The Doctor Wears A Stetson (Contemporary Western Romance) (20 page)

Ruth, Austin and Kelsey sat at the table.
Tyler took a place near his niece. Cameron pulled a chair for
Jessie, but she stood for a moment, looking at the McCade family.
They were such a close-knit bunch. Except one member was
conspicuously absent. He'd kept away all day long.

Jessie hated to think she'd come between
Cameron and Dallas. The rancher hadn't spoken to her since the day
he'd stomped up the stadium steps and told her Copper River Oil was
preparing to drill on his land. He hadn't forgiven her for signing
the lease papers. And he resented the fact that she and Cameron
were dating.

Jessie sighed. Ever since Cameron had
announced he was moving back to Salt Fork and working at the
clinic, things had been getting more complicated by the minute. Oh
well. All she could do was roll with the punches, and wait and see.
She was good at that.

"Something sure smells good." She sat down
beside Ruth, who smiled a greeting. Cameron took a seat on her
left.

Ruth ladled a big helping of the dumplings
in a bowl and handed it to Jessie. "Here you go, dear. Eat hearty.
I know you've been working your fanny off all day long."

Kelsey held her bowl for her serving. "I've
been helping, too, Grams."

"Of course, you have. Here you go,
sweetie."

Ruth finished dishing out dumplings and
silence descended around the table as everyone dug in and ate.

How long had Jessie wanted to be a part of a
family like this? Ruth had always been like a mother to her and
Jessie was glad the awkwardness of the mineral rights fiasco had
faded away between them. If only Dallas could forgive and
forget.

Jessie felt Cameron's knee brush hers under
the table. She glanced at him and he smiled. As usual, her heart
sank to her toes and the pleasant sensation of anticipation bubbled
just beneath the surface of her skin.

She didn't know what the future held for her
and Cameron. She'd just take one day at a time. She was good at
that, too.

****

"There's going to be a Valentine's Dance
next Friday night," Cameron told Jessie. She was helping him hang
curtains in the house. The house he'd lived in for over a month
now.

"Really? Where?" Jessie handed him the
curtain rod. He was standing on a ladder, installing hardware.

"Over at the Rocky Hollow Club in Cactus
Gap. One of my patients told me about it this afternoon. Do you
want to go?"

Jessie picked up the fabric panel she'd sewn
for Cameron's den. "I've never been to a Valentine's Dance."

"Well then, you're in for a treat. I'll pick
you up at six, we'll grab a bite at Sarah Sue's, then head on over
to Cactus Gap."

Jessie smiled as she handed him the curtain
panel. "It's a date, Dr. McCade. You going to wear your
Stetson?"

"Don't I always?"

"Not always." Jessie sighed and fluttered
her eyelashes at him. "One of these days . . ."

His eyes glittered dangerously seductive.
"What are you saying? You want me to wear my hat in bed?"

Jessie shrugged. "A girl can always dream,
can't she?"

Cameron climbed down from the ladder and
tossed the curtain aside, amorous intent shining in his eyes as he
advanced toward her.

"Hey, what are you doing? It's going to get
wrinkled," Jessie cried, making a mad dash for the curtain. "I
don't want to iron that sucker again."

"It'll be fine," he said, catching her arm
and pulling her to him. "I'd like to make all your dreams come
true, Jess."

She snuggled closer and looped her arms
around his neck. "You've already made two of them come true."

Cameron nibbled her lips. "And which ones
would those be?"

"You've moved back to Salt Fork and you're
making my clinic a reality. I'm thankful for that. You don't know
how much. I've felt so guilty about TR dying because there was no
doctor close by."

"That wasn't your fault, sweetheart."

"I know, but I feel bad about TR. I wasn't a
good wife. The chemistry between us was nothing compared to what
you and I share."

"That wasn't your fault either," Cameron
said. "You need to let go of the guilt, Jess. You were doing the
best you could at the time."

"You can't know that."

He kissed her forehead and gave her a hug.
"I know you. You don't do anything halfway. And you're stubborn as
hell."

Jessie searched his face. "Yeah, well.
Building the clinic and getting it up and running has helped me
feel a little better."

"I'm glad, Jess. Now I'd like to make that
other dream of yours come true."

Jessie smiled. "I'll go get your
Stetson."

The doorbell rang and the look of
consternation on Cameron's face made Jessie giggle.

"I wonder who that could be?" she asked.

Cameron shrugged. "Whoever it is, I'll get
rid of them quick."

Jessie skipped along beside him, down the
hall and down the stairs. She could see Ruth through the glass
panes of the front door. "Be nice to your mother, Cameron."

He sighed. "I'm always nice to my mother.
What I really want is to be nice to you." He patted her butt when
he passed her on the way to the door.

"You can be nice to me later, Dr. Cowboy.
I'm counting on it."

****

The Valentine's Dance was over, and Jessie
had to admit it was the best dance she'd ever gone to--after the
prom, of course. Both times she'd been Cameron's date. But she'd
been his last minute choice all those years ago, no matter what
he'd told her.

Tonight, she'd been his first choice. And it
felt wonderful.

She leaned her head against the
leather-cushioned seat of the Jag, humming one of the love songs
the band had played, smiling dreamily, thinking about all the slow
dances they'd shared.

The miles flew by and the lights of Salt
Fork soon came into view. It took several minutes to realize
Cameron hadn't turned off the road heading toward her place. He'd
driven right past.

"Where are we going? I thought you were
taking me home."

"I'll take you home later. We're going to
Lover's Point."

"Lover's Point?"

"Yeah, there's something I want to do up
there and it involves you."

She smiled hugely. "Are we going to make
out?"

He chuckled, the deep sound flowing through
her. "We can, if you want."

"Oh, I want."

Cameron revved the motor and the car shot up
the steep incline of the bluff overlooking the canyon. He cut the
motor, turned in his seat and faced Jessie.

She suddenly felt nervous, which was
ridiculous. She'd come a long way from the scared fifteen-year-old
she'd been that first time she'd sat parked on the bluff with
Cameron.

"I would have thought there'd be more cars
up here on Valentine's night," she said, looking around.

"Lucky for me, we have the place to
ourselves."

He leaned across the console and took her
hand in his. He kissed her knuckles and her palm. "I brought you up
here because this was where we first kissed. It's also where we
started over last October. You remember?"

Jessie nodded. "I remember."

"I've fallen in love with you, Jess. I think
I fell in love with you the first time we parked up here after the
prom, but I was too set on carrying out my plans to stop and
realize it."

"Cameron, I--"

He put his fingers over her lips. "Let me
finish, sweetheart. I know you had a crush on me when we were kids.
I'm hoping it's grown into something more. I'm hoping you feel the
same for me as I feel for you now." He fished in his sports coat
pocket, drew out a square jeweler's box of black velvet and opened
it.

Jessie gasped when she saw the large diamond
ring glittering in the moonlight that was spilling through the
windshield of the Jag. "Oh my . . ."

Cameron took her left hand in his and pulled
her close, laying her palm on his chest. She felt the steady beat
of his heart and the heat of his skin beneath the smooth fabric of
his shirt.

"Jess, I love you like I never thought I
could love anyone. I want you to be my wife, share my life and have
my babies."

A tear slid down Jessie's cheek and she bit
her lip. This is what she'd dreamed of ever since she could
remember. Her most precious wish was coming true.

But it was too late.

How could she marry Cameron now? She'd
broken up his tight-knit family. She had come between him and
Dallas. Ruth might say Dallas would come around, but Jessie didn't
put much faith in the statement. Dallas McCade was a man who held a
grudge.

And what about children? Children she would
never be able to give Cameron. Children he so obviously wanted and
took for granted she could give him.

Jessie still felt remorse about not giving
TR a baby. How much worse would she feel, not being able to give
Cameron a child? A child, Jessie suddenly realized, she wanted very
badly.

"Jess? You haven't answered. I'm asking you
to marry me."

Jessie took a deep fortifying breath. Would
she regret turning down Cameron's offer? You bet, but the
alternative seemed far worse. Besides, she was used to living with
regret. And she was used to living without Cameron in her life.
She'd been doing it for the last seventeen years. She could keep on
doing it.

Shaking her head, Jessie tried not to cry.
"I'm sorry, Cameron. But I can't marry you."

Cameron went through the motions of seeing
patients, looking down throats and into ears, listening to
heartbeats and lungs, writing out prescriptions, but his mind
wasn't on the work. He kept berating himself for springing the
marriage proposal on Jessie too soon.

That's what came from not thoroughly
planning things out. Oh, he'd planned to take her to Lover's Point
and he'd bought the ring. But he hadn't taken her feelings into
consideration. He'd thought she loved him, but now he realized
she'd never actually said the words.

Well, neither had he, before Friday night.
But that didn't change the fact that he
did
love her. And
she loved him, too. There was no way she could respond to his
kisses and lovemaking so deeply if she didn't love him.

Cameron made notes on a patient's chart and
gave it to the nurse. He walked to his office and closed the door.
Sitting at his desk, he gazed out the window at the reddish brown
fields stretching almost to the horizon.

He was glad he'd moved his practice to Salt
Fork, and he enjoyed living in the house in the middle of town. But
it all felt hollow and empty, because he'd pictured Jessie at his
side every step of the way.

Never in a million years had he imagined a
refusal when he'd asked her to marry him. They'd gotten along so
well; not only in bed, but in every little way as well. He didn't
remember the drive back to her house that night. He'd been in a
state of shock.

He shook his head. Valentine's Day would
never be the same for him. Not if he took Jessie's refusal
seriously. Why had his proposal backfired? Something was going on
in that stubborn brain of hers. Something keeping her from taking
what Cameron was offering. It had something to do with TR Devine,
he was sure of that.

Acting on impulse could only get a man so
far. Especially a man who'd planned every little detail of his life
up to now. Cameron decided it was time to make a few new plans.
Comprehensive plans, if he wanted to convince Jessie they belonged
together.

And he'd never wanted anything so badly that
he could remember. He smiled when he spotted a robin on the brown
lawn outside the clinic window. A sign of spring and rebirth. A new
beginning.

Oh yeah. It was time to make new plans and
put them into action.

****

The pounding in Jessie's head woke her from
a restless sleep. Slowly, she opened one eye and peeked at the
clock on her nightstand.
Ten-thirty
. Groaning, she rolled
over and covered her head with a pillow to block out the bright
morning sunshine. She had made it through another night without
Cameron, and it was hell.

She hadn't seen or heard from him in days,
but it was her own damn fault, wasn't it? She'd thrown his marriage
proposal in his face, so what had she expected?

Maybe a phone call? An email? Maybe a demand
to know her reasons? But no, she'd heard nothing.

Cameron hadn't even tried to change her mind
when she'd said she couldn't marry him. He'd just snapped the
velvet jeweler's box closed, apologized and drove her home. The
silence had hung heavy in the dark car. It was one of the worse
nights of her life.

Jessie swung her legs to the floor and
stood. For a split second, she felt dizzy and caught hold of the
bed poster for support. She waited for the room to stop spinning,
before heading to the bathroom. She really needed to take better
care of herself and stop wallowing in misery and self-pity. She'd
only brought it on herself after all.

After washing her face and combing her hair,
she felt somewhat better. In the kitchen, Jessie started the coffee
maker and soon the lovely aroma of coffee filled the air. Pulling
her robe closer around her shoulders, she stood at the kitchen sink
and stared out the window, waiting for the coffee to brew.

Yeah, she should really stop indulging in
this pity party. She'd gotten through some tough times in her life
before this. She could do it again.

The coffee maker stopped gurgling and Jessie
poured a cup of coffee. Hoping a jolt of caffeine would jump-start
her body, she took a sip and the hot liquid scorched her
tongue.

Good, she was beginning to feel again. Her
whole body had been numb since Cameron had left her on her doorstep
Friday evening.
Valentine's Day.
The day dedicated to love.
The day she'd stomped on Cameron McCade's heart. The day he'd told
her he loved her and wanted to marry her . . . and she'd
refused.