from his voice. After all, appearing desperate was never good. “What size of stable are you looking—”
“Michi,” Tripp called out. “Over here. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Mee-shee, Gabe thought, what kind of name is that?
He turned his head and there she was…again.
Gabe met her gaze and unsuccessfully fought to keep a smile from his lips. “Michi?”
“It’s a nickname.” Michelle shifted her gaze to the hospital administrator who’d just looped an arm around her shoulders in a familiar manner. “One you don’t have permission to use, Tripp Randall.”
The words might have been light, but the look in her eyes said she was serious.
“I didn’t know permission was required,” Tripp replied with an easy smile. “Adrianna calls you that all the time.”
Adrianna. Gabe thought back to yesterday’s conversation with Michelle. Adrianna was the nurse-midwife in Michelle’s practice.
“She’s my friend,” Michelle responded.
Tripp brought a hand to his chest in a movement more suitable for the stage. “And I’m not?”
Michelle glanced upward as if looking to the heavens for assistance. But her gaze quickly returned to the administrator as if realizing there were only heating and cooling ducts in the microbrewery’s ceiling. “Of course we’re friends. But no, you can’t call me Michi. I have an image to uphold in this community.”
“You’re thinking what?” A teasing glint lit Tripp’s blue eyes. “Women won’t want their baby delivered by someone called Michi?”
“Something like that.” Michelle’s lips quirked upward. “Of course a hospital administrator named Tripp doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”
“No respect.” Tripp turned to Gabe and jerked a thumb in Michelle’s direction. “See what I have to put up with?”
“Well, I’m here to mingle and I’m not getting much of that done talking to you guys,” Michelle said before Gabe could respond. She attempted to extricate herself from Tripp’s hold, but his arm remained around her shoulder.
“Not so fast.” Tripp chuckled. “I have to introduce you to Gabe.”
“I already—”
“We already—” Gabe stopped as his words overran hers.
Tripp’s gaze lingered on Michelle before returning to Gabe.
“Michelle and I are neighbors,” Gabe informed Tripp.
“We also chatted at The Coffee Pot,” Michelle added. “Yesterday. After church.”
“I’m impressed.” Tripp cast a sideways glance at Gabe. “I’ve been trying to wrangle an invitation for months.”
Gabe couldn’t tell if the man was being serious or not.
“It’s a select group with very rigid requirements.” A smile tugged at the corners of Michelle’s lips. “Church first. Then the breakfast invitation.”
“Harcourt doesn’t always go to church,” Tripp grumbled. “Yet he’s invited.”
Gabe figured Tripp must be referring to Ryan Harcourt, of Ryan-and-Betsy, the couple who’d sat next to Michelle.
“Ryan,” Michelle said pointedly, “is funny and entertaining.”
“That’s it.” Tripp picked his arm up off her shoulder in a slow, deliberate gesture. “I refuse to take more abuse. I’m going to find someone who appreciates all my fine qualities.”
The administrator sauntered off, leaving Gabe alone with Michi, er, Michelle.
He smiled politely. “I didn’t realize you came to these events.”
“I guess we’re even.” She took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “I had no idea you’d be here.”
“We should have ridden together.” Even though it wasn’t much of a drive for either of them, it would have been nice to have someone to visit with on the way. Not only that, it’d have spared him walking into the event alone.
Michelle simply smiled and glanced around the room.
He had to admit she looked hot tonight in her black dress and heels. Her hair hung halfway down her back in wavy blond curls that shimmered in the dim light. For someone so lean, she was surprisingly voluptuous.
Gabe jerked his gaze from her cleavage. “I’ve met lots of people tonight. This seems like a prime networking opportunity.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Her gaze continued to scan the crowd.
“You’re a doctor.” He didn’t bother to hide his confusion. “Why would you need to network?”
“My practice is a small one.” She refocused on him. “Just me, another doctor and a nurse-midwife. We’re competing for patients against one of the largest ob-gyn groups in Jackson Hole. In fact Travis Fisher, one of the guys at breakfast on Sunday, is a partner in that clinic. He’s also an excellent doctor.”
Gabe took a sip of his now-lukewarm beer. “When you came to Jackson Hole, why didn’t you join them?”
“I wanted more autonomy.” Michelle lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “We deliver very personalized care to our patients and take great pride in that fact.”
Michelle smoothed back her hair with one hand, drawing his attention to the creamy expanse of skin of her neck and chest.
His body tightened and Gabe drew air slowly into his lungs. The intense reaction reminded him how long he’d gone without a woman in his bed.
It had been almost a year. Finley had been in Florida spending a couple of weeks with his parents. He’d been putting in extra hours working construction over the holiday break. One of the accountants in the office was divorced. Neither of them had been interested in anything more than a momentary interlude. It had been satisfying. Pleasant.
But the need coursing through his veins now was a stark carnal hunger. Totally inappropriate for the situation. If there wasn’t a Commandment against lusting after your neighbor, there should be.
Gabe pulled his attention from her breasts and asked the question that had been lingering in his head since yesterday. “Why did you and your husband split up?”
Michelle’s eyes widened even as her lips tightened.
“You must have loved the guy to have married him,” Gabe persisted. “What went wrong? Do you still see him?”
“Do you ever see your ex?” she shot back.
“Shannon and I were never married.” He still felt embarrassed by the admission. In his family it was understood that love came before marriage and marriage came before babies. But Shannon had refused to marry him.
“That doesn’t matter. You made a baby together. That makes her your ex.”
“Shannon has a new family now.” Gabe did his best to keep the bitterness from his voice. He’d never understood—would never understand—how Shannon could walk away from her daughter and pretend she never existed. “She’s not interested in seeing either one of us.”
“Not even her daughter?”
Gabe realized he should have known the conversation would go down this road. But it was a path he had no intention of traveling. The less said about his daughter’s lack of relationship with her mom, the better. “I prefer not to discuss Finley or her mother with you.”
“Well, I prefer not to discuss Ed and where our relationship went wrong with you.” Michelle took a sip of her champagne