The Doctor Wears A Stetson (Contemporary Western Romance) (19 page)

Cameron smiled. "Well, thank you,
sweetheart. I enjoy helping people. It's very satisfying.
Exhausting, but satisfying."

"You wouldn't have it any other way, would
you?"

"No, I wouldn't." Cameron hugged her close
and twirled around, capturing her lips in another soul-searing
kiss. He'd never get tired of kissing Jessie. Never. And now,
they'd have a chance to see where their relationship would take
them. They'd have time to explore the volatile chemistry they
shared.

Jessie pulled back. "Not that I'm
complaining, but this isn't exactly a private place to be doing
this."

Cameron hugged her again. "We're
celebrating."

"Oh? What's the occasion?"

Cameron set her from him and made a little
bow. For the first time in his life he felt carefree and content.
"Congratulate me, sweetheart. You're looking at Salt Fork's new
resident physician."

Jessie's jaw dropped. "
What?
"

"Mayor Vandeford asked me if I wanted to
move my practice to Salt Fork. I told him yes. He said you were
meaning to ask me. So why didn't you?"

Jessie looked shell-shocked. "But I did. I
asked you that first night when your car broke down and I drove you
to the ranch. You told me you had no intention of moving back to
Salt Fork--"

"Well, I changed my mind."

"But what about your plans? What about that
big promotion?"

"I declined the promotion when I went back
to Houston. It didn't feel right."

"And this does?" she asked, searching his
face. She was so dear to him. Why hadn't he realized it before?

He took her hand in his. "This feels very
right. A couple of nights ago up on Lover's Point, you and I
started over. Now, I'm starting over with my career."

Jess removed her hand from his grasp. "Are
you sure you want to do this, Cameron? It's such a drastic change.
Have you thought it through?"

He shrugged. "Only to a certain degree. I
thought I had everything I wanted in Houston. But something was
lacking, Jess. And I realized I missed Salt Fork and the ranch."
And you
. But now wasn't the time to tell her that. Their
relationship was still too fragile. Cameron didn't want anything to
rock the boat.

"You can't just leave Houston and your
practice. That's all you ever wanted. You couldn't wait to leave
Salt Fork when you were a kid. And you rarely came back to
visit."

"I know. But some of that was because I've
been too damned busy to visit. Med school was brutal; my residency
even more so. Besides, what does an eighteen-year-old know about
life? How many kids that age know what they really want?"

Again, she searched his face as if trying to
read his soul. "You always seemed to know what you wanted."

"I made a wrong turn somewhere along the
line." And he'd just figured out where that wrong turn had
been.

Jessie took a deep breath. "So, you're
really coming back? Where will you live?"

Cameron took her in his arms again. "I'll
stay at the ranch, at first. Then you can help me find a house in
town. I'll need to live close to the clinic."

"The clinic," she said. "I can't believe
you're going to actually work at the clinic."

It was his turn to search her face.
Something didn't seem quite right. "You haven't congratulated me,
Jess. Don't you want me to move back?"

Jessie looped her arms around his neck and
smiled, but it looked forced to Cameron. "Of course. If it's what
you really want."

"I really want."

"Then congratulations, Cameron."

He kissed her and for a split second, she
hesitated before melting under his onslaught. He would have to
figure out what was wrong, but now that he was moving back to Salt
Fork, he would have plenty of time to devote to Jessie.

He could hardly wait.

****

"So, darlin', I don't understand why you're
moping around like this." Sarah Sue wiped the Formica countertop
with a sponge. Jessie sat on one of the stools, drinking a cup of
coffee. It was late and the diner was closed. Oftentimes, Jessie
came to Sarah Sue's Café after she'd closed up shop to visit and
gossip, share a little girl-talk.

"I know Cameron's been gone a week, but he's
coming back," Sarah Sue said. "And he's coming back for good. You
should be in tall cotton, what with him moving his practice to Salt
Fork. Your wish has finally come true. And you told me yourself,
you wished he'd work in that clinic of yours. That wish has come
true, too."

Jessie stirred more sugar into the cup. "I
don't know what's wrong with me. I should be overjoyed. And you're
right; I have wished that Cameron would return and want to take up
where we left off all those years ago. So what the hell is the
matter with me?"

"You're gun-shy, that's what you are," said
Sarah Sue. "And who could blame you? Cameron hurt you when he left
to go to college. But you've been given another chance. Go for it,
girl."

Jessie sipped her coffee. Going to the prom
with Cameron had been a major turning point in her life. Up on
Lover's Point, he'd awakened her to passion and desire. Given her a
taste of what it could be like between a man and a woman.
Between them
. He'd been kind and gentle. She'd been so young
and inexperienced.

She remembered being scared, too. Sitting in
the parked truck alone with Cameron McCade . . .

"Earth to Jessie." Sarah Sue waved the
coffee pot under Jessie's nose, jolting her from her thoughts.

"Sorry." She took another sip of coffee. It
was cold. Just like she had felt after the prom when Cameron had
left her on the doorstep and walked out of her life.

"Let me freshen your coffee for you," Sarah
Sue said.

"Sure."

"Where'd you go? You were as far away as the
man in the moon."

"Just thinking."

"About Cameron?"

"What else?"

"Seems to me, you've been thinking about
that man your whole life."

Jessie stared at the dark fragrant liquid in
her cup and nodded.

Sarah Sue set the coffee pot down and picked
up her sponge again. "Well, the good Lord has seen fit to give you
and Cameron another chance. Just like He gave TR another chance
with you."

Jessie's head snapped up. "What do you mean
by that? I wasn't TR's second chance."

"Sure you were, darlin'. TR lost Dolly Mae
in the prime of his life. Then he married you, didn't he?"

"Yes, but I wasn't a very good wife." TR had
deserved better, no getting around that fact.

"You made him happy, Jessie. He told me so
himself."

"He did? When? Where?"

"Right here. He was sitting on that very
same stool you're sitting on. He used to come in at closing time,
same as you do. Have his cup of coffee and piece of pie. I may not
be a bartender or a psychologist, but people tend to tell me their
trials and tribulations."

Jessie couldn't believe what she was
hearing. "What did TR tell you?"

"Well, now. He was afraid to marry you
because he knew he didn't love you like he loved his Dolly Mae.
Didn't think it'd be fair to you."

Good lord. TR had thought that? "He never
said anything--"

"Of course, not. He knew you didn't love him
that way either."

That was the god-awful-truth, and the guilt
had been killing her. Jessie cupped her hands around her mug. "I
know I didn't love him as I should have. I married him without
giving him my heart. But I learned to love him. It was just
different, that's all." Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she
might start believing it.

Sarah Sue smiled. "Sure you loved him.
Everybody loved him. TR Devine was a good man."

"Yes, he was," Jessie said. "But I still
don't think I was a very good wife. I failed him, Sarah Sue. I
couldn't give him the child he so desperately wanted."

"That wasn't your fault. You tried, didn't
you? You didn't deny him in bed, now did you?"

"No, of course not."

"There you go then. Stop beating yourself up
over it. You've got yourself another chance with Cameron McCade.
Don't let it slip through your fingers, darlin'."

"Just because Cameron's moving back and has
agreed to practice in the medical clinic--that doesn't mean he
wants to include me in his new life."

Sarah Sue almost snorted. "Yeah, right. Are
you blind? That man's smitten with you. The signs are there if you
just look."

"I'm not so sure." Jessie sighed. "I'll have
to take it one day at a time, like always. If it happens, it
happens."

"And if it doesn't," Sarah Sue said, "just
enjoy it while it lasts, darlin'."

"And no regrets," Jessie said with a lift of
her chin. "I'm finished living with regret and guilt. I'll do the
best I can and to hell with all the rest."

****

Six weeks after the homecoming game, Cameron
was set up at the clinic and ready for patients. He'd been living
at the ranch for the past month and a half, but tonight he'd be
sleeping in the house Jess had found for him two blocks from the
clinic. She and his mother and brothers had spent the entire
Saturday afternoon helping him move in.

Thanksgiving had come and gone. And so had
Christmas. He'd been in Houston for both holidays, wishing he were
back in Salt Fork. Wishing he could be with Jess.

And now he was. Life was good and looking to
get better. The restlessness was gone, replaced with anticipation
for the future.

"Where do you want these?" Tyler stood in
the doorway leading to the living room, holding a box that looked
heavy.

"What's in it?" Cameron asked. "It should be
marked."

"Medical books. And I hope to God it's the
last one. How many damn books you got, bro?"

"Quite a few. Here, give me it to me. These
go in my bedroom."

"With pleasure."

"Quit your bellyaching--"

"Hey, Cam! Where do you want this?" Austin
came up behind Tyler, carrying a big silver cooking pot.

Cameron looked at it and frowned. "That's
not mine."

Ruth scooted in to stand between her two
sons. "It's mine. I cooked a batch of chicken and dumplings
yesterday. Put it on the stove, Austin. Dinner will be ready in
fifteen minutes."

"I'll go get Jess." Cameron climbed the
stairs of the old Victorian house. The place was a lot different
from his loft in downtown Houston. Jess had brought over some
quilts to drape over the leather furniture and she'd placed several
vases of flowers on the chrome tables. Things were shaping up
nicely. He felt at home here, and he liked the feeling.

Now, if only he could get things situated
between himself and Jess, all would be good. Something was still
not right with her. She seemed to be trying too hard, if that made
any sense.

At the top of the stairs, he walked down the
hall to his bedroom and stopped at the door. One wall was built
entirely in shelves, and Jessie had spent the last couple of hours
arranging his books. He'd tried to help her, but he was constantly
being called away by his mother and brothers to oversee the
placement of furniture and other stuff.

Jessie had made up his bed and he looked
longingly from the lovely woman engrossed in her work to the soft
bed where he wanted to take her and break in the new house in
style. After dinner, he'd have to get rid of his family.

Speaking of which . . .

"Hey, Jess, time to wrap things up for the
night. Mom's brought chicken and dumplings for dinner."

She dropped the book she was putting on the
top shelf and whirled around. "Damn, you scared me."

Cameron set the box of books on the floor
and closed the distance between them. "I didn't mean to scare you."
He took her in his arms, loving the feel of her against his body.
"Let's go downstairs and eat, then you and I can come up here for a
little dessert."

Jessie held onto his shoulders and smiled.
"That sounds scrumptious." She stood on tiptoes and kissed him.
"Come on, I'm starved."

"Wait a minute." He tightened his hold on
her and really kissed her, crushing her mouth beneath his,
relishing the taste of her.

Jessie pushed out of his embrace. "Food
first, buster. Lovemaking later. We've got company in the
house."

"
We've?
" He liked the sound of
that.

"
You
have company." She inched toward
the door and smiled a provocative little smile. "Race you! Last one
downstairs has to wash dishes."

She took off down the hall and Cameron
didn't waste any time. He overtook her at the top of the stairs and
scooped her in his arms. Jess squealed and threw her arms around
his neck, laughing. He loved the sound of her laugh.

He stomped down the stairs, with a giggling
armful of woman, his heart pounding, his body humming.

Tyler stepped out of the kitchen, with arms
folded and a lopsided grin on his face. "If I'd known Jessie needed
moving, I'd have volunteered for the job."

Cameron felt Jessie stiffen, her laughter
suddenly gone. He wasn't quite sure why she'd stopped giggling, but
only knew he had to do something quick.

"We were racing to the kitchen and you know
how I hate to lose," Cameron said.

"Don't I, though," Tyler said, his smile
widening.

Jessie wiggled in Cameron's arms and started
kicking her legs. "Put me down, Cameron. Right now."

"In a minute, sweetheart. Hey, Ty, I could
use your help here."

Tyler stepped forward. "At your service, Dr.
McCade."

Cameron hated to let Tyler touch Jessie, but
it couldn't be helped. "Here you go. Keep her a minute until I'm in
the kitchen. I sure don't want to do dishes tonight."

He deposited the astonished Jessie into his
brother's arms and made a production of stepping inside the
kitchen. "I win!"

Jessie slid out of Tyler's grasp and marched
into the kitchen, frowning mightily. "Cheater," she mumbled as she
passed Cameron on the way to the table. She felt him behind her;
aware of his closeness and blushed when he put his hands on her
shoulders to guide her forward.