the other hand, if she wasn’t here, where else would she be? Probably riding a horse or driving the tractor at Rancho de la Luna. At least here he could keep an eye on her.
With a sigh, he turned back to Hector. “I’m going to prescribe some pills that should help but like I told you last month, you’re going to have to lay off the jalapeños for a while until things settle down a little.”
Maggie dutifully translated his words into Spanish. He listened to her, pleased that he could understand most of what she said.
Listening to her fluid words was a guilty kind of pleasure. How pathetic was he that he could be turned on listening to talk about ulcer advice in Spanish?
Somehow the words seemed lush and romantic when she spoke them in her low, melodic voice.
Hector asked him a question too rapidly for him to catch it all. He looked toward Maggie for help.
“He wants to know if he should continue his current dose of acid reflux medicine.”
“I’d like to increase the dose to twice a day. Call me next week to see how that works. Oh, and if you don’ttake ten minutes to put your leg up in my office I’m going to carry you in there myself.”
Maggie started to translate his words to Hector, but stopped and glared when the last phrase registered.
“Try it, Dalton, and you’ll find out every dirty trick they taught me in the Army.”
Hector snickered, apparently understanding more English than he let on. Jake spared the man only a quick glance, then turned his attention back to her. “Take a rest, Maggie. I’ll be okay for a while on my own, I promise. If I need it, I can muddle through with my high school Spanish for my next few patients.”
“I’m fine.”
“Please, Maggie. I don’t want you to wear yourself out.”
“You better do what he says,” Hector said to her in Spanish. “The man knows what he’s talking about.”
“Gracias,” Jake said, earning a grin from Hector.
It was killing her not to rip into him in front of a patient. He could see thunderclouds gather in her dark eyes and her slim hands clench in her lap. After a charged, frustrated moment, she let out a breath and grabbed her forearm crutches.
“You know how to find my office?”
“I’ll look for the Obnoxious Know-It-All sign above the door.”
He grinned. “That’s one way to find it. It’s also the last room on the right.”
“Just so you know, Dalton, I’m growing very tired of you ordering me around,” she muttered at the door. “I don’t remember asking you to babysit me.”
“Somebody has to. If you would take care of yourself, I wouldn’t have to do it for you.”
She apparently decided not to dignify that with a response. With another fulminating glare that included the hapless Hector Manuel, she swung out of the exam room on her crutches and headed down the hall, still managing to convey anger even with her back to them.
“Man, are you in trouble.” Hector shook his head in sympathy.
He didn’t know the half of it. Jake sighed as he wrapped things up and moved on to his next patient. How would he ever get through the barricades she seemed determined to erect between them? Was it even possible?
What if his last name wasn’t Dalton? Would she still be so confrontational?
It seemed like the height of irony that she should hate him for his father’s sins.
Maybe he would look at things differently if he’d had a glowing relationship with Hank Dalton, if he considered his father someone who deserved love and respect. He had lived with the man. He knew what a bastard he could be.
He’d resolved early in life that when he grew up, he would be nothing like his father. He thought he had succeeded fairly well, until Magdalena Cruz came home.
What could he do to make her see him as a man, not just Hank Dalton’s son?
He was still wondering that precisely ten minutes later when he finished with his next patient, eighty-year-old Millicent Hall, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and who
With a sigh, he turned back to Hector. “I’m going to prescribe some pills that should help but like I told you last month, you’re going to have to lay off the jalapeños for a while until things settle down a little.”
Maggie dutifully translated his words into Spanish. He listened to her, pleased that he could understand most of what she said.
Listening to her fluid words was a guilty kind of pleasure. How pathetic was he that he could be turned on listening to talk about ulcer advice in Spanish?
Somehow the words seemed lush and romantic when she spoke them in her low, melodic voice.
Hector asked him a question too rapidly for him to catch it all. He looked toward Maggie for help.
“He wants to know if he should continue his current dose of acid reflux medicine.”
“I’d like to increase the dose to twice a day. Call me next week to see how that works. Oh, and if you don’ttake ten minutes to put your leg up in my office I’m going to carry you in there myself.”
Maggie started to translate his words to Hector, but stopped and glared when the last phrase registered.
“Try it, Dalton, and you’ll find out every dirty trick they taught me in the Army.”
Hector snickered, apparently understanding more English than he let on. Jake spared the man only a quick glance, then turned his attention back to her. “Take a rest, Maggie. I’ll be okay for a while on my own, I promise. If I need it, I can muddle through with my high school Spanish for my next few patients.”
“I’m fine.”
“Please, Maggie. I don’t want you to wear yourself out.”
“You better do what he says,” Hector said to her in Spanish. “The man knows what he’s talking about.”
“Gracias,” Jake said, earning a grin from Hector.
It was killing her not to rip into him in front of a patient. He could see thunderclouds gather in her dark eyes and her slim hands clench in her lap. After a charged, frustrated moment, she let out a breath and grabbed her forearm crutches.
“You know how to find my office?”
“I’ll look for the Obnoxious Know-It-All sign above the door.”
He grinned. “That’s one way to find it. It’s also the last room on the right.”
“Just so you know, Dalton, I’m growing very tired of you ordering me around,” she muttered at the door. “I don’t remember asking you to babysit me.”
“Somebody has to. If you would take care of yourself, I wouldn’t have to do it for you.”
She apparently decided not to dignify that with a response. With another fulminating glare that included the hapless Hector Manuel, she swung out of the exam room on her crutches and headed down the hall, still managing to convey anger even with her back to them.
“Man, are you in trouble.” Hector shook his head in sympathy.
He didn’t know the half of it. Jake sighed as he wrapped things up and moved on to his next patient. How would he ever get through the barricades she seemed determined to erect between them? Was it even possible?
What if his last name wasn’t Dalton? Would she still be so confrontational?
It seemed like the height of irony that she should hate him for his father’s sins.
Maybe he would look at things differently if he’d had a glowing relationship with Hank Dalton, if he considered his father someone who deserved love and respect. He had lived with the man. He knew what a bastard he could be.
He’d resolved early in life that when he grew up, he would be nothing like his father. He thought he had succeeded fairly well, until Magdalena Cruz came home.
What could he do to make her see him as a man, not just Hank Dalton’s son?
He was still wondering that precisely ten minutes later when he finished with his next patient, eighty-year-old Millicent Hall, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and who
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