where she was living—had Vann let that slip intentionally or on purpose?—he’d taken leave from his thriving family practice to accept a temporary emergency room position just to be near her, to work side by side with her as they once had. For the next three months he’d cover for the emergency room physician who was on maternity leave.
Then what?
Would three months be enough to finish whatever unresolved business existed between Brielle and himself?
Would three months be enough for him to know if all those years ago she had stolen his heart and he’d been too blind to realize it? Too young and stupid to know what he was losing? Or was guilt over what he’d done to her the culprit for why she haunted his dreams? Why his mind couldn’t let her go?
Either way, he had to know.
He’d reached a point where he was ready to find someone to share his life with, to settle down, marry, have a few kids, and experience all the craziness that went along with being married with children.
Back in Boston, he’d been dating a beautiful, talented hospitalist, had even considered asking Gwen to marry him, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to do so. Something kept holding him back.
Or someone.
So, instead of a proposal, he’d come back from his conference, broken things off with her and put his current life on hold so he could reconcile his past with his future.
The pretty little blonde, once again glaring at him from beside her patient’s bed, was the starting point for him to achieve that next phase in his life.
One way or the other, his future started with Brielle Winton.
If only she’d co-operate.
Surely she needed resolution too?
Or maybe she had gotten all the resolution she needed when he’d left. Maybe she already knew that his leaving had been the right thing and that her feelings for him hadn’t been real after all. Her antagonistic attitude toward him sure gave testimony to the fact she didn’t want him here.
Then again, she always had been a stubborn little thing, but that had never presented a problem before.
In the past they’d always wanted the same thing.
Almost always.
When she’d started talking marriage almost nonstop, even to the point they’d argued more often than not, he’d flown the coop.
Figuratively and literally.
He’d already been considering the internship in Boston. Not everyone got offered such a great opportunity. He’d have been a fool to turn the chance down. But he had hesitated, and he’d known why. Brielle. Part of him had resented that their relationship was holding him back, keeping him from fulfilling all his career dreams. Crazy, immature, but he’d suddenly felt a noose tightening around his neck.
Still, he regretted the panicked tailspin he’d nosedived into.
Thinking she could forgive him was pure foolishness.
Yet forgiveness was why he was here.
Brielle was why he was here, why he wouldn’t leave until he had the answers he needed, why he wouldn’t let her animosity get to him.
To prove his point, he winked at her, not one bit surprised when her scowl deepened.
“Dr. Lane, there’s a UTI in Bay Four if you want to have a look.” Cindy Whited’s words interrupted his thoughts, causing him to glance at the buxomly nurse. “Her urinalysis results are in the computer for your review.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right there,” he assured her, his attention immediately shifting back to Brielle. Their gazes collided again, causing a rumble in his chest, the same rumble he got every time he looked at her.
Love? Shame? Guilt? Regret about the past?
It was high time he knew exactly what role Brielle would play in his future. The sooner he knew, the better.
The stirring below his belt every time he looked at her left no doubt at the role he wanted her to play in his present.
His memory hadn’t overplayed the reality at all. Brielle was all that he remembered and more.
He wanted her. In his life and in his bed.
She evoked his senses as no other woman ever had. Just looking at her left him wanting to drag her into the doctors’ lounge and have his way with her delectable, curvy little body.
He wouldn’t, of course. Bay Four was waiting. Not to mention that she would bite his head off if he tried.
Once upon a time she’d worshipped the ground he’d walked on, but that had been years ago. Now she looked at him as if she wanted to bury him six feet under the ground he walked on.
He wanted Brielle to look at him with the light that had once shone in her eyes just for him. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her, for them to burn up the sheets and see if there was anything left beyond the phenomenal chemistry they’d always shared.
With the way she regarded him these days he may as well wish for the moon.
He straightened his shoulders, stared at her with renewed determination. He’d never backed away from a challenge.
Well, perhaps once, and hadn’t he lived to regret that mistake?
“Forget McDreamy and McSteamy. If that man were a television doctor, he’d be McHottie.” Cindy fanned her busty chest to emphasize her point.
Brielle ignored her friend’s antics, as she’d grown accustomed to doing since McHottie’s arrival earlier that week. If only her friend knew what evils lurked beneath Ross’s beautiful façade she wouldn’t constantly harp on about his royal hotness.
No, he hadn’t been evil, she admitted. He’d just … No, she wasn’t going to let her mind go to the past. Not again.
“Too bad he only has eyes for you,” Cindy continued, unfazed by Brielle’s lack of response. “Because I wouldn’t mind feeling the heat.”
Brielle fought to keep from looking up from the computer monitor where she was entering a patient’s latest assessment data. She would not react to Cindy’s comment. She couldn’t. Her friend would have her shoved into a supply closet with Ross and bar the door. Cindy was constantly trying to get her to date, to splurge on life’s niceties, as she called the opposite sex. Brielle had other priorities.
“Take now, for instance,” Cindy said with a hint of amusement in her voice.
Brielle wasn’t going to look up. She wasn’t. Ross seemed to have eyes for her a lot these days, but she didn’t care. She didn’t.
“Here I am practically having hot flushes over those sultry blue eyes and that chiseled body, and does he even notice?” Her friend sighed dramatically. “No, he just keeps looking at you as if you’re a fascinating puzzle he has to solve, as if you’re a dessert he has to taste, as if—”
“You can have him,” Brielle interrupted before Cindy could elaborate further, before her face could grow any hotter.
“Because?”
They’d been friends too long for Brielle not to know exactly what her friend’s expression looked like without having to glance her way. Cindy’s brow was arched high in question and a smile toyed on her lips.
Wasn’t that the thing she’d loved most about Bean’s Creek? That no one knew Ross other than Samantha and Vann? That she’d been able to move home without anyone feeling sorry for her because the man who’d been her world had abandoned her when she’d needed him most? Granted, he hadn’t known the full story, but she had tried to tell him more than once and he’d refused to listen.
“He’s not my type.”
“Honey,” her