Harper Rivers shook her head, her expression amused. “Don’t you have a case, Flann?”

“I’m going.” Flannery backed up a step, her focus still on Presley. “Staying long?”

“A while.”

“Excellent. If you need a tour guide or…anything, I’ll be free later today. Just call the operator. She’ll page me.”

Harper called after her, “Let me know what you find.”

Flannery tossed a salute. “Will do. Lunch?”

“Sure.” As Flannery disappeared around a corner, Harper turned back to Presley Worth, who looked after Flann with amused, faintly appraising blue eyes. Harper was used to seeing interest in a woman’s eyes when they considered Flann, but Presley’s expression was far more contemplative, as if she was trying to decide if Flann was worth her time. An unfamiliar reversal where Flann was concerned. Harper searched for something to say that wouldn’t sound like a follow-up to Flann’s invitation. “Been in town long?”

“That obvious?”

Harper laughed. “Only to someone paying attention—between me and Flann, we know the families of every patient in the hospital. Plus…”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Harper didn’t usually strike up conversations with women out of the blue, and definitely not in the hospital. That was Flann’s special skill. Flann was at ease with women anywhere and always had more dates and interested women than she could handle. Not so Harper. She preferred slow introductions and cautious explorations. She didn’t date much—she liked her privacy, and dating anyone at the hospital automatically meant everyone in the community would know before the night was out. And she’d grown up with many of the women she saw outside her professional arena and thought of them as friends, not romantic possibilities.

“Oh no,” Presley said. “You started it—now you have to finish.”

The teasing challenge in Presley’s voice caught Harper’s attention. “Your tan is a few weeks too early for the local weather, and…”

Presley made a keep-going gesture.

“And you look like a city girl.”

“Why do I think that might be a veiled insult?”

“Not at all,” Harper said hastily. “You look terrific.”

“You’re forgiven, then.”

Harper shook her head. “Sorry. Flann is the one with the smooth lines. I’m just a simple country doctor.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Presley said. “I must be keeping you.”

“I’m just making rounds. I’ll walk you down—do you have a room number?”

Presley hesitated. This was neither the time nor place to discuss her purpose with anyone, and most especially not one of the hospital’s dynastic family. “Actually, I’m here…about a job.”

Not strictly true, but not exactly a lie either. She wondered what Harper knew of the takeover and had the odd desire not to dispel their easy exchange quite so quickly. She must be more tired than she thought.

“Come on,” Harper said. “You’ll want personnel.”

Presley followed along. “What’s your specialty?”

“Family practice.”

“You work here at the clinic?”

“I staff it in rotation with about six others, but most of my practice is community based.”

“And your sister’s a surgeon.”

“Flann’s a general surgeon—she did a trauma fellowship, so she handles most anything out of the ordinary.”

Presley frowned. “What’s your trauma clearance?”

Harper gave her a questioning look. “Level three. Flann transfers out the complicated ones after they’re stabilized.”

They turned down another corridor lined with offices, the doors standing open and people visible within, working at desks.

“Are you staying in town?” Harper asked.

“Just a little ways outside.”

“Family in the area?”

“No,” Presley said, realizing her tone was sharper than she intended.

Harper paused in front of a partially open door. “This is personnel. You probably want to speak to someone in here if it’s about a job.”

“And where would the chief administrator’s office be?”

“That would be the room at the end.” Harper glanced at her watch. “Anyone there should be able to help you.”

Presley smiled. “Thank you for the tour.”

“Anytime.” Harper smiled wryly as if at some private joke. “And of course, there’s always Flann to continue the tour.”

“Of course.” Presley laughed.

“Good luck.”

Presley frowned. “I’m sorry?”

“With the job application.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you.”

“Well, good-bye then.”

“Have a good day,” Presley called as Harper Rivers walked away.

Harper turned back, her expression so intense Presley caught her breath. “You too.”

Presley really hoped she would, but she suspected before the day was out the Riverses and quite a few others would be less than happy to see her.

Chapter Four

Harper slid the cafeteria tray onto a table by the window and sat down facing Flannery. A lilac bush that had bloomed sometime in the last two days, its branches laden with deep purple flowers, brushed gently against the corner of the glass as if inviting her outside. Someone had opened the window, and the sweet vanilla scent of blossoms and fresh-cut grass beckoned. Down the hill, the church spire at the far end of town speared above slate rooftops, glinting in the sunlight. A twinge of spring fever and an unfamiliar restlessness toyed with her concentration. She rarely thought of escaping her schedule or her responsibilities, and the teasing urge to leave everything behind for just a day annoyed and unsettled her. She focused on Flann and the patient they shared, bringing her world back into order. “Everything go okay?”

Flannery balanced a hot dog in one hand and took a sip from the cup of steaming coffee she held in the other. “No problems. The appendix was red-hot, though. Another few hours and things could’ve gotten messy.” She took a bite and chased it with more coffee. “It’s good you jumped right on it.”

“Are you sending him home tomorrow?”

Flannery nodded. “As long as he’s not running a fever. I saw Tim Campbell giving out cigars in the lobby. Looks like you made his night too.”

Harper laughed. “I’d say Mary did that.”

“So…” Flannery polished off the rest of her hot dog in two bites and reached for a plastic plate with a huge slab of chocolate cake on it. “What’s the story with the new visitor?”

Harper forked up a few pieces of salad and considered ignoring the question as if she didn’t understand where Flann was headed. But she knew Flann, and she recognized the bird-dog glint in her eyes—bright and eager and relentless—when she spied quarry. No point in avoiding the inevitable. “There’s probably a story there, but I don’t have it.”

“You can get a patient’s life history in five minutes without even trying, but you spend—what—fifteen minutes with a hot-looking woman, and you don’t know the story?” Flannery shook her head. “Clearly, I failed to teach you anything of importance.”

“I can’t remember you teaching me much of anything, seeing as how you’re always trying to catch up to me.”

Flannery grinned. “I’d say once I was able to walk, we were even.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Harper said, the game an old one and her mind only half on the familiar rivalry. Ordinarily, Flannery’s unremitting competition never bothered her, and on those occasions when they bumped up against each other around a woman, Harper had been happy to concede the chase to Flannery. That idea didn’t appeal to her right now. In fact, some instinctive resistance rose inside her when she thought of Flannery pursuing Presley Worth, although if she had to say why, she wasn’t sure she could. She’d only spent a few minutes in Presley’s company, but those few minutes had left more of an impression than had any woman she’d met in a long time. True, Presley was unlike many of the women she’d known since childhood, but her unfamiliarity wasn’t what appealed the most. Presley seemed totally self-contained and just a little bit apart from everything, and that very aloofness piqued Harper’s curiosity. For someone whose life was grounded in the lives of others as hers had been since birth, Harper found that very insularity intriguing. Presley was a mystery she’d like to unravel, a desire as unusual as it was disconcerting. It didn’t hurt a bit that Presley had been unfazed by Flannery’s teasing flirtations—unlike most women faced with Flann’s megawatt attention, Presley hadn’t melted, she’d teased back in a way that had put her in control. Harper spent so much time letting others lean on her, the idea of someone else in charge was appealing.

“Hey.” Flannery’s voice cut into her reverie.

“What? Sorry.”

“I was asking for the details—where she’s staying, what is she doing here, is she married, that sort of thing.”

“How would I know that?” Harper rankled at Flannery’s assumption that Presley was hers for the asking.

“Well, what did you talk about?”

“Nothing, really. I only spent a few minutes with her. I walked her down to the admin offices. She said she came about a job.”

Flannery’s brows drew down. “A job? And you didn’t ask about that? Didn’t it strike you as just a little odd?”

“Why would it?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way she looked.”

“I’ve got two eyes, don’t I?”

Flannery grinned. “Yes, but sometimes I’m not sure you actually see anyone unless they’re sitting on one of your exam tables.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harper was feeling grumpier by the second—much the way she used to when Flann bugged her until she joined in on one of her harebrained schemes in college. Schemes that usually led to her bailing Flann out of one mess or another.

“Meaning, half the time you don’t notice when a woman is sending you interested signals.”

“There weren’t any signals.”