“I think I’ll just step outside,” Evan said, noting the way Grace’s eyes widened. Panic. She had finally figured out Eunice was a few cards short of a full deck. He shoved his guilt aside. If she wanted to make it in Red River, she was going to have to learn how to deal with Eunice.
“Not to worry. I’ll take excellent care of Grace here.”
Chris attached himself to his side. “Dr. Nevan, can I go with you?” Smart kid.
“Chris, Dr. Manning has an important phone call—”
“Uh, no it’s fine.” He glanced down at Chris. “Just hang around where I can see you, and I’ll be quick on the phone, okay?”
Christopher bopped his head up and down and obediently followed him to the front window. Evan kept an eye on the kid through his peripheral vision, while asking Bryce Lambert if he wanted to come down to Red River for their meeting. He liked this man. He shrugged off the image of Quinn and Jake’s faces when he’d told them about the position. They’d never get it. Well, he didn’t have to convince them. In a few weeks, he’d be back in the city and would only have to deal with their disappointment on a monthly basis.
…
Evan stretched out his legs on the pink armchair in the dressing room of My Sister’s Closet and tried not to fall asleep. This whole shopping thing was taking longer than he’d expected. Having a fake wife and kid was proving to be just as time-consuming as real ones. He pulled out his BlackBerry, hoping for some kind of message, voice mail, or e-mail.
“Dr. Nevan, do you have games on your phone?”
He glanced over at Chris, who was doing some coloring in a superhero notebook in the chair beside him. “No, sorry, buddy.”
The little boy frowned, sort of a pensive look crossing his face. “That’s okay. I begged my mom to get a phone like that, but she said it was too expensive. My friends’ parents have them, and they said there are so many cool games to play.”
Evan searched for something to say to him. He felt bad for them. And that was a growing sentiment, the longer he spent with Christopher and his mother. It also made him feel less guilty about pressuring Grace to go along with this farce. Because at the end of the day, she would come out ahead. She’d have a job, new clothes, expenses paid. Maybe she and her son would be able to live a better life. “Well, you know what, Chris? Maybe your mom will get a phone in the future.”
“That’d be great!”
Evan shifted uncomfortably. He hoped to God he hadn’t just promised this kid that Grace would buy a smart phone. He glanced over at Mrs. Jacobs, who was humming the “Wedding March” for the hundredth time in an hour as she bustled out of the room. Every five minutes or so, she would dash out to the front of the store and flash him a knowing grin. That in and of itself made him very wary. He hoped to God she wasn’t trying to dress Grace up as her mini-me. That thought propelled him to stand and get a status update.
“Christopher, I’ll be right back. Just stay here and color.”
“No problem. I’ll draw a new picture for you!”
Evan shot him a smile and walked to the dressing room. He heard the shuffling of fabric and zippers. He hesitated a moment and then knocked on the door. Surprisingly, Grace pulled the door open. And was obviously shocked that it was him standing on the other side. Probably about as shocked as he was, because frumpy Grace had just turned into the most stunning woman he’d ever seen.
He had no idea this place carried lingerie like that. If he were honest with himself, he’d acknowledge that it wasn’t the lingerie; it was the woman. The black bustier she was wearing and matching, tight slip revealed curves and hollows that her baggy clothes disguised.
Grace gasped, her face turning red. “Omigod, I thought you were Mrs. Jacobs—”
“Woohoo,” the woman in question trilled behind him. “Evan, where have you disappeared to?”
Shit. He glanced over his shoulder, and Grace grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him into the dressing room with her. It was tiny and filled with clothes…and Grace. She was staring up at him, and her hands were splayed across his chest, and hell if all those reasons he’d just went through about why he needed to quash whatever attraction he had to her went out the window. Her breaths were coming out in rapid succession and he had the craziest urge to lean down and take her mouth under his and find out whether she tasted as sweet as she looked.
“I’ve rescued you,” she whispered, reminding him of why he was in here. “Now I need to, um, get some clothes on.”
Rescued? She’d just thrown him into a volcano of hot lava. She tried to move around him, but that movement only brought her closer, until they were plastered against each other.
Heavy footsteps only faintly registered as the feel of Grace’s curvy body against his took over.
“I dropped my shirt,” she hissed and then attempted to kneel down…as Mrs. Jacobs whipped open the door and screamed in their faces.
“Evan Manning, these sexy-time shenanigans may be acceptable in the city, but not in Red River. I know all about what people do in change rooms but not in my sister’s shop. Not with an innocent little boy—”
“There are no”—he almost gagged—“sexy-time shenanigans going on here. It was an honest mistake,” he said as he held his hand out for Grace and helped her stand.
“Mrs. Jacobs, he was just helping—”
“My dear, you are in a changing room with a man, and down on your knees. You can’t be so naive in life. I know all the Manning boys, and Evan was my favorite up until this sordid escapade—”
Evan forced himself to sound calm as he stepped out of the dressing room to spare Grace more humiliation. He shut the door behind him and pointed down the hall to the waiting area where Chris was thankfully still coloring and humming loudly. “Please keep your voice down, or you’ll corrupt innocent, young minds.”
A few minutes later, Grace yanked open the door, dressed and with her arms filled with clothes. She avoided looking at him as Mrs. Jacobs took the clothes from her arms. Thank God his brothers were nowhere around here. This one was going into the vault. Only problem was, he’d have to keep revisiting, because he was now aware of Grace. Every single, gorgeous curve. And the sight of her in the lace bustier and slip was carved into his head and imprinted on his body. For the first time in his life, he wished he didn’t have a photographic memory.
This was exactly why he needed out of this town. Fast. He needed to land that job, get out of Red River and back to civilization. Grace needed to become just a distant memory. A sweet, hot, distant memory.
Chapter Six
Grace took a deep breath, wrapped her hand around the cold door handle, and swung it open. The office was quiet, the fluorescent overhead lights still off. She knew Evan was inside, because the door was unlocked. She told herself that the rapid rattling in her rib cage was perfectly normal and had everything to do with the first day on a new job, and nothing to do with her employer. Especially since said employer had seen her almost naked. And she’d been pressed against all the strong lines of his body. And the look in his eyes had played over and over again in her mind the rest of the weekend.
She and Christopher had spent yesterday unpacking and doing groceries. She had made three To-Do lists and had completed two of them already. Chris could not stop speaking about Evan or the house or the yard. She felt as though she was in her dream house, it was so beautiful. Evan and everything that happened made her believe that maybe her life was finally changing. Because of him.
Grace forced what she hoped was a normal expression on her face, and not one that said, Being smashed up against you in the dressing room was the single hottest experience of my sad little life and—
“Oh, hey, Grace. Come on in,” he said, appearing from the corridor that led to the two examination rooms. The pale blue button-down shirt and fitted navy flat-front chinos fit him to perfection. His skin was a stark contrast to the crisp white of his shirt, the khakis emphasizing his height and lean hips. He had his stethoscope looped
around his neck, and his hair was slightly rumpled, giving her the impression he’d already run his hands through it a few times this morning. In a word, the man was edible. She closed her eyes briefly before she made a complete fool of herself. These were horribly inappropriate thoughts for her employer. She was fantasizing about him and he…was looking at her as though she were just another seventy-year-old receptionist. He was pure business this morning, all buttoned up and professional. The man could switch from hot casual to work casual better than anyone she’d seen.
“Thank you,” she said, walking over to the brass coat rack by the receptionist’s desk. She hung up her sweater and smoothed her hands over her black pencil skirt before turning to face Evan. Getting dressed this morning, she’d felt like a woman—nothing like the Ronald McDonald’s sister version of herself from last week. She’d even managed to tame her crazy hair. She glanced over at Evan, but he wasn’t even looking at her. He was shoving some files around on the desk, making some grumbling noises.
“Chris get off to school okay?”
Ugh. There was that other side of him. First he looked as though all he wanted was to talk about work, and then his features softened and he asked about her little boy. She was doomed. She nodded, smiling as she thought of Chris. “Like a total trooper. Honestly I don’t know where he gets that confidence and outgoing personality from. If I were his age and had to switch schools and towns, I would have clung to my mother and begged her not to leave.”
He was quiet for a moment, his eyes thoughtful.
“He’s a pretty cool kid. He’s okay with coming here after school for a couple hours every day?”
Grace placed her purse on the ground, quickly kicking it under the desk and out of sight with her fab new shoes. She hadn’t wanted to add even more things to the ginormous bill Evan must have incurred on her shopping spree, so hadn’t even looked in the direction of accessories that day. “Totally. And he’s thrilled that he and Ella are in the same school. We ran into Holly and Ella this morning and arranged a play date this week, too. You have an incredible family; you’re so lucky.”
He flipped open a file. “Holly’s great.”
“You must be so happy to be back here, surrounded by family and old friends. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to have that kind of support. Well, now thanks to you, I guess I do.” She tried not to get emotional, but in less than a week, these people had taken them in and shown them more kindness than anything she’d experienced before.
He gave her a terse nod, still looking in the file. It was an odd reaction. Maybe she was just babbling too long, and he wanted to get to work. Clearly, she was the only one who was having problems getting Saturday out of her mind.
“So Sheila said she left a bunch of instructions, passwords, and notes. They are in this file,” he said handing it to her. She accepted it, making sure her fingers didn’t touch his. “I know you have experience with this, so maybe look through all that and then ask me if you have any questions, okay? I’m not really familiar with everything around here, but I can place a call to Chalmers if needed.” His eyes were intense as she sat down in the swivel chair behind the desk. “This place isn’t really crazy busy this week, and the patients here are really,” he paused, “easygoing, so we should be fine.” Evan was all business again, a completely different man than the one a few minutes ago.
“Okay, will do,” she said, anxious to have a look at everything before the first patient arrived.
“Good. I’ll be in my office. Only put through work calls. My family has a habit of calling a lot just to chitchat—only put them through if it’s something legit. Oh, and I am expecting an important fax from Medcorp. As soon as that comes in, please bring it to me.” He left the reception room without a backward glance. She flexed her fingers and made a note of the company he’d just mentioned.
Almost an hour later, she had the computer up and running, the program the same as her old office, and was making major inroads on figuring out how everything worked.
She nearly jumped out of her seat when the phone rang, sounding shrill in the silent office. She glanced at the clock, and since it was five minutes to opening, decided she’d just pick it up.
An hour later, the doctor’s office was almost filled, and she was answering calls and registering patients flawlessly. It was actually a really enjoyable morning. She basically ran the office, which she’d never been able to do in her other job, and everyone was so friendly.
When the fax finally came in just after lunch, she walked down the hall to hand it to Evan and paused, her eyes resting on the letterhead. Medcorp, private plastic-surgery clinics. And the address below was on Gerrard, downtown Toronto. It was very close to the women’s shelter she and her mother had stayed at for a rough period of time. They were good people there, and when her mom had found a full-time job again and they were able to afford their own apartment, she’d made sure that the two of them volunteered as much as they could. Her mother had said it was important to be grateful, and that lesson was one Grace had never forgotten.
Her heart throbbed. She shouldn’t have been reading this. But she wanted to know what it meant. She took a deep breath, eyeing the door leading to his office.
She needed this job. And she was beginning to be really hopeful for the first time in years, that she would actually be able to make it and give Christopher a good life. She wasn’t about to ruin that by prying. Nope, she was going to work her butt off and impress him. In her spare time she was going to make her art a priority. She’d go back to Toronto, pull together her portfolio and all her art supplies.
Her mother would have been so proud of her. She was going to do this. She was going to make a home for herself and her son in Red River. She glanced down at the letterhead again, the logo finally triggering her memory. She frowned, looking down the hallway toward Evan’s office. He couldn’t possibly be leaving Red River to work there…
…
Evan was counting down the days until he could leave Red River.
He was trying to concentrate on what Dr. Chalmers was saying during their lunch together and not on thoughts of Grace. But it’d been more than a week since she’d walked into his life, and his life had become…slightly more chaotic and complicated. He shouldn’t let that bother him because, well, in a few weeks, Grace would be nothing but a distant memory. So he shouldn’t be thinking about her in that lingerie. And he shouldn’t be noticing her legs in the skirts she wore to work. Or the way she filled out the sweaters she wore. Or her eyes. Or her smile. Not a damn bit of it should matter because she also wasn’t his type. She was too young. She was a mom. And she didn’t have the career drive that he admired in all the women he’d been with—which meant she wouldn’t understand his goals or the long hours he’d have to put in to achieve them. And she sure as hell wouldn’t understand leaving a quaint town, a thriving family practice, to run a chain of private plastic-surgery clinics.
But then she’d do other things…like laugh with the patients. Or give her son five thousand kisses when he came back from school, even though the kid tried to wrestle free every time. And the kicker was that none of that crap should matter to Evan. But it was appealing on some level. Maybe an emotional level—the kind he’d never been aware of in himself. The kind his father had shut down from an early age. His parents had never been happy. Evan knew from a young age, marriage wasn’t anything he wanted. He could control the outcome of his career—the outcome of a marriage was only 50 percent in his hands. He didn’t like those odds.
“I’ve been thinking about retiring,” Dr. Chalmers said as he took a sip from his cup of coffee.
Evan frowned, brushing aside his own inane thoughts. “Not yet. It’s too soon for that, Morgan.”
He chuckled, the lines in his face deepening. “I’m almost seventy-five. My wife keeps telling me I need to enjoy myself. Take some time to play with the grandchildren.”
Evan looked away for a moment, out into the gardens behind his mentor. Fa
mily was the one thing they differed on. “Wouldn’t you feel empty without it? You spent so much of your life building that practice.”
Morgan tilted his head. “It would be an adjustment; there’s no denying it. But there also comes a time when you have to realize what’s more important. I’ve spent so long saying next year we’ll do this or next year we’ll do that. And you know what? We never do. None of us knows how long we’re going to be here, and Pearl has put up with me for a long time. I owe her,” he said with a wise smile.
Evan forced a smile in return, trying to understand. “That makes sense.”
“It makes even more sense when you truly love someone. She gave up so much, being my wife. Now I think it’s about time I gave something back to her. I was a workaholic, Evan. Loved my work to the point of obsession, and she tolerated it. But I’m also a smart man, and I know when it’s time to throw in the towel and be the husband she deserves.”
“Well, then I’m happy for you.” Even if he really didn’t get it.
Morgan chuckled. “You have no idea what the hell I’m talking about do you? Well, I hope for your sake that one day you do. This isn’t everything, you know. If I had a choice between my family and practicing medicine, I’d choose my family. Remember that, and you’ll be fine.”
Evan nodded slowly, trying to look as though he actually thought that was good advice and would remember it—even though he’d just filed it away under useless, sentimental drivel in his mind. “So what are you going to do with the practice?”
Morgan drew a long breath and then looked him straight in the eye. “Would you be upset if I confessed and told you that I secretly hoped you’d fall in love with my patients and your hometown again, that you’d be tempted to take over?”
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