Nerds on Fire (2 page)

Mark and his brother had never
discussed women before. Both of them, in the usual de Vosse manner,
had concentrated on their studies and ignored the opposite sex. But
Leo was acting different now.

If he was interested in Trixi, Mark
was all for it. He had liked her. She was friendly, warm, and
sweet. Those were all attractive traits. Yet something else within
her appealed to Mark personally.

Leo
had
to be attracted to
her.

Maybe it was her fey eyes. Not quite
blue, not quite silver, they were the most beautiful silvery-blue
he had ever seen. Combined with her petite figure, chestnut colored
hair, smattering of freckles, and stunning smile, she was eye
catching.

Of course Leo was
interested
.

Mark snorted at himself. What smart
man wouldn’t be?

“
Hello, this is Derry
Realty, how may I help you?”

He turned his attention toward finding
himself a house, rather than sniffing around a woman his brother
clearly was interested in.

It didn’t take long before he had set
up several appointments to view available homes in the area and
then Mark focused on the patients he was scheduled to
see.

There was no surgery today, but he had
a list of patients who required his services so maybe he better
concentrate on them. His predecessor had left him with a
well-trained, very competent staff and Mark counted himself lucky
to have slipped into this position so effortlessly.

It was his dream job. Coming home
might or might not be wise but the job had been perfect. Whether
being this close to his family was a smart decision or not remained
a big question mark. While he had lived in Boston, he missed his
family so this was a test to determine if he could live amongst
them again and still maintain his sanity.

The de Vosse side was scattered, but
still fairly close. The Morrisons were not scattered and were even
closer. Mark slid open the drawer with Trixi’s cookies and helped
himself as he opened the next patient chart.

These cookies somehow promised that
coming home might have been his best idea yet.

Chapter 2

When Trixi got home
from work, it was to discover her father was already there. Her
welcoming smile died when Chrissy, her dad’s girlfriend, who he had
only known a few months, stopped in front of her. The diamond on
her ring finger nearly blinded Trixi. She didn’t recognize the gem,
so her father must have bought this sparkler. Thankfully. This
woman wouldn’t appreciate the family jewels.

Her sire, Rylan Duvall, took Chrissy’s
left hand. “Trixi, Chrissy has consented to be my wife.”

Heart dropping, she summoned a dying
smile. “That’s wonderful news.” Except that her response was far
from the truth. She couldn’t believe her father was enamored with
this gold digger.

She kissed and hugged him then air
kissed Chrissy. Trixi couldn’t pretend to hug her. If this woman
made her father happy then she vowed to learn to like her. It was
difficult to show excitement when she was certain this could only
end in heartache. At least for him.

With a tremulous smile at her father,
she brushed true tears out of her eyes, hoping he thought they were
tears of happiness for him. Her father was a wonderful man. Maybe
she was biased, but Trixi (and Katy, who Rylan had informally
adopted) saw him as a great catch. He was charming, kind, and
handsome.

Her heart broke for him.

Chrissy’s eyes were alight with what
looked like avarice. Her soon-to-be-step-mother’s smile looked a
bit brittle around the edges while her lips formed a femme fatale
moue. Trixi wondered if maybe she should try to learn something
from Chrissy. Maybe she could win herself a wonderful
man...

On second thought, she didn’t want to
learn anything from this woman. As Trixi thought this, Chrissy sent
a speculative glance out of the corner of her eyes. The sly look
might have something to do with her, but she wasn’t certain why.
Instead, Trixi smiled vaguely again, and then escaped. Supper still
needed some work so she took the few steps into the kitchen. Her
father and his new fiancée disappeared into the family room and
Trixi was grateful, as she needed the time to catch her
breath.

She stroked her new range, a cast iron
behemoth that was her pride and joy. The veggies needed roasting so
she popped them in. Next she checked on the pot roast she had
tucked into the simmering oven before she left for work. It smelled
delicious and sliced easily. Taking plates from the cupboard, she
slid them into the warming oven.

She dug dessert out of the
freezer.

Her stomach growled but her appetite
had fled. The unsettled feeling continued as she finished preparing
the meal. Once she set the table, she called her father and Chrissy
to supper.

Chrissy darted a quick look at Rylan.
“You don’t have a housekeeper and maid?”

Trixi answered her question. “We have
a neighbor who comes in twice a week to tackle the cleaning, but we
manage our own meals, laundry, and errands.”

She set the pot roast on the table,
and then the veggies. “This looks amazing, Trix,” her dad enthused
and she smiled.

“
Thanks, Daddy.” She caught
Chrissy’s ugly look before her plastic features smoothed into kind
tolerance.

Trixi wasn’t certain how old Chrissy
was, but guessed she was in her late thirties. The woman looked
good, no matter what her age. In low light, she could easily pass
for being in her early-to-mid twenties. Her figure was better than
most teens. She was slender but with curves in all the right
places.

In the back of her mind, Trixi
wondered if her catty thoughts were due to jealousy. There was no
way she would ever look as good as Chrissy. A woman who had at
least seven years on her.

Trixi doubted she’d ever
sport a sparkler like her father had given Chrissy either. She
didn’t care about the ring, but she did want a man who wanted her
as much as she wanted him. One who was happy to see her. The tiny
voice in the back of her mind piped up,
a
man who would see what a great wife I’d make
.

Men tended to be amused by
her but never asked her out
—
so she had a lot of pent up love to
give. She also came with plenty of patience, and a nice sense of
humor, if Katy was to be believed. It seemed like those were all a
person needed in order to succeed in a relationship. At least based
on her research, as she had spent years watching others in
relationships and saw what worked and what didn’t.

“
How was your day, honey?”
her father asked, as though he realized they hadn’t been paying her
much attention.

She smiled at him as he devoured the
last of the pile of pot roast on his plate. “I was told this
evening after work that I am to report to neonatal permanently. The
paperwork finally came through.”

“
Congratulations, Trix.
This is exactly what you wanted.”

Her father’s pride in her helped ease
the tension arcing through her. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“
What do you do?” Chrissy
asked although she didn’t seem interested. She only ate the
carrots, celery, broccoli and green beans. The minute amount of pot
roast and potatoes she had taken remained on her plate.

Trixi glanced at the meat and potatoes
accompanying the veggies on her own plate and dug in with a shrug.
Her job was demanding so she could eat whatever she wanted so long
as she kept the baked goods in check. Sweets were her
downfall.

Before she could answer Chrissy’s
question, her father chimed in. “Trixi is a nurse practitioner. She
sees patients.”

“
Like a doctor?”

Trixi nodded. “Yes, although my
patients are newborns, often in need of acute care.”

“
I see,” Chrissy commented,
although Trixi doubted it. She suspected this woman only saw what
interested her and ignored everything else.

They ate in the breakfast room just
off the kitchen. Chrissy’s eyes, and attention, kept bouncing to
the valuables in the room. If taking an inventory, there were
plenty of treasures.

The entire house had sheltered so many
of her ancestors Trixi didn’t notice the expensive items left
behind by previous generations. They were a part of her life.
Looking at them through the eyes of a newcomer, especially one who
was interested in their monetary value, she now saw what Chrissy
found so attractive in her father.

It was a shame, because Rylan could
offer so much more than these treasures. He was a warm, smart,
funny, and attractive man. There was more to him than the valuables
found in this house and the one he would inherit some
day.

That reminded her. She turned to her
father. “Have you introduced Chrissy to Gran yet?”

Her father paused. “No, I thought we
could go over there this evening. She’s entertaining Aunt Miriam
and Uncle Johnny.”

“
Oh, I didn’t know that,”
Trixi exclaimed.

“
I told you,
Beatrix.”

She made a face at his usage of her
full name. “You did not, because I didn’t know.”

“
I’m certain I told
you.”

“
Can I call and invite us?”
Trixi tucked a bobby pin back into her bun. “I’ll take the cake I
set out for dessert.” She lunged for her phone, then rose from the
table to call her Granny.

When she returned, her dad was
expertly stacking dishes in the dishwasher, with Chrissy, a useless
beauty queen, hovering nearby. Her father was tolerant, but Trixi
wondered how long the woman thought she could get away with not
pulling her weight. Perhaps if you were beautiful and sexy you
didn’t need to.

Trixi had no idea.

“
It’s all set. We’re going
over there for dessert. Gran is happy.”

Thinking of that undauntable older
lady always lifted her spirits. A bundle of verve and feistiness,
mixed with practicality, elegance, and dignity, Trixi very much
hoped to be like her Gran someday.

She packed up the cake, humming as she
bustled around her kitchen; one of the many rooms she loved in this
house. Aware of her father’s indulgent glances, and Chrissy’s
speculative ones.

Her father finished the dishes while
Trixi put away the few leftovers. There was enough here for her
lunch tomorrow.

They left soon after. After entering
the garage, they all piled into her father’s luxury sedan. He was a
businessman, a very successful one and it was apparent if you were
looking for it.

Chrissy, who was, took shotgun, while
Trixi piled into the back. She held the cake, and observed all the
happy looks her father sent his fiancée. Chrissy didn’t appear to
notice as she seemed lost in her thoughts. Perhaps she was busy
deciding which car she wanted Trixi’s dad to buy for
her.

When her thoughts turned sour like
this, Trixi immediately shut them down. It was beneath her to be
this spiteful. Just because she didn’t like Chrissy didn’t mean the
woman wouldn’t make her father happy.

Her stomach still twisted at the
thought. How Chrissy could make him happy, Trixi didn’t know. She
doubted very much the woman knew how to make anyone other than
herself happy. With a quiet sigh, Trixi decided she needed to think
about the relatives they were about to visit. Among her favorites,
Aunt Miriam was elegant, yet casual, laid back even, and great fun.
Uncle Johnny, Miriam’s husband, was actually a well-known
cardiologist.

For some reason her thoughts slid to
Mark de Vosse. Who she had studiously avoided thinking about this
evening. If there was ever a man she wanted to think about but
shouldn’t, it was him.

Like all the other men she found
interesting, she wondered if he even noticed her beyond someone
from work. The only men who noticed her eligibility tended to be
those she had no interest in. Case in point, Warren Wychert at the
drugstore near her house. He followed her around his family’s store
from the moment she entered until she finally left, frustrated and
usually without what she needed.

Instead she was forced to shop near
work, but that wasn’t practical if it was the weekend. It helped if
she took her father or brother, or one of her other relatives.
Usually they distracted Warren long enough for her to grab what she
needed. Still, it was sad she dreaded going there. It was also sad
that Warren was one of the few men on the planet who noticed
her.

With her spirits already ebbing, Trixi
heaved a huge sigh, and was grateful when they finally turned into
her grandmother’s back driveway. In the twilight, much of the
magnificent home remained hidden, especially as they approached
from an angle and at the back. It was a house even better than
where they lived, but Chrissy, who was exhibiting signs of
nervousness, must not have noticed.

Her father, after recognizing
Chrissy’s distress, immediately set out to soothe her. It was
sweet, but unnecessary. Chrissy wouldn’t fool Aunt Miriam or Gran
any better than she had Trixi.