Читать книгу Pregnant Nurse, New-Found Family - Lynne Marshall - Страница 7

CHAPTER ONE

THE last thing Gavin Riordan had ever expected was to be a full-time father again. The family courtroom drama had been legendary over the custody of his son three years before, but in the end the judge had ruled, as was most traditional, on the side of the mother.

He shook his head at the memory that Tuesday evening, and jogged down the hall in the clinic section of Los Angeles Mercy Hospital with his son in tow.

“Bupinder, have you got a minute?” He pulled the resistant nine-year-old, Patrick, along behind him.

The allergy doctor slowed down to let them catch up.

“May I run something by you?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said.

“I tell you, it’s the strangest thing.” Gavin accompanied the petite allergist along the clinic corridor. “One minute Patrick was fine. The next he had a huge asthma attack. Got any ideas?”

Dr Bupinder Mehta slanted her head in thought and studied Gavin’s son with large brown eyes. She turned back and asked, “Has he taken any antihistamines in the last week?”

“Not since the last big attack a month ago.” That asthma attack had made sense, as his mother had been leaving for England the next day and Patrick had been torn up about saying goodbye. But why had he had the asthma flare-up this time?

They’d spent the day together and gone to the movies in the afternoon. Gavin was determined to make up for not being the father he should have been all along, now that Patrick was living with him again. As usual, as soon as they’d returned home on Sunday afternoon, Patrick had run to his bedroom and slammed the door. A short time later he had come out wheezing. “This last time he just needed inhalers.”

“Then let’s do a skin test. Pollens, food, we can do the whole panel if he’s willing and you’ve got the time.” She brushed her long, black braid over her white lab coat and pushed on the double doors to a large, bright waiting room.

“I guess there’s no time like the present.” Gavin rushed ahead and held the door open with one hand and scratched his neck with the other. He sent a glance his son’s way and quickly saw the pursed lips and usual defensive resolve. He was positive his ex-wife Maureen’s sudden departure for England for four months had something to do with Patrick’s return of asthma after all these years.

Thinking of asthma as an emotional disease had been out of favor with the experts for a long time, yet Gavin still felt there was a connection. After he got some concrete medical answers, he’d deal with the emotional triggers in Patrick’s life.

On a whim, Maureen had decided to take a university extension course in art history at Oxford. She’d left Patrick with Gavin, even though it had meant putting him in a new school for the last few months before summer vacation and losing contact with all of his old friends. Maureen had always been impulsive, especially when it came to spending Gavin’s money. Patrick was definitely unhappy with the situation. And Gavin was still adjusting to the added responsibility of being a full-time single dad while running the Mercy Hospital ER.

But he was determined to make things work. And right now that meant getting to the bottom of his son’s new onset of asthma flare-ups.

“Beth, will you do one last skin test for me, please?” Dr Mehta’s precise British accent echoed in the almost empty room.

The nurse snapped her head around and looked straight at them.

“I know it’s late, but I’d like to do my colleague a favor, if you don’t mind.”

At first she looked startled, as if a spark of recognition flickered in her intense hazel eyes. She quickly recovered, and her stare washed over him like a cold wave. Holy smoke. She was the woman from the party.

“I think you’ve got the wrong person,” she murmured in the hallway of the chief resident’s condominium after the kiss that had made his toes curl.

“Feels pretty right to me.” He tilted her chin and kissed her again. “My name’s Gavin.”

“I’m Bethany. Beth,” she whispered over his mouth before smothering him with another brain-melting kiss.

Oh, yeah, she wanted him.

He hadn’t used the best judgement that night. But he’d had no regrets. Not one. That was, until now.

She looked different with her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, no make-up on, and baggy uniform scrubs, but she couldn’t fool him. Though nothing like the wild woman he’d encountered a month ago, it was Beth nevertheless. She ignored him, while turning a deep shade of crimson, smiled at her boss, nodding her head as though no earth-shattering recognition had just occurred.

They were both adults. They’d made a choice to make love without knowing each other. So why did he feel so off balance? Because he’d never done anything as crazy as that before!

“I need to check Mr Plescia’s arms, then I’ll be right with you.” She flicked her glance away before he had the chance to smile at her, and walked across the room to her other patient.

This could get awkward.

He’d hoped he would see her again, but he’d had to leave the party in a rush when his charge nurse, Carmen, had beeped and alerted him that Patrick had been admitted into an ER fifty miles away in Irvine with a full-blown asthma attack. That had been the Saturday night before his ex had left for England—his last weekend of freedom before becoming a full-time father again—and he’d acted like a crazed college student at a frat party. But, damn, he’d been angry with Maureen for pulling another stunt, and nervous about having his son come to live with him, and, well, he’d decided to cut loose. Not much to be proud of.

After the news about Patrick’s asthma attack, he’d been so distracted he’d forgotten to ask for her full name or to get her phone number. It was an easy stretch to assume she thought he’d used her. In a way he had. He regretfully shook his head. Damn, he was out of practice. The least he could have done was found out where she worked and called her.

Well, surprise! She worked in Allergy, five stories up from the ER and located in the adjoining clinic wing of Mercy’s large campus.

Patrick squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to do this test.”

“We’ve got to find out what keeps setting off your asthma, Patrick.”

“What if it hurts?”

“I’ll ask the nurse to be extra-gentle.” The comment seemed to work as Patrick now studied the nurse with his pewter-colored pleading eyes.

The diminutive allergist nodded her head as she meticulously wrote on a green sheet and signed the allergy testing forms.

“Beth, do a complete panel and throw in all of the foods we have. I know it’s late, but I’ll be sure you get overtime pay.” She motioned for Gavin and Patrick to sit behind the patient interview counter. “I’ll be in my office.”

A huge blip crossed Beth’s radar screen. This was the man from the party last month! His eyes had worked better than a hypnotist’s watch while they’d stood assessing each other in the hallway at that resident’s party that night, and she’d definitely been entranced by him. He’d felt so good pressing against her, good height, firm muscles spanning his chest and arms. They’d shared a first and second kiss as if a slow-motion magnet had been between them. And then…

After a sudden full body blush, her heart sank to her toes, along with all her blood. There he stood, arms folded, long wide stance, narrow hips, his sturdy, muscular frame covered in faded green ER scrubs and a white coat. And how could she forget his close-cropped brown hair? She’d run her hands through it countless times that night.

Do not blush again.

They’d made crazy love in a secluded room at the party, and now she couldn’t even tell if he recognized her.

Gavin had looked surprised when she’d cut him down with her killer glance in front of his son, but that’s what he deserved for not having the decency to remember who she was. It hurt to think she’d been that insignificant to him. But what else was new when it came to the men in her life?

To his credit, he did look a bit confused. Or chagrined. She should be offended, right? He had been the one to seduce her. She chose to ignore the fact that she’d been a willing and enthusiastic accomplice and had thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

He covered her mouth with a soft, warm kiss and teased her with tiny flicks of his tongue that managed to feather all the way down to her toes. She inhaled his steamy breath and parted her lips, tasting spearmint and spirits. And just when she let herself give in, he made an abrupt break away, a decisive look in his eyes. A firm grip circled her wrist. He tugged her down the hall to a room. A bedroom. Woozy from the combination of his mesmerizing kiss and peach daiquiris, she followed, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Intense, sexy eyes drilled into her when they reached the door. Decision time. Speak now or forever hold her peace. Beth hadn’t felt this alive in years…

Her heart jittered with the memory. A quick reality check helped her realize it was time to “forever hold her peace”. Some things were best left forgotten.

He hadn’t even asked for her phone number when he’d gotten beeped and had run out on her. How cold had that been? Two could play at this game. If he pretended not to remember her, she’d do the same.

All business, she ignored Gavin and bent to talk to Patrick. “My name’s Bethany. I’ll be your nurse for the testing today. OK?” She noticed the purple and gold basketball jersey he wore with the number twenty-four on it. “Lakers fan, huh?” The boy’s eyes brightened and he smiled shyly and nodded. “Me, too.” She took his hand. “Is this the shirt you wear when you need a little extra courage?”

“I guess.”

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine. Follow me.”

She walked briskly toward the testing area, the boy’s moist, floppy hand in hers, and forced herself to speak in a steady, soothing voice. “So what brings you to the clinic?”

“I dunno.”

“When he was a baby he had twitchy lungs.” Gavin broke in. “Then for several years he was fine. Now he’s started with full-blown asthma attacks again.” He looked thoughtfully at his son, as if they both knew when and why the new onset of asthma had started.

“I don’t want to get tested, Dad.” He squirmed, his face screwed up, and tears leaked from his squinted eyes.

“Patrick, you can do this, son.” He gently put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Maybe your father should get tested, too.” She wasn’t above stealth attacks.

The boy stopped protesting, and looked curiously up at his father.

Picking up on her suggestion, Gavin cast a wry glance her way and said, “Yeah. Sure. I’ll go through it with you.” Though he lacked obvious enthusiasm.

“The testing?” Patrick questioned in a high voice.

“Yup. We’ll do it together.” This time he sounded more convincing, and Beth managed to keep a straight face. Sweet revenge.

Patrick glanced cautiously at her. She smiled and lifted her brows. “What do you say?” Though Gavin did seem sincere, she tried not to credit him with any heroics. After all, she’d left him no way out.

An impish grin erupted on the boy’s face, the first bright expression she’d seen from him since he’d shown up. His father nodded. “OK.”

Pleased with her successful manipulation, she gave Gavin a cheeky smile. “Looks like you’re on.”

He blinked.

She gestured for Gavin and Patrick to take their seats. “Have either of you ever been tested for allergies before?”

Gavin stared at her mouth with a distracted subtle smile, while watching her talk.

Patrick’s attention had been diverted to the television in the waiting room. As though on cue they both realized she’d asked them something. “What?” they said in unison.

“Pay attention, guys. I’m on overtime and we need to get this show on the road.”

“Could you repeat the question, please?” Gavin’s gaze drifted from her mouth back up to her glare.

Deep-set, molasses-colored eyes almost penetrated Beth’s composure when she made the mistake of looking into them. Her mind went blank. An awkward staring contest ensued. Her breathing quickened. She cleared her throat. “I said, have either of you been tested for allergies before?”

“Never,” he said, without releasing her from his stare.

A blush threatened. Beth willed it to stop, a futile endeavor. She ran a hand through her hair, wishing she’d fixed herself up a bit more today. Why hadn’t she worn any make-up? Right, she had been running late this morning, feeling a bit queasy after her morning coffee. Obviously she’d made it too strong and her stomach had been out of sorts all day because of it. Come to think of it, she’d been feeling under the weather since last week.

“Dr Metha has ordered a lot of tests.” She strode to the cabinet and removed two hospital gowns: one adult and one pediatric-sized—and discreetly glanced at Gavin’s chest when she handed them over. She couldn’t miss a soft patch of hair below his neck at the V of his hospital scrub top. “You’ll both need to undress from the waist up. You know the drill, opening to the back.”

He lifted his top over his head before she had a chance to close the curtain. A charming, boyish grin covered his face, though that wasn’t where her eyes concentrated as he stood before her half-naked. She recalled how quickly he’d gotten undressed the last time they’d met. “I’m ready.”

She wasn’t. Beth couldn’t help noticing the fine line of dark hair beginning at his trim waist and sprinkling upward across his substantial chest. She remembered how it had tickled her cheek. Her face went hot. She lifted her gaze and shot him a warning look for teasing her so openly in front of his son.

“Why don’t you help Patrick with his gown?” she asked, distracted. “After that, you can sign these consents. I’ll be back.” She tossed the papers on the table and left before he could notice how much he’d affected her. But she suspected it was too late—how could he not have noticed?

“I’ll be vaiting.” His Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation wasn’t half-bad.

She strode to the refrigerator and removed three trays of testing antigens, trying her best to steady her nerves.

Poor Patrick. Dr Mehta wanted the works and that’s what the two of them would get. She’d get a certain satisfaction in stab—Er, scratching the cocksure doc a good sixty times in payment for being so damn sexy. But she felt bad for the boy. It was never easy to test children, especially if they were afraid. At least Dr Mehta had come up with an abridged version for kids under twelve. Beth had been told by many of her patients that she had a soft touch, and today she’d definitely use it on Patrick. But Gavin? Well, that was another story.

She shook her head. So this was what she got for watching those chick-living-in-the-big-city sitcoms. They made casual sex seem so easy and without consequences. Well, here she was, sweating in her scrubs and wishing she’d never been so bold with the ER doc. What in the world had come over her that night? Two words. Gavin Riordan. And now, several weeks later, her total physical attraction to the man hadn’t changed an iota.

She carefully placed the trays on a movable bedside table and rolled everything toward the half-closed curtain. Gavin, still naked from the waist up, swept the curtain open for her, affording another view of his muscular shoulders and arms. Everything about his incredibly superb physique affected her right down to the core, exactly the same way it had the night they’d “met”.

“Here. I think you forgot this,” she said, lifting the gown from the gurney and tossing it back at him.

Slightly off balance, Beth gulped and gestured with an unsteady hand toward the narrow gurneys. Making another attempt to sound professional, she concentrated on Patrick’s scrawny body instead of his father’s mature, masculine frame.

“I need both of you to lie face down on the testing tables.”

“Now, that sounds like fun,” Gavin said, obviously making light of what they were about to undergo for his son’s sake.

Patrick dove for the gurney and it rolled a few inches, making him look like a surfer paddling out on the Pacific Ocean.

“Whoa, hold on, dude,” Gavin stopped the gurney with a sculpted arm, and pressed on the brake.

Beth’s gaze ran over the smooth tanned skin of his back. She shook her head. He was nothing more than a brief sensual treat. Eye candy. That’s all.

An incredibly sexy memory of the two of them in a rather exotic position forced its way into her mind, and she almost lost her composure again.

Beth helped Patrick get into position on the gurney and gave him an encouraging look. “You’ll do fine. I’ll test your dad first, OK?”

The boy nodded in relief with a tense, thin-lipped smile.

She tried her best to ignore Gavin’s goose-bumps at her touch, rationalizing that it was the cleansing alcohol wipe she’d applied, the potent whiff of which seemed to be taking her breath away…

Gavin felt Beth’s breath blowing lightly over him. The fine hair on his neck stood erect and his skin prickled. She had a face he couldn’t forget—bright hazel eyes surrounded by thick lashes and brows the color of dark honey, and a fine, straight nose. Her kissable lips were a natural tone. He’d already committed to memory how those lips felt. And her body. She’d tried her best to cover it up today, but he knew what was beneath those scrubs.

Where did they go from here? Hot sex with a stranger was one thing, but did he really want to get to know her? Maybe some things were best left forgotten.

It tickled when she drew something on his back and applied light, chilling drops of liquid. He relaxed and enjoyed the sensual feeling.

She began to scratch him beneath each of the droplets with something that felt like a needle. Hey! What was that?

“How does it feel, Dad?”

“Not bad at all,” he fibbed. “Sort of like a pinch.”

“Just a light scratch,” Beth said.

Yeah, and we’re just work colleagues.

Wanting to be a good example for his son, he managed a reassuring smile then laid his forehead down on the backs of his hands and forced himself to relax. But soon his head shot up. “I felt that one.” Oops.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about the last time I saw you. A lady, um, called you away.”

OK. So she definitely remembered him. Yeah, Carmen’s timing had certainly sucked that night, but she’d found out that Patrick had been in the ER and had done the right thing by beeping him. It had been a much wiser choice than breaking in on them, though he was certain Carmen had known exactly what had been going on.

Ignoring another sharp scratch, Gavin seized the opportunity to explain. “That was no lady, that was my ER charge nurse, Carmen.”

“I like Carmen,” Patrick chimed in. “She lets me watch videos at her house sometimes.”

“She was my designated driver, Bethany.” He raised his head and looked over his shoulder. “What is your last name?”

Her eyes quickly flitted away. “Caldwell. Bethany Caldwell. Now, lie still or these drops will run together.”

“Nice to meet you again, Bethany Caldwell. Carmen was supposed to keep me out of trouble that night.” Gavin couldn’t resist reminding her about them meeting the month before. Sure, he’d wished he’d known her last name and where she worked. If he’d had it all to do over again, he’d definitely handle the situation differently. It was probably too late to worry about that now, though.

“Did you get into trouble, Dad?”

“Nah, I was just kidding.” Turning his attention back to Beth, he said, “As I recall, you’re divorced, right?”

“My mom and dad are divorced.” Patrick hadn’t a clue what was going on but, as usual, just wanted to be in on the conversation.

Beth rolled the stool she sat on toward the counter to discard her cotton swabs and lancets. “Well, I guess we have something in common, then.”

Gavin remembered her silly toast about her ex-husband at the party. Something about “May the dog lose his pecker in a mysterious accident.” He scratched his nose and tried not to crack a smile. It sounded as though her marriage had ended as badly as his had.

She washed her hands and rolled toward Patrick’s gurney.

“Now it’s your turn, fella.” She gave Patrick a warm smile. Gavin liked the way she treated his son, especially as he missed his mother so much. He went back to resting his chin on a pedestal made from two fists, and thought he could get used to looking at Beth.

“That’s cold,” Patrick protested. “It tickles.” He giggled and contorted while she drew lines and letters on his back.

“OK, let’s get all the squirming over with before we start the test.” She tickled his sides until he laughed so hard he relaxed.

It took a special woman to know how to work with kids. He’d give her that. Gavin optimistically calculated the odds of getting to know Bethany Caldwell better. He genuinely wasn’t a cad. Not asking her full name or getting her number really had been beneath his usual standards. And never in his life had he carried on with a woman he hadn’t even been introduced to. But, as they said, there’s always a first. Hell, if they’d been dating and the sex had been that amazing, he’d have sent flowers the next day. But that night, with the strong sexual current flowing between them, his good sense had gotten left behind. And when Carmen had beeped him and alerted him about Patrick, well…

Now the question was, how could he make up for it?

Intense itching ratcheted up in wicked swirls around the test patches on his back. “Am I allowed to scratch?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’re sadistic, you know that?”

“What’s sadistic mean?” Patrick asked as Beth made the first scratch on his back. He didn’t protest, but his face turned red from trying to hold still.

“It means she made my back itch a lot and won’t let me scratch it.”

“It’s one of the perks of the job,” she said, looking playfully at him for the first time that evening. He remembered that look.

Beth quickly finished testing Patrick without a peep coming from him. Gavin wondered why his back felt on fire but his son wasn’t complaining at all.

“OK, guys. Now you have to lie here for twenty minutes.”

“Hey, where are you going?” Gavin asked.

“To clean up the work station. It’s closing time. Talk amongst yourselves.”

He lay there like a good boy trying to be teacher’s pet but his skin flushed from warm to hot, beginning from the top of his head downward. His scalp felt tingly. “Does your head itch?”

“Nope,” Patrick said, looking very comfortable. “Hey, let’s arm-wrestle.”

Gavin cleared a tickle in his throat. His lungs twitched and itched inside. His beeper went off. He sat up. “Maybe later.”

Using the wall phone, he dialed in the familiar ER numbers. “Riordan.” He coughed while he listened, then glanced at his arms. They were covered with the beginnings of hives. Patrick’s back looked pale, other than a few red dots and lots of writing.

“I’ll be right down. Contact Orthopedics and the plastic surgeon on call.” He hung up.

Beth reappeared at the door. Her eyes flashed both a double-take and alarm when she saw Gavin. “Are you all right?” She glanced at Patrick to make sure he was OK.

“A four-year-old was just brought into the ER. I’ve got to go,” he said, as the intense itching from his back spread all over his body.

“You can’t leave. It looks like you’re having a systemic reaction. And you can’t leave a minor alone during skin testing. California law.” She reached into the cupboard for a syringe and a vial.

The soles of his feet and palms of his hands joined the tornado of itching traveling across his skin. “They’re waiting for me.”

She wiped his arm with an alcohol swab and popped him with a needle.

“Ouch! Hey, what was that?”

Patrick looked on in alarm. “Do I gotta have that, too?”

She shook her head. “No, you’re fine. But your dad is having a big reaction to the testing.”

Patrick coughed.

“That was epi. Here, take this.” She handed Gavin a small foil packet she’d torn open. “It’s an antihistamine. Dissolve it under your tongue.” She turned him round and assessed his back. “Good God, a whole section of the testing has run together into one huge welt. Let me check your blood pressure.”

“I told you I have to go.” He coughed and Patrick coughed along with him. Irritation accompanied his racing pulse and his lungs wheezed. Tight, resistant huffs replaced his normal breathing.

“Sit down.” She gave his chest a firm shove and angled him into a chair. “You won’t do anyone any good if you collapse in the elevator.” She fastened the blood-pressure cuff around his arm, pumped it up, and listened with her stethoscope. He flashed her an annoyed stare. Unfazed, she bent forward in silence, almost head to head with him as she listened to his blood pressure.

He started to stand up.

“Hold your horses. Good. Your pressure hasn’t dropped. Let me listen to your lungs.” She placed the cold stethoscope bell first on his chest then on his back and commanded him to breathe in and out for each. “I hear a little wheezing, but not bad. Let me roll you down to the ER in a wheelchair. You shouldn’t be running around like this. And you can’t leave Patrick alone here.” She glanced at his back. “Man, you should be a bubble boy.”

“Yeah, I’ve always been special. Look, this is ridiculous. I can walk.”

“Maybe you can, but we don’t want to spread this reaction any further by increasing your circulation with physical activity, so you’re going in a wheelchair.” She reached into the cupboard again and tossed him a small gray canister and then an aerochamber. “Take a couple of hits off that while I get the wheelchair.”

He felt like an insolent teenager screwing up his face at a teacher’s stupid idea, but did what he had been told for Patrick’s sake. The woman was as pushy as his ER nurses, but he trusted her knowledge.

Before Beth left, she’d obviously become aware of what Gavin had been noticing for the last few weeks—Patrick’s troublesome, persistent cough. He kept coughing as though he had a nervous tickle.

“Maybe you should take your asthma medicine, too,” she said.

“I don’t have it with me.”

“Later, when we have time, I’ll teach you about keeping peak-flow records and carrying your inhaler wherever you go, but for now, use what I gave your dad. You guys both need a bronchodilator.”

She disappeared around the corner. Gavin heard her explain to Dr Mehta over the intercom what was going on, while they did what they were told.

Reappearing and rolling the wheelchair behind him, Beth caught the backs of his knees and pushed his shoulder down to force him to sit. She handed him his scrub top and lab coat and gave Patrick his basketball jersey.

“Would you like an ice pack or should I put some cortisone cream on your back before you get dressed?”

“Don’t have time now, but I’d definitely like to take a rain-check on the second part.” Though nervous about his reaction to the testing, he couldn’t resist horsing around to lighten her intense mood and help himself relax. He lowered his voice. “My choice of cream, though.”

She lightly cuffed his shoulder and rolled her eyes toward Patrick. Ignoring Gavin’s come-on, she spun the chair round and pushed it toward the door. “I’m missing dinner because of you, and I already skipped lunch today.” With the clinic normally closing at five o’clock and it now being almost six o’clock, the hall was empty.

“Nurses are tough. What about our dinner?” He gestured to his son. “You know, I think you owe us dinner for all this grief.”

“It was your idea,” she said.

“Are we asking her to take us out, Dad?”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

She ignored the implication and let Patrick push the elevator button on the fifth floor. Amazingly the door opened right away. She rolled him inside and stood across from both of them. Patrick punched number one.

“How am I supposed to figure out what you’re allergic to if you’re running around in the ER?” She fanned herself, looking suddenly flushed.

“You can’t.” Gavin studied his shaky hands. How was he supposed to examine a traumatized kid when he itched all over and his back burned hotter than Hades?

“Are you OK, Dad?” Patrick asked as he stood next to the wheelchair.

“I’m fine.”

“It’s just the medicine I gave him, Patrick. It will wear off. How about you? You seem to have stopped coughing.”

“I’m good.”

“The medicine helped?”

“Maybe.”

Now pale and looking droopier by the second, Bethany leaned against the adjacent wall. “And why is it no one else can take care of this emergency?”

“Because I’m the head of the ER and the kid had his hand practically torn off by the family dog.”

He glanced across the elevator just in time to see his new, and definitely favorite, allergy nurse fainting.