Red Hot (10 page)

“Oh my fucking God. If your grandmother was
here she would have you. Rhian, how could you? You know your magic has to be
treated with respect. Fuck’s sake, I heard that enough when we were growing up
and I wanted you to give me something I couldn’t have. Who did you use it on?”

“Red.”

“Is that the hunk I passed on my way out
the other day?”

“Uh uh.” Rhian rubbed a hand over her eyes
and sniffed loudly. “Look, it wasn’t for me okay. It was for him. He has this
thing about his glasses. I think he looks cute with them but he hates them.”
She stormed over to the window and looked out. “I want him to feel good about
himself. Is that so bad?”

“You don’t need me to answer that and you
bloody well know it. What do you think Gram would have said about it?”

Rhian turned back to May. She wanted the
best for Red but she knew deep down she had taken a liberty casting spells on
his body without permission. Not that she thought she would get it anyway but
she had hoped, and tried to ignore the very real possibility he would be pissed
off with her.

“I know what she would say but then again,
she always wanted me to be happy. Why do you think she gave me this place?”
Rhian ran her hands through her hair, tugging at the long locks. “It was one
little spell, for goodness sake. I didn’t cast a love spell or anything, just a
little tiny spell to help his eyesight.”

“Which you know is totally wrong, no matter
how small it was.” May shook her head and took a seat at her desk, slamming her
hands on the top. “I understand why you would do it but honestly I thought you
were the last person who would use magic like that. If you are so keen to throw
around spells, how about a seriously hot guy for me.” She shot a glance in
Rhian’s direction. “Yeah, I thought as much. Well, you have to live with it
now, girl.”

“I know but I couldn’t help myself. He is
so vulnerable and sweet.”

The door opened and their first patient had
arrived. Putting on her professional smile, Rhian led them to the examination
room and began her day. She barely had time for more than a quick cup of coffee
for lunch as the animals were brought in for her attention.

“There, there pet.” Rhian calmed a small
dog that had tried to jump a fence and caught itself on the wire. A tear under
its belly needed to be stitched and the owner was fretting more than the dog.

“Sorry, Rhian, to interrupt but Red called
and wants a couple of seconds of your time if it's at all possible.” May raised
her eyebrows, giving Rhian a dark look and handed her the phone.

“Excuse me just a moment please.” She
turned away from her patient and its owner. She grasped the phone and walked
out into the reception area, May right behind her with her ears pricked up
listening. “Red. Hi.”

She listened to his voice on the other end
and smiled to herself. It was wonderful he was calling her. She’d intended
calling him today, but the clinic had been far too busy. That hollow guilty
feeling about the spell and how he would react left a knot in her stomach.

“My handsome man, how are you this fine
day?” She turned and gazed out the window while his voice soothed her busy
mind. “That would be lovely, sure. A picnic sounds great. How about I meet you
at your place though? It's kind of hectic here today and I'm not too sure what
time I'll be finished.” She turned and looked over at May who made no attempt
to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation. “Sure, I know where
that is. I have plenty of food in the fridge so I can manage that, you don't
need to shop. No, honestly Red it’s fine.” She turned away and hid the smile
she knew was breaking out. “Later then, bye.”

She handed the phone to May and walked back
to her patient, not giving her friend time to ask. Rhian knew she would be
grilled later but for now Red and the details of their date was hers. “Now then,
little pet, let's get you sedated and then I can stitch this up.” She ran her
hand over the small dog’s head soothingly

“I think you can go home for a few hours,
Mr. Nicholls. We’ll give you a call later this afternoon when she wakes up.”
Rhian patted the elderly man on the arm and called May to see him to the door.
“She's going to be fine, just a few stitches and a couple of days rest and she
will be as good as new. It might pay to get someone to fix those rough edges on
the fence though just in case she tries it again.” She picked up the dog and
walked through to the operating room, setting the nervous animal down on the
table.

The owner hovered by the door, and
nervously twisted his hands together. May put her arm over his shoulders and
guided him to the waiting room. “She will be fine, I promise you. Rhian will
sedate her so she can stitch her belly. I think she will be feeling much
happier by the time she wakes up.” May led him from the room out to reception
and Rhian could hear her asking for his phone number again so she could phone
him later when the dog woke up.

The old man gave her the details and
thanked her. May opened the front door and promised again to call as soon as
his dog was awake. She hummed as she walked back to the operating room where
she stood by as Rhian drew the drug and inserted it in the dog’s vein, while
May held the animal still as she fell asleep. Then May returned to the
reception room, leaving Rhian to carry out her work.

She readied her equipment and quickly sewed
the wound closed. After dressing the injury, Rhian lifted the dog and put her
in a cage on soft towels, letting her sleep off the sedative. May walked in
just as she was washing down the table.

“Well now. Do I have to squeeze it out of
you or are you going to share the goss?” The small brunette stood with her arms
crossed and a petulant look on her face.

“You know I would eventually, don't I
always?” Rhian wiped the table down and threw the paper towel in the bin. “His
name is Red as you already know. He crashed his motorbike on the coast road the
weekend I found Bambi.” She smiled at May, remembering the dazed lost look when
he came to and she was standing over him. “Poor boy swerved to miss the wee
thing if you please. What a sweet man he is.”

“And that's all there is to this story. Why
don't I believe you, Rhian?” May walked in and leaned over the table, her head
resting in her hands as Rhian fussed with her equipment. “You would hardly
break your staunch stand on spells if there wasn’t more to this.”

“Oh now, there's not much more to tell. He
rang to ask me to a picnic tonight. Not a real date you understand. At least it
didn't sound like it.” Rhian screwed up her forehead.

“Why didn't it sound like a date? Did he
ask you to take home his laundry or something?” May shrugged and raised her
eyebrows.

“No, it was more the tone of his voice. Not
calm and gentle like he normally is. Kind of rushed and in some sort of a
hurry. Now I wonder why that would be?”

“What do you mean, 'normally?' How many
times have you met this guy?”

“Well now, the time he fell off his bike.
The time he called in here to say hello the following day.” Rhian could feel
the heat racing up her face and May pinned her with a sharp look. “Then I
invited him to dinner the following night.” She broke off with a break in her
voice. That was the night she mounted him and just about blew her brains out
with the orgasm that had hounded her all day. All his fault of course, he had
been on her mind and with his beautiful body, it stood to reason it would make
her horny.

But she wasn't going to tell May about that
night. No way, at least not yet. Those visions were going to be hers alone to
be replayed on the nights she couldn't have the real thing. Hopefully there
wouldn't be too many of those.

“So, tonight on this non-date, what are you
doing?” May asked.

“Well, he did suggest we go for a ride on
his bike somewhere and have a picnic and watch the sun go down.” Her hands
stilled and she moaned. “Oh shit, I need to shop. There's nothing in the fridge
suitable for a picnic.” Rhian looked at May. “May, can you whip up to the deli
for me, pretty please and grab some food for tonight.”

“But you told him you had plenty in the
fridge. Why would you say that?”

“The poor boy wouldn't know the first thing
about a picnic, take my word for it.” Rhian rubbed her fingers into her eye
sockets. This morning's headache was still just near the surface, and
threatened to come back and bite her ass. “Please May while I watch the phones
and deal with whatever comes in.”

“I hope this isn't another of your lost
souls needing rescuing, Rhian. Please don't fall for another idiot like the
last one, you can do so much better,” May pleaded.

“Oh no. ‘T is nothing like that May, my
love. He's just not the sort who takes his nose away from his job very often
you see. A scientist he is and no doubt very good too. He just doesn't strike
me as the outgoing type you understand. A bit nerdy you might say.”

“Nerdy, don't you mean needy?” May frowned
and shook her head. “It's not a wonder you haven't got yourself a husband girl.
You always pick the ones nobody else wants. Ooh I could strangle you, Rhian,
honestly.”

“Stop now. He is nothing of the sort. He's
just a little bit, um shy I guess. But that's not a bad thing. Now be a good
girl and go and get me something nice and easy for dinner.” She pushed her hand
on May’s back and guided her out to the desk where she took money from the till
and pushed her out the door. “Take my car too,” she said and handed over her
keys.

Rhian smiled to herself as the little car
reversed out of the drive and took off down the hill toward the shops. May
meant well and was always there when Rhian crashed when the latest 'Mr. Right'
didn't turn out. This wasn't going to happen with Red. Of that she was certain.
But damned if she was going to take too much more digging about her spells
either, she would have to find a way to stop May asking for information.

She sang to herself, and went back out into
her surgery to check her sleeping patient. The dog was still resting peacefully
so Rhian took the opportunity to check her supplies and start the order list
for the end of the week.

May locked the door on her way out after
the clinic closed and Rhian ran into her room to find clothes suitable to wear
on a bike. Passing over her selection of dresses she eyed her old blue jeans
and decided if they were going on the motorbike these were the most suitable
things she owned. She picked out a warm sweater and changed out of her work
clothes. She pulled on some old comfortable boots and ran into the kitchen to
pack a picnic basket. Thinking better of it, she grabbed a lined backpack and
packed all of the delicatessen goods in containers that wouldn’t crush, fitting
them inside.

She tried it on her back for weight since
she would be the one carrying it and then added a bottle of wine and a couple
of plastic goblets. Not too heavy. Satisfied with her efforts, she said goodbye
to the animals and left, locking the door behind her.

She found Red’s house easily. It was only a
couple of streets from hers and they both shared the same lovely view over the
bay. While her house was bright lemon with white trim, Red’s home was more
sedate. A lovely pale dove grey with white trim and a bright red front door.
His bike was in the driveway and she parked behind it. As she reached for the
picnic bag, she heard him call out.

“Rhian, glad you could make it. Busy day?”
He came down the stairs to stand beside her and rested his hand on her back. He
leaned down and gave her a sizzling kiss before taking the bag from her hand.

“Yes, hectic actually, hardly a moment to
breathe but that's how it usually goes you understand. There is always some
poor animal in need.” She lifted a hand and touched his face running her
fingertips over his cheek. When he smiled at her she reached up and touched her
lips to his again before she relaxed against him. She felt so right in his
arms. How could what she had done be wrong in the greater scheme of things?

They both started as a car door slammed and
someone cried out.

“Carrick, what is she doing here? How dare
you touch him, you bitch? Get your hands off my boyfriend.”

Rhian looked into the furious face of a
dark haired beauty and took an involuntary step backward. The woman was glaring
at her with pure evil seeping from her soul.

“Eleanor. What the hell are you doing
here?” Red asked. He held onto Rhian’s arm but she brushed him off, staggering
away from him as the woman grabbed at Red with her blood-red manicured
fingernails.

“When you didn't return my calls, what did
you expect?” She threw her arms around his neck and molded her body into his.
She planted her bright red lips against his and moaned softly while glaring at
Rhian.

Rhian stood shocked at the display of
affection in front of her. What upset her the most was, Red didn't seem too
keen to put a stop to it. Who was this woman and why did she have a claim on
Red? Hearing May’s words coming back to haunt her she stumbled back toward her
car. She turned and with tears in her eyes opened the door and threw the bag on
the passenger seat. She quickly climbed in and slammed the door before she
started the car.

Red pulled free and called out to her.
“Rhian, stop, I can explain. Please don't go.”

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her
cheeks as she shook her head. She reversed out of the drive, not at all phased
she had narrowly avoided hitting the chauffeur driven car gleaming at the curb.
She turned quickly onto the road and headed for home on auto pilot. Rhian was
gutted. Another stray she deemed worthy to be her mate already had a girlfriend
and it would appear she had money, plenty of it.

How pathetic was she?

The tears streamed down her face and she
brushed them off with the back of her hand. She pulled into her driveway and
raced up the stairs and into the house, not bothering with the picnic food. She
slammed the door behind her and ran into her bedroom. Rhian threw herself on
the bed letting the sobs escape and the tears flow. How could she have been so
damned stupid? She thought he was different but it was the same old story.
Rhian feeling sorry for the lame duck and getting burned in the process.

And to think that she had cast a spell
to make him look more attractive in his own eyes.

It sure as hell didn't seem to worry that
rich beautiful girl who was clinging to him as Rhian left. Obviously she liked
the way he looked just fine.

She sobbed her heart out and wished for
just once she could find a man who wanted her and only her. She wanted to be
good enough for a normal guy, not one who had issues greater than she could
ever be. A bounce on the bed heralded the arrival of Nero. He walked up the
length of her body and sat on the pillow looking down at her.

She turned her head to look at him through
watery eyes. “You told me, didn't you? You didn't think it was a good idea and
now I know why.” She sniffed loudly and grabbed a tissue from beside the bed
and wiped the tears running down her face. “Next time I want you to dig your
claws into my leg, not just turn your back on me.” He watched her with calm,
green, unblinking eyes as she raved on. “I thought he was different but he
wasn't. He was using me for some sick reason.” Hell, the sex was great and it
made a change from Bob but she’d thought this guy was it.

She snuggled into her pillow and cried
until she fell asleep. When she woke the next morning her head thumped and her
stomach was protesting the lack of food the night before. Rhian rolled over and
bumped noses with Nero.

“Just as well I can count on you my
friend.” She rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes and willed her
headache to go away. Knowing it wouldn't, she tumbled out of bed and staggered
into the bathroom. Avoiding the bath and the memories of Red leaning back in
the bubbles, she turned on the shower. Rhian stripped and threw her clothes on
the floor before she stepped into the warm water. She stayed there until her
skin wrinkled and the hot water started to run out. Flicking off the tap, she
reached for a towel and dried herself.

Glancing in the mirror Rhian sucked in a
breath. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red-rimmed from her tears. She
quickly cast a spell but even that didn't take the sadness from her eyes. She
walked back into her room and pulled out clean clothes and dressed.

In the corner of the lounge, Bambi was
getting to her feet, knowing movement meant food was not far behind. On auto
pilot, Rhian made the bottle and fed the fawn. She flicked on the coffee and
took bread from the cupboard. She stood at the counter and made toast. Rhian
ate it although she knew she wouldn't remember what she’d had for breakfast
later on.

Footsteps sounded on the front steps and
she walked over to the hallway. The bulk outside the door was Red, she was sure
of it. When he knocked on the door, she melted back into the shadows in case he
saw her. She was too hurt and raw to face him now. If he had followed her last
night she might have spoken to him but sleeping on the hurt had made her
stubborn. She walked back to the kitchen and ignored the knocking until he gave
up and left.

She fed Nero when he wandered out and
rubbed against her legs--the only constant male in her life who never let her
down. Her brother was too young to be responsible so he didn't count. Her Da
was losing patience with her inability to settle down and grace him with
grandchildren. It would be no use talking to him or her mother. Mam always
sided with Da and didn't understand why she hadn't already picked one of the
many young men who they deemed suitable son-in-law material. Mooning over a cup
of coffee, Rhian replayed last night over in her mind. She was so sure Red was
the one. Hadn’t the Fates thrown him at her feet?

Sighing with despair, Rhian headed for the
surgery and unlocked the door. Today was the day she normally did most of her
operations and she had to see what she had booked in. If she could avoid it she
would. She ran her finger down the page of appointments and groaned.

“What was that for then?” May walked in the
door as Rhian slammed her palm on the appointment book. “Did you not have a
good night then, my girl?”

Rhian shook her head and walked away before
tears could start again. She held her hand out to stop May from following her
and escaped to the relative safety of her kitchen. She stayed there until May
buzzed her when the first patient arrived.

“Rhian, I don’t want to pry love, but you
don’t seem your usual self today.” Mrs. Winkle had been bringing in native
wildlife for as long as Rhian could remember. “Is there something I can do for
you?”

“Oh no, thank you. I’m just feeling a wee
bit blue for no good reason. Must be the moon changing and I’m desperate for
the weekend so I can get out of town.” She tried to smile and failed miserably.
She turned her attention to the patient. A cat had attacked the small squirrel
and after washing the wounds Rhian gave it an antibiotic injection. “Okay,
that’s you for the day. Just bathe the wound and use the cream I gave you and
he should be ready for release by next week.” Rhian stroked her finger over the
soft fur of the baby squirrel before shutting the lid on the carry cage.

“Thank you, my dear,” the old lady said. “I
hope you enjoy your weekend and come back with a smile on your face. I don’t
like seeing you down and sad.”

Mrs. Winkle walked slowly from the surgery
carrying the cage and Rhian heard her talking to May at the front of the house.

The rest of her day was long and painful.
She was not her normal bubbly self, she knew that. Those patients who knew her
were kind in their suggestions it was time she had a holiday or a date. May
kept her words to herself knowing full well Rhian would talk when she was
ready.

It was almost closing time when May came
out to the surgery and announced there was someone here to see her.

“Well, send them in then.”

“Um, it's not a patient, Rhian. I think
it’s him.” Her voice dropped down to a whisper. “Red.”

Rhian felt the blood drain from her face.
“Tell him I'm not here.”

“I know you are Rhian and I need to talk to
you.” He stood in the doorway, holding his helmet in his hand as he looked at
her.

* * * *

She was so beautiful but looked incredibly
sad. He knew she was hurt and it was his fault. If he had phoned Eleanor back
she wouldn't have come to the house and messed up the evening he had planned.
He looked at Rhian, willing her to say something, anything.

Anything except go away and leave her
alone.

“Thanks, May. I'll lock up. I'll see you in
the morning.” Rhian smiled at her friend and she left after giving Red a hard
stare.

“Thanks. Look--” he held up his hand in a
gesture very much like defeat “--I can't tell you how sorry I am about last
night.”

“Sorry you got caught or sorry you missed
out on dinner?” Rhian asked turning from him, her shoulders drooped in defeat
making him feel like a heel.

“Sorry I missed out on a date with you.” He
put his helmet on the floor and walked over toward her but stopped when she
held out her hand. “There was nothing to get caught out about. She is a long
ago ex who just showed up. I'm sorry, really I am. But she means nothing to me.
She hasn't for a long time.”

“What was she doing there then? Tell me the
truth, Red. After all you are the one who decided we needed to be honest with
each other. How about you try it on for size and tell me what's really
happening between the two of you? It wasn't like you were forcing her away when
she kissed.”

“She took me by surprise, honestly. I never
expected to see her.” This wasn't going very well and he didn't know what to do
to fix it.

“That much was fucking obvious. But
seriously, you could have handled it so much better you know. If you wanted me
as a bit on the side, you should have come here instead of me coming to you.”
Rhian’s eyes were hard and she was looking angrier the more she spoke. “You
know, just to make sure we never met up. That would have been the sensible
thing to do now, wouldn't it?”

Red cringed at the sarcasm in her voice.
“It's not like that, really. Look we broke up last year. She dumped me if you
must know. She is the reason I don't feel happy getting into another
relationship.” Red shook his head and looked away from her. The feelings were
all coming to the surface again. “I got hurt so badly I wasn’t sure if I could
risk another heartache when we met. She was the reason why I held back with you
Rhian. Because of the hurt she caused me.”

Rhian lifted her gaze to his and his heart
clenched. “But back to her, I wasn't good enough apparently. She tried to make
me something I'm not.” He turned away from her and ran his fingers though his
hair. “I'm just a scientist trying to do the right thing by developing things
that matter to me. She wanted me to discover things that would make instant
money if you know what I mean. Things the rich could afford but the average man
in the street couldn't.” He turned back to see if she was listening to him. Her
gaze was locked on his face.

“Her father is powerful and could introduce
me to the 'right kind of people.' I could get the funding to do the kind of
studies they thought were important, but those things are not me Rhian. I
wasn't brought up that way. I just couldn't do it all for fame and money. She
dumped me in the most public and humiliating way. But not until she had someone
to replace me.”