He closed Jonathan’s office door. “I met Kasey two months ago, liked her and want to go out with her again.”

“And?”

“There’s nothing more to tell.”

Not that he was willing to share. Not even with someone he’d shared secrets with for years and who knew him better than anyone. Jonathan knew his darkest moments and had seen him through them. But some things were private. His night with Kasey fell into that category.

His friend leaned against his desk, arms crossed, expression confused. “You really want to go out with the Ice Queen?”

“Don’t call her that.” Eric glared, feeling oddly defensive of the woman who’d elicited strong emotions from the moment she’d plopped down next to him looking as if her world had crashed. “Why wouldn’t I want to go out with Kasey? She’s a beautiful woman.”

Jonathan looked flummoxed. “Yeah, but—”

“She’s intelligent, witty, has a great sense of humor and is a lot of fun to be around,” Eric interrupted before Jonathan could say anything else. What was wrong with his friend? He’d been working with Kasey for heaven only knew how long and yet he hadn’t noticed what a sexy misnomer she was? That she hid her passion behind too-tight hairstyles, don’t-touch-me designer clothes and I’m-smart-not-pretty glasses?

“Are we talking about the same woman?” Jonathan shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. Kasey’s a great coworker—steady, dependable, thorough—but she’s not your type. Too uptight and career oriented.”

“Those aren’t bad qualities you’re describing,” Eric pointed out.

“She has her sights set on the top, pal. She’s made no secret that she wants a seat on the board and she’s put in the long hours to make sure it happens,” Jonathan warned, pretending to shiver. “Plus, she gives off those subzero vibes. Could give a man permanent frostbite.”

Frostbite? Eric had come closer to suffering heatstroke in Kasey’s company than frostbite. Jonathan and apparently every other man in Kasey’s life were blind fools.

Just so long as she didn’t plan to use him as her stepping stone to the top, Eric had no problem with a career-minded woman. Particularly when that woman attracted him the way Kasey did.

“She’s all business, rarely smiles,” Jonathan continued, listing all the reasons he thought Kasey was wrong for Eric.

She didn’t smile? Why did that make his chest hurt? Why did it make him want to do everything in his power to make her smile, and often? Just as he’d done on the night they’d met.

“Your loss, bud, because I’ve seen her smile.” She hadn’t smiled at first. But before they’d left for his hotel she’d laughed out loud several times. “She has an amazing smile that makes a man automatically smile back.”

He wanted to experience her smile again.

Jonathan’s gaze narrowed, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I think you’re suffering from brain freeze. Either that or you worked in that African desert for so long you can’t handle hot anymore.”

Eric grinned. Oh, he could handle hot all right. And he planned to.

Just as soon as he could convince Kasey.

CHAPTER TWO

ERIC leaned back in the expensive leather chair meant to impress guests invited into Rivendell Medical Center’s administrator’s office. With its original wall prints, expensive furnishings and lush greenery, the office screamed success.

“I know Dr. Douglas has already shown you around the ambulatory clinic, but would you like a tour of the rest of the facility prior to officially starting?” the lanky man he’d spent the morning with offered. “I know you practically grew up at the center, but that was before we moved to the new location.”

That had been three years ago while Eric had been in Africa as part of the medical mission team he’d joined straight out of medical school. A lifetime ago. Eric didn’t even feel like the same person who’d once lived in Rivendell.

He wasn’t the same person.

“The entire building is state-of-the-art. The in-house referral system streamlines care with great efficiency. We have close to a hundred providers of various specialties on staff now.” Clive gave Eric a grin. “Your grandfather would be proud. I know your mother is.”

His maternal grandfather would be proud of how far the clinic had come. The facility comprised a three-story building with multiple specialty departments, a fully equipped laboratory, radiology department, pharmacy and a same-day surgery wing that bore Eric’s grandfather’s name.

His mother was proud of the clinic, too, but Eric refused to let thoughts of her into his mind. He’d barely been home a week and already she was trotting Kentucky debutantes in front of him at every opportunity.

Eric shook his head at his mother’s matchmaking and at the administrator. “Jonathan showed me around the center when I was here two months ago.”

Just as it had then, the center felt right.

Like this was where he was meant to be despite years of adamant and rebellious denial of his heritage. Despite his mother thinking his move home meant he was ready to settle down and produce heirs.

“If there’s anything Rivendell can do to make your move smoother, let me know,” Clive went on, no doubt in an effort to impress Lena Woolworth’s only child.

“Actually…” Eric rocked back in the chair, eyeing the administrator through narrowed eyes. “There is something.”

Clive’s temple jumped with a nervous spasm. “Oh?”

“I’m going to work in the ambulatory clinic.”

The man’s unease faded into confused relief.

“The ambulatory clinic? But…” Remembering who he was talking to, the administrator nodded. “Of course. I should have realized you’d want to work directly with Dr. Douglas.”

Perhaps he should feel guilty for using his influence to change where he’d be working at the last minute. Hadn’t he sworn not to let moving home corrupt him? That he’d remain true to the man he’d grown into while thousands of miles away? But working in the ambulatory clinic appealed enough for him to ignore any doubts about his motives.

He had no doubts.

He wanted to be near Dr. Kasey Carmichael.

Whether or not wanting to be near her was a good thing remained to be seen.

Early that evening, Kasey finished seeing her afternoon patients and slouched into the comfy ergonomic chair at her desk.

Her office wasn’t much larger than a broom closet, but she’d been allowed to decorate the room to her taste. She’d gone with crisp white walls and black furniture. A vase of colorful Shasta daisies, looking so real people often reached out to touch a petal just to see, sat on the top of her bookshelf along with a model of a human kidney and a two-foot-tall skeleton she’d nicknamed “Bones”.

She kept a vanilla-scented air freshener plugged in to drown out the antiseptic smell that permeated the rest of the clinic.

The room wasn’t fancy, but at least she had a small private place to call her own.

Right now, she desperately needed privacy.

Eric was here. At the clinic.

Maybe he’d work on a different floor and she’d never see him. What kind of doctor was he anyway?

Dropping her face into her palms, she massaged her temples.

This couldn’t be happening.

Just seeing Eric in the hallway had made her want to push him into a room and perform a thorough examination of all his many attributes, right down to taste-testing him from head to toe.

Which shocked her.

She’d never been adventurous sexually. She and Randall had shared a good enough sex life, but they hadn’t been the stuff to burn down buildings.

One night with Eric and smoke still clouded her mind.

Intoxicating smoke that made her want to inhale deeply and give in to sweet fantasy.

Sweet? There hadn’t been anything sweet about her fantasies. Hot, enthusiastic, sweaty, yes, but not sweet.

Kasey’s fingers dug deeper into her scalp.