From Brooding Boss to Adoring Dad. Dianne Drake

to turn them down.”

      She studied the people for a moment. Mostly women and children. A hard draw she couldn’t refuse to see, and she hated it that he had figured her out so well, so quickly, so easily. “When you say lunch, do you mean lunch as in two chairs at the dividing line, you on your side, me on mine?”

      “Well, if that’s the way you’d like it, sure. Why not? But I was thinking we could go back to Trinique’s, have Kaven fix us his famous jerk nyamwich, I’d suggest the chicken, and bammy strips. Best on this side of the island.”

      Food for the gods. Her mouth was already watering. “My father makes a good nyamwich … jerk chicken or beef, lettuce, tomato … Is Kaven’s served on coco bread?”

      “What good nyamwich isn’t on coco bread?”

      “And the bammy?”

      Adam smiled. “Cassava flour and secret ingredients. He won’t tell anybody what they are, but I caught him smuggling yams in one day.”

      “A yam bammy? That’s a new one on me. Guess I could be persuaded to try it.”

      “So, that’s a yes?”

      She nodded. “That’s a yes, but only for the yam bammy.” She stepped under the dividing line then looked back over her shoulder at her hospital. “I have a condition, too. You give me a guided tour of my property and all its buildings. Tonight.”

      “That’s cruel, you know.”

      “But who better than you? Besides, you get the fence, so I get the tour. It’s only fair.”

      He sighed. “What’s fair is you selling me back what’s mine, and leaving me the hell alone.”

      She laughed. “As they say, all’s fair in …”

      “War and war.”

      “That’s your version?”

      “Not until this very moment. So, in the meantime, how long has it been since you’ve done an obstetrical exam? Because Breeon Edward is due anytime now.”

      “I’m a pediatrician,” she said, following along behind him on their way to the clinic.

      “That’s close enough.”

      “Close enough? I haven’t delivered a baby since medical school.”

      “But in the whole scheme of things you do know where babies come from?” he teased.

      “Of course I know where babies come from.”

      “Then Breeon will be happy to see you.”

      “I don’t know, Coulson. All this for a yam bammy?” Of course, a yam bammy was unique. But, then, so was Adam Coulson. She had an idea, though, that he was an acquired taste, the way a good bammy was. Even so, she’d stick to the bammy! It was safer.