Sweet On Peggy. Stella MacLean

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       CHAPTER ONE

      RORY MACPHERSON WANTED to yell out in pain...if he didn’t faint first. Dr. Brandon had been meticulously putting stitches into his forearm and was now cleaning up the blood from around the wound. Rory didn’t want to admit how much it hurt. Wimping out would hardly endear him to the people of Eden Harbor, a small, tight-knit community on the coast of Maine.

      “There.” The doctor stripped off his gloves and dropped them on the table next to the stretcher where Rory sat. “All you need is a dressing and a tetanus shot, and then I’d like you to have some routine blood work done. The nurse will give you instructions on where to go for that.”

      “A what?” Rory asked. Feeling anxious, he glanced from Dr. Brandon to the nurse.

      “The nurse will explain everything,” Dr. Brandon said, his glance swerving to the digital clock on the wall. “I have to go. The nurse will give you an appointment to see me back here in two days. I’ll check your arm, see how it’s doing. Using an electric saw can be dangerous. You were lucky.”

      Rory didn’t want to know any more than he had to. Medical things weren’t his strong suit. He’d discovered that about himself when he was ten and fell out of a tree, breaking his leg, requiring surgery, bandages and, of course, needles. He figured he wouldn’t have to deal with that stuff anymore until he went to volunteer in Haiti for two years as a carpenter. There, he saw men working with him experience serious injuries. “Thanks, doc,” Rory said, alarmed at how weak his voice sounded.

      The nurse applied a dressing then picked up a syringe from the tray.

      “Is that needle for me?”

      “Yes. It’s a tetanus shot.”

      “Where are you going to put it?” he asked, holding his injured arm close to his chest.

      “Can you roll up the sleeve on your other arm?”

      “Sure, I guess so,” Rory said, complying with her request. He looked away as she gave the shot.

      “Okay, here’s your requisition. The phlebotomy clinic is just down the hall to your right. Once you’ve had your blood taken you can go.” She passed him the slip of paper, a smile dimpling her cheeks.

      Rory stood. Yep, his legs were holding. He took a deep breath.

      “Remember to keep your arm up as much as possible and keep your bandage clean until the doctor sees you again.”

      Would this injury affect his ability to do his job as a carpenter? He hoped not. “Thank you.” Rory made his way out of the room, the requisition in his good hand, his pride intact.

      He reached the entrance to the clinic and approached the desk. There was no one there. He was about to sit down and wait when he heard voices from a room just beyond the desk.

      He approached the door. Just as he did he heard a child’s anxious voice telling someone he didn’t want a needle. A child after his own heart, he thought, risking a glance into the room. A woman knelt in front of the boy, who was huddled on his mother’s lap. The woman dressed in pink scrubs touched the little boy’s arm, her voice so soothing he wanted to keep standing there and be soothed a little himself. It had been a rough day, made worse when he’d let his attention slip and cut his arm on the saw he’d been using to fix a client’s back steps.

      The woman was speaking softly to the child. Slowly the little boy held out his arm and let her put the needle in. Rory blinked to block the sight. When he opened his eyes again, the woman was watching him with the brownest eyes he’d ever seen. Her face was alight with interest and awareness.

      In that instant he felt a connection he’d never ever experienced. Did he know her? Did she know him? It was as if they’d met before, but he was pretty sure they hadn’t. He would have remembered this woman. She was totally unforgettable.

      He stood there feeling a bit like an idiot. Yet he couldn’t seem to move, to break the connection. He wanted to go to her, take her hands and simply be with her. How nuts was that? He’d never felt that way before about any woman. Even though there’d been many opportunities to hook up, this was different. Maybe it had something to do with the tetanus shot.

      “Are you here to have your blood taken?” she asked, returning her attention to the child and his mother.

      Suddenly the room around him seemed less welcoming. “I am.”

      “If you’d like to take a seat in the waiting area in front of the desk—” her gaze returned to him, one eyebrow raised in question “—I’ll be there as soon as I finish here.”

      “Sure,” he said, aware of how the single pearl on the end of a gold chain she wore nestled into the V of her throat. Imagining what her skin would feel like under his fingers, how her heart would pound to his touch, made his blood run hot.

      More like how his heart would pound when she put the needle into his arm.

      Feeling awkward and a little strange, he went back and sat down. He struggled to divert his thoughts away from her and how she made him feel, focusing instead on a flu shot poster.

      In a few minutes, the woman came out with the mother and her son. Rory watched as she walked with them to the entrance, still speaking in soothing tones. He couldn’t help but notice how her top fit her body, how the loose fit of the pants couldn’t completely hide the smooth thighs beneath the fabric.

      She didn’t glance at him as she went to her desk, and he felt...deprived, left out of some special secret. He followed her, resting his good arm on the raised counter.

      She sat down at the computer and tapped a couple of keys. She turned her full attention to him, her eyes focused on his. Suddenly he couldn’t remember what he was doing here. Think!

      “Do you have a requisition you’d like to give me?” she asked, a tiny smile tilting one corner of her lips, the corner where she had a small beauty spot he noted despite his state of confusion.

      What was happening? He felt so...so something. Was this how love felt? So hot? So weird? He’d never felt this way before, but that didn’t mean it was love. He hadn’t been in a relationship for a long while, hadn’t felt anything for anyone since his return from Haiti—until this moment. That had to be what was going on here. He needed to get back into the dating game, back to his old life of enjoying every opportunity to meet a woman. And this was the perfect moment. “Yes.” He rushed the word. “Right here.” He passed the requisition to her, nearly hitting her in the face in his eagerness to comply with her request.