Her Secret Valentine. Cathy Gillen Thacker

the sides of her face, Ashley released the butterfly clip that held her hair. She straightened the strands with her fingers, twisted them into a loop and put her hair back up. “I just found out about it last week.”

      “Your coworkers know about it.”

      Ashley knew he expected first dibs on news like that. And she would have told him, if she’d had any other job offers to go along with it. But she hadn’t because she’d been so busy finishing up her fellowship that she hadn’t even had time to really start looking for a permanent position. This one had just fallen into her lap. When she had talked to Cal, she had wanted to have more options to present. So he wouldn’t be as disappointed in her as her parents were likely to be to find her lax in her search for employment after all those years of expensive education and training. Cal had had about six job offers waiting his decision when he finished his residency. But then he had devoted the entire first five months of their marriage to making sure that was the case. Whereas she had reserved her precious few days off to spend with Cal, instead of searching for a position.

      “Some of the staff just happened to be here when I got the phone call from Maui about the offer,” Ashley explained.

      A mixture of anger and disappointment flashed briefly in his eyes. “Phones work on the mainland, too,” he muttered.

      His displeasure cut right through her worse than anyone else’s ever had. “I thought it was something we should discuss in person,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion.

      He regarded her with mounting dismay. “You can’t seriously be considering taking it.”

      “Actually,” Ashley hesitated, “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

      Cal nodded and said nothing else.

      Realizing he didn’t want to have this conversation in a communal staff lounge any more than she did, Ashley continued getting ready to leave.

      After Cal helped her gather up the rest of the things, she said her goodbyes to the staff, and they drove back to her apartment.

      Located in a high rise that overlooked Waikiki beach, the furnished efficiency was as sparely decorated as it had been the day Ashley had moved in two-and-a-half years ago.

      Cal had only been at her apartment a handful of times, and Ashley had been there mainly to shower and sleep. The majority of her time had been spent at the teaching hospital and various clinics served by it around the island.

      There was a stack of collapsed moving boxes for her clothes and books shoved along one wall. A pile of mail on the coffee table. The large square room and bath normally felt cold and empty to Ashley. Tonight, with Cal here, it felt suffocating. Almost too small for comfort.

      “Aren’t you going to ask me anything else about the job I’ve been offered?” Ashley said, wishing Cal would open up to her more instead of always keeping everything inside. Except, of course, when it came to his desire for her. He was very open about expressing that. As was she, she admitted reluctantly to herself.

      “Actually—” Cal set down his small duffel bag “—first, I’d like to go for a swim. We can get into all that over dinner?”

      Ashley swallowed. If they were going to fight, she just wanted to do it already. “But—”

      He cut her off with a derisive look. “If there’s bad news coming, I think I’d rather wait until later to hear it, if you don’t mind.”

      The decision made—as far as he was concerned anyway—Cal methodically emptied his pockets. No sooner had he unclipped the cell phone from his belt than it began to ring. He glanced at the caller ID and tossed the phone to Ashley. “See what Mac wants, would you?”

      Cal grabbed his swim trunks from his overnight bag and disappeared into the bathroom. Ashley was left holding the still-buzzing phone. By the time she figured out how to use the unfamiliar keypad, the call went over to message. She waited for it to finish and then retrieved it, using Cal’s password.

      “Well?” Cal said. Emerging from the bathroom, he tossed his shirt and slacks onto the back of the sofa. “What did Mac want?”

      Despite her quickly mounting irritation from the message she’d listened to, Ashley couldn’t resist admiring his tanned, muscular physique. “Actually, the message was from all four of your brothers and your brother-in-law.” Defiantly, she kept her gaze from wandering below the waist of his loose-fitting tropic-print swim trunks.

      Cal tensed, but his expression did not change. Hence, Ashley couldn’t tell if he had been expecting this “fun-filled call” from his brothers or not.

      “Go on,” Cal demanded.

      With pleasure, Ashley thought, as she caught her husband’s gaze and held on for all she was worth. “Mac reminded you that ‘a woman appreciates strength in a man.’

      “Fletcher said, ‘There’s nothing more seductive than making someone laugh.’” Hah! As if Cal had ever needed help getting her into his arms and his bed!

      “Dylan said, ‘When it comes to women, patience is a virtue that is highly overrated.’” Since when had Cal waited for anything he wanted from her? It was more his style to conquer first and ask questions later.

      “Joe suggested you think ‘offense’ this time around.” Offense for what? Ashley wondered. Their marriage? That made it sound like a game!

      “And Thad suggested that ‘you not forget to listen.’” Which was, Ashley considered, actually something Cal needed to do more of.

      Her diatribe over, Ashley tossed the phone back to Cal. “So,” she fumed. “Do you want to tell me what that is all about? Or should I just guess?”

      Chapter Two

      “They’re just clowning around,” Cal said lamely, as he opened the sliding-glass doors to her balcony and stepped through them.

      “And that’s it?” Ashley prodded warily, joining him on the lanai.

      Here was his chance to tell her his whole family was worried about them. Ready to step in and help, if need be. But sensing she would not take this news well—Ashley had never really gotten how close the Harts were, or how much they depended on each other for moral and emotional support—Cal simply said, “The consensus is we’ve spent so much time apart in the three years since we said our ‘I do’s,’ that we’re still newlyweds.”

      “And in other ways,” Ashley sighed, turning her glance to the blue ocean and shimmering white sand dotted with palm trees, “sometimes it seems like we’re hardly married at all.”

      Precisely the problem, in Cal’s estimation. “That will all change once we’re living in the same house in the same city again,” Cal told Ashley confidently. He studied her carefully as the warm tropical breeze fanned across them. “That is still the plan, isn’t it?”

      Ashley hesitated, much to Cal’s dismay.

      Resentment roiled in his gut. “You can’t seriously be thinking about taking the position!”

      To his increasing disappointment, Ashley made a palms-up gesture that reflected her uncertainty. “It’s a dream job, Cal. Something I would feel lucky to be offered even ten years down the road. To get the opportunity now is a real coup. One that would make my parents proud. And you, too, I would think.” Her voice trembled, despite her strong resolve. “After all, didn’t I support you when you landed a position that would allow you to treat members of the Carolina Storm professional hockey team and a lot of the premiere college athletes in the area?”

      Cal turned his glare to the beautiful blue horizon. “I never said you didn’t support my dreams to be the best sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon around.”

      “Good.” Ashley waited until he turned back to her, then tossed her head. His breath caught at the image of her dark hair falling like silk around her shoulders. “Because