The Doctor's Calling

She said, “When you told me about the house—that changed everything. I haven’t lived in a house since—well, since I was a teenager at home, before I left for college in Las Cruces.”

From a view of his profile, she thought she saw a faint smile curve his lips and the sight surprised her. These past few days, she’d seen the man smile more than she’d ever seen him smile in her life. Yes, this change in him had to be prompted by a woman, she thought dully. She couldn’t imagine him taking some sort of “nice” pill.

“Well, we’re almost to the ranch, so you’re just about to see this house that changed everything,” he said.

About a mile before they reached the main ranch yard, Russ turned the truck onto a side road that wound upward into a thick forest full of tall pines, aspen and birch.

“I’ve never been on this road. Why would a house be up here?” she wanted to know.

“You’ll see” was all he said.

The forest grew darker and the road steeper, until it finally turned into an S-shaped switchback. Then suddenly the forest opened up and a clearing stretched as far as Laurel could see through the falling snow.

“There’s no house up here,” she argued. “I think you’re going to drive us off a cliff, that’s what.”

“You have more faith in me than that, don’t you?”

Did she? The answer to that ought to be obvious. She was uprooting her home to follow him. “I did, but it’s getting a little shaky,” she joked.

She’d hardly gotten the remark out when a network of wooden corrals appeared, and next to them was a small barn, its red paint weathered to a pale rust color.

“Well, look at this,” she murmured with surprise.

“Quint tells me they do a lot of branding and other things here. This meadow is at the bottom of a natural draw. When the cowboys drive the cattle down from the mountains, this is where the trail ends.”

“Oh, I’ll bet things get a little Western around here whenever roundup takes place. That might be fun.”

He shot her a dry look. “Fun? Since when have you ever thought about having fun?”

For a moment his question took her aback. Did she really come off as that stuffy, even to a man who did little more than work eighty hours a week? She didn’t like to think so, but maybe the idea of her having fun was as strange to him as the notion of Russ being happy was to her.

Quickly, she unsnapped her seat belt and grabbed up her coat. As she jammed her arms into the sleeves, she said, “I’ve been known to laugh—once in a blue moon.”

“The next time we have a blue moon, I’ll remind you of that,” he said.

Beyond the sweep of the headlights, a house suddenly appeared and Laurel scooted excitedly to the edge of the seat.

“Russ! It’s adorable! Hurry and let me out. Is the door unlocked?”

Not waiting for his reply, she jumped out of the truck before he could get it completely parked. She ran through the snow, past a rail fence and up a walkway made of large stepping stones. When she reached the porch, she turned around to see that Russ was following, only at a much slower pace.

“Look, Russ! It has a porch with cedar posts holding up the roof. And the floor is made of planked wood, too.”

He climbed the steps to join her. “So you like that, huh?”

“Are you kidding? No concrete or metal. This is all so rustic and pretty!” She turned and tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. “Guess they don’t worry about people breaking in around here.”

“I told Quint we’d be coming this evening. I’m sure he had someone unlock the houses for us. He said the keys would be left inside.”

She pushed the door wide and reached inside to search for a light switch. As soon as it flickered on, she practically leaped over the threshold and into a small entryway.

At the end of it, she stepped into a nice-size living room with a picture window that over looked the meadow and a native-rock fireplace built into one corner.

“Oh, my, a fireplace! And the room is full of furniture,” she stated the obvious. “Real leather furniture! Do you think it’s supposed to be here?”

Russ came to stand next to her and when she glanced up at his face, she was surprised to see that he was looking at her instead of the room. The look in his eyes was softer than she’d ever seen, sort of indulgent and kind, and the whole idea shook her even more than the excitement of seeing the house where she’d soon be living.

“Quint told me that this one was already furnished. But he says if there’s something you want to change or get rid of, just let him know.”

Laurel slowly shook her head in disbelief. “I never expected anything like this. I don’t know what to think or say.”

“Why don’t we look at the rest of the rooms and see if you like them,” he suggested, “before you make any decisions about the furniture.”

“All right.”

She turned to leave the room and was surprised when he took hold of her elbow. Sometimes during their work, they rubbed shoulders or their hands would connect. Touching him was not anything new. But having him deliberately take her arm was something totally out of the ordinary.

Don’t let yourself make a big issue of it, Laurel. Tonight is different. You’re both experiencing something new. He’s simply being a polite escort. That’s all.

The little voice inside Laurel’s head should have helped her to focus on the house instead of him, but as soon as they entered the master bedroom, her eyes went straight to the queen-size mattress, and all she could think about was him and how it might be to lie next to him, to have him touch her, love her.

Oh, God, don’t let her think about that now, she prayed. She didn’t want him to see the longing in her eyes or to ever guess that she had any sort of feelings for him.

“I like this,” she said of the varnished knotty-pine bed and accompanying chest and dresser. Leaving his side, she walked over and ran a hand over the Native American blanket covering the mattress. “Everything looks so Western. I’m actually going to feel like I’m living on a ranch.”

“You will be living on a ranch.”

She dared to look at him and was surprised to feel her breathing had quickened, along with her heartbeat. What was this place doing to her? she wondered. She’d spent hours and hours alone with this man for the past five years. This was nothing new. Just because the two of them were together in a secluded house didn’t change the fact that they were, at the most, friends.

Glancing away from him, she walked over to an eight-drawer chest. Atop it stood a small lamp with different ranch brands printed on the beige-fabric shade. She absently touched the edge of it, as she asked, “I wonder who used to live in this place?”

“I think it was the cook’s elderly mother. She passed away a few months ago.”

“You must mean Reena’s mother, Tiwa,” Laurel said. “I used to see the old woman when I visited the ranch. She’d be in the kitchen with her daughter. But after she began to age, I didn’t see her much. I believe she was close to a hundred when she died. I wonder why the Cantrells provided her with such nice housing.”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t say. But I’m betting the old woman probably worked for them in her younger days.”

“Hmm. I’ll have to ask Alexa the next time I speak with her.” She moved away from the chest and started toward the door. “Let’s look at the rest of the place.”

He followed her out of the bedroom and across a short hallway to a second bedroom. It was smaller, but still a good size. The bathroom was jammed between the two bedrooms, and directly behind the living room was the kitchen.

As soon as they walked into the kitchen, Laurel spotted a note on the table and she quickly scooped it up and began to read out loud: “‘Laurel, I’ve cleaned up most of the dust and laundered the bedding. If there’s anything else you need or want, just let us know at the big house. Welcome! Sassy.’”

“Do you know Sassy?” Russ asked.

“Yes. She’s the housekeeper at the big house. I’ll have to thank her for all the cleaning.” She lowered the note, then looked at him and shook her head with amazement. “Russ, when you said I would be getting housing with the job, I thought at best it would be manufactured. But this—it’s like a little mansion to me!”

He walked over to where she stood beside the table, and the faint grin on his lips made her groan inside. He didn’t have a clue that he was shamefully sexy. Nor did he have a clue that she would love to wrap her body around his, to feel his whiskered cheek rub against her skin, his lips tasting hers.