A Wife For Dr. Sam

Chapter Two

“No!”

“No!”

Their denials were spoken in unison, even in perfect harmony, as though a conductor had lowered his baton to signal the first fortissimo notes of a fiery duet.

But this was no duet. It was an anguished protest to a fate that seemed intent on bedeviling two nice, unsuspecting people caught in a web of circumstances through no fault of their own.

“You are Kirsten Reinhold? The angel of mercy and paragon of virtue whose praise Coralie has been singing to me for months?” Sam sputtered.

“And you… You are Sam Lawford? The world’s most eligible bachelor, who only needs the right woman to turn him into the world’s most perfect husband?” Kirsten stammered sarcastically. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were this morning?”

“Why didn’t I? I did. I gave you my business card. Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

She couldn’t believe he could be so obtuse. “I did. I wrote it all out on a piece of paper and handed it to you. It’s not my fault you didn’t look at it.”

Her sense of fair play finally caught up with her, and she sighed. “Although, I…I have to admit I didn’t read your card, either.”

A second male voice boomed through the room. “What’s going on here?”

It was Jim Buckley. In the few hours she’d been at the farm, Kirsten found him to be every bit as handsome and loving toward his family as Coralie had said. And he was just plain nice. Now he was standing next to Coralie, and they both looked surprised and perplexed.

Kirsten was the first to offer an explanation. “This…this is the man who was involved in the accident with me on the road this morning.” Her tone still rang with resentment.

“She caved in the whole side of my car,” Sam inter-jected, angrily.

“I did no such thing.” Her denial was heated. “It was only a slight dent in the front fender. The way you carry on you’d think I’d run over one of your children.”

“I don’t have any children, but I’ve only had that car for a week. Six days to be exact,” he said, fuming. “I had to go all the way to Boise to find a BMW dealership, and it hardly had a fingerprint on it until you came roaring down the road and rammed into it.”

Kirsten’s mouth dropped open. “Roaring down the road!” she raged. “I was barely moving. Twenty miles an hour at the most when you came out of nowhere and drove right in front of me—”

“Whoa there, take it easy!” Jim interrupted as he stepped between the two combatants. “Let’s cool down a little and find out what really happened.” He nodded to Kirsten. “Okay, you first.”

Belatedly Kirsten realized that both she and Sam were being rude, to say nothing of tacky, by waging their quarrel in the home of their host and hostess. She was regretful and embarrassed, but they’d gone too far now not to try to settle it.

She recounted how she’d taken her eyes off the road for just a second to turn off the radio. “I don’t know where he came from. There wasn’t a car in sight when I looked,” she concluded.

“You claim you didn’t see the stop sign, either,” Sam pointed out, “so you couldn’t have even looked to the sides of the road.”

Kirsten knew what he said was undoubtedly true, and she would have admitted it if he’d been reasonable. But he wasn’t reasonable, so she wasn’t going to be either. She’d already apologized, and she wasn’t about to do it again.

“I did, too—” she started to insist, but again Jim interrupted.

“Now hold on a minute, both of you.” Jim’s tone was stern. “Kirsten, you’ve told your side of the story, now let Sam tell his.” He looked at the other man. “Okay, pal, go ahead.”

Sam wished he’d used more restraint when he first realized that Coralie’s friend and houseguest was the woman who’d bashed in his car. Unfortunately he’d shot off his mouth, and now all he could do was take a deep breath and try to control his aggravation. “I had a full schedule of patients at my office this morning when I had to drop everything and hurry out to Chester Atkinson’s farm to help one of his cows deliver a calf that was turned wrong and couldn’t be expelled…”

“A calf?” Kirsten broke in, too astonished to be polite. “I thought you were an M.D.!”

He looked at her and nodded brusquely. “I am, but there’s only one veterinarian in this whole area, and he had to fly back East a couple of days ago to attend the funeral of a family member, so I was the next best thing. Delivering baby animals isn’t that much different from delivering baby humans, and without medical intervention both the cow and the calf would have died.”

Kirsten was stunned by an unexpected rush of admiration for this pugnacious man. She’d worked with a lot of physicians, but she doubted that any of them would have interrupted office hours to make a house call way out in the country to deliver a calf!

“Are they all right?” she asked softly.

He nodded and smiled. “Yeah. All the little guy needed was to be repositioned and he popped right out.”

He looked altogether different when he smiled. His cold brown eyes warmed and softened, and his whole expression lightened. For the first time she saw the slight indentations of dimples on either side of his mouth.

Was it possible she’d misjudged him? If he’d had an office full of sick patients waiting for him to return from an emergency house call, it was no wonder he’d been so harried and impatient with her. She’d delayed his return even longer, as well as damaging his new car.

“That…that’s very commendable of you, Doctor,” she said, suddenly shy as she basked in the warmth of his smile. “I’m a nurse, and I don’t know any physicians who make house calls for humans, let alone animals.”

He chuckled, and there was a sensual sound to it that made her tingle. “I assure you, going to the cow was the only way to handle the situation. Can you just imagine the reaction of my waiting room full of patients if Farmer Atkinson had led his bellowing pregnant bovine into their midst?” He extended his hand. “And please, call me Sam.”

She put her hand in his. His was smooth and well cared for, as most doctors’ hands were, but it was also hard and muscular and his grip was strong.

Their gazes met, and for the first time he was looking at her as an attractive woman instead of an incompetent ditz who couldn’t even steer a car down a deserted highway without running into his new and expensive toy.

“All right, Sam,” she said. “And I’m Kirsten. Coralie’s told me so much about you that I feel as if I already know you.”

He still held her hand, and she couldn’t seem to summon the willpower to pull it out of his grasp.

“Did she tell you that I sometimes act like a real jerk?” he asked seriously.

“No, that came as a surprise,” she blurted and felt the hot blush of embarrassment stain her face as soon as she realized what she’d said. “Oh, I mean…That is…”

He squeezed her hand and released it. “Don’t apologize,” he admonished her. “I had that coming. I’ve been acting like a spoiled five-year-old throwing a tantrum because one of my playthings got broken. I am sorry. I’m not usually so impatient and childish. It must have been the pressure of time constraints. I’ve been literally running from one patient to another all day long, and I’m afraid I got my priorities screwed up. Will you please forgive me?”

There was a twinkle in his deep-set eyes, and she would have forgiven him anything. “Of course,” she agreed readily, “if you’ll forgive me for damaging your beautiful car.”

He shrugged. “It’s nothing a little bodywork won’t fix.”

He was being amazingly casual about the accident, considering how upset he’d been just a few minutes earlier.

Coralie finally spoke from her position beside Kirsten. “If you two have settled the matter of who did what to whom, we’d better sit down to supper before everything gets cold.”

For the next couple of hours Kirsten thoroughly enjoyed herself. The food she and Coralie had prepared was delicious; Jim was a gracious host; his daughters were bright and well mannered, and Dr. Sam Lawford had made a lightning change from ogre to charmer.

Her innate good sense told her she shouldn’t be captivated by his illusive charm, but she couldn’t help herself. He was seated next to her at the table, and she was again aware of the fresh, clean aroma of the forest that she’d noticed that morning. The scent was uniquely his and it drew her attention no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

Contrary to Coralie’s efforts at matchmaking, Kirsten hadn’t come to Idaho to find a groom. Oh, her long-term goal was to settle down with a husband and children, but she’d only recently celebrated her twenty-sixth birthday, and there were still a lot of things she wanted to do before she got to that point.

She wanted to advance in her profession. She loved nursing, and hoped someday to go back to school to become a nurse-practitioner. She also wanted to travel, to see the world a little at a time: Europe, Asia, and especially Scandinavia where her dad’s family had its roots. Her parents were middle-class people who had trouble making ends meet, so she’d had to put herself through college with scholarships and part-time jobs.

Now she wanted to be free, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t date and have fun. Far from it. She had a very satisfactory social life in Eureka and dated often, but never exclusively with one man. She had many male friends, but drew the line at taking any of them as lovers.

Sam finished his strawberry shortcake smothered in fresh whipped cream and sank back with a contented sigh. Coralie had moved the adults into the comfort of the living room before serving dessert, but Gloria and Amber had taken theirs and gone upstairs to watch television in their rooms.

He and Kirsten were seated together on the sofa. If she hadn’t been wearing a full-skirted cotton dress that billowed on either side, their hips would have been touching. His thigh muscles twitched at the thought, and it was all he could do to keep his hand from inching over to caress her leg.

He hated to admit it to himself, but his usual keen assessment of people had been really flawed this time. Kirsten Reinhold was neither airheaded nor conniving. She was not only beautiful, as he’d discovered this morning before he knew who she was, but she was also well above average in intelligence and shared many of his interests. They were both trained in medicine, but they also shared a love of country-and-western music, mystery novels and the Oakland A’s.

There was one thing he’d been right about this morning, however. She was one sexy lady! Not flashy or blatant. She did nothing to call attention to herself, but there was a warmth about her, a radiant appeal that drew him like a magnet and made him itch to touch her, hold her as he had for a few moments that morning when she had literally fallen into his arms, and caress the soft curves of her high breasts, small waist and enticing hips.

A wave of heat rolled through him and brought him back to reality with a thud. Damn! What was the matter with him? He was behaving more like a lusty teenager than an analytical physician who knew exactly what he did and didn’t want in his life.

He definitely did not want Kirsten Reinhold! She would be a surefire impediment to his peace of mind.

Coralie and Jim were describing their wedding to Kirsten, and Sam jumped into the conversation at the first opportunity. “Coralie was so disappointed when you were unable to be maid of honor,” he told Kirsten. “She said you were ill.”

Kirsten nodded. “Yes, I was. It started with flulike symptoms that I couldn’t seem to shake. I kept on working until one day I could hardly crawl out of bed, and then I went to the doctor. By that time it had gone into pneumonia, complicated by attacks of asthma. I was in and out of the hospital for more than a month.”

Concern and impatience warred in Sam as she talked. “Good Lord, woman,” he growled. “You’re a nurse. You must have known better than to ignore an illness that severe.”

He saw an answering impatience in her snapping brown eyes. “You’re right, Doctor, but tell me something. How long does it take you to seek medical advice when you’re sick?”

She had him there. “It doesn’t apply to me. I’m a physician,” he said evasively. “I can diagnose my own illnesses. Besides, I’m never sick.”

“Neither am I,” she drawled, “and as a nurse I recognized the symptoms of viral influenza, but in the beginning they are also symptoms of a bad cold, and that’s what I thought I had. By the time I realized it was more serious, I had pneumonia along with it.”

He frowned. “And the asthma? Is it chronic?”

She shook her head. “I never had it before in my life. At least, not that I know of. My doctor says I probably did, but like this time always thought it was a cold. Anyway, I had to take two courses of antibiotics to clear up the pneumonia, and steroids for the asthma.”

He wished she wouldn’t bait him to anger and then make him feel like a brute when he responded. “And did they clear up the pneumonia and the asthma? Are you well now?”

She nodded, but still kept her eyes downcast. “Yes.”

He had an overwhelming desire to put his fingers under her chin and lift her face so she would have to look at him, but he didn’t trust himself to touch her. “Then your doctor has given you a clean bill of health?”

Apparently she was going to make him pull the information out of her a word or sentence at a time.

“Not quite.” She spoke in little more than a whisper. “My immune system has been weakened, and he won’t give me an okay to go back to work until next month.”

Relief washed through Sam, and he tried for a lighter tone. “You have a smart physician. No doubt he told you to get plenty of rest and not to exert yourself?”

She did look up at him then and smiled. “Well, not exactly. What he said was to absorb plenty of sunshine and fresh air, but Eureka is on the ocean and the climate is damp and chilly most of the time—even in the summer. Coralie and Jim offered me the use of Jim’s dad’s house while he’s gone, so I’m looking forward to breaking some horses and plowing the back forty.”

She laughed and everyone laughed with her, but Sam wasn’t altogether sure she was teasing.

Although the company was great and the conversation stimulating, by ten o’clock Sam was bone weary. It had been a long, busy, emotion-filled day, and if by some miracle he wasn’t wakened during the night by a phone call he still had early appointments in the morning.

Besides, he could see that Kirsten was as exhausted as he. She’d only arrived this morning from California, which meant that she must have been on the road for the better part of three days. He would bet his practice her doctor hadn’t approved that trip!

At the next break in the conversation he stifled a yawn and stood up. “I hate to break up the evening,” he said with real regret, “but if you’ll excuse me I’m going home to try for a couple of hours’ sleep before someone else’s cow has an obstetrical emergency.”

They all laughed and stood up, too. “It’s past my bedtime, also,” Kirsten said. She was standing next to him, so close that the back of his hand brushed her skirt and sent tingles up his spine. “I’ll help you with the dishes,” she said to Coralie, “and then I’m going to the cottage.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Coralie admonished. “The girls have already cleared the table. All I have to do is stack the dishwasher, but since you left your car at Buck’s and walked over, I’ll drive you back to his house first. You do look tired.”

“I’ll drop her off,” Sam offered. After all, it was the polite thing to do, so why did his instinct warn him to shut up and leave? Let someone else take this cuddly kitten to her bedroom. He didn’t want her sharp, little claws digging into him.

“That’s not necessary,” Kirsten protested. “It’s only about a block away. I can walk—”

“No you can’t, city girl,” Sam said, totally ignoring his better sense. “You’re not in town now. There are no street-lights, and you can’t wander around a strange rural area in the dark.” He eyed her feet. “Especially not in those high heels.”

She knew he was right and didn’t resist when he took her arm and turned them toward the door. “I’ll deliver you to your house. I don’t want to be called out in the middle of the night to set your broken bones after a fall on this rough terrain.”

After friendly good-nights and thank-yous, Sam put Kirsten in his damaged car and within seconds they arrived at her destination. He shut off the motor and escorted her up to the house in the dark.

Kirsten was having second thoughts about her earlier attitude toward him. They’d both been rattled by the collision and had lashed out at each other in anger, without either giving the other the benefit of the doubt.

Since Sam and Jim were almost as close as brothers, she knew it would cause a lot of tension and dissension if she and Sam spent the next month sniping at each other. It was time for them to have a private talk and try to banish their animosity toward one another.

“Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?” she asked as she inserted her key in the lock.

Sam was surprised by the invitation. Her voice was low and husky, and the wave of heat he’d felt earlier returned in force.

Would he? Damn right he would! And so would any other hot-blooded man she issued the invitation to. Was she coming on to him? Had she decided to play along with Coralie’s matchmaking scheme for them after all?

No, he couldn’t believe that. She seemed rather naive. She probably didn’t realize what a late-night invitation like that so often implied. “Thank you, but may I take a rain check? You need your rest, and so do I.”

That was a laugh. She’d just blown any thoughts of sleep out of the water for him.

The moon was bright enough that he could see her expression. She looked neither surprised nor disappointed as she opened the door. Instead she cleared her throat and said, “I noticed that Mr. Buckley’s well-stocked cupboards include coffee, tea and cookies,” she said flirtatiously.

Damn it, she was coming on to him. His stomach muscles clenched in a combination of interest and anger. He hadn’t been so wrong about her this morning after all. Apparently she was going to play Coralie’s game and look for a husband while she was here.

Well, he wasn’t going to be titillated into marriage by any woman. “Kirsten, we have to talk.” He tried to keep the anger out of his tone, but he wasn’t succeeding.

He could see that she looked pleased. “All right, but let’s go inside. We’d be more comfortable in the house than standing out here on the doorstep.”

He sighed. She obviously wasn’t going to make this easy for him. She must know that she had the power to convince him she was innocent of any wrongdoing even as she seduced him, and apparently she intended to use it. Fortunately, he wasn’t as gullible as she thought.

“I’m sure we would be,” he grated. “It would also make it easier for you to entice me into believing anything you wanted me to, but you might as well give up. I have no interest in getting married, either now or in the future.”

This time she did react, and he had to give her credit for being a skilled actress. She truly looked dismayed and uncomprehending. “I don’t—” she exclaimed, but he cut her off.

“Please, Kirsten, I know all about Coralie’s plan to get you and me together. She thinks everyone has to be married to be truly happy, and since she found her true love through a personal ad she’s decided to help you in your quest for a husband by being your matrimonial agent. What I can’t figure out is why you’d go along with it. It’s hard to believe that you can’t find a husband on your own.”

She gasped and blinked those expressive brown eyes. “I’m not looking for a husband,” she protested vehemently. “And if I were I wouldn’t need anyone’s help finding one. I’m aware of what she’s up to, and I’ve told her I’m not interested, but if you knew Coralie as well as you think you do you’d know that she’s not easily dissuaded. She has only the best of intentions and I don’t like to be rude, so I just let her prattle on and ignore all her well-meant advice.”

She sounded so indignantly sincere that his first impulse was to back down and apologize, but that was exactly what she wanted. She even fluttered her long, thick eyelashes to make him think she was blinking back tears.

He drew a deep breath and hardened his resolve. “You’re good. You really are,” he said. “For a while there tonight you actually had me believing that you were as resistant to the interference as I am, but then you made the mistake of trying to seduce me.”

He saw the flush of heat that turned her face red, but he was too late to deflect the full cutting force of her rage. “Why you arrogant bastard!” Her voice was low and filled with scorn. “Since when does an invitation to come in for coffee after a pleasant evening translate into a roll between the sheets? If that’s been your experience, then the women around here must be awfully hard up for a man.”

Sam winced. It was obvious that he’d made another horrendous mistake in judgment, but she wasn’t about to let him explain and apologize.

She turned toward the open door. “I won’t tell Jim about this because I don’t want to cause any trouble between you, but I’m going to tell Coralie in no uncertain terms that I don’t like you and do not want her to pair us together again. I’ll make every effort to see to it that we don’t run into each other for the duration of my stay here, and I expect you to do the same.”

She walked into the house and slammed the door behind her.

Chapter Three

Kirsten was wakened the following morning by a loud, piercing noise that brought her to a sitting position before she even had her eyes open.

What on earth was that? She blinked to chase away the sleep-induced fog and looked at her watch. Five o’clock! What was waking her up so early? It was barely light out.