Healing The Md's Heart. Nicole Foster

defense in equal measure with insistence he handle this on his own.

      “You either get what you want or you don’t,” Jed went on. “Is that gonna be the end of it?”

      “You’re asking for something I can’t give right now,” Duran said, not knowing if Jed wanted him to say he’d stick around, acknowledge these strangers as family, but suspecting Jed wanted a commitment of that sort. Whether or not Jed had that in mind, Duran couldn’t promise, not now, maybe never.

      “Let it go for now,” Cruz told Jed, undeterred by his father’s obvious irritation at his interruption. “Duran has enough to worry about without taking on all of us on top of it.”

      Jed looked as if he wanted to argue. But after a moment, he shifted his glare from Cruz back to Duran. His gaze was speculative, and Duran realized he still held Lia’s hand and that she hadn’t made any attempt to let him go. Gently, Duran loosed his grip, briefly meeting her eyes before he broke their connection.

      “I want to meet your brother,” Jed said. “Why isn’t he here?”

      “This has got nothing to do with Ry. I don’t know him that well, but he doesn’t strike me as the social type. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to find out about me, let alone a whole family. We agreed we’d keep in touch but we haven’t gotten much further than that.”

      “Your mama should’ve told me about you two.”

      “Would it have made a difference?” Duran asked shortly. “Then?”

      “Might’ve. I guess it makes more now.” Jed rubbed a hand over his jaw and weariness seemed to wash over him, weighing down his shoulders and taking the aggression out of his stance. He pushed himself to his feet. “Get settled in. We’ll talk more at dinner.”

      Duran almost said no, thanks, he wasn’t staying, this wasn’t what he’d bargained on when he’d come to Luna Hermosa looking for help. But before he could voice any of it, Noah and his cousins came back in a burst of noise and energy. His focus turned to his son’s excited telling of his visit to the barns, and seeing the horses and a family of cats.

      Seeing Noah’s excitement reminded him of why he was here and that it didn’t matter what price he had to pay for coming. The only thing that mattered to Duran was that Noah had a chance at a normal, happy life, free of hospitals and worries about what tomorrow would bring…that his son had a chance to live.

      Lia decided that at some point in her life, she must have been forced to endure a worse dinner party, but she couldn’t remember when.

      Once Noah returned and the family gathering started to break up, she’d planned to leave and avoid any more time with Jed and Del Garrett. A scant half an hour after Josh had led her away, Del had come back to the house, more upset than before, and flounced off to find Jed when she learned Duran and Noah would be temporary houseguests. Lia could only imagine the scene that followed and was more than ready to excuse herself for home.

      It was Duran who stopped her.

      She’d been surprised when he asked her to stay. But she accepted, deliberately refusing to think too much about her motivation, certain little about it was professional.

      She let herself wonder about his reasons, though. She supposed it could have been as simple as wanting the support of the person he knew best in Luna Hermosa, though he and she were hardly much more than strangers. Apart from that, he’d given her the message several times that he didn’t need her involved in his personal life beyond her caring for Noah.

      All through dinner he left her wondering, contributing little to the conversations, volunteering even less, particularly in response to Jed’s questioning. Cort, ever the family peacemaker, had done his best to smooth over the tensions, and the five kids provided some diversions. But Duran seemed distracted, his attention inward. Del was obviously in a temper and as a consequence, Jed was surlier than ever. Shortly after dinner, Cort and Laurel departed for home and Duran, seeing Noah’s yawns and eye rubbing, whisked him off to bed.

      That left Lia in the awkward position of not wanting to leave without saying something to Duran, but not wanting to stay if it meant lingering in Del and Jed’s company. She finally settled on thanking them and then saying she wanted to check on Noah before she, too, went home.

      Quickly navigating the long hallway that led to the west wing of the house, Lia tapped lightly on the door at the end of it, waiting for a few moments before Duran answered.

      “I’m sorry,” he said, as he showed her in. “I didn’t mean to abandon you.”

      “It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure Noah was all right before I left. And to say good-night.”

      “He’s finally sleeping.” Duran glanced back at the closed door of one of the bedrooms. “It took awhile. He was tired but he’s had too much excitement for one day.”

      “He seemed to enjoy himself, though. I think it was good for him to be with the other kids.”

      “Is that your professional opinion?” Duran asked with a slight smile.

      “It could be.” There were long moments of silence, weighted with things unsaid, and then Lia took a step back. “I should go. I’ll call you later about the testing once I’ve gotten a firm commitment on the time.”

      “Lia…” In the dim light, his expression was unreadable, but she sensed his hesitation. “I know I keep asking, but would you stay? For just a little while? There’s a patio outside…” He let the suggestion trail off, leaving it to her to decide if any of this was a good idea.

      She told herself there were no decisions to make—it was a bad idea, them alone together in a situation that could easily be misconstrued. Yet she succumbed too easily to the temptation to say yes and was nodding and following him out to the patio before the voice telling her to turn and leave could sound the alarm.

      At the height of summer, the day’s heat had been brilliant, but in the deep evening darkness, the warmth had softened, tempered by a light breeze. Duran moved to stand by the low wall surrounding the patio, staring at the blended expanse of land and sky spread in front of them.

      Uncertain of his mood, Lia tentatively approached him, taking a seat on the low wall a little distance from him. He hadn’t bothered with lights so she saw him largely in shadow, faintly lit by the dim aura of the lamp in the room behind and the pale glow of full moonlight in front.

      “I hope this wasn’t a mistake,” he said, more to himself than to her.

      “I don’t think so,” she said quietly. “This can be a good place, for you and for Noah. It could be healing in itself.”

      “I’d say after today, the verdict is out on whether or not this is a good place for either of us,” he said, not looking at her.

      “I didn’t mean here—the ranch—so much.” She followed his gaze. “I meant Luna Hermosa. It’s why I’ve stayed for so long. It’s the only place that’s ever felt like home.”

      “You didn’t grow up here?”

      “I didn’t grow up in any one place. My parents split up when I was three and I got bounced between the two of them. My mother in particular doesn’t like staying in one spot for too long.” The bitter edge to her words surprised her although she knew she’d been hoarding it up for years now. Quickly, she tried to bury it again, unwilling to expose her skeletons to Duran Forrester. “It doesn’t matter now. I hadn’t been here very long before I decided to adopt it as home.”

      “I doubt Noah and I will ever call it home, but I’m going to give it a few days. At least until we know the test results.”

      “I’ll try and make that happen as quickly as possible. I can imagine how you feel about having to wait, but if we can get everyone tested on Tuesday, we should know something by the end of next week, at the latest.”

      He turned to her then. “I appreciate everything you’ve