door of his car as they stood in front of Jess’s house. Dinner had actually gone quite well, except for that one hiccup. “Your sister will still be in town after they leave, I assume. Are you going to tell her we broke up as well?”
She closed her eyes. If she did that, she could almost guarantee the arguments would start right back up. And Abbie would probably claim that she’d broken things off with Dean because she was still secretly in love with Martin. They would be back to square one. Unless she and Dean could keep up the pretense until her sister left.
When would that be?
“I really am afraid of them.”
“I know this bloke—”
“This bloke? Well, that certainly puts my mind at ease.”
Dean grinned and reached for one of her hands, threading his fingers through hers. “How about if I promise to ask him for a very nice horse?”
“Is there such a thing?” She rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell my dad you’d taken me to the Bull Run in Spain? Or that we’d done the polar plunge while visiting Russia? Those would be more believable than the idea of me on a horse.”
“It would be a little harder to get photographs of one of those events, don’t you think?” He carried her hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on her knuckles that made her stiffen. “For your dad’s benefit. I don’t think he’s fully bought into our little love story.”
“This was such a huge mistake.” She glanced toward the front window of the cottage, just the same. Were her parents really watching them to see if they were truly dating each other? She’d sensed some definite tension from her dad, but assumed it was the normal protective instincts that most fathers had for their daughters. He’d certainly been angry enough at Martin when he’d switched his attentions to Abbie.
“You’ve already gotten through the hardest part,” Dean continued. “Having dinner with them.”
“Really? You’re not the one who has to get on the back of a crazed animal and hope it decides to let you live.”
If anything, his smile grew. “You’re being a bit melodramatic, don’t you think? We’ll climb on a couple of docile horses and take a few snapshots. It’ll be over before you know it.”
“Is that what you tell your patients?”
He tugged her closer, until she found herself up against him, his hands at her hips. “My patients are too little to understand anything except a cuddle and a full tummy.”
The image of Dean cradling one of those tiny preemies made her heart squeeze. He would make a fantastic dad, if he could ever get past the need to jump from one woman to another.
She just had to make sure he remembered this was strictly make-believe.
Before she could say anything, though, his nose nuzzled the skin just below her ear. Electricity shimmered along her nerve endings. “Dean, what are you doing?”
Her voice came out far too shaky for her liking.
“Your dad is standing at the window watching us,” he whispered.
“He is?” Her instinct was to crank her head around again and look at the house. Instead, she found a palm cupping her chin and holding her in place.
“Trust me. He’s there.” His lips touched her cheek, and this time instead of the hum of electricity, her muscles reacted with a violent shudder that swept from her toes to the top of her head. “It’s just a pretend hack. We’ll stay close to the barn. I promise.”
“I... I...” Her thoughts were careening around in her head—a terrifying mixture of fear and need, each vying for supremacy. “I guess I can try.”
“That�
�s my girl.” He brushed his nose against hers. “In the meantime, let’s give your father something to ponder while he waits for those pictures.”
With that, his lips slid against hers. Once. Twice.
It’s just pretend.
And then, proving she didn’t really believe that at all, she reached up on tiptoes and pressed her mouth hard against his.
Dean went totally still for all of five seconds, then his arms wrapped around her waist and he hauled her tight against him, head tilting. Suddenly the pretend kiss became something that was very, very real. And she had no idea how to stop it. Or if she even wanted to.
* * *
This situation had turned on its head so completely it wasn’t funny. The last thing Dean would have ordinarily wanted was for the father of one of his dates to catch him necking with his daughter. But this was no ordinary situation.
And neither was this kiss.
Dean didn’t care who was watching him, because with Jess’s arms wound around his neck and her lips open beneath his there was a raw primitive feel he never would have associated with this particular woman.
Her ex had given this up? For someone Dean had come to view as a shrew?
His hand cupped the base of her skull and turned her head just slightly. Just enough for him to really settle his mouth against hers.
Well, Daddy dearest would probably not need those pictures after seeing this.
Except he wanted to take Jess to his friend’s stable. Wanted her to be willing to try something different, to do something wild and crazy and maybe even a little terrifying.
Like this kiss?
Definitely. His tongue surged forward, finding no resistance at all, just a warm moist place he never wanted to leave.
And damn if she didn’t make this sexy little sound in the back of her throat. The one that whispered for him to keep going, to press her hard against the side of the car and take it all the way to the finish line.
Somehow he didn’t think her dad would be as kosher with him doing his daughter right here in the garden, no matter how much Dean might want to.
So he eased her back, a curse running through his mind. Rippling through his body.
Her lips remained slightly parted, her breath coming in and out in cute little gusts that made him want to drag her into the bushes and finish what he’d started.
He leaned his weight against the car door, pressing his forehead against hers. “You okay?”
“Huh?” Slowly her arm unwound from his neck. “Oh. Um...yes. Fine.”
She didn’t sound fine. Her voice trembled and there was a quality to it that made him wonder exactly how often she’d been caught necking in front of her dad.
Probably never, from the sound of it. Her mum’s comment about Jess being all work and no play...was that based on reality?
Hell, he wasn’t thinking straight right now.
Blowing out a breath, he stroked the back of his fingers along her cheek. “As good as that was, I’d rather leave with all of my teeth intact.”
Jess tilted her head for a second, and then, as if realizing what he was talking about, gave a nervous chuckle. “I don’t think he would knock them all out.”
The woman was a complete enigma. The unexpected heat of that kiss had hit him right between the eyes. And then her shy teasing afterward brought out every protective instinct he possessed. If he’d been her dad, he’d have come down that pavement like a raging bull, pulling Dean off her and sending him on his way.
Releasing her, he leaned forward and gave her cheek a quick kiss, finding it warm from her blush.
Or maybe from her reaction to finding herself in his arms.
Back away, Dean.
Maybe it would have been better to have saved this part of the act for her sister and brother-in-law.
He could always do it again.
That thought made something curl low in his gut. Some warm anticipation that made him plan crazy, impulsive things.
Impulsive...like his father?
That kiss had certainly blown out of control far too quickly.
But he hadn’t hurt her. Or anyone else.
He forced himself to say it again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She nodded and took a step back, pushing her hair back from her face. “Yes, I think I am.”
It sounded as if she’d just been handed a revelation. But what kind of revelation? Of how good it felt to be thoroughly kissed in front of your house? Or that she never wanted to repeat it?
He already knew which side he was camped on. The do-it-again-soon camp.
“So you’ll let me know if we need to nudge your dad in the right direction again.”
“And what direction would that be?”
“Toward believing this—” he motioned between the two of them “—is real.”
It had felt real to him. A little too real.
She shook her head. “If he doesn’t believe it by now, I don’t know what more we can do to convince him.”
There was no way he was going to touch that. Because if he did, he’d tell her to slide into his car and he’d take her somewhere and show her.
“Pictures. We still need pictures.”
Yes. That was the answer he was looking for.
“I don’t know...”
He reached out to slide his thumb along her cheekbone. “No getting out of it now.”
“Okay.”
Her capitulation had happened far too easily. Or maybe she was still as stunned as he was by what had happened between them.
Whatever it was, she was keeping it to herself, because she took two more steps back, and then, with a murmured goodbye, turned and headed up the walk. Sure enough, he was positive the edge of one of her lacy curtains had just dropped back into place as her dad...or maybe her mum...decided the show was over.
And yet, the energy in his body was still humming with possibility.
Even though that possibility was now opening the door and going inside her house.
* * *
A day later, and despite her best efforts, Martin finally cornered her in the hospital corridor. She’d just finished a difficult delivery and was hoping to call her friend Amy and remind her that she was due for a checkup, since she’d missed her last appointment.
He stood in front of her, not exactly blocking her path, but almost. “I know all of this has been tough on you—not to mention Gloria and Norm—and I wanted to say I’m sorry for how Abs is acting. She’s not herself at the moment.”
Hmm...her sister hadn’t “been herself” since they were teenagers. Surely there were other twins who weren’t best friends. “She’s in a strange hospital with caregivers who aren’t her own. It’s natural for her to feel out of sorts.”
“She’s taking it out on you, though. And for that I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. She’s worried about the baby.” In reality, that was what Jess hoped it was, although Abbie hadn’t shown quite as much interest in this child as she had when her other three had been born. She’d doted over each of those in turn.
But she’d barely visited Marissa while she’d been in hospital, even though her room was just down the hall from the SCBU. Martin, on the other hand, had been a constant figure there, ever since his arrival in Cambridge, even getting to know the nurses and speaking with Dean on several occasions. That made her nervous. One slip and Dean could make the situation between her and her sister that much worse. The last thing she needed was for Abbie to start back in on her about her ex.
Dean’s plan had worked. So far.
But it hadn’t made Abbie want to spend any more time with the baby.
“She’s had a traumatic experience,” Jess continued. “Maybe she just needs some time to heal physically and emotionall
y.
Could her sister be suffering from some form of PTSD? That hardly seemed likely, but maybe her blaming Jess for the premature birth was a way of making herself feel better. In reality, neither of them was to blame. At least Jess kept telling herself that.
And so did Dean. On a regular basis.
He’d stuck by her side with a glue-like tenacity that made her edgy. In fact, she was surprised he hadn’t popped out of the woodwork by now with some murmured endearment—although she did notice he was careful around the nurses and staff, for which she was grateful. Because the monikers he chose for her were peculiar. Especially one of them, which made her squirm.
My girl.
She was not “his” and never would be. The first time he’d said it—in front of her house when she’d agreed to climb on a horse—she’d passed it off as a “good girl” kind of thing. But it seemed the words had stuck. In his defense, she had called him honey. But she’d done that with a sardonic edge.
There was nothing humorous about the term he was using.
And she wished with all her might he would stop. Wasn’t there something called a self-fulfilling prophesy? She didn’t want to start believing those words could, should, or would become true. Ever.
Martin’s voice reminded her of his presence. “Where’s Dean? Maybe he could talk to Abbie. Or maybe even prescribe her something.”
The thought of Dean going and talking to Abbie alone made something in her cringe, even though it was ridiculous. Old fears, however, were hard to banish.
But if she was worried that Abbie was going to try to flirt with Dean, she needn’t bother. Dean wasn’t hers.
That’s my girl.
For some reason, she didn’t think Dean would have ever done what Martin had done. Why she thought that she had no idea. Martin had been the last boyfriend she’d lost to Abbie, but he hadn’t been the only one.
Dean’s not your boyfriend, fiancé, significant other or anything else. Not really.
Abbie couldn’t steal something Jess had never had.
“I think that’s something you should discuss with Dean and Abbie, not me.”
A voice came from behind her. “What should I discuss?”
