From Brooding Boss to Adoring Dad. Dianne Drake

the time they can’t pay. But he doesn’t want to get involved with people so much.”

      Surprisingly, she had a flash of admiration for Coulson for what he did as a doctor. But as quickly as it had come, one look at his scowl and it vanished. “Look, I’m glad he has a good medical ethic, but that has nothing to do with me. All I want here is to get the deed to my property and be done with this.”

      “Except he doesn’t want to sell it to you now.”

      “But he already sold it. And took my money.” She liked Davion. He had a real charm about him, and a maturity well beyond his years. But as nice as Davion was, she would have preferred to have this conversation with Adam Coulson himself.

      Davion shrugged. “I think sometimes he gets worried. Tries to figure out how he’s going to keep the clinic open. People here get sick like they do everyplace else, but they don’t have very much to pay him, so he’s limited in what he can do. Mostly, he’s the one who supports his clinic, and times are tough for him.”

      This was more than she wanted to know. Davion was telling her things that, quite frankly, she wasn’t interested in. All she wanted was her medical complex—one main hospital building, a dozen outbuildings of various sizes. Near a beach. That last was the part she wanted the most. Her dream. Her father’s dream. When I can’t see any longer, I want to hear … the laughter of children, the sounds of the ocean … “Look, I need to talk to him, but it’s pretty clear he’s not going to talk to me. So, can you tell me where his clinic is? Maybe I can go there and wait until he’s finished with his job here.”

      “He won’t be off until closing time. Three in the morning. And his clinic … I don’t think he has plans to go there today. Right now, people come here to Trinique’s to see him.”

      Well, this was going nowhere and her aggravation level was ballooning. “Three o’clock?”

      “Maybe a little later, if he stays to clean up. Usually, he does that the next morning, though.”

      Erin glanced at her watch. “Fine, I’ll wait for him.”

      “He’s not very friendly after a long shift at the bar.”

      “He’s not very friendly now, so what difference does it make?”

      Davion grinned. “More than you know, Dr Glover.”

      She looked back over at Coulson for a moment, caught his eye. Saw … anger. But why was he taking this would-be business transaction so personally? Hating her for no apparent reason? That’s what she saw in that brief glance, though, before he turned away from her again. It didn’t make sense to her. None of it did. “Well, I’ll be back. Will you give him that message for me? I’ll be back, and I’ll keep coming back until he hands me my deed.”

      “That could be a while. He’s pretty stubborn. In the meantime, have you got a place to stay?” Davion looked at her bags, sitting in the sand next to the door.

      “Not yet. But I saw a couple of places back up the road, about an hour’s drive.” She’d hoped to stay in one of the cottages she supposedly owned, but that wasn’t working out, so far. “Or I can go back to one of the larger towns.” Port Wallace perhaps. It was not a tourist spot, but nice. Two hours away on a bumpy road, though, which wasn’t going to improve her disposition.

      “You can stay here, at Trinique’s.”

      “In the bar?” It wasn’t an offer she’d expected, but she was tempted since this trip wasn’t about her comfort or convenience.

      He pointed to a little cottage sitting several hundred yards off the road. It was nearly hidden by palm trees. “That’s my mother’s house. She’s not here now. Won’t be back for several days, maybe longer. The place is empty, so if you’d like to stay there …”

      Now, this was the hospitality her father had always spoken of. The Jamaica he loved, and the Jamaica she’d come to love through him. They’d traveled here often enough while she’d been growing up, to visit her grandmother Glover. This was the first time, though, she’d come without her father. The first time she wasn’t here as a tourist but as someone who would eventually live here, maybe spend the rest of her life here. And the idea of staying at Trinique’s cottage made her feel welcome. Certainly more welcome than Adam Coulson did. “If you don’t think she’d mind …”

      “My mother would mind if you didn’t stay there. You’re part of us now. We take care of our own.”

      Erin smiled brightly at the thought of belonging. It was something she never took for granted. “Then I accept. Thank you. And, please, tell your mother thank you when you talk to her.” She took one last look at Adam Coulson before she went to settle in. His back was still to her and he was … studying her in the reflection of the glass he’d just polished. She waved at him, and spun away just as the sound of shattering glass quieted the bar for a moment.

      Pulling another thousand-dollar note from her pocket, she handed it to Davion. “Give this to the doctor. I waited tables when I was in medical school, and we always had to pay for the dishes we broke. Tell him that glass he just dropped was on me!”

      “You told her?” Adam growled at Davion. “Why the hell did you do that?” He sat down on the step into Trinique’s and handed a bottle of soda to the young boy who sat down next to him. Tadeo. Aged eight. His shadow a good bit of the time.

      “Because it was the right thing to do, and you know that. She made a long trip to come see you, to finish the business deal you started, and you owe her an explanation. Or her money back.”

      “What I owe her is … nothing.”

      “Nothing,” Tadeo parroted, assuming a scowl like Adam’s.

      “See, even Tadeo agrees with me. And it’s not like I’m going to keep her money. As soon as I have time to go to the bank in Port Wallace, I’ll have it transferred back to her. Then the deal will be over with.” Even though having that money was tempting him in ways he detested being tempted.

      Davion pulled a stool outside and sat down. “It’s not right, and you know that.” He glanced at Tadeo. “And don’t you go siding with Adam, you hear? Because Adam has to do the right thing.”

      “He will,” Tadeo defended. “He’ll do the right thing.”

      “Yes, he will, because he is trying to set a good example for you, Tadeo.” Davion grinned at Adam then took a swig of his own soda.

      “Are you two ganging up on me?” Adam grumbled.

      “For your own good,” Davion said. “Backing out on that deal isn’t right, and you know it.”

      “A lot of things aren’t right. If I bothered myself worrying about all of them I’d never be able to drag myself from job to job.”

      “OK, I get your point. You don’t want to be bothered with her. But did you see that red hair on her?”

      Adam had. And he’d rather liked it. Lots of red hair … red, the color of an old penny. And wild, like the wind had swept through it once and decided to stay there. “What about her hair?”

      “She’s going to be stubborn. One look at her, and you can tell she’s not going to give up. And you, Adam, are her target. Like it or not, you’re going to have to deal with her. Sooner, not later.” He grinned. “Which is why I gave her directions to your cottage. You need to get it over with, and quit being so miserable. You’re scaring the kiddies who come to the clinic. Even Tadeo’s looking a little worried.”

      Adam regarded the boy at his side. No parents, and his mother’s cousin was raising him now. But he was neglected. Or more like overlooked. And he was so eager to please, eager to help. The son he would have, if he could. “You’re not worried about me, are you?”

      “Some,” Tadeo said without hesitation. “You’re grumpy lately. Sometimes it scares me that maybe you don’t like me any more.”