New Boss New Year Bride (4 page)

Melissa glanced over at where Joss still stood in line at the bar and saw he was talking to Dex. She shifted in her chair, her feminine intuition telling her that she was no doubt top
of their discussion list. She wasn’t at all sure she liked it, but there really wasn’t much she could do about it.

‘Oi! Doc!’ A man beside her spoke and leaned down on the table. ‘I hear you’re going to be doing a kissin’ booth at the Fair.’

Melissa moaned and shook her head. Well, Joss had told her that news travelled fast in this one-pub town.

‘Go away, Bluey,’ Nev said.

‘Leave the doc alone,’ Kev championed. Thankfully, Bluey did as they suggested and left, but Melissa was starting to wonder what she’d got herself into by coming to the Outback to find her brother. Was she ready for this intimate small-town life? This close-knit community? The way Joss made her feel all gooey inside when he looked down into her eyes?

Melissa looked over to where he was at the bar and found that he was looking back at her. She didn’t turn away. She should have, but she just couldn’t. It was the classic cliché. Their eyes met across the crowded room.

She stared at him, at those intense blue eyes which were solely focused on her even though there was a rowdy pub full of people between them. Everything, everyone around them, seemed to stand still, to melt into oblivion.

What on earth
was
this? Melissa’s mind was far from working properly, yet the undercurrents which were passing between them were so incredibly real, and when he looked at her as he was now she had the strangest sensation that her life really was about to change. How? She had no idea, but Bub’s words that it was a brand-new day and a brand-new year meant that anything could happen.

‘Whaddya want, Joss?’ asked Wazza, one of the bartenders, and Joss quickly snapped his head around—so fast he almost cracked his neck. Joss gave the order and glanced sur
reptitiously at Melissa. She was back to chatting with Nev and Kev.

‘Yeah!’ Dex laughed and clapped him on the back. ‘You’re not interested in her at all.’ The tone was one of pure sarcasm, but Joss decided it was simply better to let it go—because to deny it might also be a lie.

By the time he’d returned to the table and handed out the drinks he felt more in control of his faculties.

‘Great job on the fireworks, mates,’ he said to Nev and Kev. ‘They went off a real treat, and no casualties this year. Well done.’

Nev preened under Joss’s words. ‘Thanks, Doc. Yeah, me and Kev really did it—and no burns.’

‘Always a bonus,’ Joss agreed.

Kev held his glass up and spoke loudly. ‘Happy New Year!’

‘Happy New Year!’ came the resounding reply yet again.

Joss picked up his glass and clinked it with Melissa’s. ‘To a brand-new day,’ he said.

‘And a brand-new year,’ she agreed, clinking her glass with his. She sipped her ginger ale, ignoring the effect his nearness was having on her equilibrium.

They were joined by a few other people—all interested, it seemed, in her. She guessed that was what happened when you were the new girl in a town where everyone knew everyone else. It was a very busy night, and there were so many people in the pub—most of them standing in line at the bar. Still Melissa found herself scanning the crowds for Dex. She wanted to wish him a Happy New Year, hoping that it would be just that for both of them—that he’d develop the sudden urge not only to get to know her but also to find out about his biological parents. She had all the documentation and lots of photographs to show him, to discuss with him, but she was also a realist and knew he didn’t care one way or the other about his biological link.

Joss leaned closer and pointed through the crowd. ‘He’s over there,’ he said softly, his breath fanning her neck. ‘Wowing yet another group of women.’

‘Who?’

‘Dex. You were looking for him, right?’

Melissa turned and looked at the man beside her, only realising belatedly just how close he was to her. If she shifted in her chair a little to the left their lips would once again meet. The thought of that was enough to distract her from her task of looking for her brother. Kissing Joss. Her gaze dropped to his mouth at the same time that her lips parted. Kissing Joss. She met his eyes again and swallowed over the sudden dryness in her throat.

This was nuts—and totally and utterly wrong. He was her boss! They were colleagues. Not to mention neighbours in a very small town. She didn’t want anything like this to happen. Not now. Her brain worked overtime to remember the last thing he’d said to her. Dex. Her brother. Yes. She’d been looking for him in the throng of people celebrating the New Year.

‘Yes. Thanks. I
was
looking for him.’ And now that Joss had pointed him out she should turn and look the other way. But she didn’t.

Joss eased back, making the decision and taking action to put some much needed distance between them.

She managed to turn her head and watch her brother, who was talking animatedly to two blondes and a redhead. ‘What’s he like?’

‘Dex?’ It was Nev who spoke. ‘Sheesh. Don’t you even
know
?’

‘That’s why she’s here, remember?’ Joss pointed out.

‘Oh, yeah. Right. Well, Doc Dex is a real smooth talker.’

‘Yeah,’ Nev agreed. ‘Knows how to charm the ladies.’

‘Yeah.’ Kev nodded. ‘Wish he’d leave some for the rest of us blokes in town.’

‘Besides, what’s wrong with Doc Joss, eh?’ Nev pointed out, and Melissa couldn’t help but smile at the mortification which momentarily crossed Joss’s face before he hid it.

‘Hey, fellas. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I’m not in need of any fixing up in the romance department. Dr Clarkson is here to work, and as far as I’m concerned that is it. She’s a valuable member of the clinic team and we don’t want to do anything to scare her away.’

Kev snorted. ‘Then you’d best squash that rumour that she’s gonna be doing a kissing booth at the Fair, otherwise someone’s gonna give her a huge smackeroo and she’ll be leaving town with a miner before you know it.’

‘Uh…actually…’ Melissa tried to interject.

‘Although if she really
wants
to do a kissing booth,’ Nev said, ‘we don’t want you to stop her.’ He smiled and waggled his eyebrows up and down.

Melissa turned worried eyes to Joss.

‘I’ll fix it, and I’ll fix it right now.’ And with that Joss stood up and called for everyone’s attention. It took a few minutes, but soon everyone was quiet. ‘Thank you,’ Joss said loudly. ‘I’d just like to say a few words. Firstly, allow me to introduce our new doctor—Melissa Clarkson—’

He got no further as a rousing round of applause broke out and someone yelled, ‘Here’s to the new doc!’ Glasses were clinked yet again.

‘Here’s to kissing booths!’ someone else yelled, and an even louder ruckus went up.

Melissa could only close her eyes and hope all this was a bad dream. Well…not
all
of it, but this part at least.

‘I have more to say,’ Joss called, and again waited for silence. ‘Right. Well, I’d like to clear up a rumour that’s been
spreading like a bad rash. Dr Clarkson will
not
—I repeat, will
not
—be doing a kissing booth at the Australia Day Fair.’

A rousing noise went up again, but this time it was full of booing and hissing and calls of, ‘What?’ and ‘Not fair!’

‘And—’ Joss called. ‘And—Happy New Year.’

‘Happy New Year!’ went up the cheer, and good moods were instantly restored.

‘Satisfied?’ Joss sat down and turned to look at a blushing and perplexed Melissa. ‘Problem solved.’

‘Wow. So that’s it? No megaphone? No need to take an ad out in the
Didja Gazette
?’

Joss couldn’t help but smile at her words. ‘Well…at least everyone now knows. You may still get some offers here and there, but…’ He shrugged. ‘It’s up to you what you do with them.’

Melissa stared at him for a second, but then realised he was teasing her again. She wasn’t at all sure what to do. She wasn’t at all sure what she’d got herself into. There was only one thing she
could
do. She threw back her head and laughed.

‘You’re all completely insane,’ she said between giggles.

‘Welcome to the club,’ Joss replied, trying desperately not to let the sound of her laughter affect him. But it was to no avail. The woman was beautiful, smart, and she shared the same sense of humour as him. A dangerous combination, and one he might need to really work on resisting.

A loud noise from the corner snapped his attention back to the other people in the room. ‘Oh, no. Not tonight,’ he groaned as his gaze followed a line to the disturbance.

‘Problem?’ Melissa asked.

‘Carto and Bluey.’

‘Pardon?’

Joss stood from his chair and pointed. Melissa could just make out two men on the opposite side of the pub starting to
push and shove each other around. Some of their mates tried to keep them apart, but tempers were starting to flare and a few punches had already been thrown.

Joss started making his way to the bar, and Melissa decided to go with him, making sure she stayed right behind him. She searched the room for Dex and saw that he, too, was working his way over to where the two men were fighting.

‘Waz,’ Joss said to the bartender. ‘Kit.’ He need not have said anything. Wazza was already pulling a large first-aid kit from behind the bar.

‘That’s enough, mates. Leave it alone,’ Melissa heard a man call, and looked over to see that Dex had placed himself between the two men, a firm hand on each man’s chest. Carto and Bluey were still hurling insults at each other, and just as Joss and Melissa reached the area Bluey leaned forward and swung another punch at Carto. But it missed and connected with Dex’s jaw instead.

‘Dex!’ Melissa couldn’t help the rush of familial concern and rushed to his side. Bluey and Carto, now free of restraint, started laying into each other with abandon, kicking over a table, knocking down other innocent bystanders and generally causing havoc.

Melissa had to fight her way through the throng of women crowding around Dex, all of them panicking. She’d just knelt down beside him when an almighty, piercing whistle cut through the air, followed by a loud, ‘Oi! That’s enough!’

Melissa looked around to see Joss standing near the two men, arms akimbo, as they both looked sheepishly up at him like naughty schoolboys.

‘Bluey—your lip is split. Carto—you’re bleeding from your eye. Now, both of you sit down before I knock you into the middle of next week. This is the New Year. You’re sup
posed to change. To grow. To stop fighting in the bar like you do every other week. Just as well your boss has already gone home, or you’d both find yourselves on suspension tomorrow. As it is, I’ll have to file a medical report.’

‘Aw, come on now, Doc,’ Carto protested. ‘Do ya have to?’ He was hauling himself up off the floor and righting a chair before he sat down. Someone else righted the table, and people started clearing up the mess which had been made.

‘We was only fighting about football.’

‘You two are
always
fighting about football. It’s not good enough and I’ve heard it all before. Add to everything, you’ve knocked Dex off his feet.’

Both men stared over to where Melissa was kneeling beside a dazed Dex.

‘Aww, jeepers, Doc. We didn’t mean to,’ Bluey mumbled as he held a napkin to his lip.

‘I don’t want to hear it.’ Joss looked at Melissa and spoke more calmly. ‘How is he?’

‘I’m fine.’ Dex winced. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t duck in time. So stupid.’

‘Stupid was getting in the middle of them in the first place. What were you thinking?’ she scolded, sounding to her own ears very much like a big sister.

‘Careful there, big sis. You’re starting to sound more like my mother.’

‘If the shoe fits…’ She shrugged and accepted the towel full of ice someone handed to her. ‘Hold this.’

‘Am I still in the pub?’

‘Lying on the floor.’

‘Everybody looking?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh, this is going to be so shaming,’ he moaned, and tried to move.

She put a hand on him to stop him. ‘Stay still.’ She held up her finger and got him to track it. ‘Good. You seem fine.’

‘Except for the totally humiliated part,’ he agreed, and she smiled. ‘Look—I’m fine, Melissa.’ His tone was quiet, yet serious. ‘I’ve been knocked out on many occasions before.’

‘It’s true,’ Joss said from behind her. ‘Let’s get you to your feet.’

‘He’s up!’ someone yelled, and a rousing cheer met their ears. Several girls started to crowd around Dex, all highly concerned for his wellbeing.

‘Happy New Year!’ someone else yelled, and once again the night’s festivities continued.

‘So…’ Joss turned Melissa and took a coin from his pocket. ‘What do you want? Tails—split lip—or heads—bleeding eye?’

‘What?’ She looked at him as though he’d grown another head.

‘Choose,’ Joss urged. ‘Heads or tails?’

‘Er…tails.’

Joss spun the coin into the air before neatly catching it and placing it on the top of his hand. He held the coin out for her to see. ‘Tails it is.’

‘All right!’ Bluey punched the air. ‘I get the sheila doc.’

‘Is this the way you make
all
important medical decisions?’ Melissa asked as she pulled on a pair of gloves from the medical kit.

Joss merely gave her one of his sexy and very disarming smiles. ‘Welcome to Didja, Lis.’

‘I’
LL
let you know the blood test results as soon as I have them, Mrs Dittrich.’ Melissa opened the door for her patient.

‘I’m just a bit worried. This is my third baby, and the pregnancy is completely different from the others.’

‘You’ve done the right thing by coming to see me.’

Mrs Dittrich stopped at the door and placed her hand on Melissa’s shoulder. ‘You have no idea how great it is to have a female doctor here. It’s as though a collective feminine sigh has spread through the entire district. Finally we have someone who really understands us.’

‘That’s nice. Thank you.’

‘Uhh…not that I’m suggesting that Dr Lawson or Dr Crawford are bad doctors. I’m not. It’s just that—’

‘It’s fine,’ Melissa interrupted with a warm smile. ‘I understand completely. You take care, now.’

As Mrs Dittrich walked out of the consulting room Melissa saw Joss, standing on the other side of the corridor. She smiled, and he motioned a signal for drinking. She nodded and he headed off towards the kitchen.

Quickly she returned to her desk, scribbled a few notes in Mrs Dittrich’s file and wrote out the official request for the blood test. When that was done she straightened the papers
on her desk so it was nice and neat before heading to have a quick cuppa with Joss. Curiosity was coursing through her at the prospect of just being in the same room as him, and she dampened it down.

She needed to be careful, because she knew if she threw herself into life here in Didja, if she became too close to Joss too quickly, then she was bound to get hurt again. It was what had happened with her fiancé. They’d met, started dating, announced their engagement and called the wedding off all within six months. Moving fast hadn’t worked. Trying to fill the void in her life with people simply for the sake of it hadn’t worked either.

That was when she’d realised that, no matter what, she’d needed to find Dex. She’d needed to seek him out and have
him
in her life—because he wasn’t just anyone…he was her brother. So she’d written to him, asking him to reconsider meeting her. It had taken a while, but she’d received a reply telling her if she wanted to come all this way to meet him, he wasn’t going to stop her. Of course it wasn’t exactly the reception she’d been hoping for, but the fact that he hadn’t snubbed her completely was a good sign.

It appeared that the entire town was watching them—or at least watching
her
, at any rate. They were interested in how she and Dex were getting on. They were interested in the kiss she’d shared with Joss. And a few men had almost begged her to reconsider the kissing booth idea.

‘So, how are things going with you and Dex? Any progress?’ Bub had asked on New Year’s Day, when Melissa had gone to the hospital to check on the three inpatients.

‘Not really.’

‘Did you know you were adopted?’

‘I did. My parents never hid it from me.’

‘That would have made things easy for you. Well…easier,
at any rate. Did they know you wanted to find your birth mother?’

‘I didn’t start searching for her until after both my adoptive parents had passed away. Although they wouldn’t have stopped me if I’d tried any earlier.’

‘Dex, as you may have guessed, hasn’t taken the news of a new sister all that well. Josiah’s been the one holding him together.’

‘They’re close?’

‘Like brothers.’ Bub grinned as she spoke. ‘Closer than brothers. They’ve been through a lot together, and it was Josiah who convinced Dex to meet you.’

‘It was?’

‘Yep. Said that despite the past it wasn’t
your
fault he’d been adopted, and that getting to know you would be a good thing.’

Melissa blew her fringe off her forehead. ‘Well, Dex’s done a great job of that so far. He’s said hello and allowed me to treat him for a bump to the head. Real heart-warming stuff.’

‘He needs lots of time.’

‘And I’ve got twelve months of it to give.’

‘Go to the pub at night. Dex’s usually there after work. Chatting and the like. If you don’t feel completely comfortable just walking into the pub like that, ask Josiah to go with you.’

‘Joss usually goes to the pub at night, too?’

Bub shrugged. ‘Five nights out of seven—give or take a day or two.’

‘Does he have family in town or in the area?’

‘Josiah? No, darl. His people are all in Perth or scattered around in the major cities.’

‘I wonder why he came here in the first place?’ Melissa
pondered, and hadn’t even realised she’d spoken the words out loud until Bub answered her.

‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘Huh?’ Melissa’s eyes widened with mortification. ‘Oh. Well. It’s really none of my business.’

‘We’re a small community, darl. All living in each other’s pockets. Secrets don’t usually stay secret for long. I will tell you, though, that when he moved to town he was a right little recluse. Didn’t do him any good. One night, as we couldn’t get him to the pub, we brought the pub to him.’

‘What? Really? How did you do that?’ She smiled, intrigued by the story.

‘Everyone grabbed a beer and walked over to where Josiah was living at the time, which wasn’t far away from the old clinic near the train station. We all went down there with our beers, and Wazza hooked up a keg, and then we sat on the ground and made him come out to chat with us.’

‘And did he?’

‘Too darn right he did. Ya see, he was only getting to know us as patients, not as people, and in a community like this it’s important to get to know the people first. This isn’t some big hospital where everyone is a number. We respond better when we know that our docs are
really
interested in us—when we can get to know them, too. To see that they’re just people and we don’t need to be afraid of them.’

Melissa was surprised and a little confused. ‘Is someone afraid of me?’

Bub shook her head. ‘Ya missing the point, darl. The pub is like our community hall. Even though we actually do have a community hall,’ Bub added as an aside, ‘and we do use it—but that’s not what I meant. At the pub we all gather and mix, and it’s where we can all be ourselves. All equals. All needing to quench our thirst. Everyone’s the same. From the lowest-
paid to the highest. In the pub there’s no hierarchy. There are just mates.’

Mates.
Melissa had sighed over the word. It would be nice to have some more…mates.

Melissa had written up the new medication for her patients and then left Bub to care for them. She was an exceptional nurse, and also appeared to have her finger on the pulse of what was happening in the community. Taking her advice would be the right thing to do—and besides, it meant she could get to know her colleagues much better.

Her thoughts turned from Bub to Joss and the kiss they’d shared. A simple, ordinary New Year’s kiss which had completely rocked her world. That had never happened to her before, and she had found it extremely difficult to stop thinking about it. The man made her tingle whenever she saw him—and now he was waiting for her in the kitchenette.

Tingles or not, he was her colleague, and hopefully her friend, and that was all there was ever going to be between them. She’d had one broken heart and she wasn’t in the market for another.

Melissa took a deep breath and slowly let it out, effectively calming herself down before she rounded the corner into the kitchenette. The instant she saw him the tingles returned anew.

‘Milk? Sugar?’ he asked as he finished pouring her a cup of tea.

‘Just milk, thanks.’ She watched as he stirred the liquid in her cup before handing it to her. ‘Ahh, thank you. I need this.’ She walked over to the table and sat down, sipping gratefully at the tea.

‘Busy?’ Joss watched as she sat. She was dressed in a pair of three-quarter-length trousers which outlined her hips and slim legs. The top she wore was pale blue and highlighted her
beautiful blonde hair, which was pulled back into a sensible ponytail. The scent she wore wound around him. It wasn’t too strong, yet its subtle bouquet reminded him of the flower garden his mother had used to grow when he was a boy. Nostalgia combined with sex appeal. Oh, this woman was having too much of an effect on him.

He’d seen her in the corridor outside her clinic room and she’d looked tired. When she’d seen him standing there he hadn’t wanted her to think he’d been watching her—even though he had. Internally panicking, he’d mimed drinking, and the grateful look which had crossed her face had made him feel a heel. So he’d made her a cup of tea—the one she was sipping right now, her pink lips blowing delicately on the hot liquid—and now that they were in the confines of the kitchenette together he was trying to figure out how to keep his distance from her.

‘Yes. Very busy,’ she answered.

Joss nodded and leaned against the bench, forcing his mind to stop concentrating on watching her. ‘Happens.’

Melissa smiled, feeling a little odd with his monosyllabic conversation. ‘It’s just as well I’m used to a big workload.’

‘Good.’ For a moment Joss wondered what her life had been like back in Hobart. Had she dated anyone? Was she still involved with someone? He knew next to nothing about this woman who had been on his mind constantly since she’d arrived in Didja.

A silence fell between them. Joss sipped at his drink. Melissa did the same, trying desperately not to look at him. She glanced at the table, but there weren’t even any magazines there that she could flick through.

‘Is it usually this busy? Not that I’m complaining, you understand,’ she added quickly.

He shrugged. ‘Generally.’

Again silence. Melissa tried not to sigh with exasperation. He was the one who’d invited her in here to join him for a cuppa. What was the point if he wasn’t going to talk to her? She could have made herself a drink and had it in the confines of her consulting room.

‘Well, back in Hobart I worked at a few different places. I spent two days a week at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, two days in Hobart at a private practice and two days a week at a King Island private practice.’ She paused, realising she was only reiterating what he would have read on her résumé. ‘King Island is one of the small islands between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. Where they make the cheese.’

Melissa couldn’t believe how badly she was babbling. Of course he knew where the cheese came from—and even if he didn’t, why on earth would he care? Then again, he didn’t seem to care about making any attempt at polite conversation. If this was the way it was going to be, it would turn out to be an exceedingly long year.

Joss nodded, which at least indicated he was listening to her rambling. Melissa looked away from him and took another sip of her drink, not caring that the liquid was scalding her throat. The sooner she finished this cuppa, the sooner she could get out of there and back to her job.

She decided to just sit there and ignore him. She’d done her bit. She’d tried to make conversation. If he wanted to stay here in silence, then that was just fine with her.

Joss watched as she sipped her tea, those lips of hers almost hypnotising him the way they were placed on the edge of the cup. His own drink was getting cold, but he didn’t care. He placed it on the bench beside him and shifted his weight, wanting to talk to her, to find out more about her. It was dangerous territory, though, and he’d been stopping himself time
and time again from going there. She was a colleague. That was all.

He cleared his throat. ‘Do you have…? I mean—’ He stopped and raked a hand through his hair. This was definitely unchartered territory, but he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself from voicing the questions which had been running around in his mind for the past few days. ‘Back in Tasmania, do you have…someone?’

She raised her eyebrows at that. Was this why he’d asked her in here? To probe into her private life? To find out more about her? If that was the case, he’d been doing a superbly bad job at it. And now this! ‘Someone?’

‘Are you seeing someone?’ he finally managed to get out.

‘Oh.’ She grasped his meaning. ‘Uh…no. I was—well, I was engaged.’

‘Really?’ Was she on the rebound? Suffering a broken heart? Had she decided she might as well search for her long-lost brother and get over her heartache at the same time? ‘How long ago did it end?’

‘Early last year.’

He frowned for a second. ‘Wait. Early last year as in the year that ended three days ago, or the year before that?’

‘Last year as in three days ago.’ She sighed in exasperation. ‘Why? Concerned that if I had someone waiting in Tasmania I might not stay for the whole twelve months? I’m contracted here, Joss. I honour my contracts, and it would take something really bad to happen for me to break this one.’ She raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Satisfied?’

She was angry with him. That much was evident—even though it hadn’t been his intention to annoy her. The woman was incredible to look at, she was smart, she was sassy, and he couldn’t help but like her. That was the reason why it was imperative that he keep as much distance between them as
possible and keep their relationship purely professional. ‘What about family? Where are they situated?’

‘Here.’

‘Here?’

‘In Didja.’ Melissa’s voice was clear, and this time Joss detected vulnerability in her words.

‘But only Dex’s in—’ He stopped, his mind whirring too fast. His eyes opened a bit wider. ‘Wait. Do you mean to tell me the only family you have is Dex?’

‘Yes.’

‘Only Dex?’ He wanted to be clear on this.

‘Yes.’ Melissa put her half-drunk tea onto the table and took a breath, deciding to get the explanation over and done with as quickly as possible. ‘My adoptive parents both died four years ago, and after two years of feeling all alone and miserable I decided to do something about it. So I contacted the adoption agency and tracked down my birth mother—Eva. It was then I learned about Dex. Until that time I had no clue I even had a brother, which is a shame as I was raised an only child. Anyway, Eva died about six months ago, and when Dex finally agreed to see me I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. There. Now you have it. My sorry little story.’