Sophia Sasson - First Comes Marriage

She sighed. “So you’re saying Derek won’t stick to the treatment.”

“I’m saying his treatment is not just medical. He has to face an entire football team calling him a sissy boy for not playing. He has to face everyone in town who’s placed significant bets on the game. Without Derek, Hell’s Bells is certain to lose.”

“I can understand that, but if you agree he can’t play, what can I possibly do to make the situation better?”

“He needs you to be the bad guy. He needs you to go tell everyone in town that playing could kill him, that even though he’s walking around like nothing’s wrong, his injury is serious. You need to go talk to Marty, Derek’s coach and his teammates.”

Meera groaned. I miss London. Patients came into the clinic, received a diagnosis and left with a treatment plan. That explained why Marty had kicked her out of his inn, and why the town was so hard on her.

Dr. Harper stood. “I think you’ll find that medicine is far more satisfying when you can actually treat the whole person rather than just the ailment that bothers them.”

Meera left his office and went to the little corner desk in the waiting room that had been set up as her workstation. She put down her purse, fully aware of Rose glowering at her. She would not dignify the older woman’s petulance with a response.

“When is my first patient?” she asked calmly.

Rose snorted. “You’re not going to be getting any patients.”

Meera stepped toward her. “Listen, Rose, I’m only here for a month. Surely, we can find a way to work together.”

“Only a month! Ha! And how do I know you don’t have your sights on Dr. Harper’s practice? We all know the old coot’ll be retiring soon.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here, Rose,” Dr. Harper mumbled as he went into an examination room.

The front door chimed and a woman walked in. She was wearing short shorts and a red halter top. Her auburn hair was perfectly styled in waves. An image of Jessica Rabbit popped into Meera’s head.

“Gloria!” Rose walked around the reception desk to give the new arrival a hug.

Gloria eyed Meera. “Is she the one who...”

Rose nodded. “Can you believe it? Three days before the big game. I don’t know why Dr. Harper hasn’t told her to go home.”

Meera seethed.

Stop talking about me like I’m not here! “Do you think it has anything to do with Jake?” Gloria asked.

Jake? What does Jake have to do with this?

“I wouldn’t put it past her. Who wouldn’t want the town’s number-one bachelor.”

I should set them straight. Meera would never date an American because she didn’t plan to stay in America. Her parents, her research, her entire life was in England, and she couldn’t leave them. Besides, she was most definitely not interested in Jake.

“If she goes after him...”

“I have a fiancé in London,” Meera blurted. “My entire family is in London, and my father has a very successful medical center that I’ll be taking over. I do not plan to live in a town like this. After my rotation, I’m going home.” She looked pointedly at Gloria. “And I don’t fancy Jake—he’s not my type.” She didn’t need to know what her type was. With Raj in the picture since childhood, she’d always had everything she needed in a life partner.

Rose grunted. Gloria’s pout disappeared, and she raised an eyebrow, appraising Meera anew.

“Like I said, I’m only here for a month. What do you say we find a way to work together?” Meera held out her hand to Rose.

Rose wrinkled her nose. “The people who live in a ‘town like this’ don’t want to see a doctor like you.”

Dr. Harper came out of the examination room just as Rose huffed past her. Meera looked at him helplessly.

He shrugged. “You did say you enjoyed a challenging work environment.”

CHAPTER THREE

MEERA GRIPPED THE steering wheel. After the day she’d just had, this was the last thing she needed. I could step on the accelerator, just ram right through. She had purchased the extra insurance on the rental car. She dropped her head onto the steering wheel. Why can’t anything go according to plan?

“Don’t even think about it.”

She looked up as Jake stuck his head through her open window.

“Think about what?”

“About driving through that gate.”

“I wasn’t serious about it,” Meera said guiltily.

He opened her door. “Come on, I’ll show you how it opens. It’s a guard gate to keep the cattle from getting out, so it’s a little tricky.”

After he was done showing her how the gate worked, he hopped in the passenger seat. “Drop me at the house, will you?”

He smelled like he had yesterday—sweat, dirt and something...Jake. Great. Now her car smelled like Jake.

She drove up the gravel road.

“How was your day?”

Was there amusement in his voice? “It was fine.”

“Did you find another place to stay?”

“You know very well I didn’t.”

She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was grinning.

“The guest cottage is still available.”

“And I’m thankful for that.”

“What about bad karma?”

She took a breath. If her parents were here with her, or Raj for that matter, they would tell her it was wrong to stay. They would remind her that she couldn’t in any way support the killing of animals. She looked ahead as the house approached.

If she didn’t stay, Jake would continue his business. Her presence was of no consequence to him, but to her it was the difference between finishing her research degree and having this month of freedom or starting all over again with a new rotation.

She chewed her lip. “Do you kill them on the premises?”

He snickered. “You’ll be happy to know we don’t. We take them to a slaughterhouse.”

She breathed out. At least that was something.

“Does that mean your karma is safe?”

She smiled. “I’m pretty sure this life is ruined, but you may have saved my next one.”

Meera pulled into the carport next to the house and turned to look at him. “Why cattle ranching?”

“Excuse me?”

“This is such a beautiful property. You could do so much with it—why do you raise cows?”

He bristled. “You ask too many questions.”

“I’m a naturally curious person, and surely it’s not a personal question. Have you always raised cattle here? I thought I saw horse stables earlier.”

He sighed. “Every generation has made its own mark on this land. My dad boarded and trained horses. Wasn’t very profitable, so I went into cattle ranching. I like cows and steers—they’re good animals, just need to be fed, and they do that mostly by themselves, grazing in the fields during warmer months. Horses need to be groomed and brushed and exercised and on and on every day. I do have a few horses left over from my father’s days. Mostly, I lend them out to the town for events or when we need to get a tractor out of a ditch.”

He stepped out of the car, then came around the other side and held the door open for her. The British were known for manners, but Raj had never held a car door open for her. She was surprised and pleased at the gentlemanly gesture.

“Do you want to come inside and have dinner? We made some delicious steak and cheese.”

There you go again. She shot him a look of daggers. He was grinning.

“Oh, just go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense.”

“What’d you expect?”

“How about some courtesy and kindness to a visitor? This is my first time in America, I’m all alone and I can barely remember which side of the road to drive on. Why must you be so unkind?”

“You do know we Americans threw the British out of the colonies.”