A Doctor's Vow Read online

  Maybe they could get her head examined while she was there, Jaclyn mused. She checked over her shoulder one last time and saw Kent motion for another fireman to direct his hose on the back of the now-smoking building that had housed Jaclyn’s clinic. That clinic had been the focus of her dreams for more than ten years. It was the place where she was finally going to earn the life she’d been given. The life Jessica had lost.

  Why? That was the question that always haunted her. Why had her twin sister gotten leukemia and not her? In all the years since Jessica’s death, she’d never figured that out.

  “Ready?”

  Jaclyn shook off her stupor and concentrated on getting into RaeAnn’s car while her assistant retrieved her shoes. It must have been smoke addling her brain that made her notice Kent’s broad shoulders again because Dr. Jaclyn LaForge was not interested in men—especially not Kent McCloy, no matter how good he looked in his gear.

  Guys like Kent, even though they’re gorgeous, have no effect on me, she thought as she sat alone in a treatment room, waiting to be examined by a colleague. But all the denials in the world couldn’t disguise the way her heartbeat had raced when Kent had touched her.

  How was it that the only guy she’d ever had a crush on in high school—the guy who’d stuck by her when everyone else had turned against her after Jessica’s death—still had the power to make her shiver?

  Didn’t matter. Overpowering reactions notwithstanding, Jaclyn had no time for personal relationships. She had a duty to her twin sister to get the clinic up and running again. Despite losing the building, she would find a way to do it—no matter what.

  * * *

  Kent left the fire hall late in the afternoon after learning the fire was the result of an overtaxed electrical outlet. Thankfully no one had been seriously hurt. But the incident reinforced his long-held belief that it was time to get an emergency procedure plan in place in town.

  He took his time driving home, surveying the land in its burgeoning spring glory. The last rays of sun sank below the craggy tips of New Mexico’s mountains, bathing the world in a rosy glow as he drove into his driveway. It should have made him feel peaceful. But the usual post-fire adrenaline surge had left Kent antsy. He walked around the yard and thought about the town’s new pediatrician.

  Kent had forgotten a lot of things about Jaclyn LaForge since their days in high school—that silver blond hair of hers, for one thing. Then she’d worn it long; now her short, precise blunt-cut caressed a chin that said she was all business. The silky strands cupped her face, drawing attention to her delicate cheekbones and big brown eyes framed by long lush lashes. How could he have forgotten those lashes?

  The pediatrician oozed class, from her red silk suit to her spicy perfume. Jaclyn, the rebel teen whom he’d known so well had been totally erased.

  In an instant he time-traveled back five years.

  “Kent, slow down. I can’t keep up with you wearing these heels.”

  His wife would have envied Jaclyn her fancy shoes—they were the kind Lisa loved but said she could never wear in Hope.

  “This is Hokey Ville, Kent.” Three years later and Lisa’s accusing voice would not be silenced. “You said we wouldn’t stay. You promised we’d go back to Dallas.”

  A promise he’d made but never kept.

  Uncomfortable with the memory of his betrayal, Kent clenched his jaw. Rescuing Jaclyn from that burning building had knocked his world off kilter. He doubted he’d ever forget seeing her through the smoke, but he needed to restore his carefully managed equilibrium because blocking out the past and focusing on the present was how he got through each day.

  Oreo, his old Springer spaniel, strolled up to him and rubbed against his knee. Her white-and-gold patches gleamed from the brushing he’d given her this morning. As usual, the dog seemed to sense his mood. She nuzzled under his hand until it rested on her head, then laid her head on his knee.

  “Did you get the pups straightened out, girl?” he asked. Oreo’s daughter had given birth to ten pups the week before. Grandmother Oreo seemed to think it was her duty to ensure each one of the offspring received equal attention from their mother.

  The dog’s responsive yowl made Kent laugh. Her throated growls sounded as if she was asking him about his day. Since Lisa’s death he’d gotten into the habit of talking to the dog. Oreo had become his companion so he told her what was on his mind.

  “Hope needs a kids’ doctor. Jaclyn’s clinic is unusable, but Dad’s old building might make a good replacement.” The dog shifted and he nodded. “I know. It’s probably a wreck.”

  Kent didn’t want to admit how much seeing Jaclyn had affected him. He was grateful when a car’s lights flashed as it climbed the hill to his ranch house. Company would be good.

  He gulped when Jaclyn climbed out of a sky-blue convertible and walked toward him—limped, actually. She had on a pair of jeans, a perfectly pressed candy-pink shirt and a pair of white sneakers that looked brand-new. Typical city girl.

  “Hello.” Her smile displayed perfect white teeth. Everything about her was perfect.

  “Hi.” He motioned to a chair. “How’s the foot?” he asked when she’d sat.

  “Sore.” She tucked some of the glossy silver-blond strands behind one ear before she bent to pet his dog. “But fine.”

  “Good.” Suddenly he could think of nothing to say.

  “I wanted to thank you again for saving me this afternoon, Kent. I would have died without your help.” Her big brown eyes stared earnestly into his.

  “Don’t thank me.” He heard the gruffness in his voice and wished he could sound less affected by her presence. He didn’t want her to guess how much seeing her again had affected him. “One of the other guys would have found you.”

  “But you were the one who did and you treated my foot. So thank you.” She paused a moment.

  “Sure. Anything else?” It was rude and ungracious but suddenly Kent didn’t want to talk to Jaclyn. She upset his carefully regulated world.

  “Yes, there is. You mentioned your dad’s office building.”

  “Yeah.” He kept it noncommittal.

  “I noticed it’s unoccupied. Is renting it an option?” Her voice became businesslike.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been through the place in ages.” Why had he ever opened his big mouth? He wanted to avoid her, not build a relationship. When hope flickered in her eyes he blurted out the first excuse he could think of. “There could be some issues with the place.”

  “Can you check?” Jaclyn rubbed the sweet spot behind Oreo’s ears and smiled at the dog’s growled appreciation. She refocused on Kent. “It’s really important to me to get the clinic going again.” Her eyes held his. “Please?”

  “I’ve got the ranch and my practice,” he reminded. “I’m pretty busy.”

  “I’m sure you are.” She kept staring, waiting.

  “Fine,” he relented when it became obvious she wouldn’t back off. “I’ll look as soon as I can.” In the meantime maybe she’d find something else and he could forget her and go on with his normal life.

  In his dreams. He remembered Jaclyn’s tenacity too well.

  “If you’d let me know when you go, I’d like to come along.” Her smile blazed. “The clinic has to be fully operational, treating a certain number of patients, in three months or I jeopardize my financing. This is March. That means I’d have to move in by the end of May.”

  “I said I’ll get to it when I can and I will.” He swallowed his harsh tone and focused on his manners. She was his guest and he hadn’t offered her anything. His mother would be appalled. “Do you want something to drink?”

  “Iced tea? If it’s not too much trouble.”

  Kent went inside and reached for the fridge door. To his shock, Jaclyn followed him and was now looking around
the kitchen. He wished he hadn’t offered her a drink. Or anything else. He didn’t want her here, seeing the starkness of his kitchen and realizing that it mirrored his life. He didn’t want her leaving behind the scent of her fancy perfume. Mostly he didn’t want her seeing how pathetic he was.

  He held out a brimming glass.

  “Thanks. Do you have any lemon?” She accompanied the request with the sweetest smile.

  Kent hacked off a wedge of lemon and held it out.

  “Oh.” She took it daintily between her fingertips—perfectly manicured fingertips with pale pink polish. “Um, thank you.” She moved to stand in front of the sink, pinched the lemon into her glass and stirred it with a finger. “Lovely.” She held the piece of lemon between two fingers, searching for a place to discard it.

  Kent handed her a sheet of paper towel.

  “Thanks.” She wrapped the towel around the lemon wedge and set it on the counter before she took another sip. “It feels cool out tonight.”

  Meaning he could hardly lead her outside to the patio again. He motioned to one of the kitchen chairs. Jaclyn sank onto it with graceful elegance. Kent couldn’t help noticing her expensive jeans, her tailored blouse, and her three pieces of jewelry—two small gold hoops in her ears and a thin gold chair around her neck—that made her look like a princess slumming it.

  “Are you still holding that night at the church against me, Kent?”

  “What?” He jerked to awareness, embarrassed that he’d been caught staring at her. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”

  “You act as if you’re mad at me.” Her smile grew wistful. “I never came back to Hope for any of the reunions and I haven’t seen you since the night of high school graduation, so I’m guessing your attitude has to be about the night I wrecked the church. I’ll apologize again if it means you’ll forgive me for letting you take the blame for that night, even for a little while.”

  Forgive her? He was the one who needed forgiveness. But what he’d done was unforgiveable.

  “Am I forgiven?” Her smile faltered.

  “Nothing to forgive,” Kent told her, his voice hoarse. “You were hurting. Your sister had just died. You were angry that God hadn’t healed her the way you expected and you lashed out. I understood.”

  “You always did.” Jaclyn’s voice softened to a whisper. “Of all the people in Hope, you were the only one who did. But I shouldn’t have let you take the fall, even for the few days it took to get my act together. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m glad I could help.” High-school Jaclyn had drawn his sympathy, but this woman disarmed him. His throat was dry. He took a sip of his tea but it didn’t seem to help. Nor did it stop the rush of awareness that she was the first woman to come into Lisa’s kitchen since—

  “You helped me more than you ever knew. I won’t forget that.” After an introspective silence her expression changed, her voice lightened. “I don’t suppose we could go into town and look at your dad’s building tonight? Don’t answer. I can see ‘no’ written all over your face. How about tomorrow morning? Say, seven-thirty?”

  “Do you ever give up?” he asked in exasperation.

  Jaclyn stilled. “Not when it comes to my dreams.”

  “This clinic is your dream?” Kent knew it was from the expression on her face. He also knew he wanted to help her achieve it. “I’ll ask a friend of mine to check out my dad’s old office as soon as he can. But be warned it will probably need a painting, at the very least. The company that opened the new silver mine on the other side of Hope was in there last and they weren’t gentle.”

  “Your dad’s retired now, I suppose? He and your mom were such a loving couple. I remember she once told my mom the ranch was your dad’s weekend toy but he intended to make it a full-time job after retirement.” She tilted her head to one side, studying the fancy kitchen. “Your mom must love this. Everything here looks brand-new.”

  “It is. My wife had it redone several years ago. My parents died in a car accident, Jaclyn. That’s why I came back to Hope.” Kent clamped his lips together.

  “Oh, no!” She shook her head sadly. “Losing your parents must have been hard.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  After a long silence, she asked, “Is your wife here? I’d like to meet her. There aren’t a lot of the kids from our class in Hope anymore. Since my parents sold our ranch right after I finished high school, I’ve kind of lost touch.”

  Kent stiffened. But he had to tell her. She’d hear it from someone in town anyway. Better that he laid out the bare truth. Maybe when she knew, she’d stay away and let him get back to his solitary life.

  “My wife was Lisa Steffens.”

  “I remember Lisa—”

  “She’s dead,” he blurted out.

  “Oh, Kent. I’m so truly sorry.”

  “She died in a fire. A fire I set.” Kent wished he could have avoided rehashing the past.

  Jaclyn blinked. She studied him for several moments before she said, “You didn’t do it deliberately. I know you and you couldn’t have done that.”

  “You don’t know me anymore, Jaclyn.”

  “I don’t think you’ve become a murderer, Kent.” She held his gaze. “Do you mind telling me what happened?”

  Jaclyn’s presence in his house made the place come alive as it hadn’t in a very long time. She brought color to the cold stainless steel, life to the gray tones that only reminded him of death and guilt. From somewhere deep inside a rush of yearning gripped Kent, a yearning to share his life with someone who would talk, listen and laugh with him. If only he could enjoy Jaclyn’s company and the hope that was so much a part of her aura—just for a little while.

  “Not tonight.” He drew back, regrouped.

  Once Kent had dreamed of happiness, a family, a future on this ranch. He’d failed Lisa and he’d never have that now. But he had to go on; he couldn’t get sidetracked by his crazy attraction to Jaclyn LaForge, no matter how strong. He admired her courage in returning to Hope, in sticking to her promise to her sister, but he desperately needed to resume his carefully structured world because that was the only way he could survive the guilt.

  It wasn’t his job to get Jaclyn a new clinic. He didn’t want to get involved. He didn’t want concerns about whether her foot would heal properly or get infected. And he sure didn’t want his heart thudding every time he saw her.

  Every instinct Kent possessed screamed Run!

  “I’ll meet you at the building tomorrow morning at eight,” he heard himself say.

  Chapter Two

  “This is a beautiful building. The windows give amazing light.”

  “Say it, Jaclyn. There’s a lot of work needed here.” Kent leaned against a doorframe, probably running a repair tab in his mind. Then his gaze rested on her.

  Jaclyn frowned. Maybe he was waiting for her to say she didn’t want to rent his father’s building.

  “Correction—more than a lot of work.” Kent kept staring at her.

  “Perhaps once all the borders are removed?” Jaclyn trailed her finger across a wall.

  “My mom went a little over the top with the borders,” Kent admitted. “She loved the themes and colors of southwest decorating.”

  His wife definitely hadn’t. Jaclyn wondered why Lisa had chosen the gray color scheme for her kitchen. High-tech certainly, but it seemed clinical, with nothing to soften the harsh materials or unwelcoming, austere colors. Her curiosity about Lisa’s death had been tweaked by Kent’s admission that he set the fire. Jaclyn knew there was no way he’d have deliberately hurt her. Kent had been in love with Lisa since seventh grade.

  While Kent became all business, talking about support beams and studs, her attention got sidetracked as her eyes took in an unforgettable picture. The handsome vet probably couldn’t care less
what he looked like, but he was without a doubt what Jaclyn’s friend Shay would say was hunk material.

  A moment later Kent’s dark blue gaze met hers and one eyebrow arched.

  She’d missed something. Heat burned her cheeks. “Sorry?”

  “I said it’s going to be a while before you can move in here.”

  “A while meaning what, exactly?” She hadn’t been staring. Well, not intentionally.

  Liar.

  “Are you okay?” Kent tilted his head to study her. “You look kind of funny.”

  “I’m fine.” Jaclyn cleared her throat. Business. Concentrate on business. “You’re telling me there’s work that has to be done here, which I know. How long will that take?”

  “I can’t tell you that.” Kent frowned. “Since the mine opened last spring, a lot of locals have gone to work there. The place offers good wages, decent benefits and steady work which means there aren’t a lot of qualified trades available in Hope anymore.”

  “But? I can hear a ‘but’ in there.” She smiled and waited.

  “I’ll start on the demolition. I can do most of that myself and some of the actual renovation. There are a couple of guys I can probably persuade to do other work but it is going to take time.” He looked like he was waiting for her to say “never mind.”

  But Jaclyn wouldn’t say that—getting this clinic operational again was her duty. The clinic had been her dream since the day after she’d buried her twin sister. They both should have graduated from high school but Jessica’s diagnosis had come too late, because of the shortage of doctors in Hope. The traveling doctors that visited each week didn’t catch the leukemia early enough. That wouldn’t happen to another child—not if Jaclyn could help it.

  She had already checked the other buildings in town. This place was the best of the lot, but Kent was right. It needed a major overhaul.

  “I have just over three months until I have to open. Can you do it?”

  He frowned, his deep blue eyes impassive. Only the twitch at the corner of his mouth told her he’d rather be somewhere else. “I believe I can.”