The Doctor's Guardian by Ferrarella Marie

Author:Ferrarella, Marie [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-10-15T23:50:33+00:00

Chapter 9

When the waiter brought the check over and placed it on the table in front of Cole, Nika opened her purse and began rummaging through it.

Watching her for a moment, Cole asked, “What are you doing?”

“Looking for my wallet so I can pay my share of the bill,” she answered, sparing him a look just before she located her elusive wallet, which had sunk to the bottom of her purse, and took it out.

“You don’t have a share,” he replied. When she seemed confused, he said, “I used the D-word, remember?”

Nika’s confusion lingered for another couple of seconds before dissipating, and when it did, she was still a little surprised because she hadn’t really thought he’d meant it at the time.

“You said date,” she recalled.

He took out his own wallet. “It’s coming back to you,” he observed, nodding his head in approval. She had no idea if he was serious or pulling her leg. “Good. I was beginning to think that I imagined the whole conversation.”

She wasn’t comfortable with this. Did he think she was too poor to pay her own way? She was almost certain that this wasn’t really a date. “I’d still like to pay my half.”

Cole remained firm and shook his head. “Not going to break me,” he commented. “Besides, I don’t have staggering student loans to pay back.”

Was that why he was paying for dinner? Pity? He needed to be set straight. “Neither do I.”

A glimmer of surprise was evident in his eyes. “I thought all medical students came out of school with huge debts.”

Usually, they did. But she and her sisters were very lucky that way. “My mother had an older sister, Zofia, who was an actuary at one of the major insurance companies. She worked all of her life, and then died without enjoying any of her money. She left it to my mother, who used it to put all of us through school.” Wielding it like a weapon, she added silently, remembering her mother’s non-negotiable terms. They could only get their educations paid for if they agreed to become doctors. Luckily, that turned out to be exactly what they wanted, except for perhaps the baby, Henryka, who took a while to come around.

Cole wasn’t about to accept defeat. He had another card to play. “All right, then let me fall back on my male ego. You pay, it’ll be bruised.” He leaned in closer to her across the table. “If I called this a business dinner, would that make you feel less like you were compromising whatever ideals are keeping you from allowing me to pay for this?”

“It’s not that, it’s—business?” Nika abruptly asked, the homicide detective’s choice of words suddenly sinking in.

Cole nodded. “You can think of yourself as my informant.”

She had a feeling that she might have just met her match, as far as stubbornness went. Cole sounded as if he would go on arguing with her until she finally gave in. Better sooner than later. Besides, this was only a minor point.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.