Her Secret Valentine. Cathy Gillen Thacker

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СКАЧАТЬ up in December.”

      Cal sipped his beer, the mellow golden brew settling like acid in his gut. “She took her oral exam then and turned in her thesis.”

      Fletcher helped himself to a buffalo wing. “Her written exam was last July, wasn’t it?”

      Cal nodded. “But her last day at the hospital isn’t until January 15,” he cautioned. In a couple of days from now.

      “And then she’s coming back home, right?”

      That had been the plan, when Ashley had left two and a half years ago to complete her medical education in Hawaii. Now he wasn’t so sure that was the case. But not wanting to tell his brothers any of that, he simply said, “She’s looking for a job now.”

      “Here, in North Carolina.”

      Cal certainly hoped so, since he was committed to his job at the Holly Springs Medical Center for another eighteen months, minimum.

      “If she were my wife…” Mac began.

      “Funny,” Cal interrupted, the last of his legendary patience waning swiftly. “You don’t have a wife.”

      “If it were me,” Mac continued, ignoring Cal’s glare as he added a piping-hot pizza to the spread, “I’d get on a plane to Honolulu, put her over my shoulder and carry her home if necessary.” His take-charge attitude served him well as the sheriff of Holly Springs, but his romantic track record hardly made him an expert on dishing out relationship advice.

      “That John Wayne stuff doesn’t work with Ashley.” Never had. Never would.

      “Well, you better do something,” Joe warned.

      All eyes turned to him. Cal waited expectantly, knowing from the silence that fell there was more. Finally, Joe cleared his throat. “The women in the family are all upset. You’ve been married nearly three years now, and most of that time you and Ashley have been living apart.”

      “So?” Cal prodded.

      “So, they’re tired of seeing you so unhappy.” Dylan took over where Cal left off. “They’re giving you and Ashley till Valentine’s Day—”

      Cal and Ashley’s wedding anniversary.

      “—to make thing right.”

      “And if that doesn’t happen?” Cal demanded.

      Fletcher scowled. “Then the women in the family are stepping in.”

      “IF YOU KEEP this up, people are going to start calling you the Artful Dodger.”

      The low sexy voice with the hint of Southern drawl echoed through the Honolulu General staff lounge. Her heart leaping with a mixture of pleasure and surprise, Ashley turned to see her husband of almost three years standing in the doorway. Joy swept through her as she hungrily surveyed him.

      Cal was wearing a loose-fitting tropical print silk shirt that made the most of his hard-muscled chest and broad shoulders. Pleated trousers nicely outlined his trim waistline and long sturdy legs. His short, traditionally cut ash-blond hair was brushed away from his face, and his smooth golden skin glowed with good health. The hint of a traveler’s beard clung to his strong—and exceedingly stubborn—Hart jaw. Taken alone, his features weren’t particularly outstanding. His nose bore the scars of a childhood athletic injury. His brows and thick, short eyelashes were so light in hue that you could hardly see them, and his upper lip was a little on the thin side. And yet, together, those penetrating pewter-gray eyes and not-so-perfect features combined to make a drop-everything, he-is-so-arresting man. Not to mention, she thought wistfully, how stealthily he moved—as if all that male power were just waiting to be unleashed. Or how intimately he looked at her, which suggested he couldn’t wait to get her back into his arms and into his bed.

      “Cal.” Ashley stared at him in shock.

      “Well that’s something anyway.” He grinned at her lazily. “At least you recall my name.”

      Beneath the teasing tone was a hint of hurt that was baffling, since Cal rarely revealed the inner workings of his heart and mind to her or anyone else. Ashley swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat, sensing that was about to change. He had four inches on her, so at five foot ten, she still had to tilt her head back to clearly see into his face.

      “What are you doing here?” she demanded, wondering if his sturdy masculine presence and six-foot-two frame would ever stop making her feel tiny. “I thought—”

      Cal arched his blond brow. “That I was going to wait until you gave me the signal it was okay to come and get you?”

      Aware he was now standing close enough for her to inhale the sea-and-sun fragrance of his cologne, Ashley shoved aside the familiar anxiety bubbling up inside her, ducked beneath a Congratulations, Ashley! banner and went back to pulling things out of her locker and dropping them in a cardboard box. “Who said anything about you coming to get me?” She had wanted to be prepared for this no doubt difficult tête-à-tête. She had wanted to know precisely what to say.

      Cal stepped closer. “Exactly. There were no plans made. And yet,” he observed, his voice dropping a seductive notch, “your last shift at the hospital was today.”

      Ashley drew a deep breath and turned to face him. “What’s gotten into you?” Feeling the need for some protection from the emotions shimmering between them, she held her rain jacket in front of her like a shield.

      Cal took it from her and dropped it into the box of belongings. “What do you mean?”

      Her pulse pounding, Ashley whirled back to get a few books. “You’re normally so…easygoing and patient when it comes to stuff like this,” she said as she dropped them on top of her jacket. Today he seemed anything but that.

      Cal’s eyes gleamed with a predatory light. He flattened his hand on the locker next to her and leaned in close. “Which is perhaps the problem, Ash. Maybe I’m too good at waiting and not nearly as good at going after what I want.”

      Oh, my. “Which is—?” Ashley countered.

      Cal took her in his arms and swept her close, until they were touching intimately. “For starters, this,” he told her as his lips came down on hers.

      Their first kiss after a long separation always radiated lots of feeling and passion. And this one, Ashley noted as Cal’s lips and tongue laid claim to hers, was no exception. He tasted like the spearmint gum he carried in his pocket. And, as his arms wrapped tightly around her, she felt that she had finally come home. Not that this was any surprise.

      Ashley had loved Cal practically from the first moment she had set eyes on him, during her freshman year of college at Wake Forest. Maybe it was because he was four years older than she was—already a first-year med student when they met—but he had always overwhelmed her with his confidence and sexy Southern charm. She felt safe when she was with him. Desired. Every inch a woman.

      It was only when they were miles apart, out of each other’s arms, that the doubts crept in about their love lasting forever. But when he was kissing her like this, his lips moving surely over hers, all she could think was how right he felt pressed up against her.

      They СКАЧАТЬ