hadn’t planned on hitting a land mine like Liam Thayer. She wished that Dr. Dunlevy had informed her that she had a widower in the bunch—and not just any widower, Joy Thayer’s widower—before she’d so exuberantly rolled out the bachelor auction plan at the meeting.
Dr. Thayer had obviously still not come to terms with his wife’s death. Not that one ever fully recovered from something like that. Kate had experienced enough tragedy in her own life to understand.
Even though she’d only met Joy Thayer once—when the woman had single-handedly organized a fashion show luncheon to benefit the pediatric surgical wing early in the process—Kate had been touched by Joy’s untimely death. The entire population of the Dallas metropolitan area had gone into mourning.
Joy Thayer was the type of charismatic good soul that everyone wanted to know and loved instantly. She radiated warmth and charm. And, as if all that niceness and class weren’t enough, she had been gorgeous. One of the elements that Kate remembered best about Joy—besides her petite stature and fine-boned features—was the riot of strawberry-blond curls that hung halfway down her back. She had an effortless beauty that seemed to radiate from the inside out.
Now that Kate had had a chance to digest the situation, she wasn’t surprised that Joy had been married to a handsome guy like Liam. They had probably made the perfect couple: good-looking, well-off, well connected, popular. His disposition left a lot to be desired, but he’d suffered a rough time in the grips of that profound loss.
Kate swirled the English Breakfast tea bag in her mug, then tossed it into the trash can. How long had Joy been gone now? At least a couple years. But even though Kate’s encounter with the woman had been brief, Kate had a hunch that one didn’t easily get over Joy Thayer and move on.
For that reason she would cut Liam some slack, even though his boss was being hard-nosed about it.
As she made her way back to her office, she pondered how she could shift the fund-raiser to make Liam more comfortable. She didn’t want to turn down the publicity opportunity that being on Catering to Dallas would afford. And that hinged on the bachelor auction, which would be a good visual for television. Reaching that broad of an audience, they were bound to get generous donations from the television fans. Plus the other six bachelors seemed jazzed and ready to run with it. Before she’d left the meeting, some were even tossing about ideas for date packages and where they could take the lucky ladies who won them.
She couldn’t think of a better way to make a dent in the remaining one hundred thousand dollars that she still needed to raise. Maybe it was for lack of a better idea—or maybe because six of the seven single, handsome doctors were ready and willing to auction themselves off—but they had to proceed with the auction with or without Liam.
She knew it was the right move, the prudent business decision, but she wasn’t completely at peace with it.
She closed her office door and sank into her leather desk chair. Moving her mouse to activate her computer, she stared at the dark screen until the machine woke up from its nap.
I’m a widower with two teenage daughters.
Liam’s words had echoed in the recesses of her mind all the way back to the office. If it were up to her, he would get a free pass. But she knew his boss wouldn’t be keen on that thought.
After Liam had dashed off, Dr. Dunlevy had told her not to count Liam Thayer out. Whether that meant she should just count on the promised donation or his participation in the auction was still to be determined.
Yet Liam had taken her card and had given her the green light to call him at the office.
She would do that and pave the way. She just needed to come up with a plan that made everyone happy.
At twenty-nine, Kate had never been married. But she’d watched her own father sink into a dark funk after her mother had died. It was a depression from which he’d never fully recovered. Kate and her brother, Rob, had felt responsible for their dad. It had been a sad time in their lives, but they’d gotten through it together.
Dr. Thayer and Joy must have married young if his kids were teenagers. Yet he didn’t appear to be much older than Kate was.
Kate’s baby would’ve been five later this year if it had survived. It was a memory she’d tried to suppress since the topic of death and kids had come up this morning.
Actually she hadn’t been able to get it out of her mind, despite the way she’d tried to ignore the dull ache in her heart. All the more reason to find a viable way out of this plan for the good doctor. One that didn’t involve dates or leaving his kids at home.
She clicked on her email account, glanced at the full in-box, but she couldn’t bring herself to open any of the correspondence. She swiveled her chair toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, stared out at the Dallas skyline and let her mind wander far away from the memory of the child she’d lost.
Bachelor auctions. Think. Fund-raisers. Think harder.
Cullen Dunlevy hadn’t been thrilled with Liam’s steadfast refusal. So completely letting him off the hook seemed out of the question. And Dunlevy hadn’t seemed pacified by Liam’s offer to simply write a check. He wanted Liam to take an active role like his colleagues. She wasn’t sure why Dr. Dunlevy was so adamant about Liam participating, but she’d definitely observed some underlying tension.
It didn’t really matter.
Well, it shouldn’t anyway.
But it did. To her.
If someone as busy as Liam Thayer didn’t have the time—or the inclination—to auction himself off and go on a date, why was Dunlevy pressuring him? More important, what else could she come up with to make both men happy?
Emceeing wasn’t an option because Maya LeBlanc, international chocolatier and supposed matchmaker, was fulfilling that role. But what to do with Liam?
Too bad he was so adamant about not being in the auction. I would’ve bid on him, she mused as she meditated on the geodesic sphere atop Reunion Tower.
Suddenly she had a thought; something that just might get Dr. Thayer off the hook, if he was willing to be a good sport and play along.
She glanced at the time on the lower right-hand side of her computer. Since it was close to six o’clock, he was probably gone for the day, and she wouldn’t be able to reach him at the hospital. That was all right; it would give her some time to stew on the idea and make sure it was airtight. She’d give him a call tomorrow and see just how willing he was to put his money to good use.
* * *
Liam wholeheartedly supported the pediatric surgical wing—after all, the venture had been a project Joy was passionate about. But why did they have to do this asinine auction that would dishonor Joy’s memory, embarrass his daughters and make a mockery out of the loss and grief he’d suffered?
He wheeled the car into the driveway and glanced at the glowing dashboard clock. It was nearly eight o’clock; darkness was creeping in and spreading over the sky like a stain. He’d stayed at the hospital making his final rounds later than usual. It was times like these that made him grateful he had dependable Rosalinda. Nanny, housekeeper and cook extraordinaire.
His stomach rumbled at the thought of the food Rosie would have waiting, hot and ready for him when he walked in the door. At
