would walk through to make peace with herself. She glanced up to meet his blue gaze. The incongruous combination of his white coat, a stethoscope with a tiny stuffed bear attached to it and his cowboy hat caught her off guard. Even though the man was tall with broad shoulders and dark good looks, that tiny stuffed bear should have deep-sixed his sexual appeal. It didn’t. “Thank you,” she finally said.
“What took you so long to get here?”
She gave a light laugh and relaxed slightly. “You were that sure I’d come.”
“If you followed your instincts,” he said, entering the room. “You’ll like it here.”
“It’s temporary,” she said more for herself than him.
“You didn’t answer my question. What took you so long?”
That Texas drawl and lanky stride were deceptive, Jill thought, hiding a grin. The man was impatient. Jill understood impatience. She’d just learned to conceal hers. “This may surprise you, but I was working on another project at the time. I needed to tie up some loose ends and make sure there was a smooth transition between me and the new rep. I couldn’t just snap my fingers.”
“Well, I am surprised,” Tyler said. “You’re supposed to be a sorceress, remember?”
She shot him a sideways glance. “I’m curious,” she said. “Is this how you usually get your way with people?”
He picked up a pencil holder. “How?”
“Oh, by using a combination of flattery and manipulation.”
He widened his eyes in mock innocence. “Flattery?” He shrugged. “I just tell the truth. And manipulation sounds mean. I’m not mean. I just do what it takes to get the job done. That makes some people nervous. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do I make you nervous?” he asked in a voice like black velvet.
Her heart jumped in her chest. “No,” she said, a half beat more quickly than she should.
“Good,” he said, “because you and I will be working together. I make the administration a little jumpy sometimes, but I get the job done.” His lips twitched. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Temporarily,” she emphasized.
His gaze swept over her. “Long enough,” he promised. “Why are you staring at Wild Cody?”
Jill blinked. “Wild Cody?”
“My bear. You remind me of one of my kids.”
She felt her cheeks heat. “I’m not used to seeing a bear on a stethoscope.”
“Distracting, isn’t it?” His lips twitched again when she nodded. “That’s the idea.” He took her hand and held it in his, then took her index finger between his fingers.
Feeling a strange, tumbling sensation in her stomach, she tried to pull back.
Tyler shook his head. “Hold on.” He pulled another tiny bear from his pocket and attached the little bear to her finger. “You are now officially a member of the heart menders’ wild posse.”
Why was her heart pounding? she wondered with a kick of exasperation. She glanced at the little stuffed bear and sighed. Oddly touched, she smiled. “Thank you. Do you give these to your patients?”
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I could get them in bulk. I can see Clarence twitching over a purchase requisition for a hundred miniature bears.” He grinned and squeezed her hand. “There you go. A good idea and you haven’t even been here an entire day. I told you we needed you.”
Her stomach turned another somersault. “Ideas are the easy part. The hard part comes later,” she murmured, thinking he had no idea how hard this could become for her.
“You need a challenge,” he told her.
His assumption nettled her again. “Why do you say that? You don’t even know me.”
“I could say your reputation precedes you,” he said. “Or I could say we needed you at Fort Worth General because you’ve got great legs. Or I could just say I know a kindred spirit when I see one.”
“Is this a multiple-choice quiz?” she asked, her voice betraying her impatience.
He leaned closer and she could see the very devil in his blue eyes. “Check all of the above.”
A flirt, she concluded with disapproval. Her ex-husband had been charming, too confident and an outrageous flirt. She didn’t need to read that book again. “I don’t think—”
“Howdy!” a young, plump woman called from the doorway. Her gaze immediately latched on to Tyler. “Oh, hi, Dr. Logan,” she said in a breathy voice.
“Hi, Trina,” Tyler said. “This is our PR specialist, Jill Hershey.”
Her gaze weaving between Tyler and Jill, she said, “I’m Trina Hostetter and I’ll be your assistant while you’re here in Fort Worth.”
“Good job,” Tyler said as he moved toward the door. “Trina, you take good care of Jill. She’s going to do great things for us.” His gaze dipped to Jill’s legs for an audacious extra second, then he gave a half grin. “See you later.”
Jill watched Trina gaze longingly after Tyler. “I’d like to do great things for him,” Trina murmured under his breath.
Jill rolled her eyes. “He’s a flirt.”
Trina swerved her head around. “But not a mean flirt,” she quickly said. “He just knows how to make a woman feel good. He doesn’t break hearts.”
Jill raised her eyebrows doubtfully, but smiled. “Why do I think you might be a little prejudiced?”
“Oh. Just because it’s obvious that I’d like Tyler to park his boots under my bed anytime, you think I might be prejudiced.” Trina shook her head. “Just about every woman with any taste would like to have Tyler. What’s not to like? He’s handsome, but not pretty. He’s smart, funny, kind, and he likes kids. Sure, he dates a lot, but he doesn’t make promises he won’t keep. Everyone’s just trying to find a way to get him to make some of those promises.” She glanced at Jill’s finger. “Omigod, he gave you one of his bears. He must really like you,” she said with a trace of envy.
Jill immediately unfastened the bear from her finger and transferred it to a pencil. “Don’t worry. It has no romantic significance. The reason Tyler wants me here is because he believes I’m going to help him get something he wants—the new pediatric cardiology wing.”
Trina blinked. “Are you saying you don’t want him?”
Jill smiled. “Exactly. I would rather catch the flu than catch Tyler.”
“Are you married? Engaged?”
“No, just sane. Very sane when it comes to men. Believe me,”
