Mercy (27 page)

In this fantasy, he explained, she came before he did. He kissed away any resistance she might have had, and then he slowly moved down her body, kissing every inch of her stomach, teasing her belly button by gently tickling her with the tip of his tongue, and then he moved lower still between her silky thighs.

The sensations were consuming. The climax was powerful. She cried out as she clung to him and let his passion devour her.

Theo was such an amazing lover, so giving, so gentle. Then he began to torment her. He brought her to a fevered pitch a second time, but just when she was reaching the explosive brink, he stopped.

“Hold on, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t stop. Don’t . . .”

He kissed her. “I’ve got to protect you.”

And then he left. She closed her eyes. Her body felt as though it was on fire, yet she was chilled because his heat was gone. She began to tremble, and just as she was reaching for the covers, Theo came back to the bed and covered her body with his. It seemed he’d been gone for an eternity.

“Now, where was I?”

His restraint and control amazed her. Then she noticed the beads of perspiration on his brow. His eyes were hazy with passion, and his jaw was clenched tight, and she saw then the lengths he had gone to for her.

His hands began to stroke the passion within her once again. She fought him this time, trying to hold out until he lost his control, but he was stronger. He wasn’t gentle now. She didn’t want him to be. Consumed with the waves of pleasure still coursing through her body, she held him tight as he roughly parted her thighs, then lifted her hips and sank deep inside her warmth.

His head dropped down onto her shoulder. He closed his eyes in sweet surrender, and let out a loud, thoroughly arrogant groan.

Gripping her, he forced her to stay still. “I can make this last . . . if you . . . cooperate.”

She smiled up at him. Lord, he was adorable. Then she moved.

“Don’t . . . Oh, God, honey, slow down just a little . . . ”

She moved again, more forcefully this time, arching up against him to take him deeper inside her. He couldn’t hold back any longer. The need became too great. He pulled back, then thrust deep once again, then again and again and again.

Theo wanted to tell her how perfect she was, how beautiful, but he couldn’t get the words out. The intensity of the feelings rocketing through his body was too overpowering. She wouldn’t let him slow down. He loved her for that. He buried himself inside her, and with one final thrust and one hell of a shout, he climaxed while she held him close.

He felt as though he’d just died and been reborn. The orgasm was the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced. He’d never let himself go like this. He’d always held a part of himself back, but with Michelle, that hadn’t been possible. It took long minutes for both of them to recover. He knew he had to be crushing her, but he couldn’t find the strength to move away.

Michelle couldn’t stop caressing him. She loved the feel of his smooth skin under her fingertips. He was all muscle and strength and yet so very gentle with her. Her fingers trailed down his spine, then slowly moved back up.

Her heart beat against her chest as though it were pounding to get out. She laughed over the absurdity of the idea.

The sound of her lusty laugh made him smile. Bracing his weight with his arms on either side of her, he lifted his head from the crook of her neck so he could look into her eyes. “What’s so funny?”

“Loving you is going to be the death of me. I can see the headlines now: ‘Sex kills surgeon.’”

He frowned. “That’s not funny.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned up and kissed him. “Yes, it is.”

“You’ve got to stay strong because we’ve got nine hundred ninety-nine more to go, and I can’t let you fall apart before we’re finished.”

“Finished doing what?”

That sparkle came into his eyes again, and she began to smile in anticipation.

“Acting out my fantasies.”

She did laugh then. “A thousand?”

“Oh, yeah. At least a thousand.”

“You’ve got quite an active imagination. Mr. Buchanan. There are places you can go to get help. They’re called sex therapy clinics.”

He grinned. “You were all the therapy I needed.”

“I was happy I could help.”

“What about you, Michelle? Didn’t you ever have fantasies?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “But mine weren’t as creative. I kept having the same one over and over again.”

He nuzzled the crook of her neck. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s sort of a variation on what just happened,” she said softly. “But in my fantasy . . .”

He lifted his head again. “What?”

“I scoop you up and toss you on the bed.”

Then he laughed. “I outweigh you by about two hundred pounds,” he exaggerated.

“We surgeons develop incredible upper-body strength from cracking ribs and cutting through bones,” she teased.

“Okay, I’m willing. If you want to pick me up . . .”

He stopped when she shook her head. “I’d blow a disc,” she explained. “I only told you about the fantasy so you’d know . . . ”

“What?”

“You aren’t always going to be calling the shots.”

“Meaning?”

“It’s my turn to drive you wild.”

“We’ll see about that.” He kissed her again, hard and fast, then got out of bed and lifted her into his arms. “I’m hot,” he announced.

“Already?”

Her fingers threaded through his tousled hair, trying to restore order to the soft strands.

“Not that kind of hot, but if you keep that up . . .”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m sweaty hot. Let’s take a shower.”

She was so content and sleepy now, she would have agreed to do anything he suggested. “I’ll scrub your back and you may scrub mine.”

“No, I want to scrub your front, and you can —”

She put her hand over his mouth. “I get the picture.”

Ten minutes later they were both squeaky clean. The water had turned cold, but that didn’t squelch their passion. Feeling devilish, she leaned up on tiptoes and whispered her fantasy into his ear. She went into detail, and when she was finished, Theo was amazed he could still stand.

She pushed him back against the tile, then began to drive him out of his mind with hot, wet kisses as she slowly worked her way down his slick body.

He didn’t have the strength to carry her back to bed. They haphazardly dried each other between ardent kisses. Exhausted from their lovemaking, they fell into bed. Theo rolled onto his back. She propped herself up on one elbow and traced the outline of the tiny scar from his appendectomy.

Then she leaned down and gently kissed it. His eyes were closed, but he was smiling. “Do you do that to all your patients?”

“Kiss their scars?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Absolutely. I have to.”

He yawned. “How come?”

“It’s part of the oath I took. Kiss it and make it better.”

She pulled the sheet up as she rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. She was falling into a deep sleep when Theo nudged her.

“Michelle?”

“Hmm?”

“I found your best feature.”

“What is it?” she asked in a sleepy whisper.

He tugged the sheet down and put his hand on her breast. If she hadn’t been so tired, she would have asked him to explain why men had such an obsession with breasts, but then she suddenly realized just where his hand was pressed and tears sprang into her eyes. How could she not love this man?

He had placed his hand over her heart.

M
ichelle didn’t wake up until ten-fifteen the following morning. She stretched, then rolled over and hugged the pillow Theo had used. She closed her eyes again while she thought about the night they had shared. In the midst of her recollections, the sleep cleared from her mind and the day intruded. It was ten-fifteen, and she was supposed to have met her friends at the clinic at eight. Mary Ann was going to kill her. Was she sitting in her car waiting? No, of course not. She would have driven to the house.

Twenty minutes later, Michelle was ready to go. Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a sleeveless blue blouse, she put on ankle socks and one tennis shoe. She ran down the stairs, then paused in the laundry room to lean against the washer and put the other shoe on.

She went looking for Theo. She found him in her library, sitting in her leather chair, talking on the phone. Noah was with him. He was perched on the edge of the desk. He smiled when he saw her.

��Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she replied.

She sat down on the sofa and bent to tie her shoelaces. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Theo hang up the phone, but she was having a little trouble looking directly at him. The memory of what they had done the night before was still acutely vivid in her mind.

It was only awkward because Noah was there, she thought.

“Sleep well?” Theo asked.

“Yes, but I was supposed to be at the clinic hours ago.”

She couldn’t get the knot in her shoelace untied and knew it was because she was nervous.
Take a breath,
she told herself.
You’re an adult. Act like one.

“Mary Ann —”

“Is at the clinic. Noah let her and her friend in. They came here looking for you around eight-thirty.”

She finally got the knot undone and quickly tied the laces. She didn’t hear Theo coming, but suddenly he was standing in front of her. His left shoelace was untied. Without even thinking about it, she reached over, tied it for him, and stood.

Theo wasn’t going to let her ignore him any longer. He nudged her under her chin to get her to look at him, then leaned down and kissed her. He didn’t seem to care that Noah was there. He took his time, and with very little coaxing he got her to cooperate and return the kiss.

Without making a sound, Noah got up and left the room. Theo hugged Michelle and whispered, “Want to fool around?”

“I thought we did that last night.”

“It’s okay. We can do it again. Besides, that was just a warm-up.” She tried to wiggle out of his arms. He tightened his hold. “Michelle, you aren’t embarrassed about last night, are you?”

Her gaze flew to his and she saw how worried he looked. “I’m a physician, Theo. Nothing embarrasses me.”

Then she kissed him and gave it all she had. Her tongue touched his, once, then once again, and when she pulled back, she was pleased to see that I-want-to-get-you-naked look was back in his eyes.

“I have work to do,” she said as she successfully disengaged herself from his embrace.

“Actually, you don’t. Mary Ann told me that she and Cindy — I think that was the other woman’s name — would get the files in order much faster if you stay away. I’m supposed to keep you busy.”

“She did not say —”

“Yeah, she did. She said you’re critical and picky. Those were her words, not mine. Your dad called to tell you John Paul moved your furniture out. He’s going to fix what he can.”

“He couldn’t have carried my desk or my sofa by himself.”

“A guy named Artie helped him. So, nothing embarrasses you?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Then why did you look embarrassed when I kissed you good morning?”

She headed for the kitchen with Theo right on her heels. “I was thinking about Noah. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed.”

Theo thought that was hilarious. Noah heard the laughter and poked his head around the door. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Michelle said as she edged past him to get into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator to look for a Diet Coke and did a double take. The fridge had been pretty bare the night before, but now it was packed with food and drinks. She found a Diet Coke way in the back, grabbed it, and closed the door. Then she opened the door again to make sure she hadn’t imagined it, spotted the sticks of real butter, and guessed who was responsible.

“Noah doesn’t know how to be embarrassed. Do you?” Theo asked his friend.

“Embarrassed about what?”

“Sex. You know what sex is, don’t you?”

“Sure I do. I read all about it in a book once. I’m thinking about trying it out one of these days.”

They were both having a good old time teasing her. She sat down at the table and only then noticed the triple layer chocolate cake on the counter. Noah grabbed a towel and went to the stove to lift the lid on a large iron kettle. The spicy scent of gumbo immediately filled the kitchen.

“When did you have time to make this?” Noah asked. “It sure smells good.”

She couldn’t remember what her father had told her. Was she supposed to say she baked the cake or made the gumbo? Then Noah asked her if she wanted a slice of home-baked bread. The French loaf was sitting on waxed paper by the sink.

“Is there a card with the gumbo?”

“I didn’t see one,” Noah said.

“Then I made it.” She smiled as she told the lie.

Theo got the milk out of the refrigerator and put it down on the table. “You were a busy woman last night. Did you bake the cake too?”

Feeling like an idiot, she asked, “Is there a card with the cake?”

“No.”

“Then I guess I made that too.”

“And the bread?”

“No card?” she asked, trying to maintain a straight face.

“Didn’t see one.”

“I just love to bake bread in the middle of the night.”

Theo put a box of Frosted Flakes, a box of raisin bran, and a box of Quaker breakfast bars on the table so Michelle would have a choice. Then he got her a spoon.

“So the lady sneaking in the back door with the bread wasn’t fibbing when she said you baked the bread at her house last night and forgot to bring it home?”

Michelle had gone way past feeling foolish. Where were all the stupid cards? Had her father decided to change his game plan and forgotten to mention it to her? What was she supposed to say now? If she told Theo the truth, her father would think she wasn’t cooperating with his sacred cause to keep Theo in Bowen.

Daddy wasn’t going to be able to accuse her of not being a game player. “That’s right,” she said. “Just after you fell asleep, I came downstairs, fixed the gumbo and baked the cake; then I got in the car and drove over to . . .”

She suddenly stopped. Theo hadn’t told her the name of the woman who had dropped the bread off, and Michelle couldn’t remember to whom Daddy had assigned the task. Quickly improvising, she continued, “. . . a friend’s house and baked a couple of loaves of bread.”

“Don’t forget the grocery store.”

“What? Oh, yes, I stopped by the grocery store.”

Theo straddled the chair across from her. Stacking his arms on the back, he said, “So that’s your story, huh?”

She began to smile. “Unless or until you find a couple of ‘Welcome to Bowen’ cards. In that event, my story will change.”

“Tell Jake I said thanks.”

“Thanks for what?” she asked innocently.

“Hey, Mike, you want some gumbo?” Noah asked as he searched through the drawers looking for a ladle.

“For breakfast? I’ll stick with an energy bar.”

“What about you, Theo?”

“Sure,” he said. “You know what goes great with gumbo? Potato chips.”

“Sorry, I don’t have any potato chips. They aren’t good for you, anyway. Too much sodium.”

“It will balance out with the sodium in the gumbo,” Noah told her.

“You do too have potato chips. Two jumbo-size bags, and they’re the real thing. None of that low-fat cardboard stuff. Did you forget you bought them at the grocery store last night?”

“I must have.”

“You know what goes great with gumbo and chips?” Noah asked.

“What’s that?” Theo asked.

“Cold beer.”

“I’m on it.” Theo got up and went to the refrigerator. Michelle shook her head. “Gumbo, potato chips, and beer at ten-thirty in the morning?”

“It’s eleven, and we’ve been up for hours. Don’t frown like that, honey. Let us corrupt you. Join in.”

“Is she a health nut?” Noah asked.

“I think so,” Theo replied. “She lives by the credo ‘If it tastes good, spit it out.’”

“When you boys are having your multiple bypasses, remember this conversation.”

“I talked to Dr. Robinson,” Noah said then. He had found the ladle and was scooping the gumbo into two bowls. Theo already had the sack of chips and was opening it.

“And?” she prodded.

He put the bowls on the table, grabbed two tablespoons, and sat down. “He could only think of two men who gave him real trouble, and I’m running a check on both of them. An old guy named George Everett was one difficult patient. Do you know him, Mike?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Everett refused to pay his bill because Robinson didn’t cure him of his indigestion. Everett had a drinking problem, which he also blamed on the doctor. He told Robinson he wouldn’t be drinking himself drunk every night if he weren’t in such terrible pain. Anyway, Robinson turned the account over to a collection agency, and that didn’t sit well with Everett. He got all juiced up and called the doctor and threatened him.”

“What about the other man?” Theo asked.

“The name he gave Robinson was ‘John Thompson,’ but I doubt that’s his real name. He only saw the doctor once, and that was just a day or two before Robinson closed shop and sent his files to Mike. Thompson’s a druggie from New Orleans. He drove all the way to Bowen in hopes that the physicians here would be more lax, I suppose. Anyway, he told Robinson he had this terrible back pain and needed some prescriptions for pain medication. He wanted the heavy stuff and knew just what to ask for. When Robinson refused, he told me the junkie became enraged and threatened him.”

“Did he report Thompson to the police?”

Noah took a swig of beer before answering. “He should have, but he didn’t because he was leaving Bowen, and he didn’t want the hassle. That’s what he told me, anyway.”

“I’ll bet Thompson tried other physicians in St. Claire,” Michelle said.

“That’s what I figured too,” Noah said. “So I checked it out.” He grinned then as he made the comment, “I really love getting doctors out of bed early in the morning. Anyway, if Thompson did go to other doctors, he used a different name. No one remembers treating him.”

“In other words, a dead end.”

“I think it’s time for both of you to close this file,” Michelle said. “And stop worrying. I’m going to clean up my clinic, put stronger locks on the doors and windows, and move on. I suggest you do the same thing.”

Since neither Theo nor Noah argued with her, she assumed they were too stubborn to admit she was right.

“It’s gonna rain.” Theo made the prediction and then took a bite of gumbo.

“The sun’s out,” Noah remarked.

“Yeah, but my knee aches, so it’s gonna rain. My shoulder’s throbbing too.”

Noah laughed. “You two are perfect for each other. A hypochondriac hooking up with a doctor. That’s a match made in heaven.”

“I’m not a doctor,” Theo said dryly.

Noah ignored the smart-ass comment. “Mike, have you ever been to Boston?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You’ll like it.”

She thought about what he was saying for a couple of seconds, then responded, “I’m sure, if I ever get there for a medical conference or a vacation, I’ll love it.”

Noah glanced back and forth between Theo and Michelle. She’d sounded defensive, but he could see the sadness in her eyes. She was giving up before she’d even gotten started, he decided. Theo’s response was just as interesting. His whole body had tensed.

“So, it’s two ships passing in the night?”

“Something like that,” Michelle said.

“Leave it alone, Noah.”

He nodded, then switched topics. “So tell me, do we still fish Saturday if it rains?”

“Fishing’s better in the rain,” Michelle said.

“Says who?” Noah asked.

“John Paul.”

“Am I ever going to meet your brother?” Theo asked.

“I doubt it. You’re leaving Monday, remember?”

It was like a sore tooth she kept rubbing. He hadn’t pulled the rug out from under her. She’d known he was going to leave. So why was she feeling so devastated?

“You’ll meet her brother at The Swan Friday,” Noah said. “Jake told me John Paul works as a bartender and a bouncer on weekends.”

Michelle shook her head. “Daddy knows John Paul won’t show up this weekend. By now, my brother knows who you both work for, so he’ll stay away.”