A Baby In The House. Pamela Bauer

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      Before he could answer, Shane Donovan leaned close to them and said, “Whichever one doesn’t make you feel like you have a rope around your neck.” He made a choking gesture with his hands.

      “He does have a rope around his neck,” Dave Duggan was quick to add with a cocky grin.

      Shane’s and Dave’s kidding brought back memories of their teenage years when the four of them had been the best of friends and someone was always making a wisecrack. Garret pointed to the shirt on his right. “Go with the wing collar and don’t pay any attention to these guys. Marriage is going to be a good thing for you and Dena.”

      “So speaks my brother, the bachelor,” Shane drawled sarcastically.

      “Hey—his turn will come. Some woman will get her hooks into him sooner or later,” Dave warned.

      Quinn put one of the hangers back on the rack of starched white shirts. “My money’s on later.”

      “I’d say sooner, judging by the way women eye him once he puts on that white coat,” Dave teased.

      “Quinn has you on this one, Dave. Come the first of the year, Garret’s going to be overseas practicing medicine,” Shane said.

      “That doesn’t mean he can’t get married,” Dave pointed out.

      Garret would have preferred not to have his bachelor status be the topic of discussion, but he knew you couldn’t put a group of men in a wedding wear shop and not have the usual banter involving women and marriage. Since the only other single guys in the wedding party were hockey players and everyone apparently expected them to be bachelors, Garret was the prime target for their quips.

      “Just for the record, as happy as I know married life can make a man, I think I’ll stay single for a while…like five or ten more years,” he added with a huge grin.

      “I hope you told that to Samantha Penrose,” Dave remarked.

      That had Quinn asking, “Who’s Samantha Penrose and how come I haven’t met her?”

      “She’s just a colleague,” Garret answered.

      Dave elbowed Shane. “Did you hear that? Just a colleague? Is that any way to talk about your old girlfriend who’s hot for you?”

      Quinn shot Garret an inquisitive look. “All right, out with it. What did I miss?”

      “Nothing important,” Garret answered. “Samantha and I dated while we were in medical school. Then she left to do her internship, but recently she moved back to take a position at a hospital here.”

      “She’s not the doctor who’s taking over my apartment at 14 Valentine Place, is she?” Quinn asked.

      It was the first Garret had heard of it. He turned to his brother. “Has Mom rented the third floor to Samantha?”

      “Yes and I can tell by the look on your face she didn’t ask you about it before she did,” Shane answered.

      No, she hadn’t, and it annoyed him. He wondered what his mother was up to. First she’d finagled him into going to the hospital ball so that he would see Samantha again, now she was moving her into the boardinghouse. It wasn’t like his mother to meddle in his personal life, so just what was going on?

      Dave slowly shook his head and whistled through his teeth. “It’s not a good sign, Garret…your old girlfriend moving into a house where there’s a matchmaker.”

      “She’s not a matchmaker,” Garret corrected him. “She’s a romance coach.”

      Dave shrugged. “Same difference. She hooked Quinn up with Dena, didn’t she? And Dylan with Maddie. Has she had any tenants move out who weren’t getting married? I mean, they move into that place single and the next thing you know…” He clapped his hands. “Bang. There’s a wedding in the works.”

      Shane shoved his hands to his hips. “I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. All of her previous tenants are married.”

      When Dave began to hum a funeral dirge, Garret stopped him with a raised palm. “You can cut the music. If I ever get married, it will be to someone of my choice, not my mother’s. And I say if because I’m telling you guys, my plans at this time don’t include marriage.”

      It was the truth. Right now all he wanted to think about was his career. To finally have the freedom to choose what he wanted to do with his medical training was exhilarating. It made all the struggles he’d been through the past ten years worthwhile.

      “Come on, buddy. Are you going to say you don’t have any time for women in those plans?” Dave asked him on a note of disbelief.

      “Women yes, marriage no,” Garret said with a sly grin.

      Quinn clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s exactly what I said right before I met Dena.”

      Garret was relieved that a wedding specialist chose that moment to arrive, and for the next half hour, talk was of tuxedos and accessories. While they were measured and fitted for the formal wear, they discussed their roles as ushers and groomsmen at the wedding and reception.

      When a question arose regarding which groomsman would be escorting which bridesmaid down the aisle, Quinn said, “I’m not sure. That’s Dena’s territory.”

      “I’ll take the hot redhead who lived downstairs from you,” one of the hockey players offered with a huge grin.

      “You mean Krystal.”

      Upon hearing her name Garret’s blood stirred. It had always been that way, even before he’d spent the night with her. Someone would mention her name and he’d be aroused. He blamed it on the fact that the first time he’d seen her she’d been half-naked. He could still remember the look of surprise that had been on her face when he’d pushed open the laundry room door at 14 Valentine Place and found her sorting her dirty clothes clad only in a lacy bra and pants.

      Ever since that day he had fantasized about what it would be like to see all of that delectable body un-clothed. Never had he expected it to happen, and certainly not on the night of the hospital ball. Only it had happened and now he was having trouble forgetting how she had looked lying naked in his bed.

      “Is she seeing someone?” the hockey player asked.

      “Are girls that hot ever not seeing someone?” Dave wanted to know. “She probably has guys lining up halfway around the block to take her out.”

      “I bet I could get to the front of the line,” boasted the hockey player.

      Garret didn’t doubt that he could. He looked like the kind of guy Krystal would find attractive. She liked men who looked as if they spent more time at the gym than they did at a job and dressed as if they were on their way to a GQ photo shoot.

      He wondered what everyone would say if he announced that he had been to the front of the line. That he’d spent the night with her and she was everything a fantasy should be and then some.

      He chuckled to himself. They probably wouldn’t believe him. Not that he could blame them. He СКАЧАТЬ