Prognosis: Romance (Doctors in Training 4)

He nodded. “Forgive me. Next time, the coffee’s on you.”

Her smile broke through. “It’s a deal.”

“So? When is the next time?”

Oh, wait. What had she just agreed to? “Um—”

“You have to say yes. You owe me a cup of coffee,” he reminded her.

The totally unexpected glint of mischief in his dark eyes was nearly her undoing. If he was so totally wrong for her, would she really find him this appealing?

“I’d drive you crazy,” she warned.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But, unlike you, I don’t make up my mind before giving something a chance.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Ouch.”

He looked a bit surprised that the words had escaped him, even though he’d obviously been teasing a little. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I like it that you have a bit of a snippy side. I was beginning to wonder if you’re just too perfect to be real.”

Now he was frowning again. “Um—”

Rather pleased with herself, she reached for her purse. “I’m going to browse through the books for a while. Thanks for the coffee, James. I’ll be seeing you.”

“When?”

Smiling over her shoulder, she replied, “I’ll let you know. Good night.”

She was aware that he watched her as she left the coffee shop and disappeared into the book racks. She added a little extra sway to her walk just for good measure.

All in all, she decided, that encounter had gone pretty well.

Nine days after his impromptu coffee date with Shannon, James was still trying to determine what, exactly, had been decided between them. He thought she’d agreed to see him again—if only for a cup of coffee—but she’d left so abruptly, without anything being planned for certain, that he still wasn’t sure she intended to follow through. He hadn’t heard from her since, but that hadn’t kept her from popping into his head surprisingly often, considering he’d met her only three weeks before and had seen her only twice since.

He debated attending the Hayes party because he certainly didn’t want to cause any awkwardness there. He decided to go for several reasons, primarily because he didn’t want to miss one of the remaining opportunities to spend time with his friends. And he couldn’t deny that he wanted to see Shannon again, even though they probably wouldn’t have much chance to talk in private.

He couldn’t say, exactly, why he was so intrigued by Shannon. With her red curls and dimpled, lightly-freckled face, she was cute—enchantingly cute—but not the Hollywood model of striking beauty. But then he tended to think some of those too-perfect faces looked rather cold and boring.

Her artless, outspoken manner of speaking often took him aback. He never knew exactly what she was going to say next or sometimes how to interpret what she’d already said. But he’d always been intrigued by a puzzle.

Her background couldn’t be any more different from his own. Her freewheeling, noisy, demonstrative family would probably find his parents stodgy and reserved and intellectually elitist—which, of course, they were. He loved his parents, as much as they would let him, but he was fascinated by Shannon’s family.

She hadn’t exactly encouraged him to pursue her—just the opposite, in fact. Which was also a rather refreshing chance, he admitted ruefully. Without undue conceit, he was aware he was considered a “great catch.” He had decent looks, money

and a future in a profession many considered to be socially advantageous. The past few women he’d dated hadn’t done a very good job of hiding their interest in all of those things, though he wasn’t sure any of them had been particularly interested in the man behind those assets.

Shannon seemed to be wary of the very traits that drew others to him. A march-in, take-charge kind of guy, he paraphrased her assessment of him. He’d never seen himself in that light and he thought she exaggerated, for the most part. But he could concede he probably came across that way sometimes. He had been trained to exude confidence and competence, both of which came naturally to him in a way that expressing doubt and vulnerability did not.

Perhaps she was right to be skeptical. Perhaps the differences between them were too great even to consider pursuing more than a casual friendship. He had to admit, the convoluted romantic history she had so candidly revealed to him in the coffee shop had taken him aback. But then again, all he’d done at this point was ask her to dinner. Whether a shared meal would lead to anything more was anyone’s guess.

He was greeted at the door of the Hayes house by Anne Easton, who was filling in on hosting duty while Mia and Connor checked in on the kids’ party that had started half an hour earlier. Pretty, petite blonde Anne smiled when James brushed a kiss across her cheek in greeting. “It’s good to see you, Anne.”

“It’s good to see you, too.” Her tone was just a little wistful. “I miss getting together as often as we used to.”

“Is Liam here?”

She beamed. “He is. Come in and say hi. He’s heading out again next week.”