by Laura Iding
“There, did you feel it?” Her wide eyes met his, eager to share the wondrous experience.
“Yes.” The tiny fluttering movements were faint but distinct. He grinned and kept his hand on her stomach.
“It’s a miracle.” Her voice was soft, quiet.
“Yes.” He gazed down at her and fought the urge to pull her close for a kiss. He tried to hide the husky note of desire in his tone. “So are you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
CARYN’S heart tap-danced in her chest, and she couldn’t break away from Luke’s mesmerizing gaze. “Me?”
He gave her a wry smile. “I’ve never met anyone so open, so honest.”
She desperately wanted to believe him, but she must be making more out of this than she should. Why would Luke bother charming a pregnant woman? And what about her decision to put the baby first? She pulled away. “Then you must be hanging around the wrong kind of women.”
“Maybe.” He frowned a little when she stood and gathered her paper wrappers together from her rushed lunch. “You still have time to rest with your feet up.”
There was that protectiveness again. She was annoyed to discover how vulnerable she was to his attentive concern. “I’m fine, the other nurses need to take their lunch-breaks, too. They were kind enough to let me go first.”
He continued to watch her, even as she took her bottle of multivitamins from her purse and swallowed one. “Have you seen the doctor yet?”
“Tomorrow morning.” She couldn’t wait. At first she’d been worried about not feeling the baby move, but now those fears had been laid to rest. “I’m off tomorrow, which is why I agreed to work a double shift today. My appointment isn’t until eleven so I have plenty of time to sleep in.”
“Which doctor are you seeing?”
She didn’t understand why he cared one way or the other. “Dr. Kingsley. She was recommended by a friend.” Serena had nothing but praise for Dr. Marion Kingsley and Caryn hadn’t hesitated to use Serena’s name to get a quicker appointment.
“Dr. Kingsley has a practice at Trinity Medical Center?”
“Yes. My insurance covers any physician working here at Trinity.”
Luke rose to his feet and she noticed he hadn’t touched his lunch, which was still sitting on the table. “If you need any help, Caryn, please, let me know.”
Help? Like what kind of help? She frowned. “That’s a very kind offer, Luke, but I’m fine. Excuse me but I should get back to work. Other people need to get a lunch-break, too.”
This time he didn’t say anything more when she left the break room.
Caryn returned to her patients, but throughout the rest of the day the memory of sharing her baby’s first movements with Luke returned to her at odd moments.
Maybe Luke had handed her a well-practiced line, claiming she was like a miracle. The sad realization was that she’d never felt that sort of special connection before with any other man. Certainly not with David.
Only with Luke.
She was halfway through her second shift when Jerome Hartley, her patient with the ulcer, started to bleed.
Caryn poked her head out of the room and caught the attention of the unit clerk on duty. “Betty, call the critical care resident on call. Tell him Mr. Hartley is bleeding again.”
The alarm on the monitor above the patient’s head began to sound in response to his very low blood pressure. Caryn reached over and opened the clamp of his first IV so that the fluid flowed wide open, then did the same thing with his second IV. His blood pressure remained in the low eighties systolic.
Hurrying out to the nearest phone, she called the lab. “I need four units of the PRBCs that you have on hold for Jerome Hartley sent to the ICU stat.”
She hung up the phone and took a quick moment to check on her other patient, Michael Dunn. She’d finally gotten his temperature down to 101 but she had a feeling it wouldn’t stay there. He wasn’t due for any other medications for a while yet. Since there wasn’t any more she could do for him, she returned to Jerome Hartley’s room.
“What’s going on?”
Caryn blinked, surprised to find Luke standing behind her. It was already eight o’clock at night and she’d figured he’d gone home a long time ago.
“Bright red blood is pouring out of his nasogastric tube.” She gestured to the half-full canister on the wall. “Just started a few minutes ago.”
Luke glanced up at the monitor. “Is his arterial line accurate?”
“Yes. His blood pressure is low, I’ve already opened up both IV fluids and ordered up all four units of packed cells from the blood bank.”
“Good.” He smiled, although he looked about as exhausted as she felt. Working a double shift had turned out to be more difficult than she’d imagined. Or maybe she’d just underestimated the physical effects of her pregnancy. She felt like she could sleep for a week. “I’m going to call the trauma team, I think they need to take him back to the OR.”
Caryn agreed. Surgery was the only thing that would stop his constant bleeding. She was busy hanging the first two units of blood when the trauma resident arrived.
“I don’t think he’s stable enough for surgery,” the female resident said when she saw the blood pouring through his nasogastric tube.
Was she kidding? If they waited for him to stop bleeding, he’d be dead. With a frown, Caryn continued to monitor the blood transfusion, fully expecting Luke to turn on the charm. Instead, he simply spun around and went to the nearest phone. She listened as he requested the trauma attending surgeon to be paged.
She had to grin at how he’d gone straight to the top. In the time it took the trauma attending to arrive, she’d emptied the blood-filled canister and reconnected the tubing.
“Oh, hell.” The trauma attending, Dr. Naomi Horton, took one look at the blood refilling the canister and sighed. “Call the OR,” she said to the female resident. “We’ll need to take him back as soon as they can get a team in.”
The female resident scurried off.
“Thank you.” Luke flashed Naomi one of his lethal smiles.
A dimple creased Naomi’s cheek. “You’re welcome. It’s been a bitch of a night and I don’t see it ending any time soon.”
“I hear you.” Luke grimaced. “I’m here because my on-call resident is sick. At least one of my problem patients is now your problem. Let me know when you’re finished with surgery and we’ll take him back.”
“Sounds good.” Naomi turned to the female resident. “Are they ready for us?”
“Yes. The team is already here, they’ve just finished another case.” The female resident looked chagrined, as if she knew she’d goofed.
“All right, then, let’s go.”
Caryn disconnected Jerome from the ICU monitor and reconnected him to the portable one. She helped push his bed out to the elevators, down two floors, then through another hallway until they reached the OR suites.
Since she wasn’t dressed in sterile garb, she could only go to the doorway of the room before the OR team took over. “Thanks.” Naomi took Jerome’s bed and wheeled him the rest of the way inside.
Caryn didn’t take offense when the OR door closed in her face. Grateful that something was being done to stop Jerome’s bleeding, she turned around to go back upstairs. When she returned to the ICU, Luke met her at the door. He wasn’t smiling.
“Take ten, Caryn. You’ve been running around long enough.”
She gritted her teeth and brushed past him, ignoring the way her feet were practically weeping for a break. “Not until I’ve checked on Mr. Dunn.”
No surprise to discover he followed her into the room. One look at Michael Dunn’s monitor made her stomach sink. “See? I knew his temp was climbing. It’s back up to 104.”
“Are any of his culture results back yet?” Luke asked.
“No.”
“How many doses of the antifungal meds did you give him?”
Caryn thought back. “Only one, but he’s due for another d
ose now.” She winced as she glanced at her watch. “Actually, it was due twenty minutes ago.”
She half expected him to yell or at least look annoyed, but he didn’t.
“Do you want me to run and get it for you?”
She wanted to laugh. Never had a resident or fellow tried to be so helpful. “Not unless you have access to the pharmacy computer.” Which she knew full well the doctors didn’t.
He shook his head.
“I’ll get it.” She left the room and went to fetch the antifungal medication, along with another anti-pyretic for Michael Dunn’s fever.
Once things were under control Caryn did take a few minutes to slip into the lounge, even though she could see everyone else in the unit was still pretty busy. She sank onto the sofa and put her feet up on the table, almost whimpering in relief.
“I bought you a present.”
Her eyes flew open. Surprised, she saw Luke standing there, holding a wrapped gift. “You did? Why?”
His lips quirked in a smile. “Does there need to be a reason?”
“Generally, yes.”
“OK. When’s your birthday?”
She flushed, wishing she’d just kept her mouth shut. “Not for a while yet,” she answered vaguely.
He set the present on her lap. “Happy pre-birthday, Caryn.”
The gift touched her and for a long moment she could only stare at the beautifully wrapped package. Then slowly, prolonging the anticipation, she loosened the tape and removed the pink and blue striped paper.
Luke’s gift was a glossy book, entitled What to Expect When Expecting.
How sweet. She fought unexpected tears, which had to be hormonal since she wasn’t prone to weeping. “Thank you,” she said in a husky tone. “I love it.”
“I’m glad.” Luke looked pleased, then he quirked a brow. “Although you might want to read chapter three, where it talks about how expectant mothers need more rest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop it. You’re acting as if I’m incapable of taking care of myself.”
“You’re very capable, Caryn.” His voice had dropped and despite her best efforts to remain unaffected by his charm, she felt her pulse race. He reached out and lightly stroked her hand. “And very beautiful.”
She’d swear her heart stopped in her chest, before doubling its rhythm. Then she grew angry. “Why are you doing this?”
He actually looked confused. “What?”
“Flirting with me.” She clutched the book protectively to her chest and rose to her feet, keeping as much distance between them as possible. “I’m sure a woman like Therese or perhaps even Naomi, who is single by the way, are more your style.”
“Caryn, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry.” He stood, too, and thrust his hands deep in the pockets of his lab coat. “But is it flirting when I simply state the truth?”
“Yes. No.” She let out her breath is a sigh. “Just leave me alone, all right? I have enough problems, without adding your meaningless flirtation to the list.”
When he didn’t respond with a catchy come-back, she figured he’d finally gotten the message.
Yet when she returned to work, hovering over Michael Dunn’s bedside, she couldn’t help but wish she hadn’t come down on him so hard. Because despite how confused he’d made her feel, she wouldn’t have minded keeping Luke as a friend.
Luke watched Caryn walk away, her words reverberating through his head.
I have enough problems, without adding your meaningless flirtation to the list.
He wanted to call her back, to explain how he really hadn’t been flirting with her. At least, not consciously. He was drawn to Caryn by a force he couldn’t explain. Not just because she was pregnant and in need of emotional support. But because he liked her. Respected her.
He especially liked spending time with her.
He sat heavily on the sofa and tunneled his fingers through his hair. Maybe he had flirted a little—what normal red-blooded male wouldn’t be attracted to Caryn? She was beautiful. Warm. Compassionate. Sexy as hell.
Whoa, where did that thought come from?
Since when did he consider pregnant women sexy? Since…never. He gave his head a quick shake, as if to knock the thought loose. Caryn was right, the dark-haired Dr. Naomi Horton was more his type. But although he thought she was pretty, and a very talented surgeon, he wasn’t the least bit tempted to get to know her on a personal level.
Not the way he was intrigued by Caryn.
What was wrong with him? Maybe Caryn’s pregnancy was a contributing factor after all. She’d been sick the other morning and looked exhausted now. He couldn’t help but think that if she belonged to him, he wouldn’t allow her to work so hard. She deserved to be pampered. Standing for hours on her feet, lifting heavy patients, couldn’t be good for her or for the baby.
But as she’d pointed out, her personal life was none of his business. She didn’t belong to him. What had she said? She’d rather be independent. She planned to raise this baby alone.
She didn’t want or need his help.
He sighed and stood. Obviously he was more tired than he’d realized to get so tied in knots over a woman. His day had started very early when he’d been called in to help with the pulmonary artery catheter placement at four-thirty in the morning. Then when he’d been ready to leave for the day, his on-call resident had gone home sick. Luckily, Mitch had arranged for another resident to cover and the guy should be there in about an hour. Luke needed to make sure everything was well controlled by then.
At least, his patients needed to be under good medical control.
He couldn’t vouch for his personal life, which seemed to have taken a nosedive with his recent move to Milwaukee. This was supposed to be a new start for him, but he was quickly falling into his old habits of working too hard.
At times like this he missed his younger sister more than ever. Lisa had had a great way of making him see the funny side of life. He missed her laughter.
He stared at the wall, knowing logically he couldn’t do anything to bring Lisa back. He had to stop obsessing over things outside his control.
Maybe what he needed was to get out. To try to meet people, have a little fun.
What did Caryn do for fun? As soon as the thought hit him, he grimaced. What was wrong with him? It wasn’t like him to obsess over a woman. Especially one that screamed relationship in capital letters.
Somehow he needed to get over his strange attraction for Caryn, and soon.
CHAPTER FIVE
LUKE finished his shift late on Friday, but was determined to get out of his condo anyway.
A group of residents, fellows and attending physicians were all meeting at a restaurant downtown called Andrea’s. When he arrived the place was packed with people in a wide variety of age ranges.
Many of them women. He smiled as one of his residents introduced him to a group of very attractive ladies, one of them a lawyer, the second a vice president for a local marketing firm and the third a pharmacist.
He decided Andrea’s was a great place, and not just because the food was good. As the night wore on, he lost track of the number of people he’d met. He enjoyed himself, mingling with the crowd, but he couldn’t quite stop searching the faces around him for a familiar honey-blonde with a heart-shaped face and big brown eyes.
“How are you doing, Luke?” Mitch asked, clapping him on the back.
“Great.” He smiled at Mitch. “Where’s Dana?” He hadn’t realized until recently that his boss had asked the pretty nurse to marry him at Christmas. He’d overheard Dana telling someone about their wedding, planned for the fall, and seeing the two of them together, so obviously in love, he couldn’t dredge up his usual cynical attitude toward marriage. Maybe theirs would be one of the exceptions to the rule.
For their sake, he sure hoped so.
“In the restroom. She’ll be out in a minute.”
Luke’s eyes widened when he saw both Caryn and Dana making their
way through the crowd. When the women reached them, Dana stood on her toes and kissed Mitch.
“Hi, Mitch, Luke.” Caryn glanced around and he had the impression it was a ploy to avoid looking directly at him. “Wow. I can’t believe how packed this place is.”
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked, lowering his head to Caryn’s ear so she could hear over the din.
“No, thanks. I’ll get it.” She turned, as if to make her way to the bar.
“Caryn.” He put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Please, let me get you something.” When she hesitated again, he added, “I’m sure if Mitch was offering you’d accept.”
Her cheeks turned red, as if realizing she was pushing the need to be independent a little too far. “All right. I’ll have a ginger ale.”
He grinned and held up his half-full glass. “Good choice. That’s what I’m having.”
A genuine smile curved her lips and he had to stop himself from leaning over to kiss her. He purchased two more soft drinks, handing one to her. Mitch and Dana were deep in conversation beside them. Although the bar was crowded with people, the world had narrowed to include just him and Caryn.
No one else mattered.
“Cheers.” He tipped his glass and touched hers, capturing her gaze over the rim.
She tilted her head to the side. “What are we drinking to?”
To us. Luckily, he caught himself before he blurted his thoughts out loud. “How about we drink to new friends?” he amended.
She nodded slowly. “I’d like that. To friendship.” She took a sip of her ginger ale. Her moist lips were tempting beyond belief.
“Caryn, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
Someone bumped into her from behind and he slid a hand around her waist to steady her. He was glad when she didn’t immediately pull away. “I guess it depends on the question,” she admitted.
Fair enough. “Why are you so determined to raise your baby alone?”
