by JoAnn Durgin
He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “You poor baby. I have a membership here. They have a walking track, and they’re open until midnight. Are you willing?”
“Sure, why not? Will you promise to carry me if my legs give out?” Vara gave him her hand after he opened the passenger door.
“Isn’t that what every good hero does?” He closed the passenger door and clicked on the alarm.
“The one who wants a kiss at the end of the night does.” She’d gone from being soured on love to promising the man kisses in a matter of weeks? God was so good.
When her foot slid on an icy patch of the sidewalk, Thornton swooped her into his arms and carried her to the entrance. “Punch in 5-4-3-2-1 on the keypad,” he instructed, dipping her so the box was within easy reach.
“That’s not exactly original.”
“Works for NASA, so it works for me.”
“They have the T-minus thing before it, though,” she teased. She pushed the numbers and was rewarded with a grating buzzing sound that granted them access.
“Smart aleck.” Thornton gave her a light peck on the cheek and somehow managed to open the door and get them both inside. The man had many unknown talents, it seemed.
Vara waited as he checked in at the front desk and then signed her in as his guest. She turned aside as the young female employee with perfect skin and model-thin body raked Thornton up and down with her razor-sharp blue eyes. She carried no extra inches or pounds, not that there was room for anything more in her skintight athletic pants and skimpy tank top.
Meow! Down, Vara. She had no reason to be jealous. She was paying more attention to the woman than Thornton. Her mother’s wise words came to mind. “A flower does not compete with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”
Sometimes mothers really did know best.
Thornton took her hand and led her through the maze of rooms. “Are you okay on the stairs? The track is on the upper level. It has a great night view of the city. We could take the elevator if you’d prefer.”
“I’m fine,” she assured him, hoping it would prove true and her ankles would continue to hold up under her weight. Thornton kept his hand around hers as they slowly trekked up the stairs. Although it was probably only 20 steps, it felt more like a stairway to heaven. The upscale gym was one of those sleek, steel clubs with an abundance of black and silver and enough splashes of color to keep it from being nauseatingly boring.
The few club members working out, mostly male, were sweating their beefy hearts out on the elliptical and weight machines. Now those guys could sweat. They also left the indoor track free for the taking.
“This is a great idea.” After kicking off her pumps, Vara untucked her silk blouse. “Sorry, but after that meal, I need to get comfortable. You don’t know how glad I am that we didn’t get dessert.”
“Not a problem. I love that you feel so comfortable around me.” Thornton slipped out of his suit jacket and tossed it over a nearby chair. Without the jacket, she couldn’t help but admire the man’s fine masculine form as Sofia would say—trim hips, narrow waist, and nicely defined muscles beneath his dress shirt. Brie would make a spicy comment about his backside, and Joanna would know at first glance which suit designer label he wore.
“You make it easy,” she said. “After all, one of the first things you asked me at the house was to remove my boots.”
Thornton shot her a grin. “And you were adorable.” She’d given up protesting the word adorable. She’d decided that she liked it, after all.
Hand-in-hand, they began to walk on the track. Thornton allowed her to set the pace. After the second time around, she still waited for him to share what was on his mind.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? This rose is fading quickly.” In one of the great injustices in recent memory, Vara was with a great guy—a sensitive, compassionate, handsome, funny, terrific man—and she was rapidly turning into a pumpkin. She’d given her all for those kids earlier today, but it’d been worth it.
“I know a little something about betrayal,” he said. “After everything else at the restaurant, I thought I should give us time to get through our dinner first.”
She laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “That was best or else the staff at Benito’s might have sent for matching straitjackets.” She squeezed his hand. “I hope that’s not as ominous as it sounds.”
“No worries. I just wanted you to know that when I first started out, I wasn’t an independent contractor. It was actually a partnership.”
“Tell me about him.”
“Her. She.” He sighed. “A woman.”
Vara swallowed her misgivings. “Tell me about her, then.” In her mind, she envisioned a short, plump, serious woman with thick eyeglasses and coarse, wiry hair. A female mad scientist type.
Based on Thornton’s frown, what he had to tell her wasn’t easy. “Her name was Katelina, or Kate. She worked with me at Lockheed. Kate specialized in defense and security, and we’d always worked well together. She was tall, blonde, beautiful…”
“I don’t need a physical description.” His business partner couldn’t have been named something foreign and unpronounceable? The name Katelina even sounded pretty. That’s not pretty either, Vara. What was with all the jealousy tonight?
“Sorry, but you should know by now that’s not my type,” he said. “I have a reason for telling you what she looks like.”
“Go on.” Realizing she’d gripped his hand a bit too hard, Vara eased the pressure.
“Our relationship was always platonic. From the start of our working relationship, Kate apparently used her looks in order to secure projects. I had no idea she had such an underlying manipulative personality.”
“What do you mean?”
As they walked, Thornton stroked one hand over his beard in the familiar gesture Vara found increasingly endearing. “Put it this way: I’d never thought to add preferred method of client seduction to my list of questions for a potential business partner.”
Vara gasped. “Oh, my. What happened?”
Thornton moved his free hand into the pocket of his dress slacks and kept walking. “Six months into our partnership, a potential client came to me, telling me that Kate had offered him more than her professional expertise. Granted, he was single, and a nice-looking guy, but he was engaged and getting married in a month’s time. Not that she would have cared although that might be unfair to say. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”
“I’m so sorry, Thornton. It’s my turn to say you didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”
His brow furrowed. “The whole situation was distasteful. The terms of our business arrangement called for each of us to work independently and bring our own clients into the partnership. It was combining efforts for financial purposes but also being there to consult with one another, if needed, on our respective areas of expertise.
“When the client told me what had happened, I figured there might be others with the same scenario. I couldn’t risk gaining a bad reputation, so I cut my losses early. I’d depended on Kate’s expertise to complement mine, but instead, she chose to ruin our friendship and what I believe could have become a successful partnership.”
Vara stopped walking and turned to face him. “Did you talk with Kate about it? Try to ask her for her side of the story?”
A resigned expression surfaced in his features. “Yes, of course. I’m not unfeeling or without a solid sense of reason. I talked with Kate long enough to verify the truth of what the client had said. She admitted it, but then she began to make excuses. But no excuses, and no pleading for a second chance, could ever work in a situation like that. Business is business.”
“And you can’t compromise your high standards,” Vara said. “Kate let you down.” This man understood betrayal. Granted, in a different way from what Daniel had done, but a betrayal all the same.
“Yes, you could say that.” His voice was more sad than angry. “I k
ept my attorney busy for a few days. The saddest part? Kate’s an incredibly talented prototype designer. I said nothing to anyone about her behavior but legally dissolved the partnership and got out as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“And were you able to forgive her?”
He nodded slowly. “It took a while, but yes.”
She sighed. Because sometimes that’s all a person can do. “Sometimes when we think we know a person well, something happens that makes us realize we never really knew them in the first place.”
“You’re right. But even in the bad situations, I know God has His purpose.”
“As long as that’s not a way to justify the bad behavior of others,” Vara said. “People still need to be held accountable for their actions, especially when they hurt someone else.”
“I agree, and it’s not a way I excuse or justify bad behavior, Vara. It’s just the way I personally cope when I’ve been wronged. Like you said earlier about Daniel, if we can’t forgive, it’s impossible to move on. And like your relationship, I didn’t want to listen to what God was telling me. The warning signs were there, but I ignored them and turned a blind eye.”
He started them walking again.
“Do you know where Kate is now?”
“She returned to Lockheed. As far as I know, she’s still there, but we don’t speak. They hired her back without question. In their shoes, I’d have done the same thing. She’s brilliant.”
“That’s charitable of you to say.”
“There’s no sense in dragging someone through the mud,” he said. “I have to hope Kate regrets her actions. Like anything else, I’ve learned to pray and hand it over to God because He’s more capable than I am. The best thing to come from that situation was that it forced me to bone up on defense and security issues. So, even though it was a hard lesson to learn, in the long run, my business benefitted from it.”
Thornton gently tugged on her hand and pulled her into his arms. “I hope you can understand why I haven’t said anything about Kate until now.”
She inched her hands up his shirt fingered the top button of his dress shirt. “This is our first date, after all. You couldn’t have had any idea that the crazy Greek girl with the motor mouth you met in a tiny coffee shop in your hometown would be standing here on a walking track with you tonight—”
“Be quiet, please. Like I said, sometimes you talk too much.” Thornton’s lips descended on hers.
Vara pulled back. “One kiss and then I need to get home and soak.”
“Soak?”
“I have a hot date at midnight with Epsom.”
“Ah, right. Sounds steamy.” When she groaned at his corny joke, Thornton’s eyes softened to the color of the richest milk chocolate. “Only one?”
“Only one,” she murmured.
“Then I’d better make it a good one.” He cupped her cheek with his hand.
“You’re very creative.” She playfully twirled a short lock of his dark hair around one finger. “I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”
He didn’t waste any time following her suggestion, one of Thornton’s very best qualities.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Valentine’s Day
Two Weeks Later
In the middle of a phone conversation, Vara heard a knock on her open office door. Swiveling in her chair, away from the window, she smiled at the hospital orderly who stood inside the doorway holding a pizza box. She motioned for him to come in.
“That sounds good, Samantha. I’ll check the chart and get back to you by early next week. Thanks. Yes, right. I’ll talk to you again soon.” Vara clicked off the phone and smiled at the young man. “Hi, Jeff. What’s this? I didn’t order a pizza.”
“Well, someone did.” He studied the side of the box. “Says it’s for Vara Alexandris, Mercy Grace Hospital, 12th floor. The Specialty Pizza box is checked. If you don’t want it, I can put it in the break room. I’m sure it’ll be gone in no time.”
“Tell you what.” Sliding open the bottom drawer in her desk, Vara pulled out a paper plate. “I’ll take a slice, and then you can do whatever you’d like with it.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jeff set the box on the small round table and opened the lid, releasing the aroma of fresh-baked pizza—garlic, spices, veggies…yum! “Would ya look at this? Whoa! I can’t say I’ve ever seen a pizza like this before.”
When she spied the heart-shaped pizza, Vara burst out laughing. This had Thornton’s signature humor written all over it, or nestled among the toppings.
“You must have a secret admirer.” Jeff grinned. “Or maybe it’s not such a secret?”
“I have a pretty good idea.” In the past two weeks, they’d met several times for coffee at their favorite morning spot. She’d taken a few days off work. They’d window-shopped at The Mall of America, driven the Chain of Lakes—a scenic byway southwest of downtown—shared a romantic dinner at a café on Nicollet Avenue, and burgers and fries at The Cherish Diner. At the house, they’d played word games with Charlotte and taken walks with her up and down the long corridor.
Charlotte had begun to make remarkable progress, speaking in short but complete sentences. Rose had granted them full access to her kitchen twice where they’d prepared hot dishes, one with the most sumptuous tater tots Vara had ever tasted. Who knew the tots could be that tasty?
In her heart, she knew change was coming. It was as inevitable as snow in the Minnesota winter. Charlotte no longer required private therapy sessions, and the signs were there Thornton needed to return to his work, which meant he’d be leaving Cherish. Was their time together destined to be a treasured memory and nothing more? She couldn’t believe that, but neither did she have a solution.
A knock sounded on her open office door, interrupting her thoughts. Perhaps that was a blessing. The man of the hour stepped inside the doorway of her office holding three red roses, his signature calling card. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Be still my heart. Never had its meaning resonated more clearly.
In his dark suit and bright red silk tie covered with red, pink, and white heart—a whimsical, charming touch—Thornton could have stepped off the pages of a magazine. The man set her heart racing, her pulse throbbing. She wouldn’t doubt he’d set the nurses and patients abuzz as he’d strolled down the corridor.
“Impeccable timing as always, Mr. Fielding. Please come in.”
“Ah, gotcha,” Jeff said as we headed for the door. He gave Thornton a thumbs-up. “Good job, dude.”
“More pizzas were delivered for the staff. I left them with the nurses at the station here on the floor. This pizza was made special for Miss Pumpadopolis.” Thornton’s gaze never left hers.
“Go get some pizza before it’s all gone,” Vara told Jeff after he shot her an amused glance.
Still holding the roses, Thornton followed Jeff to the door but reared back when Jeff spun around and almost plowed him down. “Fielding! No wonder your name is familiar.” He snapped his fingers. “Are you related to the Fieldings of the Fielding Wing over in the Heart Center?”
Vara widened her eyes. “There’s a Fielding Wing? I wasn’t aware of that.”
“The Fielding Wing was originally named in honor of my late grandfather and now my father, as well,” Thornton said.
“Again, good job, dude.” A sheepish look crossed Jeff’s face. “I mean, I’m very sorry for your loss-es.” He gave her a little wave. “See ya, Vara. Enjoy your pizza.”
“Thank you. Happy Valentine’s Day.” Thornton closed the door behind the other man. With one hand still on the door, he turned. “Do you mind? I don’t want to start rumors.”
“I think it’s probably too late for that. It’s fine, Thornton. Thank you for this. You are a true original.”
“If you have to work on this most special of days, then I figured you might as well have something fun.” Bowing before her, Thornton offered her the beautiful roses. “For you.”
“More roses?�
�� Vara dipped her nose, inhaling the sweet scent. “You’re spoiling me. Thank you.”
“I figured two dozen white roses might be overdoing it at this point.”
“I prefer the red.” Taking his hand, she pulled him close and gave him a quick kiss. “This is perfect. Happy Valentine’s Day. Can you stay and help me eat the pizza?”
“I have a meeting here at the hospital in an hour, so I’m all yours. I took the chance you didn’t already have a lunch date.”
“I generally eat here in my office, but my schedule can be erratic, depending on the patient case load.”
“I’m glad you’re here today.”
Vara darted a quick glance at him. “Me, too.” Returning to her desk, Vara pulled out a plate for Thornton as well as napkins and plasticware for them both. “I have water bottles in the fridge here in my office. Is that okay?”
“Best thing ever.” He took the plate and other tableware from her. After she brought the water bottles to the table, Thornton pulled out her chair.
“Thank you, kind sir.”
He took the chair closest to hers, smelling all musky and masculine. “If I may be Nosy Nellie again, is your meeting in the hospital more family business?” This man continually surprised her.
“That’s right. It’s a board meeting for the Heart Center. Charlotte usually attends, but since your office is here, I suggested she stay home. I assured her I’d represent the family’s interests to the best of my ability. I’m sure she’ll want a full report when I return to Cherish later this afternoon.”
Vara smiled. “I’m sure she appreciates your interest and willingness to attend the meeting on her behalf. Is this the first board meeting you’ve attended?”
“I’ve been to a few, but this is my first appearance flying solo. I was emailed a copy of the agenda, so I know what to expect.” Charlotte would most likely prefer that Thornton attend future meetings, as well, with or without her. If he lived in Minnesota, he would have already been groomed to take his rightful place as the Fielding heir on this board, and likely on other boards, as well. She’d never thought of Thornton in those terms, but he held a certain position of power by virtue of the family name.
