“Are you sure you’re not just trying to buy her for Mack?” he teased.
The comment drew an immediate rebuke from the petite woman accompanying him.
“What?” Richard asked. “It’s not as if Destiny is above such a thing.”
“I don’t need anyone buying a woman for me,” Mack countered indignantly. “If anything I usually have more than I can handle.”
“None of them appropriate,” Destiny retorted.
Richard’s wife gave Beth a commiserating look. “Don’t mind them. I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you,” Melanie said.
Surprised that Melanie Carlton even knew about her, Beth merely said, “Oh?”
“I wanted to express my heartfelt sympathy.”
“Sympathy?” Beth asked, puzzled.
Melanie directed an impudent look toward Destiny. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re the latest target of the Carlton steamroller. If it gets to be too much for you, give me a call. I’ll be sure to give you my number. I may not be able to save you, but we can discuss a few evasive maneuvers.”
Beth regarded Richard’s wife with an immediate sense of camaraderie. “Been there, done that?” she inquired.
“In spades,” Melanie said, casting another pointed look toward Destiny.
“I really don’t see that you have a thing to complain about,” Destiny said, a glint of amusement in her eyes proving that Melanie’s teasing hadn’t offended her.
“Not now,” Melanie agreed, linking her arm through Richard’s. “It all turned out rather well in the end, once we caved in and did what Destiny had wanted all along.”
Mack had remained silent, his expression gloomy, during most of this exchange, but he finally frowned at his brother. “So, what brings you by tonight? Did you just have a sudden impulse while driving by?”
Richard grinned. “Actually we were invited for dessert.”
“Really?” Mack said, frowning at his aunt. “Which part of just the three of us did you not understand, Destiny?”
“It’s my home,” she chided. “I’m entitled to include your brother and his wife, if I so choose. I thought it was time they had a chance to meet Beth.”
Mack gave her a wry look. “Then Richard didn’t mention that he’d taken the bait you tossed out weeks ago? He came scurrying right over to the hospital to meet her. I would have thought he’d give you a full report long before now.”
Destiny looked genuinely surprised. “Really? What brought that on? Surely not some casual remark I might have made.”
“He came to gloat,” Mack said before his brother could speak. “Seems he’d figured out you were up to your eyeballs in planning my life and wanted to see for himself how it was working out.”
Beth turned to Melanie. “Was it this bad with you?”
“Worse,” Melanie said with heartfelt sincerity. “Richard was the first part of Destiny’s grand scheme. She really had something to prove with us.”
Beth buried her face in her hands. She’d had no idea things were going to spin this far out of control so quickly. She finally drew in a deep breath and looked up. “I think it’s time for me to get back to the hospital.”
“I agree,” Mack said at once, practically knocking over his chair in his eagerness.
“You don’t need to come,” she told him. “I have my own car, remember?”
“It’s got a spare tire on, probably one of those little doughnut things. At the very least, you need to let me follow you to make sure you don’t have another problem.”
Beth’s chin set stubbornly. “It’s not necessary.”
Mack’s set just as firmly. “Yes, it is.”
She realized he wasn’t going to bend on this, either out of a real sense of protectiveness toward her or out of desperation to make his own escape. She might as well give in gracefully.
“Fine, then,” she relented. She faced Destiny. “Thanks so much for a lovely dinner. And I apologize again for being so late. I’ll get your clothes back to you.”
“I still think you should keep them,” Destiny said. “They’re very becoming.”
Beth shook her head. She wasn’t about to owe this clever woman for another thing. “I couldn’t.”
“Your decision, of course,” Destiny said, giving in. “I do wish you wouldn’t run off, though. I made something chocolate for dessert. I understand you’re partial to it.”
“So am I,” Melanie said, then added eagerly, “I’ll eat her share.”
“And probably Mack’s as well,” Richard said, regarding her indulgently. “Before you two leave, you should know that Melanie and I have an announcement to make.”
Everyone turned to stare at them expectantly.
Eyes shining, Melanie said, “We’re going to have a baby.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Mack said, grabbing his brother and enthusiastically slapping him on the back. “Congratulations!”
Tears spilled down Destiny’s cheeks as she embraced first Melanie and then her nephew.
Melanie winked at Beth. “There, that should take the heat off you for a bit. Run now, while you have the chance.”
“Not until we drink a toast,” Destiny insisted. “Let me get some sparkling cider for Melanie and the rest of us can have champagne.”
Not willing to spoil Melanie and Richard’s moment, Beth nodded. “We can wait just a minute, but make mine sparkling cider as well, since I’m heading back to work.”
“What the heck,” Mack told his aunt. “Make it sparkling cider all around. I’m getting behind the wheel, so it’s best if I don’t have anything more to drink.”
“Richard, darling, why don’t you come into the kitchen with me?” Destiny suggested. “You can help me carry the glasses. And, Mack, you can clear the table and bring in dessert.” She glanced toward Beth. “You might as well have that chocolate mousse now, too, don’t you think?”
The temptation was too great to resist. Beth nodded. “Sure.”
Destiny beamed. “I knew you could be tempted.”
After they’d all disappeared into the kitchen, Melanie turned to Beth. “So, tell me, just how pressured are you feeling?”
Beth thought about it. She’d really only experienced one panicky moment earlier. “Actually it’s not so bad. Mack and I are in the same place, I think. He’s no more interested in marriage than I am.”
Melanie chuckled. “Is that what you think?”
“It’s the truth,” Beth insisted.
“I’m sure he thinks it is,” Melanie said agreeably. “And I know it’s what you want to believe, but I just caught a glimpse of the way he looks at you. The man is head-over-heels in love with you.”
“Mack? Don’t be ridiculous.” Beth retorted. “In lust, maybe.”
“With the Carlton men, it’s sometimes the same thing. I’m not talking about the casual kind of lust-at-first-sight business. I’m talking about the can’t-keep-his-hands-off-you lust that doesn’t quit and gets more intense with every day that passes.”
Beth was embarrassed by Melanie’s frankness and by her ability to see the desire that Beth had been trying very hard to conceal all night. Even when Mack had been at his most exasperating, all she’d been able to think about was his earlier promise to take her home tonight and drive her a little crazy. When she’d announced her intention to return to work, she’d half expected never to make it there.
“Are you denying that that’s what is going on with you two?” Melanie asked.
“I really don’t think we should be discussing this,” Beth said, uncomfortable not only with the topic, but with Melanie’s accurate assessment of the situation.
“I’ve embarrassed you, haven’t I? I’m sorry,” Melanie apologized. “It’s just that I’ve been down this road, and I can see all the signs. When the Carlton men finally fall, they fall hard. If you ever decide you do want to talk about it, give me a call.” She pulled a Carlton Industries business card from her purse and jotted a number on the back. “There. Now
you have my number at the office and at home. I mean it, Beth. The only way for us to hold our own when the Carlton steamroller gets into high gear is to stick together. I know I’d have been happy to have the moral support when I was in the same place you’re in now.”
Beth laughed. “Yes, I can see how that might help,” she said, tucking the card into her pocket. She could also imagine being friends with this open, energetic woman who saw the Carltons so clearly. It had been years and years since she’d had a woman friend to confide in, years since she’d had anything to confide, for that matter.
Before either of them could say more, Destiny, Richard and Mack came back with the drinks and dessert.
During the toast, Mack’s gaze caught Beth’s, and she felt herself responding to the barely banked heat in his eyes. Okay, she admitted, her hand trembling slightly, she was a little bit past being in lust herself.
But in love with the region’s consummate playboy? No way. She simply couldn’t allow it to happen.
Mack rolled over and stared down into Beth’s face. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful with her cheeks still flushed from sex, her skin still glowing with a soft sheen of perspiration. He wondered if he’d ever get his fill of moments like this.
“Do you intend to spend the night watching me sleep?” she murmured.
“I didn’t think you’d catch me. I thought you were actually asleep, rather than playing possum,” Mack said, daring to reach out and tuck a curl behind her ear now that he knew he wouldn’t be waking her. He let his fingers linger against her petal-soft skin.
“Faking it,” she teased. “You wore me out. I needed a breather.”
Mack laughed. “If anyone needs a breather, it should be me. I thought I was going to follow you back to work and leave you there, then go home and spend a quiet night all alone in my own bed. I still have a lot of recovering to do from the last night we spent together. It’s a good thing I’m not in training any more. The coaches would have a lot to say about me being this wiped out.”
“Ha!” she muttered. “You knew exactly where we were heading the instant we left your aunt’s. In fact, you were leading the way.”
He grinned. “Well, I was hopeful,” he admitted. “I kept watching in my rearview mirror to see if you were going to turn off and head straight for the hospital, after all.”
“I thought about it,” Beth said. “Then I thought about this. It was no contest.”
“Glad to know you find me more fascinating than your paperwork,” he groused.
She regarded him with an impish expression. “Definitely better than paperwork, though my research might give you a run for your money.”
“Want to tell me about what you’re working on?” he asked, realizing that he truly did want to understand every single thing that was important to her. He couldn’t recall another time when he’d cared about anything more than the moment, when it came to a woman who was in his bed.
“It’ll be in the grant proposal,” she said. “Do you really want to hear me go on and on about it now?”
“I could listen to you go on and on about most anything,” he said honestly, no less surprised than she was by that. “You’re so passionate about what you do.”
“And you’re not?”
“You said it yourself,” he reminded her. “Football is just a game.”
She winced. “That was a really lousy thing for me to say. The important thing for anyone is to do work that they love. You’re doing that. Who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll even let you take me to a game and try to explain why all those huge, hulking men are running up and down the field.”
Mack stared at her, certain he couldn’t be understanding her correctly. “You’ve never been to a football game?”
“Never.”
“Watched one on TV?”
“Not if I could help it.”
“So all that dismissive talk was based on absolutely no firsthand experience whatsoever?” he asked incredulously.
“Afraid so.”
He shook his head. “If there’s a football-for-complete-novices book, I’m buying it and giving it to you. Once you’ve learned a few things and been to a few games, we’ll discuss this gap in your education again.”
Beth chuckled. “Will there be a test? I’m very good at tests.”
He heard the low, taunting note in her voice and his body immediately responded to the unspoken challenge. He reached for her.
“How about this test?” he murmured. “Are you ready for this?”
“Oh, yes,” she said fervently,
And for the rest of the night, football, his meddling aunt and the future were the very last things on Mack’s mind.
Chapter Eleven
When Beth walked into the hospital cafeteria at lunchtime the next day, she was greeted by an unexpected sea of guilty expressions. Jason immediately tried his best to slide a newspaper out of sight under the table. Three people rose, nodded a greeting and suddenly took off, leaving her with Jason and Peyton.
Since their odd reactions seemed to have something to do with that newspaper, Beth walked right up to Jason and plucked it out of his hand before he could safely stash it somewhere. “Something interesting in here?” she asked, holding it aloft and attempting to skim the headlines, a task made more difficult by Jason’s urgent attempts to snatch it back. She gave him a withering look that finally caused him to retreat, albeit with obvious reluctance.
“It’s no big deal,” he muttered defensively. “It’s just some silly item. Nothing important.”
Unfortunately, he had the kind of open face that told Beth he was lying.
“Then why don’t you want me to see it?” she asked reasonably. “Or is it some girlie club ad or an ad to end sexual dysfunction that you think will embarrass me?”
“Come on, Beth,” Jason protested, his cheeks now flaming. “You know we wouldn’t be looking at anything like that.”
“What then?”
When he tried once again to make a grab for the newspaper, she held it out of his reach and glanced more thoroughly at the page that her colleagues had been so absorbed in reading. All she spotted was the daily gossip column by that sleazy tabloid-style reporter Pete Forsythe.
“You guys were reading the local gossip?” she asked incredulously. “I thought you were above such things. Don’t you have all sorts of lofty medical journals you could be reading instead?”
“But this is lots more interesting and hits closer to home,” Peyton said, a definite twinkle in his eyes.
It was so rare to see the serious-minded hematologist with a smile tugging at his lips, that Beth almost didn’t care what was in the paper as long as it was responsible for that smile. Unfortunately, she had a hunch she couldn’t dismiss it so lightly. She took a second look at the headline: Man-About-Town Missing In Action. She still didn’t get the fascination. She gave the men a curious look. “So?”
“Did you read the first paragraph?” Jason finally asked, his expression resigned.
Beth scanned the beginning of the article, her jaw dropping as she read on.
Playboy jock Mack Carlton, who can normally be spotted in every hot spot in town, always with a glamorous beauty by his side, has vanished from view lately. The lonely women are starting to ask questions. Has some secret gal-pal snagged his attention and taken him out of the social whirl?
Well, we can answer that. Mighty Mack has been spending a lot of time at a local hospital lately, and the word is that he’s not there for medical tests. A brilliant doc has caught his eye, and he’s been wooing her far from the prying eyes of the local media.
Stay tuned, Mack watchers. We’ll be the first to report when the ex-quarterback and current team owner scores his first marital touchdown. Based on what we’ve heard, we’ll give you odds that it’s going to happen before the football season starts.
Beth reread the entire item again, her cheeks burning. Even though her name wasn’t mentioned, the men gathered around this table—includi
ng those who had taken off at her arrival—all knew the article referred to her. Otherwise they wouldn’t have reacted so guiltily or tried to keep it from her.
“Sorry,” Jason said. “I was hoping you wouldn’t see it. It’s just a silly little item, Beth. Not anything to get upset about.”
“Hardly anybody reads that junk,” Peyton chimed in.
“Oh, please. If you guys—who are oblivious to most of this so-called junk—read it, then obviously the entire metropolitan Washington region has seen it by now,” Beth said grimly. “Actually, I’m glad you brought it to my attention, albeit reluctantly. Now I have time to do a little damage control.”
Jason regarded her with alarm. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not going to kill Pete Forsythe, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said.
“And you’re not going to break up with Mack, are you?” Jason asked with evident dismay. “I’ve been counting on this lasting at least through football season, so maybe you can snag a pair of tickets for me.”
“How thoughtful of you to put my reputation first,” Beth said.
“Your reputation is just fine,” Peyton pointed out. “Your name was never mentioned. Only a few people know you’re the doctor in question.”
“Sure. Just you guys, Mack’s entire family, anyone who’s seen us together around here and a half-dozen maître d’s around town. How long do you think it will be before one of them fills in the blanks for Forsythe? People love to share inside information.”
“What difference does it make?” Peyton persisted. “It’s not as if either of you is married. You’re dating. So what?”
Beth knew what he was saying was perfectly reasonable, but she wasn’t feeling especially reasonable. She wanted to string up whoever had planted this item with the gossip columnist. She wanted to strangle Mack for ever giving her a second glance. And, come to think of it, she wasn’t all that happy with herself at the moment.
She’d known this was one of the risks of getting involved with a high-profile playboy. But once she’d drifted into a real relationship with Mack, her concerns and good sense had flown right out the window. All she’d thought about lately was how alive she felt in his arms. She hadn’t given a moment’s consideration to how their relationship might blow up in her face. If she’d found the stares disconcerting before, they were going to be even more humiliating now, just as they had been after her ex-fiancé had spread his lies about her.
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