The Secrets of Her Past
Emilie Rose
Veterinarian Madison Monroe faces her days by ignoring her past. That’s impossible when her former brother-in-law Adam Drake appears. She’d love to refuse his demands for help—who needs his attitude? But she owes the family. So fine, she’ll work at their vet clinic then walk away.Easier said than done. Being with Adam shows the differences between the twin brothers. Intense and intriguing Adam makes her feel things she never felt before. Worse, Adam gets past her defenses, putting her carefully hidden secrets in jeopardy. And once the truth comes to light, everything will change!
An irresistible attraction!
Veterinarian Madison Monroe faces her days by ignoring her past. That’s impossible when her former brother-in-law Adam Drake appears. She’d love to refuse his demands for help—who needs his attitude? But she owes the family. So fine, she’ll work at their vet clinic, then walk away.
Easier said than done. Being with Adam shows the differences between the twin brothers. Intense and intriguing Adam makes her feel things she never felt before. Worse, Adam gets past her defenses, putting her carefully hidden secrets in jeopardy. And once the truth comes to light, everything will change!
Had Adam always been this handsome?
Of course he had. He looked just like Andrew, only with shorter hair, more muscles and a scowl that was somehow more attractive than his brother’s charming grins had been.
Why was he here?
“This way,” he said before Madison could ask, and jerked his chin toward the end of the building from which he’d come. He reached for her bag, and in her confusion over his appearance, she didn’t release it fast enough.
The heat of his hand covered hers on the handle and the contact zapped her. She snatched the tingling extremity away, and her pulse skittered out of control.
Static electricity. That’s all it is.
Who was she trying to fool? Warmth pooled low in her belly. She squashed that reaction.
His gaze snapped to hers, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
She carefully blanked her expression until he pivoted and headed for a pair of glass doors on the opposite side of the building from where she’d parked. A slow breath leaked from her lungs. For pity’s sake. You’d think she’d never been touched by a man before. She hadn’t in a long time. Years, actually. But still, celibacy was no excuse for her neglected hormones to start tap-dancing now, and for Andrew’s brother no less.
Dear Reader,
There are those who say you only get one chance at true love, and if you choose unwisely romance is over for you forever.
I’m not one of those people.
I believe in second chances. I believe that growing older makes us wiser and teaches us what’s really important in life and in a partner. Sometimes we find the one we were meant to be with only after we’ve earned a few bumps and bruises on our heart. I finally found my soul mate, and in this story Madison finds hers, but to do so she must face her painful past, overcome her fears and risk her wounded heart to see past the superficial and into the heart of the man who was meant for her.
Come back to Quincey, North Carolina, with me. It’s a fictional town in the countryside through which I love to drive.
Happy reading!
Emilie Rose
The Secrets of Her Past
Emilie Rose
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bestselling Harlequin author and RITA® Award finalist Emilie Rose lives in her native North Carolina with her own romance book hero and two adopted mutts. Her four sons have flown the coop. Writing is her third (and hopefully her last) career. She’s managed a medical office and run a home day care, neither of which offers half as much satisfaction as plotting happy endings. Her hobbies include gardening, fishing and cooking (especially cheesecake). She’s a country music fan because she can find an entire book in almost any song. She is currently working her way through her own “bucket list.” Visit her website, www.emilierose.com (http://www.emilierose.com), or email her at EmilieRoseC@aol.com. Letters can be mailed to P.O. Box 20145, Raleigh, NC 27619.
To my own romance book hero.
We have traveled some very bumpy roads to find exactly where we were meant to be—with each other.
Contents
Chapter One (#u72e4755a-479d-5353-b80d-ada3061f6f42)
Chapter Two (#uc3b8cb06-b247-5419-a370-ed5195f12ccf)
Chapter Three (#uc9f96e60-7501-530b-9009-e4ce704a9101)
Chapter Four (#u9b1f357f-4391-50e3-b92f-1ceb10e0083d)
Chapter Five (#u2a5b37e7-7fe0-54a6-ae22-55a2e4587a95)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
“BRING MADISON HOME.”
Tension and loathing snatched a knot in Adam’s gut at the sound of his former sister-in-law’s name. He stared at his father across the motor home’s small galley table. “I know your diagnosis was a shock, but bringing her back into our lives would be a mistake.”
“I disagree. At times like this we need family support.”
“She’s not family, Dad. Not anymore. By her choice.”
“Madison wasn’t responsible for your brother’s death. The ice storm was.”
“Even if that was true—” and it wasn’t “—she betrayed you. After all you and Mom did for her, Madison took the life insurance money and disappeared immediately after Andrew’s funeral, and she hasn’t bothered to call and check on you since. Family wouldn’t do that.”
“Madison was grieving, too, son, in her own way. She lost her husband and her son that night.”
“A baby she didn’t want.” His father’s stubborn refusal to accept reality made Adam want to punch something.
“You can’t know that, son.”
“I know what Andrew told me. He said she resented the pregnancy.”
“You only heard one side of the story. The pregnancy might have been unplanned and the timing less than ideal, but Madison would have been a good momma once the little one arrived.”
“Damn it, Dad, her carelessness killed—” An abrupt slicing motion of his father’s hand made Adam bite back his words. Danny Drake had never been willing to hear anything negative against the woman he’d loved like a daughter.
Adam tried again—this time with cold, hard facts. “She was ticketed for ‘driving too fast for conditions.’ Your son and grandson died in that wreck, and she walked away with barely a scratch. How can you not hold her responsible?”
“Not all wounds are visible. She was injured enough to miscarry her baby. Placing blame doesn’t change what’s happened. Andrew is gone. Holding on to your anger won’t bring him back.
“You asked what you could do for me, Adam. I’m telling you. If I’m going to devote all my energy to beating this cancer, then I need to know my practice is in good hands. Madison is the only veterinarian I trust to do things my way while I’m out of commission.”
“But you know nothing about what she’s been doing since she left.”
“Wrong. I’ve been keeping tabs on our girl. Bring her home, son, or I’ll skip the surgery and take my chances with the chemotherapy radiation treatments. At least then I won’t have to miss as much work.”
“The odds of a nonsurgical approach—”
“I know the damned odds,” his father snapped, then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Ripping my rib out to get to my lung is going to sideline me for months. I need backup. Reliable backup. This is my cancer. My fight. And I’ll do it my way. Bring. Madison. Home.”
His father snatched up his newspaper and stormed from the galley down the short hall and into the bedroom, his footsteps shaking the motor home in which Adam’s parents had been living since beginning the renovations on their house. The door slammed shut.
Frustrated by his father’s refusal to listen to reason, Adam balled his fists. What choice did he have except to comply if he wanted his father to take the most successful course of treatment?
Adam had to go after the one woman he never wanted to see again. If he succeeded, would he finally win his father’s approval?
* * *
A GHOST ROSE from the rocking chair on Madison’s front porch, freezing her fatigued muscles with icy horror and chilling the sweat on her skin.
No. Not a ghost—ghosts weren’t tall and tanned. They didn’t plant fists on lean hips and scowl with hatred-filled blue-green eyes and flattened lips.
The man on her front porch wasn’t her dead husband. It was his identical twin. Adam Drake. Adam so strongly resembled the man she’d once loved with every fiber of her being that looking at him made her chest ache.
Resignation settled over her like a smothering lead X-ray apron. She should’ve known her self-imposed exile couldn’t last. It had taken six years for the nightmare of her past to catch up with her. The Drakes had found her despite her changing names and relocating to another state.
Judging by his expression, Adam hadn’t forgotten or forgiven what she’d done. She couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t forget or forgive her actions that night, either. She pressed a hand over the empty ache in her stomach—a sensation that never seemed to abate.
With a face as rigid as a granite mountainside, Adam glared at her from the top step. She didn’t climb the treads to join him, and probably couldn’t have even if she’d ordered her gelatinous legs to move. Her run home in the sweltering heat had taken a lot out of her, but not nearly as much as this man’s presence. Her mouth was parched, her water bottle empty. She needed to rehydrate. But not so badly that she’d invite him inside her home.
“My father has lung cancer,” Adam stated without preliminaries—typical of him. Andrew had been the charming twin.
The bald statement punched the air from her. She struggled to wheeze enough breath to respond. “I’m sorry.”
“He wants you to run his practice while he undergoes treatment.”
No! Fear and guilt collided, sending razor-sharp fragments of pain slicing through her. She couldn’t let Danny Drake back into her life and her heart only to say goodbye to her father-in-law again. She’d already buried too many loved ones. Her parents. Her baby sister. Her husband. Her son.
She wanted to ask about Danny’s prognosis, but couldn’t handle knowing even that much. Distance, both emotional and geographical, was her ally. “I can’t.”
“You owe him.”
“I have a practice here, Adam. People depend on me.” Sweat snaked down her spine.
“In a backwater town this size you can’t possibly have enough business to operate five days a week.”
True. Quincey was a one-stoplight rural Southern township. But the slow pace gave her just enough time and money to work with her rescue animals. As if to reinforce that point, Bojangles’s nicker pulled her attention to the pasture beside the house.
The bay gelding shifted his hooves and pushed his broad chest against the board fence as if sensing her distress and wanting to come to her aid. She and the horse had a lot in common—they’d both been left behind by the people they loved. She’d taken enough psychology courses to know that saving the horse had been a substitute for saving the baby she couldn’t.
“I wish your father well, Adam. But I can’t help. Give Danny and Helen my best. Goodbye.”
He didn’t take the hint to vacate her porch. Fine. She’d go around back. She pivoted.
“You owe him, Madison.”
Her spine snapped straight under an icy deluge of guilt. Yes, she did owe the Drakes. They’d taken her in even before the tornado had killed her family. For years they’d been her surrogate parents, but then her mother-in-law had said things that still haunted Madison’s dreams. Neither Adam nor his father had witnessed Helen’s emotional explosion, but Madison had been shredded by the verbal shrapnel.
Reluctantly, Madison faced him again. Sweat-dampened hair clung to her forehead. She shoved it back with an unsteady hand. “Adam, you don’t want me there.”
“No. But I want my father alive. His wishes are the only reason I’m here.”
“What does Helen say about this?”
A nerve in his jaw twitched. “My mother will do whatever it takes to convince Dad to undergo the most promising treatment protocol. We both will.”
Hope that Madison hadn’t realized she’d been harboring leeched from her, leaving her drained, aching and empty. They didn’t want her back. She was a necessary evil, not a long-missed family member.
“I can’t, Adam.”
Disgust twisted his lips. “Andrew was right. You are a cold, selfish bitch.”
Cold, selfish bitch. The words sliced her like a new scalpel, reopening the gaping wound left by the hateful argument that night when she’d learned the man she’d loved had sabotaged her carefully made plans. Plans they had discussed. Plans they had agreed upon.
But she would never tell Adam or his parents about those final, horrible moments before the accident. Their memories of Andrew were all they had left and she didn’t want to spoil them.
Her nails bit into her palms. “Danny needs to find someone closer to Norcross. Quincey’s a seven-hour drive away.”
Adam descended the stairs and stopped a yard from her, bombarding her nerves in a dozen different ways. He looked so much like his brother—same dark hair, blue-green eyes, features and height. But he wasn’t the husband she’d loved, the one who’d betrayed her, the one she’d buried because she’d lost her temper and made a mistake that she couldn’t wash away no matter how many tears she cried or how many animals she saved.
Anger emanated from Adam. “You tell Dad to get someone else. I tried. He won’t listen to me.”
Although Adam’s voice was firm and authoritative, for the first time since she’d met him fifteen years ago she saw naked fear in his eyes. He was afraid of losing his father. She understood that fear all too well, since she’d already walked that lonely path. But she couldn’t allow herself to be vulnerable again. She might not make it out with her sanity intact this time.
She pushed away thoughts of the dark days after the wreck, of a cold, clammy hand and blood...so much blood.
“I’m sorry. I can’t,” she repeated and scrubbed her palm against her pants.
Tires crunched on the gravel driveway of her farm followed by the low rumble of a diesel engine pickup truck. Panic clawed up Madison’s spine. June, her friend and tenant, was home, and knowing the curious deputy, as soon as she parked her vehicle by the cottage she rented from Madison, she’d come over to investigate the strange car beneath the pecan tree.
She had to get rid of Adam before the tight-knit community of Quincey found out about the atrocity Madison had committed. No one here knew about her unforgivable sin—and she wanted to keep it that way. Otherwise the townsfolk might turn against her and cast her out of the sanctuary she’d created for herself.
Maybe all Danny needed was someone outside the family to make him see reason. She could afford to drive down to Georgia once. Then she’d come home and life would return to normal.
“I’ll come Saturday and talk to him.”
Adam’s gaze held her captive for several tense seconds, making her heart pound as she listened in dread for June’s approaching footsteps.
“You reverted to your maiden name,” Adam accused.
“Yes, I...” How could she explain that she’d wanted to erase everything about her marriage to his brother? She couldn’t. “Look, I can’t invite you in. I have plans this evening.”
A plan to clean cages, but that wasn’t how he interpreted it if the revulsion filling his eyes was any gauge. She didn’t enlighten him.
“Make sure you show up. Here’s the address and my number.” He pulled a business card from his pocket and wrote on the back, then thrust it at her. He strode to the sedan and drove away just as June rounded the house.
Madison sagged in relief, but the damage had been done. The scab had been ripped away. All she wanted to do was crawl into the farmhouse and tend her wound. She didn’t want to talk to anyone—not even a friend.
“Who’s the hunk in the rental car?” the blond deputy asked.
“Rental?” Madison dodged the question.
“Sticker on the back bumper. Rental company license plate frame. Good-looking guy—where’d you find him? Not in Quincey, that’s for sure.”
Should she claim he was someone who’d gotten lost and was asking for directions? No. She never lied to her friends. She just hadn’t always shared the whole truth. But how much should she tell June? Only the basics—
“He’s my ex-brother-in-law.”
June’s eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t know you were divorced.”
Again Madison hesitated, but she trusted June as much as she trusted anyone. “Widowed. A long time ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Madison. I didn’t know. I haven’t seen him around before.”
“We haven’t kept in touch.”
Questions filled June’s eyes, and Madison scrambled to keep her from asking them. “Are you going to help me feed up tonight?”
“Not a chance. I’m grabbing a quick shower, then heading over to babysit for Piper. What’d he want anyway?”
So much for a distraction. “A favor. I have to go out of town Saturday. Can you watch the menagerie?”
“Happy to. Not much else to do.” June scanned the empty driveway. “Is your truck in the shop again?”
“Yes.”
“You should’ve called me. I would’ve given you a ride home.”
“I needed the exercise. It’s only a couple miles.”
“You ran in this scorching heat?” Madison nodded and June’s gaze sharpened. “You should be flushed and sweaty, but you’re pale. Sure you’re okay?”
Not even close to okay. “I’ll be fine. It’s been a long day. Mondays usually are.”
And it was about to become an even longer week, knowing that at the end of it she would have to face the nightmare of her past.
* * *
SATURDAY MORNING MADISON steered her truck into the driveway of the unfamiliar address Adam had given her.
She parked and her doubts surrounded her like a pack of snarling wild dogs, paralyzing her. The cedar siding and river rock home was set on a heavily wooded lot that sloped gently down to a pond. The neighbors’ houses were barely visible through the towering, dense pines, but the peaceful setting did nothing to soothe her jagged nerves.
Had Danny and Helen moved from the place where they’d raised their boys? Had the memories been too much to bear? While Madison could understand the need for a fresh start, the possibility they’d sold the home where the boys’ growth had been marked on a door frame and by the trees they’d planted in the yard swamped her with a sense of loss that made leaving the truck very difficult.
She’d spent nearly every holiday, school break and weekend in the Drakes’ sprawling ranch house from shortly after she’d met Andrew until her vet school graduation. But that fairy tale had been an illusion.
How could she have been so completely blinded by love that she hadn’t seen Andrew’s narcissistic streak until the final months of their marriage? She’d attributed the change in his personality to the stress of her accidentally becoming pregnant, and she’d blamed herself for messing up her birth control and their five-year plan. But thanks to the alcohol he’d consumed at her graduation celebration, she’d discovered how wrong she’d been.
How could she ever again trust her judgment when it came to men?
She couldn’t. And because of that she’d vowed to remain single and limit herself to living with a menagerie of rejected pets. She wouldn’t let anyone get too close again, and not even the two women she considered her best friends knew the whole sordid story. She couldn’t risk them turning on her like the Drakes had.
Nervousness dampened her palms and quickened her pulse. She forced her fingers to release the steering wheel, then flexed them in an attempt to ease the stiffness.
The sooner you say your piece, the sooner you can go home.
Bracing herself, she climbed from the cab and pointed her feet toward the front door. Emotions warred within her, adhering her feet to the concrete.
Then she remembered she hadn’t locked her truck. In Quincey no one locked their doors, but Norcross was a suburb of Atlanta. Unlocked doors, even in a neighborhood as nice as this one appeared to be, were an invitation. And she had a lot of valuable vet equipment in her truck that she couldn’t risk losing. She pushed the pad on her key fob, and once that task was done she had no more excuses for stalling. But she still couldn’t make herself move.
She inhaled so deeply she thought her lungs might explode, then slowly released the pent-up breath. She licked her dry lips, then she checked the buttons on her shirt and smoothed her hair. The strands clung to her damp palms.
Stop procrastinating, Madison.
The door opened and Danny Drake stepped out onto the long, covered porch stretching between the front gables. He descended the stairs and came toward her. Save a few more gray hairs, he’d barely changed. He was still tall and lean like Andrew, and his eyes, the same bluish-green as his sons’, crinkled in a smile as he silently lifted his open arms. “Madison, it’s so good to see you.”
Confused by the familiar welcome when she’d expected hostility, Madison stumbled awkwardly into his embrace. He enfolded her, bringing the memories rushing back. She hadn’t expected this and hadn’t realized how much she’d missed Danny’s bear hugs. Tears stung her eyes and a sob rose in her throat. She gulped down her response and hugged him back.
“Oooph.” He bowed his back, a grimace of pain pleating his face.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“Long and boring story.” Holding her at arm’s length and assessing her, he shook his head. “You’re skin and bones, Maddie.”
“I finally took up distance running.”
“Good way to clear the head, but hell on the knees. I had to give it up a couple years back. I’m riding a bike now instead. Guess we won’t be running any races together the way Andrew had wanted.”
A needle of pain slipped under her skin. “I guess not.”
During school Madison had been too busy with her studies to accompany Andrew and Danny on their cross-country runs. She’d promised to join them after she graduated. Yet another plan that hadn’t come to fruition.
Danny searched her face. “It’s good to have you home. I’ve tried to be patient and let you grieve at your own pace. I knew you’d come back when you were ready, but I can’t wait any longer. I need you now, Maddie.” His voice cracked.
Her brain snagged on Danny’s words. He knew she’d come back? He meant come back to visit, right?
Danny’s gaze shifted past her shoulder and his eyes widened, then filled with approval. “You’re still driving Andrew’s truck?”
“Yes.” The pickup was her albatross, a reminder of what she’d had and lost. It was also paid for. Her car had been totaled in the wreck and she hadn’t wanted the burden of car payments. “It’s reliable.”
Well, most of the time, thanks to Quincey’s genius mechanic and his love for his pack of hunting dogs.
“Come inside.” He led her toward the house.
“This is a beautiful place.”
“Isn’t it? Helen has coffee ready. She suspected you’d be an early bird.”
At the mention of her mother-in-law, Madison’s stomach resumed churning. Was it a good sign that Helen remembered Madison’s habits? Whenever Madison and Andrew had visited from university, Madison had risen early and driven in the predawn hours while Andrew slept in the passenger seat. They’d always arrived in time for breakfast to allow for a full day with his family, and Helen had never failed to greet them with an elaborate spread.
After Andrew had finished vet school, moved back to Norcross and joined his father’s practice, Madison had remained near campus and continued the predawn drives, meeting Andrew at the Drakes’ home to begin their weekends together. Funny how it wasn’t until the blinders had been ripped away that she recalled the number of times Andrew had said she could give up the drives anytime she wanted if she moved home with him. But that would have meant quitting school. At the time she’d thought he was teasing, but in actuality, she’d been the living definition of blind and stupid. She quashed the memory.
Back then excitement over seeing her husband had kept her awake and urged her to start the drive early. This time dread had caused her insomnia. She hadn’t been able to sleep, and at 1:00 a.m. she’d finally given up and decided to be productive rather than toss and turn. Fifteen minutes later she was on the road.
In the past, anticipation of the feast had made Madison’s mouth water, but today her tongue was as desiccated as a hundred-year-old skeleton.
Adam waited inside the foyer. Madison’s steps and heart stuttered. Each time she saw him it was like being slapped in the face with her highest and lowest moments simultaneously. “Hello, Adam.”
“Mom’s in the kitchen.” He strode away without acknowledging her greeting.
“Ignore his rudeness. He’s not taking my diagnosis well. I suspect his doctor friends have worried him unnecessarily with worst-case scenarios about cancer treatment.” Danny gestured for her to follow Adam.
The arrogance of Adam taking the lead seemed out of character for the respectful man she’d once known. Andrew had been the irreverent one. But Adam’s attitude was the least of her worries. She fell into step behind him, taking in the way his shoulders and biceps stretched the seams of his polo shirt, and then her eyes drifted down the inverted triangle of his back, across his firm butt and to his thighs. When she realized where she was looking she jerked her gaze upward.
Her involuntary scrutiny was merely a casual comparison of the differences between him and his lanky twin—Adam had more muscles—that was all.
The bright, sunny kitchen at the back of the house resembled a spread from a cooking magazine. Golden oak cabinets with glossy gray granite countertops and top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances lined one wall. More cabinetry made up a crescent-shaped center island with barstools separating the kitchen from a large den with a river rock fireplace at the far end. French doors in each room emptied onto a screened-in porch overlooking the water.
Knowing how much Helen had loved cooking for her family, Madison could see how she’d be happy here, but her mother-in-law didn’t look happy today. She stood by the glass-top stove, spatula in hand. She didn’t relinquish the utensil or make any move in Madison’s direction. Her flat brown eyes and tight, unsmiling mouth held no welcome.
While Danny barely showed signs of the passage of time, Helen had not aged well. She looked at least fifteen years older.
Madison forced a smile and felt her parched lips crack. This was the cold reception she’d expected. She wasn’t surprised or disappointed. “Good morning, Helen.”
The hateful words her mother-in-law had said six years ago hung between them. A dozen tense, silent seconds ticked past.
“Madison.” Helen hunched her shoulders, turned to the stove and flipped the pancakes.
Adam shoved a mug of coffee in Madison’s direction. “Have a seat. Cream and sugar are on the table.”
His barely civil tone brought a chill to the room. Danny pulled out a chair for her. Madison sat and wrapped her icy hands around the hot mug. She sipped and waited for someone to initiate conversation, but the uncomfortable lull stretched. Her pulse banged in her ears. Stalling wasn’t going to get the job done or get her on the road.
“So, Danny...your wince outside? You said it was a long story...?”
He shrugged gingerly. “We’re renovating the house. You know how I always need a project. I finally got around to tearing out that old paneling in the den and study like Helen always talked about. I fell off the ladder and cracked a rib. X-rays for that caught the spot on my lung.”
Anxiety twined through her. “So you’ve not sold your home? Whose place is this?”
“It’s Adam’s.”
She scanned the space again, seeing it from a different perspective. The furnishings had cleaner lines than the fussy, cluttered style Helen had preferred, but none of it resembled the oversize leather man-cave furniture Andrew had chosen for the house he’d bought and furnished during Madison’s last year of vet school.
You cold, selfish bitch. What kind of woman wouldn’t want to stay in a nice home like this and raise her child? What’s wrong with you?
Was there something wrong with her?
She blinked away the suffocating memory. “What’s your prognosis, Danny?”
The words popped out before she could stop them, and then she cursed herself. She didn’t want to know Danny’s chances.
“The tumor’s localized and appears to have clean edges. No sign of metastasizing into surrounding tissue.”
“That’s good.” But cancer was still scary. Another awkward pall blanketed the room. A decade ago they would’ve been teasing, laughing and talking shop throughout the meal. Andrew would have found something humorous in the tense situation. But he wasn’t here. And that was her fault.
Helen plopped a platter of pancakes, link sausages and hash browns onto the table with enough force that it was a wonder the cobalt stoneware didn’t crack. No one made a move. In the past they would have dug in, good-naturedly fork fencing over the feast.
“When can you take over for me, Maddie?” Danny asked as he seated himself.
Madison gulped coffee and scalded the back of her throat, then she looked at Adam, who stood by the window, his arms folded, expression rigid. He’d obviously not relayed her answer to Danny.
Then she looked into the eyes of the man she’d respected more than any other, a man who’d shown her the practical side of veterinary medicine. He’d been a demanding but excellent teacher, better than any of her professors. She dredged her brain for the speech she’d practiced all the way down I-85.
“I can’t, Danny. It’s a seven-hour drive each way. You need to hire someone from the service that offers substitute veterinarians. It’s a good group. They use only board-certified doctors. They’ll find someone for you.” She dug the sheet of paper from her pocket and smoothed it on the table in front of him. “I wrote down the contact information.”
Danny’s face turned mutinous—an expression she’d seen on Andrew’s several times. He ignored the page. “I want you, Maddie. You know how I do things. I taught you my methods.”
A boa constrictor of guilt wound around her. “I have a practice to run. People depend on me. I’m the only vet in a thirty-mile radius of Quincey.”
“What happened to our plan to run the office together and for you to take over when I retired?”
He couldn’t possibly be hanging on to that, could he? But then she recalled what he’d said outside about her coming back when she was ready. He hadn’t meant for a visit.
“Andrew and I were going to take over Drake Veterinary.” And her husband had made it clear on the night of the wreck that he had other plans for her. “That idea died with him. He was your flesh and blood. I’m not.”
The Drakes had proved that point by staying at Andrew’s bedside until he died two days after the accident—not once stopping by to check on Madison who’d been only two floors away. She’d grieved for her child and then her husband alone. Their absence had demonstrated where she stood with the Drakes.
“You’re still a Drake,” Danny insisted.
“No, Dad, she’s not. Madison reverted to her maiden name.”
Danny scowled at Adam, then refocused on Madison. “You’re never coming back?”
“No, Danny. I’ve made a good place for myself in North Carolina.”
He held her gaze and she had the sensation he was trying to compel her to change her mind—the way Andrew had whenever they’d disagreed. Back then she’d capitulated to her husband’s wishes more often than not to keep the peace.
When she didn’t fold, resignation settled across Danny’s features. “Can’t blame a man for asking. Pass the pancakes.”
“But—” Helen protested. Danny cut her off with a sharp glance. Helen knotted her fingers and bit her lip. Madison passed the platter and waited to see if her mother-in-law would finish what she’d begun to say, but Helen remained mute, her distress evident in each fidgety weight shift and in the fingers that pleated the dish towel.
Madison looked at Adam and found him scowling at his father, then that arctic gaze shifted to her, freezing her clear to the bone. He hated her, and sitting in his kitchen, partaking of food he’d very likely paid for, suddenly seemed like an intrusion. Coming here had been a mistake.
She rose shakily. “I have a long drive back. I’d better get started.” She took a step toward the door, eager to escape, then paused. “Danny, I’ll be rooting for you. Call the veterinary service.”
“Take care of yourself, girl. Don’t be a stranger.”
“Madison—”
“Helen, leave the girl be. You heard her. She can’t do it. We’ll be fine.”
The three Drakes exchanged looks in a silent communication that excluded Madison. “Well...goodbye and good luck.”
She bolted from the house, ignoring the rushed jumble of voices in the kitchen behind her. She didn’t slow until she’d climbed into the cab and closed the door. With her heart still pounding she turned the key and the engine protested. “Not now. Come on.”
She tried again. Crawling inside to ask for help was unpalatable. Bile crept up her throat. It took two more attempts before the motor caught. Eager to get down the road before she pulled over and emptied her stomach, she shoved the gear lever into Reverse.
A bang on the window scared her heart into a stall. Helen, her face without a smidgeon of color, stood outside the door. Desperation gleamed in her eyes. Madison gulped down her rising nausea and reluctantly hit the button to lower the glass.
“Danny made us promise not to say anything, but I can’t let you drive away when your actions could mean the difference between his life and death. You have to help, Madison. He has a sixty percent better chance of beating the cancer if he has the tumor surgically removed, then follows up with chemo. He refuses to have the procedure unless you agree to run the practice while he’s recuperating. He’s more worried about what will happen to his patients without him than he is about what I’ll do if he doesn’t—” A sob choked off her words.
An urgent need to run crawled over Madison’s flesh. “Helen, I can’t.”
Her former mother-in-law’s cheeks flushed dark red and a white line formed around her lips. Fury filled her eyes. “I will not let you do this to me again. I refuse to sit by and watch someone else I love slip away from me because of your actions.” Tears streamed down her cheeks and her breath came in snatched pants. Her entire body shook. “Can you live with another Drake death on your conscience? You have to come back for Danny. You owe us. You owe me, damn you, Madison Drake.”
Monroe. Not Drake. Madison didn’t correct her.
A chill started at Madison’s core and splintered outward like frost until even her fingers and toes felt frozen. She reached out a hand to console her mother-in-law, but Helen recoiled. “Don’t touch me.”
Madison winced at the fresh stab of pain. They’d once been so close.
Madison debated telling Helen the truth about Andrew. If she did, Helen would understand why Madison couldn’t revisit the past and the office they had once shared. She opened her mouth, then her conscience slammed the door on her escape route.
Do no harm. It was more than a professional oath. It was a way of life.
She pressed her dry lips together, leaving the damning words unsaid. She couldn’t destroy a mother’s memories of her son by telling her what a manipulative, deceitful bastard he’d been.
Helen was right. Madison would never forgive herself if her actions caused another fatality. She owed the Drakes for the kindness they’d shown her. But mostly, she owed Danny for the practical, old-school lessons he’d taught her.
Resignation settled heavily on her chest, crushing her lungs. Head spinning, she gulped and battled for air and an alternative. None came.
“I’ll do it.”
But she’d come back on her terms.
Carefully setting boundaries was the only way to protect herself, her sanity and the practice that had become her life. She wouldn’t get emotionally attached to this family a second time. And once she’d done her duty, she’d go home and try to find the peace in her life again.
CHAPTER TWO
“I’LL DO IT.”
Adam whipped around from his position by the patio doors at the sound of Madison’s voice. She stood in the doorway, her expression belligerent.
“But I’ll only give you two days a week.”
“Two days?” Danny protested. “But your practice is small and mine is—”
“I realize my rural office isn’t up to your city standards, Dr. Drake, but I’m proud of it and I’m needed there.”
Adam’s father flinched at doctor, then sadness filled his eyes.
“I’ll help you because you helped me. But once I get you through this, my debt is paid. I won’t come back.”
“Now, Maddie, let’s not be that way,” his father placated, the hurt quickly giving way to determination. “You’re family, and families stick together.”
“Mondays and Tuesdays,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I can’t afford a hotel every week. You’ll need to provide accommodations.”
Her demands and her cold tone reinforced everything Andrew had said about her career-driven selfishness. Not that his father couldn’t easily afford to provide a hotel room, and it would be best if his mother didn’t have to worry about playing hostess, but Madison was making this all about herself. What she wanted. What she needed. When it should be about how she could best accommodate her mentor.
“For two months,” she added in an irrefutable tone.
“Two—” his dad protested. “What if that’s not enough time?”
“Then you’ll call the service.”
His father mulled over her words with a frown on his face. Adam waited for him to tell her where she could shove her selfish stipulations the way he had when Adam had announced his plan to pursue something other than a veterinary degree.
“I knew you’d come through for me, Maddie.” The senior Drake crossed the kitchen and embraced the enemy.
Protests filled Adam’s mouth. He bit his tongue. He’d learned long ago that trying to change his father’s mind once he’d made a decision was a waste of time. Instead Adam focused on the success of achieving the desired outcome. With Madison’s assistance they could pursue the most aggressive and successful treatment protocol. When she eventually let them down—and she would—his father would have already had the surgery. He’d be forced to call the service Madison mentioned.
The coldhearted witch kept her arms by her sides and her fists balled rather than return the hug. Adam studied her emotionless whiskey-brown eyes and tight face and his jaw tensed with irritation. Had she no compassion?
She detached herself from the embrace. “Let me know when you’ve arranged your surgery.”
“I’ve tentatively scheduled the procedure for Monday.”
Surprise ricocheted through Adam, mirroring the shock on Madison’s face. Had his father been that certain she would agree?
“This Monday? You’re only allowing me what’s left of the weekend to make arrangements?”
“Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose, but I want to beat this disease, and the sooner we get started the better my chances,” he said with just the right touch of earnestness. But his father had always been a master manipulator. “I called the surgeon as soon as Adam told me you were coming.”
Adam watched the war wage in Madison’s eyes, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d changed her mind.
“I’ll be back tomorrow night. Let me know where I’m staying.” She pivoted and stalked from the room, her slim figure as rigid as a steel beam. The front door snapped shut behind her.
Silence descended on the room. Moments later the sound of Andrew’s truck engine struggling to turn over carried to them. It took three attempts before the ignition caught.
“That went well.”
His father’s smugness infuriated Adam. “I have to hand it to you, Dad. That took balls. What made you sure she’d agree?”
“I know Maddie.”
It had always irritated Adam that he’d tried for years to win his father’s approval, but from the moment Madison had waltzed into their lives she could do no wrong in Danny Drake’s eyes.
Adam whipped out his cell phone. “I’ll make the hotel arrangements.”
“No hotel. Madison’s family.”
“The motor home only has one bedroom,” Helen pointed out.
“That’s why she’ll stay here with Adam.”
The words hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. “Me? Why?”
“I’m not putting her on the sofa bed in the motor home when I’ll probably be up and down all night, and our house is far from being habitable—with walls ripped down and wires hanging everywhere. You have two empty bedrooms.”
“I don’t want that viper here.”
“No talking about her like that. And Madison’s going to need transportation. While I like that she’s still sentimental enough to drive Andrew’s truck, it doesn’t sound as reliable as she claims it is.”
“You’re going to rent a car for her?”
“No. You’re going to drive her to and from the office. We’ll send Andrew’s truck to my mechanic and have him take his time on the repairs.”
Adam gaped at his father’s audacity. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t have time to babysit or play taxi. I have a job.”
“You have that hospital running like a well-drilled army unit. It’ll survive if its administrator cuts his days a little short while Madison’s in town.”
Was that the compliment he’d waited a lifetime to hear or just another form of manipulation? “Dad—”
He joined Adam by the window and clapped him on the shoulder. “Adam, I need you to make sure she gets to work on time each day. I can’t lose patients over this health scare. The medical bills from this treatment are going to be astronomical even after my health insurance pays its part. I don’t want to burn through my retirement paying them off. Your mother and I will need something to live on...if I make it through this.”
Damn it. He was being manipulated. But his father’s points were valid.
“We’ll have dinner together every night Madison’s here. Helen will cook all of our favorites. Just like old times.”
Old times, his ass. Life would never be the same again. If his father believed otherwise, then he was in for a reality check. And it irritated Adam that his father, who’d never been late or left the office early a single day in his career, expected Adam to do so.
“You’re asking too much.”
“Fine. Call Madison. Tell her never mind. I’ll cancel the surgery and take my chances with the chemo-radiation cocktail.”
Once more Adam had underestimated his father. Danny Drake knew which buttons to press to get what he wanted.
“Fine. I’ll handle it.”
* * *
MADISON CRADLED THE phone, marked the last name off Tuesday’s appointment roster then leaned back and massaged her throbbing temples. She was already beginning to regret her decision to help Dann—Dr. Drake.
He’s not friend or family anymore. Keep it strictly business.
A key turned in the lock, and the front door of the clinic opened. Her assistant’s blond head appeared in the gap. Piper stepped inside, scanned the empty waiting room with confusion puckering her forehead.
“Hi, boss. I saw your truck outside. Why are you here on a Sunday? Did we have an emergency? If we did, you should’ve called me.” She came around the registration counter and into the workspace she usually occupied.
“It’s not the kind of emergency that required me to pull you away from your family. I was going to call later and explain. There’s going to be a change in our scheduling for the next couple months.”
“Is something wrong? Are you okay?”
Physically, yes. Mentally, no. Madison sifted through the facts. Piper knew more about her past than anyone else. In a weak moment Madison had confided that her husband and unborn baby had died and that Madison had sworn off men and romantic entanglements forever. But that was all she’d shared, and she preferred to keep the rest on a need-to-know basis.
“I’m fine, but my former father-in-law has cancer. I’ve been shanghaied into substituting in his veterinary practice for him while he undergoes treatment.”
Worry filled Piper’s eyes. “What about our clients?”
And her job. Madison understood the concern. “I’m only subbing on Mondays and Tuesdays. We’ll operate on our regular schedule the rest of the time.”
“Where’s his practice, and is your truck up to that many road trips?”
“Norcross, Georgia, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed about the truck.”
Piper bit her lip and shifted on her feet. “Is he paying you?”
In the shock of the moment payment had never crossed her mind. “We didn’t discuss that, but I suspect not. I’m actually repaying an old debt. He helped me with my internship.”
“Madison, I don’t mean to get into your business, but you see a lot of patients on the barter system. We don’t make enough to cover that many hotel stays, and with one of your two rental cottages vacant... Can you afford to do this?”
“I can’t afford to refuse. Dan—Dr. Drake will take care of my accommodations. Piper, I’m going to need your help and Josh’s. Do you think your son would be willing to check on my critters during the day on Mondays and Tuesdays? I’ll pay him. June has me covered before and after she gets off work.”
“I can’t see why a preteen would turn down an opportunity to get paid for doing something he loves, but I think you should consider trading his help for horseback rides instead of cash. It’s something Josh really wants, and he’s crazy about Bojangles.”
“That would certainly help me financially, but I don’t want to short him.” She checked her watch. “I need to get on the road. I don’t have time to meet with Josh today. Would it be okay if he and I hammered out the details when I get back?”
“Of course. This means you’ll be missing our Monday lunches. Do you promise to eat if I’m not around to force-feed you?”
Madison grimaced. “And here I thought you loved my company and my chicken salad.”
Piper grinned. “That, too.”
“I’ve rescheduled the appointments for this week, but I’ll need you to take care of subsequent weeks’ patients when you come in tomorrow.”
“No problem. Are you sure you want to do this, Madison? It’s a big imposition, and I haven’t seen your in-laws in town or known you to visit them since you’ve lived here.”
“We haven’t kept in touch.”
“You know...being married to Quincey’s chief of police comes in handy. If you’d like, I can ask Roth to write something official banning you from leaving the state.” Piper’s blue eyes twinkled with mischief.
Madison laughed. “Thanks, Piper, but I don’t think I want a probation officer monitoring my every move, even temporarily.” She pushed to her feet. “I need to go home and pack. It’s a long drive.”
Her cell phone tweeted, signaling a text message from a number with a Georgia area code. The number on Adam’s business card. Her stomach swooped.
Flight arranged. Be at your county airport at six tonight.
Surprise mingled with trepidation because the plan was moving forward. “What do you know? The Drakes bought me an airline ticket. I don’t have to drive seven hours after all. That means I’ll have time to negotiate with Josh.”
“In that case, come to Sunday brunch and have some of Mom’s awesome shrimp and grits. You can talk to Josh before he, his dad and grandfather head for their favorite catfish hole.”
“Let’s go, then,” Madison said. She grabbed her purse and followed Piper out the door.
Flying would save her a lot of time and gas money, but it also meant she’d be stranded with the Drakes. If something went wrong she’d have no means of escape. But at the moment being without her truck was the lesser of two evils.
* * *
MADISON SCANNED THE terminal looking for a ticket counter or an electronic board listing flights, but saw neither. Although she’d never had a reason to stop by the local airport before, it was too small and too empty for her to have missed anything that important. She was the only person wandering around.
Shouldering her small duffel bag, she approached a desk occupied by a bored-looking fortysomething man reading a fishing magazine.
“Good evening, sir. I’m supposed to fly to Norcross, Georgia, tonight. Could you tell me where I can pick up my ticket and where my flight is boarding?”
The man looked at her over the wire rims of his glasses as if she’d spoken a foreign language. “We don’t serve commercial carriers, miss. Lost our last one a few years back. We’re strictly general aviation. All we get are private planes and the occasional corporate jet, and politician or military landing. Better verify your flight information. I got nothing for you.”
How could she have misunderstood? “Thank you.”
She pulled out her cell phone as she walked away and reread Adam’s text. No, it said exactly what she remembered. She’d have to text him for clarification. She dropped her bag at her feet.
“Madison,” Adam’s deep voice called as if she’d conjured him.
She looked up to see him striding toward her wearing faded jeans and a black polo. He had sunglasses perched on top of his head.
Her breath hitched. Had he always been this handsome? Of course he had. He looked just like Andrew, only with shorter hair, a broader build and a scowl that was somehow more attractive than his brother’s charming, ingratiating grins.
Why was he here? What had happened to her airline ticket?
“This way,” he said before she could ask and jerked his chin toward the end of the building from which he’d come. She bent to grab her bag. The heat of his hand covered hers on the strap as he did the same. The contact seared her. She snatched the burning extremity away.
Static electricity. That’s all.
Who was she trying to fool? Warmth pooled low in her belly and a tingle worked its way through her veins, but that was simply Mother Nature talking, reminding Madison that she was too young to be put out to pasture. Her ovaries were still fully functional and wanted a workout.
She squashed that reaction and slowly straightened. Grasping the strap, he rose beside her, his gaze drilling hers through narrowed, suspicious eyes.
She carefully blanked her expression.
“Is this all you packed?”
“I’ll only need a couple scrub suits. This isn’t a pleasure trip.”
His scowl deepened. He about-faced and headed for a pair of glass doors on the opposite side of the building from where she’d parked. The breath leaked from her lungs like a tire going flat. She shouldn’t antagonize him, but for pity’s sake, her skittish reaction would make one think she’d never been touched by a man before. Well, she hadn’t in a long time. Years, actually. Still, celibacy was no excuse for her neglected hormones to start tap-dancing now—and for Andrew’s brother no less.
Maybe her vow to live without sex had been a bad one, but pickings were slim in Quincey, and small-town people thrived on gossip. That made finding a local man she could like and respect, but who wouldn’t demand more than a friends-with-benefits relationship, a difficult proposition. She wasn’t the type to drive out of town for one-night stands, and her few experiences with dating websites had not been good ones. Only two of the guys ever made it past the initial screening phone call, and those dates had been a waste of time and gasoline.
No. That whole romantic fantasy of soul mates and forever was not for her. She’d never let herself be that vulnerable again.
The doors slid closed between them, kicking her into action. Why was Adam here, her brain nagged again. Had he decided to drive her to Norcross? If so, why hadn’t he informed her of the change of plans? She hustled after him to get her answers.
Before Adam had surprised her at her house a few days ago, she’d never spent any time alone with him and didn’t want to contemplate the long drive cooped up in a car with him now. She checked her watch. They’d arrive so late that she wouldn’t get more than a few hours’ sleep, and she’d be good for nothing in Dr. Drake’s office tomorrow.
The doors slid open automatically, revealing an asphalt tarmac—not another parking lot. A half dozen planes were tethered in a row. Adam was already halfway to one small white aircraft with blue and silver stripes and three windows on the side. Her feet stalled. The cool air from the terminal swirled past her, blending with the warmth radiating from the pavement.
He opened a door on the side and shoved her bag through it. Her brain screamed in protest. He turned and then did a double take, as if he’d only now noticed she wasn’t immediately behind him.
“Are you coming?” He folded his arms and waited with one leg bent, staring at her through the dark sunglasses he’d lowered over his eyes. He presented an all too appealing picture—like a cologne advertisement for an adventurous man or something. “Madison, we need to get in the air.”
Dear heaven. She wasn’t mistaken. They were traveling by plane. “I thought you and Andrew were deathly afraid of flying after that near-miss midair accident when you were kids.”
“I don’t run from my fears.”
But Andrew had. Goose bumps danced across her skin as awareness drifted over her like a chilling mist. How could she have missed that when she’d been married to the man for five years? But the moment she heard Adam say the words she recognized the truth. Every vacation she and her husband had ever taken had been within driving distance. They’d either stayed in a hotel or the family’s pop-up camper.
She looked at the tiny aircraft and apprehension tickled her spine. “That is our plane?”
“It’s a Piper Seminole, a safe one. Fast, too.”
She swiveled her head from side to side. There wasn’t anyone else nearby. “Where’s our pilot?”
“You’re looking at him.”
Her mouth dried and adrenaline raced through her veins. “You own a plane?”
“In partnership with several surgeons at the hospital.”
He closed the distance between them, then pushed up the dark lenses. His steady gaze held hers. “Madison, I became a pilot so I could understand what happened that day and make sure it didn’t happen to me again. You’ll be safe with me—safer than on the interstate in Andrew’s old truck. Once we get in the air you’ll see some amazing scenery, and in a couple hours you’ll be on the ground again.”
She wasn’t convinced.
He huffed an impatient breath. “Flying will save you ten hours of travel time round trip each week.”
When he put it that way... “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’m a little apprehensive. I’ve never flown before.”
“Conquer your fears, Doc, or they’ll conquer you. Trust me, you’ll love it once we’re airborne.”
Trust a man who detested her? Tall order. She wasn’t sure she’d love flying, but she ordered her feet forward, taking one step, two, on legs as weak and numb as they’d been after she’d finished her first half marathon. Was it fear? Or excitement?
Adam stepped in front of her. “I have to get in first since there’s only one door, then you’ll step up onto the wing and slide down into your seat. Watch where I put my feet.”
Another bubble of nervousness rose in her throat. She hesitated, running her gaze over the aircraft and searching for loose seams or bolts or anything that didn’t look...right. Not that she knew what she was looking for. But she hated the idea of climbing into that tin can and being trapped beside Adam for the length of the flight when her body was having fits of nostalgia for her missed sex life.
But Adam was not Andrew, and she was not going there with him.
Adam climbed aboard, then turned and offered his hand to help her climb inside. The moment their palms met and his long fingers curled around hers a current of awareness flowed through her, and she realized she was in trouble because her body obviously did not know what was good for it.
* * *
A PRICKLE OF foreboding crept up Madison’s spine when the headlights’ beam landed on the brick pillars marking the entrance to Adam’s neighborhood. Surely Helen and Danny weren’t waiting for them? It was almost ten o’clock—too late for visiting.
Adam had said little during the flight, communicating more to the people on the other end of the radio headset than with her. He’d only spoken to Madison when pointing out pieces of interesting scenery—a winery and a lake and the tail end of the Appalachians. His silence had screamed louder than a crowd of rowdy teenagers at a rock concert that he didn’t want her here. That made two of them.
But she had to admit, he’d been right. Other than twinges of anxiety during takeoff and landing, she’d enjoyed the flight.
The lack of conversation had been both a blessing and a curse. What could she say to someone who only tolerated her out of necessity? But the lack of interaction had given her time to worry about how she’d handle staying at the Drakes’ home—a place where she’d once experienced so much love but which now held open hostility, at least from Helen. Mostly she’d tried to prepare herself for sleeping in the bed she’d once shared with Andrew.
Adam steered the car into his driveway and hit the remote to open his garage door. Her sense of foreboding rose along with that door.
“Are your parents meeting us here?”
“No.” He parked and turned off the ignition. The garage door lowered behind them with a hum of gears, sealing her inside.
A sinking sensation weighted her stomach. Adam left the car, opened the trunk and extracted her duffel bag. Her brain screamed in denial. She threw open her door and bolted to her feet. “I’m staying here? With you?”
“Yes.” The bite in the word revealed his displeasure.
“Why not a hotel or at your parents’ house?”
“They’re living in a motor home parked in their driveway while the renovation is underway. There’s no room for you.”
No. No. No.
“This isn’t going to work. Call Danny. I’m sure he’ll make arrangements for a hotel.”
“He’s having surgery tomorrow. For cancer—a life-threatening disease. He has enough on his plate without worrying about your demands. Could you think about someone other than yourself for once?”
She gasped at the injustice of the statement. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
“Dad wants you here.”
“How will I get to his office? Is he going to loan me his car?”
A bark of laughter severed her words. “No one drives Dad’s Corvette except him.”
“But—”
“Madison, he asked me to make sure you kept your promise. I’m to drive you to work each morning and pick you up each evening.”
Adam was her babysitter. “He doesn’t trust me?”
“Why should he? You’ve given him no reason to believe you won’t cut and run when things get tough.”
Madison gulped the panic welling within her. She was trapped. Trapped in hell with the spitting image of her dead husband. With no escape. No matter how bad things got. And she was too far from anywhere to pay what would no doubt be an exorbitant taxi fee.
Two nights under Adam’s roof. She inhaled and exhaled, fighting for calm. Two nights, she repeated silently. She could get through them, but next week she’d insist on alternative accommodations.
CHAPTER THREE
ADAM MIGHT BE forced to house and chauffeur Madison, but he didn’t have to befriend her. He planned to park her in her room, putting her out of sight and out of mind until tomorrow. And then he’d have seven more weekends to get through—if she kept her promise. He doubted she would. He expected her to bail long before September.
He dropped her suitcase inside the door of the bedroom on the opposite end of the house from his and stepped out of her way. “Guest room’s here. Bathroom’s next door. We leave at seven in the morning. Be ready.”
Madison swept past him, trailing the barely perceptible fragrance of flowers that had taunted him in the cockpit during their flight. Her scent wasn’t overpowering like some of the perfumes the women he encountered at work often wore. Instead, Madison’s was just subtle enough to tease his nose and interfere with his concentration as he tried to identify the components.
A ridiculous waste of time. He turned to walk away. A gasp stopped him.
Madison stood by the bed, her body rigid, facing the shelf above the television holding Andrew’s sports memorabilia. Individual protective glass boxes enclosed an autographed football from Andrew’s favorite NFL player, a pyramid of signed baseballs they’d collected on a summer road trip when hitting as many major league ballparks as possible, and a golf glove from the Masters Tournament champion the year they’d both graduated high school.
“I’d forgotten about those.” Madison’s voice quivered slightly, as did her fingers when she tucked a dark lock of hair behind her ear. When she’d been married to Andrew she’d kept her hair cut to chin length. It hung to the center of her back now, with shorter strands sweeping her shoulders when she turned to look at him.
Something lurked in her eyes—something deep, dark and...painful? Adam dismissed the notion. If she’d thought about his brother or the Drake family at all since Andrew’s death, Adam had seen no evidence of it.
He’d forgotten about the collection, too. He never came into this room. He’d been dating an interior designer when he’d built the house, and he’d given her free rein when she’d volunteered to do the decorating. But yes, he still remembered the shock the first time he’d seen what she’d dug out of the boxes in his attic.
Putting Madison in here with Andrew’s prized possessions hadn’t been intentional. He’d simply chosen the room farthest from his. But if seeing the collection served as penance, so be it. Why should she be able to walk away and forget when he couldn’t?
“You abandoned them along with everything else in your house.”
“Andrew’s house. He bought it.”
“To surprise you.”
“The deed and loan were in his name. He chose all the furniture.” Her resentful tone grated like the screech of a rusty hinge.
She ducked her head and tugged at her cuffs. “I left behind the things that meant something to you and your brother. He would’ve wanted you to have all this since you collected them together.”
Andrew hadn’t cared about the sentimental ties to the items. He’d considered them all investments—items he could sell later when the star’s value went up.
“You left everything, Madison, creating an additional burden for those of us who had to clean up after you.” Him. He’d been the one who’d had to parcel out his brother’s belongings, deciding what to keep, sell or store. He’d had to list the house and sell it. His mom hadn’t been up to the task, and his dad had been slammed at work trying to cover his and Andrew’s patients.
“I’m sorry. I—I only took what I could carry in the truck, and the love of sports was something you and he shared before I came along.”
She’d come between him and Andrew, breaking a bond he’d believed indestructible, and if he didn’t do as his father requested and deliver her to the office each week she could drive a bigger wedge between him and his parents, too.
“You mailed us the house keys along with your power of attorney, relinquishing your share of everything but the life insurance and the pickup. You didn’t even bother to call or say goodbye to my parents.”
He caught her reflection in the mirror, saw her eyes close, fanning dark lashes against her pale skin. When her lids lifted, whatever emotion he thought he’d seen earlier had vanished.
“I said goodbye at the memorial service. Helen preferred it that way.”
“Quit blaming your insensitivity on my mother. You bailed without any regard for the damage you’d left behind.”
She flinched and opened her mouth. Seconds ticked past. Then she sealed her lips.
She faced him with one hand splayed across her upper chest. The action parted the neckline of her plaid cotton shirt and revealed the area above the scooped neck of the T-shirt she wore beneath it. The shape of her bones showed clearly beneath her skin. His father had remarked on Madison’s thinness after she’d left yesterday. Adam hadn’t noticed until now. She’d lost weight. Too much.
“I’ll be ready by seven. Thank you for allowing me to stay, Adam. I know this isn’t your first choice, either. Next week I’d prefer a hotel.”
His father would never agree to that, but he wasn’t going to waste his breath. “Tell that to my father.”
“I will.”
He should leave, but his feet remained rooted. Madison had always been pretty, but as Andrew’s girlfriend then his wife she’d been off-limits. Adam had never examined her that closely before, but he could have sworn the angles of her face had been softer six years ago, and he didn’t remember her camouflaging her shape beneath layers of loose clothing then either. She looked...fragile.
Probably just another woman starving herself to fit into size-zero jeans. But he couldn’t have her collapsing on the job. “Have you eaten dinner?”
“I had a big lunch.”
“You know where the kitchen is. It’s stocked. Help yourself. I won’t wait on you.”
He made his escape, passing through the back door, then the screened porch. He jogged down the steps to the slate patio below. Moonlight glimmered on the water, but his favorite view did nothing to soothe him tonight. He punched his father’s number into his cell phone.
“She’s here,” he said the second his father connected.
“Good. I knew I could count on her. You’ll get her to the office in the morning?” Worry tightened his voice, and worry was one thing his father didn’t need right now.
“Why do you think I flew her in, Dad? Not because I wanted to spend time with her. Once I drop her off tomorrow she’ll be stranded. Your idea of taking her truck to the shop was a good one, but it would have been a one-visit deal—we’d have had to think of something else next time. Flying her in covers every visit, and it saves her time, so she won’t question my motives.”
“It’s expensive.”
“It’s cheaper than hiring a substitute doctor.”
A chuckle hit his ear. “You’re more like me than you’re willing to admit, Adam. Now I can rest easy. Thanks.”
No. He wasn’t like his father at all. “I’ll see you in preop, Dad.”
“You don’t need to come by the hospital in the morning. I’ll see you after I get out. Take special care of our girl. You could even stop by the office and have lunch with her.”
“You mean check up on her? Don’t push it, Dad. I’ll see you before they wheel you back.”
“Madison’s still your sister-in-law, Adam. She deserves respect.”
“She’s not my anything anymore. She severed those ties long ago. Tell Mom I’ll be there in the morning. She’ll need my support even if you don’t.”
* * *
“MADISON.”
Madison jolted awake at the sound of a familiar voice. Andrew? No. Adam stood over her. They looked and sounded similar, but she’d always been able to tell them apart—a test she’d passed multiple times when Andrew had pulled his hijinks. “What?”
“I asked, what you’re doing out here?”
She blinked and looked around. Then it came back to her. She’d barely slept—how could she in that shrine to her dead husband? Cold penetrated her skin, seeping down to her bones. Dawn illuminated the pond. How long had she been on the screened porch? Pushing back her hair, she straightened on the swing, tightened her grip on the blanket she’d wrapped herself in and banded her arms around the void in her middle.
“Did I oversleep?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
And he hadn’t answered hers. “I came out to listen to the bullfrogs. They reminded me of home.”
Her dreams had been filled with the screech of metal against metal as her car had scraped against the guardrail, then the snap of it breaking through and rolling over and over. As always, the impact of the vehicle slamming into the tree and the pain of her stomach colliding with the steering wheel had jolted her awake. It was a familiar dream, one she’d had hundreds of times. But it still rattled her. Sometime this morning she’d trudged out here rather than risk a replay.
She gingerly eased to her feet. Her left foot was slightly numb from being tucked beneath her and made keeping her balance an iffy proposition. She grasped the swing’s chain. The links were cold against her palm, but she would not ask Adam for help.
His hair was damp and his chin gleamed from a recent shave. The unbuttoned collar of his white dress shirt revealed a wedge of tanned skin. A navy-and-red unknotted necktie draped his shoulders. The combination of his cologne, menthol shaving cream and minty toothpaste filled her nose.
She’d forgotten the appeal of a freshly showered man first thing in the morning. Her heart raced like a rabbit’s, and adrenaline gave her a burst of alertness. Certainly the intimacy of the situation was the only reason.
Yeah, right.
Adam looked good—even better than his brother had on his best day, mainly because he lacked Andrew’s cocky you-know-you-want-me swagger. Adam had a harder take-me-or-leave-me edge, or maybe there was a maturity about him that Andrew, with his perpetual fraternity-boy persona, had lacked.
But her damned hormones couldn’t tell the difference between the enemy and Andrew.
“Coffee’s in the kitchen. I’m pulling out of the garage in thirty minutes.”
The scent of coffee from the mug he held in his hand penetrated her distracting thoughts. “I’ll grab a cup and get dressed.”
She ducked past him, ignoring him as best she could when he shadowed her inside. Ten minutes after she’d left Adam she was as ready as she was ever going to be to face him again, but neither the caffeine nor her quick, steaming shower had done anything to erase the pall of last night’s nightmares. The uneasiness lingered in her mind. She hadn’t had the dream in over a year, and she’d thought she’d finally banished the hellish mental movie. Apparently Adam’s appearance had resurrected the reruns.
He pivoted sharply when she entered the kitchen, wearing his usual scowl. What had she done to irritate him this time? Breathe?
“Are you starving yourself on purpose?”
The attack took her aback. “What?”
“Did you eat anything last night or this morning?” He practically growled the question.
Why did he care?
“Don’t bother lying, Madison. I buy the groceries. I know what’s in my house.”
“I told you I wasn’t hungry last night.”
Even if she’d been able to bring herself to rummage through his cupboards for a snack, she’d been too stressed to force down anything. The shrimp and grits lunch yesterday had been her last meal, and she was paying for that this morning with a noticeable lack of get-up-and-go.
“Dad’s practice is a busy one. You’ll be going nonstop, since you insist on cramming a week’s worth of patients into two days. You’ll need something substantial to get through the day.”
Well, that explained everything. Adam wasn’t concerned for her well-being. He was thinking of his father’s practice.
“Could we stop somewhere on the way to the office?” A yogurt parfait might soothe her nervous stomach.
“Junk food’s not the answer.” He raided the fridge, tossing items onto the counter, then he broke four eggs into a large skillet, and efficiently whisked them with a fork. He added fresh spinach, cheese and herbs from a well-stocked array in the cabinet. Bustling around the room like a man on a mission, he dropped bread into a toaster and poured two glasses of orange juice, which he plopped on the table with a thump.
His swift, economical movements implied he’d prepared breakfast for guests before. Women? She crammed that thought back into her mental closet. Adam’s social life was not her business.
But she couldn’t help comparing him to his twin. Andrew’s idea of cooking had been to microwave leftovers. A savory aroma filled the kitchen. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled enthusiastically.
With a flick of his wrist Adam folded and plated the omelet, once again surprising her with his competence. After dividing it, he slid half onto a second plate, then set it in front of her, adding a piece of toast. “Eat fast. We need to go.”
“I— Thank you, Adam.”
“Don’t get used to it. I’m not your personal chef.”
“I didn’t ask you to cook for me.”
“We both know I’m not doing this for you.” He applied himself to his meal, and Madison did the same, choking down her resentment along with breakfast.
Once breakfast had been consumed Adam rose, grabbed their empty dishes and put them in the dishwasher. “You have five minutes.”
“I’m ready.”
His gaze searched her face, making her hyperconscious of the ghastly reflection she’d seen in the mirror. But makeup wasn’t her thing, and even if she’d wanted to disguise her pallor or the dark circles beneath her eyes, she hadn’t packed any concealer. Why worry? She had no one to impress.
“Dad’s surgery’s at noon. I won’t leave the hospital during the procedure. You’ll have to hitch a ride to lunch with one of the staff.”
“I don’t usually eat lunch.” Unless Piper or June forced a midday meal on her.
A muscle in his jaw knotted. “I’ll pick you up at six-thirty unless the surgery runs late.” He rose and braced his fists on the table, leaning across it. “Madison, I don’t have the time to babysit you. Do not become a liability.”
She wasn’t looking for any favors and didn’t want to be beholden to anyone. “I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, I can see that. You’re doing a great job.” His sarcasm stung like a whip. “You’re ten pounds underweight and your clothes hang on you like a sack.”
Her hackles rose. It was okay for her friends to nag her, but Adam had no right. “I lost weight when I took up running, and I have more important things to spend my money on than new clothes. I might be built more like a plank than an hourglass, but I’m in good shape—I have to be. It takes strength to manhandle heavy animals.”
Adam looked unconvinced or, more likely, uninterested. Well, bully for him. His opinion didn’t matter anyway.
* * *
ADAM STRODE TOWARD his father’s office, eager to ditch Madison and get on with his day. He mentally scrolled through his task list, trying to find time to fit everything into his schedule.
Madison stopped on the front porch so abruptly in front of him that he almost barreled into her. He locked his muscles and shot out a hand to prevent a collision. His palms landed at her waist and his nose grazed the top of her ponytail. The scent of her hair filled his nostrils. The firmness of her hips registered a split second before the warmth of her body scorched his palms. He had the oddest urge to caress her unexpected curves.
What in the hell? He removed his hands and backed away. “Is there a problem?”
Her small breasts rose and fell, then her gaze ricocheted from the door to his face. Emotions chased through her eyes so rapidly he couldn’t label any of them—but none were good. “Damn it, Madison, you’re not backing out.”
She swallowed, then licked her lips. His gaze locked on her sweeping pink tongue, and his brain took a seriously wrong turn. Her damp mouth was not alluring. Definitely not. He had no inclination to find out how she tasted. None. Despite his brother’s boasts about his hot sex life, Madison was Andrew’s wife. End of story.
Even thinking about touching her was perverted. If his pulse pounded double-time it was only because he didn’t have time for this second-thoughts crap.
“Madison,” he warned when she remained motionless and silent.
“I’m fine.”
Liar. He knew it as well as he knew his own name. What was it about this office that repelled her? He didn’t have the time nor the inclination to find out. “The staff’s expecting you. They’ll show you the ropes.”
“I— Do I know any of them?”
What difference did it make? “How am I supposed to know? They’ll do their job. Make sure you do yours.”
He returned to his car.
He was not running, damn it. He had a jammed schedule and needed to get started. Madison was a grown woman, a trained veterinarian. She didn’t need him to hold her hand and make introductions.
He checked his rearview mirror. She stood stiffly on the porch, her fists clenching and relaxing by her sides. Guilt and frustration needled him. He was on the verge of throwing the vehicle into Reverse and dragging her inside when she reached for the handle and opened the door. It closed behind her. He merged into traffic. He’d done his part and delivered her to the office. The next few hours were up to her.
Madison had ghosts to face. But she deserved to suffer through the experience alone. He’d been living with those damned ghosts for six years and no one had made it easy for him.
* * *
“LUNCHTIME,” DR. DRAKE’S assistant, Lisa, said. “Princess Pug was our last patient this morning.”
Madison heaved a sigh of relief and nodded. Adam hadn’t been kidding when he predicted she and the staff would be busy. She hadn’t had a minute to dwell on the past since she’d stepped through the door this morning and found a patient waiting—a fact she greatly appreciated. She wasn’t looking forward to the lull ahead when the memories would crowd into the now empty halls and treatment rooms.
She trudged toward the private offices. She’d been able to avoid the back of the building until now, but she hadn’t packed a lunch and didn’t want to force her company on the staff. She definitely wouldn’t bum a ride to lunch as Adam had suggested.
Dread quickened her heartbeat as she approached the office she’d shared with Andrew. A lump the size of a Saint Bernard lodged in her throat. She wanted to duck her head and plow past, but she forced herself to stop outside the door.
C’mon. You can do it.
It took colossal effort to turn ninety degrees and face her past. She deliberately kept her gaze high, focusing on the wall behind Andrew’s desk. She started at the long horizontal transom-style windows just below the roofline that allowed sunlight into the room. Then she let her gaze slide down. His mahogany-framed diploma occupied the same spot. It was flanked by the bookshelves he’d ordered custom-built in the same dark glossy finish as the frame. The textbooks and knickknacks he’d collected still cluttered the shelves.
Her heart thumped harder and her nails bit into her palms. Taking a bracing breath, she allowed her gaze to click incrementally down like the second hand on a clock to the high back of his chair and then to the surface of his desk. The leather blotter and desk set she’d given him as a graduation present remained in the center. The frame that had held their wedding photograph still occupied the front right corner. She inched forward on leaded feet, and slowly turned the rectangle around.
Seeing the two of them with their hands linked, love in their eyes and radiating from their smiles, crushed the breath from her like a horse pinning her against a stall wall with his haunch. They’d been so young, so idealistic and so certain of their future together. At least she had been.
Had Andrew been plotting even then to derail her plans? Had he ever intended for her to join his father’s practice? Or had he always planned for her to be a stay-at-home mom like Helen?
She scanned the rest of the desk and a familiar emptiness yawned in her belly. She cradled the ache with both hands. Andrew had gloated that their son had been conceived during a quickie on this surface while the staff was at lunch. He’d thrown that in her face that horrible night.
And that was when she’d taken her eyes off the road.
A tremor racked her. She pried her gaze away and examined the rest of the space. Another shrine to Andrew. Nothing had changed since he’d left, and yet ironically, nothing in her life was the same.
With his drunken boast he’d crushed her faith not only in him but in herself. How could she have been so blind, so gullible, so stupid?
An undeniable urge to bolt swept through her. She raced down the hall into Dan—Dr. Drake’s office and planted her palms on the edge of his desk. It had been six years. She shouldn’t still react this viscerally.
Out of habit, she gulped deep breaths and rammed the darkness into its hidey-hole by counting her blessings. Her health. Her home. Her practice. Her pets. Her friends. The peaceful town she’d grown to love.
Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on something else—anything besides the grief gnawing away her hard-won peace. There had to be something positive in this horrible experience.
Her morning had been crammed with everything from avians to reptiles, testing her memory and her training to the limit. Not knowing what she’d find upon entering a treatment room had been both intimidating and exhilarating in ways Madison hadn’t anticipated. She’d enjoyed being kept on her toes.
“You okay?” Lisa asked behind her.
Madison spun around. “Yes. I’d forgotten how exciting and varied Danny’s patients could be. At home my most exotic patient is a ferret and once in a while an ornery donkey.”
“Sounds dull. It’s never that here. We’re eating in the break room—I hope you like pizza. Better come and get yours before Jim scarfs it down.”
Surprised to be included, Madison straightened. “You ordered delivery? I’ll pay for my share.”
“Adam covered it.”
Adam. Her nerves twanged. For the first time since she’d stepped into the office Madison glanced at the clock. Almost one o’clock. Danny would be in surgery. She’d been too busy this morning to keep track of time. A fresh wave of worry snaked through her. She wanted to call and check on Danny. But she wouldn’t. If she intended to keep their relationship strictly business, then checking up on him was out of the question.
She followed Lisa down the hall. “Does Adam always send food?”
“No, not Adam, but Dr. Drake always orders takeout on the days we’re slammed and don’t have time to go out.”
Madison had suggested that practice when she’d interned here. “Does that happen often?”
“Often enough—especially during shortened holiday weeks. Dr. Drake has more patients than he can handle, and he hates to turn anyone away. He definitely needs a partner.”
Kay, the receptionist, Jim, the groomer, and Susie, the kennel manager, were seated when Madison and Lisa entered. Kay was older than her predecessor, a perky twentysomething who’d shamelessly flirted with Andrew even in Madison’s presence.
“Madison, you did well this morning.”
Warmth surrounded Madison. “Thank you, Kay.”
“You hit the ground running and never missed a beat. Dr. Drake was right. You’re one sharp cookie.”
“Da—Dr. Drake said that?”
“He’s talked about you for months.”
Madison’s heart jolted. Months? She hadn’t agreed to come until Saturday, and yet he’d been discussing her with his staff?
“I have a practice in North Carolina.”
Jim laughed. “We’ve heard all about your little practice and your farm.”
The fine hairs on her body rose. Danny had known where she was all along? How much of her business—personal and professional—had he followed? Knowing he’d been spying disturbed her.
Lisa paused with her slice just shy of her lips. “He told us about the good ol’ days when you shadowed him and his son, but he didn’t tell us why you left.”
The unspoken question decimated Madison’s appetite. “I didn’t feel comfortable here after Andrew died.” She forced herself to take a bite. A full mouth gave her an excuse not to elaborate.
Kay nodded. “It must be hard coming back to the place where you worked with your husband. You were both so young—it’s such a sad story.”
What had Danny told them? The pizza turned to a cheesy, greasy paste in Madison’s mouth. She chewed and chewed, then finally swallowed the wad. “Y’all have helped by keeping me busy.”
Kay covered her hand. “I’m sorry, hon.”
Madison’s eyes stung at the unexpected show of sympathy. She’d needed this six years ago, but she couldn’t handle it today when her nerves were already exposed and raw from seeing ghosts. She hadn’t cried in years and wouldn’t now in front of strangers.
“I noticed Miss Findley’s and her dog’s diets have failed,” Jim said.
Madison shot him a grateful glance for his obvious attempt to head off an emotional display. She let the conversation about the morning’s patients roll past her. She’d choke down her lunch if it killed her rather than let the others know how badly their revelations had disturbed her.
Bite. Chew. Swallow. Repeat.
Did Danny honestly believe she’d abandon her practice and return to Norcross? Everything she’d heard implied he’d been expecting her for longer than a few days’ time. How far was he willing to go to get her back? Would he, like his son had, stoop to using underhanded tactics to get his way?
“Hernia surgeries are supposed to be a piece of cake. But you never know. Dr. Drake isn’t young.”
Kay’s statement jerked Madison from her thoughts. “Hernia?”
Heads bobbed around the table.
Jim reached for a second slice. “Dr. Drake never mentioned any symptoms. He’s been lifting big dogs like nothing bothered him. I had no idea. I could’ve helped.”
“He told you he was having hernia surgery?” she repeated to make sure she hadn’t misheard.
“Yeah, last month when he scheduled it.”
A month. He’d told her he’d scheduled his cancer surgery after Adam’s visit to her last week. Which was correct?
Madison looked into the trusting faces and realized she was the only one in the room who knew the truth. Or was she the only one who didn’t? Had Danny lied to his staff? Or had he lied to her as part of some master plot to get her back to Norcross?
But if he’d lied to her, then so had Adam and Helen. And exactly how long had this scheme been in the works?
Was there anyone here she could trust?
CHAPTER FOUR
A SCUFF OF sound brought Madison’s head up from the stack of files on Dan—Dr. Drake’s desk. Andrew stood in the doorway. A shock wave slammed her back in the chair.
No, not Andrew, she quickly corrected. Andrew was dead. She’d held his cold, limp hand until the paramedics had pried her fingers loose to put her in a separate ambulance, and that had been the last time she’d seen him alive. Despite being surrounded by memories of him today, he hadn’t come back to haunt her in his old stomping grounds.
Shorter hair, a perpetual frown and a broader build gave away Adam’s identity. Lines of stress and exhaustion bracketed his eyes and downturned mouth. “Are you ready?”
“How did you get in? I turned the dead bolt behind the staff.”
“I have Dad’s keys.”
She had no keys, which meant she couldn’t leave without explaining to Kay why she needed a set or risk leaving the office unlocked and unprotected, which she would never do since she knew how much each piece of equipment and bottle of medicine cost.
An intentional oversight? Most likely, given the way this trip had transpired.
“What procedure did they end up doing on Da—your father?”
“A lobe resection.”
Lobe meant lung, not hernia. Danny hadn’t lied to her. She should be relieved, but she wasn’t.
“You should have warned me that he’d lied to his staff.”
Dark eyebrows spiked upward. “About what?”
“He told them he was going in for a hernia operation.”
She hated liars. That was ironic since her life back in Quincey was based on a lie—one of omission, one that hurt no one. But her story was still dishonest no matter how she justified it. When she’d first arrived in Quincey she’d let everyone believe that she was a recent vet school graduate who’d just happened to hear about Dr. Jones’s practice upon graduation. No one knew she was running from a past that wouldn’t quit pursuing her.
“Is it impossible for you to comprehend that Dad might not have wanted his employees to worry about their job security?”
“Trust is essential in any partnership—business or personal.” A lesson she’d learned through Andrew’s betrayal.
Frustrated by the whole messy situation, she swiped a strand of hair off her face. Unless she wanted to alienate the people she was supposed to work with over the next eight weeks, she’d have to perpetuate the lie by not revealing their beloved boss’s faults.
“I’ll give him an opportunity to tell them the truth, but he needs to do it as soon as possible. I will not look them in the eye and lie to them. If they ask a direct question, I’ll answer it truthfully.”
“Tell him that when you visit him tonight.”
Alarm splintered through her. “Visit him?”
“You’re going to stand by his bedside and tell him everything is wonderful—even if it isn’t.”
“No.” The idea revolted her so much she pushed away from the desk. If she never set foot in another hospital it would be too soon. Lying there after she’d lost her baby, seeing the sympathy on the doctors’ and nurses’ faces as they bustled into and out of her empty room and having no one to tell her what was going on with Andrew had pushed her to the brink of sanity. It was a doctor she’d never seen before who had informed her of Andrew’s passing.
“I’m not going to the hospital, Adam.”
“Yes, you are. Let’s go.” He turned and left.
She racked her brain for an excuse he would accept. “It’s been a long day. I need to rest for tomorrow.”
He held the front door open for her, his hard eyes bored into hers. “Your day has been nothing compared to what my mother and father have been through.”
True, she admitted with a pinch of remorse. “Your father won’t be ready for company.”
Adam turned the key, locking her out of the building. She couldn’t go back inside. “Your reassurances will quicken his recovery.”
Another truth she didn’t want to accept. Resignation settled heavily on her shoulders. “Can we at least stop somewhere so I can grab a sandwich?” Procrastination at its finest. “I appreciated the lunch, but it was a long time ago.”
“And you only ate one slice of pizza.”
Yet another unpleasant surprise. As if there hadn’t been enough of them already. “You’re checking up on me? What do you care if I eat?”
“I told you. This isn’t about you. It’s about my father’s practice and your ability to hold it together until he returns. Frankly, I don’t think you’ll last. I think you’ll bail at the first opportunity. But until you do, I’m going to do my part.”
Indignation stiffened her spine. “I keep my promises.”
“We’ll see about that.” He held open her car door, then closed it behind her, sealing her inside the silent compartment. Trapped. The word echoed through her brain and made her skin crawl. She’d never been prone to claustrophobia, but she suspected this need to claw her way out might be how it felt.
Anger steamed through her. Why had she come back? Why had she let herself be suckered into helping?
Because you want this debt behind you so you can finally find some peace.
Adam rounded the hood and slid behind the wheel. “Passing out due to low blood sugar won’t get you out of helping. You can eat in the hospital cafeteria—our food is good. I need to check on Dad one more time before going home. When I left—”
He clamped his jaw shut and wrenched the key in the ignition. His Adam’s apple bobbed. Witnessing his emotional response deflated her anger and dredged up a reciprocal concern she did not want or need.
“How is Danny?” She wished the words back the instant they escaped. She’d been fighting with herself all afternoon trying not to care, but that was easier said than done when she’d been treading the tiles she and Danny had walked together so often.
“Surgery went as well as could be expected.”
He pulled out of the parking lot, turning the opposite direction from his house. Her nails dug into the armrest. She wanted to insist he take her back to his place. But judging by his hard face and white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, arguing would be a waste of time. She was at Adam’s mercy, dependent on him for food, shelter and transportation. She’d resolved after the crash to never let herself rely on anyone again, and yet here she was.
She should have brought the truck, but she worried every time she took a long trip that it wouldn’t make it home. Then what would she do? She wouldn’t be able to reach the livestock on surrounding farms.
The truck’s starter was at the top of the list of expensive things needing repair. On the drive home from Georgia Saturday she’d been afraid to turn off the engine when she filled the gas tank for fear that the vehicle wouldn’t restart, and then she’d have to pay for a tow from someone besides the mechanic who traded his skills for animal care. Working here instead of at home meant she wasn’t earning the money she’d need to buy the parts.
But her debt to Danny was one that money couldn’t repay. So if she had to go to the hospital then she would, but she wouldn’t leave empty-handed. She had questions of her own for Danny, like why had he created the elaborate cover story? Why and for how long had he been spying on her? Did he honestly believe she’d throw away the life she’d fought so hard to build and return here to the place where she’d been betrayed?
Adam made the drive in silence, which suited her fine. Andrew would have filled the ride with chatter about his day, his patients, his brilliance, his skills.
She glanced again at the tense man beside her. The only thing she and Adam agreed on was that neither of them wanted her here. The hospital came into view and memories impaled her like shards of shattered glass. She fought to conceal her response to the sight of the big yellow-brick building. If Adam noticed the cold sweat beading her upper lip, he didn’t mention it.
He passed the emergency entrance, then public parking, before turning into an employee lot where he had to swipe his ID in order for the gate arm to lift. He pulled into a space near the building with a sign marked Hospital Administrator. Adam had been the rule-following twin. He wouldn’t squat on someone else’s turf. That meant he’d found success outside his brother’s and father’s shadows.
“Have you worked here long?”
“A little over three years.”
She followed him through an employee entrance, which also required the use of his card. A rainbow of scrub-garbed employees strode briskly through the halls. She checked her watch. It was close to the 7:00 p.m. shift change. Most people nodded or spoke to Adam as they passed. Apparently he was liked and respected here, which suggested he wasn’t always the arrogant sourpuss he presented to her. A barrage of curious glances fired her way, but he didn’t introduce her to anyone.
The staff elevator was packed when they entered, forcing her to stand too close to Adam. She turned her back and faced the doors like everybody else, but unlike the others, she was totally aware of the man behind her. His scent. His body heat. Her palms moistened and her pulse quickened. An anxiety reaction to the hospital? Yes, that was all it was.
The doors opened and four more people stepped in, forcing her to squeeze even closer to Adam. He put a hand on her back to stop her and the impact hit her like a spark of static electricity. She prayed he didn’t notice her jump.
“How’s your dad?” one of the men asked.
“He came through surgery well. Thank you, Ted.”
Adam’s breath stirred her hair, sending a shiver skittering down her spine. No, she wasn’t reacting to him, but to his twin, the one whose memory had been dogging her footsteps all day.
But it couldn’t be a reaction to Andrew, she admitted reluctantly. Andrew had never made her insides quiver by simply breathing. But she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let it be because of Adam, either. It was likely just abstinence causing the chaos. Damn her deprived, confused hormones. They were soaking up Adam’s maleness like a drought-ridden field did a summer rain.
She tried to think of something besides the man behind her. But her mind went blank. She focused on her breathing, then on feeling the floor beneath each of her toes. But no matter what she did, she couldn’t dull her hypersensitivity to Adam’s proximity.
The doors opened again. “This is our floor.”
His hand touched her waist again, delivering another jolt. She bustled out as quickly as she could without knocking aside the others crammed into the box. She’d rather face Dr. Drake and the hospital room instead of this crazy hormonal imbalance.
The minute she cleared the crowd the smell hit her. Antiseptic. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Scorched coffee. Leftover food from the rack of trays waiting to be picked up. Hospital smells were the kind you never forgot. Then the muffled sounds penetrated the pulse pounding her eardrums. Hushed voices. A distant cough. Someone moaning in pain. Televisions on different channels droning from multiple rooms. She hadn’t forgotten the noises, either. When you lie in bed with nothing to think about except your misery, you searched for any distraction.
“He’s at the end of the hall.” Adam’s long stride carried him away.
Her mouth dried. It wasn’t the same floor, but the layout was identical. Different paint and tile colors didn’t change the memories or the emotions this place evoked. She didn’t want to be here, but she would get through it the same way she’d gotten through everything else life had thrown at her—by treating each difficult moment like the Iditarod, gritting her teeth and soldiering on step after step, mile after mile. The sooner she did this, the sooner Adam would take her home. No, not home—his house. Back to that shrine to Andrew. But even that was better than here.
She ordered her feet forward, then stopped outside the room, where Adam guarded the entrance. Through the open door she spotted Helen in the recliner by the bed. Her former mother-in-law hadn’t noticed their arrival. She had her head bent over her wringing hands. Her shoulders drooped and lines creased her forehead. Worry had robbed her face of all color, save the shadows as dark as bruises beneath her eyes. Sympathy clutched Madison’s insides.
Adam tapped on the door and Helen’s head snapped up. She bolted to her feet, pasted on a forged smile for her son, then her gaze, filled with a cocktail of anger and loathing, focused on Madison.
“Good. You’re here.” Her cold tone held no welcome. Bitterness twisted her lips. “I need a breath of fresh air.”
She barged past them. Only then did Madison look at the patient. A chest tube and a catheter drained into containers hanging from the bed. Dann—Dr. Dra— Who was she kidding? She couldn’t keep her distance. Not when she’d been walking in his footsteps and handling his patients and instruments all day. She’d lost count of the number of clients who’d asked about him.
Danny’s face was nearly as ashen as Helen’s. His eyes were sunken and closed, his lips pale and dry.
Adam touched his shoulder. “Dad, Madison’s here.”
Danny’s lids flickered open, revealing a blue-green gaze so like Adam’s, but the irises looked faded and his gaze unfocused. “How’s my girl? I’ve been waiting for you.”
His weak voice tugged at something deep inside her. She’d never had a chance to say goodbye to her father. Was she saying goodbye to Danny now? No. He’d only been out of surgery a few hours. He’d be back to his old self soon. She had to believe that.
The hand he lifted from the bed trembled. Madison tried to harden her heart, to block out the worry, but she couldn’t. She did, however, ignore that hand. Say your piece and get out.
“We had a smooth day at the office. Your staff is wonderful. That’s why I can’t believe—”
He coughed and winced. The words died on her tongue. How could she condemn and interrogate him when he was in pain and still hung over from anesthesia?
She couldn’t. Her questions could wait until next week. “I can’t believe how efficient they are.”
Adam’s hard face relaxed slightly.
“They know...how I like...things done. You do, too. Well trained. Like you.” His struggle for breath between words made Madison uncomfortable. The hand tethered to the blood oxygen meter gingerly covered his rib.
“They definitely know your methods.”
“Dad, you need to rest.” Adam pulled out his wallet and offered Madison some folded money. “Take Mom down to the cafeteria.”
Appalled at the idea of one-on-one time with Helen, she tucked her hands behind her back. “I’m not hungry.”
He caught her left wrist, pressed the money into her palm and folded her fingers around it. His hands were warm, slightly rough, inarguably firm, but not hurtful. Her senses rioted.
“Please, Madison. She hasn’t left his side all day, and she insists on staying here tonight. She needs a break. See that she takes it.”
When he put it that way, how could she refuse?
* * *
HELEN LEANED AGAINST the wall by the nurses’ station, staring into the black sludge they called coffee. If she had the energy she’d teach them how to make it correctly, but every nerve in her body was raw and each muscle was so exhausted from fear and worry she wanted to crumple to the floor and cry. But, of course, she wouldn’t.
Desperately needing the caffeine and the sugar she’d liberally poured into the cup, she forced herself to sip the vile brew. She had to be strong for Danny. She couldn’t lose him. He was her life, and she’d do anything—even tolerate the woman who’d killed her son and grandchild—if it helped him beat this cancer.
But enduring Madison’s presence wasn’t easy. Every time Helen looked at her former daughter-in-law the agony started anew. She remembered the conversation she’d had with Andrew when he’d confessed Madison was making him look bad at the office and the glint in his eyes a few months later when they’d announced the surprise pregnancy.
What had Andrew done? Had he taken her motherly advice the wrong way? And had the car accident been partly her fault?
No. Madison had been driving. Andrew’s and little Daniel’s deaths were Madison’s fault. She had to believe that. She had to or she’d lose her mind.
How could Danny “forgive and move on” so easily? Madison had told the police officer that she and Andrew had been arguing at the time of the crash, and she’d admitted to taking her eyes off the road. If that didn’t make her guilty, then what did?
But Danny refused to listen. It was as if he’d closed the door on Andrew the day they’d walked away from his lifeless body here at this hospital. He refused to talk about their loss and got mad at her if she tried to. If not for the fact that he kept their son’s office exactly as Andrew had left it, she’d think Danny had forgotten Andrew had ever existed. But now she was beginning to suspect he’d kept the office waiting for Madison’s return.
“When Madison comes home...” had become a hated chorus in their house. Danny yammered about her as if she was a saint who could do no wrong, the resurrection of all their hopes and dreams, one who would make their lives whole again. But their lives would never be the same—not without Andrew. You’d think Danny would realize that. Madison had made her lack of appreciation for all they’d done for her clear at every turn.
“Mom.”
She straightened at the sound of Adam’s voice and smoothed her expression as best she could before facing him. She didn’t want him to worry and wouldn’t let him know she clung to the cliff of her breaking point with splitting fingernails.
“Please show Madison where the cafeteria is located.”
She flinched, sloshing the swill in her cup. He wanted her to take care of his brother’s killer? It seemed like betrayal that he, too, expected her to forget Madison’s part in ruining their lives. “It’s in the basement and easy to find. There are signs to mark the way,” she said to Adam, ignoring Madison, who stood behind him.
“I don’t have time to look for her if she gets lost, Mom. Just make sure she gets there and gets back, and grab something for yourself while you’re there. You haven’t eaten today.”
She stared into her son’s implacable face. What he asked wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. But he could be as hardheaded as his father sometimes, and she couldn’t afford to offend Adam. If anything happened to Danny, Adam was all she had left.
The panicked sensation began to swell again, making it difficult to draw a breath. She punched her anxiety like rising dough, then dropped the almost full cup into the trash can and headed for the elevators. Madison fell into step beside her. Helen said nothing. Her grandmother had taught her that if she didn’t have anything nice to say she shouldn’t speak at all.
The wound Madison had inflicted was too deep to heal. Helen had never hated anyone in her life. The Bible said “forgive those who trespass against us,” and she had tried. But she was weak and she couldn’t find it in her heart to forgive Madison Monroe.
The crowded elevator saved her from having to make conversation. She wedged herself into the opposite corner. Once they reached the cafeteria, the smell of the food made her nauseous. Needing to escape but unable to bear the idea of going back upstairs and seeing Danny hooked to machines and looking like death, she pivoted toward a table by the window. All she needed was five minutes to regroup, then she’d return to her bedside vigil.
“Don’t you want something?” Madison called.
“No.”
She stared at the fountain in the walled courtyard outside. Her life was a lot like the koi’s. More often than not she felt as if she was swimming in circles and getting nowhere. Her existence had no purpose or meaning anymore. Preparing dinner for the boys used to be the highlight of her day. Then after Adam left it was only Andrew and Danny. Now Danny worked all the time. He seemed to prefer the office to their home and his animals’ and his staff’s company to hers.
She’d been excited when Adam moved back to Norcross, but he had little time for his mother. Come to think of it, his avoidance of home had started soon after Madison and Andrew had become involved. On the rare times he had come home during a school vacation Adam had spent almost no time at the house. He’d preferred going out with his friends to hanging out with his brother—yet another reason to dislike the woman. She’d come between her sons, dissolving the closeness that only identical twins shared.
Helen closed her eyes, blocking out the voices around her. She tried to remember the good ol’ days when she’d had all three Drake men sitting around her table. Three hungry males willing to try any recipe she served, and more often than not, she’d had a houseful of their friends, too. She’d been happy then.
What would she do if Danny didn’t make it? The thought darted out of nowhere, catapulting her from her peaceful place.
Don’t think that way.
But she couldn’t help it. Other than lunches with the garden club every two months, Helen had nothing to entertain herself with except watching cooking shows on TV. When she experimented with new recipes, she usually ate them alone. Her labor-intensive meals had often turned into congealed messes by the time Danny got home.
Madison set a lidded cup and a handful of creamers and sweeteners in front of Helen, then lowered into the chair across from her. “I suspect the coffee here is slightly better than upstairs. It doesn’t smell burned.”
“I didn’t ask for that.” And she wouldn’t drink it. She didn’t want to be beholden to this woman for anything more than her help with Danny.
“I know. But Adam gave me money and asked me to get you to eat. I didn’t know what you wanted.”
“I’m not hungry.” Helen scanned Madison’s tray. A grilled chicken and spinach salad and a bottle of some kind of vitamin-fortified water. How could Madison eat at a time like this? If the surgeon hadn’t gotten everything, Danny could die. Even now there could be nasty cells floating around in his body looking for healthy tissue to attack.
“Are you sure you don’t want something?”
She battled another wave of fear. “No.”
Madison stabbed the salad with her fork and put some into her mouth. She chewed, but she looked as if she derived no pleasure from the food. It hadn’t been that way when the two of them had shared the kitchen on weekends when Madison had come home from school. Bitterness welled inside Helen, burning the back of her throat like acid.
“Do you know what the first questions out of Danny’s mouth were when he came out of anesthesia? ‘Where’s Madison? How’s my practice?’” Helen couldn’t keep the hostility and pain from her voice. She was no actress.
“Danny defines himself by his job. Most men do.”
“Danny is more than a veterinarian. He’s a husband and a father first. There’s more to life than his damned animals.”
She bit her tongue. She never swore. It wasn’t ladylike. Her grandmother had raised her better. But to hear Madison defending Danny got on her last nerve. From what Andrew had said before he’d...passed, Madison was like Danny. Career obsessed and uninterested in mothering their child.
If Helen’s fears were true and Andrew had done what she suspected he might have done, how angry would a career-driven woman be at having her plans derailed? Angry enough to wreck a car on purpose? Angry enough to cause an injury that might hurt the unborn child he claimed she hadn’t wanted?
“I know he’s more than a vet, Helen, but there are so many animals in need of help that sometimes when you get home you have nothing left to give.” Surprise then regret filled Madison’s eyes. She ducked her head as if she regretted her confession.
“Not in your tiny practice.” Not nice, Helen. Shamed by her rudeness, she hid her face by drinking some of the coffee. It was better than the tar upstairs, but it could use improvement. And Adam had paid for it, so she wouldn’t owe Madison anything if she drank it. She opened the lid and added cream and sugar.
“My practice may be small, but because it’s in a rural area it’s a dumping ground for abused or unwanted animals. It keeps me busy.”
“Euthanizing the strays?”
“No.” Madison sounded genuinely shocked by the question. She stirred her salad. “I should. But I can’t unless there’s no chance for quality of life. My farm’s full of them. I try to find homes for each one, but not every animal is adoptable.”
Helen had always wanted a dog or cat, at first for the boys, then for herself when she discovered she couldn’t have more children, but Danny said he got slobbered on by animals all day. He didn’t want to have to deal with them when he came home.
After Madison’s family had been killed, Andrew had called her “his little stray,” and Helen had adopted her like the daughter or pet she never had. But Madison had bitten the hand that fed her, so to speak. Helen owed her no loyalty, especially if she’d—
No, don’t think that. Surely a woman who couldn’t euthanize every stray that crossed her path wouldn’t deliberately wreck her car because she hadn’t gotten her way. Or would she?
Madison’s golden-brown eyes met hers. There was a hard glint to them that had not been there before Andrew’s passing. “How long has Danny been spying on me?”
Affronted, Helen stiffened. “He is not spying. He’s interested in your welfare. He invested a lot of time in you.”
“Yes, he did. And that’s why I’m here.” Madison pushed the green leaves around in her bowl again. “He doesn’t really believe I’ll abandon my practice and move back to Norcross, does he?”
Helen wished she could say no with certainty, but since his diagnosis, his comments suggesting otherwise had become so frequent she couldn’t ignore them. She gulped more coffee, trying to wash down her worry.
What if Madison returned and Danny and Adam discovered Helen’s part in the unwanted pregnancy? She’d lose their respect. She might even lose her husband and son.
“We both know you’re not going to come back.”
“No. I’m not. How long do you think it will be before your house is livable?”
“Danny insists on doing all the work, so not until he’s healed enough to do it. Why?”
“I’d prefer not to inconvenience Adam.”
“Isn’t his house nice enough? Danny says your farmhouse is nothing impressive.” The ugly words jumped from her mouth before she could stop them.
Madison flinched. “I’d prefer a hotel.”
“I’ll talk to Danny and see if we can get you a room, but don’t get your hopes up. He’s not sure he can trust you to keep your promise.”
Madison laid down her fork and snapped the lid onto her half-eaten meal. “I’m well aware that none of you trust me, Helen. But unlike some people, I keep my promises.”
Helen caught a glimpse of regret before Madison bolted to her feet. Trepidation trickled through her. “What are you implying?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired. We’d better get upstairs.” And then she walked away.
What had Madison meant? She’d never been one to make unkind remarks. Or had she hidden her true nature well? Did she know about that mother-son conversation? Was she confirming that Andrew had done something he shouldn’t have?
Digging for answers was like picking at a scab. It hurt. It made Helen’s heart bleed. And she wasn’t sure how much more grief she could handle. Best to let sleeping dogs lie before she learned something she couldn’t live with.
CHAPTER FIVE
SHAKING HIS ARMS to ease the burn in his muscles, Adam walked away from the weight bench. One more set and maybe he could sleep. Working out this close to bedtime wasn’t a good idea, but he was too wound up to lie on his back and stare at the shadows dancing across the ceiling, as he’d done last night.
A flash of movement outside caught his attention. He stepped closer to the window. Madison paced the screened porch on the opposite end of the house in the dark. The moonlight reflected off her white clothing.
It was almost eleven o’clock—too late for her to be up, considering she’d barely stayed awake during the car ride home from the hospital. Or had she been faking it when she’d had her head back against the headrest and her eyes closed?
He grabbed his towel, wiped the sweat from his face and headed down the hall to find out what was wrong.
In the den he simultaneously flipped on the light and thrust open the door, then stepped outside. Madison spun to face him. The cool night air chilling the sweat on his skin had beaded her nipples beneath her thin T-shirt. His heart thumped hard against his ribs. He yanked his gaze back to her face. “What are you doing out here?”
“Unwinding.”
Every muscle in her long, bare legs was as tense as a bowstring, belying her answer. She bit her lip and folded her arms. The move hiked up the bottom of her shirt a few inches, revealing the hem of her shiny running shorts. At least she wasn’t naked beneath the shirt. Her toes curled on the deck, and lust kicked him square in the gut. He punted it right back. There was nothing sexy about bare feet and unpainted toenails.
“You should be in bed. Tomorrow will be as busy as today.”
“I’m not tired yet.”
The shadows beneath her eyes told a different story. “You can’t sleep out here, Madison. There’s a perfectly good bed inside.”
“I’m fine. Don’t let me keep you from—” Her gaze traveled across his bare chest, then down to the waistband of his gym shorts—his only piece of clothing. His blood chased south right behind it. “Whatever you were doing.”
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