Falling for the Billionaire Doc

by Amy Ruttan

  That was her life. Work, saving the hospital and sleep.

  Kind of pathetic.

  She shook that thought away and headed upstairs. She walked into her room and opened her closet. It was kind of bare. And she could barely remember the last time she had gone on a date.

  And then it came to her.

  Brent.

  He used to wine and dine her. The first man to do so. She thought he’d been the one. Her Prince Charming.

  Boy, was she wrong.

  When she’d told him her plans for Aspen, he’d told her his plans for someone else. Even then, she rarely dressed up for him.

  “I don’t have anything to wear,” she shouted down the stairs. “Unless you let me go to dinner in scrubs?”

  “No!” Mandy shouted. “You’re not going to dinner in scrubs, or jeans or any kind of trouser. You’re going to wear pantyhose, heels, makeup, and I’m going to do your hair. I’m going to live vicariously through you!”

  Kiera smiled to herself. “Fine.”

  “I have a dress you can borrow. Have your shower, and then come down to my room and I’ll help get you ready.”

  “Okay.”

  There was no point in arguing. She was invested in this project now.

  Kiera had a quick shower and made her way back downstairs to Mandy’s room. Mandy had already pulled out a dress and laid it on the bed with a pair of heels. She was taken back by the unfamiliar garment. It was the most beautiful color of jade she’d ever seen.

  It was silk and it shimmered in the light. It was a halter-style silk dress that would come just below her knees and looked formfitting, which made her nervous.

  She didn’t usually wear clothes like this.

  Clothes like this exposed her, and she was too good at keeping herself hidden. She didn’t like attention drawn to her unless she was protesting something worth fighting for. Any extra layer protected her. This dress left nothing to the imagination.

  There was no hiding in this dress.

  Hidden was safe, and she wanted that safety tonight.

  It’s why she liked scrubs. They weren’t formfitting—everyone wore them. She blended in when she was at the hospital.

  Funny for someone protesting all the time.

  She shook that thought from her head. That was different.

  This dress made her nervous. It was then she saw Henry’s eyes in her mind. That gaze he gave her. The one that made her weak in the knees and flustered.

  “Where did you get that?” Kiera asked, running her hand over the silken fabric.

  “Well, it was actually for your birthday next month, but since you’re going on a hot date, I thought you might like it now.”

  “You bought it for my birthday?” Kiera asked softly.

  “I did.” Mandy smiled sweetly. “You never go out, you never have fun and I saw it in the shop. It was made for you, and I wanted you to have it. I was going to take you out to one of those fancy places in town for your birthday anyways, but now you’re going somewhere probably even more glamorous than where I was going to take you. No buts, you need to wear this.”

  Kiera sat down on Mandy’s bed and threw her arms around her. “You’re really the best friend a girl could ask for.”

  “I know. Also, you’re damp, so you’re wrecking my sweater and I have a date tonight, too.”

  Kiera laughed, trying to force back the tears that were threatening to spill. “Thank you.”

  “Go get dressed in my bathroom. I want to see this on you. That’s the least you could do.”

  “I thought dressing up and letting you do my makeup was the least you could do?”

  “Whatever, just do it,” Mandy said.

  “Fine.” Kiera picked up the dress and went into Mandy’s bathroom. She hung the dress on the back of the door and stared at it for a few minutes. She’d never had anything quite this nice before.

  This was the kind of dress she’d always dreamed about when she was a young girl.

  Daddy, can I have a dress? she’d asked, looking in the window of a store that had a pink frilly dress. She’d been able to see other girls trying it on with their mothers.

  No, her father had snapped, his voice shaking, and she knew he was coming down off his high. You’re ungrateful.

  I’m not, Kiera had whispered.

  You are, her father had yelled.

  Tears had stung her eyes and she’d wiped them away.

  And now here she was, holding a dream dress.

  A lump formed in her throat.

  Green was always her color.

  She rarely wore it, though, because people noticed her when she wore green. And she didn’t like to be noticed that way.

  When her dad had been on a bender or partying with his dealers and the unsavory crowd, it had been good to remain hidden.

  The same thing in the foster homes.

  It had been better to stay out of sight.

  Was it?

  And even though she didn’t like to be seen, she got a secret thrill knowing Henry would see her in this dress.

  Her palms were sweaty as she touched the dress and as she thought of her upcoming date. What was she doing? This wasn’t smart. This was dangerous.

  * * *

  Henry decided to drive himself.

  The roads were better, and he really didn’t need Mike’s sarcastic remarks tonight or him knowing about the deal with Dr. Brown. If Mike knew, he would tell his father and the whole plan would be blown.

  The point of this was to get his parents off his back about getting married. And to annoy his father.

  He knew that his father wanted to run for something more than governor one day, and having a single son who dated Hollywood starlets and was constantly in the gossip magazines didn’t exactly look good for his father’s political career. Henry’s lifestyle didn’t mesh with his father’s political agenda.

  Which was fine by him.

  As soon as this was all dealt with his father would be off his back and he would have to deal with AGMH or Colorado again.

  Would his father really release him from his debt?

  That was something he hadn’t worked out yet. He didn’t want to think that far ahead, although his brain was wired to do so.

  Tonight he would deal with the here and now.

  He’d worry about the details later, which was unlike him and why he didn’t usually go into this kind of situation blindly. The more he thought about it, the more agitated he got. His palms were sweaty as he gripped the steering wheel and his jaw ached from grinding his teeth together.

  You need to focus, Henry.

  He was used to being alone. He preferred it. He was used to quiet.

  He had to calm down or he’d never get through dinner.

  He was still in shock that he had invited Kiera out.

  Why? Had he forgotten she was his fiancée?

  Henry smiled at that. What was he getting so worked up about? Maybe because he couldn’t stop thinking about her?

  In fact, he couldn’t get her out of his head. After working with her in surgery, he could think of nothing else.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about her slender hands holding the scalpel, the way she operated with such grace and care. It had been a long time since he’d enjoyed operating with a surgeon he didn’t know well.

  Usually, he liked to work alone. Only then did he have control and control meant that he didn’t have to rely on anyone else.

  Which meant he wouldn’t be disappointed or hurt.

  Or angry because he’d been let down.

  His practice focused mostly on plastics and ear nose and throat. That’s why people in Los Angeles came to see him, because of his surgical prowess. His perfection. He didn’t let his patients down.

  It’s why they paid him a lot of mon
ey.

  Money that he didn’t know what to do with other than invest it in hospitals.

  He’d forgotten how much he liked working in trauma and on the general surgery aspect. The rush of saving a life rather than making someone beautiful.

  He did save lives, though.

  There were times he did surgeries to repair the effects of cancer. To help with the mental health and well-being of others, but in Los Angeles they were few and far between.

  He’d forgotten how satisfying it was to save a life. To really get in there and help a patient out of danger.

  That was what Michelle had liked most about medicine. That’s why she had worked with first responders and flown into remote places—to save lives when time really was the essence. Michelle had helped so many people, but in the end...no one could save her.

  No one had been there for her.

  A lump formed in his throat and he shook the fleeting thoughts from his mind as he pulled up in front of Dr. Brown’s house. Then it struck him that he remembered this place from when he was a young boy.

  This used to be a doctor’s office. A family practitioner.

  Dr. Burke.

  Dr. Burke had looked after Henry when he had broken his leg skiing. Henry had fond memories of the kind, widowed doctor and his two daughters. Though he had never talked to them, he remembered vividly them playing in the front yard, building snowmen.

  He was seventeen and they had to have been about eight or nine years old. He had been jealous because they had looked like they were having fun and Henry had never been allowed as a kid to build a snowman or frolic like that in public.

  Everything about his childhood had been regimented by his father’s political career and his growing up had taken place in boarding schools and with nannies.

  So he had envied Dr. Burke’s daughters playing in the snow. So happy. One had brown hair, but it was the redheaded girl who had caught his attention because she was sitting up in a tree and pelting neighborhood boys with snowballs. Her red hair had been so bright against her tattered snowsuit.

  It had caught his eye.

  He’d laughed. And hoped that if he ever had kids, he’d give them a childhood like this—the one he hadn’t got to have—and he would teach any daughter of his to defend herself against boys, too. To stick up for herself.

  It’s why he had always liked strong-willed women.

  It then hit him who that redheaded hellion kid was.

  No. It couldn’t be. Perhaps she just lived in Dr. Burke’s old place. Dr. Burke had died several years ago.

  His pulse was racing as he stared up at the house again. He got out of the car and made his way up a wheelchair ramp that hadn’t been there before. That’s when he started to calm down. There had been no wheelchair ramp when Dr. Burke had been practicing.

  Also, Kiera’s name was Brown. Not Burke.

  Henry took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

  The door opened and he looked down shocked to see Mandy Burke, in a wheelchair.

  “You must be Henry Baker? It’s been a long time,” Mandy said brightly. “I haven’t seen you around these parts since you were a teenager.”

  “Mandy? Dr. Burke’s daughter?”

  Mandy smiled. “One and the same. Come on in.”

  “I thought this was Dr. Brown’s house?” he asked, confused, stepping in and closing the door behind him.

  “It is. She lives here. We grew up together.”

  “You grew up together? In this house?”

  “Yes.” Mandy cocked her head to one side. “You okay?”

  “Just confused. Does your sister still live here?”

  “Sister?” Mandy asked, confused. “I don’t have a sister. All I have is Kiera.”

  His stomach sank like a rock as it hit him that the little girl he had thought so funny for taking on the neighborhood boys so long ago, the one with the red braids sitting up in that big tree, was Kiera.

  It hit too close for comfort.

  “I’ll let Kiera know you’re here,” Mandy said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

  “Okay.” Henry sat down, a bit dazed, on the nearby couch, only to be met with a hiss and howl as a big orange cat jumped up and then took off like a shot as Mandy texted something on her phone.

  “Don’t mind Sif,” Mandy said as she looked up from her phone. “She really hates strangers. Especially men.”

  “Great.”

  Sort of a fitting cat for Kiera.

  It was then that Kiera came down the stairs. The first thing that he saw were her legs. Long, shapely legs that made him feel hot and bothered.

  That was usually the first thing he noticed on a woman.

  He couldn’t help but think of those legs wrapped around him or running his hands over them.

  Remember who this is. This is Dr. Brown, who you’ve made a deal with.

  Only, he really didn’t care.

  She came down the rest of the stairs and he was stunned by her.

  She took his breath away.

  This wasn’t the same woman he’d met all bundled up and marching with a sign.

  But it was.

  The color green suited her perfectly.

  It brought out the green of her eyes, the coral color of her lips. And her eyes seemed to sparkle and dazzle in the light. Her red hair cascaded down over her bare shoulders, and he fought back the urge to run his hands through her hair.

  He was absolutely speechless.

  There was a pink blush to her cheeks as their gazes locked.

  “I hope I’m not overdressed,” she said, clearing her throat.

  “You’re not,” he said, hoping that his voice didn’t crack. “You look lovely.”

  The pink blush deepened. “Thank you.”

  “Shall we go?” he asked.

  “Sure.” She bent over and Mandy whispered something to her. There was a sparkle in Kiera’s eye as she glanced back at him, a small smile on her face.

  It made his heart skip a beat.

  That look held some kind of promise, and he was fighting back the urge to find out what it would be like to kiss her. To have her smile for a different reason.

  He wanted to know her secrets.

  Focus.

  Kiera grabbed her coat and he took it from her, helping her put it on. His fingers brushed the soft skin of her shoulders. He wanted to touch her more and he kicked himself for wanting that.

  That’s not why he was here.

  This was supposed to be a business dinner.

  He held open the door for her and she led the way down the ramp. He opened the door to his car and she carefully sat down, flashing him a bit more leg, which sent another zing of electricity through his body.

  Damn. This was going to be harder than he’d thought.

  What had he gotten himself into?

  He walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat, trying to ignore that she was sitting right beside him. That they were alone.

  Together.

  Two strangers.

  “No Mike tonight?” Kiera asked.

  “No. I thought it should be just the two of us. You look very nice tonight, Dr. Brown.”

  “I think we’d better be on a first-name basis, don’t you agree?” she asked.

  “You’re right.”

  “Although, I will admit it feels weird to call you Henry. We don’t know each other.”

  He smiled as he drove away from the house. “I agree. Although, I do remember you now.”

  “What?”

  “When I was a teenager Dr. Burke treated my broken leg. Most of his home, back then, had been a little clinic of sorts. My father liked Dr. Burke and had the housekeeper take me there. When I was there, I remember his two daughters playing in the snow. You were in a tree, throwing s
nowballs at a bunch of neighborhood boys.”

  She smiled. “Those boys were jerks.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t know you were Dr. Burke’s daughter.”

  “I’m not. Not really. I was adopted when I was ten. He’s not my biological father.”

  “But he raised you.”

  “Yes.” She smiled.

  “Biology doesn’t dictate family.” And that was true. He had biological parents, but he didn’t feel any real connection to them compared to some of the people they had hired to take care of them. He had had a teacher in medical school who took him under his wing and he felt more for that man than he did his own father.

  His parents were always leaving him.

  They hadn’t raised him.

  Others did.

  He was more than ready to get this job over and done with so he could forget about his parents.

  About his past.

  He could move on.

  Can you?

  She smiled. “I always thought that, too.”

  “I was sorry to hear that he died. I was in California.” He cleared his throat. “When did Mandy. I mean when...”

  “She had an accident about eight years ago. Just after her father died,” Kiera said, softly. “She had just graduated from nursing college, had no insurance and a horrible HMO who botched a very simple lumbar fusion. It paralyzed her.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Kiera sighed. “I wasn’t there. I should have been. Forget I said that.”

  “Said what?” He glanced at her briefly and she smiled at him.

  “So where are we going tonight?”

  “My parents are having a dinner. I was going to take you to a lovely, private restaurant, but my mother got word that we were going out and insisted we stop in for one of her charity dinners.”

  “What?” Kiera asked, clearly uncomfortable. “We are supposed to talk negotiation.”

  “Think of this as that. We do have to prove that you’re my fiancée.”

  “I’m not able to handle the rich and famous of Aspen, although most of them don’t even live here.” Her voice rose and she was obviously upset. “We don’t come from the same world.”

  “I believe we’re both from Earth.”

  She chuckled. “Okay. Fine.”