Читать книгу A Most Desirable M.D. - Anne Marie Winston - Страница 9

Dr. Kane Fortune slammed through the doors of County General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, frustration and fury eating at his gut like a living thing. Damn, but he hated to lose a patient. Hated it, hated it, hated it.

He supposed every doctor did, but somehow the babies always seemed the worst to him. This one had been particularly tough. The young father had broken down and cried until they’d had to call his family physician in to offer comfort and medication. That guy had wanted his child so much…too bad every father in the world didn’t care that deeply. The anger that bubbled up from far down inside him was old and bitter. If he ever had children, he’d be there for them every step of the way. He took a sharp left across the parking lot, striding toward the rugged Ford Explorer he’d bought while he still lived in California, his head down, hands jammed in his trouser pockets.

He almost ran the woman down before he realized she was standing in his path.

“Whoa—I’m sorry.” He reached out automatically to steady her, cupping her elbow, and only then did he realize who it was.

“Allison.” He stopped, still holding her elbow, thunderstruck.

Allison Preston was a pediatric nurse with whom he worked on a near-daily basis in the neonatal unit. She was steady, sensible, reliable, and without question his favorite person in the hospital. They’d gotten into the habit of having coffee together once or twice a week if they happened to be in the cafeteria or the staff lounge at the same time. He still wasn’t sure how it had happened, but Allison had become the one person in whom he could confide the pressures of the life-altering decisions he was often forced to make. He’d actually begun to anticipate when she would take her breaks and time himself so that his would coincide. She was the best listener he’d ever met, and her quiet understanding had soothed him on more than one occasion.

But the Allison standing before him wasn’t the pale, buttoned-down nurse with her blond hair scraped back in a severe bun to whom he was accustomed. This Allison had yards and yards of thick, bouncy, curling sunlit tresses that she’d been in the process of unpinning when he’d nearly run her down. The curls cascaded around her shoulders and down her back, glowing in the early morning light with an almost unnatural sheen as they slithered free of the bun. The jolt he’d given her had sent one wayward lock flying across her face and he watched, mesmerized, as she hooked a finger through the curl and tugged it aside.

“Dr. Fortune. Kane,” she said belatedly, when he pointed a finger at her, silently reminding her that he’d told her to call him Kane when they weren’t working. “I’m sorry, too. I should have been paying more attention.”

“I, uh, I was distracted.” The words were a lame effort. He still couldn’t believe it was the same woman he thought he knew. “I’ve never seen you with your hair down,” he said slowly. “You have…a lot of hair.”

A faint hint of pink color crept into her cheeks and she ducked her head in a self-conscious manner he recognized. “A mess, you mean,” she corrected. “I’ve thought about getting it cut, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

He didn’t say anything. He wanted to beg her not to cut it, to tell her that hair like that was every man’s fantasy, that he could imagine wrapping himself in that gorgeous mane, could see it streaming around him while—

What the hell was he thinking? This was Allison, for God’s sake. His co-worker. His friend, if he could call her that. His confidante.

“Kane?” She was eyeing him curiously, the emerald eyes that were one of her most striking features wide with concern. “Are you okay?” She put her hand on his arm and patted gently, comfortingly. “The Simonds’ baby didn’t make it, did she?”

Her hand was warm on his arm, drawing him back to the present and he shook his head silently as the reasons for his lack of concentration returned.

“You did everything you could, you know.” She continued touching his arm now, a light, soothing stroke. “I knew if she survived the week it would be a miracle.” She sighed. “And let’s face it, with the number of premature infants we see with serious problems, miracles don’t come along often enough.”

“It still tears me apart,” he admitted quietly, the regret he still felt at losing the baby welling within him again.

She tilted her head and smiled sympathetically at him. “That’s not a bad thing, you know. It’s one of the reasons you’re the best doctor on this staff. You care.”

He shook his head. “Too much, sometimes.” He lifted a hand and scrubbed it over his face, massaging his temple. “I’m whipped. I was up almost all night with that case, and I’ve got rounds in a few hours. I’m going to try to grab some sleep.”

She nodded. “My shift just ended at seven. I’m headed home, too.” She stepped back, hesitated, then lifted her hand again and briefly squeezed his shoulder. “Get some rest. And try not to feel so badly. She was lucky to have had you for a doctor.”

And with one last smile, she climbed into a little red Mazda and backed out of the parking space, giving him a long study of her classical profile before she drove away.

Kane stood there, watching until she was out of sight. A red sports car. If he’d ever considered what kind of car she drove, he’d have guessed a sensible compact or a small sedan in a dark color that wouldn’t attract a lot of notice. It was a shock, although he didn’t quite know why. Just like the hair. Maybe Allison wasn’t as sensible and passionless as the image she projected.

When he realized he was massaging the shoulder she’d touched, he dropped his hand and grimaced. God, he must be tired. He’d never been an indiscriminate skirt-chaser and he didn’t usually get the hots for quiet little nurses, but here he stood, wondering what Allison Preston would look like lying beneath him with all that glorious hair spread across the pillow.

Probably damned good. He was a male, after all. He’d noticed the trim little butt beneath her uniform pants and he’d eyed her breasts from time to time, wondering if they looked so full because her waist was so small or her uniform top was loose…or because they were full and round and delicious. But he’d always stopped himself from finding out with the reminder that a good friend was a hard commodity to come by. Allison was one of the few women he knew who didn’t seem to want anything from him. Most women, even if they didn’t know about his family connections, wanted either sex or marriage or both. The rest simply added money and prestige to that list.

But Allison wasn’t like the women who sought him out on a near-daily basis, and he found his interest level rising. She was gentle and soft and if he were honest, he’d admit that he’d wondered if she’d be that gentle and soft in bed, or if he could get her to turn into a demanding wildcat beneath his hands.

Stop it, he told himself. Allison would be mortified if she knew what you were thinking.

Banishing the images teasing his mind, he walked on across the lot to his car and drove out to his mother’s villa in Kingston Estates, not far from the hospital. It was one of the newest communities in San Antonio, an enclave of indecent wealth, and his mother’s home was no exception. The sight of her sprawling Mediterranean-style villa always took him aback for an instant no matter how many times he came by.

He’d grown up in modest circumstances—modest, ha! That was an understatement. His mother had barely been able to keep a roof over her children’s heads for most of his life. He’d worked his butt off in school to keep his grades high, knowing that his only chance at med school was on scholarships and loans. Then, six years ago, his sister had discovered that their mother hadn’t been entirely truthful with her children.

He and Gabrielle always had assumed she had no family…which was laughable now that they knew the truth. Miranda had family in spades, though she’d been estranged from them after a fight with her father years before Kane’s birth.

Although Kane’s mother had resisted the idea of reconciliation at first, his sister Gabrielle had badgered her until finally Miranda had softened. The father with whom she’d always clashed had passed away, and Miranda’s brother Ryan had welcomed her back into the family fold—the family that had turned out to be one of the wealthiest clans in Texas, the Fortunes.

When his mother had decided to reclaim the Fortune name, everything had changed. They’d gone from being a threesome to being part of a…a tribe. True, the tribe had been uniformly warm and welcoming, but it was still overwhelming to have a hundred relatives instead of two.

To Kane’s shock and surprise, that welcome had included sharing his grandfather’s extremely large estate with Miranda. His mother, a woman who had elevated scrimping and saving to an art form, now was one of the most well-to-do heiresses in the country.

Kane still wasn’t sure how he felt about the Fortune money. He didn’t begrudge his mother her welcome back to the life into which she’d been born. She deserved to take it easy after all the rough years.

One thing he was sure of, though—he didn’t want it. He’d gotten used to forging his own path and he didn’t intend to let anyone tell him what to do. Accepting money, even family money that his mother insisted was due him, felt too much like charity. He was used to working for what he wanted and he preferred to keep it that way. And there was another reason he shied away from his inheritance, his heritage. That money was an obligation. It didn’t come free, but with many, many strings to the people who made up his mother’s family. He’d learned early that people who gave you something usually wanted something in return, and he suspected the Fortunes were no different, though none of them had proven his theory. Yet.

So far the only thing he’d allowed the Fortunes to give him was their name. And that was only because he liked bearing the name of the slimeball who’d abandoned his mother even less.

As he pulled the Explorer to a halt in the circular drive fronting the red-roofed stucco house, the deep melancholy that had plagued him returned. He dragged himself from the car and used the house key his mother had given him for situations just like this, letting himself into the cool house and heading for the kitchen.

“Kane!” As he passed the dining room, his mother glanced up and saw him, and her blue eyes crinkled into a warm smile as she rose. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

He stopped in the doorway. “I wasn’t expecting me, either. But I only have a few hours until rounds, and home was too far away.”

Even this early in the morning, with no makeup and her blond hair caught back in a loose, low knot, Miranda Fortune was still a beautiful woman. Though she’d worked like a dog during his childhood to eke out a decent life for him and Gabrielle, she’d retained the striking good looks possessed by so many of the Fortune clan.

His clan. His family. The same characteristics that looked at him in the mirror every morning. Or evening. Or whenever the hell he had time to shave.

The thought reminded him of how wiped out he was. “Do you mind if I crash here for a while?”

“Of course not.” She came toward him, stretching up to kiss him on the cheek. “Go. Find a bed. You look exhausted.”

He did, stopping only to snag a plateful of leftover chicken and cucumber salad from the cook, which he inhaled standing up while the small Mexican woman chattered a stream of Spanish at him warning him of the dire consequences of gobbling his meal. Five minutes later, he was pulling off his boots and sinking into the firm king mattress in the bedroom he customarily took when he visited his mother.

He was in a deep, dreamless sleep when the ringing of the telephone near his bed jerked him from slumber. Startled, too sleepy to be coherent, he shot out a hand and grabbed the receiver, holding it to his ear to marshal his thoughts before speaking. It was probably a page from the hospital.

But before he could speak, the sound of a man’s voice caught his attention.

“…thought you’d be glad to hear from me, honey. After all, I am the father of your children. Some of ’em, at least.”

“It’s only eight-thirty in the morning. What do you want?” His mother’s voice was thin and quavering, totally unlike her normal tones.

“Figured I’d catch you before you started your daily socialite routine.” There was a wheedling note in the man’s tone. “I only want a little teeny-tiny somethin’ that you have enough of not to miss.”

“Money.” Miranda’s tone was stronger, flat with disgust. “I should have known it would take money to bring you out of the woodwork, Lloyd.”

Lloyd…! It was his father. Lloyd Wayne Carter. The man whose surname he’d had the misfortune to bear most of his life even though the man himself had taken off without a backward glance before his second child was even born.

“I got a letter from our little daughter Gabrielle, y’know. Looked me up and wanted to let me know I was a grand-daddy. Surprised the heck out of me to find out that my little Randi’s rollin’ in money, I can tell you. How come you never shared any of that money with me when we were married?”

“That’s not your business.” Miranda tried to inject assurance into her tone. “You took yourself out of my life almost thirty years ago. I don’t want you back in it now.”

“Well, that’s a real shame, ’cause our little girl wants me. Invited me to come and visit, see my grandbaby. Wasn’t that sweet?” Carter spoke in a sugary tone that made Kane grit his teeth. Then a sound in the background caught his attention. It sounded like a woman, furiously whispering. But he couldn’t make out the words.

“Don’t you dare come here! You stay away from me and my children! You didn’t have a thing to do with raising them, you—you—”

“Now, Randi, calm down—”

“I will not calm down—”

“Or this conversation ends and I go straight to—”

“No. No! Please don’t tell him.”

“Then ante up, sweetheart. He lives right there in San Antonio, y’ know.” Kane definitely heard a woman’s voice this time, but the sound was drowned out as his mother sucked in an anguished breath.

“I’ve kept your little secret for a long time, and I deserve something for it, don’t you think?”

“How much?” Kane had never heard his mother’s voice sound so dull and lifeless. “How much do you want, Lloyd, to get out of my family’s life again for good?”

“Hmm. I’m not a greedy man, Randi honey. How about twenty-five thousand for each twin? That should get me out of my present unfortunate circumstances and leave me a little to get by on.”

“Fifty thousand?” Miranda sounded genuinely stunned. “You can’t be serious!”

“As a heart attack, honey.” Carter guffawed at his own wit. “With all the money you got when you rejoined your loving family after ol’ Kingston kicked off, you’ll never even miss it.”

“Don’t you speak my father’s name, you pig.” Miranda’s voice was shaking. “My father was—”

“I guess this is a little bit of a shock,” Carter broke in. “Tell ya what. I’ll give you some time to think it over. I’ll be coming to San Antonio to see my little daughter and granddaughter, maybe look up my fine son in a few weeks. I’ll see you then, honey, and we can square this deal.”

“You don’t have a deal.” But there was no force behind Miranda’s words.

“Oh, I’ll have a deal,” he promised. “Or I’ll be lookin’ up a certain oil man and askin’ him how his twins are.”

Miranda made an incoherent sound.

“See ya soon, Randi. We’ll have ourselves a real fine family reunion.” And he ended the connection.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”

Kane realized his mother hadn’t replaced the receiver. He took the stairs to the first floor two at a time, his chest heaving and his hands shaking with tension. Bursting into the dining room where his mother still sat, the phone in one hand and a shocked, blank expression on her face, he demanded, “I was listening in. What the hell did that bastard want? What did he mean about ‘the twins’?”

“Don’t curse, dear,” his mother said. Then her breath hitched, and to his horror, she burst into tears.

Allison Preston entered the staff lounge at seven-thirty that evening and went straight to her locker. Thank God her four-day week ended after tomorrow’s day shift. Twelve-hour shifts were bad enough, but she’d no sooner gotten home in the morning than she’d gotten a frantic call from her supervisor. One of the other nurses had come down with the flu.

Since Allison lived close to the hospital she was often the first one called in a crisis. And she usually didn’t mind. After all, it wasn’t as if her life was so busy she couldn’t rearrange her social calendar.

So, when the phone call came, she’d turned right around and come back to the hospital and worked another twelve-hour shift. Twenty-fours always played havoc with her system. She just wanted to go home and fall into bed.

Then she realized she wasn’t alone in the room. Kane Fortune sat in a chair with his large, competent hands dangling between his knees. He appeared to be staring into space and his handsome features were drawn and wan. She wasn’t even sure he knew she was there.

Quietly, she approached him and sat down next to him. “Are you all right?”

He blinked, and she could almost see him dragging himself back to the present. He seemed to weigh his words for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Frankly, no.”

“Still brooding about the Simonds’ baby?”

“It’s more than that,” he said.

“Oh? Do you want to talk about it?”

Kane turned his head and looked at her, and the punch of hot desire she felt every time he turned those green-hazel eyes on her hit her hard in the stomach and quickly sank to a much more intimate location. Sweet heavens, he was beautiful. And she’d swear he didn’t know it.

Or if he did, he didn’t particularly care.

The first time she’d ever seen him had been four years ago, on her very first day on the job at County. He’d come into the neonatal unit for rounds, and the supervisor had introduced them. He’d turned those eyes on her and smiled and taken her hand—and she’d been lucky to be able to stammer out a garbled greeting.

That was just how strongly he affected her. Always had. And, she thought ruefully, always would. For the first year she’d told herself it was just a crush. Young, inexperienced-in-more-ways-than-one nurse; handsome, wealthy doctor. Normal. Natural. By the end of the second year, when she realized she still loved him no matter how tired he looked or how cranky he got with incompetent staff members, she started to worry about herself. By the end of the third year, when she realized he could be penniless and jobless and she’d still care, she’d accepted it.

Kane Fortune was the only man she ever wanted to own her heart. And the chances of that were about as likely as her chances of…of winning an Oscar.

Not going to happen. Not now, not ever. Men like Kane didn’t go for mousy blondes who weren’t comfortable in deep-cut blouses and makeup. They went for glamor. Just as her father had. And there was no way anyone could ever accuse plain little Allison Jane Preston of being glamorous. Plain Allison Jane.

“It would take half the night,” he said. “More time than you have, I’m sure.”

For a moment she thought he’d been reading her mind and was making a dig at the thought of her getting gussied up. Then she realized he meant time to talk. Tired as she was, all thoughts of bed and sleep went straight out the window. It sounded as though Kane needed a friend, and she didn’t intend to let him down.

“I’m off for the next twelve hours, and I’m a good listener,” she said. Not pushing, but letting him know she was there if he needed her.

He was smiling faintly at her, one hand coming up to scrub at the dark shadow of stubble along his jaw. “Yes, you are.” Then he appeared to come to a decision. “Want to go get a bite to eat?”

“Sure.” She tried to keep the giddy elation from her voice. They’d gotten coffee and chatted dozens of times over the past few years. Kane had seemed to single her out as someone with whom he felt comfortable, and loving him as she did, Allison was always grateful when she could give him a listening ear, ease the burdens that came with healing newborn bodies and occasionally losing the battle for life. But dinner after work, not on a hasty break in the hospital when one or the other of them was wolfing down a quick bite…this was different.

“Let’s go down to the diner,” he said.

“All right.” The diner was an all-night restaurant near County that was frequented by hospital personnel and the occasional repeat visitor who had gotten wise to hospital cafeteria food.

She stood and started to shoulder the large bag in which she carried extra clothes, but Kane reached for it, taking it from her and slinging it over his shoulder with his own duffel. “Thank you,” she said, mildly startled. How many men were that courteous anymore?

“My pleasure.” He smiled down at her as he opened the door for her, and her legs turned to jelly. “My mama raised a gentleman.”

“Your mama did a fine job.”

“She did,” he said reflectively as they waited for the elevator. “She was a single mother, but she worked darn hard to make sure my sister and I grew up with good manners and good sense.”

“Your father…wasn’t in the picture?” It was a personal question, the first time they’d ever crossed the line into such territory, and she wondered if he was as aware of that as she.

“No. Never.” There was such venom in his tone that it unnerved her. “He abandoned us when my mother was pregnant with my sister. I was about a year old.”

“That’s sad,” she said softly. “He missed so much. It’s a good thing your mother had money, or things could have been really tough for you all.”

A smile touched his lean face as she glanced up at him, but it wasn’t amused. “We didn’t have money then,” he said. “I didn’t even find out she was a Fortune until about six years ago.”

Now she was confused. “But your name—”

“I took the name Fortune by choice, and at my uncle’s request, not long after I found out. I had no desire to share the name of a man who could walk away from his family the way he did.”

She wondered if he realized how much unhappiness was revealed in that simple statement. “My father left my mother, too,” she said softly, wanting him to know she could identify in some way with his pain. “But I remember him. I was twelve when he left.”

“At least you knew your father.”

“Yes.” Though she wasn’t sure that knowing him had made any difference, since she apparently hadn’t known him at all. A too-familiar pain and regret stung her. He was dead now and she’d never have the chance to talk with him again, and the estrangement that had lain between them for years could never be bridged. She’d missed the opportunity, or more accurately, she’d refused the opportunity. And now, to her lasting regret, it was too late.

Still, she didn’t tell any of that to Kane. In the mood he was in, she doubted there was anything she could say that might ease his hurt. For a while they walked along the sidewalk in silence.

When they got to the diner, Kane paused, and Allison stopped with him. He was looking through the plate-glass window. “There’s a crowd tonight,” he said, frowning.

“Birthday party,” she said. “One of the techs from radiology turned forty.”

A slim, dark-haired nurse from the oncology unit caught sight of them from the edge of the dance floor where there were a number of people gyrating to the music. She waved, her gaze on Kane, a slow smile lighting her big dark eyes as her hips swiveled in time to the beat. She beckoned for them to enter, but Allison was aware of Kane shaking his head.

She looked in at the rowdy, raucous crowd, whose jovial spirit could clearly be heard on the street. The girl was vivacious, confident in her own sex appeal—exactly the kind of woman she’d expect Kane to be attracted to—and her heart contracted. But when she glanced up at him, Kane seemed reluctant to enter despite the blatant invitation the girl was giving him.

She was fiercely glad that he didn’t seem in the mood for a party. She didn’t want to share him with anyone. “If you’re not thrilled about the crowd,” she said slowly, wondering if she was crazy even to be making the offer, “we can go to my house. It’s not far. We could stop and get some Chinese takeout.”

Kane’s eyes were still on the crowd inside.

“But maybe that’s not something that interests you,” she said hastily, feeling the heat of embarrassment coloring her cheeks. Of course Kane Fortune wasn’t interested in spending a quiet evening alone with plain Allison Jane.

Then Kane turned to her, and there was warm approval in his eyes. “It sounds great,” he said, and there was genuine pleasure in his tone. “And I appreciate the offer very much. How about I follow you in my car?”

She still couldn’t believe he was here. Kane Fortune. Sitting on her sofa beside her, empty cartons from the Chinese food on the small glass table in her dining area mute proof that he really had been here and eaten a meal with her. Right now he was toying with the end of a lock of her hair, which he’d teased her into taking down the minute they’d gotten into her house. “I like it down,” he’d said. And that had been enough for her.

He picked up the wine bottle they were sharing, indicating her glass, but she put a cautious hand over the rim of her glass. “Better not. I don’t do alcohol real well.”

He grinned, a pirate’s rakish smile. “Oh, good. Here, have some more.”

She laughed, tucking one foot beneath her and angling her body to face him more fully. “I think not.” It was an incredible, heady feeling, teasing and flirting with him. But it was time to help him now. She hadn’t forgotten the initial reason for this whole visit. It wasn’t as if it were a date, after all. “At the risk of wrecking the mood, I’d really like to hear what’s bothering you, if you’d still like to talk it out.”

He sobered immediately, the gold glints in his eyes dimming and his smile fading. “I don’t think I’d better get started. It’s a long and ugly story, as I said.”

“I’m a good listener, remember? And a good friend. And that’s what friends are for, to share burdens.” She put her hand on his arm, right on his bare skin, and rubbed her thumb lightly over the hair-roughened, sinewy flesh.

Kane put his hand over hers, squeezing lightly. “You’re a treasure, Allison. I value our friendship.”

The words were a balm to her hungry heart, the sweetest sounds she’d ever heard and the last ones she’d ever have expected. She hadn’t expected anything. She could never hope to have Kane’s love, but she was grateful at least to hold his friendship.

He sighed, removing his hand from atop hers and dropping his head back against the cushions of her sofa, slouching so his long body stretched bonelessly and his hip grazed the knee she’d drawn up beneath her. “You asked me about the Simonds’ baby this morning. And you were right. I was upset. Angry, too. I’ve spent years in school learning how to save pre-term infants, and it really gets to me when I fail.” He tried to smile, but the effort died before it really got going. “I guess I want to be God.”

She didn’t comment, but she kept her hand on his arm, lightly stroking as she sensed the tension within him.

“Anyway,” he went on, “I decided to sleep at my mother’s for the few hours before rounds, since her home is much closer to the hospital than mine. But I was awakened by a phone call.” His voice grew taut and angry and he stopped abruptly.

“Someone who made you mad,” she ventured.

“Someone who made me furious,” he corrected. “Only he didn’t know I was on the phone. He was talking to my mother.” His lips thinned and his nostrils flared in disgust. “It was my father. All of a sudden this creep who’s been gone for three decades just can’t wait to see us again.”

“But…why?”

“My sister.” He rolled his head toward Allison and their eyes met. His softened fondly and his tone was wry. “Gabrielle’s always been a soft touch. She has a little girl of her own now and she recently thought it only decent to let dear old Dad know. I have no idea how she found him but she invited him to come down here and visit.” His tone grew hard again. “I’d strangle her barehanded if I thought she had any idea what she started. But I know she was just following her heart.”

“So, your father’s coming to San Antonio?” She could see why he would be upset, but the fury that seemed to be so tightly coiled beneath the surface was almost too much. It wasn’t like Kane to overreact. And she should know, since she’d worked with him in situations where grieving people did all kinds of bizarre things, occasionally aimed at the hapless physician whose skill hadn’t been enough to save their loved one.

“Yeah, but that’s not the worst of it.” Kane sprang to his feet so quickly she jumped back, startled, and he began to pace the length of her small living area like a great tiger confined within a small cage. “He threatened my mother. Blackmailed her, actually.”

“Blackmailed?” It was so weird she just blurted it out. “What kind of secret could your mother have that would invite blackmail?”

He wheeled and looked across the room at her, and his eyes were wild. “My mother,” he said slowly, enunciating each syllable, “ran away from home when she was seventeen. She told us she just couldn’t get along with her father, but it turns out she was pregnant. She was headed for California but she got hung up in Nevada where she had her babies—twins, a boy and a girl—and gave them up for adoption. Actually,” he said, “she left them on the steps of the sheriff’s office with notes pinned to their blankets.”

“Your poor mother.” Allison’s heart was soft; she could imagine the young, pregnant woman’s desperation.

“Yeah. She was young, not even twenty, and I suppose she was about at rock bottom financially and too proud to go home—”

“And her self-esteem was probably rock bottom as well,” she interjected softly.

“Probably,” he agreed. “Soon afterward, she met my father. Lloyd Carter was a rodeo cowboy. They got married and I was born nine months later. By the time I was a year old, she was pregnant again. Very shortly after he found out, my prize of a father took off for greener pastures.”

The thought of a young woman, barely twenty years old and pregnant for the third time, probably grieving over her lost children and her poor choices, brought tears to Allison’s eyes. Instinctively, she reached out a hand to Kane, and he took it briefly, dropping back onto the couch beside her with his head in his hands.

“Carter’s threatened to tell the biological father about the twins,” he said. “If my mother doesn’t pay him fifty thousand.”

She sucked in a sharp, horrified breath. “Where in the world—” Then she remembered to whom she was speaking. “She has the money?”

Kane nodded. “But neither of us thinks that’ll be the end of the matter.” His voice shook with contained rage and he slammed one fist into the other. “I hate not being able to fix this! All my life I’ve tried to help, to make things easier for my mother.” His tone lowered and filled with such hopelessness that it tore at Allison’s heart. “And this time there’s not a thing I can do.”

“Oh, Kane, just being there for your mother is doing something.” Allison looped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her forehead against him, hugging him tightly. If only there was something she could do to relieve the anguish he was living!

“I can’t explain to you how strange it feels to know I have a brother and a sister out there somewhere whom I’ve never met. We’ll never share childhood memories,” he said slowly. “For my mother, it’s like it all happened yesterday. I had to sedate her. God, it was hellish.”

Allison urged him to her, cradling him and rocking instinctively as he reached for her, burying his head in her neck and clutching her so tightly she could barely breathe. For the longest time, she simply held him, loving the whisper of his warm breath over her neck and the hard clasp of his arms around her. If this was the closest she would ever get to Heaven, she was going to memorize every second of it to relive later when the real world and loneliness returned.

Kane moved then, and she started to withdraw her arms from around him, aware that this was probably more comfort than he’d needed or wanted. But before she could move away, he turned to her, lifting one large hand to cradle her cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For listening.”

“You’re welcome.” But her voice died away to nothing. He was looking at her lips. She held herself perfectly, utterly still as he smoothed his thumb along her bottom lip, and then, as his head came down, she realized that Kane was going to kiss her.