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.Mattie admitting she’d been wrong about Sam? Mattie suggesting that she and Sam— No, that couldn’t be.There was a loud knock at the front door.Normally patients walked in, so both Hayley and Mattie went to the door and opened it.A small boy stood there holding a half crate of fresh raspberries in his arms.They invited him in, but he shook his head and stayed on the front porch.“Is the doctor here?” he asked.“I’ll get him,” Mattie said, and went back inside.The boy shifted from left to right foot.Hayley stood in the doorway, noting his frayed blue jeans, his faded shirt, feeling almost as awkward as he did, not knowing what to say or do.When Sam came to the door, the boy held the box out in front of him, but didn’t meet Sam’s gaze.His ears turned pink with embarrassment.“These are for you.Thanks for patching me up.”Sam bent down to look at his face, placing his hand under the boy’s chin.“Looks like you’re healing okay.”“My ma is still gonna pay you,” the boy said.Sam raised his eyebrows.“That’s not necessary.I told you you didn’t have to—” He studied the boy’s face for a long moment, then he reached for the box.“Thanks,” he said.“They look good.”“Beautiful,” Hayley murmured.“Those would make good jam or pie.”The boy nodded, then turned and walked away.“You wouldn’t take his money if he handed it to you, would you, Sam?” Hayley asked.“I’d rather have the berries.I like it that he picked them himself.It’s important for people to pay their way somehow, no matter how poor they are,” he explained.Hayley nodded, remembering how Sam once worked for her grandfather to pay off his debt, unpacking boxes of supplies for him and thumbing through medical books when he thought no one was looking.But Grandpa was looking, and noticing.No wonder Grandpa put him through medical school.It wasn’t all charity.It was an investment in the future.An investment in Sam.Sam handed the box to Hayley, telling her to take them home and do something with them, then he turned to Mattie.“You promised to come and see me when Hayley got here.”“Not today, Sam, I mean Doctor Prentice.I’ve got too many errands to run.”Sam frowned.“Tomorrow then.No more excuses.”“What’s that all about?” Hayley asked when Mattie had picked up her purse and left for the day.“Sorry.Doctor-patient privilege.”“But…is this about her heart problem?”He nodded but didn’t elaborate, and that was all she got out of him.That night in the evening, after she’d got caught up on her bills, she made a berry pie.As she rolled out the dough for the crust she thought about Sam.What on earth did Mattie mean, “You could do worse?” As if Sam were hers for the asking.If Mattie only knew what Sam had told her.That he had no intention of marrying anyone, that he was only interested in a short-term affair, for the purpose of “getting her out of his system.” That would change Mattie’s mind in a second.But what if it worked? What if a few months of making love with Sam really did cure her of him? Maybe he was right.Because abstinence wasn’t working at all.She thought about him day and night.She sneaked glances at him over the breakfast table, watched him walk down the street in the morning from the safety of the living room, memorized the way he walked, talked, even occasionally smiled, tilted his head.And she fantasized about waking up in the morning next to him, pulling the covers over their bodies after a night of lovemaking.Just as she was arguing with herself over the dubious merits of his idea, she heard him come through the front door.The sweet smell of the berry pie drew Sam to the kitchen.That and the promise of a glimpse of Hayley with her cheeks flushed from the heat of the oven.It was taking every bit of his willpower to keep his distance from her.He had suspected but he really hadn’t known how hard it was going to be to live and work with her.He racked his brain to think of reasons for staying away from her and her house.The house that reflected her warmth, her love and her generosity.The house that should be filled with a family.Her family.What kind of man had her husband been that he would turn his back on her for a cause? What kind of man wouldn’t want to have children with her?He stood in the kitchen doorway looking at her, imagining what her children would look like, little blond imps with her blue eyes and her stubborn little chin and her determination and willpower.She looked up and smiled at him.His heart lurched in his chest.God, she was beautiful.“Want some pie?” she asked.“Sure.” He shouldn’t stay there in the kitchen.He ought to go upstairs.STAT.Before he said something stupid.Before he did something he’d be sorry for.“I’ll put the coffee on,” she said.He caught her by the arm as she turned to the stove.“Look, Hayley.I’m sorry I pressured you the other night.I had no business.You were right.One night was enough.We don’t need six months of making love to know that it’s over between us.”She blinked.“Did I say that?”“Something like that.”She moistened her lips with her tongue, and he felt a rush of desire so strong he rocked back on his heels.“That’s funny,” she said with a catch in her voice.“I was thinking I was wrong and you were right.”“You mean you’re not over me yet?” he asked incredulously, his heart pounding furiously, his hopes rising like phoenix out of the ashes of disappointment.She shook her head.“We could give it one more night, if you think that would help,” he suggested as soberly as he could, when he felt as though his chest would burst.She gave a little shrug of her shoulders, which he took to be an affirmative.Then he did it.He claimed her with a kiss.He’d told himself if he ever got another chance, he’d take it slow.But all of his plans suddenly went out the window.The thought that this was something Hayley wanted, that she’d actually, well, almost suggested, made him throw restraint out the window.It was like an aphrodisiac that he didn’t really need.She responded to his kiss with one of her own.Then another and another.His need for her grew by the minute.The more he took, the more he wanted.The more she gave, the more desperate he was for more.Their kisses were deeper, longer, and yet never deep or long enough.He wanted to possess her.But he couldn’t.She tasted like the sweetest berries he’d eaten.And he couldn’t get enough.He never would.With his fingers splayed across her back, he drew her close, until she was nestled against his aching erection.She moaned softly, then grabbed his hand, and they raced up the staircase to her room.The room that could only be hers, with the air redolent with the scent of the roses that grew on the trellis beneath her window, the pale, lush carpet, the small old-fashioned fireplace laid with kindling for cool-evening fires, the soft, hand-woven rug in front of it, the bed with its smooth sheets.He’d dreamed of this room.When he was a teenager he’d imagined her in a pink room with piles of pillows.Like a picture he’d seen in a magazine.With a bulletin board holding the pictures of her friends and dried flowers that her admirers had given her.But she’d grown up.And so had her room.This was not imagination.This was real.Hayley drew the curtains and dimmed the light and, with reckless abandon, tossed her clothes on the white wicker chair at her desk.No more the shy girl he’d once known, she was a woman now, a woman who knew what she wanted.He felt the blood pound in his temples as he realized she wanted him
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