Standing her ground with him was … stimulating. It made her tingle. So much so, she took a step back from him. “Look, there’s no point in arguing about it. I’m going forward with my plans, whether or not you like it, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“Actually, I can stand back and watch you fail, then buy back my property for a fraction of what you paid me for it.”
He said it with a grin on his face, but she knew he was serious. The truth of the matter was, she didn’t blame him. Were she in his position, she’d probably be rooting for his failure. In a way, Erin respected his resolve. Too bad they both couldn’t have what they wanted. But that wasn’t going to happen. For her to win, he had to lose. For him to win, she had to lose, and that was something she just wasn’t going to do. The only thing was, he didn’t know how much she needed this hospital, how much she had to make the idea work. “Look, I don’t want to keep arguing, OK? We’re not going to agree, we might not even get along very well. But we’re going to be neighbors, and because of that I’d like to try for some civility between us. Even if it’s just civility on the surface for the sake of appearances.”
“So we smile and bare our fangs when we pass each other, and make sure we growl under our breath?”
She couldn’t help but laugh at him. The man did have his charm. It was coarse, and quite deviant, but she rather liked it. “Look, what can I do to smooth a little bit of the bumpy road between us so I don’t always have to bare my fangs? It causes wrinkles.”
“Funny you should ask, because I expect I’ll be seeing at least fifteen patients first thing in the morning at the clinic. That’s the usual number. I’ve promised Trinique three more days at the bar … she’s visiting her sick sister in Miami. And in between serving drinks I’ll see at least another dozen or so patients … in the back room. Trinique had it set up as a small clinic for me. Oh, and work until about three, when the bar closes. Meaning my days are getting pretty long. So, if you’re serious about your offer, I could use your help at the clinic. Then that way you can see where the real medical need is here.”
Honestly, his schedule surprised her. She’d pictured him more the hardly working type than the working hard type. “Do you work like that every day?” she asked, not really intending to seem so interested.
“No, sometimes I have more patients than that. You know, make a few house calls. Go up to Fontaine and squeeze in house calls there. Tomorrow seems a little light, which is why it’s probably the best day this week to have you see why general medical care is what the area needs.”
“Always plotting, aren’t you, Coulson?”
“I’d rather think of it as moving forward.”
She thought for a moment. Right now, there wasn’t much for her to do. She wouldn’t be meeting with her architects for a couple of days, and her plans were already far enough along that at this point there really wasn’t a whole lot more to work on. So, why not? Getting to know the people here was a good idea because she was going to be one of them, and what better way to do it than working in the clinic? Admittedly, she missed working. Somewhere over the past weeks it had taken a backseat to her hospital, so much so that she’d finally left her practice. She missed it, and this would help ease the dull ache that had been settling in. In her heart she was a doctor, and that’s what she needed to be doing. Adam Coulson might think he was handing her part of his plan for her failure, but she looked at it as just the opposite. “OK, I’ll work in the clinic.”
“You will?”
She stood to face him, drew every bit of her five feet eight inches up to his well-over-six-foot physique, and stared him straight in the eye. “Just tell me what time, and I’ll be there.” In the light from the single yellow bulb dangling on the other side of the porch, he was just about the best-looking man she’d ever seen. She’d looked from afar earlier, and had totally missed the detail in his eyes. The kindness there. The twinkling. Normally, she didn’t look at men this way and right now it bothered her that she was enjoying her long, rather cheeky look at him. Enjoying it too much. So she took another step backward, then two more just to be on the safe side. “But here’s the deal. For every day I work for you I expect a day in return where you won’t be plotting my demise … at least, where I can see it so obviously.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Red.”
“I’m offering you free labor, Coulson. You want me to see the real medical need here in the hope that I’ll back off? This is the only way it’s going to happen.”
“Then a day for a day it is.”
He held out his hand to shake on the deal, and when she took it, the jolt that passed between them passed all the way down to her toes. Did he feel it? She couldn’t tell by the expression on his face, but it was so real he had to. Or, maybe her imagination was simply getting away from her, being in a tropical paradise with a handsome man, and all. Whatever it was, she allowed the handshake to linger but a moment then pulled her hand back. Put up her imaginative safety net. “Tomorrow morning, Coulson.”
“Tomorrow morning … Red.”
The walk was short from Trinique’s cottage, down a long, winding jungle path, and each of her steps was deliberately slow. Sure, she’d seen the hospital compound online, knew the look of the buildings by heart. But there was a world of difference between the internet and in person, and she was actually a little nervous about this. She’d done it. She had her property—one hospital building, a handful of small cottages, and a stretch of beach. Paradise in a way most people would define it.
“He’s very grumpy this morning,” Davion said, catching up to her then falling into step. “When he came back to the bar last night, he broke glasses … on purpose. Threw a couple on the floor then took the money you’d given him earlier and put it into the cash register for my mother.”
She pulled the deed from the pocket of her skirt for Davion to see. “He didn’t give in without a fight. I know it wasn’t easy for him.”
“But he always does the right thing. Sometimes it takes him a while but, like I told you before, he’s a good man.”
“I think he’s a very … interesting man.”
Davion nodded. “That, too. And stubborn.”
“I’ve definitely seen that side of him.”
“And he’s seen that side of you, hasn’t he?”
“How did you get to be so perceptive at your age?”
Davion chuckled. “Being around Adam. He’s been in and out of half my life now, and I’ve been learning from the master.”
“Well, that’s what’s going to make you an exceptional doctor. You know how to read people. So, you say he’s been in and out of your life for most of your life. How long, exactly, has he been here?”
“Off and on, almost twelve years, I guess. Started coming when he was in medical school, came more often when he was out. Until he moved here permanently a couple of years ago.”
Well, she couldn’t fault Coulson for that. Jamaica was a wonderful place to visit. She’d been coming here almost from the day her father had adopted her, nearly twenty-five years ago. He’d bring her when she was well, and she’d feel guilty when she was sick because she knew she was keeping him from coming.
“So,
