LITMIR.BIZ

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is, but not with Nick.” Ethan finished stirring his coffee and settled behind the desk. “There’s a public health project I’ve been trying to get under way for the past year, but it ran into some snags.” He’d mentioned this during her visit, but since she hadn’t responded, he chose to try again.

      “Why is a police chief concerned with public health?” Jenni asked.

      “It’s outreach—a form of crime prevention.” Inside a drawer, Ethan found the folder full of reference articles he’d saved, along with his comments. “I’ve been trying to talk the city council into funding a pilot project, but they don’t see the benefits. So I figured you and I could prove to them how great the need is.”

      “There’s no funding?” She frowned.

      He bit back the urge to point out that investing some unreimbursed time in her new community wouldn’t kill her, especially considering that she could obviously afford a small fortune for designer clothes. “Not yet,” he admitted.

      “You realize we’d require materials?” Jenni probed. “I presume we’re talking about vaccinations and so forth?”

      “Right now, I’m more interested in assessing medical needs and educating people about everything from child development to gun safety.” Ethan had been mulling the subject over since he’d returned to Downhome. “We’d make referrals rather than provide on-the-spot care.”

      “‘We’?” she said.

      “I’d need to accompany you, since we’d be visiting the less savory part of town.” He hadn’t viewed that part of the project as problematic until now.

      “You could use this as a chance to snoop into people’s homes,” Jenni noted none too happily

      “That’s not my motive.” Still, since she’d mentioned it, he wouldn’t mind paying Arturo Mendez a visit.

      “Listen, Chief…”

      “Ethan,” he corrected.

      “Okay, Ethan,” Jenni said.

      “May I call you by your first name?”

      “Would you let me finish, please?”

      He sat back, properly chastened. “Shoot.”

      “First of all, I just got here. I haven’t even talked to my nursing staff or met my patients. It’s way too soon to contemplate a new project.”

      “We could wait a few weeks. I realize I’m pushing hard, but I’ve run into delay after delay and I’m growing impatient.” Ethan could see that this approach wasn’t working, so he switched to a different one. “I’d like to get rolling this summer so kids don’t enter kindergarten and first grade with untreated health problems.”

      “In addition,” Jenni continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “I ran into trouble at my last position because I tried to help a patient outside a clinical setting. Which reminds me that, considering my reputation as a home wrecker, I wouldn’t want to spend too much time alone with a married man.”

      “A married man?” He recalled her comment about his wife. “Oh, I’m single.”

      She thought it over. “Still, gossips can make mountains out of molehills.”

      He pretended to be perplexed. “Meaning?”

      “You and me. Some people could read implications into it. Heaven knows why.”

      “Yes, heaven knows why.” Aside from the fact that the air between us hums like a tuning fork.

      “You’re smiling,” Jenni said. “That was an attempt at humor, right?”

      Ethan drew himself up as if offended. “I was not smiling. That was my poker face.”

      “Take my advice, Chief. If you want to play cards, stick to Go Fish.” She rose. “Sorry to disappoint you about the outreach, but I can’t handle it right now. If you’ll excuse me, my staff is expecting me.”

      He didn’t press the point. As matters stood, they’d simply opened negotiations. He could wait a while and try again.

      When they shook hands again, Ethan found himself enjoying the contact much more than he should have. “I’ll say one thing for you. You make a good sparring partner.”

      “Since you oppose violence, I’m sure you’ll want to give me a wide berth,” Jenni retorted.

      “That would be my preference. However, it’s a small town,” he teased.

      She shot him a look. “I’m sure we can manage to keep our distance.”

      Ethan felt a twinge of disappointment. “Of course. But they say distance is relative.”

      He escorted her to the lobby. A weathered farmer filling out an accident form at the front desk spotted the newcomer. “Ma’am.” He swept the baseball cap off his head.

      “Good morning. I’m Dr. Vine,” she replied cheerfully.

      “You’re the new doctor? I feel better already,” the old fellow replied gallantly. “I mean, I feel sick. How about an appointment?”

      She laughed. “I never realized Southern men were so courteous. Men in L.A. don’t remove their hats and they hardly ever pay compliments.”

      “They’re durn fools,” the farmer observed. “Guess I’ll be visiting you about my arthritis soon. Just remembered my wife’s been nagging me to get some medicine.”

      “I’ll be glad to help.”

      When she went out, the man gripped the edge of the desk as if his knees had gone weak. To Ethan, he said, “She’s really the doctor?”

      “Yes, she is.”

      “And you wanted to hire some fella, instead? You ain’t as smart as I thought you were, Chief.” The farmer returned to his form.

      Ethan felt as if he’d just lost a battle. He wasn’t entirely sorry, either.

      Chapter Three

      Ethan made frequent uninvited appearances in Jenni’s mind over the next few days. As if she didn’t have enough to do with getting to know her staff, meeting patients and searching for an apartment. Now she also had to deal with the shiver of excitement that ran through her every time she thought about that annoying man.

      Until recently, she hadn’t understood what people meant when they talked about chemistry. Jenni had dated plenty of guys and had been intimately involved with several, yet they’d vanished from her awareness when they were out of sight. She certainly hadn’t anticipated running into them on the street, imagining she saw their broad shoulders and feeling disappointed if the man turned out to be someone else.

      The good thing about chemistry, she discovered, was that it waned over time. By Friday, she hardly thought of Ethan at all, except once in the dry goods store when she caught a whiff of the same aftershave lotion and had to fight the impulse to invent a pretext to drop by the police station.

      Why his wife had left him wasn’t hard to imagine. Despite his bluff appeal, the man was bullheaded and judgmental. He’d made no bones about the fact that he was seeking an excuse to pry into poor people’s lives, either, although she was willing to give him credit for caring about the children. As a father himself, he’d need to be a total monster not to have a soft spot for kids.

      She still believed he’d been wrong to bring up her past in front of the city council. Ethan might claim he was doing his duty, but she doubted he’d have behaved the same way if he’d come across negative information regarding her competitor.

      Thank goodness most people she met that first week didn’t appear to share his reservations about her. The clinic staff, far from clinging to some other candidate or

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