LITMIR.BIZ

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from Chicago to Texas to visit his son, and he never missed a date, never made excuses. He was diligent in that, something she actually admired in the man. In fact, she’d seen Cade more often in the two months she and Michael had lived in Texas than she had the last two months they’d lived a block down the street from him. He’d never missed his visitation then either. But in that situation it had been easier to avoid Cade, which she did as often as she could.

      Now, though, with Cade showing up on her doorstep so often, coming from so far away, avoiding him wasn’t all that easy. “And I don’t need help taking care of my patients.” Finally, now that the first flush of anger was under control, and nothing was skipping, clutching, or doing anything abnormal to her physiology, she turned to face him. “How did you know where to find me anyway?”

      He looked straight at Maudie, who was blushing all kinds of red, and smiled. “I have a few friends here in Big Badger, Texas.”

      Dr. Cade Carter could sweet-talk the needles right off a prickly old cactus. He was a charmer, all right. Nothing about him had changed in that respect, and Maudie Tucker was the living proof. “Well, in case your friend didn’t tell you, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and I don’t have time to waste standing here talking to you. But since you’re here, for who knows what reason, you can see Michael after school. I’ll call Virginia and let her know you’ll be picking him up.” Virginia Ellison, retired librarian, was Michael’s caregiver, and the only person in Big Badger she really trusted with her son.

      “Except it’s not just Michael I came to see. Normally, when I’m here on my visitation weekends, there’s not enough time or you’re too busy. But we need to talk, Belle. There are some things I want to say, want to tell you, that don’t fit into the regular schedule, and I was hoping …” He shrugged. “It’s important. That’s all I’m saying.”

      Now her heart skipped a beat again, and not in a good way. She’d had years of disappointments, one after another, from this man, and she was conditioned for it. But not here, not now, and that’s all she could think this would be. Cade changing something, Cade doing something that would affect her life. The divorce, five years ago, had ended all the letdowns and she didn’t want to go back to that. Not even for a minute. Yet it felt like that’s exactly where Cade was trying to drag her now. Except nearly ten years of having Cade Carter in her life had taught her how to dig her heels in. But those same years of Cade Carter had also taught her just how vulnerable she could be to him, if she let herself.

      “I’m working, Cade. Whatever you want, we’ll do it later when I’m ready. And in the meantime, leave me alone.”

      “Fine, later. When you’re ready. But in the meantime, it looks to me like you could use another doctor here.”

      She glanced into the next room at her patients, who all seemed to have lost interest in the interchange between Cade and herself, then took two steps closer to Cade. Gritted her teeth. Whispered, “Don’t do this to me in front of my patients, Cade Carter. Do not undermine my abilities by implying that I can’t do my job without your help. So get out of here and leave me alone.”

      “I was just offering,” he said, not budging.

      Just offering. But what was he really offering here? That’s what had her stumped. They’d been divorced five years now, and she’d been relieved to see it end when it had. Sure, it had been sad, in so many ways. Especially because of Michael. But she couldn’t have survived with Cade. She’d needed more, he’d needed less. “Fine. We’ll talk later. Whatever kind of bad news you’re going to spring on me can wait until I’ve finished my day.”

      “I never meant to do that to you, you know?”

      “Do what?”

      “Make you think the worst of me. Or anticipate that anything I have to say to you is bad news.”

      “I don’t think the worst of you, Cade. But we were married, remember? I got used to having the worst of you.”

      “And sometimes the best.” He cocked a half-smile, stepped back, tipped his cowboy hat at her. “Later,” he said, then turned and walked off.

      “Surprised you’d let him get away,” Maudie commented, watching him almost as hard as Belle was.

      “You can’t keep someone who doesn’t want to be kept, Maudie,” she said, turning back to the group of men she’d come to treat. Now, though, her mind was on Cade. Good dad. First-rate surgeon. And the last person she’d expected to see when he wasn’t scheduled for a weekend with Michael. But Cade was up to something. She knew it, felt it, didn’t know what it was, and that’s what she had to get her mind off right now.

      “OK, everybody,” Belle said, fighting to refocus on her patients. “Here’s the deal. I’ve got a kid to support. He’s seven. I don’t have a lot of time to spend with him, and the longer it takes here, the less time Michael and I are going to have. So you can fight me on this, refuse to let me check you, but it’s affecting my son. Any of you have children you’d like to spend more time with, or mothers who’d love spending more time with you? Because if you do, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about, and get in line so I can get this done as quickly as possible.”

      “Ah, the sentimental touch. Well done,” Maudie joked as, one by one, the men started to trickle forward.

      Belle laughed. “Whatever it takes.” She wondered what it would take with Cade. Surely he wanted something she didn’t want to give. Quite the opposite from their marriage, where she’d wanted something he hadn’t wanted to give. Definitely, whatever it takes, she thought to herself.

      Two hours later Belle was pleased with the results of her morning. All but three ranch hands had eventually fallen in line. This evening, once the nausea pills took effect, all but three ranch hands would feel better. Had she gained any respect from these men? Nah. She wasn’t that deluded. They’d sympathized either as a father or a son. It was good enough for now. Battle number one went to the lady doctor. Battle number two coming up, though, with Cade? No, she didn’t know for sure there was going to be a battle between them, but she was clearly feeling something in the pit of her stomach, and it made her nervous, as the only thing she could think that Cade would want was Michael.

      “Didn’t mean to put you in a spot,” Cade said, as Belle stepped out of her car.

      “That’s an apology?”

      “If you need one then, yes, it’s an apology.”

      He was leaning up against the entrance to her office, standing in the shade, cowboy hat tipped low over his face. Admittedly, he still took away her breath. A sexier, better-looking man God had never put on the face of this earth, and she responded to that in huge ways. Dark brown hair just slightly wavy, slate-gray eyes. Tall, muscled physique of a god. She’d responded to it too quickly all those years ago, jumping into his bed the first opportunity she’d had, then into marriage at approximately the same irresponsible speed. “What’s with the hat?” She’d never seen him in a cowboy hat before today, but it did him justice. If anything, it made him look sexier.

      “When in Texas.” He tilted the brim back. Stared her in the eye. “Since you’re raising my son to be a cowboy now.”

      “Apology accepted, but don’t ever do that to me again, Cade,” she warned, brushing by him to unlock the door. “I’m having a hard enough time as it is, establishing myself here in the wake of the legendary Dr. Nelson, and I don’t need you stepping in to help me, or whatever it was you were trying to do out there on the Chachalaca. And why are you here anyway? You just left three days ago, and you’re not due back for—”

      “Nine more days, which is why I’m here now. Nine days is a long time. Too long.”

      That feeling in the pit of her stomach turned into a hard knot as the hint of a custody battle took on stronger overtones. Cade had never fought her on her being custodial parent, so why now? “Meaning?” she asked, struggling not to sound as apprehensive as she felt.

      “Meaning I don’t get

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