“If I repaired cars instead of bones and we’d met, say, at the grocery store in the produce aisle, would you go out with me?”

Jacqui’s mouth twitched with what might have been a reluctant smile. “That’s a lot of ifs.”

Mitch shrugged, but didn’t look away from her face.

“Okay, maybe,” she said after a moment. “If all those things were true—which they aren’t—I might consider going out with you. But even then, I doubt it would go anywhere. There are other things that would get in the way.”

He figured they could work on those other things later. At least they had established that she wasn’t entirely indifferent to him. He smiled. “Then let’s pretend and see what happens. If it doesn’t work out—then there’s nothing lost, right?”

“I’ve never been very good at pretending.”

He lifted her chin and brushed a light kiss over the lips he had been wanting to taste for much longer than he’d acknowledged even to himself.

Dear Reader,

I was once asked if I have a recurring theme in my writing. After thinking about the question for a while, I decided my theme is “home.” By home, I don’t mean a house or apartment—but a refuge. Home can be a physical place, certainly—where one feels safe and accepted and free to be oneself. Home can also mean family—biological relatives or friends to whom you are so close they feel like family. A soulmate, perhaps. A bond that soothes and sustains no matter where you are physically.

A Home for the M.D. explores this theme in more depth. Jacqui Handy has spent her entire life searching for a home; Dr Mitch Baker has begun to take his own lifelong refuge for granted. They are drawn to each other, but before they can make that commitment, they must each define the meaning and importance of “home.” Is it a place—or a feeling? Perhaps they’ll each conclude, as I did many years ago, that the phrase “home is where the heart is” is the best definition of all.

Gina Wilkins

About the Author

GINA WILKINS is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy novels. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms. Wilkins sold her first book to Harlequin Books in 1987 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of a Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of RT Book Reviews.

A Home

for the M.D.

Gina Wilkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

As always, for my family—John, Courtney,

David, Kerry and Justin—my own

definition of “home.”

Chapter One

Dr. Mitchell Baker arrived at his rented duplex just as the firefighters extinguished the last flickers of flame. Glumly, he stood in the rain, surveying what remained of his home for the past six years, now a smoldering, blackened shell. Heavy clouds obscured what little natural light remained at 9:00 p.m., so the firefighters had set up portable lighting to assist them as they wrapped up their work. Normally, street lamps and security pole lights would glow at this hour, but the power was out on this whole street.

One of Arkansas’s infamous summer storms had crashed through earlier, bringing high winds, booming thunder and dangerous lightning strikes. Somewhere on this tumultuous Thursday night in July, a tree had fallen over a power line, knocking out the electricity to this part of Little Rock almost two hours ago. Mitch’s neighbor in the other half of the duplex—the woman he referred to as “the ditz next door”—had lit candles all through her rooms for light and then left to buy fast food for a late dinner. When she returned, the duplex was fully engulfed in flames.

Water trickled down his face and dripped off his chin. He reached up to swipe at his eyes with the back of one hand, clearing raindrops from his lashes. The rain was little more than a trickle now, but without a hat or raincoat, he was soaked. He made no effort to find shelter. Instead, he watched the firefighters gather their equipment and listened to the ditz next door as she told her tale to a woman who appeared to be a newspaper reporter. She wasn’t even smart enough to make up an excuse for the fire, he thought with a shake of his wet head. She freely admitted that maybe the dozen or so candles she’d left burning had caught something on fire.

Maybe? He’d always believed the forty-something bottle-redhead was short a few watts in her mental chandelier, but now he figured most of the bulbs were permanently dimmed, to carry the metaphor further.

He thought regretfully of a few valued possessions he’d lost in that fire. A quilt his late grandmother had made that he’d used as a bedspread. Electronics equipment. Souvenir T-shirts from college and medical school activities and from his few travels. Pictures.

Fortunately, his laptop had been in his office at the hospital, and he kept files backed up online, so he hadn’t lost the music and digital photos stored in his desktop computer. Most of his truly precious treasures—things that had belonged to his father and grandfather—were safely stowed in plastic bins in his mother’s attic because the duplex had been too small to provide much storage. But still he regretted the things he’d lost. All his clothes, for example. The only clothing he owned now was a couple of shirts and two pairs of jeans stashed in his office and the sneakers he wore with the blue surgical scrubs in which he’d left the hospital.

“Dr. Baker? Are you all right?” The woman who lived in the nearest half of the matching duplex next door approached beneath a big, green-and-white golf umbrella. She and Mitch had met not long after he’d moved in, when he’d helped her retrieve her new kitten from a tree that stood between the two rental properties. That kitten was now a fat, lazy cat who liked to come visit him on Sunday mornings and beg for treats. Both Mitch and Snowball would miss those visits.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Gillis. Thank you.”

She looked mournfully at the steaming remains of the house, then distastefully at the ditz, who was dramatically wringing her hands for the benefit of a television camera. “I figured that woman would cause a tragedy in this neighborhood, but I thought it would be because of her reckless driving. The way she zips down this street without any regard for anyone—and you know she hit Miss Pennybaker’s mailbox just last week. Now this.”

“At least no one was hurt, and none of the other houses were damaged.” Mitch smiled reassuringly at her. “All the other stuff can be replaced.”

“I’ll miss having you as a neighbor. Not many nice young doctors want to live in this neighborhood. They all want to move out to those fancy houses in west Little Rock or some place like that.”

When he’d moved into the rental, he’d been a very busy, twenty-five-year-old intern who’d been given a month’s notice to find a new place after his former apartment had been sold to a developer. He’d looked for someplace available, convenient to the hospital and reasonably priced, all of which he’d found in the tidy duplex in an aging but respectable midtown neighborhood. He hadn’t intended to stay more than a few months, but those months had stretched into years while he’d spent sixty to eighty hours a week at the hospital and what little time was left over helping his widowed mother.

Now, two months into his pediatric orthopedic surgery practice, he could afford to buy or build, but he couldn’t think about that now. Not while almost all his worldly possessions were still smoldering in front of him.

Heaving a sigh, he rubbed a weary hand over his face and urged his neighbor—his former neighbor, he corrected himself—to get in out of the rain. There was nothing anyone could do tonight. He assured her he had a place to stay. He would crash at his mother’s house until he found someplace better.

A few minutes later, he climbed into his car and drove away without looking back at the ruined duplex.

“Oh my gosh!”

Jacqui Handy was accustomed to fourteen-year-old Alice Llewellyn’s dramatic appearances, so she wasn’t overly concerned late Friday morning when Alice burst into the kitchen with the exclamation. “What’s wrong, Alice?”

“My uncle Mitch’s house burned down last night! To the ground!”

Startled by the legitimate reason for her young charge’s agitation, Jacqui set down the copper watering pot she’d been filling at the sink and turned quickly.

“Is he all right?”

“He’s okay. He wasn’t home. He was at the hospital.”

Jacqui drew a relieved breath. She didn’t know Mitch well, but she’d always liked him. She was glad he hadn’t been hurt—but then, she’d have felt the same way about anyone, she assured herself.

“He lost everything, though,” Alice added, her somber brown eyes a striking contrast to her mop of cheery light-brown curls.

“I’m very sorry to hear that. How did you find out about it?”

“I called Mimi to tell her about Waldo’s new trick and she told me. Mitch spent the night with her last night.”

Mitch’s sister, Dr. Meagan Baker, had married Jacqui’s employer, attorney Seth Llewellyn, three months ago. Seth had full custody of his teenage daughter. His ex-wife Colleen, Alice’s mother, was a high-powered attorney at an international law firm based in Hong Kong. Seth had a distantly amicable relationship with his ex, who stayed in almost daily telephone contact with their daughter. Jacqui worked as full-time housekeeper and occasional cook and personal assistant for Seth and Meagan. In addition, she kept an eye on Alice and served as her daytime chauffeur when necessary. Alice considered herself too old to need a nanny, so they were all careful not to refer to Jacqui by that title.

“Mimi was pretty upset about the fire,” Alice confided, pushing a hand absently through her tousled curls.

“I’m sure she was.”

LaDonna Baker, widowed mother to Meagan, Mitch and Madison, was very close to her three offspring, all of whom had chosen to stay in Little Rock to practice medicine. She had embraced her new teenage step-granddaughter into the family with affection and eagerness, and she and Alice had already grown very close.

Alice was the one who had given LaDonna the whimsical nickname of “Mimi,” saying it fit in with the rest of the M names in the family. LaDonna had accepted the name with delight. Jacqui suspected having young Alice in her life had eased LaDonna’s grief somewhat at the loss of her elderly mother at the end of last year.

“So, anyway,” Alice continued, “Mimi’s expecting company for the next week, so she doesn’t really have a place for Mitch to stay until he finds a new place. And Madison has a one-bedroom apartment, so she doesn’t have room for him, either. So I said why doesn’t he stay here with us? We’ve got an extra guest room. I know Dad and Meagan would offer if they were here. So Mimi said that was a really good idea, if you and I don’t mind, and she was going to call Meagan and tell her everything that happened and make sure it’s okay.”

“He’s going to stay here?” Jacqui asked, following the rambling account with an effort. That was the part that stood out most to her.

She pictured Dr. Mitchell Baker, a tall, sandy-haired man with kind blue eyes and a warm smile that transformed his pleasantly homely face into full-out attractive. He was thirty-one, two years older than Jacqui. She had met him several times during the past fourteen months, although she could count on one hand the number of times she’d actually had a conversation with him. Those conversations had been brief and slightly awkward, at least on her part. For some reason she always became uncharacteristically tongue-tied around Mitch.

“I knew you wouldn’t mind—you don’t, do you?” Alice asked, suddenly aware, apparently, that she was making assumptions on Jacqui’s behalf.

There seemed to be nothing gracious to say except, “Of course not.”

Alice smiled with a flash of braces. “I knew you wouldn’t.”

Normally, Jacqui wouldn’t be staying at the house herself. She had her own apartment across town. But Seth and Meagan had left only two days ago for a two-week trip to Europe on a belated honeymoon. They had asked Jacqui to stay with Alice, a request she had been happy to accept—and not just for the extra pay that would go into her savings for a down payment for her own house someday.

She told herself there was really no reason to be concerned about having a houseguest. She suspected that Mitch, a surgeon like his sister, would be at the hospital quite a bit. When he was here, Alice would keep him entertained. Jacqui would perform her usual role, staying quietly in the background. She was good at being a housekeeper, and she knew exactly how to play that part.

“Mimi’s going to call you as soon as she talks to Meagan,” Alice said on her way out of the kitchen. “I’m going upstairs to pack for the sleepover at Tiff’s tonight.”

Alice and her friends loved sleepover parties and were always looking for an excuse to have one. Because Tiffany was on the same swim team as Alice, they had decided to stay at Tiffany’s house tonight and have her mother take them to a scheduled meet the next afternoon. Alice had assured Jacqui there was no need for her to attend this particular event, so Jacqui planned to use the time to catch up on some overdue chores including grocery shopping. She figured she might as well stay at her place tonight to dust and vacuum and grab a few extra things she needed here.

The phone rang only a few minutes later. She wasn’t surprised that it was Meagan, calling to make sure there was no problem with her brother staying at the house for a few days.

“No problem at all,” Jacqui assured her employer. “I’m glad to be able to help. Enjoy your vacation. Your brother will be fine.”

“I’m so glad to know you’re taking care of things there,” Meagan said fervently. “I don’t know what we would do without you, Jacqui.”

Meagan’s mother said much the same words when she called a few minutes later to discuss her son’s plans with Jacqui. “He’ll probably spend another night here with me and then come over there sometime tomorrow. You’re sure you don’t mind having an extra person in the house?”

“Not at all. I’ll be cooking and doing laundry for Alice and me anyway. One extra houseguest will be no trouble at all. Neither Alice nor I will be here tonight, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning, so he can come whenever he’s ready.”

“You’re a jewel, Jacqui,” LaDonna said warmly. “We’re all so lucky to have found you.”

During the past year or so, Jacqui had made a deliberate effort to make herself indispensable to the Llewellyn/Baker family. She liked this job, and she wanted to keep it. In return, they had all been nothing but kind and generous to her. Maybe they even considered her an honorary member of the family.

She wasn’t that presumptuous. Besides which, she had learned long ago that “family” was a word frequently used without real meaning. Family members—honorary or otherwise—were all too often expendable, in her experience.

Mitch’s steps dragged as he climbed the steps to the front door of his sister’s house Friday night. His mother had given him detailed instructions for letting himself in and disarming the alarm system. As tired as he was, he hoped he remembered her directives correctly. The last thing he needed tonight was to be arrested for breaking and entering.

It was after 11:00 p.m. He’d had a very long day of surgeries, meetings and a pretty-much mandatory appearance at a retirement party for one of the surgical department heads, followed by yet another couple hours of paperwork in his office. His amazing and efficient secretary had volunteered to spend her lunch hour picking up a few things for him so he hadn’t had to wear scrubs to the party, which had been a casual affair fortunately. He now owned three pairs of khaki slacks, three white shirts, a comb and toothbrush, a few pairs of socks and a package of boxer shorts in addition to the two pairs of jeans, two polo shirts and electric razor he’d kept stashed at work. He’d had to wear sneakers to the party because Jean hadn’t risked buying shoes for him.

It amazed him how kind and generous everyone had been at work. Other doctors, nurses, techs, office staff, everyone who’d heard word of the fire had offered condolences and any assistance he might need. His partners had volunteered to cover for him when he needed time to look for a new place and to replace his lost possessions, even though their schedules were all stretched to allow for summer vacations. A few people had even offered extra clothes and household goods. He’d been genuinely touched by everyone’s thoughtfulness.

With a duffel bag holding his entire wardrobe clutched in his left hand, he used his right hand to quickly press buttons on the keypad located just inside the front door, resetting the alarm for the night. At least he had a place to sleep for a few weeks. He would have stayed with his mother, but his late father’s two sisters had already planned to come for a weeklong visit. They were arriving tomorrow and even if his mom’s house had been big enough to comfortably accommodate them all, he hadn’t relished the idea of sharing a house even temporarily with the three women. His younger sister, Madison, was a third-year medical resident who lived in a one-bedroom efficiency apartment, so staying with her wasn’t an option, either.

Moving in here seemed the ideal solution, and his sister and brother-in-law had agreed. In fact, they had interrupted their much-needed vacation to call and insist he make use of their spare room for as long as necessary.

He had planned to spend one more night at his mom’s, but when he’d realized how late he was going to be, he’d called and told her he’d crash at Meagan’s a night early instead. His mother had informed him no one else would be there tonight, so he didn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone with his late arrival. Still, he made little noise as he climbed the stairs without bothering to turn on lights. Tiny, energy-efficient bulbs illuminated the steps for safety, providing a soft, cozy glow to guide him to the second story.

After the wedding in April, Seth and Alice had moved from their previous home across the street into Meagan’s house. Both houses in the upscale subdivision were approximately the same size, but this one had a pool in the roomy backyard—of primary importance to Alice. Seth had planned to put in a pool for Alice this summer, but they’d all decided it would be easier to simply settle in here. Seth’s house was on the market now, although Mitch hadn’t heard if it had sold yet.

Mitch hadn’t actually visited this house often, even before his sister married Seth. He and his sisters usually gathered at their mother’s place on the rare occasions when they were free to get together. He knew the master bedroom was downstairs and there were three bedrooms upstairs. Vaguely recalling that Alice’s room was on the left of the staircase, he turned right, arbitrarily choosing the first door he encountered.

He was going to fall straight into bed, he thought with a yawn. He’d worry about unpacking his few belongings in the morning. Opening the door, he entered the darkened room.

He heard someone gasp loudly at the same time his foot made contact with something large and unyielding. Caught off guard, he fell forward, hands flailing in a futile attempt to steady himself, the duffel bag throwing him off balance. His shoulder made solid contact with the hardwood floor, knocking the breath out of him in a startled “oof!”

Lights blazed, assaulting his eyes. He squinted upward. What he saw made him flinch, just in time to keep from being beaned by a heavy, decorative brass candlestick.

“What the—? Jacqui, stop! It’s me, Mitch. Meagan’s brother!” he added in a rush, just to make his identity clear.

Her petite body still poised to strike or run, the woman peered suspiciously down at him. Her short, near-black hair was tousled around her face. With her large, sleep-clouded dark eyes and softly pointed little chin, she looked even more elfin than usual—an adjective that had come to his mind the first time he’d met her a year or so earlier. He’d seen her only a handful of times since, but he’d recognized her instantly when she’d wielded the solid brass candlestick in a very efficient manner. He’d been damned lucky she hadn’t bashed in his head.

She blinked her long, dark lashes a couple times as though to clear her vision, then stared down at him with a frown. “Dr. Baker?”

Shifting warily into a sitting position, he stretched his arm to make sure he’d done no damage to his shoulder other than the bruise he would undoubtedly sport tomorrow. “I’m sorry I scared you. I had no idea you were here. Mom said Alice had a sleepover, so you’d be staying at your own place tonight.”

Jacqui tugged self-consciously at the mid-thigh-length hem of the New Orleans Saints jersey she wore for a nightshirt, revealing surprisingly long, slender legs for such a petite woman. “I was going to, but when I walked into my place earlier I found a leak that must have happened during the storm the other night. I guess some shingles were blown off or something. Anyway, the carpet was soaked, so I called the landlord, then gathered some things in my suitcase and came back here.”

“Uh, yeah. I think I found your suitcase.” He climbed to his feet. Now that he was upright, he stood a good nine inches taller than her barefoot five feet four inches. For such a little thing, she seemed more than capable of taking care of herself, he thought with a wry glance at the candlestick she still held.

Following his glance, she replaced the candlestick quickly on the nightstand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just bruised my pride a little. I’m really sorry I frightened you. I didn’t know which bedroom to sleep in.”

“I was under the impression you wouldn’t be here until tomorrow.”

“Last-minute change of plans. I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be staying for a few days.”

“Of course not. It’s your sister’s house and she invited you. You have every right to be here.”

She pulled at her jersey again, and he realized abruptly that she was probably uncomfortable with his presence in her bedroom. He reached for his duffel. “I’ll move to the other guest room. It’s across the hall, right?”

“Yes, directly across.”

Moving toward the door, he spoke lightly. “Okay, then, I’ll let you get back to sleep. Good night.”

She remained standing in the center of the room. “Good night.”

He stepped out in the hallway then couldn’t resist glancing over his shoulder to say, “Oh, and Jacqui? You won’t be needing that weapon again tonight.”

Her mouth twitched in what might have been a reluctant smile as he closed the door firmly between them.

Turkey bacon sizzled in the pan while whole-wheat muffins browned in the oven. Sipping her first cup of coffee Saturday morning, Jacqui kept a close eye on the fluffy scrambled eggs cooking in the skillet in front of her. She’d heard Mitch showering upstairs, so she figured he’d be down soon. If he was like most of the men she knew, he’d be hungry.

On awakening this morning, and wincing when she saw her suitcase still lying on the floor, she had decided to put last night’s awkwardness behind her. So Mitch had seen her in her nightshirt, with her hair all a mess and her cheek creased by her pillow. Big deal. Starting now, she was back in professional housekeeper mode. She wouldn’t let that facade slip around him again.

“Good morning.” Dressed in a new-looking white shirt and khakis, his sandy hair still damp from his shower, Mitch greeted her with a crooked smile that crinkled the corners of his clear blue eyes.

“Good morning, Dr. Baker.” She removed the muffins from the oven with a potholder, setting the pan on a trivet. “I hope you like turkey bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast. I wasn’t sure if you’d have to report to the hospital this morning, so I thought I’d have breakfast ready just in case.”

He studied the food with almost visible eagerness. “Looks delicious, but you didn’t have to cook for me.”

Having expected that comment, she shrugged lightly. “I was going to make some for myself anyway. Have a seat at the breakfast table. Do you drink coffee? Would you like orange juice to go with it? I have fresh-squeezed.”

“You certainly don’t have to wait on me. I’ll get my own coffee.” Moving to the coffeemaker, he poured a cup and carried it to the table.

Jacqui set a well-filled plate in front of him when he took his seat. “There’s homemade jam and apple butter in those little crocks. Help yourself if you want some for your muffin.”

Mitch picked up his fork, then raised his eyebrows when she didn’t immediately join him at the table. “Aren’t you eating?”

“I’m going to wash a load of cleaning cloths and then feed Waldo,” she answered lightly. “Go ahead and eat. I’ll have something when I’ve finished those things.”

Mitch set down his fork. “I’ll wait.”

“Don’t be silly, Dr. Baker. Your food will get cold.”

“So will yours.”

“I won’t be long.”

“Then it won’t be a problem for me to wait, will it?” Leaning back in his chair, he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip, looking prepared to sit there all morning.

“Fine.” Foiled in her plan to eat alone when he’d finished, she placed a spoonful of eggs and a muffin on a plate for herself and carried it to the table, setting it at the opposite end from Mitch. She retrieved her coffee mug from the counter, then took her seat.

Looking satisfied, he picked up a strip of bacon. “Just so we’re straight—you work for my sister, not for me. I don’t expect you to serve me or to wait until I’ve finished eating to have your own meal. Nor to address me as Dr. Baker. I answer to Mitch or Mitchell. I don’t think my sister or her husband ask those things of you, either, for that matter. I’ve heard you call them Meagan and Seth, and I suspect you’ve shared a few meals with them.”

“Well, yes,” she admitted, stabbing her fork into her eggs to avoid looking at him. “But you’re a guest.”

“Hardly a stranger. We’ve known each other more than a year. And you’re pretty much a member of my sister’s family. There’s no need for formality between us.”

She spread a little jam on her muffin, busying herself with the task to avoid having to answer.

The table faced a sliding-glass door, on the other side of which lay a rock patio and beyond that, an inground pool. Mitch nodded toward the grinning yellow dog watching them through the glass, tail sweeping the air behind him. “Waldo didn’t prove to be much of a watchdog last night. He never even barked when I parked outside and came into the house.”

Following his glance toward Alice’s beloved pet, Jacqui smiled. “As sweet as that dog is, I would never depend on him to guard the place. If he did catch someone sneaking in, he’d probably just bring up one of his toys and beg to play. I’ve always heard Labs are very territorial and protective, but Waldo … not so much.”

“Maybe he’d react differently if someone were threatening a member of the family.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed some spirit then. Especially if it were Alice being threatened. Waldo does love Alice.”

“Can’t blame him. She’s a great kid.” He reached for his coffee. “Anyway, if Waldo were any kind of a guard dog, I wouldn’t have taken you completely by surprise last night. Of course, that suitcase of yours did make a fairly effective warning system.”

The corner of her mouth twitched at the memory of him sprawled at her feet, staring warily at the brass candlestick in her hand. It hadn’t been funny at the time. She could still feel her heart pounding when she’d woken with the awareness that someone was in the room with her. But now she could see the wry humor in the situation. The way his eyes twinkled made her suspect he was struggling not to laugh.

Her humor evaporated when she remembered what had brought him there. “I’m sorry about your house. Alice and your mom told me it burned completely.”

“To the ground. It was a rental, a duplex. My neighbor in the other half is a few fries short of a kid’s meal. No one who’s ever met her was surprised that she caused the fire.”

She couldn’t help being a little amused by the analogy despite the gravity of the situation. “She really left candles burning when she left the house?”

He shrugged. “That’s what she said, and the fire marshal concurred it was the cause of the fire.”

“Was it a furnished duplex?” Because she’d spent so much of her life moving from place to place, Jacqui hadn’t collected many personal possessions. She always rented a fully furnished apartment. She looked forward to finally owning a home of her own that she could decorate with carefully chosen furnishings and maybe even a few nice pieces of art. Someday.

Mitch shook his head. “No, the furniture was all mine. Nothing too fancy. I’d lived there since my first year of residency and just gathered up what I needed to get by, but there were a few items I’ll really miss.”

“I’m sorry.”

Although she could see the regret on his face, he downplayed his loss. “I had renter’s insurance. I’d been considering moving to a somewhat larger place, anyway, now that I’ve finished my residency, but I didn’t have to sign a lease there and I liked that. All I had to do was give a month’s notice and I was free to leave at any time. Not many places let you do that.”

“Not many rental places, no,” she agreed, thinking of the one-year lease she’d recently renewed on her no-frills apartment. It was the first time ever that she’d stayed in one place long enough to actually renew a lease.

Recalling that Mitch had recently completed his surgical residency, she asked, “Will you buy a house now?”

He shrugged. “Haven’t had time to think about it. I’m not sure I want to commit to buying right now. I’ve considered working another year or so here in Little Rock and then maybe going somewhere else for a while.”

“Really?” She recognized the restless look in his eyes all too well, having seen that same wanderlust in her father throughout her first seventeen years. Still, she was a little startled that one of the seemingly tightly knit Baker clan was considering a move away.

“Because of school and family obligations, I’ve never lived anywhere else,” he admitted, scooping the last of his eggs onto his fork. “I’m not saying I will move, but it’s nice to have options.”

He’d leave. In her experience, once a man got an itch to roam, there wasn’t much that would hold him in one place. As for herself, if she made the kind of money surgeons and lawyers made, she would buy a nice house with a tidy yard and settle down contentedly for the rest of her life. She’d had more than enough of drifting from place to place.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked, nodding toward his nearly empty plate. “Another muffin? More coffee?”

He grinned, and she almost blinked in response to the brightness of that smile. Here was a man who never lacked for female companionship, she’d bet. He wasn’t handsome, exactly, but definitely appealing. A single doctor with a killer smile—women probably lined up in hopes of catching his attention. She was surprised he was still single, but maybe he liked keeping his options open in that respect. Not that it was any of her business, of course.

“Didn’t I just tell you I don’t expect you to wait on me?” he asked teasingly.

She spread her hands and said matter-of-factly, “It’s my job.”

He studied her face a bit curiously but said merely, “Thanks, but I don’t need anything else. I have some things to do at my office this morning. But breakfast was very good, thank you.”

“I’ll be doing some shopping later today. If you’ll make a list before you leave, I can pick up any particular foods you like and whatever else you lack in the way of personal-care items. If you need anything—clothes, toiletries, whatever—I’ve picked up things like that for Seth when he was too busy to shop for himself.”

His brow rose a little higher. “You really do make yourself useful, don’t you? No wonder the family seems to think the house would collapse without you running it.”

“I take pride in my work,” she said a little stiffly, not entirely sure whether he was teasing or mocking her.

“That’s the way I was raised, too. If you’re going to do something, do it well.”

It wasn’t exactly the way she’d been raised—more a philosophy she’d adopted for herself—but there was no need to go into that. “There’s a magnetic board on the side of the fridge. The Llewellyns usually leave a note there if they’ll be home for dinner so I’ll know to have something ready for them before I leave each evening. Sometimes they prefer to do their own cooking, but I usually cook two or three nights a week. You can write anything you need there and I’ll take care of it.”

Was she babbling? She did that sometimes when she felt uncomfortable.

Standing, Mitch carried his dishes to the sink, rinsed them and set them in the dishwasher without waiting for her to clear away after him. She could see this man was accustomed to taking care of himself.

“I’m not a picky eater, but I like to have fresh fruit on hand—any fruit, I like them all. I’ll leave some cash for you to add to the tab. Neither you nor Meagan should have to pay for my food while I’m here. As for anything else, I’ll have to make a mall run eventually and pick up some things—like shoes,” he added with a wry glance at his sneakers. “I don’t even know what else I need yet.”

Despite her tendency to accumulate relatively few personal belongings, the thought of losing everything she owned was daunting. She was sure Mitch had lost things that were important to him in the fire. Sympathy made her speak a bit more warmly. “All right. But if you think of anything, just jot it on the list. Really, it’s no trouble at all.”

He gave her another one of those smiles that made her pulse trip a little. “That’s very kind of you, Jacqui. Thanks.”

Hiding her reaction to him behind a rather brusque tone, she turned away to rinse her own breakfast dishes. “You’re welcome.”

“I think we’ll work out just fine as housemates,” he said as he moved toward the doorway toward the stairs. “No reason at all to be concerned.”

Housemates. Just the word made her mouth go dry. Which certainly seemed to her like a reason for concern.

Chapter Two

Later that morning, Jacqui finished making her grocery list. She had a generous household account to cover anything they needed, but Mitch had insisted on chipping in toward his food. She had intended to leave for the store more than an hour ago, but she kept getting delayed by things around the house that needed her attention—houseplants to water, furniture to dust, floors to vacuum, beds to change, laundry to do.

She knew every inch of this house like the back of her hand. It might belong to Seth and Meagan and young Alice, but she was the one who kept it running like a well-oiled machine, just as she had the house Seth and Alice had lived in previously. She was the one who’d done most of the packing, unpacking and arranging when the busy family had combined their households. They had decided which furnishings to keep and which to store, sell or give away, but Jacqui had supervised that process while the Llewellyns were tied up with their demanding schedules.

She had been greatly relieved that there’d never been any question of whether she would continue working for them after the wedding. With Meagan’s hectic schedule as a general surgeon and attending physician in the teaching hospital, Jacqui’s help was needed with the housework and with Alice.

They had established a routine that worked well for all of them. When the family was in town, Jacqui reported to work at around 9:00 a.m., after the senior Llewellyns had left for their jobs. During the school year, Alice had already been dropped off at school by that time; Jacqui picked her up every afternoon. Now that Alice was on summer break, the teen spent the days here at home or being chauffeured by Jacqui to various activities. Every day, Jacqui did the daily cleaning and laundry, ran family errands such as shopping and dry cleaning, then cooked dinner before leaving unless they’d notified her they had other plans for dinner.

Some people might have found her daily schedule boring, but she enjoyed it. She liked the family very much, and they paid her well for her services. Most of her weekends were free and she had time during her workdays to read and knit while doing laundry or waiting for the oven timer to buzz.

She was lucky to have found this family when she’d been looking for a full-time housekeeping job just more than a year ago. Her last employer had moved into a nursing facility and she’d needed a new position quickly. Only twenty-eight years old then, she hadn’t been the typical housekeeper applicant. Her résumé listed many jobs in several states, only the latter two of which had been housekeeping positions. But the Llewellyns had taken a chance on her, and she was satisfied their gamble had paid off for all of them.

On the other side of the glass door, Waldo barked for attention, his feathery tail swishing rhythmically. He missed Alice today, she thought, stuffing the grocery list in her bag. He barked again, giving her his best please-notice-me grin. Caving, she set her bag aside. There was no hurry to go shopping; she might as well play with the dog for a little while to make him feel less lonely.

Waldo expressed his gratitude with full-body wiggles and eager swipes of his big, wet tongue. Laughing, Jacqui pushed him down. “You silly dog. You act like you haven’t seen anyone in a month. I just gave you a good brushing this morning before I fed you breakfast. And Alice will be home in just a few hours. You’re hardly neglected.”

Panting, he leaned against her, gazing up with happy dark eyes. She sighed. “Okay, I’ll throw your ball for you. But do not get me dirty. I don’t want to have to change before I go shopping.”

She didn’t at all trust the grin he gave her in response to that admonition.

Half an hour later, she was still outside, tossing a tennis ball for the dog, who seemed to never run out of enthusiasm for the mindless game. He would have liked even more for her to throw the ball into the pool; there was nothing Waldo loved more than to throw himself into the water after a toy, especially on a hot July day like this one. But she left the gate to the pool firmly closed despite his blatant hinting. With a wet dog climbing all over her, there was no way she’d stay clean enough to go shopping.

“Okay, Waldo, last throw,” she told him firmly, raising the ball in preparation. Like his owners, she’d gotten into the habit of speaking to the big yellow Lab mix as though he could understand every word she said. And like them, there were times when she suspected he understood quite a bit. “One more time, and then I absolutely have to go do the shopping.”

“Aw, just one more?”

Her heart gave a thump. She turned to find Mitch standing in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the doorjamb as if he’d been there a few minutes. “Don’t encourage him,” she said with a faint smile of greeting. “He’d keep me out here all day if he could.”

“Can’t blame him for that.”

Giving the ball one last heave, Jacqui turned toward the house. Waldo collected the ball and then, sensing the game was over, moved resignedly to his water bowl. Jacqui followed Mitch into the kitchen and closed the door behind them.

She washed her hands thoroughly in the kitchen sink, saying over her shoulder, “You’re back earlier than I expected.”

“I try not to work full days on weekends, unless I’m on call. Usually have to go in for an hour or two, but more than that is just begging for burnout. Of course, there are plenty of times I get tied up there all day even then.”

“I can imagine.” She glanced at the microwave clock, noting it was just before noon. “Have you had lunch?”

“No. After that nice breakfast you made for us, I haven’t been hungry yet.”

“I’m just about to leave for groceries. I could heat a can of soup for you before I go, maybe make a sandwich, if you like.”

“Have you had lunch?”

“Not yet. I’ll probably get something while I’m out.”

“Why don’t I go with you? We can take my car. We can have a quick lunch and then I’ll help you get the groceries.”

She blinked. “You’re offering to go grocery shopping with me?”

He laughed quizzically. “Why do you look so startled? How do you think I’ve gotten food for myself during the past decade that I’ve lived on my own? The grocery fairies don’t visit this area, as far as I know.”

“I just assumed a busy surgeon would pay someone to do that for him.”

Chuckling, he shook his head. “Until a couple of months ago I’ve been a student or a resident. My extra cash has been going toward paying off student loans. I do my own cleaning, my own cooking—when I bother—and my own shopping.”

“I’m sure you’d like to relax after working this morning. Just let me know anything you need, and I’d be happy to get it for you.”

“If you’d rather I stay here …”

Something about his expression reminded her very much of Waldo’s please-play-with-me face. She found herself just as unable to resist with Mitch. After all, she rationalized, he had lost his home. She supposed he was feeling at loose ends today, maybe in need of distraction, even if it was for fast food and grocery shopping.

“You’re welcome to come along,” she said lightly, tucking her bag beneath her arm. “That way you’ll be sure to get exactly what you like.”

He smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

Her steps faltered a little toward the doorway, but she lifted her chin and kept moving. It was too late to back out now.

They had lunch at a bakery-café not far from the supermarket where Jacqui usually shopped. Mitch had a turkey panini with chips and a pickle spear; Jacqui ordered half a veggie sandwich and a cup of vegetarian black-bean soup.

Glancing at her plate, he cocked his head in curiosity. “Are you a vegetarian? I noticed you skipped the bacon at breakfast.”

She shrugged lightly. “I’m not a true vegetarian. I like fish and chicken, occasionally, but I simply prefer veggies and fruits.”

“I like veggies and fruits myself. If you prefer cooking vegetarian, that’s perfectly fine with me.”

“I have no problems cooking meat. Your brother-in-law is most definitely a carnivore.”

Laughing, Mitch reached for his water glass. “Well, he is a lawyer.”

She smiled wryly. “Low blow.”

“Just kidding. I like the guy. I’m glad he and Alice are part of our family now.”

“The three of them make a lovely family.”

Jacqui had been a silent spectator during much of Seth’s courtship of Meagan. Meagan had initially interviewed Jacqui for the job as Seth’s housekeeper when his previous employee had fallen and broken her leg, but Meagan had been helping out only as Seth’s friendly neighbor at the time. From the relative anonymity of her job, Jacqui had observed during the next few months while Seth and Meagan had grown closer, then moved apart. The busy attorney and harried surgeon had been afraid their demanding careers and other obligations would be insurmountable obstacles between them. Jacqui suspected they had worried as much about hurting Alice as about having their own hearts broken. But love had overcome their fears, and they had become engaged at Christmas.

Jacqui had attended their small, tasteful wedding, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen a happier couple. Since that time they’d managed to arrange their hectic schedules to allow as much time as possible for each other and for Alice. Jacqui liked to think her capable behind-the-scenes management of their household had smoothed the way for them, at least to some extent.

“Hey, Mitch.”

In response to the greeting, both Mitch and Jacqui looked around. Three men in baggy shorts and T-shirts were passing the table on the way to the exit. All of them looked as though they knew Mitch, judging from the way they nodded to him.

“Hey, Nolan. Scott, Jackson. How’s it going?”

“Been shooting some hoops in J-ville,” one of the men answered for the group. “You playing football tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to buy some shorts.”

“Heard about your house,” another man spoke up. “Sorry, bro. Anything you need?”

Looking as though he appreciated the offer, Mitch shook his head. “I’m good, Jackson. Thanks.”

“Let us know if you think of anything,” the first guy said again, looking at his companions as if for confirmation. They all nodded earnestly.

“Thanks, Scott. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Co-ed game,” Scott added with a flirtatious smile toward Jacqui. “Be sure to invite your friend.”

Mitch nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“Friends,” Mitch explained after the trio had moved on.

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Hadn’t even thought about losing all my sports gear yet.” He toyed with the remains of his sandwich, regret etched on his face.

“I’m sorry. It must be difficult to lose everything.”

“It’s daunting,” he agreed. “But I suppose it’s a chance to start fresh, too. Too much stuff just ties you down, you know?”

She wouldn’t know about that. She’d never really owned enough that she couldn’t throw everything in her car and move on a moment’s notice. But it wouldn’t always be that way, she promised herself. As soon as she could afford her own place, she couldn’t wait to buy furniture and decorations. Things that made a house a home.

“I guess clothes are my most immediate need,” Mitch mused. “I’m supposed to go on a trip to Peru in September, so I’ll need clothes and luggage for that.”

“Peru?” she asked, hearing a hint of excitement in his voice. He seemed to want her to ask him to explain, so she figured she might as well humor him for the sake of conversation.

He nodded. “Some friends are making a five-day Machu Picchu trek. Eight days total for the trip. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Then you should go.”

“The fire came at a bad time—not that there’s ever a good time for a fire—but now I’ve got to make living arrangements and replace some stuff. Still, I think I’ll be able to put it all aside and take a week off for the trip. To be honest, it’ll be my first time out of the country, other than a four-day senior trip to Cancun, Mexico, the summer after high school graduation. Been too busy studying and working to go anywhere since.”

She wondered if that trip would assuage the restlessness she sensed in him—or merely whet his appetite for more traveling. From what she’d seen, when a man got it in his head that he wanted to travel, there wasn’t much that could hold him back. “I hope you get to go and that you have a great time.”

“Thanks. Have you been out of the country?”

“My dad decided to move us to Canada once. I must have been about nine. We stayed in Vancouver for about six months, then moved to Seattle for a while.”

“So you didn’t grow up in Arkansas.”

“We moved a lot,” she said somewhat evasively. “We lived in Arkansas for a year when I was in junior high, and it was always one of my favorite places, so when I had the chance, I came back here.”

“Where else have you lived?”

He seemed to be making conversation rather than prying, but it still made her a little uncomfortable to talk about her past with this man whose life had been so very different. “I’ve lived for at least a brief time in fifteen states.”

“Fifteen states? Wow. For someone as young as you are, that’s a lot of moving around. Especially since you’ve been working for my sister’s family for a year.”

“A little over a year, actually. I worked for another man in Arkansas—in Hot Springs Village—for almost a year before that, so I’ve been back in this state for a while. As for my age, most people think I’m younger than I really am. I’m twenty-nine.”

“Do your parents still move often?”

She nodded. “I can’t imagine my father ever staying in one place for long, and my mother seems content to follow him around the country.”

The last she’d heard, they’d been in Arizona. But it had been a couple months since she’d talked with her mother, so they could very well have drifted someplace else since then. For the past dozen years, especially, they’d been unable to settle anywhere for long. During those twelve years, they had traveled on their own while Jacqui followed a different path.

“Do you have any siblings?”

The question still made a hard lump form in her chest, even after all this time. “I had a sister. She died.”

Although she wasn’t looking at him, she sensed Mitch searching her face. She wondered if he’d heard the guilt that always swamped her when she thought of Olivia.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Thanks.” She reached for her purse. “If you’re finished with your lunch, we really should get the groceries. I’m supposed to pick up Alice at four.”

“I’m done.” He swallowed one last gulp of his tea and then stood.

Jacqui moved toward the exit without looking back to see if he followed.

Mental note to self. Don’t ask Jacqui personal questions.

Mitch glanced sideways at the woman in his passenger seat as he drove toward the supermarket she said she preferred. He couldn’t help being curious about her, despite her reticence about her past. Or, just as likely, because of it.

Although he wouldn’t have called her chatty, their conversation had been going pretty well during lunch until he’d started asking questions about her family.

He had definitely hit some raw nerves there. Her relationship with her parents was obviously strained, and her old pain from losing her sister had been almost palpable.

What had it been like for her, growing up without strong roots to either a place or her family? So strongly connected to his own mother and sisters, and to the memory of the father he had loved deeply, and never having lived anywhere but central Arkansas, Mitch couldn’t really identify with her experiences, but he would have liked to hear about them. Not that her past was any of his business, of course. Although circumstances had brought them under the same roof for the next couple of weeks, they were merely acquaintances, nothing more. Maybe by the time he moved on, they could at least claim to be casual friends.

It was her suggestion that they stop at a sporting goods store they passed on the way to the supermarket. “If you’re going to play football with your friends tomorrow, you’ll need clothes,” she said.

Stopped at a red light, he looked at the store, thinking how convenient it would be to save at least one extra shopping trip. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not.” She motioned for him to turn into the shopping center in which the sporting goods store was located.

“I won’t be long,” he promised. “Just need a few things.”

“No reason to rush. We have a couple of hours to shop before Alice gets home.”

The casual assurance made him realize that her hurry to leave the lunch table had been more related to their conversation than her schedule for the remainder of the day. No surprise.

“Kind of warm for a football game, isn’t it?” she asked, glancing at the blazing sun in the cloudless sky.

He shrugged as he pulled into a parking space and killed the engine. “We dress cool, drink plenty of water. We don’t start until six, so even though it’s still hot, the sun has gone down some. By the way, Scott was serious about you being welcome to join us, if you like. The games are co-ed, and we have several women who show up regularly to play.”

“Since it’s co-ed, I take it you play flag football? Not tackle?”

He realized only then that she was under a misconception about the invitation his friend had extended. “Wrong game.”

She caught on before he had the chance to explain. “Not American football. Soccer.”

“Yeah. Scott was being pretentious, I guess.”

She shrugged and reached to open her door. “The rest of the world calls it that.”

“But in this country, it’s reasonable to assume he was talking about our football. Scott likes to catch people in that assumption and correct them with a worldly indulgence toward their naiveté.”

“Sounds kind of jerky.”

Amused by her blunt assessment, he nodded. “He can be. But he’s okay, on the whole.”

Jacqui didn’t look mollified. “I don’t like it when people try to make other people look stupid. Your sister and brother-in-law would never do that, and they’re pretty much the smartest people I know.”

He hoped she didn’t think he’d been having fun at her expense. “No, they wouldn’t. And I—”

But she was already out of the car, the door snapping shut behind her. Mitch sighed.

Forty-five minutes later, he tagged behind Jacqui as she wielded a shopping cart through the Saturday-crowded supermarket aisles. She selected her groceries with even more care than he’d used in grabbing supplies at the sporting goods store while she’d browsed the sneakers collection.

She seemed to have no trouble being friendly with other people. Apparently, she knew quite a few employees of the supermarket. Several of them greeted her with obvious recognition and Jacqui responded with friendly smiles.

“How’s the new baby?” she asked a young woman arranging roses in the floral department.

“He’s doing great,” the woman replied, beaming. “You wouldn’t believe how fast he’s growing. He loves the little stuffed bear you knitted for him. It’s so soft and cuddly, and he always smiles when I give it to him.”

“I’m glad he’s enjoying it.”

The florist eyed Mitch surreptitiously as she asked Jacqui, “Need any flowers today? We got some pretty lilies in this morning.”

“No, not today, thanks, Latricia. Maybe next time.”

A portly man behind the deli counter grinned broadly when Jacqui approached a few minutes later. “Well, hello there, sunshine. The little missy isn’t with you today?”

“She had other plans today, Gus.” She glanced at Mitch. “Alice likes to come shopping with me sometimes.”

“That little girl does love her cheese,” Gus commented with a chuckle. “What can I get for you today?”

Mitch stood back and watched as Jacqui placed her order. He was struck by her attention to detail even with simple luncheon meats. She’d been the same way with the other groceries now stacked in the cart, reading ingredients, comparing prices, making each choice with a frown of concentration. He enjoyed watching her at work—and she was very much on the job.

If only she could relax with him as she did with the store employees. Surely she wasn’t intimidated by him? He could think of no reason at all for that to be true.

Maybe she just didn’t like him? His ego twinged at the possibility. Was he really so conceited that he assumed everyone should like him? He believed most people liked him well enough, with a few exceptions he didn’t much like either. But maybe there was something about him that rubbed Jacqui the wrong way.

He’d just have to see if he could manage to rub her the right way.

That errant thought made him shift his weight uncomfortably. He studied her from the corner of his eye as she took a smiling leave of the man in the deli.

He would be on his best behavior for the next few days, he promised himself. Whatever he might have done to annoy her, he would do his best to change her mind. He wouldn’t mind having Jacqui smile at him the way she smiled at her friends here in the supermarket.

If Alice hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before, it didn’t show during dinner that night. She chattered nonstop to her uncle throughout the meal, continued to talk while she helped Jacqui clean up afterward, then babbled even more when they joined Mitch in the family room a few minutes later. Jacqui settled in a chair in the corner beneath a bright reading lamp and pulled out the knitting bag she always kept nearby while Mitch and Alice surfed the TV channels for something they both enjoyed.

Mitch glanced Jacqui’s way during a momentary lull in Alice’s monologue. “What are you working on?”

Figuring he was trying to be polite and include her in the conversation, she lifted her project to show the ruffle-edged black scarf she was halfway through. “It’s a scarf.”

“Nice. Is this for your friend’s store? Meagan mentioned you sell your knitted stuff at a boutique,” he added.

She nodded. “A friend in Santa Fe sells handmade accessories in her shop. I met her when I lived there a few years back and I’ve been sending her stuff ever since. Mostly scarves, although occasionally she asks for baby blankets or hats or fingerless gloves, which are popular right now.”

“How long have you been knitting?”

“Since I was a kid.” A friendly neighbor had taught her the basics when her family had settled briefly in a trailer park in Utah. The woman had tried to teach Olivia, too, but Olivia hadn’t been interested. Jacqui, however, had loved the hobby, something portable she could take with her wherever they went. She had guarded the needles that sweet lady had given her as if they were made of gold and had hoarded the yarn she’d purchased with odd jobs money or the occasional allowance from her parents.

The hobby had long since paid for itself. She would never get rich selling her handcrafted wares in the boutique and on the internet, but she kept herself in yarn and needles and rarely purchased gifts when she could make them herself. She made her own sweaters, scarves, gloves and hats and even made shopping bags, dishcloths and socks.

She was delighted that Alice had been knitting for almost a year. Alice had begged Jacqui to teach her last summer and she’d gotten quite good at it since. Jacqui enjoyed sharing her knowledge, the way that nice neighbor had done with her all those years ago. Alice liked knitting soft little stuffed animals in pastel yarns, which she then donated to the local children’s hospital. The same hospital where her uncle Mitch worked, Jacqui thought, glancing at the pediatric orthopedic surgeon on the couch.

“Everything on TV is boring, Uncle Mitch. You want to play a game?” Alice asked hopefully.

“Sure, that sounds like fun,” he said, looking as if he meant it. “What have you got?”

She jumped up eagerly and retrieved a stack of games from a cabinet under a built-in bookcase, setting them on the well-used game table in one corner of the comfortable family room. Generally eschewing the video games most kids her age loved, Alice was instead a fiend for board games, nagging anyone available into playing with her. Jacqui was roped into games fairly often, especially with Alice out of school for the summer.

Alice and Mitch selected a game, sat at the table and then both looked expectantly toward Jacqui.

“Can I get you anything to drink during your game?” she asked, motioning with her knitting toward the doorway.

“Come play with us, Jacqui,” Alice urged, patting an empty chair at the table.

“Oh, I—”

Alice gave her a pleading, puppy-dog-eyes look that would have put Waldo to shame. “Please. Games are more fun with three.”

“I wonder if I should resent that,” Mitch mused aloud.

Both women ignored him. Conceding to Alice’s expression, Jacqui set aside her project. “All right. But just for a little while.”

Two hours later, they still sat around the game table. Empty soda cans sat beside Alice and Mitch, and Jacqui had just finished her second cup of hot tea. Crumbs were the only thing remaining on the plate of cookies Jacqui had brought out earlier. Scribbled score pads documented individual victories in the games they’d played that evening.

She was startled to realize how much time had passed when she glanced at the clock on the mantel. Those two hours had flown by in a blur of rolling dice and laughter. Mitch and Alice were cute together. A stranger observing them would never have believed they’d known each other only a little longer than a year, that Mitch had not known his niece-by-marriage all her life. He teased her and chatted with her with an ease that proclaimed family bonds. At least the type of family bonds Jacqui had observed while working in this household. Not so much in her own.

How might her life have been different, she wondered idly, if her own family had spent time around a table, laughing over a board game? Or even just chatting over dinner? How might she have been different?

A memory popped into her head, dimming her smile. She and Olivia sat cross-legged on the floor of a cheap motel room, playing Monopoly with a battered, salvaged set. They’d replaced the missing game tokens with different-colored pebbles and had made their own deeds and play money with scraps of paper. They’d had a few little plastic houses and hotels and enough instruction cards to make it possible for them to play. She’d been maybe twelve at the time, which would have made Olivia ten.

She remembered the wistfulness in Olivia’s smile when she’d earned enough scrap-paper money to buy a house.

“Don’t you wish it was real?” Olivia had asked, studying the little green plastic house in her hand. “Don’t you wish we could really buy a house and live in it forever?”

“Not likely,” Jacqui had answered with a brusqueness designed to hide her own old longings. “Dad would be ready to move on before we even mowed the grass the first time.”

“I’d like to mow grass.” Olivia set the little plastic house carefully into position on the game board. “When I grow up, I’m going to have a house with a big yard and I’ll mow the grass and plant flowers. Maybe I’ll have a garden and grow peaches. I love peaches.”

“You don’t grow peaches in a garden. You grow them in an orchard,” Jacqui had corrected with the wisdom of her additional two years.

“Then I’ll have an orchard,” Olivia had replied, unperturbed.

Jacqui snapped back into the present when Alice demanded her attention.

“Let’s play Monopoly now!” the teen suggested with an eager look at the stack of games they hadn’t already played.

Because there were only a few games left in that stack, Jacqui found no particular significance in Alice’s choice, despite the coincidence. Still, her throat clenched enough that she had to clear it silently before replying. “That’s all for me tonight, Alice. It’s getting late, and I have a few things to do before bedtime.”

Alice sighed, but didn’t argue, to Jacqui’s relief. When Mitch announced that he had early hospital rounds to make the next morning, Alice accepted that game night was over and began to put away the supplies.

Mitch helped Jacqui clear away the remains of their snacks. Carrying empty soda cans to the recycling bin in the kitchen, he smiled down at her when they almost bumped into each other as he reached around her to drop the cans in the bin. “Sorry.”

This usually roomy kitchen had never felt as small as it did at that moment, with Mitch standing right in front of her and the kitchen counter at her back. All she’d have to do was take one small step forward and she’d be in his arms, plastered against him. Not that she intended to do anything of the sort, of course. It was strictly an observation.

Mitch studied her face for a moment, making her wonder what he might see in the expression she tried to keep carefully blank. And then he moved back a few steps. She drew in air, realizing she’d held her breath while he stood so close. What was it about this man that flustered her so much?

He moved toward the doorway. “I’m going to do some paperwork in my room, then turn in. I need to be at the hospital by six in the morning for a breakfast meeting with a partner. Told my mom I’d have lunch with her and Madison and our aunts, then I’m heading to the mall to buy a few things. Tomorrow evening I’ll be playing soccer with the guys, so I won’t be around here much.”

She nodded, telling herself she should be relieved he wouldn’t be underfoot the next day.

“Good night, Jacqui.”

“Good night.” He didn’t seem to like it when she called him Dr. Baker, but she wasn’t quite comfortable using his name yet, so she tended to avoid calling him anything.

He didn’t look back when he left the room. She knew that because she watched him until he was out of her sight.

Two more weeks, max, under the same roof. She could do this. She assumed the novelty of him would wear off after a couple days of proximity. At least she hoped it would. She wasn’t sure how much she could take of having her pulse race this way every time Mitch stood close to her.

As he climbed into the guest bed that night, Mitch wondered what it was about a suggestion of playing Monopoly that had made Jacqui’s dark eyes go so bleak it had made his heart hurt for her. The most obvious explanation was that it had something to do with her late sister. Childhood memories, perhaps?

She hadn’t said how long her sister had been gone, but it was apparent that the loss was still raw. He imagined what it would be like to lose one of his own sisters, and the pain was so immediate and so piercing that he put the thought quickly out of his mind. He didn’t even want to consider the possibility. Losing his possessions was a minor inconvenience; losing members of his family—well, that was very hard for him to handle. He’d already lost one parent, his beloved dad, and that had been a horrible time for his whole family. It had been difficult enough saying goodbye to his grandmother last year, and they had all been braced for months for her death.

He didn’t like seeing pain in anyone’s eyes, but for some reason it had especially bothered him to see Jacqui looking so unhappy, even momentarily. That sadness had been in such stark contrast with her laughter only moments before whatever memory had assaulted her.

She’d seemed to have fun during their game session with Alice. She’d teased along with him and his niece, and he’d been struck by her soft, rich laughter. For those two hours, she had even lost some of the reserve she usually showed around him—and that he still couldn’t understand. He’d found himself having to make an effort to concentrate on the games rather than the glint of pleasure in her pretty, dark eyes.

Lying on his back in the darkened room, he stared upward, seeing Jacqui’s face rather than the shadowed ceiling. Despite her obvious and bewildering wariness of him, he still found himself drawn to her.

He’d been intrigued by her from the first time he’d met her. He’d been surprised that the housekeeper his sister and her new family had raved so much about had been a rather gamine young woman rather than the stereotypically sturdy matron he’d vaguely envisioned. He’d admired her big, dark eyes, pointed little chin and soft, nicely shaped mouth, and although he usually was attracted to long, wavy hair, he’d liked her tousled pixie cut. It suited her.

As busy as he’d been the past year, and as awkward as it would have been to pursue his sister’s employee, he’d done nothing about his initial tug of attraction to Jacqui. But now that they were under the same roof and spending more time together, the fascination was only growing harder to ignore. He was still busy, and it was still awkward—not to mention that she’d given him no encouragement at all—but maybe they could at least be friends by the time he moved into a new place. Maybe in the future she would smile warmly when she saw him, rather than that politely distanced expression she usually wore when he was around.

He’d like that.

Chapter Three

Jacqui had no intention of attending Mitch’s soccer game. She knew very little about soccer, and she still winced at the way she’d reacted to Mitch’s pretentious friend’s affectations. She doubted she’d have much in common with a bunch of highly educated soccer enthusiasts—or football, as Scott had referred to it. To her, football would always involve pads and helmets and “Hail Mary” passes and touchdowns, but whatever.

She hadn’t counted on Alice wanting very much to go.

“Mitch said there are usually some other kids my age hanging around to watch,” Alice explained. “They don’t let anyone younger than sixteen play because they’re afraid the kids might get hurt playing with adults, but sometimes there’s a kids’ game on the next field. And sometimes they need help with carrying water and chasing soccer balls and stuff like that. Besides, I want to watch Mitch play. I bet he’s really good.”

“It’s going to be pretty hot at the park today,” Jacqui warned. “In the mid-nineties, according to the weather forecast.”

Alice shrugged. “It’s always hot in July,” she said pragmatically. “Can we go, please?”

“Well, um—”

“You could just drop me off if you don’t want to stay. Mitch can bring me home.”

Jacqui envisioned Alice wandering around the crowded park alone while her uncle was engrossed in his game. Although Alice was fourteen and fairly levelheaded for her age, Jacqui didn’t like the thought of her being entirely on her own in such a public place. And what if Mitch wanted to go out for beers or something with his friends after the game?

“I thought maybe you and I could go to a movie this afternoon,” she suggested in a weak bait-and-switch attempt.

Alice wasn’t falling for it. She shook her head. “There’s nothing I really want to see right now. I’d rather watch Mitch’s soccer game.”

Jacqui sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll take you.”

Had she conceded too easily? Was her capitulation entirely a result of not wanting to disappoint Alice? Was it possible she secretly wanted to see Mitch at play, herself?

Frowning, she pushed a hand impatiently through her hair. “We don’t have to stay for the whole game if it gets too hot or if you get bored.”

“Okay.” But Alice was grinning broadly in anticipation, seemingly undaunted by the risks of heat or boredom. Jacqui resigned herself to a long stay at the soccer field.

“Can we take Waldo? I’d keep him on the leash.”

“No.” Jacqui had no intention of backing down on that issue, even if Alice begged. Waldo was a sweet dog, but he was rambunctious when he got excited. Alice walked him around the neighborhood on his leash nearly every day and Jacqui drove them occasionally to the nearest dog park, but any new environment sent him into a frenzy of hyperactive exploration despite his obedience training. Because Alice wanted to watch the game, that meant Jacqui would be stuck at the end of Waldo’s leash. “Not this time.”

Alice seemed to consider arguing for a moment, then she must have decided to quit while she was ahead. “Okay, maybe next time. I’m going up to decide what to wear.”

Studying Alice’s pink-and-white-striped T-shirt and denim shorts, Jacqui asked, “What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”

Alice rolled her eyes. “I just said there could be kids my age there.”

That was supposed to be an explanation? Jacqui shook her head in bemusement as Alice dashed toward the stairs. She glanced down at the ultra-casual oversize T-shirt and leggings she’d worn for the light housework she’d done that morning. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to change. Not because she cared about trying to impress anyone, but because this rather heavy fabric could be uncomfortable in the heat. And if she chose an outfit that was a bit more figure-flattering—well, one should always try to look one’s best when in public, right?

When they left the house half an hour later Jacqui wore a sleeveless yellow shirt of thin, cool cotton paired with khaki capris and leather flip-flops. She was still casual, but the soft yellow looked good with her dark hair and eyes, she decided.

After consulting with Jacqui on at least three different outfits, Alice had settled finally on a screen-printed, scoop-neck, purple T-shirt and a different pair of denim shorts. Glittery purple flip-flops revealed her purple-painted toenails. She’d tied her curly hair into a sassy ponytail and wore as much makeup as her father allowed—a touch of mascara and tinted lip gloss. The result was fresh and cute and much too casual to suggest she’d agonized for a good twenty minutes over the choices.

The spreading North Little Rock park was still crowded at six on this Sunday evening. Plenty of people had taken advantage of the slight cooling of the day to make use of the 1,600-acre park’s picnic areas, hiking, biking and equestrian trails, golf course, tennis and racquetball courts, fishing lake, and sports fields for baseball and soccer and disc and miniature golf. Playgrounds and a small amusement park drew families with younger children. Jacqui had brought Alice to a birthday party at one of the pavilions there last spring, and she’d spent a couple hours exploring the park while Alice enjoyed the party.

Following the directions Mitch had left for them, they found the soccer field easily enough. But it wasn’t until Alice spotted Mitch that they were sure they’d found the right group because so many other games were going on around them.

Grinning, he loped toward them. “Glad you could make it. We’re just about to start. You want to play, Jacqui? The teams aren’t really that formal. Anyone who wants to join in is welcome.”

She had hoped the passing hours had given her time to brace herself for seeing him again. She’d told herself that increased exposure would somewhat soften the jolt of attraction that always hit her at the sight of him. No such luck. His sandy hair was tousled, his lean body nicely displayed in a blue soccer shirt and black shorts, his engaging smile warm and contagious. The too-familiar jolt hit her so hard she almost took a step back in response as she struggled to remember what he’d asked. “Um, no, thank you. I’ll just watch with Alice.”

“You’re sure? We have a lot of fun.”

She motioned toward her flip-flops. “Wrong shoes. Besides, I don’t know the game that well.”

Someone called his name from across the field. Or pitch, as Alice had referred to it. Mitch glanced that way and gave a brief wave, then looked back at Jacqui and Alice. “I’d better get back to the team.”

“Good luck with your game,” Jacqui encouraged.

“Thanks.” He turned and dashed toward his friends. They weren’t wearing uniforms, exactly, but Jacqui noted that most of the players on Mitch’s side of the field wore blue shirts.

She couldn’t resist one admiring look at Mitch’s firm backside before she made herself turn to Alice. They’d brought folding canvas chairs stowed in shoulder-strap bags, and Jacqui carried an insulated tote bag in which she’d packed bottles of water and a few healthy snacks in case Alice got hungry. Mitch had told Alice the match would last almost two hours counting breaks. If Alice wanted to stay for the entire game, they would be eating dinner later than usual.

In addition to the chair bag slung over her shoulder and the insulated tote, Jacqui carried a patchwork crafts bag that held her latest knitting project. She couldn’t sit that long without keeping her hands busy. Her knitting was so automatic by now that she would have no problem watching the game and finishing the scarf at the same time.

There weren’t a lot of spectators for the casual game. Most of the people in attendance were participants, either on the pitch or lined up on the sidelines waiting for someone to get winded and need a rest. Each team seemed to have an unofficial coach who kept their side organized, and a couple of volunteers served as officials, running up and down the field and enthusiastically blowing whistles. A great deal of noise and laughter accompanied the good-natured rivalry.

“It’s doctors versus lawyers,” Alice confided with a laugh, nodding toward the competitors while she and Jacqui set up their chairs on a patch of grass where they could see the action. “The lawyers usually wear red shirts. Mitch said some people on both teams are students and some are older. He called himself one of the ‘old guys.’ I told him that was silly. He’s not old. Not really old anyway,” she added.

Jacqui couldn’t help but smile as she took her seat. To a fourteen-year-old, thirty-one must seem fairly ancient, but at least Alice had conceded that Mitch wasn’t quite ready for a cane and a rocking chair.

The match began with a flurry of kicks and head shots. The few spectators—most of whom seemed to be women with small children to entertain, keeping them from participating in the game themselves—cheered and called out encouragement. Although Jacqui made a determined effort to watch all the players, her gaze kept drifting to one in particular. Alice, too, watched intently for a short while, explaining rules of the game that Jacqui hadn’t known, but then her attention wandered to a group of teenagers playing idly with a flying disc nearby.

“I think I know one of those girls from swim matches,” she said. “Okay if I go talk to them, Jacqui?”

“Of course.” Not particularly surprised that Alice’s attention had drifted so quickly from the game she’d begged to attend, Jacqui almost advised the girl not to wander off too far, but she resisted the impulse. She had to keep reminding herself that Alice was growing up and understandably disliked being treated like a child.

As her knitting needles clicked in a soothing rhythm, she thought back to when she’d been fourteen. Much less sheltered and supervised than Alice, she’d been more worldly and mature at that age. Her parents had left their daughters alone for hours, sometimes for a couple of days at a time while they’d pursued their own ever-changing interests or worked odd jobs to keep the family in gasoline, cheap motel rooms and food—in that order. Jacqui had been responsible for getting Olivia and herself ready for school. Neither high school graduates themselves, their parents hadn’t helped them with their homework or attended school programs with them. They hadn’t set curfews or bedtimes, and they’d shown only occasional interest in their daughters’ friends and activities.

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