Not Just a Cowboy (Texas Rescue, 1, Band 2356) - Softcover

Buch 1 von 6: Texas Rescue

Carson, Caro

 
9780373658381: Not Just a Cowboy (Texas Rescue, 1, Band 2356)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0373658389 ISBN 13: 9780373658381
Verlag: Harlequin Special Edition, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

A HURRICANE BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER 

Heiress Patricia Cargill was out to prove she was more than just a big bank account. Running Texas Rescue and Relief gives her the greatest satisfaction she could imagine. Until she meets volunteer Luke Waterson. He's a little younger, a little brasher and a lot more dangerous than anyone she's dated. He could be everything she needs. 

A STORM OF EMOTIONS COULD TEAR THEM APART 

An unexpected change of fortune, however, reveals Luke is more than just a nomadic cowboy. Falling for a millionaire rancher, especially one who keeps secrets, was not in her plans. But committing to a man who sees her as a desirable woman, not dollar signs, could be worth making an exception to this rule.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Despite a no-nonsense background as a West Point graduate, Army officer, and Fortune 100 sales executive, Caro Carson has always treasured the happily-ever-after of a good romance novel. As a Rita-winning Harlequin author, Caro is delighted to be living her own happily-ever-after with her husband and children in Florida, a location which has saved the coaster-loving theme park fanatic a fortune on plane tickets.

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Patricia Cargill was not going to marry Quinn MacDowell, after all.

What a dreadful inconvenience.

She'd invested nearly a year of her life to cultivating their friendship, a pleasant relationship between a man and a woman evenly matched in temperament, in attractiveness, in income. Just when Patricia had thought the time was right for a smooth transition to the logical next step, Quinn had fallen head over heels in love with a woman he'd only known for a few weeks.

A year's planning, a year's investment of Patricia's time and effort, gone in a matter of days.

She tapped her pen impatiently against the clipboard in her hand. She didn't sigh, she didn't stoop her shoulders in defeat, and she most certainly didn't cry. Patricia was a Cargill, of the Austin Cargills, and she would weather her personal storm.

Later.

Right now, she was helping an entire town weather the aftermath of a different kind of storm, the kind that made national news as it made landfall on the coast of Texas. The kind of storm that could peel the roof off a hospital, leaving a town in need of the medical assistance that the Texas Rescue and Relief organization could provide. The kind of storm that let Patricia drop all the social niceties expected of an heiress while she assumed her role as the personnel director for a mobile hospital.

Her hospital was built of white tents, powered by generators, and staffed by all the physicians, nurses, and technicians Patricia had spent the past year recruiting. During Austin dinner parties and Lake Travis sailing weekends, over posh Longhorn football tailgates and stale hospital cafeteria buffets, Patricia had secured their promises to volunteer with Texas Rescue in time of disaster. That time was now.

"Patricia, there you are."

She turned to see one of her recruits hurrying toward her, a private-practice physician who'd never been in the field with Texas Rescue before. A rookie.

The woman was in her early thirties, a primary care physician named Mary Hodge. Her green scrubs could have been worn by anyone at the hospital, but she also wore a white doctor's coat, one she'd brought with her from Austin. She'd already wasted Patricia's time yesterday, tracking her down like this in order to insist that her coat be dry cleaned if she was expected to stay the week. Patricia had coolly informed her no laundry service would be pressing that white coat. This Texan beach town had been hit by a hurricane less than two days ago. It was difficult enough to have essential laundry, like scrubs and bed linens, cleaned in these conditions. Locating an operational dry-cleaning establishment would not become an item on Patricia's to-do list.

Dr. Hodge crossed the broiling black top of the parking lot where Texas Rescue had set up the mobile hospital. Whatever she wanted from Patricia, it was bound to be as inane as the dry cleaning. Patricia wasn't going to hustle over to hear it, but neither would she pretend she hadn't heard Hodge call her name. The rookie was her responsibility.

Patricia stayed standing, comfortable enough despite the late afternoon heat. Knowing she'd spend long days standing on hard blacktop, Patricia always wore her rubber-soled Docksides when Texas Rescue went on a mission. Between those and the navy polo shirt she wore that bore the Texas Rescue logo, she could have boarded a yacht as easily as run a field hospital, but no one ever mistook her for a lady of leisure. Not while she was with Texas Rescue.

As she waited in the June heat, Patricia checked her clipboard—her old-school, paper-powered clipboard. It was the only kind guaranteed to work when electric lines were down. If Texas Rescue was on the scene, it was a sure bet that electricity had been cut off by a hurricane or tornado, a fire or flood. Her clipboard had a waterproof, hard plastic cover that repelled the rain.

She flipped the cover open. First item: X-ray needs admin clerk for night shift.

There were only two shifts in this mobile hospital, days and nights. Patricia tended to work most of both, but she made sure her staff got the rest their volunteer contracts specified. She jotted her solution next to the problem: assign Kim Wells. Patricia had kept her personal assistant longer during this deployment than usual, but as always, Patricia would now work alone so that some other department wouldn't be shorthanded.

Second item: Additional ECG machine in tent E4.

That was for Quinn, the cardiologist she wouldn't be marrying. She'd make a call and have one brought down from Austin with the next incoming physician. She could have managed Quinn's personal life just as efficiently, making her an excellent choice for his wife, but that concept wouldn't appeal to the man now that he was in love.

If there was anything Patricia had learned as the daughter of the infamous Daddy Cargill, it was that men needed managing. Since Patricia genuinely liked Quinn, she hoped the woman he married would be a good manager, but she doubted it. Fortunately for Quinn, he didn't need much direction. Cool-headed and logical—at least around Patricia—he would have been a piece of cake for her to manage after living with Daddy Cargill.

Third: Set up additional shade for waiting area.

The head of Austin's Texas Rescue operations, Karen Weaver, was supposed to be responsible for the physical layout of the hospital as well as equipment like the ECG machine, but Karen wasn't the most efficient or knowledgeable director to have ever served at the helm of Texas Rescue. Waiting for Karen to figure out how to get things done was hard on the medical staff and the patients. Patricia would find someone to get another tent off the truck and pitch it outside the treatment tents.

"Patricia." Mary Hodge, sweating and frowning, stopped a few feet away and put her hands on her hips.

"Dr. Hodge." Patricia kept her eyes on her to-do list as she returned the curt greeting. The woman had earned her title; Patricia would use it no matter how little she thought of the doctor's lousy work ethic.

"Listen, I can't stay until Friday, after all. Something's come up."

"Is that right?" Patricia very deliberately tucked the clipboard under her arm, then lifted her chin and gave Dr. Hodge her full attention. "Explain."

Dr. Hodge frowned immediately. Doctors, as a species, gave orders. They didn't take commands well. Patricia knew when to be gracious, and she knew how to persuade someone powerful that her idea was their idea. But Patricia was also a Cargill, a descendant of pioneers who'd made millions on deals sealed with handshakes, and that meant she didn't give a damn about tact when a person was about to welch on a deal. Dr. Hodge was trying to do just that.

The doctor raised her chin, as well, clearly unused to having her authority challenged. "I have a prior commitment." Unspoken, her tone said, And that's all you need to know.

Patricia kept her voice cool and her countenance cooler. "Your contract specifies ninety-six hours of service. I haven't got any extra physicians to take your place if you leave."

"I'm needed back at West Central."

Patricia had recruited as many physicians as she could from West Central Texas Hospital. The hospital had been founded by Quinn MacDowell's father, and his brother Braden served as CEO. She knew the hospital well. It had just been one more item on the list of reasons why Quinn had been her best candidate for marriage.

Her familiarity with West Central gave her an advantage right now. "West Central is perfectly aware that...

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Verlag
Harlequin Special Edition
Erscheinungsdatum
2014
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0373658389
ISBN 13 
9780373658381
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
224
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Product Safety Manager
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