Lost in the Wind

by Calle J. Brookes

  For real.

  17

  CAINE DIDN’T ALLOW himself to look at the turn off to her road the next morning. It was best if he just forgot all about Nikkie Jean Netorre and moved on.

  The text response he’d gotten when he’d tried to contact her around midnight the night before had made that extremely clear. Just fine, Alvaro. Have a nice life.

  That was pretty succinct.

  She wasn’t the kind of woman he could be with long term. His children would be just as baffled by a relationship with Nikkie Jean as he was. None of them were ready for him to be involved with anyone at the moment. Even if Caine himself was ready for it.

  He had just now gotten his oldest son to stop resenting his youngest. Even if she would let him back in after how royally he’d screwed up last night, there wasn’t room for a woman in his children’s lives.

  Even as he thought it, he knew that was a stretch. There wasn’t any guarantee a relationship between them would have even progressed to her meeting his children. They were both physicians with highly demanding positions. He routinely put in fifty-hour weeks, and no doubt she did the same.

  There was also no guarantee Nikkie Jean would even stick around after completing her training. She could have plans to take off to any part of the country. Nikkie Jean would be made offers to some of the best hospitals anywhere.

  He wouldn’t be enough to keep her here. Not long term. Nikkie Jean would grow to resent him even trying; just like April had. She hadn’t wanted a simple military doctor. Far from it.

  April had wanted prestige and a name for herself as Dr. Alvaro’s wife.

  Even though she’d been a physician and could have gone for the prestige herself. He would have supported her goals completely.

  He wouldn’t get the children invested in someone just for that someone to leave them. They’d been left too much already.

  He would barely be able to do casual at this point—even if he’d consider it with her. That kind of a relationship would be an insult to a woman like her. She deserved all of a man. And he could not offer her that. Caine wasn’t stupid. A relationship between them would be a bad idea.

  But he couldn’t get the sight of her out of his head.

  Nor could he stop himself from the need to remind himself of that fact. At the least, he owed her an apology for how he had bolted. For how much of an ass he had been.

  Those thoughts were heavy on his mind when he made it to Barratt County Gen.

  He would find a way to push Dr. Nikkie Jean Netorre out of his head—and his life—completely. Chalk last night up to just one of those random bits of fate Caine wasn’t about to let happen again. Or let control him, any more than it already had.

  He had other issues to worry about. One of the fastest-growing medical groups in the country had set their sights on Barratt County Gen. The board wanted him to prepare. To ensure the hospital looked as good as it possibly could.

  The board wanted that buyer. And there were hints that someone somewhere in the hospital was defrauding the insurance companies. Caine had to find that someone.

  He almost snarled when he thought about it.

  He hated hospital politics. And he hated curveballs in his plans. The wrong buyer could set the hospital back months, if not years, on his plans to streamline and make it more efficient. The right buyer could also be scared off by potential criminal activity. Caine was in a definite rock-hard place position right now. He couldn’t afford to be distracted.

  Caine motioned to his assistant when he saw her waiting by the intake desk. “I need all of those records I had you gather yesterday, as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir. I can be in your office in fifteen minutes.”

  Thirty minutes later, he knew he had a problem. Caine looked at the woman across the desk from him. Sleek, sophisticated, confident, Dr. Aubrey Fisher was the type of woman he had always been attracted to.

  He’d even been mildly attracted to her not even two days before. He looked at her again, waiting for that twinge to hit.

  Nothing.

  Not anymore.

  She didn’t have freckles and frog-printed scrubs. Nor did she have big hazel eyes that saw right to a man’s soul. Caine scowled.

  Aubrey stared at him. “Is there a problem, sir?”

  Caine looked at the records laid out before him. “Not necessarily, but the numbers don’t match up. I am going to have an independent investigator comb through the five most-active departments. I need a baseline report for the board. By Tuesday.”

  “Of course. Anything else, sir?”

  “Not now. But thanks.”

  He didn’t have time for Nikkie Jean Netorre distracting him; he had a hospital to run, an annex to oversee being built, and buried skeletons to find.

  It was time to put what had happened in the compartment in which it belonged so he could concentrate on what he had to do. Fixing the hospital was what he had been hired to do. Fixing it was something he would be good at. Fixing it made sense.

  Fixing what he’d screwed up with Nikkie Jean was something he would never know how to do.

  18

  NOT PREGNANT, HAVE a nice life. He’d received a simple text ten days after the night that had changed everything. He’d tried calling her the next morning after he’d acted like a total fool, the messages he’d left her at FCGH in the two weeks since that day hadn’t been answered.

  Except once. Not pregnant, have a nice life.

  He’d gotten her hint. As far as Nikkie Jean was concerned, Caine no longer existed. He might not like how things had happened between them, but he had to respect what she’d wanted. He owed her that.

  It was hard not to watch for her, though. At least three times a week, he found himself behind her on the highway by coincidence.

  She drove far too fast. Like she was trying to escape him behind her.

  She liked to sing to the radio. And she never even looked at him when he drove behind her.

  He’d wanted to explain; he owed her that much. Honesty. They’d agreed on honesty that night. But he hadn’t been totally honest with her.

  For the first time in a long, long while, Caine felt like he needed to explain himself. He wasn’t used to that. Especially with women.

  He’d begged and bargained and tried everything with April, just to preserve his family. It hadn’t worked. She’d laughed in his face. He’d made a vow never to give a woman that kind of power over him again.

  Yet he was already teetering on the brink of doing just that with Nikkie Jean. After only one night.

  It wouldn’t stop with just casual. If he ever touched her again, Caine wouldn’t be able to just walk away again.

  Caine knew himself well enough to realize that. Nikkie Jean would be the type of woman to demand a man’s everything. And he could not give her that now.

  It was best for him to just stay away from her, like she wanted.

  Otherwise, he’d just end up hurting her again. That was the last thing he wanted for that woman.

  Nikkie Jean didn’t deserve him.

  He had to remember that.

  So if he went to bed each night wishing she was lying there next to him chattering away about her day, wishing that he had the opportunity to fix his last idiotic mistake with her, then that was his problem.

  He’d just have to get over it.

  Caine told himself that as he drove the remainder of the fifteen miles into Value.

  He’d passed Nikkie Jean three miles earlier. Her little purple Jeep had just sped by. His heart rate had increased just seeing her. She’d stubbornly kept her eyes on the road; she hadn’t even looked in his direction.

  Caine was acting like a teenager, mooning over the pretty girl who’d smiled at him once.

  He was an idiot.

  He’d check in at the hospital, then go home, and get the children. Take them into the city for a day of family time. Keller and Everett needed school clothes and supplies, and the baby was always outgrowing everything. Ca
ine despised shopping, but it had to be done.

  It would give Henry a bit of a break, too.

  Maybe then he’d forget about her for a few hours. Surely, three children and the mall would be enough to make him forget her.

  The woman was starting to haunt him, and he couldn’t figure out why.

  Maybe it was because for those moments with her, he wasn’t thinking about the children or the hospital or anything else. He was thinking of her and him and that had been it.

  April had chewed him up and spit him out—and he’d let her, for the children’s sake. The last few years of their marriage had been nothing but battles and eggshells. Until he’d been split in two different directions—father and physician. Husband had been destroyed the first time April told him she’d cheated.

  None of that had mattered when he had Nikkie Jean in his arms. Caine had ruined it. Now there was nothing he could do about it.

  The head of the board was waiting in his office when Caine made it to the hospital. “Bryan, I wasn’t expecting to see you on a Saturday. Is everything going well?”

  Bryan Mostain hesitated. “I wanted to let you know. We’re considering selling Barratt County Gen to the Carrington Medical Group out of Pennsylvania. They’ll be here to discuss it next week. We’ve researched, and they have a good reputation. Especially with smaller hospitals like ours.”

  “We’re starting an internal audit next week.” And it was to take his entire focus. Not an entirely new buyer than the one mentioned before. “And breaking ground for the annex.”

  “I know. The board has requested that the audit be kept quiet and that you report any…uh…problems…directly to us.”

  “Are you expecting something?” Keeping silent on massive issues was not something Caine would do lightly.

  “To be honest, I’m not certain. After all of the trouble that has happened at FCGH, hospitals in the region are on pins and needles to see what skeletons are buried in the closets. It’s why Dipertese Regent backed out.”

  He’d always respected Bryan; he seemed genuinely honest and sincere in his work with the hospital, despite not being a physician. “I’ll certainly be circumspect, but if I find anything that requires attention, I’m legally obligated to see that that happens.”

  “Of course.”

  “Why the sudden rush to sell?”

  “We’re hemorrhaging money. Hell, most small rural hospitals are saying the same thing. Carrington seems to be on a quest to buy out as many as possible and build regional medical centers in their place, partially funded by larger hospitals they own elsewhere. It might be good for this place. Carrington seems willing to channel funds toward the smaller hospitals, as well. I’m just asking that you keep an open mind about the situation.”

  Hard to keep an open mind when he wasn’t fully informed on any situations going on, but Caine kept that thought to himself. “Understood. Keep me informed on your end?”

  “The board just wants what’s best for the hospital. I can assure you that.”

  “As do I.”

  “And…if you find anything in the audit that might make the hospital look less favorable with Carrington, will you bring it to our attention first so we can do some damage control? This hospital has been operating since the late 1800s. There are bound to be several skeletons lurking around here.”

  “Of course.”

  19

  DR. CAINE ALVARO STARED at the hospital heads of departments with a look hard and cold enough to cut glass. No diamond needed.

  He looked like he’d be pretty easygoing—even sloppy—with the jeans and dark T-shirt and the hair in need of trimming.

  Wallace knew it was a lie. The man was the hardest taskmaster Wallace had ever worked for.

  But he was fair. He was also a drop-dead ringer for the chief of medicine at Finley Creek General. Wallace had made the mistake once of asking about the connection. That was the last time he’d ever asked Dr. Alvaro anything personal.

  He’d learned that that was a boundary you just didn’t cross. This meeting was unexpected. Wallace had fifty-two minutes to get to FCGH, or he would be in hot water with the man’s twin.

  He didn’t know who intimidated him more—Caine Alvaro or Alvaro’s long-lost twin Dr. Holden-Deane.

  “What’s this about, Dr. Alvaro? I have a consult at Finley Creek Gen in less than an hour.”

  “This won’t take long.” Alvaro didn’t bark at people like his brother did. He was quieter, calmer at times.

  Wallace had to admit the man seemed far slower to anger. But where Holden-Deane could burn people with his words, Alvaro could freeze them to the bone when they displeased him.

  Wallace made a point of avoiding the two men as much as he possibly could.

  The last thing he wanted was one of the COMs of the hospitals breathing down his neck. Wallace had a good thing going, his career was on the trajectory he and his wife Jennifer wanted. His retirement was soon. He just had one more position he needed to add to his resume. Then he’d be assisting Jennifer with her political aspirations. He didn’t want to jeopardize that.

  “The hospital is going to be sold,” Alvaro started. “Before that happens, the board has asked that I personally check over each department for problems, inefficiencies, and discrepancies. I’ll be starting on Monday. Thank you for coming. You’re dismissed.”

  That was it?

  Hell, Alvaro could have just sent it in a memo.

  But had there been something in the way Alvaro had looked at him? Wallace wasn’t entire certain.

  20

  CAINE WAS NOT AN accountant, and he made no bones about it. But he understood profit-and-loss sheets. There were good things about Barratt County. And there were bad.

  He needed money. Lots of it, if he was going to bring Barratt County up to date on medical technology and patient care. Not that the hospital ever mistreated patients. They were just using outdated technology.

  It was his greatest struggle as COM. He’d heard of nightmare hospital boards before. Barratt County wasn’t like that.

  The problem was just a shortage of cash.

  He wasn’t happy about an impending sale of the hospital, but he understood the reasoning behind it. The small regional medical group that currently owned Barratt County and Finley Creek General didn’t have enough assets to diversify profits. Hospitals often lost money.

  Especially emergency departments.

  He needed someone he trusted to go over these records for him; someone who did this sort of thing on a regular basis.

  Caine made it a point to keep himself up on billing practices and the average costs of services within the industry. But the type of audit the board was wanting was specialized.

  One that would potentially take months. After a quick phone call to a former military friend, he felt slightly better about the process. The man was one hell of a forensic accountant. With a medical school background. Thoreau Laughlin was an enigma—but he would find the answers to any questions a paying client would have. He was affiliated with the FBI, as well. Caine just didn’t know the exact details. And Thor wasn’t talking.

  He’d just have to approve Thor’s fee with the board.

  He didn’t think he’d have a problem getting that approval. Not when he pointed out the handful of discrepancies he’d already found.

  Caine had a list of six physicians he had questions for. Five were still affiliated with BCGH. One had relocated to Finley Creek General.

  Thor was going to have to speak directly with the head of that hospital.

  And Caine would most likely have to be there.

  The hands of fate were tightening around him again.

  He refused to think of who else was probably in that hospital right now, working alongside the man Caine had questions for.

  Nikkie Jean had cropped up in his thoughts far too often.

  Caine almost growled, causing the assistant across from him to jump and eye him warily. He just shook his head. “Get me copies
of everything Cage Ralstone may have billed in his last year here. By Monday. Then take Tuesday off. I need to get going.” Henry should have the children up and ready. Caine needed a day with his children. For his own sanity.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “There are far too many discrepancies in this department.”

  Caine had to find out why—before the hospital sold. He was going to start with Cage Ralstone.

  21

  CLEAN UP YOUR OWN messes. That’s what Jennifer continued to yell at him in the privacy of their own room. When they’d first married, they’d made a pact never to argue in the room where they’d loved each other. Where they slept.

  That had changed.

  Now she didn’t want Reggie, or their nephew Ray, to hear. But the boys knew. They’d heard how she spoke to him as the years had passed. They knew.

  And they never would meet his eyes when Jennifer would start.

  Wallace sat in his desk and thought. Remembered. Tried to decide just what “clean up your own messes” actually meant.

  He had eight surgeons who worked underneath him at Finley Creek County. He had to handle that position well. It was the only way he was going to move into position for chief of medicine. County wasn’t the most prestigious hospital in the region for him to work for, but Jennifer could make it like he was doing it for altruistic reasons.

  Hell, it wasn’t like they needed the money. It was the recognition Jennifer wanted.

  If that was what Jennifer wanted from him, then that was what he was going to do. He owed her so much for the life they had together, for their son, for all of it.

  Everything he did, he did out of love for Jennifer.

  He was the first in the conference room, followed shortly after by Virat Patel, Lacy Deane, and Nikkie Jean. Wallace straightened when he saw Nikkie Jean. Their paths hadn’t crossed much lately.