variation of finding herself seventy-something years old, complete with gray hair and white orthopedic shoes, moving up and down the aisles of Shop-Mart, still shelving for an even older, meaner Mr. Stryowski.
This time she was in the geriatric aisle trying to reach the Depends, and Mr. Stryowski was coming after her waving his cane.
When she awoke with a start, she was covered in sweat. “I am
“Well, that’s good.”
She gulped in air but kept her eyes closed. His voice was low, already unbearably familiar, and just the sound of it, French as ever, was so comforting she felt the burn of tears behind her eyes.
“Dorie? Look at me.”
“No, thanks.”
Turning her head, she focused on Christian crouched at her side. Behind him, she could hear Brandy breathing deeply and evenly. Cadence was behind her, most likely asleep as well, though she wasn’t making a sound. Andy, she knew, was closer to the beach, but was still in plain sight, or had been when they’d all gone to sleep.
She knew Denny had settled near Andy, with Ethan as well, who’d returned with no news. She could only assume that Christian had slept with the guys.
When he wasn’t waking her up, that is.
He’d been waking her up every few hours. She had no idea what time it was, but guessed dawn was still a long way off.
“How many of me do you see?” he asked.
“Same as the last time you asked me that question, and the time before.”
“Dorie.”
She sighed. “I see one of you. Do you have an evil ex-wife?”
“What? No.”
“Just checking, because you’re always looking at me like you’re waiting for me to bite you or something.”
“I’ve never been married, and I’m definitely not afraid of a bite. What’s my name?”
“Grumpy Doctor. Which reminds me to ask you, why are you a doctor anyway, if you grew up hating being dragged around the world with your father?”
“I never said I hated it, and what happened to the gorgeous part?”
“Huh?”
“I thought the nickname was
She rolled her eyes. Big mistake, because that hurt like hell. “Okay, why do you
His gaze cut to hers. “What I hate, if anything, is-
“And splinters.”
A very small smile curved his lips. “Actually, that was a nice perk.”
“That’s my butt you’re talking about.”
“Like I said, a perk.”
“Well, thank you. I think.” She studied him a moment, and he let her. In reverse, she’d be squirming, but he wasn’t much of a squirmer. He was extremely comfortable in his own skin, an appealing trait, she had to admit. “Why aren’t you working at a hospital then, healing much more serious problems?”
He looked away.
“Christian?”
“It’s complicated.”
She understood complicated. She lived complicated. “Like working at Shop-Mart instead of designing clothes because you’re afraid kind of complicated?”
“I’m not afraid. Of anything.”
Somehow, she believed that. “Then what?”
He drew in a deep breath as if reaching for patience, and it occurred to her, he was trying to scare her off. Except after being shipwrecked and concussed, she’d learned something about herself.
She didn’t scare off easily. “Spit it out.”
He shot her a half-amused/half-incredulous look. “Spit it out?”
“American saying for ‘get to it, buster’.”
“Ah.” He looked into her eyes, checked her pupils. Then slid his talented hands through her hair to feel the goose egg on her head. “Are you in pain?”
“No. You’ve fixed all my sprains and splinters and aches, thank you very much.” A big, fat lie. Her head hurt so bad she could hardly breathe. “Good thing you’re not billing me-I couldn’t afford you.”
“Your head still hurts.”
“Okay, yes, it hurts like hell. Now get back to the subject. The subject of you.”
“Isn’t there anything else we could talk about?”
“Humor the patient, Doctor.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’m here because I’m indebted to Denny for another year. After that, I’ll go back to France, or wherever I end up, and practice where I’ve always wanted to, in an ER.”
“Indebted? What do you mean, indebted?”
His fingers were at her temples now, and began some sort of massaging motion that felt so incredibly soothing and pain-relieving, she actually moaned. “Oh my God.” His hands were the most amazing, talented hands that had ever been on her. And it didn’t matter that he wasn’t touching her sexually, she felt that happy little switch inside her click on. Basically, he turned her on by just looking at her.
How embarrassing was that?
She squeezed her thighs tight and tried to come up with ways to distract herself. She thought of her unpaid bills at home, for instance. And then the fact that she was hungry but if she tried to eat, she’d probably toss her cookies. “Tell me about the indebted.”
“One-track mind.”
“I’ve been told. Are you paying off school debts?”
“Not really. My father’s mission in life was to help impoverished villages by making doctors available. He went wherever he felt the calling the most, using connections for donations.”
“Connections?”
“He was a master at getting what he wanted. With one hand he worked with the villagers, while with the other he cultivated friends in high places.”
“That’s quite a fence to straddle.”
“Yes, it is. Especially when not all those so-called friends were on the up and up. He ran into financial trouble a few years back and a friend had to bail him out.”
“Denny,” she guessed. “Oh my God, your father sold you to Denny to cover his debts?”
“It’s the twenty-first century, not the Middle Ages,” he said dryly. “And it wasn’t Denny, but the owner of the
“So you’re working to pay off your father’s debt?”
His silence was her answer. She couldn’t help it-the thought bowled her over. Her own parents were a little bit clueless when it came to her-okay, a lot clueless-but she couldn’t imagine them ever expecting her to step in and help them fulfill a debt
“Shh.” He dug his fingers in, deepening the massage, and it felt so good she nearly passed out. She wanted to concentrate on him, on what he’d just told her, and how it completely changed the way she saw him. He’d given up
