Duke stood up and smiled.

“We meet again. I happened to be getting a haircut when the call came in about you needing a ride home, and since I brought you here, I thought it would be okay with you if I took you home.”

Cathy hated to admit it, but she was actually glad to see him. Even though their acquaintance had been brief, it was one less stranger to deal with.

“Of course it’s okay, and much appreciated,” she said.

“I’m parked nearby. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll pull up in the entrance.”

The orderly pushed Cathy to the door as Duke left at a lope.

“We’ll wait inside until he arrives,” he said.

Cathy heard but didn’t comment. She was watching Duke Talbot running across the parking lot, wondering how old he was, and guessing maybe late thirties-early forties, then decided it didn’t matter. She wasn’t looking. And if he wasn’t already married, he surely had someone special in his life. Unless he was a complete jerk, anyone that good-looking would surely not be alone.

Within a couple of minutes he was at the entrance. He had the door open and waiting when the orderly wheeled her out. But when she tried to stand up, he just picked her back up as he’d done when she fell and had her situated in the front seat of the truck and buckled in before she could brace herself for the impact of his touch.

Duke was rarely uncertain what to do, but today was an exception. He already knew she was leery of men. He didn’t know why, or who had hurt her, but he didn’t want his name on that list.

He got in, then glanced at her.

“Can I assume the fact that your ankle is wrapped instead of in a cast means it’s a bad sprain and not a break?”

“You may,” she said, and then grinned. “The rest of me is okay, too, minus a little skin. Kind of embarrassing, actually, since I hiked half the way across country without so much as a stumble.”

Duke blinked. “You hiked?” Then he stopped and took a breath. “By yourself?”

Cathy’s smile tightened as her eyes narrowed. “Shocking, isn’t it? A woman who can take care of herself without a man.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Duke said, and started the truck. He left the hospital parking lot and then drove back to Main Street.

“Which way from here?” he asked.

Cathy was already regretting the challenge in her last comment. The man had been nothing but kind. A little bossy once, but it was only out of concern for her well-being.

“When you get back to Main, turn left. Then turn right at the stop light, go down two blocks and turn left on Cherry Street, and I’m sorry I was so defensive.”

Duke sighed. “I’m sorry, too. I seem to have a propensity for saying the wrong thing to women.”

Then he drove out onto Main and followed her directions all the way to the left turn onto Cherry Street.