Teresa Southwick - The Doctor's Dating Bargain

Apparently he wasn’t the only one interested in longterm planning. It was a standing-room-only crowd in the council chamber here at City Hall.

“I think we’ve thoroughly covered all the information about the architect hired to draw up the plans for the Mercy Medical Clinic expansion. The town council and I liked the work she showed us, but she also has the lowest fee. McKnight Construction will be doing the building. Is there any further business or questions?” The mayor, an attractive woman who looked thirty but was probably ten years older, glanced around the room. Her shoulder-length, layered brown hair caught the overhead light as she turned her head. She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her gray eyes. “All right, seeing no raised hands, that concludes the meeting. There are refreshments in the back. Thank you for coming, everyone.”

Almost instantly chair legs scraped and talking commenced as people stood and filed out of the room or to the table filled with coffee and dessert.

Ben had been at the clinic late setting a patient’s broken arm and barely made it to the meeting. With no time to eat, he was starving. After grabbing a couple cookies and a brownie, he looked around. Against the wall he noticed Cabot Dixon, an old high school friend, talking to the pretty redhead who owned the marina store on the lake and was engaged to Adam Stone, the family-practice doctor at the clinic. He moved toward them and Cabot grinned.

“I heard you were back in town, Ben.”

“Good to see you, Cab.” He set his coffee on the seat of a chair and shook the other man’s hand.

“Do you know Jill Beck?”

“I do. How’s that little guy of yours?” Ben had met them at the clinic when they visited Adam at work.

“C.J. is great.” Her blue eyes glowed with pride and pleasure. “Adam is keeping an eye on him tonight. Tyler’s there, too.”

“How old is that boy of yours, Cab?”

“Seven. Can’t believe it. I remember when he was hardly bigger than my hand and I was trying to figure out which end to put the diaper on and which one to feed.”

“You’ve done a great job,” Jill said, “because he’s healthy and happy.”

“It was one day at a time, one crisis at a time.” He shook his head at the memories. “Seems like yesterday he was a toddler.”

“I look forward to seeing him. Preferably not at the clinic.”

“From your mouth to God’s ear,” the man said fervently.

Ben knew Cabot had been married and his wife took off right after the baby’s birth. Apparently, in addition to a husband and newborn son, small-town life wasn’t her thing. And speaking of that…In his peripheral vision he noticed a flash of red. Camille Halliday was a few feet away from the refreshment table, by herself and holding a cup of coffee. She stood out like a fly in milk.

The people in this room were dressed in denim and flannel. Mayor Goodson had on a navy blue blazer with her jeans to negotiate the line between casual and professional. There was an occasional pair of khakis, and Ben was in scrubs, but that was as formal as anyone got.

Cam was wearing a stylishly short, snug skirt and fitted red jacket with a ruffle at the waist. Her four-inch red come-and-get-me heels made her legs look longer than he thought they were and shapely enough to make his fingers tingle to know for sure.

Jill must have noticed where he was looking. “Camille Halliday is prettier in person that she is in photographs.”

“I’ll have to take your word.” Ben forced himself to look away. He took a chocolate chip cookie from his plate and bit into it. After chewing and swallowing he said, “I’ve never seen pictures of her.”

“Really?” The redhead looked surprised. “She’s been all over magazines and tabloid news.”

“I’ve been busy.” He shrugged. “Barely put it together when I met her at the lodge. I’m staying there until I build my house.”

“I’d steer clear of her.” Cabot’s eyes were dark with suspicion.

“Have you met her?”

“No. And that’s fine with me.”

“I can’t help wondering what she’s doing in Blackwater Lake.” Jill sipped her coffee. “It’s painfully obvious that she doesn’t fit in here.”

Ben noticed that people were looking curiously at her, but no one ventured over. She looked a little lost and the stubborn lift of her chin said she was trying not to be.

“I’m going to talk to her,” he said.

“Bad idea.” Cabot shook his head in warning.

“Why?”

“She’s way out of your league.”

“That would be a problem if I were looking for something serious.” He already knew that was a waste of time, because the lady had her sights set on bigger and more high-profile than here. “But there’s no harm in being friendly.”

“Yes, there is.” His friend looked like he’d rather take a sharp stick in the eye.

“I’d go with you and introduce myself,” Jill said, “but I have to get home. Although I’m sure Adam has everything under control.”

“And I have to pick up Ty and get him home. It’s a school night. And I’m your ride,” Cabot reminded her.

“That, too.”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you guys later.”

Cabot’s expression was filled with fraternal sympathy. “You’re a braver man than I am.”

Ben laughed and said his goodbyes, then picked up his coffee and dropped his empty dessert plate in the trash before heading in Cam’s direction.

There was relief in her eyes when he stopped in front of her. “Hi, Ben.”

“Cam.” He sipped cold coffee. “How are you?”

“Fine.”

He hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning when she’d broken up the housekeeping hostilities. “Is there a ceasefire at the lodge?”

“For Crystal and Patty there is.” That implied not so much with the rest of the staff. “I paired them with other people. They weren’t happy, but I pulled rank.”

“I think it was General Colin Powell who said that to be an effective leader, sometimes you have to tick people off.”

“I’d just settle for a little respect,” she said ruefully.

Ben wondered at the twinge of protectiveness he felt. This big-city girl was more than capable of looking after herself. Rich, beautiful and experienced, according to the press. But there was a look in her eyes, an expression that said she was a little out of her depth.

“So, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I already told you—making the lodge profitable.”

“No, I meant why did you come to the Chamber of Commerce meeting?”

“Oh.” She shrugged and what that small movement did to her breasts in that tight-fitting jacket should be illegal. “I thought it couldn’t hurt to be here to see other business owners in action. Maybe it would spark marketing ideas in the mountain milieu. Promotion strategies for increasing spring and summer bookings. And get a jump on fall and holiday reservations.”

“Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks,” he agreed.

“Pretty much.” She tossed her half-empty cup in the trash beside the table. “I like Mayor Goodson. She’s smart to open up some of the town’s property for sale and development.”

“Maybe. It’s going to be a juggling act, though. Growing, but not so fast that we lose the qualities that make life here special.”

“Bigger means more people can enjoy special.”

“Not always,” he disagreed.

“For the sake of argument…Didn’t the mayor say that as far as health care escalation goes, right now a grant for the money to add on to Mercy Medical Clinic is the best she can do? An actual hospital needs enough of a population to support it. Bigger would be better for everyone.”

“That’s true. As much as I’d like to see it built, going too big too fast makes for a weak foundation that won’t support the existing residents. Everything collapses.”