The Most Eligible Doctor

by Karen Rose Smith

  Not if she knew what was good for her.

  Before Al could say anything else, Jed swept into the kitchen, snow covered and ruddy cheeked. “The snow has almost stopped, and the plow has gone through once. I’m going to try and get to Beechwood after breakfast in case we have emergencies or appointments with folks who decide not to cancel. I’ll take you home first,” he said to Brianne.

  But she shook her head, thinking about the patients who might come in. “You may need help. Especially if we have walk-ins. I’ll go along with you.”

  “If you think you’re going to be able to get your car going in this—”

  “I know better than that,” she said with a laugh. “It will sit in the parking lot until the roads are plowed and cindered.”

  After Jed glanced at the beans she’d poured into the pot and the slices of bread on the griddle, he asked, “Are you going to make toast in the fireplace? It’s been years since I had that.”

  “I’ll be careful not to burn it. I took a vacation on a dude ranch when I was sixteen. I learned a lot about cooking over campfires.”

  “Did you learn how to rope calves, too?” Al asked with a grin.

  At the expression on Jed’s face, she realized he’d put distance between them again. It had probably been a mistake to mention the dude ranch, especially after what Al had told her. Her summer vacations, which included trips to Europe, pointed out even more effectively the differences in their backgrounds. Even if Jed had lived the high life as a plastic surgeon in L.A., he’d apparently decided a simple life—as he’d experienced in Deep River and here in Sawyer Springs—was better.

  Keeping her voice lighthearted, she admitted, “I never quite got the hang of roping a calf, but I did learn how to bake bread and make biscuits. Turned out pie dough, too. I make a wicked apple pie.”

  Jed’s eyebrows shot up. “And you still remember how to do all that?”

  “I’ll bring you a loaf of bread sometime,” she said with a wink.

  An hour later, just as they finished breakfast, the electricity came back on. Lights blazed, appliances hummed and the furnace puffed out heat. Jed had been cordial throughout the meal, yet he was guarded, and Brianne realized his father had been right. He was a difficult man to get to know.

  Jed insisted Brianne let the dishes sit in the sink, that he’d do them later. He wanted to get to work to find out what appointments were canceled and who might be coming in. From everything she’d seen about him in the past week, she’d learned he was dedicated, cared about his patients and didn’t treat them like numbers.

  Beside Jed in his dad’s truck, riding in silence, Brianne watched the last flakes of snow swirl down. Jed drove behind a plow, the cinders on the road shifting in its wake. Al’s truck didn’t have any problems with traction.

  Brianne thought about last night, about how intimate it had seemed. The electricity being off had enhanced that. Firelight, candlelight and silence had made them even more aware of each other. But it had obviously been an intimacy Jed didn’t want. She could see he intended to forget about their kiss, and she wished she could do the same.

  Still, the conversation with Al had stoked her curiosity. What had happened to Jed in Los Angeles? Why had he taken a position in Alaska? Why had he come back to Sawyer Springs? Why would a plastic surgeon opt for a general practice?

  She shouldn’t care about Jed and his history and his life. He obviously wanted to keep their relationship professional—doctor and nurse. A man with secrets who found sharing difficult should be the last man to tempt her. How could she ever give herself to any man, when she knew that loving hurt? Love always seemed to end and leave a hole in your heart.

  Yet she remembered her parents’ marriage—how her dad had kissed her mom before he left the house, how her mom always waited up for him, how they never hesitated to hug or hold hands the rare times they had a chance to watch television together.

  The silence in the cab of the truck had become almost stifling when Jed spotted a car by the side of the road, embedded in a snowbank. It was an older model and looked as if it had had its share of wear. A young woman who looked to be about Brianne’s age was standing in front of it, gazing at the mound of snow as if she wished it would dissolve before her eyes.

  “I’m going to stop,” Jed decided, pulling up behind the vehicle.

  “There are children in the car,” Brianne noted.

  Climbing out of the cab, Jed went around the side of the truck and took the snow shovel out of the back.

  When Brianne rounded the fender a few moments later, the young woman was saying, “I skidded into the snowbank. I can’t get out. It won’t rock, and it won’t go.”

  Brianne could see the young woman’s coat wasn’t heavy enough for the frigid weather, and she wasn’t wearing gloves. Two children scrambled out of the car and came around to the front to join them.

  Jed glanced at the kids and then examined the front right wheel. “I can get you out of here in a few minutes.”

  The boy, who looked to be about eight, peered up at Jed. “I can help.”

  The little girl, a red knit cap on her head smashing her brown hair, tugged on Jed’s arm. “Me help, too.” Brianne was just estimating that she must be about three when a paroxysm of coughing overtook the child.

  Jed’s expression became concerned, and Brianne could tell he didn’t like the sound of that cough.

  “I’m Ben,” the little boy said. “That’s Kimmie.” Ben’s upper lip was distorted, twisting his smile. He’d apparently had surgery for a cleft palate. Pointing to his sister, he added, “She’s too little to help, and she’s sick.”

  The woman held out her hand to Jed. “Doreen Steinmeyer.” Glancing at Brianne, she included her when she added, “Thanks so much for stopping. I really don’t want the kids out in this. Ben, Kimmie, get back in the car.”

  “Oh, Mom,” the boy wailed.

  “Thanks for offering to help,” Jed told the little boy, “but this will only take a few shovelfuls and your mom can drive away. Get back in the car and stay warm.”

  Once the children had complained a little more and their mother had herded them physically into the back seat, Jed approached the woman. “I don’t like the sound of your daughter’s cough. I’m a doctor at the Beechwood Family Practice. After I dig you out, why don’t you follow me and bring her in? I’ll check her over. Ben, too.”

  The young mother shook her head. “I can’t do that. I don’t have insurance. I lost my job two months ago and we certainly can’t afford a doctor’s bill.”

  “Don’t worry about the fee,” Jed stated firmly. “Just consider this part of the road service.”

  “But I have to pay you something.”

  “When you find work again, you can send me a payment. Now let me get the snow away from your wheels so we’ll be on our way.”

  Ten minutes later they arrived, and Jed opened the door into the reception area. They all went inside. The offices were cold from the heat being off all night. The first thing Brianne did was check the thermostat to make sure it was set properly.

  After they shed their coats, Jed took Doreen and her two children into an examination room. Brianne slipped in a few moments later to see if he needed help.

  Dressed in a red flannel shirt and jeans and boots, Jed looked more like a woodsman than a physician. But once he draped the stethoscope around his neck, he was all professional.

  After he listened to the little boy’s heart and lungs, he checked his ears, nose and throat. Then he did the same to Kimmie. As he checked her throat, using a tongue depressor, another coughing spell overtook her.

  Jed laid his stethoscope on the counter and said, “I’ll be right back.”

  Within a few minutes, he was giving instructions to Doreen, explaining how many times a day to use the cough medicine he’d found for Kimmie and how often to administer the antibiotic. “One pill a day for five days. They’ll keep working for ten. If Kimmie still has a fever or her symptoms are worse,
bring her back here after that. Understand?”

  The woman’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “No thanks are necessary. This is what I do. It’s why I’m here.”

  “The cost of the medicine…” she protested.

  “Samples,” Jed assured her. “We get lots of samples and I don’t want them to go to waste.”

  Brianne knew they did get samples, but not for the particular antibiotic he’d given the woman for Kimmie.

  After Doreen, Kimmie and Ben left, Jed went to the office and pulled out a form. He filled it in, then took out his wallet, slipping money and the form into the cash drawer. Brianne could see Jed wasn’t bypassing procedure, and he was paying for the antibiotic himself.

  Stepping into the office, she smiled. “That was nice of you.”

  Starting at her sudden presence, realizing she’d seen him put the cash in the drawer, he grew flushed. “Any doctor would have done the same.”

  “Maybe,” Brianne acknowledged noncommittally. Tilting her head, she looked up at him. “Does Ben need further surgery?” She touched her lips, thinking about the little boy.

  Jed’s gaze went to her fingers, his voice husky. “Whoever did his surgery did an adequate job. But I could give Ben a perfect smile.”

  The last item Brianne had to settle in her parents’ estate was an endowment. She had to decide on which charity to bestow it. She hadn’t done that yet because she wanted to be sure she chose the best one. A fund for children like Ben might be a possibility.

  Absently she removed her fingers from her lips, but she saw that Jed’s gaze lingered there.

  Was he remembering their kiss?

  Spending the night under the same roof with him had made her more aware of everything about him, from the sweep of his black hair over his brow to the tiny scar by the side of his mouth. Kissing him had been an experience she’d never forget.

  With all the questions bubbling up inside of her, all the feelings and sensations she’d never experienced before, she asked again, “Why did you give up plastic surgery for general medicine?”

  When he stood, he seemed to fill the office. Yet Brianne didn’t find his tall, muscular physique intimidating. In fact, quite the opposite.

  After a moment, he said, “It’s a long story.”

  Not knowing what had gotten into her, she didn’t take the hint, but pursued the subject, anyway. “We don’t have patients lined up in the waiting room, and I have time.”

  “There might not be patients in the waiting room, but I have notes from yesterday that I need to dictate. Before we know it, we’ll be getting calls and our afternoon patients will be backed up.”

  Brianne had already checked the answering machine, to find all their morning appointments had canceled. Still, he was probably right about the afternoon.

  When Jed moved toward the doorway, obviously not intending to tell her what she wanted to know, she started to move out of his way. But not quickly enough. They stood inches apart. Every sensation from the night before tangled around them—from their conversations in the dark to the touch of his lips on hers and that mind-boggling kiss.

  For a moment, she thought he would kiss her again, but then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m a private person, Brianne. I don’t talk about my personal life and I don’t talk about my past. There was no scandal attached to my leaving L.A., no malpractice suit, no mistake I might have been ashamed of, at least not in my medical practice. So why I left really doesn’t concern you.”

  “But…”

  “You’re too young to understand turning points. I had one. I came to a crossroads, and I had to make a decision whether to go straight ahead or to veer off and change my course and my life. I decided to veer off course. When you’re old enough to realize—”

  She was slow to anger, but his constant reference to her age lit a short fuse she didn’t know she had. “Stop making me sound as if I’m a teenager who just bought her first training bra.”

  Her comeback seemed to surprise him. Finally he muttered, “You’re not far from it. We’re not just talking age here, Brianne, we’re talking experience. In another twenty years—”

  “In another twenty years, I hope I won’t be as arrogant and presumptuous as you are.”

  His brows arched. “Presumptuous and arrogant?”

  She thought she heard a hint of amusement in his tone and that made her even more angry. “Yes, that’s what I’d call it. But you might think you’re being experienced and wise.”

  He shook his head. “More experienced than I want to be, and certainly not wise, or I would have been able to avoid this conversation. I think we should start over, Brianne, and wipe last night from the slate.”

  “Fine,” she agreed, not knowing how she was going to do that. “Last night never happened. I never made breakfast over your fireplace, or slept on your sofa, or—”

  The front door swung open. Lily and Janie burst inside.

  Lily spotted them through the glass window and gave them a bright smile. “It looks as if you two survived the night.”

  Brianne had survived the night, all right. But if she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t question Jed again…because that was absolutely the way he wanted it!

  Chapter Four

  Brianne still didn’t know what had gotten into her last week.

  As she laid a patient folder on the receptionist’s desk, she realized since she’d called Jed presumptuous and arrogant, whenever their gazes met, they both hurriedly found work to occupy them.

  She was about to head to her office when the front door opened and Lily’s daughter, Megan, ran inside followed by her grandmother. Bea Brinkman, Lily’s mother, was a petite woman of five foot two, though a generous bosom and hips made her the look a bit like Santa Claus’s wife. She even wore her gray hair tied up in a bun on the back of her head. Her quilted, three-quarter-length purple coat made her look even rounder and shorter.

  A troubled expression was on her face as she hurried to the receptionist’s window. Seeing Brianne, she motioned her over. They’d gotten to know each other since Brianne had moved in with Lily.

  Megan scampered over to the corner where the box of toys was kept for their little patients, while Bea asked Brianne, “Is Lily free?”

  “Is Megan all right?” Brianne replied.

  “Oh yes, she’s fine. We stopped at the house to pick up a few of her toys after kindergarten and…that’s why I need to see Lily.”

  Brianne could see the worry creasing Bea’s brow. “I’ll check to see if she’s free.”

  Lily had just gone into their shared office to fetch a can of soda when Brianne told her her mother was in the waiting room. Lily looked puzzled and then worried.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Brianne asked.

  “Why don’t you? You know Mom. She overdramatizes sometimes. If it’s bad news, I might need you to keep Megan occupied.”

  Brianne nodded and followed her friend into the reception area. By that time, Jed was in the office talking to the receptionist about medical procedures he needed to have scheduled for a patient.

  When Bea saw Lily, she said quickly, “You’ve got a problem. We set buckets in three different spots in your kitchen.”

  “Buckets?”

  “Something’s leaking. Not a gush, but a steady drip, drip, drip. You’ll have to call someone before everything’s ruined. If your father weren’t out of town today, I’m sure he could tell you what to do. But he went to Madison to shop at that new hardware store. If he’d only let me get one of those cell phones, I could call him.”

  “Dad doesn’t want another bill to pay every month, and I can understand that,” Lily said absently. “The leaks are probably coming from the melting snow on the porch roof. I really can’t afford repairs this month. Maybe when I get home I can climb up there and shovel it off.”

  “Wipe that thought out of your head, Lily Brinkman Garrison,” her mother ordered.
“I won’t have you crawling around on some roof, risking life and limb—”

  From the corner of her eye, Brianne caught a movement in the office. A few moments later, Jed appeared beside her.

  “Are you sure it’s the roof, Lily?” he asked. “You could have ice melting under the siding.”

  Lily wrinkled her nose. “The porch roof should have been repaired and reshingled before winter, but I was hoping to make it through another season. I really wanted to knock out a wall upstairs to make Megan’s bedroom larger instead of putting money into a roof, but now I can see that was probably foolish.”

  “I worked construction jobs when I was in high school and college. Would you like me to take a look at it?”

  “A man who knows about these things,” Bea said with a wide smile. “That’s wonderful!” Turning to her daughter, she advised, “Maybe you should date a man who knows about something more than computers. You’re Dr. Sawyer, aren’t you? Lily told me all about you.”

  By now Lily was turning red, though Jed had apparently not taken offense. His eyes twinkled as he shook Mrs. Brinkman’s hand. “Yes, I’m the new doctor here. Sometimes I wish I had a few of those computer skills. I’ve got a full roster until we close, and it will be dark when I leave here. Think you can manage with the buckets for tonight?” he asked Lily and Brianne.

  “It shouldn’t be a problem as long as the leaks are just drips,” Brianne answered, seeing that Lily was still embarrassed by what her mother had said.

  When Jed’s gaze caught Brianne’s and held it for a few moments, she forgot about the roof and snow and an old Victorian house that needed a few repairs.

  He cleared his throat and then spoke to the three women in general. “Since the practice is closed on Thursdays, I can come over in the morning after hospital rounds.”

  Although Sue and Janie worked six days a week, Lily and Brianne had off on both Thursday and Saturday. The doctors made hospital rounds as they did every day and rotated being on-call for the emergency room. Apparently Jed was willing to give up some of his free time for them.

  “How’s ten o’clock?” Jed asked.