Starting with a Kiss. Barbara McMahon

hurried from the bedroom when the second peal came. The high heels felt strange, the turquoise dress was definitely two sizes too small, and her teased and tousled hair wouldn’t move in a tornado, it had so much spray holding it. She wished she was spending the evening at home in comfy sweats.

      Why had she ever concocted the idea of trying to compete with Jeb’s new love?

      Taking another deep breath, she threw open the door, bracing herself for the onslaught of feelings she always experienced when she faced Greg Hastings. It didn’t seem to get easier, though she’d known him for six months.

      She’d been in staff meetings with him. Seen him in the corridors dozens of times since she’d started working at Merrimac General Hospital—usually in the company of some nurse gushing in adoration. Not that it was hard to see what they found attractive.

      Everything.

      From his height, to the breadth of his shoulders, to the high cheekbones and dark, all-knowing eyes. Tanned as if he spent time outdoors and didn’t care about sunscreen, he always looked healthy and vital.

      Tonight he looked perfect in the charcoal-gray suit, white shirt and deep maroon tie. But he looked equally wonderful when she’d seen him in the white lab coat he wore attending staff meetings, or even the rumpled scrubs after a day in surgery.

      “Hi,” she said, trying to ignore the fluttering in her stomach that had suddenly grown worse. “I’ll just be a sec. Want to come in?” She turned, without waiting for an answer, and snatched up her evening purse and the coat she knew she’d need for San Francisco’s cool evenings.

      Kim came out from the bedroom, her tote on her shoulder. “Have fun,” she said. Her eyes widened with interest when she spotted Greg Hastings.

      He’d stepped inside and stood studying Abby’s apartment, or what he could see of it. Abby could imagine his disdain for her feminine furnishings. Not that she cared. She had more immediate things to worry about—like getting through tonight’s presentation. She could do it. Take the check that would be given by the Walker family’s attorney. Give her brief acceptance speech on behalf of the hospital. She could do that for her friend’s sake. She had to.

      When Kim cleared her throat, Abby rushed into introductions.

      “Kim, this is Dr. Hastings.” Abby motioned to Kim and said, “My neighbor, Kim Saunders.”

      “Hello, Dr. Hastings, I’m pleased to meet you,” Kim said with a wide smile. She made it a point to cross the room and shake his hand.

      Abby envied her friend’s walk. If she practiced for years, she’d never get that sexy sway. Was that what men wanted?

      “Kim, a pleasure, and it’s Greg.” His deep voice seemed genuinely pleased to meet her. Abby looked at him, and wished he sounded half as pleased to see her when they met at the hospital.

      “You take good care of Abby tonight, Greg,” she said flirtatiously.

      “I’m ready,” Abby said, wishing she had her friend’s ease around men. But just being around Greg Hastings tied her tongue in knots and made her stomach feel as if a dozen butterflies were playing rugby.

      Greg turned to her, letting his gaze run down the length of her. The slight amusement in his eyes flustered her even more. Was something wrong? Had Kim missed something?

      Tilting his head to one side, he commented, “You look different from the way I’m used to seeing you at the hospital.”

      “I couldn’t very well wear a lab coat,” she said shortly. But his look only increased her uncertainty about the appropriateness of her dress. Of her whole appearance. After years of concentrating on study and work, she felt like a novice in the social scene. Time to make changes. Starting tonight!

      Raising her chin, she glared at him.

      His lips twitched as if in amusement. “My car is downstairs.” Without another word, he stood aside for her to precede him out the door. Kim slipped through and waved.

      “Tell me all about it tomorrow,” she called to Abby as she headed down the hall to her apartment.

      In only moments Abby was seated in the luxurious interior of Greg Hastings’s silver Mercedes. He pulled away from the curb with ease and headed toward the downtown restaurant where the banquet was being held.

      Feeling awkward in the silence, Abby reviewed what she planned to say when the endowment check was presented. Her heart ached. Carol Walker had been her best friend—she and Jeb. Both Abby’s age, just thirty, they had gone through four years of college together, medical school, then done their internships in hospitals close enough to hang out or study together when they weren’t working. She and Carol and Jeb—the three musketeers, they’d been dubbed early on. The best of friends.

      Now one was dead—and the other just as gone.

      Aware the silence had lasted a long time, Abby looked at her companion.

      “Thanks for the ride,” she said.

      He shrugged. “I was going anyway.”

      “I can find my own way home. You needn’t bother.”

      He flicked her a glance. “I’ll take you home.”

      He could sound a bit more friendly, she thought. The embarrassment she’d felt when the chief of staff had informed her Dr. Hastings would pick her up hadn’t totally faded. If she had thought about it early enough, she could have found someone to escort her tonight, couldn’t she?

      But Jeb was the one she would have chosen, and he was too entangled with Sara, the blond bombshell.

      “Tell me about Carol Walker,” Greg said, “and why her family is providing this endowment for the hospital.”

      “She had just been hired at the hospital when she was killed,” Abby said slowly. The now-familiar ache in her heart seemed to spread. “She was so excited about being a doctor. Thrilled to be taken on at Merrimac General. I guess we all are when we start out.” She looked at him, wondering if she’d become as cynical as he after she’d been working a few years. She hoped not!

      “You don’t have to say anything, I know what you’re thinking,” she said defensively.

      “And that is?”

      “That we all seem young and idealistic and it won’t last. But I’m still excited and not afraid to admit it! Carol had her whole life ahead of her—finally able to start the career she’d spent years training for. She had just gotten engaged and was making plans to get married, have kids.” Abby’s voice broke and she looked away, furious with herself for letting this man see her emotions.

      “Tough break.”

      “It’s unfair.”

      “Life often is.”

      “Spoken like a true cynic.”

      “Is that how you see me—cynical?”

      “Aren’t you? Your views stated in the staff meetings sure seem to point that way. I don’t want to become like you.”

      “Then let’s hope you can stay in your cozy cocoon.”

      “I’m not encased in a cocoon. I’ve been working as a doctor for some time now. I love it. It has its bad moments, of course—when, no matter what, I can’t help someone. But mostly, it’s just what I always wanted.”

      He slid the car to a stop in front of the restaurant. Abby slipped out when the doorman held the door open, wishing the dress hadn’t ridden up so much. She tugged it in place, pulling it up a bit for good measure.

      Good manners dictated she wait for Greg, but she wished she could just go into the banquet room alone. The reality was she’d be spending the entire evening with him. She glanced down at her wrist. No watch—darn. How long would it be before the banquet ended and he took her home?

      She