"Will you forgive him?"

Kendra picked up her fork. "Cheryl, I understood why he left, so there's no forgiveness needed for that. What I couldn't accept then and still can't accept now is the fact that not once did he call me in seven years."

Cheryl nodded. "He talked to Carl, and from what Carl said Slate had a rough time dealing with Susan Conrad's death all those years."

Kendra shook her head. "But still, he could have called or something. I think I deserved that much since he claimed to have loved me."

Cheryl met Kendra's gaze. "Have you given thought to what his return could mean?"

Kendra raised an eyebrow. "And just what do you think it could mean?"

"The two of you burying the past and getting on with your lives."

Chapter Eight.

"I understand that Landis boy is back in town."

Kendra couldn't help but smile as she adjusted the ophthalmic equipment to put it in place. The person she had seen on the beach that morning was definitely not a boy. No boy had a body quite like that. "Yes, Ms. Martha, that's what I hear, too."

"You haven't seen him yet?"

Kendra decided to tell the truth. In this town a lie could come back to haunt you. "Yes, ma'am. I ran into him this morning while jogging."

"And?"

Kendra shook her head. At eighty years old the woman was still sharp as a tack and still kept her mind in everyone's business. "And it was good seeing him again."

Martha Bolden frowned. "That's all you have to say, young lady?"

Kendra adjusted the lighting overhead to have a clear view of Mrs. Bolden's shrewd eyes. "Yes, ma'am, other than to say your eyesight looks just as good as it did last week when you came in for your annual eye exam."

The older woman had the decency to smile. "Well, at my age you can't be too careful when it comes to your sight."

Yeah, especially if you think you need to start seeing something, Kendra thought as she shut down her equipment. She glanced over at the clock. She had an hour left before closing time.

After Martha Bolden left, Kendra went back into her office to make notations in several of her patients' charts. Unless she had another walk-in she was through for the day.

She couldn't help but remember her conversation with Cheryl at lunch and the comment her friend had made about her and Slate getting back together. At the moment she was trying not to feel anything for him, although her mouth was still tingling from the effects of his kiss. She leaned back in her chair and remembered how Slate had kissed her as though there had not been seven years of separation between them, and how easily her body had responded.

The tinkling sound of the bell over the front door rang out through the office and caught her attention. The young woman she'd hired over a year ago as her a.s.sistant had left after Kendra's last scheduled patient. Walking out of her office, Kendra stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who her unscheduled patient was.

Slate Landis.

She swallowed as their eyes met. He stood in front of her display window and, from the ray of sunshine that illuminated his features, as well as his physique, to the tank top and cut-off jean shorts he wore, he looked totally stunning.

An awkward silence hung over the room while she tried to regain her composure. She cleared her throat. "Slate, what are you doing here?"

He stepped away from the window and gave her a warm, cheerful smile. "I'm here for an eye exam."

Chapter Nine.

Kendra's face tilted into a frown. Not for one minute did she believe Slate needed his eyes examined, especially considering the way those eyes had checked her out this morning and were doing likewise now. She leveled her gaze on him. "And when was the last time you had an eye exam?"

He shrugged. "I can't rightly recall at the moment. Probably not since the last time your father gave me one."

Kendra sighed. "All right then, follow me."

He gave her a huge smile. "Sure thing."

When they reached her office she closed the door behind them. "Please sit in that chair while I locate your chart. Do you know if glaucoma ran in your family?" When he sat down Kendra couldn't help but notice how well his solid frame fit the st.u.r.dy chair.

"As far as I know, it didn't."

She nodded as she pulled his chart out of the cabinet. "All right, but I think I'll give you a glaucoma test as well."

"Whatever you think is best."

She raised an eyebrow. What she didn't think was best at the moment was the two of them alone in her office. "Just sit back and relax for a moment while I get the equipment in place."

"All right."

Kendra leaned close to him to bring the slit lamp near his face. Her head began swimming when she took a sniff of his aftershave. It was such a masculine fragrance. Already her body was responding to his smell, his proximity.

"Rest your chin here and please read the line farthest to the bottom that you can."

"All right. I believe I can read the letters on the very last line."

"Okay then go for it, left to right."

"Well now, there's an E for ecstasy, an S for s.e.x, a P for pa.s.sion, an O for org -"

"Just saying the letter will do."

"If you prefer."

"I do."

Okay. The remaining letters are T and F." He smiled. "I had good words lined up for them."

She shook her head grinning. "Yes, I bet you did." She pulled the optical machine away from his face and jotted some notes in his chart.

"So what do you think?" he asked.

She thought that if she didn't get him out of her office and soon, she would lose her ability to think, at least rationally. She was trying to remain professional but he was making it downright difficult.