Midnight Remedy (7 page)

“Don’t you want me to give him the formula?”

“Sure.” He walked over and stood in front of her, smiling slightly.

“Then why don’t you want me to have dinner with him?” She caught a glimpse of devilishly smiling eyes before he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her. It didn’t last long, but even so, fire shot through her veins as his mouth settled firmly and skillfully over hers.

Eric raised his mouth from hers. “Does that answer your question?”

No, actually it raised a heck of a lot more questions than it answered. “Why did you do that?”

“Impulse?”

“Fat chance. You wouldn’t know impulse if it jumped up and bit you in the face.”

Eric’s eyes flashed. His fingers tightened on her shoulders as he looked down at her. Then he dragged her against him and his mouth came down on hers again. She knew she should shove him away, but she hesitated and in doing so, lost the will. This time he lingered, his tongue slipping lightly into her mouth, enticing, intriguing, making her wonder why she’d ever imagined he was stuffy. One hand slid from her shoulder to the small of her back, bringing her closer to him. After an endless moment he released her.

They stared at each other. Breathlessly, Piper said, “Okay, so maybe I was wrong.”

“Are you going to go out with me tonight?”

Oh, she was tempted. “No,” she forced herself to say.

“So you’re going with Dave?”

He looked amazingly disappointed. She steeled herself against him. Slick, she thought. Just like
 . . .
“No, I’m not going with either of you.”

“Can I do anything to change your mind?” His gaze held hers for a long moment and dropped to her mouth, lingering, intent.

“No,” she said hastily, before she weakened. Her knees wanted to buckle, just from a look. But she wasn’t going to give in. She had more sense than that. Eric only wanted the formula, and if he didn’t
 . . .
If he wanted something else, then she could really be in trouble.

Piper couldn’t concentrate
on her work the next couple of days. At the potting bench as usual, she wondered wistfully what would have happened if she’d gone out with Eric. Better not to think about it, she told herself. Better not to remember what kissing him—

“Hello, Piper.”

Not the voice of her daydreams. Neil Croaker, her ex-fiancé. Great, just what she needed. “What do you want?”

“Stopped by to talk to Charlie about that new stud. How Charlie got hold of him I can’t figure out. Thought we might make a deal for the stud fee.” Neil’s gaze took in every detail of her appearance in a long, lecherous appraisal. She wondered what had happened to the sweet boy she’d been engaged to so long ago. Too much of his mother’s influence, she decided.

“He’s probably in the barn,” she said brusquely. “Go on down.” Ignoring him, she turned back to her work.

“You’re looking good, Piper.”

Having learned from experience where the conversation was heading, she didn’t reply. Neil strolled over to stand next to her, watching her pot her newest orchid. Dark hair, blue eyes—he was a good-looking man still, and he knew it. As owner of one of the largest ranches in the area, he was a big fish in a little pond. He liked that, too.

“Real good,” he murmured, running his index finger down her cheek.

Piper jerked away. “Grandpa’s in the barn.”

“What’s wrong, baby? Afraid that old feeling will come back?”

“Not a chance. Forget it, Neil. Go home to your wife. I’m not interested.” She forced herself not to jam the orchid into its new home.

“Are you afraid Nadine will find out?” He reached out and put his hand on her neck, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “Shoot, honey, there’s ways around that. I have a place nobody knows about.”

That she didn’t doubt. Neil was notorious for his roving eye. “Stop it,” she said, batting his hand away. “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?”

He took hold of her arms and jerked her up against him. “Hey, baby, when are you gonna forgive me for marrying Nadine?”

Struggling, she shoved him away from her. “If I had a brick, I swear I’d hit you with it. Only that wouldn’t get through to you either.”

“Drop the virtuous act,” he said, sidling up next to her again. “Don’t forget I know the whole story. You didn’t have anything against married men a few years ago, now did you?”

Piper paled, then flushed with anger. “If you think that’s smooth, you need to work on your lines. Get out.”

“Heard about your new beau. Guess I should’a been a doctor, huh? Then you wouldn’t be worried if I was married or not. Maybe you can get yourself pregnant again,” he jeered.

Her palm cracked against his cheek with a satisfyingly loud noise, snapping his head back. Eyes narrowed, he rubbed the side of his face and gave her a nasty smile. “Think you’ll snare this one? At least he’s divorced.”

Chest heaving, she started to let fly with her opinion of him when she heard a voice call out her name.

“Piper?” Walking through the doorway that adjoined the two greenhouse sections, Eric glanced at Neil, then her. “I didn’t realize you had a customer. Cole said you were out here.”

Wonderful, she thought. It had to be Eric. She knew her face flamed and could just imagine the conclusion he’d reached.

After another lewd smile at her, Neil turned to Eric. “I’m not a customer. I’m an old friend of Piper’s. Neil Croaker. You must be
 . . .
”

“Eric Chambers,” he said, but Piper noticed he didn’t offer his hand.

“Good-bye, Neil,” she said.

He put his finger under her chin and tilted it up. She knocked it away and Neil grinned again. “See you later, Piper.” With a nod at Eric, he left.

Neil Croaker, Piper’s ex-fiancé, Eric thought. If he could believe Mrs. Croaker, though, not the father of her son. Eric hoped that was true, hating to think of a cute kid like Cole being related to the piece of scum he’d just met.

Piper lifted her chin and said pugnaciously, “What? Don’t stand there and stare at me like I’m one of your patients.”

He grinned. “Believe me, that’s the last thing on my mind when I look at you.”

Hands on her hips, she faced him belligerently. “Go on, ask me. Aren’t you wondering what that was about?”

“No.” He shrugged. “The handprint on his cheek pretty much told the story.”

Her eyes widened and most of the defiance left. “It’s not what you think.”

“Piper, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that he got fresh and you popped him one.” And that Croaker had undoubtedly deserved it.

“Was it so obvious?” She started to turn away.

Laughing, he picked up her hand. “Who’d have thought such a delicate hand hid such strength? You looked like you were about to level him when I walked in.”

“If only I had,” she muttered, flushing and pulling her hand away. “Why are you here?”

“To see if you’d change your mind.” Eric had given her a couple of days to cool off, but he hadn’t been able to make himself stay away any longer. She’d begun to haunt his dreams—and not solely in a sexual way. He felt a prickle of uneasiness at the thought, but ignored it.

“I told Dave—”

“About going to dinner with me,” he interrupted.

She stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “It’s only dinner, Piper. What’s the harm?”

“I’m—I’m not dressed.”

He smiled, the one designed to set nervous patients at ease. “You look fine to me.” Fine wasn’t exactly the word. Luscious better described her. Funny thing was, she didn’t even work at it. Even in a muddy T-shirt with the hem ripped out, she looked great.

“Then you must need glasses,” she said tartly. “I’m covered in mud.”

Eric rubbed her cheek lightly with his thumb. “One small smudge isn’t covered in mud.” He heard her breath draw in at the contact. Wide, vulnerable eyes gazed up into his. Vulnerable. Damn. He dropped his hand. “But I can find something to do while you change.”

“Well
 . . .
” She hesitated and said, “Cole is spending the night at Jason’s, so I guess there’s no reason I couldn’t.”

“Great.” He could tell she was still reluctant, but he’d managed to catch her off guard. Which was exactly why he’d stopped by as he had.

“The boys are playing video games so TV’s out,” Piper said as they walked to the house. “Grab a beer if you want. I won’t be long.”

As he rummaged in her refrigerator, he wondered if that were true. In his experience, women took forever to get ready. Sipping his beer, he wandered into the living room and watched Cole and his friend Jason playing video games.

Video games, apparently, were not a passive business to these kids. They grunted, they groaned, they screamed and shouted. Their faces contorted in an agony of concentration as they jumped dragons, fired on aliens, and eventually rescued princesses from dire dungeons.

Jason whispered to Cole, “Who’s the dude?”

Eric heard him quite clearly. Cole shrugged. “Some guy my mom knows. He’s a doctor, but he didn’t even know how to help Herman.” He shot Eric a wary look and turned back to the game.

“What level are you on?” Eric asked.

“You know how to play?” he asked suspiciously.

Eric set the beer can on the coffee table and said, “Some. My niece and nephew taught me.”

Thirty seconds later he was on the floor between the boys with the controls in his hands.

Piper peeked into the living room.
All she could see over the back of the sofa was the TV, but she heard the usual sounds that meant the boys were involved with their latest game. Only this time she could swear she heard another voice. A deep male voice that could only be
 . . .

“Eric? What are you doing?”

“Aw, Mom,” Cole said, tearing his eyes away from the screen, “don’t make him leave yet. He was just showin’ us how to—”

“You’re playing video games?” she asked Eric, noting his sheepish grin.

“X Box, actually,” he said, handing the control to Cole and unfolding himself from his position on the floor. “Thanks, guys.”

“Man, that was awesome,” Jason said.

“Radical,” Cole said. “Bet I can beat it too. Me first.”

“But I’m company. It’s my turn,” Jason said, reaching for the controller. They settled the dispute without bloodshed and went back to the game.

“You play video games?” she repeated.

“Sure. Why not?”

“Well, I mean
 . . .
you’re a doctor.”

“Do you think I sit around and read medical journals for fun?” His lips curved upward.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Her cheeks dimpled. “I thought you’d play golf.”

He leaned his head back and laughed. “I play golf too. But I have a niece and nephew who are on the cutting edge of video technology. They’ve given me some pointers. And,” he said with a modest air, “I happen to be good with my hands.”

“I’ll bet.” Out of nowhere the image hit her of his hands molding a path along her arm, her waist, sliding up to her
 . . .
Hold on, she thought, ruthlessly clamping down on the vision.

“Are we dropping the boys off?”

Thankful he couldn’t read her thoughts, she dragged her gaze from his hands to his face. “Yes, thanks. Lynn’s expecting them.” She turned to the boys. “If you leave now, you can have brownies after dinner.”