What The Cowboy Prescribes...

Meg didn’t feel like a stranger in Steve’s arms.

In fact, she felt practiced and confident kissing him. She didn’t care that Steve Hartly was completely and positively wrong for her in every way. She kissed him with all she had, refusing to harbor any negative thoughts.

Too soon he pulled away, leaving her lips bare and wanting. Meg’s heart thumped against her chest. Steve made her feel womanly and out of control all at the same time.

Why had she returned his kiss with such fervor? She needed him to help her, not kiss her. If she could get him to practice medicine again, he could save her clinic. She wanted to keep everything aboveboard—shove her physical needs out of the way.

Hoping to clear her mind, she breathed in the rich, thick morning air. Even in her confusion she knew one thing.

She wanted to understand Steve Hartly.

Dear Reader,

March roars in in grand style at Silhouette Romance, as we continue to celebrate twenty years of publishing the best in contemporary category romance fiction. And the new millennium boasts several new miniseries and promotions…such as ROYALLY WED, a three-book spinoff of the cross-line series that concluded last month in Special Edition Arlene James launches the new limited series with A Royal Masquerade, featuring a romance between would-be enemies, in which appearances are definitely deceiving.…

Susan Meier’s adorable BREWSTER BABY BOOM series concludes this month with Oh, Babies! The last Brewster bachelor had best beware—but the warning may be too late! Karen Rose Smith graces the lineup with the story of a very pregnant single mom who finds Just the Man She Needed in her lonesome cowboy boarder whose plans had never included staying. The delightful Terry Essig will touch your heart and tickle your funny bone with The Baby Magnet, in which a hunky single dad discovers his toddler is more of an attraction than him—till he meets a woman who proves his ultimate distraction.

A confirmed bachelor finds himself the solution to the command: Callie, Get Your Groom as Julianna Morris unveils her new miniseries BRIDAL FEVER! And could love be What the Cowboy Prescribes… in Mary Starleigh’s charming debut Romance novel?

Happy Reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

What The Cowboy Prescribes…

Mary Starleigh

MILLS & BOON

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To Susan McKeague Karnes, Liz Lounsbury, Tina Oldham and Donna Smith, fellow writers, who challenge, inspire and support.

Books by Mary Starleigh

Silhouette Romance

What the Cowboy Prescribes… #1437

Silhouette Yours Truly

The Texan and the Pregnant Cowgirl

MARY STARLEIGH,

born in North Carolina, is a ninth-generation Southerner. She claims her Southern background is where she acquired her love of romance. “I adore creating characters who are brave, honorable and find true love.”

She writes full-time, teaches English and creative writing part-time at a small Texas college and mentors high school students. Her husband, a pilot, reads all her romances. They have one daughter.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter One

“Sunshine needs a doctor.”

Meg Graham jumped at the desperate words and her heart thumped hard against her ribs. Cal Bradford’s scared face stared back at her. She stood and grabbed her medical bag. “Who is it?”

“Erin Waldron.”

Meg pushed past Cal, sprinted out of her office and clinic, and down the sidewalk to the Sunshine Café.

Out of breath, weary, and fighting a feeling of dread, she pulled the door open and rushed into the restaurant. A stranger was kneeling beside Erin. The man’s dark gaze was filled with concern and he was patting the healthy but frightened child.

Meg steadied herself by inhaling deeply.

“Listen, little guy, you choked because you didn’t take your time chewing.”

The man’s compassionate tone filled Meg with relief.

Erin nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Thank you.” Sue Waldron was standing close by her son. “Erin and I were on our way to get feed for his horse…and we just stopped…thank you so much.”

Sue’s voice broke, and Meg slid an arm around her shoulders.

The stranger stood and gazed down at Meg. He towered over her. “Erin’ll be fine. I’ve checked him.”

“Come on, Erin, we’d better get home,” Sue said.

Mother and son collected their belongings and headed for the door. Erin turned around and waved. “Thanks, mister.”

A smile and deep emotion graced the man’s face for a quick moment, then vanished.

Meg gripped one of the Sunshine’s red plastic chairs. “I can’t thank you enough. I’m Meg Graham, Jackson’s only doctor.” She stepped forward and extended her hand.

“No problem.” He nodded, shook her hand quickly, then turned and walked to his table. After placing a few bills by his check, he shrugged into his jacket and headed for the door.

“Hey, wait a minute. I’d like to know your name,” Meg called as she crossed the room.

As if not hearing her, he opened the door, stepped outside and pulled it closed behind him. Meg stared at the door for a moment, then grabbed the knob. She yanked it open and walked out into the Texas sunshine.

The man pivoted back toward her. Furrows gnarled his forehead and a look of pure aggravation darkened his handsome face. Chestnut hair, the color of a wild horse she’d ridden once, was combed back from his forehead. A black turtleneck accented his tanned skin and was tucked neatly into new jeans that had been pressed to a knife’s edge.

Her hand found his arm, and the rich, soft cashmere of his jacket. “At least tell me your name so I can thank you properly. Are you a doctor?”

“I was.”

“And your name?”

“Steve Hartly.”

His dark, smoky voice wove a spell around her. “Are you just passing through Jackson?” she pressed.

“I stopped for lunch.”

The color of his eyes, like dark Texas earth, again reflected the strong emotion she’d seen inside the café, when he was comforting the child.

Meg’s hand dropped to her side and she took an exhausted breath. “Thanks for stepping in and helping Erin.”

Steve studied her for a moment, then jammed his hands into his pockets. “You’re welcome. But there’s no need to thank me. It was a simple procedure.”

Before she could say anything else, he turned to leave.

Her hand flew to his arm again. At the touch, his biceps hardened, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

He turned back. “I need to get going.”

Meg caught a glimpse of their reflections in the mirrorlike, plate-glass window. Steve was at least a head taller, and the painted yellow heart on the café’s sign was accenting both their shimmering images.

Another fluttering of butterflies assaulted her.

“It’s tough being the only doctor in town,” she blurted. Now why had she said that?

Silently he studied every inch and curve of her body, then glanced into her eyes. “You look like you can handle just about anything.”

As if on the wild horse again, Meg felt her stomach flip-flop.

“Well…y-yes,” she stuttered, confused at her physical reaction to the stranger.

“I’ve got to be on my way.”

For some crazy reason, she didn’t want Steve to leave. “Sorry your lunch was interrupted.”

“No problem.” His right brow arched slightly, making his face more asymmetrical, yet more handsome.

“Sunshine has great food. You’ll have to…” The rest of her suggestion evaporated. What was she planning to say?

Steve brought his hand to his chin and studied her again.

“You might want…” Meg was finding it hard to complete a thought. “My office and clinic—” she pointed down the sidewalk “—right there.…”

She glanced back to the reflection in the café window. Why hadn’t she combed her hair earlier?

His brow arched again.

“Ever practice in a rural area?” she queried.

Steve shook his head.

“Well, it’s very interesting. Busy, though. Jackson’s a wonderful place.” She poised her hand on her hip. His eyes remained on her, and her mouth turned as dry as a Texas wind.

Darn it!

What was wrong with her? She’d felt so tired before she’d come down to the Sunshine, yet at the moment she was feeling so alive. Maybe all she needed was a good night’s sleep.

The sun came out from behind a feathery cloud, and Steve squinted a little. Tiny crinkles formed around his eyes and added to his attractiveness. There’d be no sleeping with this man around. Coming from out of nowhere, the thought jarred her.

Steve cleared his throat. “I should get going.”

Before she could say another word, he walked to a shiny black BMW sitting two parking spaces down from the Sunshine Café. His muscular legs carried his massive frame with ease.

Meg leaned against the concrete wall and crossed her arms. Steve opened the car door and climbed in. Through a lightly tinted windshield, she could see him settle himself against the seat and start the engine.

Then his attention shifted to her. His strong jaw accented his full mouth, and one dark brow arched higher than the other again, adding to his powerful, mysterious persona.

Meg’s stomach fluttered once more. She was either hungry or tired, and right now she couldn’t do anything about either state. She gripped her arms in a self-conscious hug, then raised her right hand and waved goodbye.

Steve didn’t smile, only nodded, then maneuvered the soundless automobile out of the parking space onto Main Street.

She chewed the inside of her cheek and shoved her hands into her pockets. Thank goodness that was over. But she was glad he’d been around to help Erin.

Cal Bradford opened the café door. “Hey, Meg, can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

“No thanks, Cal. I’ve got to get back to the office. How’s Donna?”

“She’ll be okay if I can keep her from working so hard.”

“You need to make her stay off her feet. It won’t be too long now until you’re a daddy.”

Cal smiled and then shook his head. “You know Donna when she makes up her mind.” He shifted his gaze to the street. “Good that guy was here.”

“Yes.” She gazed at the last trace of shiny black metal. “Don’t let Donna work too hard, Cal.” Meg nodded to him and started down the sidewalk to her office. She only managed to take a few steps before she glanced over her shoulder.

The black BMW had disappeared.

Hopefully, her afternoon and evening would be less disruptive than the past ten minutes had been.

Three hours later, Meg sat behind her desk, closed her eyes and wondered how long a person could actually go without sleep.

“You okay, Mego?”

She glanced at her cousin and held out the letter she was still holding in her hand. “My insurance company says I need another doctor for the clinic.”

“So go out and hire one,” James Dean Pruitt stated in his matter-of-fact way.

His innocence made her want to laugh, but the aching fatigue attacking her every muscle wouldn’t allow Meg even a chuckle. She shook her head. “I tried to find someone last weekend when Jackson almost fell apart without me.”

“Kate and I figured you went to Galveston for a long weekend. Not so, huh?”

Meg waved the letter again. “For weeks I’ve been trying to find a doctor who’ll work in Jackson. This bureaucratic memo from my insurance company gives me no choice now.”

“How so?”

“They’re demanding I find another doctor or they’re pulling my malpractice insurance.”

“Can they do that?”

“Sure. The suits at the home office claim that with my high doctor-patient ratio it’s unsafe for me to run the clinic.” From a tiny reserve of stamina, Meg found the energy to laugh. The entire situation seemed so ridiculous. Not one physician at the Rural Conference for Doctors in Dallas had been interested in practicing in her hometown.

Her head throbbed and her body ached. If she were her own patient, she’d order herself to go straight to bed for three days. Maybe this was how people really lost it—never getting a decent night’s sleep and then careering straight off the deep end.

“Nobody wants to come to Jackson?” James Dean’s question shifted her attention. He frowned.

“Not one. I’m still the only doctor for seventy-five miles.” She brought her hand back to the desk and thumped the golden oak with her knuckles. “I even paid my own way to Dallas. Do you have any idea how much hotel rooms cost in that city?” She brought her hands to her face and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers.

James Dean rose from his chair, stepped over to her desk and rested his large palms on the only space not covered with papers. “Mego, you’re gonna wear out real quick.”

She inhaled a defeated breath at his realistic words and cradled her chin in laced fingers. He was right. In the past few weeks, she’d made mistakes from sheer exhaustion. She’d caught them all, but it was starting to spook her.

“I still can’t believe John left…and for money. I’m trying to take care of his patients and mine. One human being can’t do it all.” Being a small-town general practitioner gave new meaning to the word busy.

“Something has to give,” James Dean said.

“A lot of things will give. If I don’t find someone in a month, I’m going to have to close the clinic.”

Her cousin straightened, crossed his arms and stared down at her. “You can’t do that. We need you.”

“And I can’t run the clinic without insurance. That would be professional suicide.”

“Folks aren’t going to like driving to Fort Worth. How about Charlie’s asthma?”

“I know,” Meg whispered. She massaged her temples again. She’d treated James Dean’s son many times for a mild case of asthma. “Too bad the doctor I met at the Sunshine Café isn’t sticking around.”

“What?”

“Erin Waldron choked on a piece of hot dog down at the café. A doctor who had stopped for lunch helped out.”

She’d sign Steve Hartly up in a minute. A laugh slipped from her lips. She wondered how he’d like working in a run-down, dusty Texas town.

“Something funny?”

“No. Just thinking about a man I met.”

“About time.” James Dean’s eyes gleamed.

“It’s not like that.” But with only the brief memory of Steve Hartly, the silly butterflies were back. To fight them, she turned her attention to the letter on the desk. “What am I going to do?”

“If it’s money…Kate and I could scrape up a few bucks.”

She looked up at James Dean, loving him for the offer. “It’s not the money. That’s the least of it. I need a warm, breathing body attached to a medical license, someone who just happens to be living in Jackson.”

Steve stared at the cracked kitchen sink, then turned, walked into the living room and glanced around. Every window in the house had been broken out.

He owned a certifiable, unlivable dump.

That hard fact, on top of the emergency in the café during lunch, grated on his nerves. He’d vowed never to touch another patient again, but when he’d seen the child choking, how could he not help? And the doctor he’d met after had thanked him so nicely.

An image of Meg Graham paraded through his thoughts. Her open, pretty face and expressive, chocolate-brown eyes still grabbed at his gut. The desire to see her again oozed through his body like warm syrup.

Steve danced the beam of the flashlight over the walls of the living room to distract himself from thoughts of Meg.

Why did I have to stop for a meal where there was a medical emergency?

An autumnlike breeze whipped through the broken windows and fanned across the living room to the kitchen, causing the screen door to squeak.

He wasn’t even sure where to begin repairs. The Realtor had said it was a fixer-upper. Spending the past five years of his life as an emergency-room doctor had prepared him to repair broken bodies, not plumbing or drywall.

Steve crossed the carpetless floor and stepped onto the small front porch. He gazed at the orange-streaked sky spreading to the far horizon. Its beauty was foreign to him. In Houston he’d never had time to enjoy sunsets.

The sound of a car and the flash of headlights coming down the lane brought his gaze around. A GMC utility vehicle kicked up pebbles as it turned into the only other driveway on the small stretch of road.

Must be his neighbors coming home. Maybe they’d know someone he could hire to replace the windows in the house. Then, at least, he wouldn’t have to sleep in his car for more than a few nights.

Taking the three small steps all at once, Steve lunged off the porch, hoping his new neighbors were friendly.

Chapter Two

Meg clicked on the kitchen light and set her grocery bag on the counter. She glanced at the wall clock above the stove. If there were no emergencies, she might get a decent night’s sleep.

If she could sleep.

What in the world was she going to do about the demands of the insurance company? There were no quick solutions. And to top it off, the incident at the café this afternoon had rattled her more than she liked to admit.

The tall, handsome image of Steve Hartly danced slowly through her exhausted thoughts. She couldn’t put her finger on what, but there was something very different about him.

She puffed out a deep breath.

Something different, indeed. She’d practically hyperventilated when she’d looked into his eyes.

Meg chuckled. Even as bushed as she was, she could still fantasize about a good-looking stranger. She shifted her attention and gazed out the window.

“What a stranger,” she whispered. He was unique, but strange? No. She’d felt quite at ease with him even though he hadn’t said much. And in those few short moments, she’d sensed he had some kind of worry on his mind.

Meg shrugged her shoulders. Oh well, she’d never see him again. She crossed the kitchen and stopped to check the answering machine. The green light held steady, thank goodness. She tapped the beeper attached to her waistband as if knocking on wood.

This afternoon she’d finished her office appointments, returned all telephone calls and completed her house visits. For the first time in three weeks, she was caught up on everything except sleep.

Maybe if I splash my face with cold water, I’ll feel better.

Back at the sink, Meg turned on the faucet, cupped her hands and splashed cold well water onto her face in an attempt to relieve the soreness in her eyes. Then she patted her hand on the counter, in search of a towel.

Darn! All her towels were in the hamper with the other laundry she planned on doing. As she straightened, droplets of water ran from her face and hair onto her collar. A knock brought her gaze to the locked screen door.

Steve Hartly stood on her back porch, outlined by the wooden frame, his image blurred by the gray mesh of the screen.

“Oh!” Meg’s heart raced against her ribs, her breath coming in quick puffs. Why was he standing on her porch out in the middle of nowhere?

“I didn’t mean to startle you.” His deep voice carried across the room to her.

“What in the world?” Meg’s chest heaved and her hand fluttered to her heart.

Steve’s expression turned to sheer surprise. “I saw a car…but didn’t realize it was…”

“What are you doing here?” Maybe he was strange. He could easily have waited and followed her home. The thought quickened her heartbeat, causing her chest to tighten.

“I saw a car and figured it was my neighbor.” Steve rested his hand against the doorjamb and squared his shoulders. Even through the screen the man looked extremely handsome.

“Where were you when you saw me?” Meg reached for a paper towel and patted her face dry, her heart still stampeding. At least the screen was locked.

“I own the house down the road.” His left hand went to his head and he scrubbed his hair with his fingers.

“You bought the Lemon House?”

“No.”

“If you bought the house down the road, then you own the Lemon House.” She pressed her fingers against her lips.

How in the world could he live in that dilapidated old place? And right down the road from her. She drew a wooden kitchen chair out from under the table and sat down.

He nodded. “Oh, Lemon House, right. I get it.”

“Everyone in town calls it that.” She stood. “Sorry I didn’t ask you in. Blame my bad manners on surprise.” Meg walked to the door, unlatched it, then pushed it open. “Please, come in.”

Steve filled the entire door frame with his brawny physique. Grime and dirt covered his jacket. A wave of sympathy rolled up Meg’s spine. The Lemon House’s condition was probably worse than she imagined. It had been years since she’d even been inside the abandoned place.

“Can I offer you a cold drink?”

“No thanks.” He looked around her bright kitchen.

“I didn’t think anyone would buy that old house.”

“I failed to ask the Realtor for details.” He smiled a little, and her breath caught in the back of her throat.

She stepped back a tiny bit and looked up at him. Steve was taller than she’d realized. “You don’t plan on staying there, do you?” The idea of him living in the falling down house didn’t sit comfortably with her.

“I came over to see if you know of a repairman. All the windows are broken out.…” He squared his shoulders again.

Meg held back a smile. It was hard to believe anything could daunt Steve Hartly. She studied the pained look on his face and another wave of sympathy moved through her.

“I might know of someone who can help you. Please, why don’t you sit down?” She found her own chair at the table.

Steve joined her and folded his hands in front of him. The fact that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring intrigued Meg.

Her gaze moved to his, and she found him staring at her. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Thanks. Anybody else live around here?”

“Just me…and now you.”

The worry line between his dark brows deepened.

“Are you going to make some of the repairs yourself?” Her heart thumped hard in her throat. The man sitting across from her seemed to undermine her self-possession.

“I was planning on making the minor ones. Now I’m thinking about just renting a bulldozer and…”

“Oh, it can’t be that bad. Besides, Jackson has a great hardware store. Down the street from the café. Bowden’s. Family-owned. Saturday nights they sponsor a country-and-western dance at the Sunshine Café. People come from miles around to dance and have fun.”