PATIENT CARE (Medical Romance) (Doctor Series) by Bobby Hutchinson Page B

beginner’s luck? Where did they go from here? How long would it last?
    If her track record was any indication, two weeks was about the limit.
    James came in, silky hair damp, eyes alive with pleasure as he looked at her, then at the sunny table. He was so appealing that he took her breath away.
    She handed him a mug of coffee and he kissed her, a nuzzling, grateful kiss. She pressed her lips into his neck before she stepped back, inhaling the clean scent of him.
    He was wearing the pants to his suit. The tails of his shirt were hanging out. His feet were bare. He’d rolled the shirtsleeves up his forearms.
    “I’ll have to stash some clothes over here. Putting on a dress shirt first thing in the morning feels weird.”
    Her heart skipped a beat.  “Are we?”
    He swallowed coffee and squinted at her. “Are we what?”
    Asking took courage, but she had to know. She forced her voice to sound offhand. “Going to make a habit of this.”
    He set the cup down and folded her into his arms. His voice was casual, although his heartbeat wasn’t. She could feel it against her cheek. “I’m game if you are.”
    She was. Oh, she was.
     
    They spent the weekend walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean, exploring antique stores along Main Street. She found two plates and a large creamer in the old rose pattern that matched her mother’s china. Melissa bought them for Betsy. He found an antique toy horse, a pinto complete with miniature bridle and saddle. He gave it to Melissa, with a little card that read “Until the real thing comes along.” He signed it “Love, James.”
    He took her comment about creativity to heart. Saturday and Sunday nights were explosive and tender and funny and blissful.
    On Monday morning, she drove him to work. Rudy didn’t comment when they came walking over, but Melissa knew he’d noticed. She caught the congratulatory wink he gave James as he served them coffee and currant scones, and instead of being outraged at such blatant male posturing, she was amused.
    Rudy said, “Wasn’t that some party?”
    Friday seemed a lifetime ago to Melissa. Since then her life had changed direction. She bit into the currant scone and relished every buttery bite.
    They rehashed the party and laughed with Rudy. When they walked off toward the hospital together, he burst into a noisy chorus of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and Melissa laughed so hard that James had to hold her up.
    The day proved Rudy was right.
    That very morning, the ministry came through with a viable offer, and after an emergency meeting, the physicians agreed to the government’s terms. By afternoon the strike was over.
    Before the day ended, James was back in the operating room, doing a hysterectomy, and Melissa was able to take two hours off and drive Betsy home.
    Betsy talked about James the whole way. She’d fallen under his spell. “If only your poor father could have had a doctor like him, he’d still be here today,” she declared. “He’s in love with you, Lissa. He all but told me so. He’s a fine man. Don’t you chew him up and spit him out like you’ve done with all the others.”
    Melissa gaped at her mother, indignant. “I’ve never done any such thing. And when did James tell you—”
    Betsy paid no attention. “You have your career. Now it’s time you thought about a husband and a family. I’m not getting any younger, you know, and I’d like a grandchild to spoil before I lose all my marbles. I get good and fed up with Gladys bragging all the time about her grandkids.”
    Melissa was shocked. Betsy had never even hinted at this before. Maybe her having been close to death had brought this on, Melissa thought after she’d gotten her mother settled in Gladys’s care and was heading back to St. Joe’s.
    Had James actually told Betsy he loved her?
    Betsy had said he all but had, whatever that meant.
    Melissa hadn’t dared put a name on what she felt for James.
    She probed at it now, like poking a