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He frowned. “I don’t.” Not that much, he thought. Did he?
“Yeah, right.” She gave him a playful shove. “The minute you introduced me, she got that ‘so this is her’ look.”
“She’ll learn.” He wondered if any woman would understand their friendship.
“For your sake, I hope so. I’ve got to go, darlin’.”
He caught her arm before she took another step. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Annual checkup.” That wasn’t a complete lie, she thought.
His brows knitted. “Everything okay?”
“Perfect.” Ready to be impregnated, she thought, stepping into the elevator and punching the button. Now if she could just find the cash to afford it.
Her gaze on Lucas, Angela watched as the other woman moved closer and touched him freely enough that Angela had no doubt the two had been intimate with each other. It didn’t matter that Lucas barely acknowledged his latest conquest. Jealousy speared through Angela like a serpent, startling her. And as the elevator doors closed, she sagged against the wall, wondering when her feelings had taken on such power, and the danger of it to her longtime friendship with Lucas.
A couple of days later, Angela avoided thinking about her risky spurt of jealousy and talked herself into going out on a date to get some distance. She was tightening her earring when the doorbell rang. She flung the door open, expecting her date. Yet she found Lucas in jeans and a T-shirt, holding a paper bag from a local fast-food chain.
So much for emotional distance, she thought, smiling. “Hi, medicine man.”
“Hey, yourself. Whoa,” Lucas said in a low growl as his gaze swept down her body, from the black silk sheath dress to the dark stockings and high heels. “You look hot enough to fry my eyeballs.”
She smiled, putting on the second earring. His compliments had always been good for her ego. “Thanks, but your timing is lousy.” She nodded to the bag.
“Hey, no sweat, I just took a chance and lost. So, who’s the lucky guy tonight?” He stepped inside and closed the door.
“Randy Costa.”
Luc groaned, leaving the bag on the table by the door. “Good Lord, Ange.” Randy had a reputation of sweeping women off their feet and right into his bed. “Why him?”
She paused and looked at him. Luc was so clueless sometimes. “Let me see, he’s wealthy, handsome as the day is long, has a good job. He’s polite. And…” She gave him a dramatic gasp and a surprised look. “Oh, gee! He asked me.” Although she had planned on the artificial means of having a family, she wasn’t beyond hoping that Mr. Right was out there somewhere and one more date might reveal him. She’d much rather meet him, fall in love and get pregnant the old-fashioned way instead of in a sterile clinic, alone.
Lucas smirked, leaning on the banister. “And you’re running late, again.”
“It’s a consistency thing I’m working for,” she said as she rushed up the staircase. Lucas watched her go and glimpsed the lacy tops of her black stockings beneath her short silk dress. The sight shot a hard bolt of desire right through him. The shock of it made him straighten and frown.
Okay, that was new.
Angela Justice was his best friend, his pal. For nearly fifteen years, for the love of Mike. None of his friendships with men, his softball team buddies, his old college roommates or the doctors at the hospital compared to the long-lasting relationship he had with Angela. She was the only person who’d reached out to him when he was a scared and lonely kid dumped in the local orphanage. And she was the only person who continued to be his friend when he’d scared everyone else off. Even the guys.
Oh, he’d always been attracted to Angela. A man would have to be blind not to see how beautiful she was, but he’d never stepped over the line. Never once made a pass at her. Not that he hadn’t wanted to when he was young and his testosterone levels were somewhere on Mars. But he was an adult, in control, and he didn’t want to ruin the friendship that had taken him through the worst and best times of his life. He tried putting the instance out of his mind, attributing it to a hard day at work.
Yet when she came back downstairs, her hair perfect, a beaded clutch in her hand along with her shawl, his gaze dropped to her legs misted in black. “You still have the most incredible pair of stems in the county, Ange.”
She froze on the last step, a bit shocked by the sultry way he said that. Don’t look for what isn’t there, she reminded herself. “Why, thank you, darlin’,” she murmured a little breathlessly, then went to the hall mirror and plucked at her short red hair.
Luc remembered when it had reached past her waist and it drew the attention of half of their high school football team. Of course, those legs in a short cheerleading skirt might have had something to do with it, too, and he wondered when watching a woman primp got to be so darned entertaining. Then his stomach did a quick jump as she bent and ran her hands up her stockinged legs from ankle to thigh in a motion so innocently seductive he wanted to peel those suckers off just as slowly.
Lucas smothered a groan and wondered what had gotten into him tonight.
“So, is this a passable outfit?”
She did a turn in front of him, and Luc felt his blood pressure rise. “Hell, yes.” But she didn’t look like his buddy anymore, he thought, frowning more to himself than her choice of clothes. “Where are you going?”
“The Theater on the Green.”
Wonderful, he thought. In the dark, hidden by trees, Randy would have a good old time with her. “Be careful.”
Angela frowned. “This is not my first date with Randy, and if you hadn’t been so busy, you would have known that.”
“I know, I know. Sorry. At least you can deck him if he gets fresh.”
“Fresh?” She laughed softly. “Lighten up, will you? You sound like Daddy.”
“Your father wouldn’t let you out of the house looking like that,” he muttered under his breath, and Luc decided that he needed a distraction, fast, and focused on the half hung curtains and the ladder in the corner of the living room. “Redecorating?”
“Gosh, you’re just so smart. No wonder you’re a doctor.”
He made a face at her. “I could have helped you with that.”
“I left three messages.” She checked the contents of her purse as she added, “You were obviously having a rockin’ good time with Denise.”
“It was Diane.”
She looked up, frowning. “Was?”
“Yeah. It didn’t work out.”
Her eyes widened. “You were with her just the other day!”
“That’s about when it went downhill. I got beeped about two seconds after you left, and she was furious that I didn’t have time for her.”
“The price of your popularity, Doc,” she said sympathetically. “And it could have worked out, Luc, but you never let the relationship get past the first couple of weeks.”
He stared accusingly at her. “I do, but my schedule puts a lot on hold.”
“So what was the real problem, then?” Angela asked as she snapped her handbag shut and left it in a chair with her shawl. She nodded to the kitchen and he followed, his gaze focused on the sexy curve of her bare back in the low-slung dress. Her skin looked warm and soft.
“Luc?”
He mentally shook loose the erotic fantasy that just flew through his mind and took the beer she was offering. “I told you, she couldn’t handle my schedule.” This was Ange, his buddy. His only family…well, her and her parents, her brothers and sisters and their brood of kids.
“I could believe that if you were still a resident in San Diego, but that excuse is old now, darlin’.” Angela cocked her head and studied Lucas. He’d been a tough kid with a chip on his shoulder when she’d first met him. The new boy.
With his imposing height, his dark looks and icy China blue eyes, everyone had been afraid of him. Except her. She’d seen the loneliness in him, the fear of rejection, and the friendship she’d struck up with him had been worth every second. Even when Daddy tried running him off because he thought Lucas was nothing but trouble about to happen. But it didn’t happen. The more they said he couldn’t do, the harder Lucas worked to prove them wrong. She was proud of him and his success. Although the “dare to get close to me” chip was about gone, his coming to her after every broken relationship was getting old. Even he was treating her like the Dear Abby of the airwaves.
“Know what I think?”
“If I knew what women thought, Ange, I wouldn’t be crying in my beer.”
She stole a sip, then handed back the bottle. “The day you cry over a woman, Ryder, is the day I can spin straw into gold.” She pushed him out of her kitchen, her hands on his shoulders, fingers digging in to his tense muscles. He moaned, almost purring. “I think you’re dating women who like your social status and success more than the fact that you heal children.”
He slid her a look, then faced her. “You’ve got more to say, I can tell. Go on.”
“I don’t think you’re looking for deep, so you’re not getting deep.”
“I’d like to get married some day.”
She laughed outright and didn’t see his offended look as she walked past and looked out the window for her date. Only Luc’s Jaguar was parked in front of the house. She swung around as he made himself at home on her sofa.
“I don’t want to be alone forever, you know.”
Alone? Never. Single? Oh, yes, she thought. “Okay, if that’s true then date women who are marriage material, for heaven’s sake. From my perspective, your selection almost guarantees a breakup.”
He looked up from peeling the label off the beer bottle, and those blue eyes caught her dead in the heart. God, he was so sexy.
“Luc, honey.” She crossed to the sofa and sat beside him. “You’re committed to your career far more than anything else.”
“Am not.”
“Really? You’ve been back nearly two years and I’ve seen you twice a month, maybe. And just why did Denise—”
“Diane—”
“Diane dump you?”
“Tired of me canceling or leaving in the middle of a date to get to the hospital.” His dark brows drew down. Maybe she had something there. But Diane did mention Angela a couple times when they were dismantling their relationship, and Luc knew she’d been jealous. Was he using his job to protect himself from actually making a commitment like marriage? “She’s dating Arty now.”
Arthur was the podiatrist at the hospital, she recalled. “See there, one of the marriageable ones would understand, be supportive. And marriage is more than a home-cooked meal and getting your dry cleaning picked up, Luc. Lord, you go through women like diet sodas. It’s disgusting.”
He resented that. He wasn’t that bad. “Look who’s talking. What about Andrew?”
“That was two months ago.” She made a see-what-I-mean face. “Besides, he thought that because I’m AJ at Midnight, giving advice to lovelorn over the radio, it meant I knew everything there was about sex.”
His features sharpened. “Did he try something?”
“Yeah, a lot,” she said with feeling. “But I beat him off with an ugly stick.”
He grinned. “I’ll just bet you did.”
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway was accompanied by the flash of headlights through the windows. Angela stood, grabbing her shawl and throwing it over her shoulders.
Lucas nearly swallowed his tongue.
“What’s the matter? Is it too short? You can’t see the tops of my stockings, can you?”
She walked to the hall mirror and tried to get a look at her hem. Luc moved behind her, and when she looked up, she caught his gaze in the reflection. Her heart instantly skipped to her throat. She’d never seen him stare at her like that, not since they were teenagers.
“Lucas…you’re looking at me like you want to get me out of my panties.”
His gaze shot to hers, and for a second they just stared, then he walked closer, giving her a sexy half-smile. “I’ve always wanted you out of them, darlin’, except you’re too good a woman for a guy like me.”
“A pediatrician, financially stable, not too hard on the eyes? Oh, yeah, you’re a real bottom of the barrel loser.”
“You say that now, but I like fried frog legs and I know how you feel about that.”
She shivered with revulsion. “You’re right,” she said. “I’d have to kick you out first time you brought that gunk within smelling distance.” She tossed the edge of the shawl over her shoulder and snatched her evening bag. “Let’s be friends, huh?”
Friends. Why didn’t that satisfy him as it usually had, he wondered as she kissed him quick and sweet. The urge to pull her close surged through him. He smashed it down and wondered where his mind had gone to live, because it sure as hell wasn’t in his head right now.
Two
“Whoa, wait a second.” In Angela’s kitchen, Katherine Davenport set the untouched coffee cup she’d been holding aside. “You are planning on having a child alone, with no husband. In the south!”
Angela winced at the censure in her voice. “Kat, this is the twenty-first century, for pity’s sake. I have a good job and a nice house and I will be able to work any hours I need to.”
“My sorority sister has simply lost her mind.” Kat grabbed her arm and led her to the kitchen table. “Sit.”
Angela obeyed. “I take it you don’t approve.”
“It’s not my place to do that, but think of the repercussions.”
“I have, ever since it ended with Eric last year.”
“He wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Lord, you sound like my father. I loved him, Kat. I loved him more than any man. And I thought we wanted the same things till I thought I was pregnant and told him.” Angela sipped her coffee, then set the cup down, the year-old heartache of his betrayal bruising her all over again. “I don’t think I’ve ever been dumped quite that fast. Must have been a record.” Eric had been furious, blaming her, accusing her of trapping him, and he was gone before she knew if she was truly pregnant or not. It wasn’t like he hadn’t participated, and though it turned out to be a scare, the entire incident made her see how selfish he had been. He would have made a lousy father, anyway.
“He wasn’t good enough for you, and that proved it.”
“I know, but my heart didn’t listen for a long time.”
“Does Lucas know what happened?”
“Yes.” Her lips curved a bit. “He wanted to beat the daylights out of him. Instead he beat him at baseball.”
“What will Lucas say about artificial insemination?” Retrieving her coffee, Kat slid into the opposite chair.
“Lucas isn’t going to know.”
Kat’s eyes went wide. “Oh, you can’t be serious. He’s your best friend.”
“That’s only half of it.”
Kat leaned over the table, reaching for Angela’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Talk to me, sugah.”
Angela swore she was going to keep this to herself, but the secret felt like a shook bottle of champagne inside her just waiting for its cork to loosen. And she could trust Katherine. “I don’t want to tell him, and you must promise he won’t learn it from you.”
