“I knew them, I chose them. This Molly Jones—”
“Fake name,” Tim said.
A muscle ticked in Rick’s jaw. “Possibly. There was a Molly Jones booked into room six.”
“Which wasn’t your room, as you found out.”
“But there was no phone number supplied and she paid for the room in cash.”
“Tried the phone book?”
“In a small city this size, there are amazingly few Molly Jones. None of them was the woman I slept with.”
“How do you know that? Did you visit them all?”
Rick felt the familiar frustration well up inside him. “One was an elderly woman, another was a child, and the third was a woman with what sounded like fifty thousand kids screaming and crying in the background who assured me that after what she was enduring, she’d cut off any man’s dick rather than risk becoming pregnant yet again, and then she hung up on me. It’s a safe bet none of those three were the Molly Jones I met last night.”
“Fake name.” Tim handed Rick the cup of coffee and went behind the desk to kick back in the chair, lifting his legs to cross his ankles and rest his heels on the desktop. “My friend, there are thirty thousand people living in this city. Finding her will be like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.”
Didn’t Rick know that. Moodily, he contemplated the dark surface of the coffee.
“Oh ho!”
He looked up.
Tim was eyeing at him in astonishment. “You really do want to find her.”
“Hell yes. I want to know why she let a perfect stranger have sex with her.”
“Why worry? You had a great time.”
“How would you know?”
“Otherwise you wouldn’t be in such knots about it.” Tim took a mouthful of coffee. “Just let it go, Rick. You had a great night, count yourself lucky she isn’t hanging on your pants belt salivating at having possibly caught herself a rich doctor, and enjoy the memory. And get on with things.”
“Your mother really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
“My mother, Rick, is a bitch, as you very well know.”
“Not all women are the same.”
“Annabelle.”
Rick couldn’t suppress a shudder.
“Love ‘em and leave ‘em, my friend. That’s my advice.”
“Your advice is the worst. But you’re right, finding her will be almost impossible.” Sighing, Rick leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, inhaling the fragrance of expensive coffee.
“Glad you agree. Now what are you doing tomorrow?”
“Rounds at the hospital.”
“Exciting. Lots of nurses there.” Tim waggled his eyebrows. “And you know what they say about nurses.”
“Urban myth, my friend. And that I do know.”
“Yeah.” Tim sighed. “Damn it.”
Rick shook his head. “You need to find yourself a wife.”
“Not bloody likely.” Tim’s face was serious. “She’d have to be pretty damned special – exceptional, in fact – for me to even contemplate it.”
Rick studied his friend. Tim’s experiences with women hadn’t been good, and topping that list was his cold-blooded mother, followed by several grasping, greedy dates arranged by his mother when younger. Now Tim really did love ‘em and leave ‘em.
But Rick wasn’t like that, he wanted a special woman. He just hadn’t met the right one yet, and the voluptuous female from last night who allowed a stranger to have sex with her without even knowing his name certainly wouldn’t be suitable. So better to forget abut her and concentrate on establishing himself in the practice, and perhaps finding the right woman later on, the special woman who would be his wife and companion for the rest of his life.
And the voluptuous woman wasn’t that one, even if he could find her. Which he wouldn’t, because he wasn’t even going to try.
Rick joined Tim in moody silence.
Chapter Four
Her shirt clingingly wetly to her stomach and shoulder, Cherry made her way back to the nurses’ station. Maxie looked up and started laughing.
“Not funny,” Cherry said. “I should have known better than to let Mrs Gumfrey hold the shower hose.”
“Whatever were you thinking?”
“Obviously nothing intelligent.” Rounding the bench to stand behind it, Cherry took several tissues and wiped the side of her face.
“Other things on your mind?”
“No.”
“Huh.”
“There’s no ‘huh’ about it.” Cherry noticed the file before Maxie. “What’s happening?”
“The new doctor is coming in to review Leo.”