Love Chronicles

He noticed Steve McCarthy, an old high school classmate, sitting in a back booth, enjoying a cup of coffee with his sister, Julie, who’d married Bud Whitesell, the owner of the local garage. Connor waved at them and then went to sit in the third booth from the door, his usual spot. He looked forward to a cup of hot coffee and a sinfully fattening doughnut. He’d think about anything but Sunny Williams.

Just as that idea ran through his brain, he saw the subject of his thoughts sitting in his booth, a cup of tea and a half-eaten bagel in front of her, talking animatedly to, of all people, his own sister, Jennifer.

He raised his brows. Sunny had certainly made friends quickly. Obviously, she was the outgoing, friendly type. She would probably fit in with his sociable family perfectly. He gritted his teeth.

Despite the fact that he was irritated she was in his booth, he couldn’t help but appreciate her beautiful skin, delicate bone structure and flashing brown eyes all over again. And her shiny pink lips, pulled into a broad, appealing smile, exposing straight, white teeth, made his insides burn.

He didn’t want his insides burning, knew from experience what kind of failure that always brought about, despite his need to socialize with someone of the female persuasion who wasn’t his mother or his sister. He clenched his jaw tighter, ready to cut out.

Jenny noticed him, smiled and spoke up. “Hey, Connor, have you met Sunny?” She turned to Sunny and gestured to Connor. “This is my brother, Connor.”

Sunny looked up and her smile faded. “Oh, we’ve already met.”

He inclined his head. “Yes, we have, haven’t we?”

Jenny frowned and looked at Sunny. “Didn’t you say you just arrived in town?”

“I did.” Sunny took a sip of tea. “I stopped by your brother’s office first thing.” She put her tea down, smiled and drilled him with her amber-shaded gaze. “We had business, didn’t we, Dr. Forbes?”

He nodded, betting she was going to go into how he’d turned down her bid to be his partner to Jenny, whose mission in life was to take over.

Jennifer looked at him, one blond brow raised. “What kind of business, Connor?” She glanced back at Sunny. “You’re not sick, are you?”

Sunny shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“Then what…?” Jenny asked, looking back and forth between them.

To her credit, Sunny remained silent, her gaze now on her teacup, when she could have busted him to his sister. He forced out a breath. He might as well come clean. Jenny would ferret out the truth eventually, and would definitely hear about it from their dad. Besides, he’d done the right thing. Sunny’s treatment methods had no place in his world. She was a temptation he wanted to avoid. No way was he changing his mind.

Connor sat down next to Jenny. “Dad brought Sunny here to be my partner. I vetoed the idea,” he said, dumping out the whole story in a few words. He braced himself, waiting for Jenny’s outrage.

She gasped and widened her eyes. “You did what?” she said, delivering the expected reaction right on cue. She was so predictable, even to someone like him, who, according to his second-to-last girlfriend, was horribly left-brained and didn’t clue into people’s personalities very well.

“I said no,” he reiterated, wanting this whole thing over. “End of story.”

“But why?” Jenny asked, her voice rife with amazed puzzlement. “Sunny’s just what you need, brother.”

He ignored the need Sunny could help him with and shook his head. “I know what I need, and she’s not it.” He gazed at Sunny. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t want a partner.”

Sunny stared back, nodding. “Oh, so when you said that everything you do is based on science, and anything else is of no use to you, you didn’t mean for me to take it personally?” She lobbed him a sweet-edged smile. “I would hate to misunderstand you, Dr. Forbes.”

“Connor!” Jenny said, her hazel eyes full of sisterly horror. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”

Both women stared at him; if looks could kill, he’d be keeling over dead. What was the big deal? “Look, I based my decision on concrete, practical reasoning,” he said, explaining his rationale. “I simply meant that my practice is based on science, not massage or yoga, and that Sunny and I wouldn’t be compatible working partners. Dad arranged this without my knowledge and since I’m in charge now, I felt I had the right to make that decision.”

They were silent for a few moments, and then Jenny gave a long-suffering sigh and skewered him with a hard gaze. “You’re so full of it, Connor. The truth is, you’re a stick-in-the-mud from way back. The thought of doing something differently, of straying one millimeter from your moldy science textbooks and boring medical journals scares the pants off of you.”

He mentally rolled his eyes. His family had been trying to loosen him up for years, Jenny especially. She just didn’t understand that he was his own man and was nothing like her or anyone else in his family.

While he sat there wondering why he needed to explain something so simple, Sunny reached over and touched his forearm, sending sparks racing up his arm. She chimed in with, “Don’t worry, Dr. Forbes. I’m sure you look very, very good with no pants.”

Jenny and Sunny laughed and Connor raised his brows at Sunny. Wow. She was something, able to fling the horse manure right back at him. Oddly, he liked that.

So what? He might appreciate her spunk, but he wasn’t about to let her know it, or let it matter. She stared back, a becoming blush spreading across her cheeks. Then her eyes popped wide and she jerked her hand back, knocking Jenny’s orange juice over.

Right onto his lap.

He let out a colorful oath. Sunny jumped up and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, oh, I’m so sorry.” She picked up a napkin, obviously intending to blot up the mess.

She stopped, her hand holding the napkin hovering over his juice-saturated lap. “Uh, well…” She blushed and waved the napkin. “I…guess you better take care of that.” She shoved the napkin at him. “I’m so sorry. I’m not usually the clumsy sort.”

He took the napkin, her blush conjuring up all kinds of thoughts he shouldn’t be having, and dabbed at his lap. “Yeah, I’ll bet.” He heard a snorting sound and swung his gaze to Jenny, who was holding a hand over her mouth, trying to keep her laugh contained and doing a bad job of it.

Sunny sat down, her cheeks blazing pink, her pretty brown eyes reflecting her obvious embarrassment. Man, her gorgeous face would be tough to forget.

But he would. He didn’t need a partner and he certainly didn’t need to fail at another relationship, although a no-strings-attached date sounded good…

Before the conversation started up again, Julie approached the table, her first pregnancy just beginning to show. “Uh, Connor, could I talk to you for a moment?”

He nodded, hiding his wet lap with his napkin. “Sure, Julie, what’s up? The baby okay?”

“Yeah, he’s just fine,” she said, rubbing a hand over her burgeoning belly. “I was needing to talk to Mr. Commitment.”

Oh, man. Not that. “Uh, well, Julie—”

“The thing is, Bud works all day, sometimes late, and when he comes home, all he wants to do is crash in front of the TV, watching sports. I’m kind of lonely, Doc. What do you suggest?”

He sat and thought for a moment, and incredibly, the answer to her problem was easy to figure out. “That sounds like nothing a good book wouldn’t solve, Julie.”

She stared at him, her chin pulled in. “You think?”

“I’m sure of it,” he said, patting her hand. “Reading will keep you entertained for hours.” Maybe this Mr. Commitment stuff wouldn’t be so hard after all.

She wandered off, shaking her head.

When he looked at Jenny and Sunny, both were sporting dropped jaws and wide eyes. “What?” he asked.

Jenny gave him a long-suffering look and said, “You’re clueless and hopeless.” She then stood and gestured with a crook of her hand for Sunny to follow. “Come on, Sunny. My brother isn’t the only one with some say-so around here.” She gave him a saccharine smile. “Thanks for picking up the tab.”

Connor stood and Sunny slid out of the booth, smiling, though it seemed forced. “Thanks for everything, Dr. Forbes.”

Meaning, thanks for nothing. He had to give her credit. She obviously had a knack for holding her own. One more thing to like. One more reason to forget her.

Jenny called Sunny from the door of the diner. Sunny gave him a sheepish look, her plump bottom lip clamped between her teeth. “I gotta go.” She glanced down at his lap. “Do, uh, you have that taken care of?” She snapped her gaze back up, her face coloring again. “The juice spill, I mean.”

Seeing her so flustered forced a smile. “It’s fine, nothing that won’t dry.”

She nodded, moving away. “Oh, good.” She waved. “Bye.”

He was left standing next to the booth alone, Sunny’s floral scent belatedly washing over him after she’d walked by. Despite the coolness of the spilled juice, heat flared down low.

He was tempted to turn around and watch her walk away so he could enjoy the sight of her slim but curvy hips moving beneath her skirt and her toned calves flexing as she walked.

Instead, he sat and took a swig of strong, hot coffee, an irritating helplessness washing over him. Just his damn luck Sunny seemed like just the woman to put an end to his desire for some casual female companionship.

Just as bad, Sunny had met Jenny. His younger sister was as tenacious as a mule when she felt someone had been treated unfairly.

Who would have guessed that Sunny would be the type of gal who would meet a total stranger and strike up a sudden friendship, all in the space of an hour? More than likely, she would be able to help him with Mr. Commitment. She clearly had an outgoing, friendly, approachable personality, just like Jenny.

Bad combination, those two. Jenny, the fired-up defender of the innocent working with Sunny, her name the perfect description of her personality. Even when she’d slammed him, it had come out in a way that had amused everybody, even him. And no other woman had looked so good after spilling juice all over him.

Yeah, Sunny was appealing in so many ways, making her dangerous. And he had a sneaking suspicion that with Jenny and Sunny working together, the situation would more than likely do what he hated—spin out of his control and out of the realm of practicality.

And right into the realm of intense physical—and, more dangerously, emotional—attraction.

And that was the last place he would ever let himself go.

Chapter Two

Connor pushed his dark thoughts aside, ignored his wet, orange juice–saturated lap, chomped on his doughnut and drank his coffee. He reiterated to himself why he’d made the right decision, the practical one for his practice.

Just as he finished the doughnut, Steve approached his booth. “Hey, Doc. How you doing?”

Connor inclined his head. “All right.” He and Steve had gone through school together and had shared an interest in science. Steve had combined his interest in the scientific world with his love of animals and had become a veterinarian.

Steve smiled. “Saw your sister here a few minutes ago.”

Connor nodded and took a sip of coffee. “That was her.”

“Who was that gorgeous gal with her?” Steve asked, his brown eyes alight with interest. “Haven’t seen her around before.”

Connor gave Steve a hard glance. “Sunny Williams,” he said, not particularly hot on going into details. The whole town knew Steve was in the market for a wife.

Steve plunked down across from him. “Is she living in Oak Valley, or just visiting?”

“Just visiting.” Connor was pretty sure Sunny would leave now that she didn’t have a job. He had to admit, as an appreciative, red-blooded male, part of him was a bit disappointed a gorgeous woman like Sunny wasn’t going to be hanging around.

“Too bad,” Steve said, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t mind getting to know her.”

Surprisingly, the thought of Steve getting to know Sunny bothered Connor. Irritated that he was bothered at all, he finished his coffee, stood and reached for the tab. “Don’t think you’ll have the chance, bud. She won’t be here for long.”

He said goodbye, hiding his splotched pants as best he could, then paid the bill at the front counter and left. As he walked up the boardwalk, the late morning sun warm on his back, he told himself he’d done the right thing, even though his dad would probably come unglued. That couldn’t be helped. Despite his father’s inevitable anger and disappointment, Connor’s decision would stand.

Confident he’d done the right thing, he walked back to his office. When he arrived, his next patient, ten-year-old Danny Jones, was waiting. Connor quickly donned his lab coat to hide his damp clothes, then tended to Danny.

Danny had recently broken his arm playing baseball, and Connor wanted to make sure the healing process was on track. Danny’s parents had been killed in a car accident two years ago, and he’d come to Oak Valley to live with his widowed grandmother, Edith Largo, a long-time resident. Connor had spent a lot of time with Danny, trying to fill in here and there to give Edith a break and a guy for the kid to play ball with.

Pleased by Danny’s rate of recovery, Connor walked him to the waiting room, noting his dad, the elder Dr. Forbes, sat in the waiting room, shooting the breeze with June and Edith.

Damn. Obviously Jenny and Sunny had called in the cavalry. His dad looked at him expectantly. Connor clenched his hands.

Smiling to cover up the tension suddenly roiling around the room, Connor conferred with Edith. He then made an appointment in two weeks for Danny’s cast to be removed and walked him and Edith to the door.

When they were gone, his dad stood, his perennial red baseball cap in his hand. “I expected you’d have a special visitor by now.”

Connor paused, gathering his patience together, then crossed his arms over his chest. “So I suppose Sunny and Jenny came to see you.”

His dad looked puzzled. “No. But does that mean Sunny’s here? Have you had a chance to meet?”

Major surprise. So the threatening twosome hadn’t gone running to his dad as he’d assumed. Score one small point for Sunny. “Sunny came here, and then I saw her and Jenny at Luella’s half an hour ago, but I don’t know where they went after that.”

June piped in. “She and Jenny came by, got Sunny’s dog out of her van and took him for a walk.”

His dad stepped forward, his hazel eyes questioning. “I expected that she’d be next door getting organized. Is she coming back later?”

“No, because I have no intention of being her partner. The deal is off.” He stared at his dad, scowling. “Really, Dad, you should have consulted me before you brought her on. You know how I feel about alternative medicine.”

His dad’s eyes hardened. “Yes, I do, which is one of the reasons I asked her to come here.” His dad pointed at him. “You need an overhaul, my boy.”

He stared at his dad, minutely shaking his head. Connor had become a doctor to prove to his dad that they shared a unique connection. But catering to the desire to forge a bond with his father wasn’t going to happen this time. His dad had stepped over the line.

He gave his dad a stony look and said, “Is there anything else?”

His dad stepped up to the counter and pounded his fist on it. “Dammit, Connor, you’re not going to do your usual number and just walk away when things get sticky. I expect you to go along with this.”

Connor gritted his teeth, but before he could say “Forget it,” his dad continued. “And I’ll throw this out as bait. Your mother is driving me crazy at home now that I’m retired. I love her, but I’m going nuts with all of her honey-do’s. If you do this for me and allow Sunny to be your partner for say…a three-month trial period, I’ll reconsider full-time retirement after that.”

Connor raised his brows. He had to give the old man some credit. He’d thrown out a tempting deal, especially since what Connor really wanted to do—pursue a career in medical research and leave Oak Valley behind—would be that much easier to accomplish if his dad was around to help out.

Granted, he hadn’t figured out how he could be a medical researcher and still fulfill his long-ago promise to his parents to permanently take over for his dad in exchange for them putting him through med school. He hadn’t even told them about his dream of a different career.

He let out a heavy breath. Okay, he’d work on that and come up with something. Maybe he’d even be able to convince his dad to go back to being Mr. Commitment, too. One more reason to take him up on the deal.

True, Connor would have to put up with Sunny’s hokey massage business and yoga. He could take that for three months, couldn’t he?

Maybe as his working partner. But as a sexy, tempting woman he’d have to keep his hands off of? He swallowed. Suddenly, three months seemed like a lifetime.

He ignored that thought. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

His dad smiled. “I knew you’d see reason. I promise you won’t regret your decision. Sunny is a wonderful, charming woman who will be a terrific addition to this office.” He moved toward the door. “Junie tells me you don’t have another patient for over an hour. Instead of stuffing your nose in some medical journal, why don’t you go find Sunny and give her the good news?” He waved, plopped his hat on his head and walked out.

Connor stared at the door and then rubbed his neck, trying to relieve the perpetual crick there. Suddenly, a massage by the delectable Miss Sunshine sounded pretty good.

He swung around, tightening his jaw. She was getting to him already.

Too bad. He’d agreed to the deal. He’d just have to be sure to stick to his vow to keep his thoughts where they belonged—anywhere but on beautiful Sunny Williams. He wasn’t going to be tempted into certain romantic failure again.

Get real, Forbes. He had a bad feeling that keeping his mind off of brown-eyed Sunny wasn’t going to be easy. She turned him on in a major way and seemed pretty nice, too, even when she was spitting fire.

Damn, he hoped he wouldn’t regret agreeing to his dad’s harebrained deal.

Sunny sat on a quaint, wrought-iron bench in the park, waiting for Rufus to come back with the tennis ball she’d thrown. She was determined to chill out and enjoy the sunny, peaceful morning and picturesque, grassy little park, located on the edge of town, while she figured out what to do next. Jenny had left to pick up her daughter at her parents’ house with a promise not to talk to her dad, leaving Sunny alone with her thoughts.

Despite her efforts to calm down and simply enjoy her surroundings, frustratingly dire thoughts—centering around one stubborn, irritating doctor—swamped her.

After so many business and romantic flops, she’d been so excited about moving here, making a new start and proving to herself that she wasn’t a total failure. This might be her last chance to fulfill her pact with Robbie and secure the commitment they’d craved as footloose best friends being raised in a commune.

Commitment. Inevitably, her thoughts swung to her parents. Sunny had always felt vulnerable since her parents had never married, worried that they didn’t love each other enough to make it official, that they would split up. It hadn’t helped that they had separated three times during her childhood. Even though she’d never suspected her parents had been unfaithful, because of their upsetting separations, when she was ten, she swore that she would eventually find a good man, fall in love and commit, creating the rooted environment that had always been missing in her life.

That vow had been cemented in stone when she and Robbie had made their promise to marry each other, fueled by her need for security and stability, for a comforting anchor, a need that lived on inside of her to this day.

Consequently, she’d been thrilled when the elder Dr. Forbes had made her the offer to come to Oak Valley. Build a new business. Find the ideal, steadfast man to commit to, fulfill the pact and, hopefully, heal the wound Robbie had created by marrying someone else. Create a secure, small-town life. It all had seemed so wonderfully picture-perfect.

Until this morning. Until Connor Forbes had entered the picture and put an ugly blotch on what was to have been her perfect life.

Rufus brought the ball back, wagging his spotted tail. He dropped it and she threw it again. He ran off, chasing the thing down. The goofy dog would play this game forever if she let him.

Her thoughts careened back to her problems. So, she’d run into one big, handsome, annoying roadblock. How could she prove to him that what she did had worth—admittedly not as a total replacement for his brand of traditional medicine, but as a complement? She’d always subscribed to the notion, Heal the Heart, Heal the Body,” believing that maintaining and encouraging a peaceful inner self would help foster a healthy outer self, the body. How in the world was she going to convince Connor to reconsider, to give her methods a chance to fill in the blanks his methods often left?

Before she could answer her own question, a male voice spoke from behind her. “Your dog’s a horse.”

Her tummy flip-flopped. Taking a deep breath, she turned and saw Connor standing in back of her, his bulging arms folded across his broad chest. His dark hair glinted in the sun like warm chocolate and his green eyes looked like dark emeralds. A ripple of feminine awareness skated up her spine. Why did he look so darned good, his masculine appeal so blatantly obvious?

Cutting off her mental list of his positive traits, she forced herself to remember how he’d heartlessly cut her loose. Her hands clenched, she turned back and watched Rufus bound clumsily back with his beloved tennis ball in his mouth. “Great Dane. Definitely a dog.”

Rufus spotted Connor and immediately dropped the ball, woofed and ran over to him, his tail swinging back and forth like a giant whip.

Obviously unintimidated by Rufus’s size, Connor smiled and said, “Hey, big guy,” holding out his hand so Rufus could sniff it. Then Connor began to gently pet the big lug. Rufus whined, then proceeded to lie down and roll onto his back. Connor obliged him and squatted and rubbed the dog’s good-sized belly, grudgingly scoring major points in Sunny’s book.

Connor looked up and smiled. “He’s just a big baby, isn’t he?”

She nodded, chuckling despite her negative mood. “You’ve got that right. He’s huge, but doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Right, Rufus?”

Rufus didn’t acknowledge her, just lay there, his legs splayed, soaking up his first tummy rub of the day. Connor undoubtedly had no idea that he’d made a friend for life. Rufus wasn’t nearly picky enough about whom he associated with.

A long silence stretched out, and Sunny’s curiosity got the best of her. “So, why are you here? You made it pretty clear you wanted nothing to do with me. Need another glass of juice spilled on you?”

Connor rose and ran a hand through his hair. He moved toward her, what looked like forced contrition showing in his eyes. “Sorry about what I said. I don’t always express myself very well.”

She hoisted up a brow. “Oh, I think you got your point across pretty well.”

He sat down next to her and his soapy, male scent washed over her, raising her awareness level a notch.

“My whole family tells me I’m tactless,” he said, seemingly without regret. “I prefer to call it being refreshingly direct.”

She pulled in her chin and said, “Refreshing?” She laughed under her breath and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. That’s a good one.”

“Why don’t you tell me how you really feel,” he said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Okay,” she said, taking him up on his offer even though she was sure he wasn’t really interested in her feelings. “Actually, I’d like to stomp on your head. You’ve ruined my plans.” She took the ball from Rufus and hurled it across the grass. “I was sitting here trying to figure out how to change such a stubborn, grouchy man’s mind.”