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helping me have a baby?”

      Jeremiah had no idea what he’d expected her to say, but asking him to help her procreate wasn’t it. More shocked by her request than he’d ever been by anything in his life, he forgot all about watching what he was doing and suddenly felt a sharp jab as the fishhook sank deep into the fleshy pad of his thumb. “Son of a bit—”

      “Oh dear heavens!” Katie rushed over to take his hand in hers. “I’m so sorry,” she said, examining the injury. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

      As painful as it was to have a fishhook piercing his thumb, her soft hands holding his overrode the discomfort. All he could think about was the fact that she was standing close enough that if he raised his head their lips would touch. He suddenly felt hot all over and his heart rate increased considerably.

      “It’ll be all right once I get the hook out,” he said, trying to pull away from her. He needed to put some distance between them before he did something stupid like grab her and kiss her until they both went limp from lack of oxygen.

      “The barb is in too deep,” she said, releasing his hand. “Dr. Braden is going to have to deal with this.”

      “I can take care of it.”

      “No, you can’t,” she insisted. The concern in her expressive gaze caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his chest. “Have you had a tetanus shot recently?”

      He nodded. If he’d been able to get his vocal cords to work, he would have told her that the marines made sure their men were always current on their immunizations. But at the moment, he couldn’t have strung a sentence together if his life depended on it.

      “Come on,” she said, tugging on his arm. “I’ll drive you down to the clinic.”

      “That’s not necessary,” he said, even as he rose to his feet. “I can drive myself.”

      “Do you have a car or truck?”

      He shook his head. “No. All I have is my Harley.”

      She gave him a look that clearly stated she thought he was being a stubborn fool. “Don’t you think it would be a little difficult holding on to it without driving the fishhook even farther into your thumb?”

      Frowning, Jeremiah looked at the tarp covering his Harley parked a few feet from the porch. He hadn’t thought about how he’d manage to use the handle grip gas feed.

      “That’s what I thought. You can’t.” She pointed toward her red SUV. “I’ll take you to the clinic.”

      “But I can take a pair of pliers and—”

      “Make matters worse,” she interrupted. “Now get in my truck.” Without another word, she started down the steps toward her Explorer.

      As Jeremiah followed Katie to the SUV, he had to admit she would have made a good marine. She hadn’t gotten squeamish the way some women might have done when she looked at the hook protruding from his thumb, nor had she passed out when she saw the blood seeping out around it. She’d kept her head, assessed what needed to be done, then prepared to execute her plan of action—much like any good soldier would do.

      Sliding into the passenger side of the truck, he glanced over at her. But even as he admired her take-charge attitude, he wasn’t so sure she might not be a little touched in the head.

      What in the name of hell had prompted her to ask him to help her make a baby?

      As Katie held the door open for Jeremiah to enter the Dixie Ridge Clinic, she wished for at least the hundredth time that the ground would open up and swallow her. What on earth had she been thinking when she asked if he’d be willing to consider helping her have a child?

      After she’d gone home, she’d decided to drive up Piney Knob to return his money and to ask him a few leading questions that might help her gauge his receptiveness to being the sperm donor for her baby. She’d had absolutely no intention of actually asking him to be the father.

      But instead of handling the situation with diplomacy and tact, she’d thrown out her request like a hand grenade. And he’d recoiled as if the darned thing had been a real bomb and not a metaphorical one. If his reaction was any indication, he not only wouldn’t be willing to help her have a child, he’d probably never speak to her again.

      “Hey there, Katie,” Martha Payne called from the reception counter. She eyed Jeremiah up and down. “Looks like you found someone—”

      “With a fishhook in his thumb,” Katie interrupted her. “He needs Doc to remove it.”

      Martha had been the nurse at the Dixie Ridge Clinic since forever and knew everything that went on within its walls. She no doubt thought Katie had found a hapless victim to make a donation toward Operation: Katie-Wants-a-Baby-Before-It’s-Too-Late.

      “Good thing you got here when you did,” Martha said, patting a few strands of steel-gray hair back into place as she came around the end of the counter to take a look at Jeremiah’s thumb. “As soon as we close up for the day, Doc and Lexi are gonna load up their three kids and take off for a couple days vacation down at Stone Mountain in Georgia.” She shook her head as she examined the wound. “You buried that hook real good, son. How did it happen?”

      Katie’s face grew hot when Jeremiah glanced over at her. “I was tying a fly and wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing,” he said, shrugging. “It happens.”

      Martha nodded as she released his hand. “You two have a seat while I get everything set up for Doc to take care of gettin’ it out.”

      As she watched Martha lumber down the hall to one of the examining rooms, Katie sank into one of the chairs lining the walls of the waiting area. She’d seen the gleam in Martha’s eyes and knew the woman was dying to know what was going on. Aside from the fact that she wasn’t used to seeing Katie with a man, Martha was wondering why Katie had been the one to bring Jeremiah into the clinic. Everyone in town knew that Harv was the only Dixie Ridge resident Jeremiah was acquainted with and would have been the likely candidate to drive him to the clinic.

      When Jeremiah settled his tall frame into the chair beside her, she sighed. “This is all my fault and I’m so very sorry.”

      For the first time since she’d met him, the corners of his mouth curved upward in a rare smile. It changed his whole demeanor.

      Her heart skipped a beat and her breath lodged in her lungs. Jeremiah Gunn wasn’t just good-looking. When he smiled, he was drop-dead gorgeous.

      “Forget about it.” He shook his head. “I’m sure I misunderstood what you meant when you said—”

      “Well, hello again,” Dr. Braden said, smiling as he walked out of his private office. “I didn’t expect to see you here again so soon, Katie.”

      “I’m not here because I need to see you,” she said hastily.

      Before she could explain things further, Dr. Braden turned his attention to Jeremiah. “So, you’re here to see me?”

      Jeremiah nodded. “I told Katie I was fine, but she insisted that you needed to check things over and be the one to take it out.”

      Dr. Braden’s eyebrows rose as a stunned look spread across his face. “It really is best for both parties to have a clean bill of health before proceeding with something like this. But you’ll be the one to take care of the actual—”

      “You mean I have to have a physical, then take this fishhook out myself?” Jeremiah asked, frowning as he held up his thumb.

      Katie’s cheeks felt as if they were on fire when Dr. Braden glanced her way. There wasn’t a thing she could say that wouldn’t make matters worse. All she could do was pray that this nightmare came to an end soon.

      Turning his attention back to Jeremiah, Dr. Braden nodded toward the hall. “I’m afraid I misunderstood the reason for your visit. If you’ll follow

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