Seduced By The Sheikh Doctor_A Small Town Doctor Romance Page 4

  Except that nearly as soon as she had the thought, the spell was shattered. A loud, startling clatter of pots, pans and who knew what else from the kitchen interrupted them. Paige straightened up, realizing as she did that she had been hunched down over the bar, leaning toward Kehlan.

  “Alvin?” she called out, her heart already racing, hoping for a quick response and some joke about how clumsy he was. How old was Alvin now? He had to be in his seventies. She didn’t worry about him, usually. Not the way she should.

  When no reassurance immediately answered her worried call, she immediately made a bee-line for the kitchen, barely registering that Kehlan was following close behind her.

  When she made her way through the door separating the kitchen from the dining room, she gasped. There, on the kitchen floor, was everything that Paige had been afraid of. Alvin’s face was twisted in a painful grimace, and his shaking hands were clutching at his chest.

  She rushed forward towards him, but instead felt a pair of strong arms on her shoulders gently guiding her to one side.

  “Let me,” the softly accented voice said, all deep and certain and surreally calm in the circumstances.

  She watched as Kehlan deftly knelt by Alvin’s side. He knew what he was doing, that much was immediately clear, and it was almost hypnotic to watch him. If the circumstance weren’t so dire, Paige imagined she would have a hard time tearing her eyes away from him long enough to call an ambulance.

  As she gave the operator the details—a familiar voice, someone she was almost certain she’d gone to school with—she watched Kehlan work. It was sexy, yes. But she had a feeling pretty much everything this man did was hopelessly attractive. More than that, though, it was impressive. He had a frown on his face, but it seemed to be concentration rather than unfriendliness. She couldn’t hear quite what he was saying to Alvin, or make out if Alvin was able to make any real response, but she was certain that, whatever the outcome might be, Alvin was lucky that this man had happened to come into town today.

  It seemed to take an eternity for the ambulance to get there, and to Paige, it might well have been. For all she loved about this town, she hated the fact that the hospital was so far away, especially when so many of the permanent residents here were getting on a bit in age. By the time they finally arrived, Paige’s knees hurt from kneeling on the floor next to Alvin, and her body felt stiff as she straightened up.

  “I don’t think it’s a heart attack,” she heard Kehlan tell one of the paramedics.

  Together, she and Kehlan watched them load up a very frightened Alvin, who was still clutching at his chest, and obviously in a state.

  “His wife is going to meet him at the hospital,” Paige told one of the paramedics, though she wasn’t sure that was information they needed. If Alvin was absorbing any information from the world around him, he’d already have heard the call and would know. But there was no way to be completely sure how aware he was. Kehlan seemed the only one capable of getting or keeping his attention.

  When the ambulance was gone, Paige found herself standing under a different kind of spell entirely.

  “It’s a horrible feeling,” she said, after a moment. “I just wish there was something I could have done.”

  She felt Kehlan’s hand on her arm.

  “You did everything you should have done. It’s always horrible. Especially when it’s someone you care about.”

  There was a sadness in his voice, and it prompted a wave of curiosity in Paige. She wanted to ask him but all of a sudden, as it had before, the spell was broken; the serious moment had passed, and there they were, just two strangers thrown together in front of a diner.

  “Unlucky day for you to come,” she said. “It’s not usually like this. Obviously.”

  Kehlan gave her a gentle smile.

  “Seems like a pretty lucky day to me. My father would say it was a good deal more than luck.”

  “You’re a doctor, then?” she asked, and he responded with mock surprise.

  “What gave me away?”

  She chuckled, even though it wasn’t all that funny. But the nerves of the situation were all sort of shaking their way out of her, and she felt jangly and uncertain. Again, Kehlan’s hand was on her arm.

  “He’s going to be all right. If it is what I think it is, then he’s going to make a quick recovery. These things can be scary, but that doesn’t make them life-threatening, you understand?”

  Paige nodded, trying to let the words take hold.

  “And now,” Kehlan said, drawing back from her, and standing up straighter even than he had been before, “I find myself here, without a meal and in need of a tour guide. And you look like you’re in need of a distraction, and are the only one around here I see who might be able to tell me where to get something to eat.”

  Even as the obvious answer leapt into her mind, Paige almost blushed when she remembered their flirtatious conversation. Before Alvin had fallen, she had been so bold and forward. But with all they had quite unexpectedly been through, they’d been thrust into something much more real, and Paige found herself suffering from a little bit of emotional whiplash.

  Kehlan must have noticed, because a look of concern crossed his impossibly perfect face.

  “Have I said something wrong?” he asked.

  She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to touch her arm again or not. That is, she definitely wanted him to, but the way her insides reacted to his touch felt a little extreme, and she was having a hard time figuring out what she wanted.

  Dylan felt so far away. The perfectly planned, perfectly controllable first date that she had planned for this evening seemed so far away. Even the normal, boring, every-day kind of afternoon that she had assumed she would have seemed so far away.

  All there was was this man, standing in front of her like a big unknown variable. The ‘x’ in the equation. Who even was the woman who would randomly go off with a handsome stranger on an unknown adventure? Particularly when that handsome stranger would almost certainly disappear the moment he learned that she had a son.

  As she stared at the gorgeous look of curiosity and concentration on Kehlan’s face, she had her answer: she was. She was absolutely that woman.

  Chapter 6

  Kehlan

  Kehlan couldn’t help but imagine what his father would have said in this situation, had he still been alive. The way the canceled trip and the brochure had led him to meet this girl, so beautiful and so charmingly sincere, was surely something beyond coincidence. His father would probably even go a step further and insinuate that his conversation with his mother, which had prevented him from returning to Al-Derra immediately, was all part of some cosmic pull.

  But Kehlan didn’t believe in all of that. All Kehlan knew was that when he stood in front of Paige, it was hard to think about anything but her. Her chocolate brown hair and large, round eyes to match, coupled with the softness of her body and the grace of her movements had a way of drawing in his attention and not letting it go. And he knew that right now, being in close proximity to a woman who seemed to be an inherently good distraction was a fantastic idea.

  Even if that distraction intended to lead him up a mountain that she herself had told him was dangerous less than an hour before.

  “I was exaggerating earlier,” she said, although he didn’t think he’d given her any reason to think he needed to be reassured. “Sure, it’s dangerous if you hit a melted patch, but it’s not like those are hard to see. I mean, the difference between snow and dirt is hard to miss. Have you ever skied before?”

  In times like this, Kehlan was glad for his well-practiced poker face.

  “Once or twice.”

  “Okay,” she said, visibly relieved. “The best place to eat near Stockton that isn’t the Coffee Cup is part-way down the mountain. You can only get there by ski. They should still be open, though I imagine they aren’t much busier than we’ve been all morning. It’s great food once we can get there, though. Second-best lunch in town.�
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  He raised an eyebrow.

  “And would you say yours was the best if you didn’t work at the Coffee Cup?”

  She laughed. He liked to watch her laugh. He’d always had a talent for making women laugh, ever since he could remember. But to Kehlan, it felt as though he was only just now discovering the benefits.

  “We can take my car, since I know where we’re going,” she said, walking out. Then, amusingly, he saw her stop sharply. “Or, I guess we could take that.”

  Kehlan grinned.

  “I figured if I was going to drive out into the country, I might as well enjoy the drive. And I’ve never actually gotten around to trying one of these out.”

  In the past, he’d often used his wealth to impress women he found attractive. But with her, it was different. He wasn’t embarrassed by his wealth, exactly, but he was very aware of how it might affect how she saw him. He’d spent plenty of time telling himself that he didn’t have to prove himself to anyone—not to any of the people who assumed that he was just playing at being a doctor, or to anyone else. But here, now, he felt he did need to prove himself, somehow.

  “Well, I imagine you’ll enjoy the drive up the mountain in that.”

  Kehlan laughed.

  “And you will, too. Jump in and I’ll show you.”

  He stopped himself from laughing as she got in gingerly.

  “It’s just a rental. You don’t need to be so careful.”

  “Might as well be a golden carriage to me,” he heard her mumble under her breath, and he winced inwardly.

  Still, even if the car intimidated her more than he would have liked, he felt confident that she would at least enjoy riding in it as much as he enjoyed driving it.

  And by the looks of it, he was right. She missed a few turns, even though she’d lived here her whole life, and he was pretty sure that getting caught up in the speed and the smoothness of the ride was the reason why. Though, he had to admit that he hoped the company had something to do with it as well.

  When they got to the ski resort, the place was a ghost town. The man at the lift ticket station seemed surprised to see them, as he jolted up at the sound of the door chime, scattering his business-card-castle into a pile of cardstock in disarray on the counter. But once he’d recovered from his surprise, and his obvious dismay at the demise of his creation, he did confirm that, yes, the restaurant on the slopes was open. Technically. But he also made sure that they knew that the conditions on the slopes could be treacherous this time of year.

  “Just so you’re sure you know what you’re getting into,” he said, as he handed over the skis. And though Kehlan felt completely capable of handling the mountain in front of him, in a larger sense, he wondered if he was completely prepared for what he was getting into with the woman he’d be skiing next to.

  Again, he thought of what his father would say. Unintentionally evocative questions. A dangerous journey together. Meddling fates.

  Still, if Kehlan could try to set aside the distraction of the woman he was with and his surprising need to impress her, it felt good to get out on the slopes again. No one had exaggerated that conditions this time of year were far from ideal, and Kehlan felt all the expertise gained from countless hours skiing in during his school years come into play. It was refreshing to stretch those metaphorical muscles again, after a day that had been marred by conflict, disappointment and surprise.

  It also helped that he could feel Paige’s eyes on him. He liked knowing she was watching him—to know she saw his body moving deftly on the slopes. Was it too much for him to imagine that she was thinking the same kinds of thoughts when he was ahead of her as he thought when their positions were reversed? He could only hope.

  He was hungry, though, and they had a mission, so he followed Paige directly down the slopes along the shortest path to the restaurant part-way down the mountain. They got there in less than half an hour, and wasted no time in getting inside and choosing a table among the many that were available.

  It was hard not to get too caught up in watching Paige strip out of her snow gear down to her normal clothes. There was something seductive about the motions, even though she was all business about it and chatted in a friendly manner with the hostess, whom she apparently knew, while she did it. He wondered if she realized that, or if she was as unknowing of her own charms in this way as she had seemed to be at the Coffee Cup.

  When they were fully settled in and had ordered what Paige insisted was the best collection of items on the menu, they were left with nothing to do but to talk to one another. Which, on the one hand, was the one thing in the world Kehlan had most wanted to do since he had wandered into the diner and seen her standing there. But on the other hand, he found that his heart rate was rising. He was almost nervous to speak to her, after the trip down the mountain and with the growing attraction towards her.

  He knew he didn’t show it—he was well-versed in keeping a steady, calm air however he might be feeling. But all the same, the feeling caught him off guard.

  “So,” she began, “you said you were from Al-Derra?”

  He smiled, on familiar ground. How many times had he had this conversation over the years? Always versions of the same thing.

  “I am. Let me guess, you’ve never heard of it?”

  She returned his smile and he was struck again by how gorgeous she looked when she smiled.

  “I have to admit, I haven’t.”

  He shrugged.

  “It’s not a large nation by any means, but it’s home. It’s basically nothing more than a sprawling city by the sea with some desert that is technically part of the country. We tend to fly under the radar.”

  She nodded, considering, and then continued with a sly smile.

  “And that’s in the Middle East, right? The hot, mainly desert Middle East?”

  He could see where this was going, and absently stroked his chin.

  “It is, yes.”

  “Not a lot of snow there, I imagine.”

  Kehlan laughed.

  “No, not really. Very occasionally, up high in the mountains, there’s a snowfall. But nothing like here.”

  Their conversation felt a little bit like watching her solve a puzzle.

  “So when you say you’ve been skiing once or twice…”

  He helped her out.

  “I perhaps went more than once or twice. To be honest, when I told you I learnt English in Europe, I might have left out that that was at boarding school in Switzerland.”

  She laughed—that glorious, gorgeous laugh that had rung out in the diner so beautifully. It only seemed all the warmer bouncing of the walls of the smaller confines of this cozy little restaurant on the slopes.

  “And here I was worrying you wouldn’t be able to handle the conditions. You’re like a pool shark, only for skiing!”

  Kehlan shrugged.

  “I like to be a pleasant surprise. I would only be a skiing shark, as you say, if we’d somehow put money on it. So that’s not really fair.”

  “And you don’t seem like you need the money.”

  The words slipped out of her mouth, and it seemed to surprise and embarrass her that she’d said them. He tried to slide the conversation forward to minimize her embarrassment.

  “No, I don’t,” he admitted. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

  “You’re a doctor in Al-Derra.”

  He didn’t mean to hide it from her. He didn’t think through not revealing his identity as a member of the country’s ruling family. It just felt as though mentioning it was the wrong thing to say. If she had been intimidated by the car, how much more so would she be by a royal title?

  “I am, yes.”

  Not a lie. But not the whole truth, either. In times like this, he almost wished his poker face were a little less well developed. He almost wished that she would see that he was leaving things out and call him on it. But instead, he just continued on smoothly. More truth, just not the whole truth.

  “I wanted to be
a vet when I was very young, but before long, I switched to humans. I can’t remember a time when healing wasn’t what I wanted to do. Honestly, I find it very satisfying. I have a practice at the hospital in Al-Derra’s capital, Sadifah, which suits me well.”

  No mention of the compromise with his family that required him to set his practice up there. No mention of the reactions he constantly had to manage from his patients when they heard his full name for the first time. All of that belonged somewhere far away. None of that belonged here, with her, in this perfect place.

  For one long, tense moment, he thought she might interrogate him further about his life and position in Al-Derra. But instead, she asked him about school in Switzerland, and he was glad to tell her about it. Here, he was hitting his stride. As much as speaking to her had made him feel nervous in a way he hadn’t been in years, as soon as he got talking, he felt the words flowing out of him like water. She was so easy to talk to, and he found that he enjoyed her attention more than he could remember enjoying anyone else’s.

  She didn’t talk much about herself, he noticed. And he found himself deeply curious about all the things she wasn’t mentioning. But at the same time, he didn’t want to pry and risk souring the conversation. There was something she was holding close to her chest, and he wouldn’t pressure her for it. She would tell him eventually, if she deemed him worthy of being told.

  The food came, and Kehlan was blown away.

  “This is amazing,” he said to Paige’s smiling face.

  “Worth the trouble getting here?” she asked, and he nodded.

  “Most definitely.”

  He asked her about the dishes in front of them, more out of curiosity than out of any expectation that she should know their various origins and ingredients. But to his surprise, she was as forthcoming about the food as she had been cagey about herself moments before.