Practice Makes Perfect by Kathryn Shay Read Free Book Online

Ian standing in the doorway.
    “Good night, Ian,” Elliot said, on his way out.
    When they were alone, Elliot told her, “He’s married, you know.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Dr. Mesmerizing Eyes is married. He took quite an interest in you. You might be wise to stay away from him”
    “First off,” Paige practically sputtered, “I don’t need to be warned against getting involved with a married man.”
    “Have you been? Involved with a married man?”
    Her mouth dropped open. “That is so none of your business.”
    “Answer it, anyway.”
    She narrowed her eyes on him. “No!”
    “No, you won’t answer it, or no you haven’t been?”
    “Both.”
    He smiled at having flustered her enough to give him the information he sought.
    “And second, I won’t have you poking into my personal life.”
    “Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “But office romances interfere with work. I’m just being cautious.”
    “You have nothing to worry about, Ian. There won’t be any office romances here.”
    Again the interested look. It made her want to bolt. “Tell me something else.”
    “What?” The exasperation in her voice was evident even to her own ears.
    “Elliot was right. You were upset to find him on staff, I could tell. Why?”
    Because Paige didn’t like to lie, she’d become a master at evasion. “Look, Ian, I agreed to work with you, not be your friend. I think this center is a worthwhile endeavor, but I don’t like to get close to my colleagues. If there’s a reason I’m uneasy about Elliot being here, it’s not something I want to talk about.”
    “I don’t understand that kind of thinking. Life’s so short. And relationships are the most important thing.” He studied her. “But they aren’t to you, are they?”
    Unnerved, she fumbled with her bag. They used to be. Until she lost her child’s father. And her own parents. And then Jade. “No, they aren’t.”
    “What is?”
    “My job. Helping people. Being the best—” She stopped.
    “Being the best at what? Everything?”
    Yes.
“Just my job. That’s why I agreed to work here. Not to find new friends.”
    He hitched one hip onto the table. Today he wore slate-blue slacks and a blue pin-striped shirt under a taupe blazer. “You don’t trust many people, do you?”
    No
. Well, maybe Nora. And Elsa. “I trusted your mother,” she said softly.
    He looked like someone had given him the moon. “That’s a wonderful thing to say.”
    She smiled.
    “You trusted my mother. My mother trusted me. Maybe you could make that leap.”
    “Ian, as I said the other day, we don’t know each other well enough—”
    “And as I said, I’d like to change that.”
    She shook her head. “You got me to work here. Be happy with that. Any relationship other than professional isn’t going to happen.” Shrugging into the jacket of her red linen suit, she picked up her bag. “The Center is a wonderful and much-needed facility, Ian. I’m happy to be a part of it.” Which wasn’t exactly true. “But that’s all.” Quickly she headed out.
    She could feel his gaze on her back as she disappeared through the door.
    o0o
    THE SETTING SUN, a pink, fiery ball, still burned brightly. Paige was relaxing on her raft in her kidney-shaped pool. This wasn’t the Caribbean cruise she longed for, but it was a little bit of paradise in her own backyard, and she treasured the time she spent here.
    The day had been eventful—scores of sick children, as usual, and a few cases of strep. She’d also gotten a list of patients she’d be seeing at the Center, and one was from Serenity House. Mary Ellen Barone was due to deliver in a few months, and Paige would be her baby’s pediatrician. Six degrees of separation was more like two. Everything seemed closely connected—the Center, Elsa Moore’s son, patients from Serenity House. How on earth had she become involved in all this?
    Well, that was easy. Dr. I Always Get What I Want had engineered it.
You trusted