Heaven Scent by SpursFanatic Page B

her along behind him. A moment later, she
was safely ensconced in the closet. With the door slightly ajar,
she could hear Dr. Gregory remarkably well over her pounding
heart.
    Tarin listened as Dr. Gregory covered
the same, convincing material he had in the ladies seminar.
However, his talk of the immoral tendencies and results of
employing men as mid-wives surprised her. The men’s resulting crude
comments and questions shocked her, but Tarin remained steadfast in
her silence.
    Dr. Gregory’s thorough and uncouth
details of a love affair between a lady of French descent and her
physician brought an unconscious gasp from Tarin’s lips. Rafe’s
chuckle outside the door raked along her skin like a silver fork on
china. Tarin knew he thought she should not have sneaked in. But
damn him and all men, she could not help it if they were all
heathens.
    As soon as applause began, Rafe
snatched her from the closet and whisked her out into the night.
They were blocks away before Rafe slowed their pace. Anyone passing
them on the street would think they were out for a leisurely
stroll.
    “Did you believe the tales he told,
Rafe?” she asked, still trying to catch her breath.
    “Yes,” he replied, his voice firm. “Men
have urges, Tarin. Some just don’t have the honor or morals to
control them appropriately.”
    Based on what Dr. Gregory said, neither
did some women.
    Then it struck her. She was one of those
women. Minutes ago, she had forgotten everything important to her
while wrapped up in Rafe’s kiss.
    She balled her hand into a fist. “Now
do you see why I fight for this?”
    He guided her across the street and
onto the walk. “Why do you fight for this here, Tarin, when you can
go nearly anywhere in the world and practice freely?”
    Tarin glanced up at the moon, her heart
heavy. How did she tell him of her need to save lives? To keep
others from feeling the bitter agony and utter helplessness she
felt at her mother’s passing? Yes, she had been a child, yet the
frustration and anger she felt for the London doctors had never
diminished.
    “’ Nearly anywhere in the
world’ is not home. And in England, their views are just as twisted
as here in America.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s about
saving lives. Making a difference.”
    Rafe nodded as he strolled beside her,
his eyes ahead. “Why this? Why midwifery?”
    She shook her head. “It’s not so much
midwifery as a means to an end. I want to be a physician. And Dr.
Gregory’s crusade is the best – the only – opportunity I’ve
had.”
    “And you will go to any lengths to gain
it.” His was a statement more than a question.
    “Yes.”
    Rafe’s jaw hardened, but he spoke no
further. She wondered what he thought, what caused the muscles in
his forearm to tense.
    They walked along in silence until they
reached her front door. “Thank you, Rafe… for
everything.”
    He crossed his arms over his massive
chest, a sure sign she would receive a healthy dose of arrogance.
“So, now you have no reason to be out at night alone.”
    Tarin felt a flash of irritation. What
a pompous bore. Did the man think he owned her now that he had
gotten her into the seminar? “Granted that is why I was out tonight
–“
    “And on several other occasions…” he
rudely interrupted.
    How did he know? Had he been following
her before tonight?
    She jutted her chin. “That is my
right,” she boldly stated, wondering why this man could bring a
rise to her temper when no other had before him. “You have no say
in the matter.”
    “I may have no say, but you have no
sense.” His stare was hard, his dark eyes as black as the night
surrounding them.
    “Earlier I was intelligent.”
    “When did I say that?”
    The man was a professional irritant.
“Before you kissed me.”
    “Oh, that’s right,” he replied with an
arrogant grin.
    Tarin had never been so mad at herself.
Obviously, the man had been toying with her when he kissed her
earlier. What had been a