she might curl her fingers into a fist and punch his straight nose. “I happen to like wheat-germ shakes and, of course, I dance.”
Not well, but she could pull off the slow numbers she and Eric had swayed to without any problems. Usually too self-conscious to let herself relax, she’d moved in rhythm to Eric’s lead. On the dance floor and in the bedroom. He’d been perfect. And something she’d desperately tried to stop thinking about because Kasey was not like her mother.
“In case you hadn’t realized—” she kept her voice smooth, calm, professional, like she wasn’t dying inside “—I am over the legal drinking age.”
Dr. Douglas burst into laughter. “You’ve totally shattered my image of you, Kase. I didn’t think you drank. Or hung out in bars. Or talked to men who weren’t paying you for their fifteen-minute appointment slot of your time.” He placed his hands over his heart. “Shattered, I tell you.”
Her nerves grated at how he shortened her name. She glared.
Eric cleared his throat, calling their attention back to him.
Kasey turned to the man who’d held her so tenderly on the night she’d felt so alone. He looked perturbed.
Was he upset that he’d run into his weepy bedmate who’d practically ripped off his clothes? That his friend knew he’d had drinks with the office wallflower who preferred wheat-germ shakes to cosmos?
Lord, she wanted out of here.
A cool blast of realization froze the blood chugging through Kasey’s veins.
Why was Dr. Douglas introducing her to his old university mate here at the medical clinic?
University mate.
“You’re a doctor, aren’t you?” She’d heard some benefactor’s son had been visiting the clinic that morning. A doctor. She held her breath, waiting for Eric’s answer.
The corner of his mouth lifted in an ironic twist. “I did mention my profession on the night we met.”
Had he? She’d been so upset when she’d gone into the bar, upset and unable to face the realization that her mother, her last blood relative, had died.
Eric had been sitting on the bar stool next to the one she’d plopped down on. She hadn’t noticed him or anyone except the flashing neon beer advertisement behind the bar. Apparently he’d noticed her, though. He’d been concerned and kept talking, trying to draw her into conversation. She couldn’t recall much of what he’d said while they’d sat there.
All she’d been able to think about was that she’d buried Betsy Carmichael that afternoon. That the woman who’d given birth to her, made her childhood a living hell, had died. That she was alone in the world now that her only family was gone.
In reality she’d felt alone a long time before her mother had drawn her last breath.
“You’re who the administrator has been with today, aren’t you?” Please say no. Please don’t let him be the bigwig son of the clinic’s benefactor. “You’re applying for a job here, aren’t you?”
“Applying for a job?” Dr. Douglas burst out laughing. “As if. Eric can write his ticket at this place.”
“That’s enough,” Dr. Eric Matthews interrupted his friend. He’d rather not have his family connection to Rivendell Medical Center pointed out to the woman he’d met two months ago. Had she known who he was? Used him in hopes of advancing her career at Rivendell?
He hadn’t thought so but, hell, he’d been wrong about women before.
Still, he’d really believed Kasey was different. Certainly the fact that he’d awakened to an empty bed had been a new twist. Had she known why he’d returned to Kentucky? Like so many from his past, had she seen him as a ticket to easy street?
Her eyes held dark shadows. She’d been startled to see him. No more so than he’d been when he’d looked up to meet his best friend’s “boring, career-driven ice queen” colleague.
Jonathan was a fool. Kasey was no ice queen. She was hot. His psyche had the scorch marks to prove it. His entire body caught fire just at being near her again, at memories of how their bodies had meshed together.
But Kasey wasn’t happy to see him.
He honestly wasn’t sure how he felt about seeing her. At least not at Rivendell Medical Center. Had he run into her in a social setting he’d have been thrilled, but the last thing he needed was an involvement with someone at the clinic.
He’d come home a different man than the one who’d left four years ago. He didn’t engage in one-night stands or living for the moment. He’d changed. For the better. Or so he’d thought.
His first night back in Rivendell, Kasey had reduced him to habits he’d sworn were deeply buried in the past.
He wasn’t a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy anymore. Hadn’t been for years. He sure wasn’t going to be a loved-by-’em-and-left-by-’em kind of guy. Hell, no.
Dr. Kasey Carmichael had loved him and left him.
She didn’t look the same as she had the night they’d met. Her shoulder-length brunette hair was pulled harshly away from her face. She wore trendy black-rimmed glasses. Her light makeup was impeccably dusted over her high cheekbones and wide green eyes, but not in a way to draw men to her. More of a shield against letting anyone see the real her. She looked like a woman downplaying her femininity to appear all business, to appear cold and unreachable.
But Eric had seen behind the mask. If she hadn’t disappeared before he’d awakened, he’d have spent more time with her, gotten to know her. Why had she snuck out before dawn? He’d never had a woman leave him with no strings attached. Even the pickups from his youth had usually hinted at wanting money or jewelry or trips to fancy restaurants.
What did Kasey want?
“Tell me,” she prompted. Desperation shone in her eyes, but her voice sounded coolly professional, as if she was used to hiding her emotions. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“I met with Clive and several members of the board on the day after we met. That’s why I was in town that night.”
She winced, causing the glasses to scoot up the bridge of her pert nose. “Because?”
His fingers itched to slip the heavy frames off her face. The glass didn’t appear to be corrective, just distractive.
“They offered me a position at the clinic.” An oversimplification, but the truth.
Kasey closed her eyes, looking like she wanted to disappear. Was she really so horrified that they’d come face-to-face again?
She visibly shuddered, then opened pain-filled eyes. “You knew who I was, didn’t you? You knew I worked here. This was all a big joke to you.”
Fathoms of hurt welled in her eyes. He didn’t understand the depth of pain. Why would she think he’d tricked her? She’d been the one to disappear without even a goodbye or
