Kate Little - Plain Jane and Doctor Dad

“I know that,” Maura said. She believed it, too.

Still, she felt shaken. Shaken to the core. His merest touch had sent her up in flames. She suddenly realized with a shock the strong attraction they shared. An attraction that she had so far been basically unaware of.

He sat up and took another long breath, then glanced at her with an awestruck expression. Then he got up and walked across the room as if he truly needed to put some space between them. He stood with his back to her, his hands on his hips.

Maura sat up, too, and fumbled with her robe. She wondered what he was thinking. Probably he was just plain confused. She felt confused, as well. One minute Doug was her pal, her surrogate big brother, and the next minute…

Well, to be perfectly honest, she always knew there was a spark on her side, but she’d been committed to Scott and never even dared explore those feelings. Besides, she only once had the slightest hint that Doug felt drawn to her that way. Did he have feelings for her that he’d never revealed because she was not free?

Then again, they had never been alone like this before, in such an intimate situation. An emotional tinderbox. That was it right there, she decided. Things like this can happen to people in a crisis. He’d just been swept away by the circumstances. He was feeling sorry for her, maybe even protective.

All these emotions had gotten confused in his mind. In her mind, too. It didn’t mean anything. She couldn’t allow herself to think that one kiss—one mind-blowing kiss, she had to admit—signaled something more.

Finally he turned to her, his handsome features calm and composed. She willed herself to act the same.

He looked about to speak, but she cut in before he could say a word. “That’s okay. Don’t even say it.”

His thick brows drew together in a frown. “How do you know what I was going to say?”

“I just know,” she replied. “You’re sorry you kissed me. You didn’t really mean it. These things happen. And you hope that it doesn’t change our friendship. Right?”

He stared at her with a narrowed gaze. “Wrong,” he said firmly. “I’m not the least bit sorry I kissed you. Surprised, maybe, and hoping you don’t think I was trying to take advantage of you. But definitely not sorry.”

“You’re not?”

“Heaven knows, I didn’t mean for it to happen like that, but it’s probably just as well. It makes the next thing I want to say easier.”

She was confused again. Had she missed something? “The next thing? Which is…?”

“Which is,” he said slowly, drawing the word out in his deep, low voice, “that I’ve figured out what you should do.”

He walked slowly toward her, and Maura felt her heartbeat quicken at the strange, unsettling light in his eye. Inner warning bells sounded. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt something was about to happen to her.

Something momentous and totally unexpected.

He was standing right in front of her now, his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest. She had to tilt her head back to look up at him. Her mouth felt dry as she started to speak.

“And what do you think that is?” she asked in a halting tone.

“Simple.” His low, commanding tone gave her chills. “Marry me.”

“Marry you?” Maura wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. She couldn’t believe he was proposing to her.

“That’s what I said. I’m asking you to marry me,” he repeated patiently, holding her wide-eyed gaze.

“But how can I marry you?” She knew the question sounded silly as soon as she spoke the words, but she was too stunned to edit her reaction. “I mean, our relationship…we’re just friends. I can’t just marry you.”

She saw him blink, yet his expression showed no other reaction. She unconsciously bit her lip and looked away.

“A husband and wife should be friends,” he replied smoothly. “Don’t you think?”

“Of course I do. It’s just that there has to be something more to it.”

“Like love, you mean?” His deep voice held an uncharacteristically cynical note. “Let me tell you something, Maura. People get married every day thinking they’re totally, wildly, unbelievably in love. And more than half of them end up having rotten marriages.”

“Yes,” she said quietly. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sure that’s true.”

He was referring to his own failed marriage, no doubt, and she was curious to hear more. Yet she could tell it was still a painful topic and she didn’t think it was the time to ask him about it.

“I know you think this sounds crazy,” he continued. “I thought the same, too, when I first had the idea. But I’ve had some time to think it through while you were dozing,” he gently teased her. “I know this could work. I feel it in my gut. I respect you. I care for you. We share the same values and understand the demands of the kind of work we both do. We both love children. And you even laugh at my bad jokes,” he added with a smile.

“Only because I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I know how thin-skinned doctors can be,” she returned with a grin.

He laughed, and she met his warm gaze.

He really was so handsome. Even more so than usual right now, with that persuasive, hopeful expression on his face. And she knew that he was a decent man. Kind, even noble. Intelligent and successful, as well.

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