Chapter One

      Rising from the desk in her office, Emily Diaz hurried into the hall at the sound of children’s laughter.

      Dr. Jared Madison stood there, his shock of dark-brown hair falling over his brow, his tie askew. He held the hands of his identical twin daughters. Usually the epitome of calm and tact, he dropped the stuffed unicorn he’d clutched under one arm.

      One of the little girls—both were dressed in Cinderella T-shirts and pink shorts—let go of his hand and warned, “Don’t step on Stardust!”

      “I’d never do that,” the physician replied, his Texas drawl more evident this morning than it usually was. He spotted Emily as his daughter saved the unicorn.

      Emily didn’t know quite what to say. Dr. Madison had hired her over seven months ago to be his obstetrical nurse practitioner. Ever since she’d interviewed for the position, she’d felt…a current between them, though Dr. Madison had never been anything but professional. She’d told herself more than once that she wouldn’t get involved personally because she valued her job and because…

      She shivered to think of the consequences for her job if he learned her secret.

      “Who are you?” the twin not clutching Stardust piped up. Both girls were adorable with light-brown hair and huge green eyes, the same color green as their father’s.

      Without thinking, Emily dropped down to the their eye level, her own black, very curly hair flowing forward to tickle her chin. She kept it banded back when she examined patients, but this morning she’d intended to spend a quiet morning in her office catching up on paperwork. “My name is Emily, and I work with your dad.”

      Everyone knew Dr. Madison had twin, three-year-old daughters, though that was about all they knew. He was a very private man. One very tall, broad-shouldered, sexy man.

      Emily tried to ignore him as she concentrated on the two little girls. “What are your names?” She glanced up at the physician, hoping he wouldn’t mind her asking.

      The twins checked with their dad and he gave a nod.

      “Amy,” the twin on the left easily told Emily.

      The little girl on the right poked her finger into her mouth, studied Emily for a few moments, then mumbled, “I’m Courtney.”

      Amy added, “Daddy’s taking care of us because Grandma fell boom.”

      “Honey, how about if you and Amy go into my office?” He opened the door across the hall and gestured the girls inside.

      His daughters ran into the office as if they’d never been there before, peering at everything in sight—the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the long mahogany desk, the two comfortable padded chairs facing it, the old-fashioned car replicas on the credenza, the coffeepot and packet of sandwich cookies on a side table.

      “Cookies!” Courtney cried with glee, heading toward them.

      But Dr. Madison was quick. “Oh, no. You just had breakfast.”

      Striding to his desk, he bent to one of the drawers, opened it and took out several sheets of blank paper. Then he reached into the pencil holder on his desk, plucking out two markers.

      He pointed to the carpet at the side of the room. “How about if you draw for a couple of minutes while I find some toys in the waiting room?”

      He glanced at Emily, still in the hall. After giving his girls the paper and markers, he met her at the door and lowered his voice. “My mother takes care of them and she fell this morning. Unfortunately, they saw it. The ambulance, too. They were upset and I couldn’t get hold of my cousin who watches them sometimes. I had no choice but to bring them in.”

      He checked his watch. “I’m going to have patients to see in about fifteen minutes. I could try to reroute them to the partners—”

      “I’ll watch the twins.”

      As he studied Emily, she could hear every one of her heartbeats. She was wearing a cranberry suit this morning. She’d lost weight over the past year and a half because of everything she’d been through, but she still had a well-rounded figure. Usually it was covered by her yellow smock. Now it wasn’t. She didn’t know why she’d offered to watch his girls. Maybe it was because she missed being around babies and children. She took care of pregnant moms now, but she didn’t assist in deliveries. Back in Corpus Christi, in addition to being a midwife, she used to volunteer at the pediatric unit at the hospital. She thought wistfully of her old life—before the lawsuit and her divorce and the move to Sagebrush, Texas. She was lucky, she told herself, to live a short drive from these offices in Lubbock, at the Family Tree Health Center.

      “Why would you want to watch them?” he asked.

      She shrugged. “Because I like kids and I don’t have patients this morning. My first appointment isn’t until one. I don’t know what you’re going to do this afternoon, but I can cover the morning.”

      Dr.