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Sherry had never lived in a place that felt like home. Certainly the double-wide in which she’d grown up hadn’t qualified. Her parents had been a lot more interested in drinking and smoking dope than raising their only child—except to sporadically hurl criticism and occasional pieces of furniture her way. That was their idea of parenting.
She was okay with her current home, a condo in Dallas she’d bought last year. She’d taken great care in decorating it, choosing each picture and accent piece one at a time. But no matter how many homey touches she added, it still felt cold to her. She supposed no place could feel really like a home when only one person lived there.
But maybe that was her lot in life. She sighed as she turned her car away from town and followed the directions Allison had given her to the Hardison Ranch. She’d tried really hard to find a companion, a man she was compatible with, one who would love her, one who wanted to commit and eventually grow old with her. But it seemed the harder she tried, the worse things turned out. She’d found plenty of men who would love her—for one night. Maybe she just wasn’t the kind of woman a man wanted hanging around for the rest of his life.
As sobering as that thought was, Sherry knew she could live without a husband. Growing old without children, though—she wasn’t going to settle for that. Still, at thirty-one, she had a little time. And until she figured out the rest of her life, she had her nursing career, which was a real blessing. She’d been let go from her last position, an event that seemed grossly unfair to Sherry. She was a good nurse, a conscientious one, and it was only a personality conflict that had gotten her fired. But then she’d landed a plum position with the best plastic surgeon in Dallas, along with a big hike in pay, so it had all worked out.
Even this chance to come to Cottonwood and take care of an injured rancher had come at the right time, convincing her that nursing was where she needed to focus her energies. Her new job didn’t start until next month and her finances were getting a little tight. The money she would earn as a live-in caregiver would help with some of those credit card bills she was using as a stopgap measure.
The Hardison Ranch was easy to find. She just had to follow what seemed like miles of white rail fences until she reached the main gate, which featured a hand-painted sign and a metal sculpture of a bucking longhorn cow. Or was it a bull? A steer? Whatever. Sherry knew nothing about cattle, and she didn’t want to.
She turned her Firebird right and through the gate, rumbling over a cattle guard, then down a long, red dirt drive. She noticed a picturesque red barn off to her right. It looked like the model for countless amateur oil paintings.
“What a trip,” she murmured aloud.
When the ranch house came into view, Sherry was impressed. It was a huge, rambling one-story building done in a pseudo log-cabin style. Pastures surrounded it on all sides, but a few trees had been spared to give the house shade from the hot Texas sun. Someone had planted chrysanthemums in front, which were covered in orange blossoms.
The house and grounds looked well maintained, and the few cows she saw in the distance grazed contentedly. She hoped the inside was as nice, but she had her doubts since from what Allison had told her, the Hardison Ranch was a bastion of male bachelorhood. She didn’t relish the thought of devoting all her time to scrubbing floors and toilets, but that was what she would do if she had to. When she’d left the trailer park, she’d sworn she would never live anyplace dirty again, not even temporarily.
Sherry pulled her Firebird next to a pickup truck. Several other vehicles were parked in the drive, all of them trucks or SUVs. Her little red sports car looked out of place, she thought with a grin, wondering what her new employer would think of it.
She hadn’t given much thought to her boss and patient, Jonathan Hardison. When she’d asked Allison if Jonathan was as cute as his younger brother, her friend had been cagey with her answer, saying, “He’s handsome enough when he smiles, which isn’t very often.” Sherry figured that was fair warning that Jonathan wouldn’t be an easy customer.
Well, soon she’d know exactly what the situation was. She couldn’t sit here in the car all day. She applied a fresh coat of lipstick, powdered her nose, fluffed her blond hair, grabbed her overnight case from the passenger seat, and got out of the car.
“SHE’S HERE!” announced Sam, Jonathan’s eight-year-old son, who peered excitedly out the living room window.
“I wanna see!” Jon’s seven-year-old, Kristin, raced to the window to join her brother.
If Jonathan could have done the same, he would have. But he was stuck in a recliner, his leg elevated on pillows. He could move, even walk with the aid of crutches when he had to, but Jeff had ordered him to stay put unless absolutely necessary.
For once, Jonathan had listened to his brother. Now that he was off those nice painkilling drugs they’d given him at the hospital, the leg hurt—a lot. He would do whatever it took to heal the fracture as quickly as he could so he could get back to work. If that meant acting like an invalid for a few days, he’d do it.
His whole family had come to the hospital this morning to take him home, like it was some kind of party. Now they were crawling all over the house. Jeff and their father, Edward Hardison, who was also a doctor, were here to instruct Jonathan’s new nurse on his care. Wade was here ostensibly because he was running the ranch for the next couple of weeks, but Jonathan suspected Wade and his wife, Anne, were hanging around because they were curious about the new nurse.
Allison was also there to greet Sherry because she’d arranged the whole thing. Gregarious Sally, Pete’s fiancée, didn’t really have an excuse for being here, except that she and Pete were seldom apart these days. They’d all been fussing around him like old women, fixing up a guest room, doing laundry, stocking the pantry. Much as he loved his family, Jonathan wished they would all just go away and leave him in peace. He could work things out with the nursemaid himself.
Wade joined the kids at the window and let out a low whistle. “Allison, are you nuts? She doesn’t even look like a nurse. She looks like a—”
“Don’t say it.” Allison held up her hand to halt her future-brother-in-law’s tirade. “You can’t judge a book by its cover. Haven’t you ever heard that?”
Like a what? Jonathan wanted to know.
“Let’s have a look at her,” said Pete, Jonathan’s wiry grandfather, toddling over to the living room window and peeking around the edge of the curtain. “She can’t be that—holy moly, that’s some hunk of woman.”
“Pete, really,” Allison admonished. “Sherry is…an individual. She has her own unique sense of style.”
“Yeah, kind of trashy chic,” added Anne, who was peeking through the shades from a different window. “My gosh, get a load of that car!”
“Get a load of those spike heels,” Wade added.
“She’s wearing leopard-skin pants!” Sam observed.
“For pity’s sake,” Jonathan said, “the woman’s going to think we’re a bunch of weirdos, peering at people through cracks in the curtains.” But his mind was focused on the comment—some hunk of woman…trashy chic…spike heels…leopard-skin pants. He was undoubtedly intrigued. Did that mean big hair and tight clothes? His heart beat a little faster at the thought even as he told himself to knock it off. The last thing he needed was to develop a crush on some fast-talking city girl.
The doorbell rang, and Allison gave an exasperated sigh. “Anyone else want to take a verbal shot at poor Sherry before I let her in? ’Cause I promise you, first person who says anything mean to her face, I’ll kick ’em clean to the Gulf of Mexico.”
As Allison opened the door, Jonathan pretended to find great interest in the TV Guide. Everyone else could make a big to-do over Sherry. He intended for her to know she’d been allowed here under protest. Agreeing to the nurse was the only way he could get Jeff to discharge him from the hospital.
“Allie, honey, you look fabulous!” The newcomer stepped through the door and enveloped Allison in a hug. “Being engaged must agree with you. Jeff, you rascal, it’s about time someone made an honest man out of you.” She kissed Jeff on the cheek.
Jonathan watched all this from the corner of his eye, getting only an impression of a slender body topped with a huge cloud of blond hair. He was dying to get a good look at her, but he didn’t want to be caught staring. And he had this niggling suspicion that he would want to stare.
Allison introduced Sherry to the rest of the crowd, including the children, who had suddenly gone mute.
Finally Jonathan couldn’t put it off. Allison was leading Sherry to his corner of the room. He looked up from the TV Guide and assumed a smile, which immediately froze on his face. Standing before him was the most fantastic creature he’d ever laid eyes on, a cross between Florence Nightingale and Madonna.
“Jonathan, this is Sherry McCormick,” Allison was saying. Jonathan was only vaguely aware of what anyone said, however, as a buzz had started in his head, drowning out everything else.
Sherry held out her hand. Her fingers were tipped with inch-long, peach nails that exactly matched her lipstick. “Nice to meet you, Jonathan. I hope I can be a big help to you.”
Her voice was high-pitched and breathy, kind of like Marilyn Monroe’s. Jonathan took her hand, which felt cool and soft against his. He squeezed it briefly and murmured some pleasantry.
This was his nurse? He could more easily picture her sashaying down a runway than pushing a wheelchair down a hospital corridor. But she was a friend of Allison’s, and she had a sincere-looking smile, so he supposed he had to trust that she had some idea of how to take care of people.
“So how did you manage to do this to yourself?” Sherry asked, indicating the full-leg fiberglass cast.
Jonathan didn’t want to talk about his accident. He hadn’t been bucked from a horse for a good many years, and it was an embarrassment that he’d let his normally placid gelding get the best of him.
“Sheer stupidity,” he finally answered, hoping it would quell her curiosity.
“Let me show you to your room,” Allison said. She looked at the small case Sherry held in her left hand. “You brought more luggage than that, right?”
“Oh, lots more,” Sherry replied. “I don’t travel light.”
“If you’ll give me your keys,” Jeff said, “I’ll bring your stuff in from the car.”
Sherry obliged him, then allowed Allison to lead her down a hallway to the bedrooms. The children, who’d been staring at Sherry as if she were some exotic animal at the zoo, trailed after the two women. “You’re right across the hall from Jonathan,” Allison was saying as their voices faded away.
“Holy cow,” Pete said, stifling a laugh.
“She’s…different,” said Edward, who made a show of mopping his round face with his handkerchief.
“Jeff warned us Sherry was flamboyant,” Wade said, grinning ear to ear. “But nothing could have prepared me for the reality. She’s kind of…”
“Kind of what?” Anne asked in a teasing voice as she joined Wade on the couch, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Last I checked, you liked big hair and tight clothes.”
Wade’s face turned ruddy. “Not for a nurse,” he murmured, though he and Anne shared an understanding look. Anne, who was normally a sedate, conservative attorney, had first caught Wade’s eye by decking herself out like a country-western singer, complete with sequins, and brazenly flirting with him at a rodeo.
Edward fixed his oldest son with a penetrating stare. “You’re awfully quiet about all this. What do you think of her? Are you comfortable with her taking care of you and the kids?”
Comfortable? Not likely, when he had an arousal like a steel bar pushing against his jeans.
He shrugged, trying to look indifferent. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, and if she’s not, I’ll send her packing.” He fervently hoped she would be a terrible nurse, and that he would find ten excuses before nightfall to fire her. Because otherwise he was going to have to work to keep his hands off her.
Chapter Two
Sherry struggled to breathe normally as Allison took her on a tour of the house. Though no women had inhabited this house for many years, it was neat and clean as a convent, calming her earlier fears. Which was good, because she had plenty of new concerns—like how she was going to remain a detached care-giver while caring for the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on.
She’d only been teasing Allison when she’d asked if Jonathan was good-looking. Normally she didn’t care what her patients looked like, only that they needed her. She’d figured that if he was related to Jeff, who was movie-star handsome, he wouldn’t be a gargoyle. But nothing had prepared her for exactly how good-looking the older brother would be—and very different from Jeff.
He was taller, for one thing. Sherry could tell even though Jonathan had been in a recliner. He was rangier, too—a bit broader in the shoulders, more sinewy, like a cowboy from those old cigarette billboards. His face still held on to its summer tan, though it was almost winter. His dark, wavy hair, a little unruly, was nothing like Jeff’s sun-burnished locks. But it was the eyes that really caught Sherry in a snare. Dark, mysterious, wary. Nothing tickled her libido faster than a man with secrets to hide.
Unfortunately, her policy was strictly hands-off when it came to her patients. What a bummer. Why couldn’t a guy like him show up in her life when she could actually take advantage?
Well, she might not be here that long, she reminded herself. The man’s superficial smile hadn’t extended to his eyes. Jonathan Hardison didn’t want her in his house.
She didn’t always make a great first impression. That was something she’d learned early, though she’d never understood why it was true. She always tried to be her most pleasant when she met new people.
At least most people liked her when they got to know her. Jonathan’s resistance made her just that much more determined to win him over—if he didn’t fire her first.
As for the kids, they were so precious they made her heart ache. All children made her feel that way, bringing back memories she’d just as soon keep buried. She liked to think she would be good with children, but in reality she hadn’t spent enough time around any to know. She imagined she could keep them safe, clean and fed, which was the minimum this job required. But she wasn’t sure if they would like her. For all she knew, they might believe she was trying to replace their mother.
“We laid in some groceries earlier today,” Allison was explaining as they entered the kitchen. “I have no idea what you like to cook, so I bought some staples and also frozen convenience stuff, just in case. The ranch has an account at the grocery store, so you can just charge whatever you want.”
Sherry inspected the cupboards and refrigerator contents in the large, homey kitchen. There seemed to be plenty of everything she would need for several days. “Will I need to get some sort of authorization?”
Allison looked at her blankly. “For what?”
“To charge the groceries.”
Allison laughed. “That’s not necessary. I just called Clem down at Grubbs’ Food Mart and let him know it’s okay for you to sign on the Hardison account.”
Wow. That was small-town life, Sherry guessed. Everyone knew everyone and trusted everyone, apparently. Sherry wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She was accustomed to the anonymity of the big city. She met new people every day and none of them could judge her on her past, only on what she let them see.
Sometimes that was enough, she conceded with a grin.
“Why are you smiling?” the little girl asked.
Sherry’s grin grew. “Because I’m happy to be here, I guess. Sometimes I just smile for the heck of it. You know, doctors have done tests on people that prove smiling makes you happy, even if you aren’t happy to start with.”
“That sounds like hogwash,” the boy said as he peered hopefully into an empty cookie jar.
Sam, Sherry reminded herself. Sam and Kristin. She prided herself on remembering names because she’d learned that her patients felt more relaxed when she related to them as people, one on one.
“Sam!” Allison scolded. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“He just says that word because Grandpa Pete says it and he thinks it’s funny,” Kristin said. Then she turned shy blue eyes on Sherry. “You have pretty teeth.”
“Best teeth money can buy,” Sherry quipped.
Allison started to say something, then stopped.
“What?” Sherry prompted.
“I was just wondering what happened to your real teeth, because I’m a dentist and therefore unnaturally interested in people’s mouths. But it’s a rude question.”
“No, it’s not,” Sherry said. “I chipped two of them by falling off a bicycle when I was a kid.” That was the story she’d been using for a long time. It was a lot nicer than the truth.
“Well, someone did an excellent job on your caps,” Allison said as they headed back through the dining room and into the living room. “Only a dentist like me would notice you have caps.”
“Thanks.” Getting her teeth fixed was one of the first things Sherry had attended to after she got out of nursing school.
Jeff was just coming through the front door with Sherry’s luggage. It hadn’t seemed like so much when she’d stuffed it all into the trunk and back seat of the Firebird, but now it looked like a tapestry-printed mountain growing in the middle of the room.
Jonathan frowned at the vast pile of luggage. Then he turned to Sherry. “You are here just for a few days, right?”
“I know it looks like a lot,” Sherry said apologetically. “I never have been good at packing. Don’t worry, the bags will be out of your way in a jiffy.” She grabbed up as many of the smaller bags as she could carry and lugged them toward her room. Jeff and Allison got the rest.
“This room is really nice,” Sherry said, running a finger along the top of the oak dresser. The comforter on the queen-size bed looked fluffy and warm, and there were at least four pillows, all with matching pillow slips.
“Anne made it over,” Allison said. “She has really good taste. In fact, Anne is the one who made me over.”
Allison had told Sherry the whole story when they first became friends. She’d wanted to catch Jeff’s eye, so she’d done a radical makeover on herself, only to have Jeff fail to notice. He’d finally come to his senses and realized he loved Allison, but apparently his feelings had little to do with her appearance.
“Want me to help you unpack?” Allison asked.
“I’ll do that later. Right now, I’d like to sit down with Jeff and learn more about Jonathan’s medical condition to find out exactly what sort of care you want me to provide.” She slipped a notebook and pen from the outer pocket of one of her bags.
“He has a concussion,” Jeff said. “He landed on his head.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t leave a dent in the ground,” Allison said, “instead of the other way round.”
“Of the two, his head’s probably harder,” Jeff agreed. “Anyway, Sherry, Jonathan also has an angulated, displaced fracture of the tibia, but it was simple. There were no bone fragments, so the orthopedist didn’t feel surgery was necessary, just reduction and a cast. But there was a lot of swelling and bruising, so he needs to keep the leg elevated—and keep off it, of course. Otherwise, just watch for signs of infection. He has some minor abrasions where the horse kicked him.”
Sherry gasped. “A horse kicked him?”
“After bucking him off,” Allison added. “These men and their horses…Well, anyway, other than keeping an eye on Jonathan, you’ll just need to cook and clean and help out with the kids. I know it’s not a job that requires your level of skill—”
“Oh, I don’t mind,” Sherry said quickly, then realized how overeager she sounded. But the idea of playing house with Jonathan Hardison and his family was far more appealing than it should have been. “Is Jonathan on any medication?”
“Antibiotics and Vicadin for pain, but he’s not taking the pain pill. He said he didn’t like how it made him groggy.” Jeff pulled two prescription bottles out of his shirt pocket and handed them to Sherry. “Make him take the Vicadin if the pain keeps him awake at night. He needs to sleep if he wants to heal.”
“Gotcha.” She scribbled in her notebook as they all three returned to the living room.
“Kristin has food allergies,” Allison added. “The list of everything she’s allergic to is on the fridge.”
More scribbles in the notebook.
