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His Made-to-Order Bride
Jessica Matthews
Finding a wife…Dr. J. D. Berkley enjoyed his life. He had a good job in ER, a delightful four-year-old son and a truly good friend in nurse Katie Alexander. So why would he need a wife? It wasn't until he wanted to expand the ER that he found being a bachelor could be a stumbling block.So, he had a brilliant idea. Katie could help him find a wife! He couldn't understand why she seemed less than keen on the idea–particularly when he'd made a list of his requirements to make it easier for her….
“How are you going to search for Mrs. Right?”
“I’ll ask someone to help me,” J.D. said.
“Who?”
“You.”
Katie blinked owlishly, then leaned back in her chair as she narrowed her eyes to study him. “Me?”
He drew a deep breath and forged ahead. “Yeah. I’d like you to help me find a wife.”
JESSICA MATTHEWS has loved medical stories and hospital-based television programs from a young age. After a stint as a teenage candy striper, she pursued a career as a clinical laboratory scientist. When not writing, or on duty, she fills her day with countless family-and school-related activities. Jessica lives in the central United States with her husband, daughter and son.
His Made-to-Order Bride
Jessica Matthews
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To my brother Steve, who brought a wonderful woman into the family seventeen years ago.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ONE
‘IT’S time you were married, James.’
James Berkley, known as J.D. to his friends, stared at his mother in open-mouthed incredulity. ‘You called me away from a patient to tell me that?’
At once he turned to frown at Katie Alexander, a former emergency medical technician and a recent nursing school graduate who’d summoned him with an urgent message from his mother. The apprehension on Katie’s face as she’d poked her head into his cubicle had convinced him to come immediately.
Expecting the worst, he’d hurried to meet his mother. And for what? To hear her tell him to get married.
Katie, an average-sized brunette with a cheerful disposition, clearly disregarded his black look as she casually shrugged. ‘Hey, don’t blame me. She said it concerned Daniel and since your patient has to wait for X-rays I thought you’d want to hear what your mom had to say.’
He started to object again, but Virginia broke in. ‘My conversation does concern Daniel. Indirectly.’
J.D. shot her one of his quelling glances, but Virginia, true to the backbone of steel underlying her southern gentility, didn’t flinch under his intimidating gaze.
‘I don’t regret stretching the truth for the chance to see you before I left town,’ she said in her slow Texas drawl, ‘so don’t take your frustration out on the poor girl.’
Katie grinned. ‘Yeah, Doctor. Listen to your mother.’
J.D. pinched the bridge of his nose. There were times when he wished his relationship with Katie wasn’t so easy-going. She didn’t cower under his sharp-eyed gaze like most of the nursing staff.
‘As for myself,’ Katie continued, ‘I’m glad to hear that Daniel isn’t sick. It’s October and not uncommon for kids to catch a bug of one sort or another.’
‘I agree, but the ER isn’t the place for this particular discussion,’ he stated firmly, silently warning Katie of the ramifications if she didn’t keep Virginia’s opening statement under wraps. Sheer luck had granted them privacy. He thanked whatever fates had been responsible for orchestrating the feat.
A bland expression crossed Katie’s face before she turned aside to rummage through a drawer for a fresh ink pen. ‘Don’t mind me. I didn’t hear a thing.’
‘May I please continue?’ Virginia interrupted. ‘I’ve spent the last few days with you and Daniel and while I’ve held my peace during the entire time I won’t any longer.’
‘Look, Mom,’ he said, allowing a note of desperation to colour his tone. ‘Why don’t we talk about this later?’
Virginia shook her head, without dislodging a single blonde hair of her short, sleek hairstyle. She was a petite woman who dressed impeccably, as befitting a woman of her social status. She’d come from a family who could trace their roots to the Mayflower and who had possessed the luck and foresight to invest in oil-rich land.
In spite of, or perhaps because of, her diminutive stature, she’d learned the fine art of command to get what she wanted. With several West Point and Annapolis graduates in her genealogy, her ability came naturally.
‘I’m sorry, but this simply can’t wait. The current state of affairs has gone on long enough. As you know, your father and I haven’t interfered in your life these past four years.’
J.D. raised one eyebrow and she amended her statement. ‘At least, not much. However I refuse to stand by and say nothing while my grandson’s mental health is at stake.’
He gritted his teeth, once again thinking of the patients needing medical attention. He didn’t have the time or the inclination to argue. ‘Daniel is a healthy, well-adjusted child. You’ve said so, yourself.’
Expecting her to embark on a debate, he held up his hands to forestall it. ‘In any case, you voiced your opinion. Now you can go home in good conscience.’
‘I’m not leaving until you understand the seriousness of the situation.’ Virginia crossed her arms, looking as if she intended to stay for the duration.
‘Right now, I understand that I have patients waiting, Mother. You know, sick people?’
‘I’m well aware of the demands of your job, J.D.,’ Virginia said in her no-nonsense voice, her back ramrod stiff. ‘If you’d quit wasting precious time, you could return to work.’
Katie closed the drawer and straightened. ‘The lounge is free,’ she offered, obviously trying to be helpful.
‘You’ll miss your flight,’ he said, ignoring Katie’s suggestion.
‘Then I’ll catch a later one,’ Virginia said, waving her manicured hand in careless abandon.
His temples began to throb and he recognised the beginnings of a tension headache. Nothing short of an act of God would divert his mother’s attention until the bee in her bonnet had been shaken loose.
‘Fine. Let’s go to the lounge.’
Wasting no time, he strode toward the employees’ private sanctuary, with Virginia following at his heels. He flung open the door and took a bracing breath, ignoring the odour of the baked cod someone had purchased from the hospital cafeteria.
She spoke as soon as he closed the door. ‘You may not believe me when I say this, but Daniel needs a mother.’
J.D. poured the last dregs of coffee into his mug and flipped the unit’s switch to ‘off’. He didn’t care if it was leaning towards being a solid rather than a liquid; he intended to fortify himself for an unpleasant conversation.
‘What brought on this revelation?’ he asked, hiding the fact that the same thoughts had run through his mind from time to time. However, he’d always dismissed them as easily as they’d come.
‘Before I left Daniel at his pre-school we stopped at the market where I heard the most awful gossip.’
‘That’s your problem, Mom. You’re listening to a bunch of old biddies who don’t have anything to do all day but embellish the truth.’
‘For your information, these weren’t “old biddies”,’ she replied tartly. ‘They had young children with them. One woman even had an infant.’
He raised his mug in a salute. ‘I stand corrected.’
‘Regardless, you’re getting quite a reputation.’
J.D.’s exasperation turned to amusement. ‘I am?’
‘Absolutely,’ Virginia declared. ‘Women are in and out of your house like it has a revolving door. Young, old and everyone in between. I don’t need to describe in detail what everyone believes. “Kinky” was mentioned. So was “gay”.’
He rolled his eyes in disgust. ‘Oh for…’ His voice died. ‘Not true. Just because three or four women help with Daniel, that doesn’t mean I’m having a relationship with them. And, since I’m not, it doesn’t mean my sexual preferences are skewed.’
Virginia interrupted. ‘No, but you know how people talk. Do you want Daniel exposed to rumour and innuendo? Children repeat their parents’ conversations, you know.’
‘My two neighbours are your age, Mom,’ he reminded her. ‘Both of them are dying for a grandchild to spoil, so they dote on Daniel. We have a wonderful arrangement—Martha cooks, Henrietta cleans and they take turns looking after Daniel in the mornings and bringing him to day care.
‘Then Katie picks him up when she gets off at three and watches him until I come home later in the evening. When she’s unavailable I call some other friends I know who are willing to look after him for a few hours. He’s used to being around different people.’
‘Aha!’ Virginia stated triumphantly. ‘Daniel doesn’t know a stranger. Anyone could request to take him home and he’d willingly go with them.’
J.D. rubbed the back of his neck. ‘We have safeguards in place, Mom. Not only do we have a schedule posted at home so he’s aware of where he’s going and with whom, but we’ve talked about strangers. And we have a password.’
‘I’m sure you have all the bases covered, so to speak, but your son needs continuity in his life. He shouldn’t be passed from caretaker to caretaker like an unwanted puppy. The poor child practically lives out of a suitcase.’
J.D. thought of Daniel’s tote bag leaning against his closet door, waiting for someone to unpack the clothes and toys inside. He quickly squelched the guilt his mother’s comments created.
‘Daniel likes all of his sitters,’ he stated firmly. ‘This arrangement has worked well for everyone. But if it will make you happier, I’ll advertise for a live-in nanny.’
‘Daniel needs a mother, and you,’ Virginia emphasised, ‘need a wife. Please, don’t take this wrong, but you’re getting positively dull. The lively young man I raised has disappeared.’
He gave a small smile, remembering the escapades of his younger days. The demands of medical school had curbed some of his spirit, but not all of it. Everything had changed, however, when Ellen had disappeared from his life.
‘He grew up, Mom.’
‘Nonsense. Ellen’s death was difficult for you, but after all this time you simply must close that chapter and begin a new one. It isn’t healthy for you or for Daniel.’
‘Mother—’ he began.
‘It’s time you started looking for someone to share your life,’ Virginia continued, as if he hadn’t tried to interrupt. ‘One of these days Daniel will move away from home and you’ll be left alone.’
‘Daniel’s four. I shouldn’t need to worry about that happening soon,’ he said dryly.
‘Believe me, the years fly by. It was only yesterday when you were his age, asking the same one hundred and one questions he does.’ Her eyes grew misty before she blinked the moisture away. ‘Just look at you. Thirty-six years old and a doctor. It doesn’t seem possible.’
He hated it when his mother turned sentimental. He could hold his own when it came to facts and logic, but when she became emotional he had no defence.
Virginia placed a hand over his. ‘I want you to be happy, James.’
‘I am.’
She didn’t appear convinced. ‘You always told me how much you hated being an only child. You informed me on several occasions that our house was a mausoleum in comparison to everyone else’s.’
The memory brought a faint smile to his mouth. Returning from a visit with his friends, it had been like stepping into another world, one without the boisterous noise of family living. While his buddies had envied him not having pesky siblings underfoot, he’d anticipated sleepovers at their houses with the same eagerness as Christmas and birthdays.
Times were different, though. If things had worked out with Ellen, perhaps his childish dream would have come true. The proverbial lemons had rolled into his life and J.D. was doing his best to turn the sour fruit into lemonade.
‘I’m not getting married just so Daniel will have a mother.’ He spoke adamantly. ‘If I could juggle my career with the demands of an infant, I certainly can manage my work with a pre-school child.’
‘That’s not the point. You both would benefit from having a feminine influence in your lives.’
‘With all the women parading through my home, I thought I had plenty,’ he said, tongue-in-cheek.
She narrowed her eyes in a glance intended to stifle his mocking tone. ‘A permanent feminine influence. In any case, I’m only asking you to start making yourself available. Start checking out the single young ladies in town for suitability, then let them know you’re ready for a relationship. You’re a good catch, if I say so myself.’
‘I’m not a fish and I’m not interested in being caught. When I run across the right person, I’ll act on it. In the meantime—’
‘If you think this so-called “right” person will fall from the sky and into your lap, you can think again,’ Virginia said tartly. ‘You have to put forward some effort.’
Obviously nothing he said would change her mind. If allowing her to believe that he was obeying her suggestion gave him a respite from her interference, he refused to feel remorse over the small deception.
‘OK, OK. Point taken. I’ll keep my eyes open for Mrs Right.’ If the perfect woman crossed his path, well and good. If she didn’t, so be it. He didn’t intend to beat the bushes to find her.
A satisfied expression crossed Virginia’s face. ‘I’m glad you’ve seen the light.’
‘Remember, though, Mercer is a small town,’ he cautioned, trying to squash any great expectations she might have. ‘Eligible women are hard to come by.’
Virginia pursed her lips. ‘I suppose so. In that case, I’ll work on it from my end, too.’ She tapped a forefinger to one temple. ‘Moving to Mercer might be a drawback. You aren’t interested in returning to the city, are you?’
‘No, I’m not.’
