Struck By The Texas Matchmakers

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Katie was ahead of Diane. “We’ll have to find somewhere for the two of you to stay. Will you be able to take care of him, Diane? You don’t have much planned except studying for the next few weeks, do you? Mom will worry about—”

Katie’s words reminded Diane of her decision yesterday. “The children!” she said, interrupting her sister’s question.

She could tell from the expression on Jeff’s face that he realized her problem, too.

“What children?” Katie asked.

“I was going to take care of the two children from the wreck while their mother recovers. Now I don’t have anywhere to care for them. How long before the house is livable?”

“I don’t know,” Katie confessed. “We were trying to convince Mom and Jack to rebuild instead of fixing it. The wiring is outdated and dangerous—obviously. We don’t want to go through that again.”

“No, of course not,” Diane agreed, but she was worried. If they decided to rebuild, she would have nowhere to live all summer. “I’ll start looking for something to rent.”

Jeff’s quiet voice interrupted her panic. “Until you find somewhere, you can bring the children here. While you’re watching Paul, you can watch them, too.”

Diane was stunned by his generosity and started to say something.

Jeff assured them both that it wouldn’t be a problem for him. “I’m not here that much. It will be nice to have company, especially company who cooks like Diane.”

“It was only breakfast,” she protested, embarrassed by his excessive praise.

“Are you sure, Jeff, because we can ask around. Some of the older people in town have empty rooms. We could pay them some rent and—” Katie began.

“I won’t hear of it. Besides, it will save me time by housing two of my patients. I can check the boy and Paul before I go to the office.”

Katie seemed satisfied with Jeff’s explanation, but Diane wasn’t. The man made her too…nervous. She didn’t want to spend half her summer in his house. When Katie asked to see Paul before she left, Diane offered to show her to his room while Jeff finished breakfast.

On the stairs, Diane whispered to her sister, “See if you can find a place for us, Katie. I don’t feel right staying here.”

“You don’t like Jeff?” Katie asked in surprise.

“He’s fine, but—he’s used to living alone. I don’t think he’ll enjoy having a full house.”

“I think he’ll like it,” Katie said, a smile on her lips. “I’ve been wondering what we could do for him. He seems lonely to me.”

“Katie Dawson! What are you thinking?” Diane demanded, suspicion filling her.

“Why, absolutely nothing, sis. I’m just trying to be sure everyone’s covered. I’ll ask Mabel or Florence if they have room for you, okay?”

Her promise didn’t exactly satisfy Diane. Mabel Baxter and Florence Greenfield, mother of Cal Baxter and wife of George Greenfield respectively, were known for their matchmaking. In fact, it was Florence’s bet with her friends that resulted in their sons marrying. Doc, as George Greenfield was known, had enthusiastically fallen into the trap and married Florence, too. And then there was Tuck and Spence, their friends, who’d also fallen prey to the bet.

Since then, Cactus had become a hotbed of marriages. Marriage was fine for others, but Diane had no intention of losing her independence now that she was going to finally be earning a salary that would allow her to travel.

“Katie, you tell them no matchmaking. Do you hear me?”

“I certainly do.” She opened the door Diane had stopped in front of and hurried to Paul’s bedside.

“Paul, how are you?” she asked gently.

At that moment he rolled onto his injured arm and the pain was visible on his face. “Damn!” he muttered, then immediately apologized. “I didn’t know it would hurt this much,” he said with a gasp.

“I’ll go bring you some breakfast,” Diane assured him as she left the room.

Jeff was still sitting at the table, sipping his coffee when she entered.

“How’s he doing?” he said.

“He’s in a lot of pain. Can he take another pain pill?”

“Of course. Do you have the second one from last night?” Jeff asked, getting to his feet.

“Yes. I’m taking him some breakfast. Do you have a tray?”

He found one for her. “Don’t give him coffee. I think there’s some orange juice. Try that. I’ll go up and check on him.”

She dished up the scrambled eggs, along with a few sausage rolls and the last of the bacon. Then she poured a glass of juice. After adding napkins and the pain pill she’d left in the kitchen last night, she carried the tray up the stairs.

“But I don’t want another pill,” Paul was protesting as she entered, even though his facial expression told her he was still in pain.

Jeff, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, responded, “If you like to suffer, that’s fine, but it won’t help you get well faster.”

“What do you mean?”

“The pills help your muscles relax, which means you heal faster. I don’t pass out medicine unless there’s a need, Paul. You’re not going to be too active for a few days, but if you follow orders, you might be able to start sooner.”

Paul’s unhappy expression didn’t change.

“Maybe some breakfast will sweeten him up,” Diane said with a smile for her brother. “Katie brought over some sausage rolls.”

“Thanks, sis,” Paul said, nodding to Katie who was standing beside the bed. But he also tried to pull his weight to a sitting position and moaned in pain. Jeff immediately supported him while Katie put pillows behind his back.

“Okay, okay, I’ll take the pill,” Paul said.

“Good for you,” Jeff replied.

Paul picked up a sausage roll and began eating.

“Hey, if you don’t want all that bacon, I’ll take another piece,” Jeff said. Paul nodded his head with a grin, which made Diane feel better.

“Thanks,” Jeff said as he helped himself to another strip of bacon. “Now, I’d better hit the shower. I need to check on the lady from yesterday’s wreck, and see if the children can be released.” He looked at Katie. “Can you stay with Paul while Diane goes to pick them up?”

“Yes, of course. Diane, I brought you a few clothes if you want to change. Since I had the baby, there’s a lot I can’t wear.”

“Thanks, Katie. I forgot about clothes last night,” Diane said. She’d slept in her underwear the night before, not wanting to ask the doctor for a T-shirt. She figured she’d pick up a big T-shirt at the one discount store in Cactus. She had a little money left over from her last semester in school. Not enough for an entire wardrobe, but she’d manage.

Jeff followed her out of the room and said, “I didn’t think about you having nothing, Diane. I would’ve offered you some—well, at least a T-shirt. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not your responsibility,” she assured him as she hurried away. The thought of wearing his clothes was doing strange things to her breathing.

JEFF WATCHED HER rush away, as if he carried a disease. She didn’t seem to like him much. When he’d seen her in her dress from yesterday, he’d intended to apologize and offer her anything he had. But breakfast—and his dream—had distracted him.

With good reason.

He hurried to the shower. He was anxious to see how his surgery patient was doing. Samantha had probably already checked her, but he would drop by her room before he reassured the children.

It was going to seem strange with children in the house. He’d always wanted kids, but his wife said she had too many children in her life as it was since she was a school counselor.

Maybe he’d find out he didn’t want kids after all. That would be good. It would erase some of the regret he felt.

After he’d showered and shaved, he dressed in fresh jeans and a knit shirt. It was wrinkled because he hadn’t gotten it out of the dryer in time, but he hoped no one would notice with his white coat on top.

Of course, his white coat was at the office.

It wouldn’t be the first time. His nurses always tsked at his appearance, but he ignored them. He wasn’t there for a beauty contest.

He went back to Paul’s room when he was ready to find Diane in a snug pair of jeans and a T-shirt, her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. He thought she looked about ten years old…except for her body. All woman.

“Are you ready, Jeff?” Katie asked, distracting him from staring at Diane.

“Uh, yeah. How about you, Diane?”

“Yes.” She told her brother and sister goodbye and hurried out of the room in front of him. Which gave him an excellent view of her backside. Definitely all woman.

At the bottom of the stairs, she paused and asked, “May I move the child seat to my car?”

“Sure, if you think there’s room,” he agreed with a frown. “I suppose I could run you back here.”

“No, I’ll drive us. I may bring Toby back here and let he and Paul watch each other while I take Janie with me and do a little shopping. Will that be okay?”

“Probably. They can call me if there’s a problem.”

“No, I’ll leave my cell phone number with them.”

“Okay. If it needs charging, you can use my charger while you’re settling them in.”

“Oh, thanks.”

He decided they needed to get away from each other before they got so polite they couldn’t communicate at all. “I’ll see you at the clinic.”

Since it was only two blocks from his house, they wouldn’t have much of a break. At least he might have enough time to concentrate his attention on his patients rather than Diane’s body.

WHEN DIANE GOT TO the room where the two children had spent the night, she discovered a nurse trying to feed Janie while Toby struggled with his left hand.

Janie wasn’t cooperating.

When she saw Diane, the little girl almost leaped out of the nurse’s hold toward her, her little arms stretched out.

“Well,” the nurse said with a sigh, “finally we’ve found something she likes. You.”

Diane lifted the little girl from the nurse’s arms and soothed her. Her gaze went to Toby’s face and she saw loneliness and fear in his gaze. “Good morning, Toby. How are you?”

“Fine,” he mumbled, but his eyes were filling with tears.

“You didn’t think I’d forgotten you, did you?”

He shook his head, but he didn’t look confident.

The nurse surrendered her chair to Diane and picked up Toby’s spoon. “Let me help you finish your breakfast, Toby. You’re doing a really good job, but this way you can eat it before it gets cold.”

“And I’ll tell you why I’m a little late,” Diane added. “You won’t believe what happened.”

“What?” Toby asked, and the nurse slipped in a bite while his mouth was open.

Diane turned the fire into an adventure instead of the disaster it had been. “So we can’t stay with my Mom.”

“Cookie?” Janie asked.

“What a smart little girl you are to remember about my mama’s cookies. But I can make cookies, too. If you eat your breakfast.”

“So we can’t stay with you?” Toby asked, his voice wavering.

“Of course you can, but not at my mother’s house. So, for a day or two, we’re going to stay with the doctor. Do you remember him? He’s taking care of your mother.”

“We haven’t seen her.”

The longing in Toby’s voice brought tears to Diane’s eyes and she fought to keep them from falling. With a smile, she said, “When Dr. Jeff comes, we’ll ask him about her, okay? But he’s a good doctor. I’m sure he’s taking good care of her.”

“I appreciate that vote of confidence,” Jeff Hausen said from the doorway.

“The kids are worried—” she started, embarrassed.

“Yeah. Hi, Toby, remember me?”

The boy sort of nodded, but Diane saw the questions in his eyes.

“I just checked on your mom, and she’s still sleeping. If she were awake, I’d take you to see her, but she needs her rest. Do you mind waiting until later to see her?”

Diane’s heart swelled with pride as the boy bravely shook his head no. He was trying so hard to be the man in the family.

“Nurse, I’ll finish feeding Toby his breakfast,” Jeff said and soon took the nurse’s place. He and the boy had a rambling conversation, covering such topics as pets, favorite foods and friends.