Marked For Marriage. Jackie Merritt

next stop was the bathroom, and she washed her face, applied moisturizer and makeup and then brushed her hair until it looked almost respectable. For good measure she gave herself a small squirt of cologne, then wasted no time in exiting the bathroom and heading for the kitchen.

      Noah jumped a foot when she walked in. “What in God’s name are you doing?” he asked, sounding a lot like a bear with a thorn in its paw.

      “Grump and complain all you wish,” she said in a saccharine tone that didn’t sound remotely genuine. “But I’m not getting into that gown, and you are not going to examine even one small part of me. Oh, I guess I wouldn’t mind if you checked my cast. Would that satisfy your craving to play doctor today?”

      “You little idiot,” Noah said. His lips were thin and disapproving, and he looked as though he really did think of her as an idiot.

      She frankly didn’t care what he thought. “Whether you like it or not, you are not going to be my doctor. I’ll check the phone book and make an appointment with one without your help.” Maddie suddenly saw the storm through the window above the sink. “Oh, my God!” she cried. “When did that start?”

      “About an hour ago. It’s a serious storm, which isn’t nearly as crucial as your seeing a doctor today. So, if it’s not going to be me, I’m going to phone for that ambulance.”

      Maddie turned toward him with blazing eyes. “You go right ahead and do that, and the second you’re off the phone, I’ll call the police department and file a complaint against you for home invasion and…and—” she lifted her chin in a defiant gesture “—and I might even include sexual harassment in that charge.”

      “Which would be a damn lie,” Noah snarled. “Is that what you are, a liar?”

      “Not usually, but your pushy attitude just might drive me to do a lot of things I wouldn’t ordinarily do. Now, let’s get to the bottom line, all right? I believe you’ve accomplished quite enough in this house for one day. Your uncooperative patient is out of bed and dressed. As any fool could see, if there were more than one in this kitchen with me, I’m fine and functioning under my own steam. In other words, I don’t want you hanging around any longer. Are you getting the message?”

      Noah was just about to growl an appropriately nasty comeback when Maddie suddenly shrieked, “Fanny! My God, where’s Fanny?”

      He thought she’d lost the last of her marbles, which he’d been suspecting were already dangerously low in quantity, especially when she hung over the sink to get her face closer to the icy window to see outside. “She’ll die in this,” Maddie moaned. “What did Mark do with her? Fanny, Fanny, where are you?”

      Chapter Four

      Something akin to panic assaulted Noah’s senses. Who or what was “Fanny”? A pet? A child? And was Fanny outside in that raging blizzard?

      He went to Maddie’s side and tried to see out the same window. There was nothing outside but the density of whites that only a winter storm of this magnitude could produce. Noah glanced at Maddie, who had her good hand curled around the inside edge of the sink and seemed to be holding on for dear life. Her face was deathly pale, and what she was really doing up and dressed struck him like a ten-ton truck.