Loe raamatut: «The Doctor Wore Boots»

“Just for tonight could we pretend that we’re not who we are?”

Confused, Dex tried to read her expression for some hint of what she was thinking. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Let’s pretend you’re not Ty Cooper, the rancher who loves nothing more than raising cattle. That I’m not Leanne Watley, struggling dude rancher. And that our parents haven’t tried to marry us off for years. Let’s just be two people who want to have a nice time together for one evening. Just one night,” she added softly.

“We can do that.” He stared directly into her eyes, hunger roaring inside him. At that moment he would have given anything to really have her for one night. “Just for tonight.”

He wondered if Miss Leanne Watley had any idea how close to the edge she’d pushed him. It would take nothing short of a miracle to keep him from crossing the line tonight.

The Doctor Wore Boots
Debra Webb

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debra Webb was born in Scottsboro, Alabama, to parents who taught her that anything is possible if you want it badly enough. She began writing at age nine. Eventually she met and married the man of her dreams and tried some other occupations, including selling vacuum cleaners and working in a factory, a day-care center, a hospital and a department store. When her husband joined the military, they moved to Berlin, Germany, and Debra became a secretary in the commanding general’s office. By 1985 they were back in the States, and finally moved to Tennessee, to a small town where everyone knows everyone else. With the support of her husband and two beautiful daughters, Debra took up writing again, looking to mystery and movies for inspiration. In 1998 her dream of writing for Harlequin came true. You can write to Debra with your comments at P.O. Box 64, Huntland, Tennessee 37345.

Dex Montgomery’s Cheat Sheet: How To Be Ty Cooper

1. Wear worn jeans and cowboy boots.

2. Figure out which brother is Chad and which is Court.

3. Stop staring at Leanne Watley.

4. Remember to wear your Stetson.

5. Learn how to ride a horse.

6. Use your left hand, not your right.

7. Stop your little niece Angelica from revealing the truth.

8. Try not to fantasize about the beautiful Leanne….

Contents

Pre-Prologue

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Pre-Prologue

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl and a handsome young boy who fell deeply in love. But, alas, their families were at odds. So, determined to keep the two apart, the young boy’s family took him and moved far, far away.

Many years later, when they were all grown up, the young man and the young woman found each other once more. Unwilling to risk separation again, they married swiftly before either of their families could object. As expected, many hurtful words were spoken, much damage was done, but love prevailed. Nothing could tear the loving couple apart.

To add to their happiness, less than one year later they were blessed with a perfect set of twin boys. The lovely young couple was so very happy at last. But that happiness was short-lived. Fate intervened in the form of a fatal car crash.

Both families were devastated. All that remained of their only children were the twin grandsons. A fierce custody battle ensued, widening the rift. Finally, a judge made the only fair decision he felt was possible; he gave each set of grandparents one of the twins. Due to the extreme hostility between the families, he ordered that all future contact be limited until they learned to get along. Taking the judge’s words too much to heart, the estranged families, with their respective namesakes in tow, went their separate ways and never looked back.

Until now.

Prologue

O’Hare Airport

Dex Montgomery allowed his briefcase to collapse to the floor next to the only empty table in the crowded bar. He jerked at his tie and dropped into a chair, completely disgusted.

Two hours. His flight was delayed for two hours. What was he supposed to do for two hours?

“Are you ready to order, sir?”

Dex heaved a sigh fraught with equal measures of impatience and frustration and looked up at the waitress watching him expectantly.

“Scotch,” he told her. “No water. And make it a double.”

She nodded and headed in the direction of the bar, weaving her way through the throngs of occupied tables and pausing occasionally to take another customer’s order.

Glancing at his watch, Dex considered whether or not to call in and inform his grandfather of the delay. He definitely wouldn’t make this afternoon’s meeting of the board. Dex frowned. Montgomery men had no tolerance for delays. There was little he could do about it, however. The old man would simply have to fend for himself. His frown relaxed a bit with that thought. Charles Dexter Montgomery, Senior, was getting a little soft anyway. Sparring with the sharks who made up the board of M3I would be good for him.

Considering the boring financial conference Dex had just endured, it was only fair. This was the third conference he’d attended in the last two months. He was sick of hearing how M3I could improve its profit margin. Dex clenched his jaw. Modern Medical Maintenance, Inc., affectionately known as M3I, maintained a very healthy profit margin. Dex and his grandfather saw to that. They’d started with a single facility in Atlanta and had built a medical empire. M3I now consisted of a chain of cutting-edge facilities throughout the Southeast. The business was focused on providing quality medical care and making a profit.

Not necessarily in that order.

“Anything else?” The waitress placed the drink in front of him and smiled. Not a thank-you-for-your-patronage kind of smile, but one that became a predatory gleam in her eyes. She was flirting.

“No, thank you.” He paid the lady and turned his attention to his drink. He didn’t need a flirtatious waitress and he damn sure didn’t need two hours in a bar.

He needed work.

Dex almost laughed out loud at that one. What he did wasn’t work, it was choreography. He led a well-rehearsed dance to the sound of money changing hands. The medical degree and license he held were mere icing on the cake of the distinguished position as chairman of the board. Dr. Dexter Montgomery. It had the right ring to it even if it wasn’t for practicing medicine. No doctor with the Montgomery name would dare sully his hands treating patients. Not when there was money to be made.

Dex stopped himself. He always got this way when he spent any length of time away from the office. That’s why he all but lived at the office. Work was his life. He knew nothing else, didn’t even have a hobby. And why should he? He had plans. Plans that didn’t include silly, sentimental musings.

“To profit margins,” he muttered and downed a hefty gulp of Scotch.

The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. Frowning again, he tilted his head left then right, stretching to relieve some of the tension. But that little niggling sensation of being watched just wouldn’t go away. He glanced around the room, then did a double-take. A couple of tables away a man, his cowboy hat on the table before him, sat, seemingly paralyzed, the glass in his hand halfway to his mouth.

Dex registered surprise first…then incredulity. The cowboy was dressed differently than he was, no Armani or Cardin, but he looked exactly the same. Same thick dark hair, cropped short. Maybe his was a fraction longer. Same dark eyes…same square jaw…same…everything.

Dex pushed to his feet, the legs of his chair scraping across the tiled floor. Before he had the good sense to stop himself and think about what he was doing he’d crossed to the man’s table, passed his drink to his left hand and extended his right. “Dex Montgomery,” he said numbly.

Apparently shocked himself, the cowboy stared first at Dex’s hand, then at him. “Ty Cooper,” he responded stiffly. His callused hand closed over Dex’s. The contact was brief but something passed between them. Some strange energy that felt alien but somehow oddly familiar.

Dex shook his head in question. “Who…? How…?” This was surreal. The man didn’t just resemble him—he looked exactly like him.

Apparently at a loss himself, Ty gestured to the empty chair on the opposite side of the small table. “Maybe you’d better have a seat.”

Dumbfounded, Dex complied. “This isn’t possible. I mean…” He shook his head again. “I’m a doctor and even I’m at a loss for an explanation.” This couldn’t be. It was like looking into a mirror. It was bizarre.

The other man scrubbed a hand over his chin. “You’re right, partner. It’s a little weird looking at your reflection in another man’s face. Maybe we’re related somehow?” He laughed nervously. “You know, distantly. Identical cousins or something.”

Dex lifted one shoulder, then let it fall. “That’s possible, I suppose.” A memory pinged him. “Did you say Cooper?” he asked, almost hesitantly.

Ty nodded. “Of Rolling Bend, Montana. We have a cattle ranch called the—”

“Rolling Bend, Montana?” A chunk of ice formed in Dex’s stomach.

“Yeah.” Ty swallowed hard. “You know the place?”

Dex’s gaze settled fully onto his. He couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “My mother’s name was Tara Cooper. She was born in Rolling Bend.”

Ty signaled the passing waitress. “Ma’am, we’re gonna need another round here,” he said, his voice hollow.

She glanced at Dex, then started visibly when her gaze landed back on Ty. “Doubles for doubles,” she said with a giggle. “Are you guys twins or something?”

Dex glared at her and she scurried away. Ty leaned forward as if what he had to say was too unbelievable to utter out loud. “Tara Cooper was my mother.”

A choked sound, not quite a laugh, burst from Dex. “But my mother died when I was three months old.”

“My birth date is May 21, 1970,” Ty countered. “My mother died in an accident with my father when I was three months old.”

“Oh yeah? Well, so did mine. But I don’t have any siblings,” Dex argued, unable to comprehend what he could see with his own eyes.

“Neither do I—well, except for my adopted brothers.”

Dex gestured vaguely. “Maybe there were two Tara Coopers in Rolling Bend?”

Ty moved his head slowly from side to side. “We’re the only Cooper clan in that neck of the woods.”

“I’m certain there’s some reasonable explanation,” Dex suggested. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins making his heart pound. This man couldn’t be his brother. That was impossible.

“There’s an explanation all right,” Ty said flatly. “We’ve been had.”

THREE HOURS and too many drinks to remember later, Dex had concluded the only reasonable explanation. Ty Cooper was not only his brother, but his identical twin. They had both missed their scheduled flights home, but neither cared.

The stories of their parents’ whirlwind courtship, marriage and tragic deaths matched down to the dates. Ty had been told, as had Dex, that he had no other family. Dex could just imagine the reaction of his grandfather when his only son had married a rancher’s daughter. Dex had only been told his mother’s name, little else.

“What I want to know,” Ty said, his speech a little slower, thicker, “is how the hell did they decide who would take who?”

For one long moment the two just looked at each other. Dex wondered briefly what his life would have been like if he’d been chosen by the other set of grandparents, but he couldn’t begin to imagine. Considering his grandfather Montgomery’s penchant for absolute control, Dex couldn’t help thinking how the old man would react when he found out that Dex had learned the truth. He had no doubt that his grandfather was the mastermind behind this whole scheme.

“We should show up together and stage a confrontation,” Dex commented dryly before draining his glass.

Ty grinned. “You may have something there.” Those unnervingly familiar dark eyes twinkled with mischief now. “I say we give ’em a taste of their own medicine.”

A flash of concern found its way through the warm, Scotch-induced haze now cloaking Dex. “What do you have in mind?”

Ty motioned to the waitress and then pointed to their empty glasses once more. “I’m talking about trading places, brother. For just a little while,” he added quickly. “Just long enough to teach our families a lesson.”

Dex hesitated at first, then a smile slid across his face. “Oh, that’s good. All we have to do is bring each other up to speed on how to act and what to do.” He flared his hands and inclined his head in a gesture of nonchalance. “It’s simple on my end. You leave the business decisions to the old man. I have a secretary and a financial advisor who take care of things at the office. They’ll keep you straight on the day-to-day schedule.” He paused, considering. “If a problem does come up and you need to make a financial decision on your own, use your own discretion. You are a Montgomery.”

“Same here,” Ty assured him. “I have two adopted brothers. Between them and the ranch hands, they can handle things at the Circle C. It’ll be good for both of us. We can get to know the rest of our family.”

Dex nodded, though he was more concerned at the moment with teaching his grandfather a lesson than anything else. He noted the time. “All right, then,” he said. “We have ninety minutes before our flights leave for our respective destinations. Let’s do it.”

Ty folded his arms over his chest. “You go first. I have a feeling your folks are a lot more complicated than mine.”

Dex didn’t bother to tell him that complicated was not the word he was looking for, instead he told Ty Cooper everything he would need to know in order to play Dexter Montgomery for just a little while.

Chapter One

What the devil had he done?

Reality crashed down around Dex Montgomery as he stood in the designated pick-up area at Gallatin Field Airport in Bozeman, Montana. Ty had told him where to wait for his ride, and someone from the Cooper clan would pick him up.

Dex swallowed hard, his head aching from one Scotch too many. It was the first time in his entire life he could recall having too much to drink and a hangover all in the same afternoon. But now, as the grim reality of his actions settled around him, he knew today was not like any other he’d experienced in his thirty-two years. He doubted his life would ever be the same again.

The Gucci briefcase, Louis Vuitton garment bag, and state-of-the-art cellular phone he’d left home with just four days ago were now in the possession of a virtual stranger. A stranger who was his twin brother, who, in another hour or so, would be climbing into his limo and riding to his home to meet his family.

What the hell was he doing here?

Dex dropped the army-style duffel bag belonging to Ty Cooper to the ground. He tugged at the collar of the unstarched shirt he now wore and attempted to straighten the off-the-rack jacket. It was very obvious to Dex that his brother had absolutely no taste in clothing. The jeans were criminally worn and far too tight for comfort. The boots—Dex shook his head—had definitely seen better days. Though he doubted that even in mint condition he would have cared for the unnaturally high-arched footwear. He tried not to think about the cowboy hat perched atop his head. The urge to remove it was almost more than he could restrain.

Didn’t cowboys keep their hats on at all times?

What had possessed him to change clothes with another man, brother or not, in an airport rest room?

Temporary insanity. It was the only possible explanation. Stress had finally taken its toll. George, his valet, friend and confidant, had warned him that he was pushing too hard, working far too many hours. But Dex had refused to listen. He had to prove his worth, couldn’t risk disappointing his grandfather. He was thirty-two, for Pete’s sake. He had mountains to climb and oceans to cross. His mark to make.

He had lost his mind. Here he stood, in the middle of nowhere, when he should be dictating correspondence, crunching numbers, planning takeovers. His grandfather counted on him, trusted him unconditionally.

He couldn’t do this.

One telephone call would end this ruse here and now.

Dex grabbed the bag he’d abandoned on the ground and pivoted toward the airport entrance. This was a bad idea. Surely there would be another flight out of here sometime tonight. At the moment he really didn’t care where it was going, as long as it took him back to a more recognizable form of civilization.

“Ty!”

A vehicle screeched to a halt behind him.

“Ty! Over here!” a feminine voice shouted.

Dex froze. Ty. His transportation had arrived. Dex swore under his breath. He should just keep walking without looking back. But then he’d never know…

Slowly, his head throbbing with frustration and the lingering effects of alcohol, he turned and faced step two of his self-created nightmare.

A young woman waved from behind the wheel of an old pickup truck. “Sorry you had to wait!” she called. She leaned across the seat and opened the passenger-side door. “I didn’t know until an hour ago that I would be coming to pick you up.”

Blond hair, blue eyes—she was very young, twenty-two or three maybe. Dex frowned, searching his memory banks for the name that went with the face. Leanne. Leanne Watley. Neighbor. Family friend. The kid-sister type, Ty had said.

“I got here as fast as I could,” she hastened to add when he continued to simply stare at her. “Come on. Gran’s holding supper until I get you home. They’ve got a big celebration planned for your return.”

Somehow his feet moved. Dex wasn’t exactly sure how he managed the monumental task considering his brain felt paralyzed with uncertainty, but he took the necessary steps just the same.

He slid onto the ragged bench seat and awkwardly settled the big duffel onto his lap. He couldn’t imagine what possessed people to drive vehicles like this. There was no place to put anything. And the seat was most uncomfortable.

Leanne laughed. “You can put that in the back. It’s not raining.”

The back. “Of course.” His face heated. He wasn’t usually so inept. As he climbed out of the vehicle, Dex hoped she couldn’t see the level of disorientation afflicting him. His movements felt jerky, his ability to think nonexistent. He placed the worn bag into the bed of the truck and settled back into the passenger seat. He closed the door and offered her a strained smile. “Thank you.”

She frowned, just the slightest creasing of her smooth brow. “I guess you’re really tired. I’m sorry you had to wait for a ride.”

“Your delayed arrival was completely understandable,” he assured her. “Considering the unexpected change in my return itinerary, your reaction time was quite acceptable.”

Her eyes widened with something that looked very much like worry. “Are you all right, Ty? You sound a little…strange.”

Dex realized his mistake immediately. He was Ty Cooper now. Looking like him wasn’t enough, he had to speak and act like him as well.

“Jet lag,” he offered as much to his surprise as to hers. Could one actually acquire jet lag on a short jaunt that only crossed one time zone?

She nodded. “Oh.”

By the time they left Bozeman behind, the sick feeling in the pit of Dex’s stomach had escalated to a near-intolerable level. He shifted restlessly, peering out the window. How long before they would reach the ranch? How could he possibly fool Ty’s grandparents? This would never work. He should just demand that she turn around right now and take him back to the airport. Instead, he reviewed over and over again the information Ty had relayed to him regarding his family and the layout of the ranch. He reminded himself again to use his left hand as much as possible. Ty was a lefty.

“How’d the meeting with those investors go?” she asked, breaking the long, awkward silence.

Dex jerked back to attention. “Excuse me?”

“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?” She looked at him with that genuine concern again.

“Yes, yes,” he assured her. “I’m fine. The meeting went…was okay…I guess.” He’d forgotten to ask Ty why he was in Chicago. She’d said investors. “I won’t know anything for a few days,” he added for good measure. That was typical. Investors made lots of promises, but the real story was revealed much more slowly. If Ty had begun some sort of deal, only time would tell if it was a good one or not.

Leanne sighed. “That’s too bad. I know you were hoping to have news when you got back.”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I was.”

He glanced at the young woman behind the wheel. What was she thinking? Had she seen through him already? Worry twisted inside him. If he couldn’t get through a few simple questions from a neighbor without making her suspicious, how on earth would he fool the Coopers?

“I know how much this deal means to you, Ty,” she went on, worry weighting her voice. “But maybe it’s like your pa said. Maybe you’ll just have to be happy with things the way they are. It’s not like you don’t have enough buyers to keep your ranch going. The Circle C has provided high-quality beef to its customers for three generations now.”

The cattle market. So that was the kind of investors Ty had gone to the city to meet. Dex was somewhat familiar with the distressed American market. Foreign beef had made a big comeback in the United States recently, a huge surge from the past couple of years when disease had wrought such devastation for European countries. Was Ty trying to increase the reach of his own ranch’s production? That sounded reasonable to Dex. He’d have to ask Ty about that or risk making a wrong step.

“I’d like to go to Chicago sometime,” Leanne said wistfully, drawing Dex’s attention in her direction. She huffed, her gaze steady on the endless ribbon of blacktop that lay before them. “I’ve never even been out of the state. I don’t know why I’m fretting over Chicago. I doubt I’ll ever be going there.”

Dex looked at her then, really looked at her. She was quite attractive. She wore no makeup as far as he could tell, but she didn’t need any. She looked vibrant, healthy. That notion sent the corners of his mouth tilting upward for some reason he couldn’t understand. She was nothing like the women he knew. Oh, and young. He almost asked her age, but caught himself just in time. Ty would know how old she was. Young, that was certain. Too damned young.

“You should go sometime,” he suggested. “Life is short, make the most of it.”

“I don’t see that happening,” she said regretfully. Her gaze locked onto his as she slowed to make a right turn onto a gravel road. In that infinitesimal moment something electric passed between them. Startled, she looked away.

Startled himself, Dex gave his head a little shake. What the hell was that? He was disoriented, that’s all. He’d be fine as soon as he—

As soon as he what? There was no way he was going to be fine. He was in the middle of nowhere with strangers. Worst of all he was pretending to be someone he’d only just met.

This whole idea had sounded much more doable before he’d sobered up.

Miles of nothing stretched before him as well as behind him. In the time since they’d left the city of Bozeman, they had encountered highway and mountains, nothing more.

A blue sky, fading slowly into dusk, looked almost low enough to touch. Dex couldn’t recall ever feeling this close to the heavens before. He scrubbed a hand over his face. The disorientation was clearly turning to delusions. This was bad. Very bad.

She turned right again, this time onto a long winding dirt road. The sun barely hovered above the mountaintops in the distance. Acres and acres of fenced pasture yawned on either side of the rough road. Cattle grazed serenely on the lush carpet of green grass.

Around the next bend in the road, a sight that Dex would not soon forget appeared before him. A two-story sprawling ranch house stood against the breathtaking backdrop of majestic mountain ranges. A barn right off the pages of a New England calendar lay in the distance, as did other not-readily-identifiable structures. A corral he recognized from its circular design encompassed a large area near the barn. His gaze shifted back to the house. It was the house that held the place of honor among nature’s and man’s embellishments. With the authenticity of a perfect reproduction from the set of an old black-and-white Western movie, the house looked homey, inviting.

“Home sweet home,” he murmured as his heart rate increased, sending adrenaline surging through his veins.

“Yessiree Bob,” Leanne agreed.

She smiled, a gesture that sent a spear of heat straight through him. Were all the women out here so innocent-looking and apparently sweet?

“Come on, they’ll be waiting.”

She got out, skirted the hood and reached in back for his bag before he had the presence of mind to react.

Dex wrenched the door open and all but fell out of the truck. “I’ll get that,” he insisted, grappling for his equilibrium and at the same time reaching for the heavy duffel. She was certainly stronger than she looked.

“Gran fixed your favorite for supper,” she told him with another of those wide, sincere smiles.

He nodded, but hoped to God he could bow out of dinner, er, supper. He wasn’t ready to play Ty Cooper to a larger audience just yet. And he didn’t have a clue what Ty’s favorite meal was supposed to be. Surely the Coopers would understand that he was exhausted after his trip and required an early retirement this evening.

Dex followed Leanne up the steps to the wooden porch that spanned the front of the house. A low growl froze him in his tracks. His eyes widened when his gaze sought and found the source of the sound. A dog. A large, rather fierce-looking animal that appeared poised to lunge at him. Dex had no experience with dogs to call upon. Grandmother Montgomery had allergies. Pets had never been allowed in the Montgomery residence.

“Lady,” Leanne scolded. “Why would you growl at Ty? Just because he took a trip without you?” she said in that child-like tone adults took when speaking affectionately to children or animals. “He’s only been gone a week. Now you be a good girl. You know better than to misbehave.” She scratched the big animal, which Dex now recognized as a golden retriever, behind the ears.

“You should recognize me, Lady,” he put in when Leanne looked up at him as if she expected some sort of reaction. He certainly wasn’t about to reach down and touch the animal.

Leanne gave Lady’s head one final pat. The dog lumbered away, then dropped onto the porch as if too tired or disgusted to pursue the situation further.

“Looks like you’re not the only one feeling out of sorts this evening.”

Dex feigned a laugh. “Jet lag,” he repeated.

Leanne stared at him for one long moment. “Yeah. Maybe I don’t want to go to Chicago if flying is that tough on you.” She opened the front door and entered the house as if she lived there.

No locked door. No knock first. Dex would have been appalled at the Coopers’ lack of security measures had his heart not been pounding like a drum in his chest. He had to find a way out of this. He would never fool these people.

“We’re here!” Leanne shouted as she wandered down the hall.

“Welcome home!”

Dex jerked to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hall. The duffel thunked to the hardwood floor. What looked like a dozen people, of varying sizes and ages, all beaming smiles, and heading for him, crowded into the entry hall. A big banner reading Welcome Home! draped from one wall to the other. One would think that Ty had been gone for months.

An older woman, her gray hair in a tight bun, her hazel eyes shining with emotion, threw her arms around him first. “It’s good to have you back home, son.”

His Grandmother Cooper.

Dex opened his mouth to speak but no words formed. He felt suddenly overwhelmed with unfamiliar emotions as those slim, frail arms tightened around him.

A strong hand clapped him on the back even before the older woman released him. “Take that hat off, young man.”

Dex turned to greet the man who’d spoken. Tall, slim, thinning gray hair, brown eyes. Dex dragged the hat from his head and dropped it on a nearby table. “Pa,” he offered, the single-syllable word steeped in too many emotions to sort. This was his mother’s father.

The older man slung an arm around his shoulder and started down the hall, Dex in tow. “Come on, boy, supper’s waiting.” He paused and beamed a proud smile in Dex’s direction. “We’re glad you’re home, son.”

Everyone started talking at once then. Dex lost track of the number of times his journey was halted so that he could be hugged and welcomed home. His Grandmother Cooper insisted that Leanne stay for supper. For some reason he couldn’t begin to understand, he was glad she agreed to stay. He’d analyze that bit of irony later.

Right now it took all his powers of concentration to watch his step. Especially since three small children all but clung to his legs as he followed the crowd into the dining room. He felt certain his back would be bruised considering all the hearty poundings he’d taken from the male Coopers. For these people, outward displays of affection were apparently a way of life.