stroke her hand down her throat, swiping away the sweat she was sure must be forming there. Why did it suddenly seem so hot in this room? Was it her anger making her heart quiver, and was it her imagination that all that heat seemed to be shimmering right between them, practically pouring from his big, masculine body? “If you end up coming back to see Cameron, and I frankly would prefer a different physician do so, I would appreciate you showing me respect in front of our patient, and I will continue to show you that same respect.”
“Oh, I’ll be back, Ms. Cain, have no doubt about that. Whether you like it or not. When I make a commitment to a friend like James, and to a patient, I always see it through to the end.” His eyes were still narrowed, his words still spoken in that silky, soft tone that sounded odd, coming from lips that had been firmly clamped together the whole time she’d spoken. Then, to her utter shock, he reached for her hand and lifted it to those beautiful lips, pressing them to the back of it.
Both soft and firm, he kept them there for three long seconds, causing that weirdly disconcerting spark to fly up her arm again. Then he released it and, without another word, turned and strode out the door.
Gabby stared blindly at the wall beside her door, absently running her palm from the back of her other hand up her arm, feeling the gooseflesh still making all the little hairs stand at attention. “Well, Gabby, that went well,” she muttered to herself, barely able to catch her breath. “When it comes to verbal sparring to handle a problem, that man is clearly way out of your league.”
Which left her with a very difficult question. What she was going to do next to keep him from taking over her entire ward?
“YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN a workaholic, but your schedule seems insane to me,” Rafael said as he sat across from James, glad his friend had finally found time to stop by the cliffside home Rafael was renting. “I thought I might be moving on from L.A. before we had a chance to share another drink.”
“Hey, I do things other than work.”
“Like what? Are you taking up golf?” Rafael asked with a grin, since he knew the man had zero interest in spending that much time on a game.
That drew a return grin from James. “No, but I do have a date in about...one hour,” he said, glancing at his watch. “And what do you mean, you might be moving on from L.A. soon? Is rolling stone Rafael already thinking about leaving? I thought you’d come here to go into hiding for a while.”
“Doesn’t seem to have worked too well. One or the other of my parents calls me practically daily with disapproving updates on the photos and completely exaggerated stories still showing up in the gossip magazines about me.”
“If you didn’t date strippers, maybe you wouldn’t have that problem.”
“I didn’t even know she’d been a stripper until it was splashed across all the papers.” He shook his head, wondering why everyone had to make such a big deal out of it anyway. “But if I hear one more word from my family about having to find a ‘suitable’ girlfriend, I may just become a monk.”
“Like there’s any chance of that,” James said with a smirk. “One of the reasons I always liked hanging out with you was because women flock around a prince like ants to a piece of candy. A good way for me to meet the cast-offs.”
“Because you have such a problem with meeting women,” Rafael said dryly. “Didn’t you just tell me you have a date tonight?”
“Yeah.” James’s face instantly settled into an oddly serious expression, and it struck Rafael that his friend might be getting back into a relationship with Mila Brightman, his former fiancée.
“I heard you’re having to spend time with Mila now you’re working with her charity,” he said casually, hoping James would talk to him about it if he felt a need to. “Are you seeing her again?”
“No. That was over long ago.” James seemed to be studying the condensation droplets on his iced-tea glass very intently, and Rafael wondered if it was to avoid looking him in the eye. “But I do think dating someone new is a good idea to, you know, distract me from thinking about the past.”
Rafael frowned. He knew their breakup had been hard on both James and Mila, but it had been James’s idea, after all. How much was he still bothered by it? “Maybe you and Mila—”
“I don’t really want to talk about it.” James set his glass down and put on the cool, professional face Rafael had seen many times when James wanted to put distance between himself and others. “Tell me about how things went with Cameron Fontaine. And by the way, I don’t think I’ve told you how much I appreciate you seeing her.”
“I’m glad you asked me. It’s what I do. Not to mention that not working and having to lie low in L.A. has been getting a little tedious, so I’m happy to be at the clinic.” Oddly, the first thing James’s question instantly brought to mind wasn’t his patient but a certain gorgeous midwife who was an all-too-attractive combination of warmth and smarts and toughness.
Thinking back, he realized he’d deserved the one-two punch she’d given him in her office. He should have shown her immediate respect instead of making her earn it, but in some of the places he’d worked, it had been important to make sure everyone knew what they were doing before you trusted them to. In spite of the chaotic condition of the room, it had been obvious that she was an expert when it came to the medical care of the patients. And wasn’t afraid to point it out in no uncertain terms to anyone who doubted that.
“What’s with that smile on your face?” James asked, quirking his eyebrow. “Did you fall in lust with Cameron?”
“No.” That would be a snowy day in the desert, and he practically laughed at the question. Cameron Fontaine was the kind of self-absorbed woman he met all too often and had no interest in even for just sex.
He wouldn’t admit to James that the woman he’d felt a stirring of lust for had been the clinic’s head midwife. A woman with a fiery temper to match the golden fire of her hair. The last thing he needed was the complication of dating someone he had to work with. Not to mention that dating anyone at that particular moment was asking for more trouble from the press and anger and disapproval from his family.
After the tabloids had blown up again with the juicy story of his latest girlfriend, his parents had insisted he stop embarrassing them. It all seemed so ridiculous since he’d dated the woman barely a month before they’d stopped seeing each other, which was how he liked to keep it. Any longer than that and a woman had a tendency to start thinking long term, and he had no intention of doing forever after with anyone. His brother had taken care of marrying to provide heirs, and saddled himself with a woman who didn’t even like him much. And the picture-perfect partnership of his parents’ arranged marriage? It didn’t hint at the cool distance between them, or question why they were on different continents half the time.
No, Rafael was never going to get stuck in some passionless marriage. He liked his freedom and planned to keep it, thank you very much. Lying low to let his parents simmer down a little was the price he had to occasionally pay for that freedom. With any luck, they’d soon stop throwing “suitable” women his way, wanting to torture him with the kind of loveless marriage they had.
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to stop Cameron’s labor,” he told James, “but I’m hoping to be able to get her at
