Doctor's Orders

“I’m so sorry,” Cassie said, her heart aching for him. She could still hear the shock and pain of the enormous loss somewhere in the deep timbre of his voice. Unconsciously, she reached out and laid a hand on his arm, instinctively wanting to comfort. She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to have been orphaned at such a young age.

“My uncle Jasper was my father’s only brother, and the brilliant eccentric in the family, according to my dad, who was no slouch in either department himself. I’d never met Uncle Jasper, at least not that I remembered.” He laughed suddenly, dragging a hand through his black hair. “So here I was, sitting at the bottom of the steps in this big old house—my parents’ house,” he clarified, glancing around the familiar foyer. “Which wasn’t much different from this place. I’m all alone in the world, and scared out of my mind when the front door bursts open and this ball of Irish energy comes bounding in. I could only stare at him with my mouth open,” he recalled, humor glinting in his eyes. “He had on a shirt that was buttoned crookedly and hanging out of pants which weren’t zipped, but were held up by some kind of metal chain he’d somehow gotten tangled and knotted around him. He had on two pairs of glasses, one pair on his eyes, one pair resting on top of his head, and a pair of mismatched shoes.” Beau chuckled. “Actually, it was a slipper and a shoe. He usually gets distracted halfway through getting dressed so that’s why he’s only half-dressed most of the time. Either Shorty or I usually catch up to him to fix him up before he goes out in public, but I didn’t know that then. Then, I was just a scared, bewildered five-year-old,” he admitted quietly. “Especially when the first words out of Uncle Jasper’s mouth were ‘Can you cook, laddie?’” He did a fantastic imitation of his uncle’s heavy Irish brogue and Cassie covered her mouth to smother a chuckle, visualizing the picture.

“And what did you say?”

Tongue in cheek, he shook his head. “The truth. I said very solemnly, ‘I’m sorry, sir, but I’m only five years old.’”

Cassie’s tender heart almost melted. She could almost see him, she realized. The small, scared vulnerable little boy, all alone in the world, not knowing what was to become of him, facing Uncle Jasper for the first time.

She thought of her own daughter at that age, how totally vulnerable she’d been, and Cassie’s heart ached a little more for him.

“Uncle Jasper just nodded, then he took one good long look at me, went down on his knee so we were eye level, opened his arms and said, ‘Aye laddie, I’m sorry this happened to us, but I’ve been waiting my whole life for you. ’ One single tear slowly ran down his face and I knew then Uncle Jasper was probably just as scared as I was. He just hugged me tight and said, ‘Me and Shorty, we came to take you home, laddie.’” Beau’s voice had dropped, but now he chuckled again, then shook his head. “And I knew everything was going to be okay,” he said with a careless shrug that she knew hid a well of emotion. “We’ve been together and a family ever since.”

“That’s a wonderful story,” she said quietly, blinking the mist from her eyes. “Did you ever learn to cook?” she asked, making him chuckle again.

“Nope, can’t even boil eggs,” Beau said with a grin, closing the distance between them to help her off with her coat. He leaned close until his breath warmed the back of her neck, making her vividly aware of the pulsing ache of yearning slowly spreading its hot fingers through her belly. Cassie had to swallow to dispel some of her nervousness, smothering the wave of awareness that was making every female nerve ending stand at attention.

She was supposed to be immune to this type of man, she reminded herself firmly.

“Cassie,” he whispered close to her ear. “I want you to know I feel exactly the same way about your mother and your aunt as you do about Uncle Jasper,” he said, looping her coat over his arm and stepping back from her. “They’re wonderful as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, thank you, but I’m going to remind you of that the next time mama or Aunt Louella rushes into your office and tells you to do some outrageous thing like turn all your faucets on so that your pipes don’t freeze when it’s not even cold out.”

Beau chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve had plenty of experience with the outrageous?”

“Living with Mama and Aunt Louella was always one outrageous adventure after another,” she admitted. “But I adore both of them and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He chuckled again, then grew sober, his gaze finding hers and sending a fluttering straight through to her timid heart. “I’m glad you made it,” he said softly. “It’s a miserable night.”

She wanted to glance away, to break contact with those gorgeous blue eyes, but mentally scolded herself for being a coward.

He was just a man, for goodness sake. She’d dealt with hundreds of men in her life, probably thousands. There was certainly no reason to get all flustered every time this one looked at her.

Still, there was something very different about this man that made her very aware of her own feelings and emotions. It was just a tad unnerving since she truly thought herself immune to any kind of man.

She rubbed her hands together and glanced back at the windows on either side of the large front door, wanting to break the connection between them.

“It is getting bad out,” she admitted with a rueful smile. “I could barely see driving here because the snow’s coming down so hard. And I don’t even want to think about having to drive home in it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking her arm and leading her out of the foyer. “I’ve got a heavy four-wheel-drive vehicle so I can make house calls no matter what the weather. If it gets much worse I’ll drive you and Sofie home, and Shorty can return your car in the morning. Deal?”

She looked into his eyes and had to remind herself she was merely here to help her daughter. She was doing this for Sofie. There was nothing between them. Nothing personal at all, she reminded herself. So all these feelings coursing through her, confusing her, alarming her, were to be ignored.

“Deal,” she agreed reluctantly, making him smile.

“When I picked Sofie up from your mother’s, we had a chance to chat,” he said with a mysterious smile, glancing down at her as he led the way through the foyer. “And before I picked up Sofie, I made a couple of other stops at a couple of other first graders’ house’s as well,” he said with a knowing lift of his brow. “Seems there is a bit of disruption going on with two of the boys. One’s parents are separating—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cassie said softly.

“And the other’s grandmother recently passed away very suddenly. They were apparently very close so the boy’s quite traumatized by the loss.”

“Oh, Beau, the poor thing,” Cassie said, her heart softening toward the boys whom just this afternoon she wanted to thrash. “So they’re both having some personal problems of their own. I guess their behavior is understandable under the circumstances.”

“Understandable, yes, but certainly not justifiable, Cassie,” he said quietly. “Just because they’re having personal problems doesn’t give them the right to take out their pain on someone else.”

“You’re right,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “But at least we know there is a reason for this behavior and they’re not just being cruel to Sofie.”

He chuckled. “It would be hard to find anyone who’s deliberately cruel in Cooper’s Cove. I think the mayor forbade it decades ago. But it does explain what I was trying to tell you this afternoon, those feelings of insecurity I was talking about.”

Cassie nodded, listening intently as he continued.

“So, I had a little chat with both boys, and then with their parents. Separately of course, which is how I found out all this info. And I think I’ve worked up a solution for all involved, at least to the teasing and bullying problem.” A shadow passed over his features. “Let’s hope it’s enough to do the trick.”

She was desperately trying to pay attention to his words, but he was so close she could see the sparkle in his eyes and the small laugh lines around his mouth….

He’d changed into more casual clothes, she suddenly realized. Gone was the professional suit he’d always worn in his office. Now, he had on soft, well-worn jeans, a heavy Irish cable knit sweater and work boots. Much to Cassie’s annoyance it made him look far less intimidating and a great deal more appealing.

She forced herself to keep her mind on the subject at hand. “Judging from the change in Sofie’s attitude since you brought her home from school this afternoon, she’s feeling better about the situation as well,” Cassie said, still shocked by the difference in her daughter. This problem with Sofie hadn’t been far from her mind all afternoon. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How quickly their emotions change?”

“With kids this age, it really is just a lot of confidence,” he admitted as he pulled open a closet door in the expansive foyer and hung up her coat. “So much of their emotions and attitudes are fed by their immediate world. Parents, family and friends make up everything, and are everything to them, and as long as everything is copacetic with all three, they’re happy.” He shrugged. “But when they’re not, that’s when problems develop.”

“And you think that’s what’s happened here?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Yes, I’m afraid that’s exactly what happened. But I’ve talked with the boys, and with Sofie, so now let’s see if we can work out some kind of truce to keep them all happy. Are you hungry?” he asked abruptly and she paled a bit.

“I’m…uh…fine,” she said, avoiding his gaze and placing a hand on her growling stomach. He watched her carefully, then tried to smother a chuckle. “What?” she demanded. “What on earth are you laughing about now?” It was as if he could read her mind and it was unnerving.

“You,” he said. “And the look on your face when I asked you if you were hungry.” His eyes gleamed. “Let me guess, the prospect of a chocolate, peanut butter and banana sandwich is not exactly at the top of your dinner choices, am I right?” he asked with a lift of his brow.

“You’re right,” she admitted with a laugh and rueful shake of her head.

“Well, don’t worry about it. I told Shorty we were having guests for dinner and he almost blistered my ears when I told him what I wanted to serve.” He held out his hand to her. “So he’s prepared Sofie her favorite sandwiches and something a bit more adult for us. Shall we?”

She looked at his outstretched hand as if it were a snake about to strike. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she was so skittish around a man. But then again, she couldn’t remember the last time she was this close to a man. Her experience with Sofie’s father had left a bitter taste in her mouth and scared her off all men. As far as she was concerned, she couldn’t trust her own judgment, not when it came to men, so she simply kept her distance.

Besides, she was far too busy trying to support herself and her daughter to worry about impressing some man or squeezing time out of her hectic life to accommodate him. There had always seemed so many more important things to do.

But now, with Beau, Cassie simply couldn’t fall back on her usual routine of indifference and disdain. Like it or not, she needed his help and so did her daughter. So she was going to curb her own feelings and put Sofie’s needs ahead of her own. Again. It was something that had become second nature to her from the moment of her beloved daughter’s birth.

I’m doing this for Sofie, she mentally reminded herself and immediately felt a bit better. But she’d feel a lot better if Beau Bradford looked less like a movie star and more like a toad.

“Shall we?” he repeated, still holding out his hand to her, as if daring her to take it.

Cassie pressed her free hand to her shaky tummy as she let him escort her out of the foyer, reminding herself once again she wasn’t the least bit interested in him—personally.

Her obligation was to Sofie and Sofie’s welfare. Sofie’s health, heart and happiness came first in Cassie’s life, and she wasn’t about to jeopardize any of them because of one gorgeous man. No matter how charming he was.

Chapter Three