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couldn’t help but feel a little lost.
    Even with everything she faced, she felt good about being back home in a place that filled her with wonderful memories. And there were so many things that hadn’t changed. Caleb was just as devastatingly handsome, her brother was still pigheaded and overprotective, and the entire town shut down at ten o’ clock. And both she and Caleb were very single, responsible adults.
    Correction, she added mentally. According to her altered records, she had an ex-husband and an adopted child. Miranda lifted her hand and stared at the wrinkles in her fingertips. It was way past time for her to get out of the bathtub. After opening the drain, she climbed out of the large tub and wrapped a bath towel around her body. Her muscles had relaxed to the point that she felt like a limp dishrag. Drawing on the last of her energy reserves, she finished drying off and opened her personal cocoa-scented lotion. Mechanically, she smoothed the lotion over her skin. The past is the past, she thought to herself firmly.
    You, Miranda Tyler, are a grown, independent and confident woman. She repeated that statement over and over as she dressed for bed. By the time she reopened the bathroom door and entered the bedroom, she had regained a measure of her former peace. She slid into the bed and curled her arms around the pillow. As sleep came gently she prayed for the strength and fortitude to deal with Caleb Blackfox in the days to come.

Chapter 4
    â€œI don’t want you as my doctor, Blackfox.”
    Caleb looked up from the chart in his hand at the man sitting up in the hospital bed. Ignoring the statement, Caleb slid the hospital door closed.
    â€œYou don’t have a choice this time, Darren,” he replied as if he were announcing the weather. Caleb walked over to the side of the bed and filed back the patient file. Very calmly he reached over and touched Darren’s bruised rib.
    Completely thrown off by the action, Darren jumped sideways. “Ouch! What the hell are you doing?”
    â€œChecking to see how your ribs are doing. Still cracked I see. Should I check on your arm and leg?”
    â€œHell, no!”
    â€œMy guess is that they are still broken and you need a doctor.”
    â€œYes, I need a doctor. I just don’t want you to be that doctor, Blackfox.”
    Caleb’s eyes narrowed and he pulled a pen out of his pocket. His fingers tightened over the metal. “I didn’t want Miranda to break up with me and never speak to me again.”
    â€œThat has nothing to do with me. If my sister wised up and saw you for the playboy you were then that’s all your fault.”
    Caleb looked at the EKG machine and was internally delighted to see Darren’s elevated heart rate. In a minute, he expected it to rise even further with his next statement.
    â€œBut you see, it isn’t my fault because she only saw what you wanted her to see.”
    â€œI wasn’t involved in your mess, Blackfox.”
    Anger that he hadn’t felt in years rushed from his gut and almost a decade of waiting. “Wrong. You pulled the strings and unless you bury the past here and now I will tell Miranda everything that happened that night and it will bury you.”
    â€œYou don’t know anything. And even if you did—if you told my sister—she didn’t believe you ten years ago, what makes you think that she’s going to believe you now?”
    â€œTen years. That’s what makes me believe. We were young, stubborn, and both of us wore our hearts on our sleeves then. Now we’re older and she will look past the emotions to the facts, Darren.”
    â€œFine, Blackfox, you can be my doctor. But why?”
    â€œCall me Caleb. The Blackfox thing is old, Darren, and I would rather we at least appear on friendly terms. Why am I here? I don’t care too much about you and we both know that. I can admire a man who takes care of his own, but you