“That’s Mrs. Grimes,” she said with an embarrassed laugh. “She’s a former high school teacher. She takes nothing—and no one—at face value.”
“Smart lady.”
Very smart, Ace thought with a sideways glance at his target.
“Here we are.”
He dodged a stream of oncoming vehicles and pulled through an arched entry into a palm-lined courtyard. Kahil’s Egyptian-born, American-educated wife had opened her free clinic two years ago. Ace had been present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. His company also contributed heavily to the clinic’s operation. Dr. Fahranna El Hassan was nothing if not persuasive.
She was also tall, slender, gorgeous—and iron-willed enough to have tamed Wild Man Kahil. And now that she had her husband on a short leash, she’d moved Ace to the top of her list for reform—a fact she reminded him of after an attendant had showed him and Jaci Thornton into an exam room and the doctor burst into the room.
“Deke!” She threw her arms around him, digging her stethoscope into his chest as she kissed him on both cheeks. “Why didn’t you give Kahil and me more warning of your visit? I have a cousin I want you to meet. She just might be the woman to wean you from your evil ways. Or …”
Her curious eyes swept over the female perched on the edge of an exam table.
“Have you brought one of your own for me to check out?”
“Curb your matchmaking instincts, Fahranna. I’ve brought you a patient.”
All brisk business now, the physician addressed Jaci in her usual blunt manner. “I am Dr. El Hassan. And you are?”
“Jaci Thornton. Mr. Griffin, uh, Deke and I just met.”
Fahranna lifted one delicately arched brow. “Did you?”
“We were at the pyramids. He was kind enough to bring me here after I fell off a camel.”
“Ah, yes,” she said with a wry smile. “The camels. What did you injure?”
“My knee, but it hardly hurts anymore.”
“Let’s take a look at it, shall we? You will have to remove your slacks. Deke, take yourself back to the waiting room.”
To Jaci’s relief, Dr. El Hassan’s diagnosis confirmed her own. She hadn’t broken any bones, just collected another bruise. The doctor recommended an ice pack if her knee started to swell and heavy-duty aspirin for pain.
When she walked Jaci to the waiting room, Deke tossed aside the newspaper he’d been perusing and offered his arm for support. Jaci took it with a shy smile that the physician didn’t fail to note.
“You must come for dinner,” she announced with a gleam in her dark eyes. “Kahil will want to meet the woman who moves his friend to such noble acts of chivalry.”
Jaci opened her mouth to decline the offer, but her companion preempted her.
“You know I never turn down a free dinner, Fahranna. I’ll give you a call later and set up a time that fits with your schedule and Jaci’s.”
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