anything to do with the fact that she looked like Julia. No, he admired her proud stance, the way her eyes met his boldly, not backing down. He glanced at her lips. Did she remember their kiss?
She held out her hand, and a whiff of something soft and flowery caught his attention, a tempting and erotic scent that brought to mind images of silk sheets and warm nights filled with passion. "Good to see you again, Brent. I didn't know you worked at County General.” His large hand engulfed her smaller one as he shook it, her soft skin smooth as a petal in his rough palm.
“I’m the chief of pediatrics,” he murmured unable to keep from staring at her.
Today she appeared beautiful, reserved, and businesslike, nothing like the seductive temptress from his birthday party. He wanted to experience again the woman he'd kissed two nights ago. He wanted to ruffle her neatly styled hair while she sang to him in that sultry, throaty voice of hers. “Happy Birthday” had never affected him like this before. The need to shake up the cool, professional Miss Riley overcame him.
"Congratulations on the job," he said with sincerity. But before he could earn a Boy Scout badge for good behavior, temptation got the better of him. "You're dressed quite differently from the last time I saw you."
Jennifer stiffened. Her blue eyes darkened as her brows rose, accepting his verbal challenge. She pulled her soft hand from his, her long manicured nails running along the inside of his palm and shooting a tingle of awareness straight to his groin.
"Yes, you're no longer wearing a football jersey and I’m no longer a member of the drill team," she said with a smile and a look that wanted to plunge daggers in him.
He couldn't contain his grin at her quick comeback. "Yeah, well, time has certainly flown by, and soon we'll all be over the hill."
Brent heard a trace of sarcasm in her voice as she laughed. "Speak for yourself. Failing eyesight and memory loss hasn't affected me yet. My eyesight has always been good enough to distinguish people, and I can still recall people's names, even from high school."
Ouch! She'd just delivered a resounding put-down, though most of the people in the room would never know her comments were directed at him.
"Since I'm a doctor, I'm sure I'd recognize the signs of vision and memory loss."
"Oops!" She gave an insincere little laugh. "I forgot you are a doctor now. I keep thinking of you as the captain of the football team."
The chairman in the room cleared his throat and Brent laughed to keep from scowling. The sexy blonde thought quickly on her feet, and she hadn't let his provoking comment go by unchallenged.
Dr. Weaver and the rest of the board watched them with interest, clearly not understanding their wordplay. Rather, they looked like spectators at a tennis match with their heads swinging back and forth with the banter.
"Maybe we should get started," Dr. Weaver interjected in the drawn-out silence.
They took their seats around the conference room table and the chairman of the board began the meeting.
“For those of you who haven’t met our new development director, I’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Riley. She is going to be in charge of raising both charitable donations and government funds for the hospital. While raising this money, it will be critical that she does it in such a manner that the hospital’s image with the public is protected. We are here to serve the people of Smith County and must at all costs be seen as an outstanding institution.”
Everyone clapped and smiled at Jennifer. All Brent could do was stare as he tried to remember the differences between her and Julia, her sister. His memory of Julia seemed vague, yet he did recall her smile and the sound of her laughter. Considering what they'd shared that night, it seemed sad that he remembered so little.
That hot, sensual, summer night, had culminated with them having sex in the back of his car.
Now here he sat, less than