Mother's Promise by Anna Schmidt

Author:Anna Schmidt [SCHMIDT, ANNA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62029-634-9
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Darcy was on her way back to her office but her thoughts were on Ben. Something between them was different, and the shift had come even before she had told him about the incident with Rachel and Zeke. She thought back to the ball and realized that he’d acted differently even before then—at the run.

At first she hadn’t noticed. Competitive by nature, she had been totally focused on recording her best time when she and Ben had joined hundreds of other runners at the starting line. And when she had crossed the finish line ahead of Ben she had teased him about how missing those last two days of training had cost him.

He had grinned and invited her to celebrate with breakfast at a popular restaurant on St. Armand’s Circle. The restaurant had been full of other runners as well as volunteers from the race. The noisy conversation had made it impossible to share anything more intimate than a smile. Afterward they had walked back across the arching Ringling Bridge with its incredible views of the bay and the Gulf beyond to his condo where she had left her car.

Along the way, Ben had kept the conversation impersonal, talking about his final days at the teaching hospital, the party the staff there had thrown for him, and his relief to be able to concentrate fully on his role at the new hospital. When they reached the entrance to his condo he had walked her to her car, thanking her for helping him train and saying he would see her later.

At the time she had chastised herself for wanting to press for more—lunch by the bay perhaps. But she had sternly reminded herself that men did not like it when a woman was too pushy. If she had learned nothing else from her mother that lesson had been drummed into her head repeatedly. So she had gone home, done her laundry, cleaned her apartment, treated herself to a pedicure, and generally counted the minutes until she would see Ben again in a matter of a few hours.

So engrossed was Darcy with analyzing what might have gone wrong with her relationship with Ben that the very last person that she expected to find waiting for her outside her office was Zeke Shepherd.

“I thought I asked you to stay away from this hospital,” she said.

“Actually you never really asked—just sort of implied that I was less than welcome here.” He followed her into her office and sat down in one of two blue leather armchairs that faced her desk. “Nice digs,” he added, glancing around.

“Thank you. What is it that you want, Mr. Shepherd?” Using his surname reminded her that he was the brother of the president of the hospital’s board of directors—her boss. She stepped behind her desk and sat down, folding her hands on the large bare surface.

“I want to make sure that you have no worries about my performance for the children a few weeks ago. It’s been eating

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