The Gentleman Rancher. Cathy Gillen Thacker

works for you.” Brian smiled. “Just let me know.” He took Krista Sue by the elbow, intending to guide her to the checkout desk, where the receptionist was waiting to complete the necessary insurance paperwork.

      Krista Sue turned back to Taylor. “I’m dying to know. The hero in your story was so sexy. Is he based on anyone you know? Or is he strictly a fantasy man?”

      FROM THE WAY Taylor flushed, Jeremy noted, you’d think it was some big mystery. When it wasn’t. Everyone who knew Taylor personally, had long ago concluded the hero was a thinly disguised portrait of her ex-lover, Baywatch Bart.

      Taylor ignored the taunting look Jeremy was giving her and met Krista Sue’s curious gaze. “I get asked that a lot,” Taylor admitted frankly.

      “I’ll bet,” Krista Sue said. “It seemed so…real.”

      “But that romance began and ended in my imagination,” Taylor concluded with a straightforward smile.

      Which didn’t quite answer the question, Jeremy thought. Although the retort seemed to satisfy Krista Sue.

      “Did you need an appointment?” Ginny, the receptionist, asked Taylor, after Krista Sue Wright and her fiancé left.

      “No. I’m just here to talk to Jeremy a minute,” Taylor replied.

      Would wonders never cease, Jeremy thought. Given the way Taylor had stomped off to bed the evening before, he’d figured it would be a long time before she ever gave him the time of day again. On the other hand, they were sharing space, albeit temporarily, at the Chamberlain ranch. Maybe she’d come to apologize to him for being so prickly. If so, that was something he wanted to hear.

      “This way.” He led Taylor into his private office and gestured for her to take a seat.

      “I won’t take but a minute of your time,” she started, looking less than thrilled to be there.

      “Take all the time you want.” Jeremy took off his white lab coat, unbuttoned the first button on his dress shirt, and loosened his tie. Hoping to delay her at least long enough for them to call a truce, he sat, facing her. “I’m done for the day. The only thing I have ahead of me is a couple of hours’ work on my ranch house.”

      She avoided his eyes, looking at everything in the office except him. “Paige asked me to be part of the celebrity auction the hospital is having to raise funds for the new wing. I know it won’t be held until next September, but she said you are in charge of gathering the items to be sold, and I should talk to you about what I might donate.”

      Jeremy gripped the desk on either side of him and rocked forward slightly. He let his gaze drift over the elegant contours of her face. Aware all over again how much he had missed having her in his life, he said softly, “You could have talked to me about this back at the ranch.”

      She directed her attention to him once again. Her defenses were up. Oddly enough, that gave them something in common. He didn’t know how he felt about her, either. Except that he wanted this tension between them to end…

      “I was in town, doing errands,” Taylor explained, looking flustered.

      “Is that the only reason you came by my office?”

      “Isn’t it obvious?” She straightened. “I wanted to stare at your diplomas with envy.”

      Annoying her this way was starting to be fun. “No need to be sarcastic.”

      The lift of her brows said it all. “Sorry. The nosiness of others brings it out in me.”

      Jeremy chuckled. “Is this the way it’s going to be?”

      “What?” With an indignant sniff, she shot up out of her chair.

      He caught her hand, tugged her toward him. “Us sparring back and forth continuously until you leave?”

      She pushed him away, one hand flat against his chest. “I don’t mind.”

      He let her go, reluctantly. “I do.”

      “Jeremy—”

      It was all he could do not to take her in his arms. Aware how well that would go over, he contented himself with speaking what was on his mind. “I’d like us to be friends again.”

      Surveying him with exaggerated politeness, she crossed her arms in front of her. “Really?”

      “Really.”

      “I don’t see how that’s possible, given the fact that you still—even after all this time—think I should have ignored my writing aspirations and gone into medicine.”

      Was that still true? Twelve hours ago, it had been. But now…

      Jeremy thought about the chapter he had read the night before, Krista Sue Wright’s reaction to Taylor’s work, and the fact Taylor’s very first novel was being turned into a movie. He stood slowly. “I was wrong, okay?” he said, surprised to find how good it felt to let go of the opinion that had torn them apart and kept them estranged for years. He had missed her. So much.

      Figuring since he was responsible—at least in part—for driving her away, he should be part of the effort to bring her back, he continued, “It doesn’t matter how good a doctor you would have been. You are obviously doing what you are meant to do.”