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www.millsandboon.co.uk
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
Chapter One
CHapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Copyright
Janice Lynn has a Masters in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and works as a nurse practitioner in a family practice. She lives in the southern United States with her husband, their four children, their Jack Russell—appropriately named Trouble—and a lot of unnamed dust bunnies that have moved in since she started her writing career. To find out more about Janice and her writing, visit www.janicelynn.com
To Anna Sugden—true friends are precious treasures and you’re a jewel that sparkles brightly in my life. Thank you for the years of laughter, shared tears, and unfailing support. Love you!
CHAPTER ONE
“I NEED you to pretend to be madly in love with me.”
Startled by the request, Dr. Blake Di Angelo tapped his thumbs against the sleek surface of his mahogany desk, thinking that perhaps the petite blonde pacing across his Knoxville medical office had already gone mad.
“You’ll have to repeat that, Darby.” He leaned against his leather chair’s backrest, eyeing her with more than a little curiosity. “Because I don’t think I heard you right.”
His business partner paused long enough to bestow a glance on the bluest eyes that side of the Mississippi. Eyes that were usually sparkling with laughter. Not today. Today, her fingers clenched around a card of some sort, Dr. Darby Phillips’ eyes were clouded with displeasure.
“You owe me.” Her expression dared him to deny her claim. “Last weekend of the month. You’re going with me to Alabama and you’re going to pretend to be goo-goo-ga-ga, head-over-heels in love with me the entire time.”
His brow arching at her determined expression, Blake grinned. God, she was bossy. He liked it. Had always liked Darby’s assertiveness and self-assurance. From the time he’d met her four years ago, she’d been driven to be the best at everything she did.
“Why am I going to do this?” He couldn’t resist teasing. Mostly because he knew how to push her buttons to have her going from zero to through the roof.
She started pacing again. “Because you owe me, and I’m collecting.”
Blake’s eyes traveled over her curvy little frame encased in a no-nonsense navy business suit, exposing shapely legs beneath her skirt hem. The shirt was tucked into a waist that his hands would probably fit around. Her breasts—well, he knew better than to let his thoughts go there. He valued their business relationship too much to acknowledge her as the desirable woman she so obviously was.
“And because of this.” She tossed the embossed card onto his desk and shuddered. “Which I’d completely forgotten about.”
She turned those big baby-blues on him again, stared with such beseeching that his insides shifted off axis enough to make his world wobble, to make him want to take her into his arms and promise he’d fix whatever had her so upset.
“How could I have forgotten that was this year? This month?” Panic brewing in the blue depths, her gaze bored into him. “I really don’t need the headache of looking for a date who’ll no doubt get the wrong idea by an invitation to something so personal. But I do need a man for that weekend.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her shoulders and took on the expression of a seasoned soldier, readying for battle. “Tag, you’re it.”
Blake picked up the card and studied the fancy maroon and gold embossing more closely. Armadillo Lake Ten-Year High School Reunion. “Don’t they usually give folks more notice than two weeks for these kinds of things?”
Darby muttered something under her breath. “Usually.”
“You could go without a date.”
“Oh, no.” Stray pale blonde tendrils loosened from her upswept hair danced at her almost violent headshake. “I’d rather not go than go dateless.”
“Then don’t go. Problem solved. No one says you have to go to your high school reunion.”
Although he had meant to, he hadn’t gone to his. Darby had been sick with the flu and he’d covered for her at the hospital instead. No big deal, since he’d moved so often he’d never gotten particularly attached to any of the numerous private prep schools he’d attended.
She let out an exasperated sound. “It’s not that simple. Besides, you owe—”
“Yes, I know,” he conceded. “I owe you for bailing me out last month, when it was my turn to be on call and I wanted to go out of town.” A weekend that had ended in disaster when his then girlfriend had got wedding bells on her brain. He liked his life as it was and had no intention of marrying. For one reason or another, marriages didn’t seem to work in his family. Besides, he was enjoying bachelorhood too much for that.
“So you have to go to your reunion.” He dropped the invitation back onto his desk. “Why the ‘in love’ stuff?”
“Mandy Coulson.” Darby’s agitation tripled. Quadrupled.
Blake’s curiosity grew accordingly. Even when under intense pressure, Darby rarely lost her cool. God, he’d loved to watch her work when they’d been in residency—still did. Calm, cool, in control. Today she was hot under the collar, sweating like any normal person, and not because of his teasing. No, although Blake had thought he knew better than anyone how to get a rise out of his pretty little partner, apparently this Mandy person and a high school reunion had him beat.
He didn’t see what the big deal was, but he was intrigued as to why Darby did.
“And Mandy is…?” He stretched his hand out in question. “Who?”
“Every shy kid’s worst nightmare.” The words hissed from Darby’s pursed lips like air escaping a rapidly deflating balloon.
Interesting. He had a hard time imagining the confident young woman he knew as shy. Ever.
This trip might prove to be educational.
He tossed the invitation on his desk and waggled his eyebrows mischievously. “Okay, darling, I’ll be your boy toy.”
Boy toy? As if. Darby rolled her eyes before meeting her partner’s black-as-sin gaze. As attractive as she found Blake, the man went through women as if he were competing for a world record. That didn’t mean she wasn’t crazy about him—just that she knew better than to feed his oversized ego.
“Keep that up and you’ll leave me no choice but to call Rodney,” she threatened, knowing Blake had never liked her recent attempt at dating. “If I pander to his ego a little—” a lot “—and tell him how rotten you are—” Rodney had been jealous of the “Italian Stallion”, Rodney’s label for Blake, not Darby’s “—he’s sure to go with me.”
Although they’d only gone out for a couple of months, he was still calling her, trying to convince her they could make things work if only she’d have sex with him. Yeah, right. Not during this lifetime.
There was only one man she wanted to sleep with, and he had no clue that was how she felt.
“The hell you say,” Blake growled. “He was the most suspicious man I’ve ever met—dropping by here all hours of the night.” His strong jaw clenched, emphasizing the slight cleft in his chin. “What did he expect? To catch me with my pants down?”
For the first time since she’d stormed into his office her lips twitched. “Actually, that is what he expected.”
And then some. She hadn’t been able to convince Rodney that Blake was nothing more than her business partner. Maybe because from the time they’d met she’d hoped Blake would see her for more than her brain and medical skills. After four years of his treating her much as one of her brothers did, she’d decided she didn’t register on Blake’s female radar. Just as well. None of the women he was interested in ever lasted long. Blake’s love-life consisted of a revolving door and multiple women. She wanted him forever, not just for a few weekends.
So she’d waited, hoped, become more and more frustrated.
“He thought you were getting lucky.” Since Rodney hadn’t been getting lucky, he’d automatically assumed Blake, being the only other man in her life, must be. Men.
Blake waggled his brows again. “Well, you can’t blame the guy for thinking I’d get lucky. I am irresistible.”
“And so modest, too.” She snorted at his mock-innocent expression. “Luck has nothing to do with how you get women.”
His lips twitched. “Enlighten me. How do I get women?”
Any way he wanted them.
“With that jet-black hair and those dark-as-midnight eyes you don’t have to get women, they get you.” The laughter in those black eyes had her feet wanting to shift—or run for the closest exit. How had the conversation even taken this turn? Her face grew hot and her skin clammy.
“At least, women try to get you,” she rushed on, hoping he didn’t notice how uncomfortable talking about his love-life made her. “You’re oblivious to most, yet they keep chasing you. So, like I said, you don’t have to get women, they get you.”
“And, like I said—” he rocked back in his chair and blatantly eyed her with amusement“—I’m irresistible.”
Dimples cut into his cheeks, making her think perhaps he was right. Certainly she’d always wanted him. Then again, with so little experience when it came to men, how could she be expected not to fall for someone so skilled in the ways of the opposite sex?
Because if Blake’s love-life was a revolving door, Darby’s was a vault that had rusted shut long ago from lack of use.
“For example,” he continued, “I was recently propositioned to spend the weekend with a beautiful woman.” His black eyes twinkled. “I even get to pretend to be in love with her. How much luckier can a guy get?”
Picking up a spongy ball—a stress-reliever advertising a pharmaceutical firm—she tossed it at him. “I wouldn’t count on getting lucky that particular weekend if I were you. You’re not that irresistible.”
At least not that she’d ever admit. But if she thought there was the slightest chance Blake could love her, she’d throw caution to the wind and make him notice she was a woman the weekend of the reunion.
He caught the stress ball with ease. “Come to think of it, my luck’s never been that good. Just look at the last female who found me.” He cringed with revulsion and gave an exaggerated shudder.
Darby bit back a smile.
So the foolish physical therapist he’d been dating on and off for a few months had thought Blake was taking her out of town to pop the question. Instead, the Yankees had been in Atlanta, and a friend had given him Braves tickets. Blake’s proposal had consisted of, “Do you want mustard or ketchup on your hot dog?” When the game had ended, with no highlighted proposal on the scoreboard, Kristi had issued an ultimatum she’d regretted the moment Blake had waved goodbye.
He interrupted her thoughts. “But you have to admit I am better than Rodney.”
True, but Rodney had been an okay boyfriend—a good start to her late-in-life attempt to develop dating skills. Well, an okay boyfriend except for his jealousy of Blake and how he’d pushed for sex. After Blake had dumped Kristi in Atlanta, Rodney’s possessiveness had suffocated Darby. He would view going to her high school reunion as moving their relationship into another realm. A realm where she didn’t want to go, as she had no intention of having sex with him. Ever.
Blake was right. He was the better choice in so many ways.
No one from her past would expect to see her with a man like Blake. With him at her side she could pretend she wasn’t still the geeky girl who’d left Armadillo Lake with big dreams and stars in her eyes.
She picked up the invitation to return to Armadillo Lake, Alabama. Her hometown.
She had to go.
Had to prove Mandy Coulson wrong. Prove her entire class wrong. Prove to herself that she really was the confident young woman she looked at in the mirror each morning. She was, wasn’t she?
Her hand clenched around the invitation Mandy had no doubt delayed in sending.
She’d go home with her head held high, with a gorgeous hunk attending to her every whim, and she’d show them all how wrong they were.
Or pretend to, at any rate.
And if along the way Blake discovered she was a girl behind her lab coat and high IQ—well, that would be icing on the cake, now, wouldn’t it?
Blake stepped into Darby’s office during the week of the reunion. “Can I get your opinion on Mr. Hill’s leg?”
It was late Tuesday evening and Darby had already finished with her last patient for the day. She glanced up from the computer screen where she researched an unusual plethora of symptoms a patient had come in with that morning.
“Nathan Hill, from Strawberry Plains?”
“That’s the one.” He skimmed his fingers over the model of the heart on top of her bookshelf. It was a running joke that he had heart envy. Every time he came into her office he touched the plastic heart. Someday she’d give the darn thing to him.
“I just examined him,” Blake continued, “but since you were the last one to see the ulcer on his lower extremity, I wanted your opinion on whether you think it’s improved. ”
“Sure thing.” She bookmarked her page on the web and followed him into the exam room.
“Hi, Mr. Hill.” She washed her hands and slid on a pair of disposable gloves. “Dr. Di Angelo has asked me to take a look at the place on your leg since I’d checked you a week or so ago.” She smiled at the thin gentleman, patted his wrinkled hand. “How do you think it looks? Better? Worse? Or about the same?”
“Better,” the seventy-year-old said. Unfortunately, Mr. Hill would say his leg was doing better even if his toes were black. Very simply, the man wouldn’t complain. He’d just smile his toothless smile and tell her how he was doing just fine.
Squatting to examine his leg, Darby winced at the oozing ulcer that encompassed a good portion of his shin.
“Have you been taking the antibiotics I prescribed?” she asked, concerned that he’d gotten worse rather than better. “The culture I did on the area says the one prescribed should clear the infection, but obviously the medicine isn’t working.”
“I got the prescription filled.” He scratched his mostly bald head with a thickened yellow nail that curved over the tip of his arthritic finger. “Only took a few. Figured I’d wait and see if I really needed them.”
What was he waiting for? His foot to fall off? For the bacteria to build resistance to the antibiotics since he’d taken just enough to tease the infection?
Darby shook her head. “I stressed the importance of taking the antibiotics because they are vital to this area healing.” She looked to where Blake stood. He’d entered the room with her, had been ready to assist if she needed anything, but was confident enough to stand back and let her do her job. She liked that about Blake. He trusted her, found her competent. Turning her gaze back to her patient, she gave him her most serious look. “I’d like to admit you to the hospital, give IV antibiotics for a few days, and keep a close eye on your leg.”
Not liking Darby’s assessment, Mr. Hill turned to Blake for another opinion. “Doc?”
“Admitting you to the hospital is what I was thinking, too, but you kept insisting you were better. Since I hadn’t seen the way the area originally looked, I gave you the benefit of doubt.” Blake raised a brow at Mr. Hill, who had the grace to blush. “Obviously you over-exaggerated.”
Darby removed her gloves and tossed them into the appropriate disposal bin. She wrapped her arm around the older man and gave him a hug. “Obviously.”
“It’s not that bad,” he insisted, giving Darby’s hand a pat. “Definitely not bad enough to go to the hospital.”
“You know I try to listen to my patients, Mr. Hill, and to take earnest consideration of their desires, but your leg is serious enough to warrant a hospital admission.” Stepping back slightly, she took his hand into hers. “If the infection doesn’t clear you could lose your foot. Do you understand? That isn’t something I take lightly. Neither should you.”
That got the older man’s attention. She hadn’t been meaning to scare him, but his ulceration was a big deal, and truly could result in amputation in someone with his poor circulation and diabetes. She spoke with him a few more minutes while Blake wrote admission orders to give to the man’s daughter, who was waiting in the reception area.
Blake stuck the orders inside an envelope. “You give these to the lady at the admission desk. She’ll register you.”
They saw him out and spoke with his daughter, letting her know what was going on and stressing that even if her father changed his mind about going to the hospital, he really did need to go. When she’d brought the car around they saw him into the passenger seat, then made their way back toward the office.
“Do you want me to look in on him this evening and do the admission history and the physical?” Blake held the front door open for her to enter ahead of him. “Technically, I was the one to see him today.”
“If it’s all the same, I’ll do the H and P when I check on Evie Mayo.”
“Is she any better?”
Darby shook her head. “Unfortunately no. Her liver enzymes are through the roof and I can’t find a reason why. Her hepatic ultrasound and her CT scan were both essentially normal. Only fatty streaks showed.”
“Hepatitis profile okay?”
“All normal.”
“You want me to take a look at her? See if I can come up with anything?”
Darby shrugged. “If you’d like. Maybe I’m missing something.”
“I doubt that,” he assured her, lightly punching her shoulder in a move her older brothers had often done when she’d been growing up. How long had it been since she’d seen Jim, John, Jerry and Ralph? Too long, since she’d opted to work last Christmas instead of making the six-hour drive to Armadillo Lake. She’d meant to go, but after Blake’s mother had canceled plans last-minute to come to Knoxville for the holidays Darby hadn’t been able to bear the thought of him alone at Christmas.
“But it never hurts to have a fresh eye give a second opinion,” he continued. “Speaking of second opinions, what do I need to pack for this weekend?”
Dread filled her stomach. Was she really going to subject Blake to her humiliating high school experiences?
Of course, she was. Because she wasn’t that shy, geeky girl who’d rather have had her nose stuck in a book than in a fashion magazine. She was a successful doctor with a fabulous life.
Okay, so she didn’t have a real boyfriend, and was bringing her business partner instead, but no one had to know that the scrumptious man with her wasn’t madly in love with her.
Her gaze landed on Blake. He was scrumptious to look at—the classic tall, dark and handsome—and she was half in lust with him, so that had to count for something, right?
No one would accuse her of being a virgin when she had a virile man like Blake making googly eyes at her. Which should be enough to ease the bile burning her throat, yet wasn’t.
Why wasn’t she eagerly anticipating the chance to prove to Armadillo Lake just how wrong they’d been about her? Surely she wasn’t still intimidated by her classmates? By Mandy?
No way.
Or maybe she was intimidated, because at times she wondered if they’d been right about her. After all, she was a twenty-eight-year-old virgin. By choice, but still a virgin.
Maybe her nervousness stemmed from the man before her. Had she really asked Blake to pretend to be in love with her? To spend the weekend with her, share a hotel room with her?
“Saturday afternoon is a picnic at the town park, so something casual for that. The reunion itself is being held at the Armadillo Lake Lodge’s ballroom and will be dressy. Not tuxedo formal, but you’ll need a suit.” She raked her gaze over him, imagining him at the party. He’d look good in a tux, but that would definitely be overkill. A tux would scream “trying too hard”. She wanted their relationship to look real, not make-believe.
She wanted their relationship to be real, not make-believe.
She bit back a sigh. Their relationship was real. They had a great business relationship, were ideal partners. Anything beyond that would only make life complicated, because if she and Blake ever became involved that way she’d end up hurt and losing everything. But what if…?
“Picnic and dressy.” Winking, he shot her with his finger. “Gotcha.”
Fighting to look as if her mind wasn’t racing in unwanted directions, she lifted her shoulders. “Wear that blue button-down you bought for the hospital Christmas party last year. I like how that looks on you.”
His brow quirked. “Tell me, which part do you like?”
Darby winced. Had she really just said that she liked how his shirt fit him?
“The part that covers you up,” she quipped, stepping into the back hallway leading to their private offices. No way would she admit to liking how the material emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
“Now, now,” he chided, “that’s not how you should be talking to the man you’re madly in love with.”
Certain her heart throbbed in her throat, despite knowing such a feat was physically impossible, Darby froze, rounded on him. “I’m not madly in love with you.”
She might have feelings for Blake, but she didn’t do love. At the young age of sweet sixteen she’d learned that love hurt way too much, and credited herself with being intelligent enough not to make the same mistake twice.
“Oh?” His brow lifted again, high enough that a lock of his inky hair hid the top of the arch. “Is this a one-sided love affair, then? I’m insane for you, but you’re immune to my charms?” His lips twitched. “Or are you just using me for phenomenal sex?”
Trying not to think of phenomenal sex and Blake in the same context, Darby gulped. “You’re crazy.”
Perhaps she was crazy, too. Otherwise why would she have asked him to go to Armadillo Lake? Even forgetting how she’d deal with spending a weekend in a hotel room with him, he’d tease her mercilessly over the things he’d learn about the old Darby. She’d never live down the jokes, the puns.
“We really should get our story straight before this weekend.” He took her elbow, led her into her office, pausing only long enough to caress the heart model as they passed by the shelf. “Maybe we should practice.”
“Practice?” Darby’s ears roared. Her heart thudded, pounding wildly against her ribcage and threatening to once again leap into her throat. Her gaze dropped to his lips and the desire to practice hit so hard she thought she might faint.
Then the most brilliant idea hit her. One in which she’d risk everything—but some risks were worth taking.
CHAPTER TWO
“DO YOU even like the people you went to school with?” Blake stuck a French fry in his mouth. Although he usually ate healthily, French fries were his Achilles’ heel. The hotter and saltier the better. Thanks to the hospital cafeteria ladies knowing his vice, they always put on a fresh batch just for him.
“Of course I like them,” Darby insisted, but color rose in her cheeks. “I went to high school with them.”
“Doesn’t mean you like them.” He stuck another fry in his mouth, assuring himself the five miles he ran each morning would clear out the excessive cholesterol. “I’ve never heard you mention anyone you went to school with.”