“Annie.”
Her laughter died at the sound of his voice and her gaze grew troubled. “Why are you here?”
“I thought we needed to talk.”
“Not now. I’m busy.”
“You don’t have a patient scheduled for another hour. I’m booking this time.”
“Sorry. I don’t take clients with whom I have a personal involvement.”
He grinned. “That won’t work. You helped Kevin.”
He saw her fighting a smile. “Okay, so I made one exception.”
“Make another one.”
“Why should I?”
“Because the kids just made me face up to something I’ve been avoiding.”
Curiosity obviously overcame her reluctance to hear him out. “What’s that?”
“I’m in love with you.”
Ann looked stunned. And skeptical. But once the words were finally out of his mouth, Hank knew without a single lingering doubt that he meant them and that he would do anything he had to do to prove it to her. He dropped down beside her.
“Well?” he said finally.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Aren’t you supposed to say what you feel? That’s what all those pop psychology books advise.”
She searched his face for several long seconds before she finally spoke. “I think you’re crazy.”
“Now that’s a nice professional analysis,” he taunted, amused by what even he could recognize as denial. She didn’t want it to be true, so therefore he was crazy.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not. And, despite that panic I can see in your eyes, I’m not expecting you to admit that you’re madly in love with me, either. I’m just letting you know where I stand.”
“It won’t work. You want to be in love with me because it would take away some of the guilt.”
“What guilt? I haven’t done anything to feel guilty about.”
“But you want to.”
“Annie, if mere lust doomed us all to hell, no one would ever get to heaven. I assure you I do not feel guilty for wanting you.”
“What you really want is a short-term challenge. I can understand that. A man of your sexual appetites and past experience can hardly be blamed for following the same old predictable pattern.”
Hank felt a sense of outrage building inside him. Here he was spilling his guts, admitting to an emotion he’d never expected to feel and he was getting dime-store psychoanalysis. He was tempted to pull her into his arms and kiss that silly, crooked mouth of hers until she couldn’t come up with another ridiculous argument, but he had a hunch she would only see that as proving her point.
He reached over and ran his finger along her jaw, then down the pale column of her neck. He watched the pulse jump as his finger drifted onto her breast, circling and teasing until the peak was pebble hard. His eyes never left hers. Desire overcame doubts in their wary depths.
“What if this isn’t a game?” he said, still caressing.
“Of course it is,” she said in a choked whisper.
He leaned forward then and kissed her, very gently, holding himself back, making her want him as badly as he wanted her.
“But what if it’s not, Annie?” he said when her breathing was ragged. “What then?”
With the question lingering to torment her, he stood and walked away.
Chapter 9
Love? Hank Riley, the inveterate skirt chaser, was in love with her? No way. Uh-uh. Forget it. She doubted he even knew the definition of the word. Hell, she dealt with all sorts of permutations of love every single day and even she wasn’t sure she’d recognize it when it hit her, so how could he be so sure?
Despite her denials, though, Hank’s unexpected proclamation reverberated through Ann’s head all day long. By the end of the afternoon, her patients—even the littlest ones—were beginning to ask her if she was okay.
The honest answer, of course, was a resounding no. It wasn’t the one she gave them. She tried to concentrate on their problems, tried to work up some enthusiasm for the small successes she was seeing in their treatment, but all she could think about was Hank’s crazy, impulsive, misguided declaration of love.
It was absolutely the last thing she’d expected him to say when he’d come chasing after her that morning. She’d thought, despite his innumerable flaws, that he was too honest, too straightforward to use powerful words like that as part of an obvious seduction technique. Besides, the man had to know he could get her into his bed anytime he wanted her there. That was part of the problem. She was willing. He wasn’t. He seemed to have this crazy idea that he was protecting her by maintaining his physical distance, while he closed the emotional gap. At the rate he was going he would soon have her snared so tightly she’d never escape. Then when he realized his mistake, there’d be hell to pay—for both of them.
Well, it wasn’t going to happen that way, she resolved. She wasn’t interested in a commitment. She liked her life just the way it was. Taking care of six unruly, troubled children was more than enough to keep her life filled to overflowing. And, for all of his crazy protestations, she knew Hank was no more seriously interested in her than he was in having tea parties with Melissa and her dolls. Right now, living in their chaotic household was a novelty, but the fascination of family life would wear off soon enough. She was going to prove it to him.
That decided, she began to feel infinitely better. In fact, by the time she had dinner on the table, she was feeling downright cheerful and on top of things again. She felt in control.
Then Hank came in, smiled and her resolve melted. Just the sight of the man curled her toes. When he dropped a casual, husbandly kiss on her forehead, her knees went weak. When he lifted the lid on the pot of soup simmering on the stove and murmured some appreciative
