The delivery men finished assembling the state-of-the-art hospital bed and stepped back for her inspection. She stretched out on the mattress to check for bumps and low spots. What might just be annoying to someone healthy could be impossible to endure when one had a broken hip.
When the mattress passed inspection, she worked the controls.
“There’s a squeak when I raise the bed,” she said. “Can you fix that?”
The men shared an exasperated glance, but she didn’t care. Trying to get comfortable while in pain was bad enough, but an annoying noise could make things worse.
She checked out the table on wheels, and it was fine, as was the wheelchair and the walker.
While they dealt with the squeak, Lori hurried into the massive kitchen where the catering staff sorted through the meals they’d brought.
“The chili?” a woman in a white uniform asked.
“Has to go.” Lori pointed to the list she’d posted on the refrigerator. “This is a woman who is in her seventies. She’s had a heart attack and surgery on a broken hip. She’s on medication. I said tasty, but not spicy. We want to encourage her to eat, but she may still have stomach issues from all the medication. She doesn’t need to lose weight, so that’s not a problem. Healthy, tempting dishes. Not chili, not sushi, nothing fancy.”
She’d been so specific on the phone, too, she thought with minor exasperation.
“You could beat them. That would get their attention.”
That voice. Lori didn’t have to turn around to know who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Amused, no doubt, because, God forbid, he should have an actual meaningful thought or do something constructive.
She braced herself for the impact of the dark, knowing eyes, the handsome-but-just-shy-of-too-handsome face, and the casual slouch that should have annoyed the heck out of her, but instead made her want to melt like a twelve-year-old at a Jesse McCartney concert.
Reid Buchanan was everything she disliked in a man. He’d always had it easy so nothing had value. Women threw themselves at him. He’d had a brilliant career playing baseball, although she’d never followed sports and didn’t know any details. And, he’d never once in his entire life bothered with a woman as ordinary as her.
“Don’t you have something better to do than just show up and annoy me?” she asked as she turned toward him.
The impact of his physical presence was immediate. She found it difficult to breathe, let alone think.
“Annoying you is an unexpected bonus,” he said, “but not the reason why I’m here. My grandmother’s coming home today.”
“I know that. I arranged it.”
“I thought I’d stop by to visit her.”
“I’m sure knowing you stopped by four hours before she was due home will brighten her day so much that the healing process will be cut in half.”
She pushed past him, ignoring the quick brush of her arm against his and the humiliating burst of heat that ignited inside of her. She was pathetic. No, she was worse than pathetic—one day she would grow enough to achieve pathetic and that would be a victory.
“She won’t be here until this afternoon?” he asked as he followed her back into the library.
“Unfortunately, no. But it was thrilling to see you. So sorry you can’t stay.”
He leaned against the door frame in this room. He did that a lot. He must know how good he looked doing it, Lori thought grimly. No doubt he practiced at home.
She knew Reid was shallow and selfish and only interested in women as perfect as himself, so why was she attracted to him? She was intelligent. She should know better. And she did…in her head. It was the rest of her that was the problem. She was a total and complete cliché—a smart, average woman pining after the unobtainable. The bookstores probably contained an entire shelf of self-help books dedicated to her condition. If she believed in self-help books, she’d go get herself healed.
As it was, she was stuck with enduring.
“Don’t you have to go away?” she asked.
“For now, but I’ll be back.”
“I’ll count the hours.”
“You do that.” He stayed where he was, apparently unmovable.
“What?” she asked. “Are we waiting for something?”
He smiled, a slow, sexy smile that caused her heart to actually skip a beat. It was a new low.
“You don’t read the paper, do you?” he asked.
“No. I go running in the morning and I listen to music.”
The smile brightened. “Good. I’ll see you later.”
“You could wait until the evening nurse shows up and visit then. Wouldn’t that be a great plan?”
“But then you’d miss me. Snarling at me is the best part of your day. Bye, Lori.”
And then he was gone.
ISBN: 1-55254-488-5
IRRESISTIBLE
Copyright © 2006 by Susan Macias Redmond.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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