Healing Dr. Fortune by JUDY DUARTE Page A

end this sweet assault before she lost her head completely.
    Yet her body found it hard to comply with common sense, leaving it all up to him.
    As Jeremy broke the kiss and released her from his embrace, she tried to shake off the effects of the lingering magic to no avail. Her pulse was racing and her mind was scrambling to imagine something romantic developing between them.
    Still, she knew better than to waste her time thinking about those kinds of possibilities. Not when there weretwice as many reasons a relationship between her and Jeremy would never work out.
    But as he looked deep into her eyes, she couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around a single one of them.
    â€œThanks for a nice evening,” he said softly. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
    Still stunned by the sweet but arousing kiss, she was afraid to speak for fear she’d stumble over the words, so she merely nodded.
    When he turned and strode toward his car, she continued to watch him. She really ought to go inside the house, but her legs didn’t seem to be working any better than her voice.
    Once he reached the street and stood beside the driver’s door, he paused long enough to look over the top of the sedan and smiled. “Good night, Kirsten.”
    She lifted her hand to wave, realizing that her fingers had been resting against her lips, which still tingled from the kiss they’d shared.
    â€œGood night,” she managed to say.
    As he climbed into his car, she realized just how appropriate her parting words had been.
    It had been a good night indeed.
    Â 
    After dropping off Kirsten at her house, Jeremy pulled into the nearest shopping center and parked under a fluorescent light, not wanting to wait any longer before returning Jack Danfield’s call.
    Even though he was still reeling over the heated kiss he’d shared with Kirsten, he had to shake the giddinessand focus. As he did so, he dialed his colleague’s number.
    Jack had been waiting with the results of the X-ray and CT scan, so they discussed the details of the surgery as well as all the complications that could arise. Thanks to the efforts of modern technology, Jeremy had been able to see the scans and pictures on his iPhone, although he would have felt better about his counsel if he’d been standing next to Jack, viewing the images together.
    Nearly an hour later, Jeremy drove back to the Double Crown Ranch and parked near the barn, which had been rebuilt after an arsonist had set it on fire a couple years back.
    There were still lights on in the expansive, eight-bedroom house, a solid adobe structure, with sand-colored walls and rough-hewn wooden beams, which meant Lily was still awake.
    Good. That would give him a chance to talk to her and ask about her day. They’d both come to depend upon each other after William’s disappearance.
    Using the key ring remote, Jeremy locked the car, then strode along the curved adobe walkway to the steps that led up to the large, antique wooden door.
    Each time Jeremy passed through the arched entryway and opened the wrought-iron gate to the inner courtyard, with its abundant garden of native perennials and flowering vines, he felt as though he’d come home.
    He had a lot of memories of the ranch where he’d spent most of his summer vacations as a kid, and wheneverhe stepped on the property, all those sunny days of hard work and cowboy fun came back to him.
    Aunt Lily and Uncle Ryan had been good to him, as well as his brothers. So he was determined to “be there” for Lily now, while she was awaiting word from or about his dad.
    After letting himself into the tiled foyer, he called out, “Lily? I’m home.”
    The woman—who should have been his stepmother by now—said, “I’m in the great room, Jeremy.”
    He followed her voice, finding her seated in one of the custom-made leather chairs, a tea service set out in front of her on a glass-topped