The Trouble with the Tempting Doc
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Tina Beckett
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12
PROLOGUE
SNOWDEN TANGREDI STOOD at the front of the church and adjusted his bow tie. It didn’t work. It still felt tight—constrictive—and made him aware of the pulse that pounded in his neck. In his head. In his chest.
The front of a church was definitely not a place he ever saw himself standing again. But at least this time the officiant wasn’t there for him. No, the victim this time was his best friend, Kaleb Sabat.
Then again, Kaleb said he’d never walk this path, either. In fact, they’d made a boozy pact to that effect almost a year ago. And yet here Kaleb was, waiting on his bride-to-be.
Some people might have said Kaleb had no choice—that having a baby had put the stamp of fatherhood on his head—but Snow knew his buddy well enough to know that he didn’t do anything unless he wanted to. He was one of the most stubborn men Snow knew. But he was also one of the most upright and honest. And loyal to a fault.
His friend glanced his way and gave a half grin that said everything. Their pact to remain bachelors for life was about to be ripped to shreds. And while there was a rueful element to Kaleb’s look, there was not an ounce of regret accompanying it. The man was head over heels for Nicola and his new baby girl. And Nicola seemed to love him just as fiercely.
But for how long? How long before reality set in and the newness wore off?
Snow’s one jaunt down an aisle very much like this one had been full of the same air of expectation and hope. And healing. Or so he thought. If only he’d known then what he knew now. That the healing he’d hoped for had never materialized. Instead, a gnawing fear had crouched in the background, waiting for him to become the slightest bit irritated or angry. Then it came out to play, claws unsheathed. He soon realized he wasn’t cut out for married life. His now ex-wife had evidently figured that out, too, since she’d gotten out of Dodge, cheating on him with a colleague.
Emotionally unavailable. Too cold and distant. That’s what Theresa had claimed when she confessed she’d fallen in love with someone else. That she wanted a divorce. The sooner, the better.
And she was right. He hadn’t been “there” in a very real sense of the word. Oh, he’d loved her in the beginning, but there had been a nagging difficulty in showing that love outside of closed bedroom doors. The same padlock that kept angry emotions imprisoned deep inside of him had evidently trapped the more tender feelings, as well. The strain had taken its toll day by day, and as hurt as he’d been at the time of her confession, he couldn’t blame Theresa for looking elsewhere for what she needed.
Hell. Staying a bachelor was the best thing he could do for himself...and for any other woman who might catch his eye. Not that one had. He now knew the stakes and was playing it smarter this time.
A sudden burst of sound from the pipe organ to his right punched through his thoughts, forcing his mind to circle back to what was happening around him. Everyone stood and turned toward the back of the church. And there was Kaleb’s bride, her shining eyes fixed on the man beside him. Nicola had her arm through that of an older man, who had to be her father. And in the crook of the man’s other arm was his four-month-old granddaughter.
The pounding in his head increased exponentially the closer the entourage got to the front. Right now, all Snow wanted was to get out of the church and head back to the hospital, a world through which he moved with ease. A world he understood and could relate to.
A world that never cheated on him or expected what he couldn’t deliver.
He only hoped his friend didn’t find out the hard way that marriage was not as easy as the world made it seem.
Although, the fire and passion in Nicola’s eyes gave him pause. Evidently Kaleb didn’t suck in the emoting department the way Snow did. Then again, Kaleb’s childhood and his own had been poles apart.
Maybe, just maybe, this was one marriage that would survive. One romance that would continue to burn bright.
And if Kaleb found happiness here in this place, who was Snow to question that?
All he knew was that the toast they’d shared at that bar had been just as binding to him as the solemn words his friend was about to exchange with his fiancée.
Till death do us part.
That was a promise Snow was never going to make again. So while Kaleb and Nicola concentrated on their happiness, Snow was going to stand here and mentally renew a different vow. One he’d made years ago, when he was just a child. A vow he’d broken when Theresa had come along.
He was going to stay alone.
The sins of Kaleb’s father were not going to be visited upon his son. Not now. Not ever.
Of that, he was sure.
