The Third Kiss. Leanna Wilson
for a man!” Her mother gave a victorious grin. “Finally!”
Her mother took a celebratory sip of wine. “Matt Cutter. Now, he’s a catch. Wait till the women at the country club hear that my daughter has caught the richest man in Texas. They’ll be perfectly ill with jealousy.”
Brooke’s temples began pounding.
“Now,” her mother continued, “it makes sense why you wouldn’t want to go out with some man your mother has found for you when you’ve got one of your own.” She leaned forward, breaking one of her cardinal rules by resting her forearm on the edge of the table. Her azure-blue contacts glittered with excitement. “So tell me all about this Matt Cutter.”
“What makes you think I have him? Er, could have?” Or want him? She didn’t, of course.
“You could have any man you wanted. If you put your mind to it.”
“You mean, if I set a trap for him.”
“A trap.” She tsked. “Having your hair and nails done is not a trap. It’s garnish. Simply shows a man you’re willing to go the extra mile to please him. Clothes are simply an accessory to lure them in, make them appreciate what’s—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—underneath.”
“You know, Mother, some women don’t live their lives in order to please a man.”
Felicia dismissed that statement with a wave of her hand. It was an inconceivable thought, especially when she considered Brooke’s career-minded focus vulgar. “Tell me about Matt Cutter. Or does he prefer to be called Matthew?”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Except that he wants to marry me. For some bizarre reason that she couldn’t fathom. And she didn’t plan to find out more. She certainly wasn’t about to tell her mother that juicy tidbit.
In fact, maybe she’d dreamed the whole thing. Which actually seemed even more ludicrous to her. Or maybe he’d been trifling with her. A bored rich boy’s game.
“He seems absolutely dreamy. Charming and debonaire.”
“You mean rich.” Actually, Matt’s money made her want to run the other way. Money had never made her mother content or deliriously happy. In fact, it seemed to only make her hungrier for more and set her sights on a better “catch.”
“I meant he’s definitely husband material.” Always mindful of calories and her waistline, Felicia delicately picked at her salad, careful not to dab too much dressing on the spinach. “He seems perfect for you.”
“Why would you say that?” To Brooke, Matt was her total opposite. They were from different worlds, had different goals in life and had by some weird strike of providence been thrown together in a bizarre circumstance. It meant nothing.
Then why does your heart pound every time you think about him?
It doesn’t!
But she knew it did.
Felicia set her fork on the side of the china plate and gave her daughter that direct gaze that meant Now listen to me, young lady! “For one thing, you could quit that job of yours.”
She stared in horror at her mother. Where did she get these ideas? “Why would I want to do that? I love my job. Besides, it’s not a job, it’s my career. My passion. My mission.”
Her mother looked as if she’d eaten something distasteful. “Passion is for candlelight and romance. Not trying to fix snotty-nosed kids’ problems. I hate the fact that you have to visit those depressing places.”
“Like hospitals and orphanages?”
“Precisely. They make you morose. No one wants a melancholy wife.”
Brooke refrained from rolling her eyes. She wondered if Matt felt the same way about Jeffrey and the orphanage. But he hadn’t appeared to look upon the small child with pity or anything else. In fact, he’d seemed perfectly at home. He’d actually asked about her patient later.
More important, would he really donate a million dollars if she agreed to marry him…or as he’d phrased it enter into a temporary engagement? Did money mean so little to him that he could toss it around like confetti? Or was it a way to ease his conscience for having so much when others had so little?
Not that it really mattered. She doubted she would ever see Matt Cutter again. Even if he had promised to keep in touch. What did a promise mean to him, anyway? Men like him made promises the way most people made coffee, often and without much thought. Matt’s promise was probably as empty as his marriage proposal. A temporary proposal, of all things!
“Well, don’t get your hopes up, Mother. I don’t think I’ll be seeing Mr. Cutter again.” She was absolutely sure of it.
“Why on earth not? You know, Brooke, it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one.”
“And just as easy to fall out of love, right, Mother?” Her teeth clenched in exasperation. “I don’t want to fall in love at all.”
“Nonsense. You don’t know what you’re missing.” She twirled her new wedding ring around her finger. “Love is Heaven here on Earth.”
“That’s why you’ve been to divorce court so many times, right?”
“Well…” Her mother clamped her lips together.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t have said that. But you don’t seem to understand that I don’t want a husband. I don’t want Matt Cutter.”
Liar!
“Your two-o’clock appointment has arrived, Dr. Watson,” Jennifer’s voice came over the intercom in her usual clipped, impersonal tone.
Brooke scanned her desk. “I don’t have a file on that patient. Could you bring it in first?”
“He’s new,” Jennifer explained.
Releasing the tension in her neck, Brooke rotated her head to the side. She liked to be prepared for each patient. “I still need a file. What’s his name?”
“Matthew Cutter.”
Her heart stopped, then jolted forward like a runaway train. What was he doing here? Delivering her boots? Or was he going to propose again?
No, she’d decided she’d misunderstood him. He didn’t want to marry her, temporarily or permanently, any more than she wanted him.
“He’s not a patient,” she said, deciding right then not to admit him to her office.
He was a nuisance.
A headache.
Definite trouble.
She pushed away from her desk and headed toward the closed door to her office that led to the reception area. She didn’t know what kind of game he was playing, but she wasn’t playing any longer. Before she jerked the door open, she paused to smooth the wrinkles out of her suit skirt.
God, she wished she’d taken her mother’s advice and bought a new pair of shoes. Maybe with a bit more of a heel to accent her legs. And look at her hands! She could use a manicure or at least some lotion. What about her makeup? She should have at least stuck her lipstick in her purse this morning.
Are you nuts? Look at you! Primping as if you’re about to meet Prince Charming!
Prince Charming, my foot. It was Matt Cutter. He was a spoiled man with obviously too much time and money on his hands.
But a good-looking man if she’d ever seen one.
What are you thinking?
Trouble was that she wasn’t thinking. She was reacting, like a hormone-raging teen about to meet Ricky Martin. And she had the simple solution. She wouldn’t see Matt Cutter. She’d let her secretary handle it. He could take his appointment and—
She