Shanna laughed. “You really don’t trust me, do you?”
“You know how that old saying goes, something about keeping your friends close and your stalker closer….”
“Enemies,” she corrected. “Keep your enemies closer.”
Except he didn’t see anything in Shanna that would make her his enemy. If anything, what he saw was… gentle. Compassionate. “For now, let’s just keep it at stalker.”
“So, do you have a bed for a stalker someplace?” she asked, taking her last sip of mate then pushing back from the table.
Since Amanda and Jack were still occupying the guest cottage until their own cottage was built, and all the volunteer rooms were full, there weren’t many options left open. His cottage was built like all the others, two small residences per cottage, divided by a central corridor. As hospital owner, he claimed privilege and took up both residences in his cottage, using one for living and one for storage, because he valued his privacy. Looked like he was going to have to share, though. An idea with a certain jumbled appeal. “I occupy half the cottage around to the side… you walked right past it when you came in.”
“Half a cottage?”
“Don’t require much.”
“So what you’re telling me is we’re sharing quarters? I’ll take the part you don’t require?”
“Something like that. You’ll get your own room, as well as your own bathroom and a very small living area. So I’ll have someone move my things aside and make room for you.” Everything in that cottage was the sum total of his life, all of it packed into three or four boxes. Bottom line, there wasn’t going to be much of his life to move aside.
“Very practical,” she said. “Me being your stalker, and all.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, then…” What else was there to say after the most beautiful woman he’d ever set eyes on called him practical? The answer was… nothing. There was nothing to say. Not a word. When a woman saw a man as practical, that was as far as they would go. But that was what he wanted, wasn’t it? The two of them going nowhere except on some house calls. Yes, practical was right where he needed to be with her. Right now, though, getting what he wanted didn’t feel so good.
CHAPTER THREE
“WHO is she?” Amanda asked, waylaying her brother in the hospital hall and practically shoving him into a supply closet. “And why is she staying in your cottage?”
“Technically, the cottages are meant to be shared by two. So she’s not really staying in my cottage so much as she’s occupying the other half of a cottage that was designed to be used by two people.”
“Quit being evasive,” Amanda scolded. “I want to know who she is and if she’s the one you met in Tuscany. Oh, and why she’s here.”
“It’s not what you think,” he told his sister.
“You don’t know what I think.”
“Yes, I do. It’s the same thing you think every time you come up with the crazy idea that I might be getting involved with someone.”
“So, are you getting involved with…?”
“Shanna. Shanna Brooks. And, no… notice the emphasis I place on the word no? No, I’m not getting involved with her. But, yes, she’s the person I met in Tuscany.”
“And didn’t have an affair with.”
“And didn’t have an affair with,” he repeated.
“Yet she followed you here?”
“Yes, but I’m still trying to process the reason.” Saying she wanted to be like him could be open to so many interpretations. “I think maybe she’s just looking for some variety in her medical life.”
“Medical life. So she’s what? Doctor, nurse, technician?”
“Family-practice doctor. Burned out, I’m pretty sure.”
“And she’s looking for a nice jungle hospital to rejuvenate her?” Amanda shook her head, smiled. “Don’t be naive, Ben. She’s looking for you to rejuvenate her. Notice the emphasis I place on the word you? And I couldn’t be happier for you. It’s about time you crawled out of your deep, dank hole and did some real living.”
“It’s a normal hole, and I live just fine in it.”
Amanda’s curiosity relaxed a bit, and she arched playful eyebrows at him. “Well, whatever it’s about, you have very good taste in roommates. In fact, that’s a Robinson trait. Just look what happened to me and my roommate.” She patted her rounding belly. “It worked out pretty well.”
“Because there was something there between the two of you to work out.” He held out his hand to stop her from saying the words he knew she’d say. “I’m fine. Just leave it at that, okay?”
“Yeah, well, a beautiful woman just followed you halfway around the world. I’d say that’s better than fine, and as for leaving it alone…” Amanda gave her brother an affectionate squeeze on the arm then spun away. “Think I’ll go help our new volunteer get settled in.”
“She’s going on evening house calls with me.”
“Like I said, I think I’ll help our new volunteer get settled in… later.”
“Leave it alone, Amanda,” he warned. His sister was a free spirit, which was both endearing and, right this very moment, aggravating.
“According to you, there’s nothing to leave alone.”
“So let’s keep it that way.” There were times, though, when he wished he didn’t have to.
“You chose a beautiful area,” Shanna said, trailing along behind Ben. His long legs kept a brisk pace and while she was tall, just a few inches shy of his six-foot-two frame, with long legs herself, she was struggling to keep up with him.
“It chose me,” he said brusquely. “There was a need here, and I had the means to do something about it.”
“So you set up a hospital, just like that?” He seemed the type who could. Efficient, not a speck of nonsense in him. She wondered, for a moment, if Ben ever had fun in life, then dismissed the thought when she remembered that her life didn’t afford much fun, either. Not even after she’d walked away from medicine and, effectively, everything else in her life. Her goal then had been to see the world, have a good time, forget what frustrated her, what made her angry or sad. Concentrate only on what was good in the moment. Then get back to her life and see how it worked out. This was now the working-out part and fun didn’t matter. It was time to be a doctor again but without the emotional involvement that always got in her way.
“Easier said than done. But from a simplistic viewpoint, yes. I set up a hospital just like that. With my sister. She’s only just started working here full time, but she’s been my partner from the beginning.”
“Why Argentina?” Was it easier to fight his demons in such an isolated place? Maybe working so hard with so few resources helped him cope.
“Before you ask, no, it’s not about isolating myself from the world because I’m an alcoholic and the temptations here might be fewer. They’re not. And I don’t consider this isolating myself from the world. My parents were humanitarian workers here for a while. And my sister’s native Argentinian, from a region south of here.”
“I’d wondered if it might have something to do with your… shall we call it demon. But it’s not, and—”
“Not, it’s not,” he interrupted.