“And you provide professional medical services for free.”
“Not always for free. Some people have medical insurance. And others actually have money, believe it or not.”
“Some doctors would refuse service to the people who couldn’t pay.”
“And some doctors will rot in hell,” Marsh returned evenly. “I, for one, will go directly to heaven, through a special door marked Neighborly and Nice.”
Leila laughed. God, he loved the sound of her laughter. He loved the way her smile seemed to include the entire universe. He loved the way her eyes seemed to dance with her amusement.
“You know, I honestly believe you will. Funny, I always thought…” Her smiled faded, and she looked away, as if she were embarrassed.
“Hmmm,” Marsh said. A car drove up behind him, its headlights glaring in his rearview mirror. He reached out through the open side of the jeep and waved the driver past. “I suppose I better not press to find out the end of that sentence. It can’t be anything good.”
“I thought you were selfish and, well, self-centered,” she admitted.
“And not very nice,” he finished for her.
“I was wrong, wasn’t I?” She looked back at him.
He could have answered her any number of ways. In fact, her statement begged to be picked up and returned to her sarcastically. According to her own words, she was never wrong, and admitting otherwise certainly deserved a caustic comment.
But Marsh didn’t tease. He didn’t joke. He didn’t try in any way to mock her.
“I don’t know,” he said seriously. “There were times when I wasn’t very nice to you. But only to you.”
“Gee thanks. You know, when you and Simon were in college, you teased me mercilessly. You never let up. Half the time I was furious with you. The other half…” The other half of the time, she’d imagined herself almost in love with him. But there was no way she’d ever tell him that.
“You were always so rude to me,” Marsh said. “Right from the first day I met you and Simon. You were what? Eleven years old? You were so blond and…American. You looked at me as if I were some worthless piece of garbage that had floated in on the tide. And you were just a child. Then when you got older, when you were in high school, you were still rude to me. Rude, and so bloody beautiful.”
Leila stared at Marsh, but he was looking away from her, gazing out at the road ahead of them, as if he could see into the future.
“Beautiful? Right.”
“You were. And still are.”
Marshall Devlin thought that she was beautiful. Her heart was pounding so loudly, Leila was afraid he might be able to hear it. Beautiful. But…
She lifted one eyebrow. “So naturally you nicknamed me Monkey-Face?!”
Marsh looked at her and smiled. She could see his perfect white teeth, gleaming. “You don’t seriously think I’d’ve given you the added ammunition of knowing that I thought you were the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen in my life. Tell me honestly, wouldn’t you have used it to tease me mercilessly in return?”
“Probably.” She studied his face in the dim streetlight. “You really thought I was pretty? Back when I was in high school?”
“I remember one year you had a microscopic pair of cutoff blue jeans that were ripped up the side. They made your legs look even longer,” Marsh mused. In the darkness his eyes looked dreamy—and very warm. “I spent the entire summer vacation in utter misery. You used to wear them with this little red-and-white halter top. You were so blond and tan. So perfectly American. Your smile—perfect. Your eyes—perfect. Your body—beyond perfect. I had a bloody heart attack every time you walked into the room.”
“Oh, to be seventeen again,” Leila said wistfully.
“You’re twice as beautiful now.”
Leila rolled her eyes. “And you’re obviously twice as good at slinging the b.s. I remember that my parents adored you. ‘Why can’t you be more like that nice Marshall Devlin?’” Leila mimicked her mother’s voice. “‘He’s so polite.’” She shook her head. “You weren’t polite, you were a liar.”
Marsh shifted in his seat. “I believe the word you’re looking for is tactful, not liar.” He raked his hair out of his eyes. “Like most American teenagers, tact never was your strong suit.”
“There’s a difference between tact and kissing my parents’ a—”
“Is that what you had against me?” Marsh interrupted. “Right from the start, you took an instant dislike to me. I remember the first time I came down to Sunrise Key with my father. It was Christmas, and I was miserable. If it wasn’t for Simon…or maybe it was Simon. Was it because he and I became such good friends and you felt left out? Was that why you were so horrid?”
“Yeah, probably,” Leila admitted. “At least partly. It was also because you were such a royal snob. You were so distant and, well…aloof. You never hung out with the other kids, only Simon. And I don’t remember ever seeing you laugh. At least not that first year.”
Another car’s headlights appeared behind Marsh, and he waved it on. They’d been sitting there for a long time, Leila realized. But she was in no hurry to get home. She’d never talked to Marsh about any of this before—about all those ancient hurts and adolescent injustices that still lingered between them. She’d had absolutely no idea that he was attracted to her when she was a teenager. Why hadn’t he ever asked her out? She would’ve said yes in a flash. Of course, he’d have had no way of knowing that.
“I didn’t laugh very much, but surely even you could’ve given me the benefit of the doubt. I was seventeen years old, I was living in a new country with my father—whom I hardly knew—and his wife and their two children. I was suffering culture shock.” He sighed. “And I was grieving.”
Leila stared at him. “Grieving? Why?”
He stared back at her, leaning forward in the darkness. “You honestly don’t know?”
“Marsh, what are you talking about?”
“My mother. She died, and one week later I was living in America, in a suburb of New Haven with this stranger who was my father. Two weeks after that, we were on vacation on Sunrise Key. I wasn’t aloof when you first met me, Leila. I was numb.”
“God, Marsh. No one ever told me.” She covered her mouth with her hand, remembering all of the harsh words and dirty looks she’d sent in his direction as he’d stolen her beloved brother’s attention. “I was so terrible to you. You must’ve thought I was an awful little bitch.”
“I did think you were rather insensitive.” He smiled ruefully. “And I must confess the word bitch did cross my mind a time or two.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t realize you didn’t know about my mother. I thought everyone knew.” He laughed sadly. “It certainly explains quite a bit of your behavior. I always thought you had a rather cruel streak.”
Leila closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the top of the seat. “I’m such a jerk.”
“Leila, believe me, I’ve long since forgiven you.”
Her exposed throat looked so long and slender in the light from the corner streetlamp.
“That doesn’t make me less of a jerk.”
“Past tense,” Marsh pointed out. He had to clench his hands into fists to keep himself from touching her. “You were a jerk. You grew out of it. I grew out of a lot of things, too.”
“Then why do I feel so awful?” She opened her eyes and turned her head to look up at him.
“Proof you’re not a jerk. If you were a jerk, you wouldn’t feel awful, right? It’s in the past, Leila. Let it go.”
“God, you are nice, aren’t you? Sickeningly nice. I’m not sure I can stand it.”
She was teasing him. She was teasing, because she didn’t want him to see the sudden sheen of tears that had appeared in her eyes.
Marsh felt the bottom fall out of his stomach, as if he’d stepped off the edge of a cliff. Leila cared enough about him to cry. True, it was probably only a sisterly kind o
f caring, but that was certainly an improvement, considering as a teenager she’d apparently disliked him rather intensely.
Marsh did the only thing he could do. He pretended not to see the tears in her eyes. And he teased her back. “I suppose if you insist, I could start calling you Monkey-Face again. I mean, simply to achieve a kind of balance in our relationship.”
Leila laughed, and reached across the jeep to hug him.
This was it, Marsh realized. There was no way on earth he was going to be able to return Leila’s embrace without kissing her. And when he kissed her, she’d know.
“’Scuse me, folks,” a voice said, and Marsh jumped. “Oh, hey, Doc. I didn’t realize it was you.”
Liam Halliday stood outside the jeep on Marsh’s side, one hand on the edge of the vehicle’s windshield, the other hand on the canvas top as he leaned over and looked in the open door. Marsh watched the tall sheriff take in every detail—Marsh’s unbuttoned shirt, his jacket and tie and medical bag in the back, Leila’s long arms and legs, her blond curls and pretty face.
“Ma’am.” The sheriff nodded at Leila and touched his cowboy hat briefly. He smiled at her and reluctantly looked back at Marsh. “Havin’ engine trouble, Doc? Can I help give you a push off the main drag here, and into the post office parking lot?”
The man’s eyes kept returning to Leila. “Well, no.” Marsh studied Halliday’s face, trying to figure out what Leila saw when she looked at the sheriff. “Actually, the engine’s fine. We were just having a chat.”
Halliday had jet black hair that curled out from under the wide brim of his hat. One lock fell across his forehead, but it wasn’t long enough to get into his eyes. Self-consciously, Marsh pushed his own brown hair off his face.
Halliday’s eyes were brown, but darker than Marsh’s. They were rich, deep, chocolate brown, while Marsh’s were only the color of Tangled Neck Creek after a heavy rain, when the water was thick with mud and muck.
It was easy to overlook the fact that Halliday’s eyes were bloodshot—no doubt from over indulging at the Rustler’s Hideout the night before.
Leila reached across Marsh, holding out her hand for the sheriff to shake. “I’m Leila Hunt,” she introduced herself with one of her more dazzling smiles. At least Halliday seemed dazzled, Marsh thought sourly.
“Liam Halliday,” Halliday drawled, taking her hand and holding on to it much, much too long. “You related to Simon Hunt by any chance?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Have we met before?” Halliday asked. It wasn’t a come-on, Marsh realized. There was honest puzzlement in the man’s eyes. There were probably quite a few people a hard drinker like Halliday couldn’t remember meeting.
“I’m not sure,” Leila admitted.
Their clasped hands were inches away from Marsh’s face, and he cleared his throat. Leila tugged her hand free.
“Well now.” Halliday straightened up. “There’s no parkin’ so close to the corner, Doc.” He grinned and winked at Marsh. “And particularly not in the middle of the road. I’m gonna have to ask you to move on. Or pull into the parkin’ lot ’round the corner if you want to get friendly.”
Leila blushed. “We were talking. That’s all.”
Marsh looked at her, eyebrow raised. She’d certainly been quick to make sure the sheriff knew there was nothing between them. Leila glanced at Marsh but quickly looked away, as if somehow he was the one who’d embarrassed her.
“Well, then, I beg your pardon,” Halliday said. “Pull around the corner if you want to do some more…talkin’.” He touched his hat and smiled at Leila again. “A pleasure meetin’ you, Leila Hunt. See ya, Doc.”
As Halliday sauntered back to where his police car was parked underneath the streetlight, Leila shook her head. “I can’t believe Frankie won’t go out with him. He’s adorable.”
“He’s particularly adorable after he’s spent the night in his own drunk tank,” Marsh said dryly.
“Yeah, Frankie said he has the tendency to party.” Her eyes followed Halliday. She watched as he reached into the front window of his car and pulled out the radio’s microphone. “But she didn’t tell me how amazingly good-looking he is. Ouch.”
Ouch was right. “Yes, but does he look good while wearing only his underwear?” Marsh mused.
Leila laughed. “Probably not as good as you. Although…” Her eyes grew distant, dreamy. “Marsh, do you think he was the one?”
“No.”
She looked at him in surprise. “How can you be so sure?”
“Do you really think Halliday might be your ninja?” Marsh countered. “I mean, really?”
She was watching the sheriff again. Was this jealousy he was feeling? Yes, this was definitely jealousy, and it was far worse than the twinges he’d felt regarding Elliot. Elliot wasn’t really a threat, despite Leila’s talk of marrying the man. She might be thinking about marrying Elliot, but she clearly wasn’t attracted to him, not like this.
Watching Leila gaze all starry-eyed at Halliday was dreadful. Marsh wanted to wring the sheriff’s red neck, simply because the man existed.
“I honestly don’t know. What if he is my ninja?”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Marsh said, a touch nastily. “This is your big chance. Go and find out. Go and kiss him, why don’t you? I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to oblige.” The way Halliday had been looking at Leila, it was more than clear that the man would be willing to let her run a series of test kisses on him.
Leila unbuckled her seat belt and slipped out of the jeep.
“Where are you going?” Marsh asked in surprise.
“You’re right. This is my big chance. I’m going to talk to him. Pull into the post office parking lot. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”
“Leila, you can’t be serious. I wasn’t.” But she was already walking toward the sheriff and didn’t hear him.
He cursed under his breath as he watched them. The man already clearly thought that Leila was pretty. But there was so much more to her than her beautiful face and near-perfect body. She was smart and friendly and funny and warm. She was special. Even a damn fool like Liam Halliday would figure that out in a matter of seconds.
Halliday put away his radio microphone the second he spotted Leila walking toward him. He took off his cowboy hat and combed his fingers through his hair as he leaned against the side of his car. His long jeans-clad legs were crossed casually at the ankle.
Halliday smiled at Leila, and Leila smiled back, and Marsh knew that he couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t sit there and watch. He put the jeep into first gear and pulled around the corner into the parking lot in front of the post office. But, from where he parked, he could still see Leila and Halliday in his rearview mirror, so he closed his eyes.
Dammit, why didn’t Leila smile at him that way?
Because she didn’t see him as anything more than a friend, nothing more than another big brother. She’d been awfully bloody quick to correct Halliday when the sheriff assumed they’d stopped at the intersection to kiss. Was the idea of kissing him really that awful?
Leila certainly hadn’t found him unappealing on New Year’s Eve, when he’d kissed her at midnight. No, she’d responded to his kisses in a way that had nearly knocked him over.
Maybe that was the answer. Maybe he should dress up as the ninja and just appear in her room some night.
But, no.
The truth was, Marsh wanted Leila to love him. Not as a friend, not as a brother, not as a romantic phantom. He wanted her to fall desperately, hopelessly, tragically in love with him. With him, not some mysterious ninja.
And what, pray tell, were the odds of that happening?
Marsh opened his eyes, and in the rearview mirror, in the light from the streetlamp, he saw Liam Halliday draw Leila into his arms and kiss her. It was a long kiss, a slow kiss, a deep, passionate kiss.
Leaving the keys in the ignition, Marsh got out of the jeep and walked away.
SEV
EN
“SO YOU’RE STANDING there, in the middle of the road with the sheriff.” Simon put his feet up on the top of the railing that surrounded the deck. “Then what? What did you say? ‘Excuse me, Sheriff, would you mind giving me a kiss?’”
“Well, yeah.” Leila stood across from him, looking out through the night toward the beach. The moon was out, and it was bright enough to see that the beach was deserted. No sign of Marsh.
Simon sat forward, pulling his legs back down. “You’re not serious.”
“Yes, I am. Simon, have you seen Marsh?”
“You told Halliday the whole story?”
“Not the whole story.”
Simon pointed to a chair. “Sit,” he ordered her. “I’ve got to hear this.”
“I’m kind of in a hurry,” Leila said. “Have you seen him?”
“Him who?”
“Marsh.”
“Marsh?”
“Your friend? The doctor? Fairly tall, English accent, brown hair…?”
Simon rested his elbows on his knees and his chin in one palm as he gazed up at her. “I know who he is. I’m just wondering why you’re so hot to find him.”
“We were supposed to go over his financial records.” Leila finally sat down across from her brother.
“He’s not here.”
She gave him a piercing look. “Would he be here if I were looking for him for another reason?” she asked.
Simon laughed. “No. Believe me, I want you to help him organize his accounts. I tell you, Lei, for a guy with a medical degree from Harvard, Dev absolutely stinks at math. And it doesn’t worry him. The man doesn’t care.” He shifted back in his seat. “So. Tell me about Halliday. What did you say, what did he say? I want details.”
Leila closed her eyes. “I walked up to him and said, ‘You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we did meet.’ See, he’d asked me earlier if we’d met before. Then I asked him if he wore a ninja costume to your party, which of course I already knew.”
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