Chapter Fourteen
Chapter One
Doctor Blake Granger, known to the locals as Doc Blake, the town’s one and only pediatric dentist, took a monster bite out of a cake doughnut covered in sprinkles, then he closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the complete bliss of early-morning sugar.
His sweet blitz had begun when he ordered a large coffee, black, and dumped in two packets of real sugar. He knew better than to mess around with refined sugar after having spent years warning his patients, “sugar rots your teeth.” The statement rattled around the heads of most good dentists, but Blake was in an ornery mood this fine September morning and the mere idea of sugar—white, tooth-toxic sugar—seemed more important than his next breath.
He had snuck out of the main house at daybreak hoping to enjoy the crisp fall air, the fine dusting of snow that capped the Teton mountain range to the east of the ranch, and to slip off to Holey Rollers, the new doughnut shop, before anyone noticed he was gone.
So far, his plan seemed to be working.
Some of the pastel sprinkles clung to his mustache, while others trickled down his chin and settled on his flannel shirt. Earlier he’d knocked off two jelly doughnuts, a chocolate glazed twist and a mini cinnamon roll for good measure.
While he wiped away the evidence of his sugar fix with a paper napkin, he tried to remember the last time he’d indulged like this. Nothing came to mind. This kind of feather-headed behavior usually wasn’t part of his makeup. His teeth were in grave peril, and if any of his patients saw him toying with the dark side of tooth decay they’d be throwing his own lectures back at him.
Fortunately, most of his patients preferred a Happy Meal to a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
Now he was sitting outside at one of the small ornate metal tables in front of the doughnut shop, enjoying his doughnut, a strong cup of coffee and the Briggs Daily Journal, another indulgence he rarely had time for, when an unfamiliar voice interrupted his revelry.
“Doctor Granger?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s me,” he said, looking up at the face of a smiling woman standing next to his table.
Blake put his paper down and stood. The woman, dressed in a snug black business suit, was drop-dead gorgeous: long raven hair, crystal-blue eyes and a smile that could give a dying man reason to live.
She held out a hand, all businesslike, and for a moment Blake didn’t know what to do. It was as if spring mud had flowed into his brain and covered all the working parts.
He hesitated, then came to his senses and took her hand in his. Just touching her sent a spark through his body. He wanted to pull back, but she had one of those professional tight-gripped handshakes, giving him no choice but to surrender to her touch.
“I’m Maggie Daniels, Kitty’s sister.”
She said it as if he already knew this, which he did not, and would never have guessed in a hundred years as he searched for a family resemblance.
Kitty was his pixie-cute office manager; she was getting ready to go out on early maternity leave due to twins. Of course, first she would be training her replacement, which she had already suggested could very well be her sister, Maggie, an idea that now made Blake uneasy. From a purely selfish point of view, he truly hoped his life wouldn’t get any more complicated with the temporary changeover.
Between his willful father, the ranch, their looming potato harvest, his five-year-old daughter, his two brothers and almost-certain dental emergencies, Kitty’s leave of absence could prove to be his undoing. She was his rock, and replacing her for even a few months seemed impossible.
“Great” was all he could manage to say.
Maggie finally let go of his hand, and Blake felt the mud clearing from his brain. “I mean, your sister’s told me a lot about you.”
She chuckled, then offered a flirty smile. “That could be dangerous.”
He liked her sense of humor. “Only to your enemies.”
“I already have enemies?”
“None so far.”
“Give it time. It’s a small town.”
She had an edge to her that Blake wasn’t quite sure how to take. No matter what he eventually decided to do about Kitty’s replacement, he felt certain this woman would be a handful. “So, you’re that kind of woman.”
“What kind is that?”
“The kind that makes enemies.”
“Only with other women. Men seem to like me.”
He figured that was the case. “I come from a family of all boys.”
“Then we shouldn’t have a problem.”
Reason told him Maggie was hell-bent for trouble. He was way over-the-moon attracted to her and he knew from experience what it meant to be attracted to a beautiful woman. His ex-wife was a beautiful woman and she had brought him nothing but grief. Maggie was even more of a threat with her haughty, big-city attitude, but damn it all, he was going to have a hard time saying no to her smile.
Not to mention that she had perfect teeth.
He gestured for Maggie to sit, and she pulled out the green metal chair across from him. The lady was all slicked up with a cream-colored blouse under her jacket that showed just the right amount of skin to make his mind wander to places it shouldn’t be going. As she moved, he caught a glimpse of soft pink lace peeking out from under her blouse. It made him go all warm inside just knowing she wore girly pink under the tailored business suit that hugged her curves in all the right places.
Her face was flawless and her eyes reminded him of the early-morning sky on a cloudless day.
He picked up his coffee mug in an attempt to distract his wicked bedroom thoughts.
“I think you should know,” she began, “that although I’m all for helping my sister, I have applications out to several other companies, and if one of them comes through, I might not be able to continue my employment with you for the duration of my sister’s leave.”
Blake took a long swig of his sweet coffee, thinking that he appreciated her honesty. “Not exactly what an employer wants to hear.” He took another drink then carefully placed the white mug back on the table. “But who said I was going to hire you?”
She sat back and took up space, stretching out her long legs under the table and resting her arms on the chair. She seemed perfectly calm, totally cool and self-assured. “No one.”
Blake
