Working on a Full House

by Alyssa Kress

Valerie could only gasp and grab onto him. This kiss was like finely aged brandy, a shock of power followed by trembly intoxication. Her knees wobbled, her brain spun. Leftover outrage swirled uneasily with hungry yearning.

  The kiss probably would have gone on forever if Valerie had anything to do with it. Her self-control, her memory of her first name — let alone the patients waiting for her back at the clinic — had all fled out the window.

  It was Roy who, at length, drew back. He let out a very deep sigh and straightened. "I'll be back next week." His voice was unnaturally low. "And — oh." He reached into his breast pocket. "This is yours."

  Dazed, Valerie took a moment to realize he was holding up her house key.

  "I won't need it. You'll let me in." Holding the key, Roy reached for Valerie's collar. Two of his fingers pulled her collar forward, the other three set the key into the center of her bra.

  Valerie felt those fingers all the way down to her center.

  "I'll be here in a week," Roy said. "If not before."

  Then he spun on his heel. Valerie watched, her limbs still trembling, as he strode away between the parked cars.

  ~~~

  "Now, girl, you aren't going to turn me down tonight. I absolutely insist." Cherise looped arms with Valerie when she stepped out of her office to go home for the day.

  "Oh." Valerie blinked as if she'd just walked into bright light. She'd been reviewing Nicky's chart and had pretty much forgotten the rest of the world.

  Or most of the world.

  "Um...Okay," she told Cherise. After all, she wasn't rushing home this evening to receive Roy's phone call. She didn't want to talk to him.

  Okay, she was afraid to talk to him.

  "Good, we'll grab a bite at that little Thai place I've been curious about. Then we'll catch a movie."

  Thai? But even as Valerie's stomach rebelled against the idea, she said, "Fine." Frankly, any diversion would be good.

  She had no idea what to do about Nicky. She had even less idea what to do about Roy. She'd thought about his kiss for the past two hours. Actually, it had been two kisses. Two very erotic, demanding kisses. She'd checked throats and listened to heartbeats and all the while had remembered with intense detail the way she'd felt in Roy's arms.

  "We'll take my car," Cherise decided, leading the way to the parking lot.

  "Fine with me. I don't even know where this Thai place is."

  "Mm." Cherise smiled in a way that should have given Valerie pause, but she was still brooding over her misplaced excitement regarding Roy.

  Misplaced? It was idiotic. The chest-beating, you-belong-to-me stuff didn't mean that Roy loved her. In fact, Roy had pointed that out himself, saying Peter still thought he owned Valerie, even though he didn't love her, and never had.

  Roy, like Peter, could walk off with the next, more attractive woman who came along. For a man, physical desire did not create an emotionally binding connection.

  It was on this depressing thought that Valerie reached Cherise's car.

  "Let yourself in," Cherise said, unlocking the doors of her Corvette with her remote.

  Cherise kept her car, like everything else she owned, in mint condition. Valerie sank into the cream-colored leather seat with a sigh of pleasure.

  Cherise slipped into her own seat and turned on the motor. "That was easier than I expected," she remarked as she pulled out of the parking space. "Mr. Yummy must have left town."

  Still deep in thought, Valerie gazed out her side window. "Mmm, he did." Then her eyes popped wide. What?! How did Cherise know Roy had come to town, or that he was even still in her life?

  Her head whipped around.

  Smiling wickedly, Cherise maneuvered out of the lot. "I was in the stacks when he came to reception, looking for you this afternoon."

  "Oh." Valerie felt like a naughty child caught out. "No, wait a minute." She shifted in her seat to frown at Cherise. "Someone came to look for me this afternoon. How did you conclude it was Mr. Yummy?"

  A very strange expression crossed Cherise's face. She paused at the driveway leading out to the street. "All I had to do was see him."

  "Oh?"

  Cherise barked a laugh as she turned north onto Brand Avenue. "Yummy, every six foot or so of him."

  "Huh," Valerie said, and turned to face front again. She truly had not wanted to have this conversation with Cherise. Indeed, she had a good idea of what was coming, a repetition of all the negativity she'd been giving herself.

  Cherise casually managed the wheel as they headed toward the old, downtown section of Palmwood. "I can see now why you haven't had any time for me lately."

  Valerie released a deep sigh. "It's a long story."

  "Oh, we can make time for it."

  "I'm not sure I feel like talking about it."

  Cherise's response was a snort. "I'll bet you don't. You're having a relationship with a married man."

  Valerie straightened like a shot. "What?!"

  Cherise nodded. "I notice things like that. Like when he put his gorgeous hand on the counter at reception, I saw the gold band around his left ring finger." Cherise stole a glance at Valerie, looking more worried now than censuring. "Please don't tell me you didn't know."

  "Oh, boy." Valerie closed her eyes. Roy had been wearing his wedding ring? If that didn't take the cake. Valerie's ring was in her jewelry box at home — where it belonged.

  But Roy had probably hoped someone would notice his. Valerie could imagine what he'd say about getting caught, too. Better sooner than later. He'd claim he'd done her a favor.

  Valerie was not feeling particularly grateful toward Roy, however, as she met Cherise's disapproving eyes. "Yes, he is married," she admitted.

  It was amusing to watch Cherise's astonishment. Valerie wondered if she should advise her friend to pull to the side of the road, but Cherise thought to do so on her own. She swerved and jerked to a stop beside the curb.

  With the motor running and cars rushing past them, Cherise turned to fix an awful glare on Valerie. "You knew? You knew he was married all the time?"

  "Not all the time. Actually, we only just got married three weeks ago."

  Cherise continued to glare at Valerie as the motor ran. Slowly, her eyes widened. "He's married — to you?"

  "Mm hm."

  Cherise opened and closed her mouth a few times, then twisted forward in her seat again, shoved the gear shift into drive, and squealed out into traffic. "You're married," she muttered. "To Mr. Yummy." Valerie wasn't sure, but thought Cherise added, "How stupid is that?"

  Valerie bit her lower lip and wished she could disagree. "I might as well tell you the rest." Since Roy was right and it would become common knowledge in a few weeks anyway. "I got pregnant from our one night together. I went to Vegas to tell him about it, and he got..." Valerie paused. "I guess you could say he got...honorable. Determinedly so."

  Cherise threw Valerie a wild look. "You're pregnant."

  "Yup."

  "I don't believe this." Cherise surveyed the road ahead grimly. "I just don't believe it."

  Valerie sighed and gazed out her side window. "Guess I'm getting a preview of my mother's reaction. So...thank you for that."

  "Hey." Cherise threw Valerie another astonished look. "Can you blame me? Here you were, keeping all this trouble a secret — "

  "And now you know why."

  Cherise muttered something unintelligible and gripped the wheel tightly.

  "And since the cat's out of the bag," Valerie went on, "I'd really like to go somewhere other than a Thai restaurant, somewhere a lot less...smelly."

  "Sweet Jesus."

  "I know, I know." Valerie released a deep sigh. "This is the kind of thing that happens to ignorant teenagers. But we did use protection. I really shouldn't have turned up pregnant. But I did. Then he wanted some rights, and the kid could use some, too, so...we got married."

  "Sweet, sweet Jesus."

  "I wish you would stop saying that."

  "You want to
enlighten me why not? You are pregnant and married, to a one-night stand!"

  Valerie gritted her teeth. Cherise was articulating what she'd been telling herself the night before her wedding. How could she marry a man she'd only known one night? She didn't know him and he didn't know her. They certainly didn't love each other.

  "Where the hell am I driving," Cherise wanted to know, "if we're not going to the Thai place?"

  "Let's go to my house. I've got a morning-sickness cookbook there and the kind of food I can keep down."

  "Jesus," Cherise said once more, and made a turn at the next light.

  "The marriage is just a formality," Valerie said, reminding herself of what she'd decided that night three weeks ago. "We can get divorced any time."

  "Huh. Then why haven't you?"

  The question stumped Valerie. Indeed, why hadn't she? She could have divorced Roy ten times over by now, or at least started proceedings. Shifting in her seat, she claimed, "It hasn't been necessary."

  "You mean you haven't wanted to."

  Nope, Valerie certainly hadn't wanted to. Why would she want a divorce when Roy had been so nice on the telephone the past few weeks, when he'd driven three hours just to make her dinner, when he'd backed her up against an SUV and kissed her like he wanted to make long, torrid love to her?

  Cherise shook her head in disgust. "You're doing it again, aren't you?"

  "Doing what?"

  "Falling for some impossible fellow, giving him too much...getting nothing back in return. And you're pregnant."

  Valerie felt her face color. "I am not falling for him."

  "No?"

  "No." Valerie firmed her jaw. Her determination rose, a determination that had been faltering every time she'd relived Roy's two kisses in the parking lot. "I am not falling in love again, not with someone who isn't in love with me. That is not going to happen."

  "Oh, no? You are pregnant and married to Mr. Yummy, the dashing Las Vegas gambler, but somehow you're not going to fall in love with him?"

  "That's right." But Valerie's lower lip came under her teeth. So far, Roy had talked her into bed, into marriage, and into letting him sleep at her house. If things kept on this way, he could easily — if unwittingly — nudge her toward love. A love that was, on his part, blissfully unrequited.

  Clearly, it was time to take a stand.

  "And how are you going to avoid falling in love?" Cherise demanded.

  Valerie released her lower lip. "Easily." She wouldn't go to bed with him. If she could keep that much distance, she'd be able to maintain her defenses. "I won't even let him kiss me." Because kisses, she had learned that afternoon, were the direct road to much greater intimacy.

  Cherise frowned and steered her car through the dusky suburban streets. Meanwhile, Valerie gazed out the window and quelled a very stupid sense of loss. All she was giving up was sex — and the possibility of letting some guy hurt her again. Neither of the two kisses she'd shared with Roy that afternoon had meant anything tender or committed.

  If she wanted to make sure she didn't make the same mistake with Roy she'd made with Peter, she had to take control of the situation. That meant she could not kiss Roy again.

  She refused to belong to him.

  Valerie blinked quickly as her sense of loss deepened. It occurred to her that she wouldn't mind belonging to Roy if he belonged to her.

  But there was fat chance of that.

  And so, no more kissing.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  "Mine — again." Kenny gloated as he raked the chips, half of which had been Roy's, toward himself.

  Roy barely glanced at the twenty thousand in chips sliding in Kenny's direction. He leaned back in a leather chair at Isaac Franck's dining room table with a big, stupid grin on his face.

  Kenny chortled. "Roy is way distracted."

  With his hands clasped on top of the felt tablecloth, Isaac peered over at Roy. "Ye-es. It does appear that way." His gaze wandered back toward Kenny. "Though you aren't much better."

  Surprise crossed Kenny's face, and then a scowl.

  Roy only grinned wider. He didn't know about Kenny, or what had happened between him and Valerie's nurse friend, but he'd be happy to admit that he, for one, was very distracted, indeed. It was Thursday night. In less than a week he'd be in Palmwood again. A satisfied chuckle rumbled in his chest. He'd be in Valerie's bed, that's where he'd be.

  Damn right he was distracted.

  Kenny could have his twenty thousand. It wasn't supposed to be real money, anyway, not when they played under the watchful eye of Isaac's wife. And even if it was real money, since Roy and Kenny always settled up on the street outside afterward, Roy didn't mind.

  "Thinking about your wife I guess," Kenny said, with a sly smile.

  "Mmm," Roy replied, with a sly smile of his own.

  "Kenny told me you two drove to see her." Isaac shuffled the cards.

  "I went to see my wife. Kenny went and saw...somebody else." Roy slid Kenny his own teasing look. He didn't believe for one instant Kenny had managed to melt a drop off the ice princess.

  Isaac arched a brow at Kenny. "A secret?"

  "A nothing." Kenny snorted. "Or, odds go that direction, anyway." He turned to Roy with a smirk. "But we don't have to ask if you had a good time in Palmwood."

  "No." Roy smiled broadly. "You don't."

  Looking thoughtful, Isaac set the shuffled deck in front of Roy to cut.

  As Roy leaned forward, his pleased smile faded. Isaac looked too thoughtful.

  "What?" Roy demanded.

  Isaac blinked. "Excuse me?"

  "What's on your mind, Isaac?" Roy said.

  "Oh." Isaac picked up the cards. "Nothing. Just, ah, wondering if you told your wife about your money yet."

  It was like a sudden punch to the jaw.

  "He might not have enough left to talk about," Kenny jibed, "if he keeps playing like this."

  Roy shot Kenny a dark look, then turned back to Isaac. He willed his gut to relax. "There's no reason to tell Valerie about my money. She has a good job and a house. She doesn't need to know."

  Isaac looked apologetic. "Oh, I'm not saying you should tell her." He paused. "I just wonder why you don't want to."

  Nobody said anything then. If Roy had been sucker-punched by the first question, he was pole-axed by this one. Why didn't he want to? He had no idea. He'd never even considered the question.

  Kenny put in his two cents. "Maybe it's because Roy wants Valerie to love him for himself, and not because of his money."

  It was even odds Kenny was joking, but Roy gave him a slit-eyed glare all the same. "I don't expect Valerie to love me."

  "You don't?" This came from Isaac.

  Roy turned his way. "No."

  "Yeah, yeah. So you keep saying," Kenny remarked. "But you married her. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if she loved you."

  Roy sighed through his teeth. "We talked about this before. It's not that kind of relationship." Roy didn't need love, and particularly not from Valerie. He wasn't falling into that trap with her again.

  "But you said you wanted it to be permanent."

  "...Your point?"

  Kenny opened his mouth, but appeared to be at a loss.

  Though Roy had already cut the cards, Isaac shuffled them again. "Perhaps you don't expect Valerie to love you because your father never did...no matter how much money you made."

  Roy turned incredulous eyes on the Prof. "Excuse me?"

  Isaac raised a shoulder, looking sheepish. "It was just a thought."

  Roy narrowed his eyes on Isaac as a funny slithering sensation went through him. To combat the sensation, and to stop this whole ridiculous conversation, he spoke firmly. "I did not make money in order to get my father to love me."

  "Oh," Isaac said mildly. "My mistake."

  Roy gestured toward the pack of cards in Isaac's hands. "Why don't you deal?"

  A tiny smile pulled at Isaac's mouth. "Sure, Roy. Want to cut again?"

  Ro
y cut the cards viciously. He put a bland expression on his face, however, completely belying the snarl he felt inside. He hadn't wanted his father to love him. That would have been idiotic. His father never would have loved him, no matter what.

  All he'd wanted was the old bastard's respect, and he hadn't even ended up getting that.

  He watched the cards coming around. After taking a look at his hand, watching Isaac call, then Kenny raise, he made his own bet.

  A cool calm came over him. Five minutes later he was raking his own pile of chips close, the twenty thousand he'd lost to Kenny on the last round, plus a good hundred thousand more.

  And he was smiling again.

  Kenny watched the big pile of chips move toward Roy and sighed. "Don't you worry, Roy, we don't love ya, either."

  Roy halted, then laughed. The other two men joined in. His good mood started to seep back again.

  He didn't want or expect Valerie's love. He simply wanted to cement their relationship: husband and wife, parents. Forever.

  Simple as that.

  His money didn't have a damn thing to do with it.

  ~~~

  The poor kid was going to need money, and a lot of it. Valerie clutched Nicky's chart as she stalked down the hall, leaving Nicky and his irresponsible mother in the examination room with the empty reassurances she'd given them.

  In front of Nicky, pale and frightened, Valerie'd been obliged to produce reassurances. What else could she do?

  But his blood test had come back terrible. Low in all three counts: red cells, white cells and platelets. Nicky either had leukemia or aplastic anemia. It was a choice between the devil and his minions. In either case, Nicky was going to be in for quite an ordeal, and a lot of expensive treatment.

  That should have been bad enough, but no. Valerie had looked down at the charge slip to see if she could refer Nicky to Dr. Bernstein, the best hematologist she knew. And there, typed neatly, she'd seen the worst possible information.

  No insurance.

  No insurance! It was — too awful. They didn't have medical insurance!

  "Hell," Valerie muttered to herself, and swung into her office. "Hell, hell, hell." With treatment, Nicky had an excellent chance of recovery. Without it, his prognosis was terrible.