The Best Catch in Texas

Geraldine softly drummed her fingers against the arm of the lawn chair. “You can’t deny you were terribly hurt when he left you for that—that other woman.”

Nicolette inwardly cringed. Tonight she was hardly in the mood to discuss Bill or her failed marriage, but she didn’t want to cut her mother’s questions short. Nicolette knew from experience that to do so would only make her mother dig more.

“You know how I feel about that, Mother. It wasn’t entirely his fault. I left him alone too many nights and he…decided to stray.”

“My Lord, you were working, Nicci! It wasn’t like you were out prowling with tom cats while he sat home pining for you.”

That much was true, Nicolette thought dismally. But she’d worked incessantly to make herself forget that her husband had misled her, that none of the special plans they’d made before their marriage would ever come true.

“Believe me, none of what Bill did or didn’t do matters anymore, Mother.”

Geraldine rolled her eyes. “How can you say that when the whole horrible affair is still leading you around by the nose? If it didn’t matter, you would have already found yourself another man by now. You’d be married and having kids. Instead, you’re still killing yourself trying to doctor half the town!”

Nicolette stiffened with resentment. “Is there anything wrong with that? I thought helping people to be healthy was a noble cause.”

“Damn it, Nicci, it is noble. But there are other things to life, you know. I’d like to have grandchildren before I die.”

The lonely pain that always lingered in Nicolette’s chest throbbed to life. “Lex or Mercedes will give you grandchildren, when the time comes. Besides, you’re a long way from dying, Mother.”

A disbelieving snort slipped from the older woman as she eyed her eldest child. “I might be a long way from dying, but your brother and sister are even further away from giving me grandchildren. Lex is too much of a playboy to be settling down anytime soon, if ever. And as for Mercedes, she’s never going to get over that bastard in college that broke her heart. At least, not enough to marry and have a family.”

For some odd reason, the image of Ridge Garroway popped into Nicolette’s mind and she wondered if he was a man who would want to settle down and have children. He seemed far from the sort. In fact, with his looks and playful charm, he could have a Nurse Good Body waiting for him in every nook and cranny of the hospital.

Nicolette took another long sip of her drink and hoped the tequila would fuzz the intrusive image of the doctor’s impish grin. “Mercedes is in the Air Force, Mother. She has other things on her mind right now. Give her time.”

Geraldine slowly shook her head in dismay. “I might as well face the fact that life is different from when I was your age,” she muttered. “Back then, young people considered finding a permanent mate an important part of their life.”

“It still is important. It’s just more difficult for us to do.”

As she absently combed fingers through her mussed hair, Nicolette glanced over at her mother. “What in the world has got you off on this subject anyway? It isn’t like you to start harping on your children.”

Geraldine shrugged with concession. “I wasn’t thinking about any of it until you sat down here beside me and I saw your sad face. I thought it might be Bill, but—I guess I was wrong. Want to tell me?”

Nicolette finished off the last of her drink and placed her glass next to the sweaty pitcher. “Don’t worry, Mother. I’ve had a very long day. On top of that I met the doctor who took Dr. Walters’s place.”

Sudden interest caused Geraldine to sit straight up in her chair. “Oh? How did that go? What was he like?”

It was all Nicolette could do to keep from groaning out loud. “He was—well, to be honest I’m shocked the clinic hired someone so young. I heard he’s twenty-nine.”

“Being young is hardly a crime,” Geraldine pointed out.

Nicolette grimaced. “It means he can’t have much experience.”

“Everyone has to start at the beginning. You were there once,” Geraldine reminded her.

Sighing, Nicolette said, “Yes, I know. But Dr. Walters was so wonderful. And this new man—just doesn’t seem that professional to me.”

Geraldine’s brows arched upward. “Really? What makes you say that?”

With the fingers of both hands, Nicolette massaged her aching forehead. How could she describe that gleam in Ridge Garroway’s eyes or that wink he’d given her without throwing for flags at her mother? “He, uh, just doesn’t look like a doctor,” she said lamely.

Suddenly loud laughter erupted from Geraldine, causing Nicolette to cast an annoying look her mother’s way.

“Why are you laughing? It’s the truth. He looked more like some—I don’t know—some playboy than a medical person.”

Still chuckling, Geraldine asked, “Since when did looks have anything to do with being a doctor? C’mon, Nicci, don’t you think you’re reaching a little far to find something wrong with the man?”

With thoughtful frown, Nicolette considered her mother’s question. Could Geraldine be right? she wondered. Had she already planted a seed in her mind to dislike the man before she’d ever met him? Perhaps. But that still didn’t account for that flirty attitude of his, she decided.

“Okay, to be honest, I think he’s a big flirt. He said all sorts of…suggestive things to me. Like how he wished I’d chosen to work under him rather than Dr. Kelsey.”

Geraldine laughed again. “What’s wrong with that? I’m sure the man has heard you’re good at your job.”

Nicolette’s lips pursed with disapproval. “Yes, but it was the way he said it that rubbed me all wrong. He had this gleam in his eyes that made me feel like an idiot.”

Geraldine placed a gentle hand on her daughter’s arm. “Don’t you mean it made you feel like a woman?”

Her mother’s suggestion left Nicolette so uncomfortable she quickly jumped to her feet and snatched up the briefcase she’d propped against the legs of her chair.

“I’m going to go take a shower and have a little supper,” she told her mother. “It’s getting late and I’ve got to be at the clinic very early in the morning.”

Chapter Two

A few minutes later, after showering and dressing in a robe, Nicolette was almost too tired to eat the plate of food Cook set in front of her. But eventually she managed to swallow down half of the broiled salmon and rice before she headed to her bedroom.

She’d brought home several journal articles about new medications soon to be released, but as soon as she crawled into bed and picked up the first one, her eyelids began to droop.

Two hours later she was sound asleep with the lamp on the nightstand still burning, when the telephone jangled loudly near her head. Since she had a private line she couldn’t rely on Cook or her mother to answer.

Trying to shake away her grogginess, she reached for the phone and shoved her hair back from her face.

“Hello.”

“Is that you Ms. Saddler? Nicolette, isn’t it?”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar but she couldn’t quite put a name to it. “Yes. Who is this?”

“Dr. Garroway—Ridge—remember?”

In spite of her numbing exhaustion, Nicolette shot straight up in the bed and gripped the receiver. “Doctor. Uh, why are you calling? It’s—” Twisting her head around toward the digital clock on the nightstand, she was shocked to see it was twenty minutes past midnight. “It’s very late. And—”

“I’m sorry to wake you like this, Nicolette, but I’m having a little problem here at the hospital and—”

His use of her first name distracted her even more and she blurted out with surprise, “You’re at the hospital?”

“Uh, yes. I am a doctor,” he reminded dryly.

She felt desperately stupid as she tried to wake herself up and gather her scattered senses. “Sorry. I’m not—I was sound asleep. You say you’re having a problem? What does that have to do with me?”