CHAPTER ONE #2
Yes, he was incredible to look at, but he had humility about him despite his profession, and his good looks, that made him sexual magnet to the opposite sex.
He was a lawyer, which she’d met plenty of, but not like him.
Most lawyers she knew were grease-ball backstabbing thieves, and she had enough experience dealing with men like that.
She had first-hand experience in fact. Lance was different though.
He had integrity which she thought was rare in his profession.
Yet, it was all about love for his family.
He wouldn’t disrespect those he loved by being dishonest in any way.
This is what she’d come to learn about the Hartley men.
Family came first, everything else came second.
If one was going through something, the rest rallied around them.
She envied that. She was never privileged to know that type of adoration.
She knew they broke a lot of hearts on her surgical floor when they took Tess and went home.
Not too long after she got a phone call from her offering a job at her now husband’s office.
Are you kidding? She jumped at the chance to be around Lance again.
A new opportunity, and a change of scenery.
It took some adjusting to country life, but now she knew she’d never leave.
She could never trade the rolling grasslands and stunning view of the mountains for the concrete jungle again.
If you needed to quiet your mind you could walk in any direction and be alone with your thoughts. She loved it. She loved Lance.
Lance just looked like a regular cowboy around the ranch.
In fact, at a distance, you’d think he was an employee.
Close up, it was easy to see the status he possessed just by the way he carried himself.
When he left for work, his private practice in town, he dressed immaculately.
It was then he actually looked like an Attorney.
He usually wore darks suits. It probably was purposeful because of how striking that made his eyes.
They seemed to exacerbate that piercing intelligent stare he possessed.
He could melt the heart of a stone angel, she was sure of it.
Every time he looked at her, her heart would leap in her chest. Yes, she was sure it was deliberate because he, like his brothers, knew their vital assets and how to use them well.
He was smart, sexy and oh, so out of her league.
He was quiet most times, but she heard he was a shark in the courtroom.
As far as she knew, he had a big practice in Billings years ago, but downsized since then.
She was sure he’d had enough of being away from his family and the ranch.
At least that’s what he told Tess. She was one of the few people that he shared personal things with besides his brothers.
As far as Tammy knew, he still had a stake in that law firm because he did leave for a few days out of the month.
Maybe it was on a consult basis, but he obviously still had a part of city life.
Tess, however, thought he came home due to other reasons despite what others thought.
Like it was something deeper, to do with a woman, but Lance never spoke of anything along those lines.
Tess had known him forever so she came to her own conclusions.
Tammy decided to put faith in Tess’s instincts because of her knowledge of the Hartley men’s history.
Regardless, Tammy still felt like she didn’t know much more about him then when she first met him.
And whose fault was that? she scolded herself.
People, who knew her, would find her reservations surprising because she was not shy.
She was quite easy to get along with and very sociable.
Folks in Sulphur Springs would say she was very likable and she made friends easily.
She could agree with that most times, but they really didn’t know the real her.
More than once she had to advocate to an arrogant doctor about their patients’ needs, so she was assertive.
She just wasn’t assertive for her own needs, or, with men, well, a man.
Okay, a man that she was in love with. It was a side of her that no one knew, except Elaina, and Tammy had unselfish reasons for letting her in on her secret.
Elaina needed someone to confess to, and understand her, or she was going to end up alone even though she was in love with Colton.
She was as closed lipped as Tammy when it came to her personal life.
It was one of the rare times Tammy said anything about her feelings, but she did it out of concern for another.
Elaina needed it and it worked. That statement caused the other woman to open up and let Tammy in on her most intimate secrets.
After that, Elaina finally told Colton the truth.
It turned out he blamed himself more than her for the pain and suffering that she’d endured, told her he loved her, and married her.
Tammy knew she should listen to her own advice and say something to Lance, but she froze up around him every time. It was the only time in her life she felt like a gaping idiot.
Around everyone else, Tammy was witty and articulate and always encouraged others against the odds.
She always found the positive aspects of a negative situation.
Very rarely would she let herself feel depressed about something.
Yes, she was alone, she worked very hard, and she’d pretty much abandoned her family back in New York, but she refused to have regrets.
She honestly believed that there were always positive circumstances for the choices you made in life.
That was a choice she had to make, for her own personal freedom.
Tammy was a tall leggy redhead, not flaming red, but more of a dark auburn.
She was more slender than she wanted to be, but she was in great shape due to her constant working and always being on her feet.
She’d cut her hair a few months back. It was longer in the front than the back, but just above the shoulders.
Surprisingly, it turned out better than she thought.
She used to have it past her shoulders, but long hair just seemed to get in the way when she was working.
It was a pain in the butt to keep pulling it up.
Then there was the risk of getting something splashed in it, and body fluids were not a nurse’s friend.
She was no stranger to those episodes, so the hair had to go because it was getting tiresome pulling it up.
Elaina said she loved it. Lance lifted a brow when he noticed it but didn’t say anything else.
She sighed inwardly. Maybe she should have shaved herself bald. That would get a reaction—perhaps.
Her eyes were large, brown, and very appealing to the opposite sex.
More than once someone told her she had the soft brown eyes of a mother deer.
They were always filled with empathy and understanding.
That didn’t mean she was a doormat. She wouldn’t be taken advantage of, and she could hold her own against the best of them, such as doctors with God complexes.
When she did unleash her anger in those rare times, it was more than likely advocating for a patient.
One doctor told her she could part the Red Sea with her temper before he finally conceded and gave her the increase in pain medication that her patient needed all the while mumbling under his breath something about red-headed myths being true.
She just smiled sweetly and pointed a determined finger at the chart for him to write the orders.
Yes, she could heat up quick, but she could cool down just as fast. Luckily not all doctors acted so superior.
The local ones like Jacob Hartley were very open to a nurse’s assessments. Too bad she couldn’t clone him.
No, she really didn’t have much of a social life, but she enjoyed the time with her patients as much as her friends like Elaina.
It was one of the reasons she loved going out to the ranch.
Besides, it seemed so serene. It was a nice change from her busy profession.
Also, they were a true family who loved each other unconditionally.
She just couldn’t get enough of that. Then there was Lance. Of course he was another reason.
She’d seen women come and go in his life, but he was very discreet.
According to Tess, he never brought female company home.
Rarely did he bring a woman to a local dance or other celebration.
Again, when he did, he did not show any public display of affection no matter how they clung to him. Who could blame them though?
Lance’s eyes were a light honey brown, a Hartley brother trait.
His hair really dark, almost black, and his thick dark lashes made those light eyes deeply seductive.
He had the most perfect masculine mouth Tammy had ever laid eyes on.
His nose was straight, autocratic, and he had a fantastic build from working the ranch when he wasn’t at his practice in town or the city.
It was unreal how perfectly made he was.
She’d seen plenty of men naked in her profession, but always remained professional and unaffected.
She doubted that she could do the same if Lance came in to the hospital.
Each of the brothers seemed to have it so easy on attaining that masculine physique when other men she knew visited the gym five days a week and still didn’t look like that.
A visual popped in her mind of Lance with his shirt off and she shook her head to dispel it.
She was a lovesick fool! She’d never seen him shirtless, but the fine silk of his expensive dress shirts did manage to settle very nicely on every contour of his upper body.
God, she needed a distraction.