by Molly Evans
“How disappointing.”
“That’s what he called me. His big disappointment in life.” Gina nodded, the bubble of heat and remembered pain in her chest throbbing.
“Not you, him!” Thomas turned her to face him in the small confines of the vehicle. “None of that is true, Gina. None of it.” He searched her eyes, trying to find a way to make her see the truth in his, and the lie in her father’s words. Words that had controlled her life for too many years. He could see it, but Gina was the one who had to believe it. “You should be very proud of yourself. Graduating from nursing school is a great accomplishment. I know he was your father, but he was just plain wrong.” Her background was vastly different from his. He’d been expected to attend college, medical school, and he’d never doubted the rightness of it. But to be thwarted at every turn was just plain cruel. “I’m very sorry your parents weren’t more supportive of you. You’ve done very well despite the problems.”
Tears flooded Gina’s eyes, and her chin trembled, her pain palpable. “I don’t want it to be true, but I’m so afraid that he’s right.”
“No, he’s not.” Thomas drew her to him. This time he couldn’t stop, and didn’t want to. He kissed her. He needed to kiss her, and she needed to be kissed. By him, right now.
The feel of her, the taste of her, the silky glide of her tongue against his urged him on, and he breathed in the scent of her. He took the kiss deeper, wanting to sense everything about her. Her trembling hands reached out to cup his face, and he held on to her, wanting more than he should right now.
Pulling back, he held her close. “Gina, I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped my bounds, but I’ve wanted to kiss you since the day you walked into the ER.”
With a quick laugh, she pulled back a little, wanting to see his eyes. The passion in them stunned her, and her heart responded erratically. His touch thrilled her, and his kiss stirred her more deeply than she’d ever known a kiss could. But what she saw in Thomas’s eyes frightened her. She’d never live up to his expectations, she knew that. With his background, how could she?
Thomas brushed her face with his hand, pushing away the tears and leaving only the unmasked desire exposed. “You don’t know how refreshing you are to me. Why don’t you think about staying on for a while?” There. He’d said what he’d been thinking for days now. Why not? Her mother was here. It made sense, didn’t it? “You could be closer to your mother, have a little more stability in your life.” He paused with a dangerous thought poised on his tongue. “And…we could get to know each other.”
Stunned, Gina sat back in the seat. The sound of his smoky voice almost lulled her into dropping her emotional barriers and reaching out to him as she hadn’t reached out to a man in years. “When I was young I got to know a guy like you.” Memories of the past intruded bring reality back to this almost magical moment.
Thomas held her gaze. “What happened?”
“I loved him with all of my heart.” She looked down at her clenched fists. “He humiliated me in the worst possible way, used me. Coming back here has brought back memories I’d rather forget.” She shuddered. “I haven’t dated very much since then.”
Thomas didn’t say anything for a moment, then he reached out and cupped her face in his hands, raising her gaze to his. “I’m not that guy.”
She smiled and said softly, “I know. But you understand why I’m fairly hesitant about staying here any longer than I have to. Too much of my past is wrapped up here, and I don’t want to fall back into being that person anymore.”
“I do understand. But you’ve got to put your past to bed sometime. You might try it while you’re here.” He released her and started the car. “For now, I’d better get you home before I change my mind.”
“About what?” Gina asked with a frown.
Thomas laughed and took her hand, kissed the knuckles and then put the car in gear. “About whether I want to take you home.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry! I can walk from the park. It’s not a problem. I didn’t mean to inconvenience you.” She hurriedly gathered her things. God, she was so stupid.
“Gina, wait,” Thomas said, his voice serious, and he placed a hand on her arm to stop her hurried movements. “I’ll take you home if you want. I’d just rather not end our day yet.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“OH.” SHE gave a quick laugh and tried to make that flutter in her stomach to go away, but it wasn’t going anywhere. “Well, dinner and a bottle of wine wouldn’t be out of the question. We’ve both got to eat, right?” Gina said, her voice soft. She kept her gaze to her lap, watching her clenched fists. Had she just said that out loud?
“Well, I’ve no dinner plans.” When he smiled across at her, she tried to ignore that squiggle in the pit of her stomach.
He carried on, “We’ll stop by the store to get something for dinner, then go to my place, relax and cook a meal together.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m suddenly feeling hungrier than I have all day.” With Thomas, the day seemed to have brightened, and she was reluctant to let go of the feelings he brought out in her. Her burden did seem to have lightened a bit in the sharing of it with him. Spending time in her lonely cottage had little appeal.
As they entered the market a few minutes later, Gina was telling Thomas about an assignment she’d been on when a squeal from the bakery counter startled her into shocked silence.
“Gina! Gina Riddles! Is that you?” a female voice called from halfway across the store.
Gina stopped and turned, a stunned smile plastered on her face, and waited for the woman to come round the display of summer produce.
“Brace yourself,” she whispered to Thomas out of the side of her mouth.
“What—”
“Mary Lou? Is that really you?” Gina asked, suddenly acquiring a thick Virginia accent.
Thomas’s jaw dropped as a woman charged across the store toward them.
“Gina! It is you,” Mary Lou squealed, and dragged Gina into an exuberant hug that made her teeth ache. “I heard you was back in town. I was so sorry to hear about your momma, and your daddy, too, God rest his poor soul.” Mary Lou clucked her tongue and pulled back to look at Gina, but didn’t relinquish her grip on Gina’s arm.
“Yep. It’s me. Back in town. Here I am.” Gina knew she was babbling, but any information this woman gained was going to be all over town in a matter of minutes. There were grapevines and then there were small-town grapevines that put the speed of the Internet to shame.
“Now, who’s your fella here? Why, isn’t this Doc McPherson from the hospital?” Mary Lou turned to Thomas, an expectant look on her face.
“It’s Ferguson,” Gina corrected with a tight smile, not liking the way Mary Lou looked Thomas up and down, her brown eyes lingering in places they shouldn’t. “Mary Lou Arnold, this is Dr Thomas Ferguson, Medical Director of the hospital ER. Thomas, Mary Lou and I went to high school together.” A thousand years ago, it seemed. Not nearly long enough ago, she thought as years of memories came tumbling back down on her head like a fallen tower of blocks.
“Pleased to meet you. So, you and Gina are together? She’s a nurse now, you know,” Mary Lou said, her eyes shining with admiration as she elbowed Gina in the ribs.
“No, we’re not together,” Gina said with a frown, her head beginning to ache. “Yes, we work together at the hospital. I’m on a temporary assignment there, Mary Lou. I’ll only be in town for a few months, then I go to another assignment somewhere else.” She had to stop any rumors before they took on a life of their own. She’d lived here. She knew how it worked.
“Uh-huh,” Mary Lou said, her eyes gleaming. “You’d better hold on to this one, honey. He’s a doctor, and a looker, too. Those are hard to come by in one package.”
“Yes, well, Mary Lou,” Gina interrupted with a sudden desire to steer the topic away from her and Thomas and any liaison she might cook up. “How old are your babies now?”
“Oh, why, Gary is twelve, E
ddie is ten, and the little one, Jessie, is seven already.” Mary Lou ticked them off on her fingers.
“Three children in five years?” Thomas asked, his brows raised. “Impressive.”
Mary Lou patted her generous hips with a look of pride on her face. “These were made for makin’ babies. But thank God Vernon got himself snipped or we’d have a pile more.”
“So, Mary Lou, what kind of specials do you have today?” Gina asked, trying to change the subject away from Mary Lou’s hips, babies, and the past. She glanced at Thomas and caught amusement sparkling in his eyes. Damn. At this rate, she’d be talking about her past all night long.
“Steaks. We’ve got a real nice rib-eye steak, or fresh Atlantic salmon steaks on special. Just come on over here.” She took Gina’s arm again and led the way. “I’ll chase Irving out from behind the counter where he’s hiding. He does that, you know.” Mary Lou released Gina’s arm and charged through the doors to the butcher. “Irving! Come on out here.”
“What was that all about?” Thomas asked, obviously trying not to laugh but failing miserably.
“You’ve gone and done it now, Doc.” Gina shook her head, but she bit her lips together to keep a grin from exploding onto her face. Thomas had a way of bringing out inappropriate laughter in her. Warmth bubbled in her chest. She shouldn’t feel anything for Thomas except friendship, but every time she looked at him she sank deep into his eyes and didn’t want to come out. No man had ever had that kind of appeal before. And she didn’t quite know what to make of it. Should she pull away or take one tiny step toward him?
“Me? What did I do?” He pressed his hands to his chest, all innocence.
“You’re charming and cute. We’ve been seen together…in public. That’s all it takes to start a rumor around here. By tomorrow I’ll be on welfare, having your baby out of wedlock and shaming my family for the next ten generations to come,” Gina said, and shook her head.
“Are you kidding? She’s going to get all that out of a simple introduction?” Thomas looked at the door through which Mary Lou had disappeared.
“You know people see and think what they want to. Just wait,” Gina said, knowing that rumors spread like wildfire during a drought. But at least now Mary Lou’s enthusiasm seemed relatively harmless. Gina was older, wiser, and wasn’t going to be hurt by the sniping of others ever again. At least, that was what she was telling herself today. Somehow, with Thomas standing beside her, she did feel stronger and able to handle whatever came her way.
Mary Lou dragged Irving out by his arm. “Here he is.”
“Now, what can I get you folks?” Irving asked, and tried to extricate his arm from Mary Lou’s grip.
“Give me a man-sized steak and something a little more delicate for the lady,” Thomas said, and pulled Gina against his side with a big grin.
Gina’s mouth dropped, and she elbowed Thomas in the ribs. “Thomas!”
“See? Didn’t I tell ya?” Mary Lou said to Irving, and smiled widely.
“So, when’s the weddin’?” Irving asked as he wrapped the steaks.
Gina hung her head in defeat and covered her eyes with her hand. Another wildfire was going to rage out of control.
“Don’t you worry about nothin’, honey. I’ll help you plan everything,” Mary Lou said, and handed Gina a glossy brochure. “I make the best weddin’ cakes in town.”
“You’re a dead man,” Gina said, and watched as Thomas cooked the steaks at his house on an indoor kitchen grill, which pulled the smoke down and out through a hidden ventilation system.
With a laugh, Thomas touched his glass of wine to Gina’s. “I couldn’t help myself. That was so much fun, seeing the looks on their faces.”
“Oh, well, mark my words, by tomorrow the paper will be running our engagement announcement because of that little stunt of yours.” She laughed. “Your family will think you’ve gone off at the deep end.” But for some reason it didn’t bother her that much. She’d be leaving town in a few months, then the gossips would have something and someone else to talk about. Maybe she’d grown, maybe it was the wine, maybe it was Thomas’s supportive presence, but she no longer cared. At least for now.
“My family will know better if anything should come of it. If you’re bothered by it, though, I can go and talk to Mary Lou and set her straight.” Thomas tossed two potatoes into the microwave and turned it on.
Gina held up one hand, her eyes wide. “No! Don’t you dare. That will only fuel the fire that we’ve had a lovers’ spat or something.” She waved her hand, dismissing the idea, and sipped her wine, trying to cover the tremor in her hand.
“I’m a little confused, though,” Thomas said as he layered a salad and mixed it up. “She’s got a twelveyear-old, but you’ve only been out of school ten years. How’d that happen?”
“The usual way, Doc. Are you sure you went to med school?” Gina twitched her brows at him. “I said we went to school together. Only one of us graduated. She had her first baby at sixteen and dropped out. I’m a rebel because I chose to go to nursing school and not look for a husband.”
Thomas burst out laughing and dropped a cherry tomato into the salad bowl. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“Unfortunately, no.” A wave of sadness washed over her, and she drank from her glass again, needing a bit of fortitude. “This is why I’ve avoided coming back here for so long. Rumors and gossip can ruin a life, and I no longer want to be attached to any of it.”
Thomas stepped around the counter and closer to her, his proximity forcing her to look up at him. “If something is true, then it’s not a rumor, right?”
“I…I don’t know quite what you mean.” She swallowed, her throat suddenly tight, and her stomach clenched. Thomas was too close, too right, too male. Too sexy. He’d said he was attracted to her. That in itself was intoxicating. His presence so close beside her stirred her senses and almost overwhelmed her. She licked her lips and tried to breathe normally, tried not to let her emotions run away with her, but the closer he got the harder that became. And now she was less sure she wanted to resist it. After all, how long had it been since she’d let a man touch her? Was she going to let one bad experience ruin her life? After the stress of the last few weeks, she could use a little comfort.
“I mean, if we’re dating, then it’s not really a rumor, is it?” He curved his hand around her ear, pushing her hair back from her face.
The touch was so gentle, so intimate that a thread of need pulled tight in her belly. A need she hadn’t acknowledged for a very long time threatened to unravel, and she wanted to pull on it to see how long it lasted. “Thomas,” she whispered as the feeling in her stomach blossomed into outright lust. Lifting her face, she waited for him to make the next move. “What am I doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what are we doing, you and me? Together?”
“We’re having a meal, getting to know each other.” He shrugged. “Pretty simple.”
“I haven’t been on a date in two years,” she said.
“Neither have I.”
“So…why now? Why me?” She dropped her gaze. “I’m sure there are lots of women who’d be more appropriate for you.”
“Appropriate?” He laughed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just not the kind of woman you usually date, am I?”
“No, you’re not.”
See? She’d known it. Deep down, she’d known and had deluded herself that he’d really have been interested in her. Just a rehash of her past.
“Do you have any idea what a breath of fresh air you are?” he whispered, inches from her face, his gaze on her mouth.
Startled, she looked up at him. He was so close she could see the flecks in his eyes, smell his aftershave, and feel the electricity humming off of him. “Now I really don’t know what you mean.”
“What I mean is, you don’t play games. Your honesty is very attractive. You don’t care who I am, you still tell me I�
��m a lousy shot—which I am, by the way.” He smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled up. “You’ve not let who I am turn you into something you’re not, and that’s very attractive.”
She grinned, his words making her feel better, but a squiggle of caution lingered.
“You’re not sitting in my kitchen because of some political or social advantage. You’re a darling, Gina. That’s all.” Without another word, Thomas closed the distance between them and took her mouth with his. Breathing in his fragrance, his maleness, and the scent of burning steak, Gina pulled back with a gasp. “Steak!”
“Damn,” Thomas said, and turned off the grill. “It can wait,” he said, and dragged her against him. Gina surrendered to his kiss.
The ache inside her burst free and she pressed against him, needing to feel the length of him against her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Desire flared inside her, and she answered the heated probe of his tongue, wanting more. Needing him against her. Needing to be needed, if only for this moment.
Thomas spread hot kisses across her cheek and down her neck. She dropped her head back, giving him access, reveling in the sensations swirling in her body. Her body reacted instantly, and she wanted him now, more than anything she’d ever wanted. Right or not, she wanted him to want her. Going too fast wasn’t her way, but today her way had been derailed. Just once she wanted to live in the moment. Just once.
With a groan, Thomas held her tight, spreading hot, wet kisses over her hair and forehead. His breathing was as erratic as hers, and she felt his heartbeat matching the fluttering pace of hers.
“Gina.” He breathed her name in her ear, and she shivered. He picked her up and seated her on the kitchen counter. He stepped between her knees so they were eyetoeye.
“But—”
“Shh.” His hands gentle, Thomas dragged his fingertips up her arms and goose bumps raced across her flesh. Her nipples hardened and ached for his touch. He bent to her neck and pressed his mouth to her collarbone, slowly tracing it with his tongue, leaving a moist trail behind. He brought his large hands to cup her face. “Look at me, Gina,” he said. “I want to see your eyes.”
