The M.D. Meets His Match
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“All?” How many of them were there? And were they all glib, like him? Alison didn’t seem to be, but it was too soon to tell. She’d only exchanged a few sentences with her.
“My two sisters and me. I never realized how much he gave up to do that.” Jimmy grew serious for a moment, looking back. “Kevin could have had a regular life of his own, dated, gotten married, the usual. Instead he stayed home, put all of us through school, made sure we toed the line and became decent people.”
April caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “So how disappointed in you is he?”
It took him a second before he realized she was joking. There’d been a kernel of truth in that. “Not anymore. My wild days are behind me.”
Wild, that wasn’t quite the word she would have used to refer to him, but it was close enough. “That’s not the way Alison made it sound.”
Enjoying the company of an ever changing parade of women was harmless compared to the rebellious teenager he’d once been. “I meant as in giving Kevin grief.”
Her eyes held his. “So now it’s just women you give grief to?”
She was deliberately trying to bait him. Getting a kick out of it, Jimmy grinned. “I don’t think they’d refer to it as grief. And whatever happens between a lady and me is by mutual consent. I make a point of never staying where I’m not wanted.”
April realized she was flirting, but since it was just for tonight, she could see no harm in it. She supposed her ego could use the temporary high. “And just what kind of signals have to go off before you realize you’re not wanted?”
“That’s easy,” he told her. “The lady says go and means it.”
Right, and if she believed that, there was an ice bridge he wanted to sell her. “So if I said go, you would?”
He grinned. “You’re forgetting the key part—‘and means it,”’ he repeated.
He had a loophole. She figured as much. “And that’s up to you to decide, isn’t it?”
He laughed. “You’re getting the hang of it now.”
The record ceased play, taking the music with it. He was loathe to give her up just yet. He had a feeling that if he continued dancing, she’d follow. For the moment she didn’t look as if she realized that the jukebox had stopped playing. But her cheeks were flushed and while he’d like to think he had something to do with that, it was probably the close quarters they were in. “Would you like to get some air?”
They weren’t that far from the door. Without seeming to move, they’d somehow managed to dance their way to the saloon entrance.
“Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” She nodded toward the doorway. “I’ll just step out for a minute.”
When he followed her, she raised a quizzical brow. “Can’t let a lady go out alone at night.”
Part of the reason she wanted to step outside was to get away from him and that rock-hard body of his. “You can if the lady insists.”
With that, she slipped outside and closed the door behind her.
Chapter Four
The temperature change registered immediately as the night air briskly embraced April, cooling her skin. The temporary heat of the afternoon had gone as if it had never existed, a cold snap settling in. She’d forgotten how cold it could be in Hades despite the calendar.
Running her hands up and down her arms, April looked up at the sky. The stars were out in full regalia, framing a moon that was full and bright. Less than a handful of streetlights dotted the area, their illumination paling in comparison to the moon’s.
The last time she’d stood here like this, there hadn’t been anything but darkness. This was progress, she supposed. As everything else in Hades, it came slowly.
When she felt a hand gently settle on her shoulder, April jumped and swung around. Her breathing steadied slightly as her eyes looked up at Jimmy’s face, still flush from the warmth within the saloon.
The man obviously couldn’t take no for an answer.
Her eyes asked him what he was doing out here after she’d said she wanted to be left alone.
“Like she means it,” he repeated, echoing his sentiment from only moments earlier.
It took her a second to remember. And then she frowned. “I meant it. What, I didn’t sound convincing enough to you?”
In deference to the chill, he buttoned the top two buttons of his workshirt. “Not to my ears.” Amusement glinted in his eyes. “Must have been all that noise inside,” he told her innocently. He saw that wasn’t going down so well. “Where I come from, it’s not polite to tell the guest of honor to get lost.”
She laughed to herself, thinking of the crowd inside the Salty. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re more of the excuse of honor than the guest of honor.”
He shrugged, unfazed. “As long as it involves honor, I’m all right with it.”
“Oh, and honor means a lot to you, does it?”
The grin abated just a little, his manner growing ever so slightly serious. “It has its place in my life.”
Suddenly his serious mood was gone. Jimmy hunched his shoulders against the wind, wondering if he’d seem like a hopeless tenderfoot if he opted to go inside for the jacket he’d left slung over the back of his chair. April seemed to be faring well in just a simple blouse. A simple blouse that was hugging curves guaranteed to make a man’s mouth water. The button just at her chest level strained against its hole every time she took a breath. He tried to not stare. His fingers itched to help coax the separation.
Shoving his hands into his pockets only partially for warmth, he looked up at the moon. “So, what does a person do around Hades for excitement?”
“Leave.”
He looked at her. “Seriously.”
April inclined her head. “Seriously.”
Jimmy couldn’t tell if she was deadpanning or not. “My sister seems pretty content.”
April had made her own judgment about nurse Alison LeBlanc and found herself liking the woman, although they had little in common. “Your sister belongs to that amazing fraternal club of people who give of themselves and feel that they actually have a calling in life to tend to the sick and the needy.”