At His Service: Flirting with the Boss: Crazy about her Spanish Boss / Hired: The Boss's Bride / Blind Date with the Boss

“It’s blurry in the center, but the sides are perfect!”

“How blurry?”

“Um, like a piece of wadded-up cellophane.”

The doctor nodded, then got up to turn off the overhead light. “All right,” he said, coming back, “let me take a look inside.” He moved the eye equipment around and told her to fit her chin into the groove for the exam. “Look straight ahead and try not to blink.”

As she cooperated and followed his subsequent directions, Remi held his breath, waiting for a final verdict.

Finally the exam was over. The doctor pulled the machine away and turned on the light.

“Will the blurriness clear up?” she asked in a hopeful voice. Remi wanted the answer to the same question.

Dr. Filartigua walked over to her, cocking his head. “The hazy part of your field of vision will remain permanent.”

Permanent …

A groan rose in Remi’s throat.

“You have a condition called corneal scotoma. In lay terms it’s the blind spot left by the shard that went through to the retina.”

“I see.”

“In time you’ll adjust to the impairment. If the Conde hadn’t acted as quickly as he did, the internal bleeding could have affected the whole eye. Frankly, I didn’t think your peripheral vision would be saved. That means your right eye won’t be as dominant. It’s a great plus.” He patted her shoulder kindly.

“It is,” she whispered. “Thank you for saving what you could, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome, Senora. You only need to wear the patch at night to protect the eye while you sleep. Continue the drops from the purple label twice a day for three more weeks, then I want to see you again.”

After a silence, she asked, “Can I wash my hair yet?”

While Remi smiled through his unshed tears, the doctor chuckled. “If someone else does it for you. In three weeks you can return to your normal life and no more patch. On your way out, make an appointment with the receptionist.”

She nodded.

Remi shook the doctor’s hand, then turned to Jillian to help her down off the examining table, but when her feet touched the floor he found he couldn’t let her go.

Pulling her closer, he buried his lips in her hair. “You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known. Gracias al cielo you’re still able to see something out of that eye.”

Her hands slid up his chest beneath his suit jacket. The sensation felt like liquid fire. “If it hadn’t been for you …” She rose on tiptoe and softly kissed his lips. “Thank you, dearest Remi.”

It wasn’t enough. He wanted to really kiss her, but she eased away from him too fast.

“We need to get going.” She reached for her patch and put it in her handbag. “You have a long drive back to the estate.”

He chose to keep silent a little longer and followed her out the door. At the desk she made an appointment. The receptionist gave her a pair of throwaway sunglasses. “Use these if the light is too bright.”

“Thank you.”

Remi noticed she didn’t put them on. He cupped her elbow and ushered her down the hall to the doors, but the moment they stepped outside, she halted. His arm went around her waist, fearing she felt faint. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing,” she stammered. “I’m sorry if I alarmed you. But without the patch it’s like seeing everything in Technicolor after being used to black and white.”

“I’m sure it will take some getting used to.” She nodded and put the sunglasses on.

“Better?” he murmured near her ear.

“Much.” She let out a little laugh. “Ironic isn’t it, when I’ve been praying to see anything at all? You don’t realize what your eye takes in until it can’t.”

Her comment reached right into his heart. He squeezed her waist before removing his hand. They walked to the parking lot at the side of the building and he helped her into his car.

Once behind the wheel he turned to her. “I know you want to phone your brother and tell him the good news, but before you do, I’ve a favor to ask.”

Her head was bowed. “After what you’ve done for me, how could I refuse?”

He stared at her appealing profile. “Stay at the estate until your next appointment.”

“I—I couldn’t do that.”

Her breathing sounded shallow. Why?

“You’ve done too much for me already,” she added.

“You haven’t heard me out.”

“Sorry.” She kneaded her hands nervously. “Please finish what you were going to say.”

“Your ideas for the remodeling are outstanding. Since you can’t go back to being a tour guide yet, I’d like you to talk over our business idea with a building contractor I’ve contacted. With you on the site he’ll be able to capture your vision.”

Her head jerked in his direction, causing the ends of her silky gold hair to swish against her shoulders. Both eyes stared incredulously at him through the sunglasses. With or without them, she took his breath.

“I have a lot of work to do right now and can’t be around that often,” he went on to say. “It will relieve my mind to know you’re overseeing a project that has the potential to make money for both of us. I’m relying on you.”

Maybe if he could get her involved enough, she might even forget to miss her deceased husband for segments of the day. Remi wasn’t fool enough to believe that because she never talked about him, he wasn’t continually on her mind.

When he’d felt her hands on his chest a few minutes ago, he’d feared she’d been wishing he were her husband and just for a split moment he wished he was. The thought was like a punch in the gut.

When Remi had fallen for his wife, he’d thought no man had ever loved more completely. After she and Javier had betrayed him, he’d thought he’d died and would never come back to life. Yet no one was more surprised than Remi, who sat here waiting for Jillian’s answer with more fear and trembling than he cared to admit.

He didn’t even need to look at the woman sitting next to him to realize such definitive statements like never or ever had a brief shelf life.

Jillian struggled to contain her emotions. Had he really asked her to stay at the casa until her next appointment? She knew he didn’t need her in order to go ahead with the remodeling. So what did it mean?

She knew what she wanted it to mean, but she’d only be fooling herself if she thought he had a personal interest in her.

There was only one explanation. Jillian had sought him out with a proposal on behalf of her tour company. Because of the complicated circumstances of the accident, they’d been thrown together and he’d discovered her idea had merit. After having been betrayed by those he’d loved most, it was only natural he’d prefer to work with her instead of a stranger. It was a miracle he trusted her.

Trying to keep the excitement out of her voice she said, “Thank you for your generosity, Remi. I would like to be on hand to see the changes, so I’ll take you up on your offer on one condition.”