The Hotshot

by Lori Wilde

  Babies?

  Was she nuts? Was she insane? Had Nadine’s predictions gripped her common sense and rendered her loopy the way it had Gracie?

  Babies weren’t in her immediate future. Nor was marriage. She’d been trying to tell everyone that, but no one had been listening.

  Most of all impish voice, who reminded her just how cute a miniature Gage, calling her “Mama”, would look.

  The Baby Predicate had taken control.

  No. No. No.

  “I’m a sensible woman. I don’t act this way. I don’t go gaga over men. I don’t fall in love after only having known someone a month. I don’t. I don’t. I don’t,” she muttered to herself.

  This had to be Gracie’s doing. Somewhere she and Nadine were performing voodoo magic, making her fall in love with Gage.

  Then again, perhaps she should hold her father accountable. If he wasn’t so hard to please, she wouldn’t have ended up on a houseboat with her colleague. Wouldn’t have made love to Gage until her head spun and her heart ached with an inexplicable longing.

  She had to do something about this. Right now.

  It was close to ten o’clock when she pulled up outside her father’s lavish estate in the Woodlands. Janet sat in the darkness, swallowing her fear. Resolutely, she got out of the car, marched up the sidewalk, and hammered on the front door.

  A few seconds later, her father pulled open the door. He looked rather ridiculous in silk pajamas and a satin bed cap. A man with too much money putting on airs. Funny how she’d never seen him for what he really was. A sad, lonely man who placed wealth and prestige above family and friends.

  “Janet,” he said. “What are you doing here?” Not hi, daughter, how are you. Good to see you. Come on in and we ’ll have Ho Hos and hot chocolate.

  He waited, blocking the doorway.

  “May I come in?” Why hadn’t she ever noticed what a weak chin he had? Why hadn’t she ever realized he could stare at you without ever really looking you in the eyes?

  “Uh, I was on my way to bed.”

  “We need to talk. It’s important. I’d rather tell you to your face than have you read about it in the newspapers.”

  He hesitated.

  Maybe it was the I’ve-got-this-massive-chip-on-my-shoulder-and-I’m-daring-you-to-knock-it-off expression on her face that quelled him. Or perhaps it was the Rambo way she muscled him aside and entered the house. Either way, Janet didn’t care. She was no longer afraid of her father.

  Thanks to Gage.

  All this time she had thought she was so independent. Autonomous, self-ruling, I-don’t-need-anyone-but-me Janet. She’d won scholarships and earned grants to pay her way through medical school. She’d gone to work at age sixteen, waiting tables to help Gracie make ends meet. She’d never followed the crowd, seeing herself as the ultimate maverick because she embraced lofty ideals over having a good time, valued her high standards above relationships, honored inflexible rules over compassion, viewed loving couples as “clingy.”

  For all her misplaced pride in her sovereignty, it came down to one thing. Anything she’d ever accomplished, she’d done to gain the love of this single man.

  That wasn’t independence. That was neediness of the highest order.

  The realization spun her world on its axis.

  Filled with anger and remorse, sadness and an odd kind of freedom, Janet trod through the foyer and into the living room. She plunked down in a chair.

  “Not that one, Janet!” Her father winced. “That’s an authentic Louis the Fourteenth.”

  “Who cares.” She waved a hand. “Why do you buy furniture people can’t sit in?”

  Her father’s mouth dropped. “Wh... what’s come over you? Why are you acting like this?” He narrowed his eyes. “Have you been drinking? Where’s Gage? I’m going to call him to come get you.”

  “No, Father, I’m stone cold sober and I’ve gotta tell you something and you won’t like it, so you better sit down.”

  Eyeing her as if she were a pet poodle that had suddenly morphed into a Doberman pinscher, Niles eased himself down onto the stiff-backed sofa.

  “Here’s the deal,” she said. “Gage and I are not really engaged. We made the whole thing up. I would have told you the truth, but you were so proud of Gage. Father, you kept telling him how much you wished he were your son. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

  Her bravado vanished when she reached the core issue. Here it was at last, the confrontation that had been thirty years in the making.

  “I...I never thought about it.”

  “That’s right. You’ve never given me a second thought.”

  Oh damn. I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.

  Her father shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and she had a feeling it wasn’t just because the darned sofa was the most uncomfortable piece of furniture under creation.

  “You know what, Father? Not one time in my entire life have you ever told me that you loved me.”

  Crap! Her nose was staring to burn, and her eyes filled with unshed tears.

  “Do you love me, Father?”

  He cleared his throat. “I do.”

  “Do you? Do you really?”

  He clenched his jaw. “I don’t understand the point of this conversation.”

  “And there lies the problem. Why did you leave Gracie when I was sick with scarlet fever? Couldn’t you have at least waited until I was well?”

  He didn’t meet her steadfast gaze; instead, he toyed with the hem of his dressing gown. Imagine. What kind of man wore a dressing gown?

  “I suppose you have a right to know,” he said after an endless pause. “I had a wife before your mother.”

  That came out of left field. Janet pulled herself up straight. “Go on.”

  “Lillian was my college sweetheart. I loved her with every breath in my body.” He was gripping the arm of the sofa as if it were a life raft on the Titanic. “We had a son. Benjy. He was the light of my life.”

  Shocked, Janet could only stare. “I have a brother?” She felt numb. Her father had had a whole other family. His genuine family. The one that he’d loved.

  “Had. Benjy died in a car accident with his mother when he was five.”

  Janet sucked in her breath. “How awful.”

  “Yes.”

  Silence descended. Well, that explained a few things.

  “You know that your mother was my secretary. After the car accident, I was so grief stricken I could barely function. Your mother took care of everything. And she comforted me in my time of distress. Comforted me sexually.”

  Okay. A little more information than she needed.

  “She got pregnant with you. I married Gracie because she was a kind woman and it was my duty to take care of the two of you. But I never loved her. I couldn’t make myself love her.”

  “Or me.”

  He nodded. “Every time I looked at you, I wondered why you were here, and Benjy was not.”

  Oh, oh, it hurt so much, but she’d asked for the truth. She needed to hear what he had to say despite the ice picks jamming their way through her heart.

  “Then you got sick. I simply couldn’t tolerate the thought of losing another child. I divorced Gracie and distanced myself from you.”

  “So you abandoned me before I could abandon you the way Benjy did.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve castigated myself for my behavior? Don’t you think I know that I was wrong?”

  “No, Father, I don’t know that. All I ever wanted was for you to love me.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you needed,” he said with an exhausted sigh. He looked ancient at the moment, drained of energy.

  She felt sorry for him. For all the things he’d missed out on. And she felt something else. Understanding, and a calm sense of peace. Niles might never love her fully, but that was okay. She had Gracie, a kooky but loving mother. She had Lacy and CeeCee, the two best friends a girl could ever ask for.
/>   And Gage?

  A handsome, wealthy doctor with a fabulous sense of humor. A man who cared deeply for her and showed his feelings in everything he did. A man who shared her passion for medicine. A man with an incredible smile and the patience of Job.

  Did he love her as she loved him?

  And in that instant, Janet knew it was true. All this time she’d been so wrong, thinking that romantic love was a fairy tale. It did exist.

  For she’d seen it simmering in the depths of Gage Gregory’s dark eyes.

  “Janet!” Peter boomed at her from the doctors’ lounge early the next morning.

  She turned to find her boss standing in the hallway behind her, a cup of coffee in his hand.

  “Peter, good morning.” She forced a smile.

  “Is it good, Janet, really? You don’t have to put on a cheerful face for my benefit.”

  “Er...” She wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Okay.”

  He moved toward her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Gage called me last night. He told me everything.”

  Everything? What did that entail? “He did?”

  Dr. Jackson nodded. “I understand that you two are having problems with your relationship because of the stress of working together.”

  “He told you that?”

  “He also tendered his resignation. Effective immediately. He won’t be in today.”

  “No!”

  “I hate losing him, but I understand completely. A great romance only comes along once in a lifetime. A man can’t turn his back on love.”

  “Gage said that?” She felt all trembly and gooey inside.

  “Yes. It’s a grand gesture. He must love you very much to sacrifice his career for you. Most men wouldn’t.”

  Gage had given up his job for her?

  “He can’t quit,” she said. “This job means everything to him. I’m the one who’s leaving.”

  “But he said the same thing of you. That your work is your life.”

  She loved her job, yes, and the doctors at the Blanton Street Group were a wonderful bunch of physicians. But she’d struggled to attain this position simply to impress her father. Now there was something more important in her life, and she wasn’t about to let him get away.

  “If you’ll excuse me, Peter,” she said. “I’ve got to make a phone call.”

  He stood in the kitchen listening to the voice message.

  “Gage, it’s Janet. Are you there? If you’re there, please pick up; we’ve got to talk.”

  His heart bumped crazily against his chest at the sound of her voice, but he didn’t pick up the phone. He didn’t want to argue with her about quitting his job. Last night he’d realized that he wouldn’t be able to keep working with her. Seeing her every day, remembering what they’d shared, wanting her but not being able to have her. Best he packs up and leave now, before he’d really gotten his practice established.

  For the first time in his life, he’d been thinking of his own needs and not those of someone else, and it felt good. He loved Janet, yes, but if she couldn’t love him back, then there was no point hanging around.

  “I took your advice,” she said. “I confronted my father.”

  He held his breath and waited.

  “You were right. Once I found out why he acted the way he did toward me all these years, he lost all power over me. I feel like someone plucked the Empire State Building off my chest.”

  “Good for you,” he murmured under his breath. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “I’ve got to see you. I’ve got to talk to you in person. This is a monumental breakthrough, and I want to share it with you. I’m coming over after I get off work. If you’re interested, be there. If you’re not, then I’ll know it’s over between us.”

  He reached for the phone, but something held him back.

  “Gage,” she said. “I love you.”

  She loved him!

  And he loved her, with a calm certainty that didn’t scare him in the least. He loved her with the same unshakable sureness that he loved his parents. This feeling wasn’t ever going away.

  He didn’t have much time until she got home, but he knew what he must do to prove it.

  16

  There was a tuxedoed man on her terrace.

  Dr. Janet Hunter froze in mid-stride, her medical bag and a small flat briefcase tucked underneath one arm. Keys in hand, she’d just returned home from work.

  She blinked in disbelief.

  Yep. No mirage. A handsome man, resplendent in a black tuxedo with a white cummerbund and red bow tie stood proudly among her wrought iron furniture.

  Her table lay covered with a white linen cloth. In the middle of the table sat a vase of red roses, two flickering red candles, and silver-domed serving dishes for two. From a boom box perched on the terrace wall came the strains of Barbra Streisand singing ‘People Who Need People.’

  Okay, Janet thought with a huge grin breaking across her face, two could play this game.

  She tossed her briefcase and medical bag on the counter, walked across the floor, threw open the door, and hollered, “Hey, buddy.”

  “You talking to me?” he asked, returning her grin.

  Her heart was flying, flying, flying. Swooping and dipping, catching the updrafts of her expanding emotions.

  “Do you see any other good-looking physicians hanging around here?”

  “Yes.” His eyes never left her face. “And I’m looking right at her.” He held out his arms.

  She was across the terrace in nothing flat. Gage wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, her nose. He kissed her as if he hadn’t seen her in fifty years and might not see her for another fifty if he dared let her go.

  “How did you get in?”

  “A little help from Gracie,” he murmured, his lips warm against her skin.

  “That’s what I get for giving her a spare key. Men in tuxedoes turning up unannounced on my terrace.”

  “What can I say? The woman’s crazy about me.”

  “I can’t blame her,” she whispered, looking him straight in the eyes as she captured his lips in hers. Enough of that face kissing, her mouth was getting jealous of her nose.

  She pulled away after a few of his tongue tricks had her panting. “So, I’m assuming you got my message.”

  His grin widened. “I did. You said you loved me.”

  “Did I?” Her stomach tightened. Her knees went weak. She felt so perfectly wonderful, so perfectly beautiful, so perfectly right. She thought she was going to burst.

  “Oh yes, you did. No backing out of it. I saved the tape.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I did. I’m going to play it for our kids when they ask about the first time Mommy told Daddy that she loved him.”

  “What are you saying, Dr. Gregory?” She leaned into him, relishing his scent, relishing the wonderful glow of the moment.

  “That depends. Are you admitting that you were wrong, that there is such a thing as true love?” His hands, holding hers, were so warm and welcoming, like a snuggly blanket on a cold winter day.

  “I might have been mistaken.”

  “I’ve got to tell you the truth, Janet. Now don’t get scared or anything, but I knew you were the one for me from the moment I met you right here on this very terrace.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I did.”

  “Liar.”

  “Nonbeliever.”

  They grinned at each other. He drew her close again and nuzzled her ear. “You’re exactly what I need. A woman who knows her own mind and stands up for herself.”

  “That’s me.”

  “A woman who’s not afraid to face her fears.”

  “Well, it took me a while.” She told him then about what had happened with her father, about Niles’ other family. When she finished, he didn’t say a word. He just squeezed her tightly.

  “I discovered something else.”

  “Oh?�
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  “I realized that you’ve been there for me from the moment I met you. Not because you considered me a pet project, but because you simply cared. You’ve taught me the real meaning of love. That’s a very precious gift.”

  They swayed in the twilight, their bodies pressed together.

  “So,” she said after a long moment of luxuriating in the comfort of his arms. “What’s this nonsense about you quitting your job?”

  “Well,” he said, “that was before you admitted that you loved me.”

  “You were just going to run off, abandon the position you’d worked so hard to achieve for me?”

  “Actually, no. This time I was being a little selfish. I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing you day after day, knowing I couldn’t have you. Working beside you and knowing that you didn’t need me in your life.”

  “Are you kidding? Gage, I need you so much it’s pitiful. Without you, I would never have found the courage to face my father. Like it or not, you’ve become my pillar of strength.”

  “Really?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I’ll always be here for you, Janet. In good times and bad. In sickness and in health.”

  He took her left hand in his and slipped the cubic zirconia off her finger. Then he pulled a small black velvet box from the pocket of his tuxedo.

  Her body shook when she realized his intention. She pressed her right hand to her mouth.

  “Oh,” she whispered, “oh.”

  “Janet Hunter.” He got down on one knee and flicked open the box with his thumb. A two-carat diamond solitaire winked up at her. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  “A real engagement?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does this mean more paparazzi popping from behind every bush?”

  “Probably. Is that a problem?”

  “Not on your life,” she said.

  “Does that mean your answer is yes?”