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As soon as Allen and Lucy had started their walk, Jason stepped forward to offer his arm to Madison. She wondered if he felt the slight tremor that coursed through her fingers when she lightly gripped his arm. She wasn’t even sure herself what had precipitated it; just touching him seemed to have the power to make her knees weak and her hands unsteady. She kept her gaze fixed firmly on the exit door as they matched their steps. There was just something a little too unsettling about walking down the aisle with the man with whom she’d just spent a sizzlingly passionate night.
Back in a ballroom at the hotel, the reception was well underway an hour after the end of the ceremony. Because she’d chosen to have the wedding on Sunday afternoon and wanted to give the out-of-town guests time to travel home afterward, if they chose, BiBi had decided not to serve a wedding dinner. Instead, tables bulged with canapés, hors d’oeuvres, sweets—enough food to count as a light buffet suited to late afternoon. Madison saw several guests carrying full plates to the tables arranged invitingly around the room.
After a seemingly endless receiving line, toasts were made and the spectacular wedding cake was cut. Guests chatted, laughed, ate and drank. The bride and groom would have their first dance soon, opening the dance floor for the other guests. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, which Madison was sure would make BiBi happy.
As for herself, she was all too aware of passing time. She kept one eye on her watch while doing her part of the mixing and mingling. Every time she spotted Jason in the crowded room, he seemed to be surrounded by other people. So many of them bore a strong resemblance to him that she figured the D’Alessandro clan was well represented. Three women who had to be his mother and sisters hovered in his vicinity all afternoon. Like Jason, the sisters shared their father’s dark coloring, while their mother was blue eyed and fair skinned, her gray-frosted, light brown hair swept up from a face that was aging beautifully.
She was sure he would introduce her to his family if she approached them, but something held her back. Maybe she preferred to remember him the way she’d spent most of the time with him, just the two of them, alone in the garden or in her room.
Suddenly the thought of shaking his hand in farewell was more than she could handle. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told him she wasn’t a fan of goodbyes. On a sudden decision, she crossed the room to where BiBi stood chatting with some people Madison didn’t know. Giving them a politely apologetic smile, she drew BiBi aside. “I’m heading out. The wedding was beautiful, Beebs. And so are you.”
“You’re leaving already?” BiBi shook her head in automatic protest. “Can’t you stay a little longer? The dancing hasn’t even started. We haven’t had a chance to talk since the ceremony.”
“You still have a few dozen people waiting to speak with you,” Madison pointed out, glancing around the crowded room. “You and I will have a long phone call when you get back from your honeymoon.”
“Okay.” BiBi gave her a fierce hug. “Thank you so much for everything. I’m so glad you were able to clear your schedule. I can’t imagine not having had you here for my wedding.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
“I love you, Maddie.”
“Love you, too, BiBi. Be happy, okay?”
“I will. I am.” BiBi took a step back, blinking hastily against the tears that threatened to streak her carefully applied makeup. “I’d call Corinna over to say goodbye, but she and Brandon disappeared a few minutes ago. I suspect they’re plotting something crazy and tacky for when Carl and I get ready to leave.”
“Still worried that she’s using Brandon as a rebound from you-know-who?”
BiBi shrugged wryly. “She’s having fun for now. I guess that’s all that matters.”
“Good for you for accepting that. Go back to your guests, BiBi. And have a wonderful honeymoon. Call me when you get home.”
“I will. To all of the above.”
After squeezing BiBi’s hand, Madison turned toward the exit. She glanced back over her shoulder one last time before leaving. Half turned away from her, Jason stood among his family, one hand on Justin’s shoulder as they all laughed at something one of them had said.
She had her own family waiting for her at home, she reminded herself as she walked out. A family she loved dearly, a job she found very fulfilling, several exciting and challenging decisions close ahead. It was time to put the weekend fantasy behind her and get back to her busy reality.
Chapter Nine
Jason sat in the spare bedroom he used as a home office, his computer in front of him, his phone close at hand. It was almost 10:00 p.m. on this first Tuesday in November and he’d just finished dictating all his patient notes. He still had several emails to answer and a journal paper he wanted to read. Yet he found himself leaning back in his chair, his pensive gaze fixed on the slim tube of lip gloss in his hand.
Just over two weeks had passed since Madison had slipped out of the wedding reception without a farewell to him. Though he thought he knew why she’d done so, it had still hurt more than he might have expected. At first, he’d written off his feelings as disappointment that there hadn’t been another chance to chat with her, or at least to tell her goodbye. As the days had passed, he’d realized there was a lot more to it.
He missed her. Missed her smile, her musical laughter. The excitement and unpredictability she’d brought to his life. The passion that had flared between them whenever they’d been near each other. The fun.
He’d known all along that it was only a weekend romance, he reminded himself, as he had many times in the past two weeks. He’d never expected more. But he could admit to himself now that he had wanted more.
Had Madison lived nearby, he’d have made every effort to convince her to see him again. There could have been something between them, had circumstances been different. If she had lived closer. If she hadn’t been so concerned about what BiBi would think.
Maybe, as a physician herself, and one with a close family of her own, she could even have understood his many obligations. An only child from a very small, not particularly close extended family, his ex-girlfriend Samantha had never quite comprehended the tight bond between the members of the Walker and D’Alessandro clans. Nor had she understood why he couldn’t just put his work or his patients out of his mind when he left his office at night. He thought she’d tried—though he cynically wondered if that was mostly because she rather fancied herself as a doctor’s wife. Unfortunately, she’d been unaware of all that entailed.
As for himself, well, he’d been fond of Samantha, but his feelings hadn’t been strong enough to make him try very hard to hold on to her when he’d felt her drifting away. After a few weeks, he’d barely even thought about her. He wasn’t proud of that fact, but it was only further proof that he and Samantha had been mismatched.
And yet, he had hardly stopped thinking about Madison in the past couple of weeks, even when he’d been bustling from one appointment to the next, fielding phone calls and text messages at the same time. Still staring at the lip gloss, he pictured her moist, shiny pink mouth, remembered the taste and feel of her, and he felt his body react dramatically and rather painfully to the memories.
He wondered how her fellowship interviews were going. Had she made a decision yet about her first-choice program? She would have to decide soon; the deadline was probably early to mid-December. Was Dallas still on her list of possibilities? Would hearing from him positively influence her decision—or send her running somewhere else to avoid any potential complications with him?
