The Right Medicine Read Online Free PDF Page B

kind. Carrie wore her dresses ankle-length for a reason, a reason that centered mostly around her buttocks and thighs.
    “Besides,” Carrie added hastily, “I’ve got some packing to do.”
    “Packing?” Mike asked, looking crestfallen. “But I thought for sure you were staying. Isn’t there some sort of two-night weekend minimum at this place?”
    “Why yes, but—”
    “Well, then, what’s your hurry?”
    And why, Carrie wondered, scrunching up her lips, was he trying so hard to convince her to stay? “I’ve got things to do,” she informed him. “Arrangements to—cancel.”
    “And tomorrow will be too late?”
    “Might be,” she told him, meaning it absolutely. Too late for a lot of things. Particularly her heart. This man, Mike Davis, had an unsettling effect on her. His whole wounded-puppy-dog ploy had worked wonders at disarming her emotion. Emotion she’d sworn only last night, as she stood weeping by this same pool, she would indefinitely keep under wraps.
    “Aw, come on,” he coaxed with a crooked grin. “I’ll bet your room’s already paid for.”
    She looked at him and blinked. The fact was, Wilson had already footed the bill.
    “Hey, I’m not proposing anything indecent here.” For some reason, that admission did not make Carrie happy. “Only a little attempt at sweet revenge.”
    Carrie eyed him suspiciously. “Revenge how?”
    “Revenge in our not letting them ruin our weekend.”
    Big, fat chance of that one, Carrie thought. More than her weekend had been ruined. How about her life? “Listen, Mike, it’s a sweet idea, your wanting to keep me company and all…”
    Now that was putting it mildly, Mike thought, feeling the rising sun beat down through his stuffy cotton shirt. Disturbingly, he was finding himself wanting to more than “keep her company.” He wanted the opportunity to not even let her out of his sight—for the next twenty-four hours, at least.
    The guy who’d tossed Carrie away just as cavalierly as Alexia had thrown his ring in the pool had been a total imbecile. The sweat dribbled down Mike’s open shirt collar and pooled, damn it, somewhere near his navel. Without even trying, the woman set him virtually on fire. And here she was saying she was about to leave?
    Carrie tapped her toe against the pool deck and considered his disappointingly not-so-indecent proposal. Forgetting the drop-dead gorgeous part, he did appear to be a very nice guy. Maybe even nice enough to be her friend. Which would be a definite first for Carrie St. John, as she’d never befriended any man for longer than thirty-six hours without things between them becoming intimate. But, of course, as her track record consisted only of two serious beaus, maybe she was being a bit hasty in making a sweeping assessment.
    Besides, friendship was good. Perhaps even what she most needed at the moment. And having a friend who looked and carried himself like the athletically inclined Mike Davis, could quite possibly come in handy. Maybe even in the very near future.
    “All right, I’ll stay,” Carrie said, “but under one condition.”
    “Any condition’s fine with me,” Mike said, knowing that as long as whatever it was involved his taking off his boiling clothes, it would be A-OK with him. Particularly if it involved Carrie St. John stripping down as well.
    “You understand this thing between us is about camaraderie. Two down-and-outs on the same flip side of the coin. Compadres.”
    Mike gave her a tight smile, damning every inner instinct he had and telling his licentious libido to behave. “Sure thing, Carrie,” he said, reaching out an arm to shake her hand. “We’ll play it any way you want.”
     
     

     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Carrie sat in the narrow oaken stairwell, finally getting a cell signal. The remoteness of the inn made service unpredictable. Carrie hadn’t been able to pick up more than two bars anywhere but here.
    She nervously twirled a lock of chestnut hair,