He was grateful when a car’s lights flashed as it climbed the hill to his ranch house. Company would be good.
He gulped when Jaclyn climbed out of a sky-blue convertible and walked toward him—limped, actually. She had on a pair of jeans, a perfectly pressed candy-pink shirt and a pair of white sneakers that looked brand-new. Typical city girl.
“Hello.” Her smile displayed perfect white teeth. Everything about her was perfect.
“Hi.” He motioned to a chair. “How’s the foot?” he asked when she’d sat.
“Sore.” She tucked some of the glossy silver-blond strands behind one ear before she bent to pet his dog. “But fine.”
“Good.” Suddenly he could think of nothing to say.
“I wanted to thank you again for saving me this afternoon, Kent. I would have died without your help.” Her big brown eyes stared earnestly into his.
“Don’t thank me.” He heard the gruffness in his voice and wished he could sound less affected by her presence. He didn’t want her to guess how much seeing her again had affected him. “One of the other guys would have found you.”
“But you were the one who did and you treated my foot. So thank you.” She paused a moment.
“Sure. Anything else?” It was rude and ungracious but suddenly Kent didn’t want to talk to Jaclyn. She upset his carefully regulated world.
“Yes, there is. You mentioned your dad’s office building.”
“Yeah.” He kept it noncommittal.
“I noticed it’s unoccupied. Is renting it an option?” Her voice became businesslike.
“I don’t know. I haven’t been through the place in ages.” Why had he ever opened his big mouth? He wanted to avoid her, not build a relationship. When hope flickered in her eyes he blurted out the first excuse he could think of. “There could be some issues with the place.”
“Can you check?” Jaclyn rubbed the sweet spot behind Oreo’s ears and smiled at the dog’s growled appreciation. She refocused on Kent. “It’s really important to me to get the clinic going again.” Her eyes held his. “Please?”
“I’ve got the ranch and my practice,” he reminded. “I’m pretty busy.”
“I’m sure you are.” She kept staring, waiting.
“Fine,” he relented when it became obvious she wouldn’t back off. “I’ll look as soon as I can.” In the meantime maybe she’d find something else and he could forget her and go on with his normal life.
In his dreams. He remembered Jaclyn’s tenacity too well.
“If you’d let me know when you go, I’d like to come along.” Her smile blazed. “The clinic has to be fully operational, treating a certain number of patients, in three months or I jeopardize my financing. This is March. That means I’d have to move in by the end of May.”
“I said I’ll get to it when I can and I will.” He swallowed his harsh tone and focused on his manners. She was his guest and he hadn’t offered her anything. His mother would be appalled. “Do you want something to drink?”
“Iced tea? If it’s not too much trouble.”
Kent went inside and reached for the fridge door. To his shock, Jaclyn followed him and was now looking around the kitchen. He wished he hadn’t offered her a drink. Or anything else. He didn’t want her here, seeing the starkness of his kitchen and realizing that it mirrored his life. He didn’t want her leaving behind the scent of her fancy perfume. Mostly he didn’t want her seeing how pathetic he was.
He held out a brimming glass.
“Thanks. Do you have any lemon?” She accompanied the request with the sweetest smile.
Kent hacked off a wedge of lemon and held it out.
“Oh.” She took it daintily between her fingertips—perfectly manicured fingertips with pale pink polish. “Um, thank you.” She moved to stand in front of the sink, pinched the lemon into her glass and stirred it with a finger. “Lovely.” She held the piece of lemon between two fingers, searching for a place to discard it.
Kent handed her a sheet of paper towel.
“Thanks.” She wrapped the towel around the lemon wedge and set it on the counter before she took another sip. “It feels cool out tonight.”
Meaning he could hardly lead her outside to the patio again. He motioned to one of the kitchen chairs. Jaclyn sank onto it with graceful elegance. Kent couldn’t help noticing her expensive jeans, her tailored blouse, and her three pieces of jewelry—two small gold hoops in her ears and a thin gold chair around her neck—that made her look like a princess slumming it.
“Are you still holding that night at the church against me, Kent?”
“What?” He jerked to awareness, embarrassed that he’d been caught staring at her. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”
“You act as if you’re mad at me.” Her smile grew wistful. “I never came back to Hope for any of the reunions and I haven’t seen you since the night of high school graduation, so I’m guessing your attitude has to be about the night I wrecked the church. I’ll apologize again if it means you’ll forgive me for letting you take the blame for that night, even for a little while.”
Forgive her? He was the one who needed forgiveness. But what he’d done was unforgiveable.
“Am I forgiven?” Her smile faltered.
“Nothing to forgive,” Kent told her, his voice hoarse. “You were hurting. Your sister had just died. You were angry that God hadn’t healed her the way you expected and you lashed out. I understood.”
“You always did.” Jaclyn’s voice softened to a whisper. “Of all the people in Hope, you were the only one who did. But I shouldn’t have let you take the fall, even for the few days it took to get my act together. I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad I could help.” High-school Jaclyn had drawn his sympathy, but this woman disarmed him. His throat was dry. He took a sip of his tea but it didn’t seem to help. Nor did it stop the rush of awareness that she was the first woman to come into Lisa’s kitchen since—
“You helped me more than you ever knew. I won’t forget that.” After an introspective silence her expression changed, her voice lightened. “I don’t suppose we could go into town and look at your dad’s building tonight? Don’t answer. I can see ‘no’ written all over your face. How about tomorrow morning? Say, seven-thirty?”
“Do you ever give up?” he asked in exasperation.
Jaclyn stilled. “Not when it comes to my dreams.”
“This clinic is your dream?” Kent knew it was from the expression on her face. He also knew he wanted to help her achieve it. “I’ll ask a friend of mine to check out my dad’s old office as soon as he can. But be warned it will probably need a painting, at the very least. The company that opened the new silver mine on the other side of Hope was in there last and they weren’t gentle.”
“Your dad’s retired now, I suppose? He and your mom were such a loving couple. I remember she once told my mom the ranch was your dad’s weekend toy but he intended to make it a full-time job after retirement.” She tilted her head to one side, studying the fancy kitchen. “Your mom must love this. Everything here looks brand-new.”
“It is. My wife had it redone several years ago. My parents died in a car accident, Jaclyn. That’s why I came back to Hope.” Kent clamped his lips together.
“Oh, no!” She shook her head sadly. “Losing your parents must have been hard.”
“Yes, it was.”
After a long silence, she