“Not just any patient,” Everett pointed out, “but a patient I was once nearly engaged to.”
“And that near-engagement ended badly,” she reminded him. Before he could say anything in response, she went on to tell him, “You had every right in the world to call the paramedics, then have them take me to the hospital while you walked away.”
He inclined his head like a man conceding a point. “Okay. You got me. I’m a magnificent doctor—who was hoping for a second chance at dinner,” he added as if that had been his sole motive behind seeing to it that she got well. “In order to do that, I had to make sure that you stayed alive. The best way to do that was to see to it myself.” He shrugged. “I don’t delegate very well.”
She paused to sample the egg roll appetizer that had been brought to the table and then laughed.
“When did you get so good at twisting around words to make them back you up?” she wanted to know.
“It comes with the medical degree,” Everett responded.
“No, it doesn’t,” Lila countered. She felt herself verging on impatience at the way he was so dismissive of his own abilities.
“Okay, then let’s just say it’s an inherent talent. A gift,” he emphasized. “Born out of necessity,” he added. “Satisfied?” He studied her across the table.
“No,” Lila answered honestly. “But I guess that it’ll have to do for now.”
She was rewarded with a smile that seemed to come from deep inside of Everett. She could feel her heart flutter in response.
* * *
They talked for another hour, long after the main course and the fortune cookies had come and gone and the pot of tea had been refilled.
“I think we’d better get going. It looks like our server wants the table.” She looked toward the reception area and saw why. “There’s a line going all out the door now.”
Everett found himself reluctant to leave. “I’m sure I can find a way to make it up to him if you want to stay a little longer. Would you like a few more appetizers?” he asked.
Lila laughed. “If I so much as look at another one, I’ll explode.”
“Okay, that’s a no,” he acknowledged. “So I guess you’re ready to go?”
Lila nodded. “I’ve got another day at work tomorrow and you, you’ve got a long drive ahead of you,” she reminded him. “I can call a cab for myself if you’d like to get started on that drive home,” Lila offered, watching Everett’s expression for any indication that he did want to leave.
Everett regarded her thoughtfully. “If I didn’t know any better, I would venture to say that you were trying to get rid of me.”
“No,” Lila denied, saying the word with feeling. “I’m not.”
He grinned at her. “Good, because it’s not working. I’m going to be taking you home. The few extra minutes that it’ll take me isn’t going to make a difference as far as my trip is concerned,” he assured her. Raising his hand, he signaled to the server.
True to his word, Everett left an extra large tip on the table for the man. Large enough to prompt their server to call after them as they left, saying, “Please come again!”
Lila and Everett exchanged looks and grinned at one another just before they walked out of the increasingly crowded restaurant.
* * *
“I had a really nice time tonight,” she told Everett once she was at her door.
Everett nodded, doing his best to look solemn as he reviewed their evening.
“Well, you made it all the way back home without passing out, so the way I see it, it was a successful evening,” he said dryly.
Lila shook her head. “You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?” she asked.
“In time, maybe,” he conceded.
Key in hand, Lila stopped just short of putting it into the lock. She knew she was stalling, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Does that mean you want to do this again?” she asked Everett.
“Absolutely,” Everett answered with certainly. He paused for a moment, debating whether or not to say what was on his mind or quit while he was ahead. After a beat, he made up his mind to continue. “Lila, I just want you to know that I intend to rebuild what we once had,” he told her. He saw the wary look that came over her face even though he could tell she was trying to appear unaffected by his words. “I didn’t say that to scare you, Lila. I want to be fair about this. I’m not going to go behind your back, or spring something on you. This is all going to be aboveboard and honest. I just really want to make the most of this second chance.”
“Second chance?” Lila repeated.
The fact that she wasn’t immediately dismissing what he’d just said told Everett that at least to some extent, she felt the same way he did. This was their second chance. Or more accurately, his second chance.
“I think that Fate threw us together like this for a reason, Lila, and I’m not about to ignore that,” he told her.
He could see that she still looked wary.
“Don’t worry,” he reassured her quickly. “I don’t plan on throwing a sack over your head and running off with you to some isolated cabin in order to wear you down until you see things my way. I told you that I’m patient and that’s not just when it comes to getting a table in a restaurant. I will go as slow as you want me to go, but I have a feeling that in the end, you’ll agree with me that we were meant to be together.”
As he talked, standing so close to Lila, he was overwhelmed by an urge to kiss her. But he instinctively knew that doing so at this moment would spook her and he couldn’t afford the setback that would create. Kissing Lila might satisfy the need he had just to feel her lips against his, but it very well might cost him in the end. He’d be winning the battle but losing the war, so to speak.
So, difficult as it was, he was determined to hold himself in check and wait.
He had no other choice. He had told Lila the truth. Patience was at the very core of his psychological makeup. He intended to wait as long as he had to in order to win Lila back.
“Are you sure that you’re up to driving all that distance?” Lila asked him, breaking into his thoughts.
The fact that she worried about him touched Everett again. It proved to him that he was right. In the long run, they were going to wind up together. Fate wouldn’t be that cruel to him, to bring her back into his life like this only to ultimately have him lose her a second time. He just had to stay strong and keep his wits about him.
“I’m fine,” he told her. “And I’m going to be back sometime next week for a day. I’ll see you then,” he promised. “Now go inside and lock the door so I can get going.”
Lila was about to point out that she got inside her house on her own every night without supervision, or having anything happen to her, but she let it go. She didn’t want to ruin the evening. Everett was being protective and there was something to be said for that, she told herself. Besides, being this close to him was practically setting her on fire, which she could not afford.
So she unlocked her door under his watchful eye and then went in, closing the door behind her.
“Now lock it,” he told her after a beat, raising his voice to be heard.
“Yes, sir,” Lila called back, humoring him. She turned the lock. “It’s locked,” she announced.
“Good night, Lila.”
“Good night, Everett.”
And then, after a couple of beats, she heard Everett’s car starting up. He was leaving.
Why did that have such a mournful sound to her, she asked herself. After all, she wanted him to leave. Everett might be confident about their future together, but she wasn’t.
He’d also been confident about their future when they were younger. Very confident. And look how that had ultimately turned out, she reminded herself. That big, wonderful future he had been so sure stretche
d out before them had shriveled up and died before it had ever had a chance to actually take root and thrive.
And history, she reminded herself as she went into her bedroom to change out of her dress, had a terrible habit of repeating itself.
Lila closed her eyes and shivered. She couldn’t bear to go though that kind of heartbreak a second time.
She wasn’t strong enough.
Chapter Fourteen
Lila had vacillated about whether or not to invite Everett to the Fortune Foundation fund-raiser for the better part of a week. And now the event was tonight. That meant it was too late for her to change her mind again and invite him.
Just as well, Lila told herself. She’d attend the black-tie gala solo, just as she had initially planned when she’d first gotten the invitation.
Before Everett had popped up back in her life.
The only problem was, she felt conflicted.
Ever since Everett had gone out of his way and nursed her through that bout with the flu, she’d been sorely tempted to invite him—just as a show of gratitude, of course. However, she felt that if they attended the function together, that would be like practically announcing to the world at large that they were a couple—again.
And it was much too premature for that sort of speculation to make the rounds.
Because they weren’t a couple anymore and they might never be a couple.
So, as she wavered back and forth, Lila fell back on her old stand-by: Why borrow trouble?
Consequently, she was going alone.
It wouldn’t be the first time, she thought. And given what her life was like, it undoubtedly wouldn’t be the last.
The way she felt at the moment, Lila had a premonition that she was destined to be alone for the rest of her life. Her dreams about Everett had been just that: dreams. And sooner or later, people were destined to wake up from dreams.
To boost her spirits, Lila bought herself a brand-new dress. It was a gown really, she thought, looking herself over from all angles in her wardrobe mirror as she prepared to leave.
The floor-length baby-blue silk gown swirled around softly as she moved and made her feel like she was a princess.
A princess without a kingdom—or a prince, Lila added ruefully—but a princess nonetheless.
“At least for one night,” Lila whispered to her reflection.
Taking a deep breath, she gathered up her wrap and her purse. She checked her purse one last time to make sure she had her invitation. It was right where it had been the last four times she’d checked, tucked against her wallet.
She was ready.
“Nothing left to do but drive Cinderella over to the ball,” Lila murmured to her reflection.
She smiled to herself as she locked the door and got into her car.
Where are the singing mice when you need them? she wondered wryly, starting up her vehicle.
* * *
The Fortune Foundation’s fund-raiser was being held on the ground floor ballroom of Austin’s finest hotel. Everything about the evening promised to be of the highest, most expensive quality.
After slipping into her purse the ticket that the valet who’d taken her car had given her, Lila went into the hotel.
She didn’t need to look at the signs to know which ballroom the fund-raiser was being held in. All she had to do was follow the sound of music and laughter. It was evident that the crowd was having a good time.
The sound quadrupled in volume the second she opened one of the doors to the Golden Room.
She stood there just inside the doors, acclimating herself and looking around what seemed like a cavernous ballroom. There were people absolutely everywhere.
“You made it!”
Surprised, Lila turned to her right and found herself looking at Lucie. Her friend easily hooked her arm through hers.
“I was beginning to think you’d decided to take a pass on this,” Lucie said as she began to gently steer Lila in what seemed to be a predetermined direction.
“I didn’t think the Foundation allowed us to take a pass,” Lila answered honestly. Not that she would have. Her sense of duty and loyalty was just too strong.
“Well, I don’t know about ‘allowed,’” Lucie replied, considering the matter, “but I do think that there would have been a lot of disappointed people here if you hadn’t shown up.”
Lila laughed. “I really doubt that,” she told Lucie.
“I don’t,” Lucie retorted. Her eyes were sparkling with humor as she added, “Especially one someone in particular.”
Lila stared at her. Lucie had managed to completely lose her. Her brow furrowed as Lila asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Come.” The woman tugged a little more insistently on Lila’s arm. “I’ll show you. By the way, I like the gown. Light blue’s a good color for you. It brings out your eyes,” she added with approval.
“It’s new,” Lila confessed, having second thoughts and thinking that maybe she shouldn’t have indulged herself like this.
Glancing at the gown one more time, Lucie nodded. “I had a feeling.”
“Why? Did I forget to remove a tag?” Lila asked nervously, looking down at her gown and then trying to look over her shoulder to see if there were any telltale tags hanging from the back.
“No, you didn’t forget to remove a tag, silly. It just has that first-time-off-a-hanger look.” Looking past Lila, Lucie raised her hand and waved.
“Who are you waving at? Chase?” Lila asked, referring to her friend’s husband. Scanning the immediate area, Lila tried to get a glimpse of the rancher.
“Chase is off talking to Graham about that pet project of theirs, the center for military equine therapy,” Lucie said. She was talking about Graham Fortune, the man who not only had taken over Fortune Cosmetics but also owned the successful Peter’s Place, a home where troubled teens were helped to put their lives together. “No,” Lucie told her, a very satisfied smile playing on her lips, “I was waving at the person I said would have been disappointed if you’d decided not to attend tonight.”
Before Lila could ask any more questions, she suddenly found herself looking up at someone she’d never expected to see.
Everett. In an obligatory tuxedo.
At that moment Lila realized Everett in a tuxedo was even more irresistible than Everett in jeans.
Face it, the man would be irresistible even wearing a kilt.
“What are you doing here?” Lila asked when she finally located her tongue and remembered how to use it.
“You know, we’re going to have to work on getting you a new opening line to say every time you see me,” Everett told her with a laugh. “But to answer your question, I was invited.”
Lucie stepped up with a slightly more detailed explanation to her friend’s question. “The invitation was the Foundation’s way of saying thank-you to Everett for his volunteer work.”
“Disappointed to see me?” he asked Lila. There was a touch of humor in his voice, although he wasn’t quite sure just what to make of the stunned expression on Lila’s face.
“No, of course not,” Lila denied quickly. “I’m just surprised, that’s all. I thought you were still back in Houston.”
“I was,” Everett confirmed. “The invitation was express-mailed to me yesterday. I thought it would be rude to ignore it, so here I am,” he told her simply, as if all he had to do was teleport himself from one location to another instead of drive nearly one hundred and seventy miles.
“Here you are,” Lila echoed.
Everything inside her was smiling and she knew that was a dangerous thing. Because when she was in that sort of frame of mind, she tended not to be careful. And that was when mistakes were made.
Mistakes with consequences.
She was going to have to be on her guard, Lila silently warned
herself. And it wasn’t going to be easy being vigilant, not when Everett looked absolutely, bone-meltingly gorgeous.
As if his dark looks weren’t already enough, Lila thought, the tuxedo made Everett look particularly dashing.
You’re not eighteen anymore, remember? Lila reminded herself. You’re a woman. A woman who has to be very, very careful.
She just hoped she could remember that.
“Since your last name practically sounds like Fortune,” Lucie was saying to Everett, flanking him on the other side, “maybe you’d like to meet a Fortune or two—or twelve,” she teased.
He turned to look at Lila. “Is that all right with you?”
The fact that he asked surprised her. “Why would I object?” she asked, puzzled.
Bending over, he whispered into her ear. “I thought, looking like that,” he paused to allow his eyes to skim over her from top to bottom, “maybe you’d want me all to yourself.”
She wasn’t sure if it was what he said, or his warm breath in her ear that caused the shiver to run rampant up and down her spine.
Whatever it was, it took everything Lila had not to let it get the better of her. She knew where that sort of thing led her. To heaven and then, eventually, to hell as a consequence.
That wasn’t going to happen again, she silently swore.
Clearing her throat, Lila ignored the last part of what he’d said and crisply answered, “Yes, it’s fine with me.”
Lucie smiled. “Then let the introductions begin,” she announced, taking charge.
Lucie led off with her husband, Chase. The latter was a genial man who struck Everett as being very down-to-earth, considering the fact that he was an extremely wealthy man.
It was while Everett was talking to Chase that he was introduced to Graham Fortune Robinson. Graham, Everett was told, was one of Jerome Fortune/Gerald Robinson’s eight legitimate offspring. Again, rather than behaving as if he was spoiled or indifferent, or extremely entitled—all traits that Everett had seen displayed by many of the wealthy people he’d grown up with—Graham Fortune came across as only interested in the amount of good he could do with the money he had.
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