uh—a nice-looking man.”
“Mmm. Well, my sister, Felicia, thought so, too. They dated for a while and she was getting wedding bells on the brain.”
Mia was afraid to ask, but she did anyway. “What happened?”
Wrinkling her nose, Marti said, “She found out the good doctor wasn’t about to settle for just one woman. Not when he had a flock of them waiting in line.”
So the man was a playboy. That shouldn’t surprise her. No matter where he was or who he was with, the man was bound to turn female heads. The best thing she could do was forget she’d ever met him. Still, she couldn’t help but ask the question, “Is your sister still dating Dr. Cates?”
Marti chuckled. “No, thank goodness. She finally opened her eyes wide where Marshall Cates was concerned. She recently moved to Bozeman and got engaged to another guy.”
Across the room, one of the hairdressers called out. “Marti, I’m ready for you, honey.”
Smiling at Mia, the young woman hurriedly snatched up her handbag and jumped to her feet. “Nice meeting you, Mia. Maybe I’ll see you at the coffee shop. Come by and say hello, okay?”
Nodding, Mia returned Marti’s smile. “Sure. I’ll look forward to it.”
Later that afternoon, at the resort lodge, Marshall finished up the small amount of paperwork he had to do, then left Ruthann in charge of the quiet infirmary and headed down to the lounge bar for a short break.
Three couples were sitting at tables, busy talking and sipping tall, cool drinks. One older man with graying hair and a hefty paunch was sitting at the end of the bar. He appeared to be sleeping off his cocktail.
Lizbeth Stanton was tending bar this afternoon, and the pretty young woman with long auburn hair smiled when Marshall slid onto one of the stools.
“Hey, there. I was about to decide you weren’t going to show up today.” She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “This is late for you.”
Marshall chuckled. “I’m so relieved that at least one woman around this place is interested enough to keep up with my comings and goings.”
She shot him a sexy smile. “Awww. Poor Marshall,” she cooed. “Had a bad day?”
With an easy grin, he raked a hand through his dark, wavy hair.
“I’ve never seen so many patients in one day. Several were suffering from altitude sickness and one had taken a nasty fall on a hiking trail. But they’ll all be okay.”
Not bothering to ask if he wanted a drink, Lizbeth went over to a back bar and began to mix him a cherry cola. At one end of the work counter, a small stereo was emitting the twangy sounds of a popular country music tune.
“Well,” Lizbeth said to him, “that is what you’re paid for. To doctor people who have more money than sense.”
Yeah, he thought, that’s right. But sometimes in the darkest part of the night, when everything looks different, he wondered if he was just as shallow as some of the guests he treated. He’d not gone to school for eight years intending to doctor women who’d ripped off nail beds trying to rock climb with false fingernails. But on the other hand, Marshall was making an enormous salary and most days he hardly had to lift a hand to earn it. He’d be crazy to want anything else. Wouldn’t he?
Lizbeth carried the tall glass over to the bar and placed it on a cork coaster before she pushed the frosty drink in front of him.
“Here, since you can’t drink anything alcoholic on the job, maybe this will perk you up.”
“Thanks, beautiful. Remind me to do something for you sometime.” Giving her a wink, he took a sip of the drink, then lifted the stemmed cherry she’d placed on top and popped it into his mouth.
As he chewed the sweet treat, Lizbeth’s brown eyes studied him in a calculating way. “Well, if you really mean that you could take me out to dinner tonight. I’m getting tired of taking home a sack of fast food and eating it in front of the television.”
Marshall chuckled a second time. He doubted Lizbeth ever had to spend a night alone, unless she wanted it that way. Even if she was known as a big flirt, she was pretty, bubbly and enjoyable to be around, the perfect type of woman for Marshall, who didn’t want any sort of clingy hands grabbing hold of him.
“If you’d really like to go out to dinner tonight, then I’m all for it.”
A faint look of surprise crossed her face. “You really mean that?”
Marshall shrugged. He and Lizbeth both knew that neither of them would ever be serious about each other, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy an evening together. Besides, eating dinner with a warm, appreciative female was better than being snubbed by a cool, beautiful heiress.
“Sure,” he answered. “Let’s splurge and eat at the Gallatin Room. The grilled salmon is delicious.”
Lizbeth’s brown eyes were suddenly sparkling and Marshall wondered what it would take to see Mia Smith react to him in such a way.
Damn it, man, forget the woman, Marshall scolded himself. You’ve got plenty of female distraction around here. You don’t need to get hung up on a woman who’s apparently forgotten how to smile.
“Oh, this is great, Marshall! I can wear my new high heels. Just for you,” she added with coy sweetness. “What time shall we meet?”
“When do you get off work?” Marshall asked.
“Six this evening. But I can ready by seven.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you in the lounge at seven-thirty,” he told her. And by then he was going to make damn sure that the winsome Mia Smith was going to be pushed completely out of his thoughts.
Chapter Three
Mia wasn’t at all sure why she’d bothered going out to eat this evening, especially at the Gallatin Room. Before she’d found Janelle, Mia had never been inside a restaurant where the tables were covered with fine linen and the food was served on fragile china. After her father, Will Hanover, had died of a lung disease, she and her mother had been lucky to splurge on burgers and fries at the local fast-food joint. The sort of life she was experiencing here at Thunder Canyon Resort was the sort she could only dream about back then.
Today at the Clip ’N’ Curl, her brief visit with Marti Newmar had reminded her even more of how simple and precious those years on the farm had been with her adoptive parents. Maybe she’d not had much in the way of material things, but she’d been wrapped in the security of her family’s loving arms. Mia had learned at an early age that she was adopted; yet that hadn’t mattered. She’d been a happy girl until her father had died. And then things had gotten tough and she’d made all sorts of wrong choices. She’d begun to believe that money was all it would take to fix everything wrong in her life. Well, now she had it, but she was far from happy.
With a wistful sigh, she realized the Gallatin Room was the sort of restaurant that a woman should visit with her husband or lover. The small table where Mia sat near a wall of plate glass gave a magnificent view of the riding stables and several corrals of beautiful horses. Far beyond, near the valley floor, a river glistened like a ribbon of silver in the moonlight. Yet the pleasant sights couldn’t hold Mia’s attention. Instead she was imagining what it would be like if the handsome Dr. Cates was sitting opposite her, reaching across the fine white linen and clasping her fingers with his.
“Ms. Smith, your steak will be ready in a few minutes. Would you like more wine?”
Mia looked around to see a young waiter hovering at her elbow, willing to jump through hoops, if necessary, to please her. After the first few days at Thunder Canyon Resort, Mia had become aware that some of the male staff seemed to bend over backward in an effort to make her happy. She’d not been fooled into thinking they were at her beck and call because they liked their job. No doubt they’d heard gossip or simply