Crystal Green – From Doctor...to Daddy / When the Cowboy Said ''I Do'': From Doctor...to Daddy (страница 12)

And if she and Dillon were drawn together again?

Silence stretched between them and Dillon looked sober for a moment. “I want to say this again. I know I shouldn’t have kissed you here. I don’t want to embarrass you or compromise you. But something seems to happen when we get within ten feet of each other.”

He seemed as surprised by that as she was. She could pull back, wrap herself up in her professionalism, lift her chin and walk out without another word. But where would that get her? Dillon had said Zane was a real guy. Dillon was a real guy. He said what he meant. He did what he said. She wanted to be real, too.

“I learned in the past that an attraction can lead to pain I never want to experience again. Emilia deserves a family, not moments of happiness here and there. So I have to make a wise decision. Being attracted to you confuses me, I can’t deny it. But right now I don’t know what to do with it, either.”

“So for now you want to pretend we’re boss and employee and nothing else is going on.”

“Yes,” she admitted, relieved that he understood.

After all, she was a representative of Thunder Canyon Resort. She could not let desire for Dillon fog her better judgment.

And she couldn’t fall into a month-long affair that would surely leave her with a broken heart. She couldn’t.

“I have to go,” she murmured as she broke eye contact and stepped toward the door.

“Good luck with the mayor,” Dillon said, his voice wrapping around her as his arms had a few minutes before. She nodded and hurried out of his office, not knowing what to do about the tall, broad-shouldered Texan who had done her a huge favor.

Erika was walking through the main lobby of the resort when Erin Castro called to her from the front desk. Erin was still a mystery to many people in Thunder Canyon. She’d moved to town in July and found a job waitressing at the Hitching Post. Her long blond hair and very blue eyes, along with a figure straight out of Victoria’s Secret, attracted men to her, especially when she’d been a waitress. But now she’d been hired at Thunder Canyon Resort on a temporary basis—to fill in where she was needed—and she wore more subdued makeup, often tying back her hair. Erika thought now Erin seemed to want to blend in with the crowd.

But she was still too pretty to just blend in. When Erika stopped at the desk, Erin asked, “How would you like to have lunch next week? We could get away from here and go to the Tottering Teapot.”

“That would be nice.” The bistro in town was a woman’s haven.

Erika had made friends with Erin because she seemed so much less judgmental than other employees at the resort. Her other “lunch” friend, Holly Pritchett, was out of town for a few weeks. A relaxed lunch with Erin would help them to get to know each other better.

“The buzz around here is that you’re doing a good job at putting together Frontier Days,” she commented as if she was happy for Erika.

“Just wait until everyone knows,” Erika said with a mysterious smile.

“Knows what? You act like you have a secret you can’t wait to spill.”

“It won’t be a secret for long.” She crooked her finger at Erin and they leaned close to each other. “Zane Gunther’s going to be our entertainment.”

Erin almost let out a whoop but stopped herself. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Nope.”

“I thought you looked excited about something. How long do I have to keep it to myself?”

“I’ll be writing press releases tonight and sending them out to anyone I think can help publicize this. So by tomorrow evening, the news should be out.”

“You look so happy I thought you’d have something good to tell me.”

A guest, a woman who looked to be in her fifties, came in the front lobby door and wheeled her suitcase to the desk. Erin turned to her immediately.

Erika said in a low voice, “Call me to set up a lunch date.”

As Erika left the lodge and headed for the parking lot, she wondered if the news about Zane Gunther had put the smile on her face … or if it had actually been the result of her kiss with Dillon.

The kiss with Dillon was winning—and that conclusion scared her.

Chapter Five

Later that afternoon, Erika returned to the infirmary as Dillon was seeing one of the guests to the door.

“Just keep that ankle taped for two days, Mrs. Bixby,” he advised a gray-haired woman in her sixties. “Make another appointment to see me when you know your schedule. And use that cane.”

The older woman smiled up at Dillon. “Maybe I can get one of those fancy canes with the flowers all over it. Or one with a nice wooden handle.” She looked down at the utilitarian cane Dillon had apparently given her.

Dillon nodded. “I’m sure one of the shops will have them. But I think it might be best if you send your husband for one. You need to stay off of that foot, remember?”

“I remember,” Mrs. Bixby grumbled as she hobbled out of the reception area into the hall.

Turning to Erika, Dillon gave her his full attention. “Was your meeting with the mayor successful?”

Just one look into Dillon’s eyes and Erika knew he was thinking about their last kiss, just as she was.

“The mayor’s easy to get along with,” she answered lightly. “He agreed with everything I want to do.”

Dillon laughed, then sobered as Mr. Lindstrom ambled into the reception area. Erika tensed, not knowing what was coming next.

After looking from Dillon to Erika, Lindstrom addressed her. “Jeff told me the truth a little while ago—about that chocolate bar. About your talk with him. Things I should have said to him. There will, of course, be no lawsuit. I should have explained better what could happen to him if his allergies got out of hand. But even I didn’t want to think about that kind of reaction, let alone put fear into him.”

Erika understood just how Mr. Lindstrom felt, the responsibility that weighed on him as a parent. Every day she had to make decisions about Emilia and she didn’t know if they were right or wrong. “I think Jeff will be more careful himself now,” she replied, knowing how guilty Lindstrom must feel.

“The two of you saved my boy’s life, and I’d like to make up for the grief I caused you.”

“You don’t need to make up for anything, Mr. Lindstrom,” Dillon assured him.

“Nevertheless, I want to. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but I have a jet at my disposal,” Mr. Lindstrom explained. “I thought maybe tomorrow the two of you would like to fly to Las Vegas for the day.”

When Erika glanced at Dillon, she realized he was remaining silent because this was going to be her choice. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. But then looking into her heart, she knew what she had to do, even though she’d never traveled outside of a hundred miles of Thunder Canyon. “Mr. Lindstrom, thank you so much for the offer. I appreciate it. But with my work schedule weekends are the only real time I get to spend with my little girl. I hope you understand. I’m sure if Dillon would like to get away—”

Dillon cut in. “I appreciate your offer also, but like Erika, I’m going to decline. I’m just settling in here and I think it would be better if I stick around.”

Dave Lindstrom looked from one of them to the other. “I can see why I like the two of you. You both have a solid sense of responsibility. Well, if ever either of you need anything, just let me know.” He offered them both business cards. “All my numbers are on there. If you ever need my assistance in any way, I’ll be glad to help out. Jeff and I will be here until after Frontier Days.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer.” He shook Dillon’s hand and then Erika’s. “I’ll be seeing both of you around.” With a grin and a wave, he left the infirmary.

“If I had said yes to the trip to Las Vegas, would you have gone?” Erika asked, knowing exactly what a trip like that with Dillon could lead to.

“I would have, if I could have gotten Dr. Babchek to cover.”

Her voice was a little shaky as she asked, “And what would the two of us have done in Las Vegas?”

“We would have gone to a show, toured the city, eaten in one of the spectacular restaurants.” Then he touched the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. “And we would have gotten to know each other a little better.”

His touch made her insides tremble and she hated feeling vulnerable to him. She hated the idea that he could get to her like this.

“And what would you have expected in return?”

Dillon tilted his head and studied her for so long she began to feel very uncomfortable. Finally, he said, “Erika, why do you expect the worst whenever you’re with a man?”

“I don’t expect the worst. I just expect to be let down.”

“Then you haven’t been associating with the right men,” he replied with a lifted brow.

She felt her cheeks burn. Was she wrong to lump him in the same category as Scott?

He checked his watch. “I’m expecting a patient in ten minutes and I need to go over her chart.”

For a moment Erika thought he was angry with her until he said, “For what it’s worth, I admire your devotion to Emilia. Only a good mother would have made the choice you did.”

Then he was walking away from her and she realized how much she wanted to be held in his arms.