ection>
CLUB TIMES
For Members’ Eyes Only
I’ve got a secret….
I have to say that this week, I have a little crush on Dr. Sam Walters. He flashed his pearly whites at me in the grocery store as I was fondling fruit. Talk about drop-dead gorgeous! I also caught his nurse, Caitlyn Matthews, standing near the potatoes (carbs don’t help anyone, Caitlyn), and she was eyeing the good doctor, too. I like a man who eats from the four food groups.
Thank goodness, Branson Hines is out of our hair. Let’s take a collective sigh of relief that Mission Creek is free of another troublemaker, although I’ll bet our small town can stir up a little excitement now and then. What do you think, members?
I must leave you for the time being because of something that needs my undivided attention. You guessed it. I have a bun in the oven, the stork’s gonna pay me a visit in eight months, I’m expecting a bundle of joy. Shocked? I bet you thought I was an old biddy… Well, there’s still plenty of mileage left in this body. Who’s the father, you ask? I’ll never tell….
Make sure to keep your eyes and ears open to the goings-on in the wild and wonderful world of Mission Creek. And our very own Lone Star Country Club, the place that makes your heart and soul come alive!
About the Author
Having grown up on an island, BEVERLY BIRD loves to write of any locale that does not involve beaches, sand or seagulls. Writing for the LONE STAR COUNTRY CLUB series had the added advantage of getting to “meet” so many other authors who were involved, sharing ideas and inspiration.
Doctor Seduction
Beverly Bird
Welcome to the
Where Texas society reigns supreme—and appearances are everything.
Could danger still lurk behind the doors of Mission Creek Memorial Hospital?
Dr. Sam Walters: He had once managed to disguise his powerful attraction for his nurse through his brusque, intimidating manner. But when they were held against their will for three days, this hot-blooded pediatrician’s suppressed desires just couldn’t be denied. Can their tenuous relationship survive the devastating aftershock of their life-altering captivity?
Caitlyn Matthews: She didn’t know if she’d ever get past being traumatized by a demented criminal. Nor did the dedicated nurse know how she’d ever be able to reveal to her roguishly charming colleague that their brief yet electric interlude had a most unexpected result!
Branson Hines: Although the Mission Creek Madman is finally behind bars, he is still bent on revenge. Does he have one final ace up his sleeve?
Holly Sinclair: This chipper new hospital cafeteria worker is an all-too-willing confidante to a beleagured Nurse Caitlyn. But what really lurks behind her sunny smile?
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
One
Everything looked just the same, she thought.
Caitlyn Matthews stopped her car at Mission Creek Memorial Hospital and looked around. The automobiles and SUVs stacked side by side in the employees’ parking area were the same ones that had been here last Tuesday. The American flag still snapped to attention with each hot gust of south-Texas wind. The original hospital building looked strong and impressive, but the windows of the new maternity wing looked a little shinier than the others. Maybe that was her imagination. If the wing already harbored nasty memories, then, Cait thought whimsically, it had the air of a haughty celebrity who was not about to reveal the skeletons in her closets.
She had worked at the hospital for the past four years now. The sight of it should have filled her with a sense of normalcy, of hope. Instead, she realized that it was entirely possible she was about to throw up.
She unclenched one hand from the steering wheel to press her fingers against her lips. What’s wrong with me? I can’t be like this. It’s just not acceptable. Cait took her hand away from her mouth with a jerky motion and laughed aloud at the thought. A lot of things she would never have allowed before had been creeping into her life lately.
Her life was a shambles, a disaster. It was in sharp little shards at her feet, and she had no idea what to do about it. But she did know that having her life torn apart and tossed about for a few short days was not going to undo her permanently. She would just have to pick up the pieces and put them all back together again. What frightened her was that she was starting to think she might not be able to put them back in the same order they’d been in before.
“Give it time,” Cait told herself. She had a plan. But first she had to force herself to simply step into the hospital again.
She got out of her dark-blue Ford compact and locked the door behind her, then jiggled the handle to make sure it was secure. She pivoted to the hospital and began to walk before she realized she’d better be absolutely positive her vehicle was locked. She went back and tested the handle again.
“Fine,” she said. “It’s fine.” Of course it was. The car was locked up tight and in fine shape. In its two years she’d taken it in for service at three thousand, six thousand, twelve and eighteen thousand miles, almost right on the dot each time. It was steady, reliable.
She was the one falling off her rocker lately.
Cait turned away from the car like a marine drill sergeant. She made it through the front doors of the hospital just fine. But as it turned out, that was the easy part. The man she’d suddenly decided to give her virginity to after twenty-five otherwise chaste and uneventful years was right there in the lobby, staring at her.
It was unconventional, but Dr. Sam Walters prided himself on marching to a different drummer. He stepped off the elevator with a mission, towing the boy behind him by one hand.
Gilbert Travalini was nine years old, scared out of his mind and, in all likelihood, he was dying, though Sam had yet to give up the fight to turn that particular tide. New marrow would be transplanted into his bones at seven o’clock tomorrow morning. The match wasn’t as close as Sam would have liked and there was a chance the boy’s body would reject it, but until that happened, Gilbert was still a motor head and Sam happened to own one very fine, candy-apple-red Maserati. Said Maserati was currently parked outside.
“Let’s go,” he said, tugging the boy into the lobby. “If all that stuff about speed was just some macho bluff on your part, better cough up the truth now before you wet your pants.”
“You’re going to let me ride