Prognosis: A Baby? Maybe
Page 2
Established by Dr. Barr’s late father, Doctors Circle had significantly improved infant and maternal health in the community. Now it was about to move on to the cutting edge of infertility treatments. Jason treasured the opportunity to put his signature on this new clinic.
Heather Rourke’s presence had had nothing to do with his decision to accept the job. Nor had it discouraged him from taking it, either. She had an excellent reputation and they should work well together, as long as she was willing to accept Jason’s leadership.
He intended to keep their relationship strictly professional in spite of that irrepressible spark in Heather’s eyes. In spite of a feminine way of moving that even a white coat couldn’t disguise. In spite of a figure that, while petite in the right places, was also lusciously rounded in others.
In the past, Jason’s experiences with romance had ended in unhappiness and anger. That kind of turmoil threatened to interfere with work, which was and always would be his number-one priority. Some men might be cut out for marriage and children, but not him.
A tap at the door drew his attention. George Farajian, chief of the Ob/Gyn Department, poked his graying head into the room. “Okay to come in?”
“Of course.” Jason turned away from the window.
“I can’t believe how organized you’ve got the place already.” The obstetrician indicated the neatly labeled file cabinets and alphabetized shelves of books.
With a twinge, Jason recalled how he’d chewed out his secretary for unpacking his boxes. If she hadn’t, however, he’d have spent the next month or so stumbling over them and cursing because he couldn’t find whatever he was looking for. He supposed he owed the woman an apology.
“I have to credit Coral,” he said. “She’s done a good job.”
“Glad to hear it. I believe she was hired specifically with you in mind. Now I’d like to introduce you to your new nurse.” George stepped to one side. “Jason, may I present Edith Krick.”
The center of gravity in the room shifted as the woman entered. Not literally, although she was heavyset, but emotionally. Dark-skinned, possessed of an inner certitude that bespoke years of experience, Edith had a knowing gaze that swept him assessingly.
They exchanged greetings and shook hands. All the while, Jason felt himself to be under critical scrutiny.
“Edith’s one of our best nurses,” George said. “She requested this assignment.”
“I wanted to work in the Infertility Clinic because I had one baby and never could have any more,” Edith told him. “I like to see women have as many as they want. It gets the love to flowing. You can’t ever have too much love in this world.” From her tone, it sounded as if she were challenging him to disagree.
“Heaven forbid I should stem the flow of love,” Jason said drily.
“I expect I’ll work real well with your secretary,” Edith went on. “Sometimes when a staffer is new in a place, she needs extra encouragement.”
So that was the problem. Obviously, Edith had heard about or witnessed Coral’s tears and didn’t intend to let Jason escape unscathed. Was this entire medical center full of hard-nosed women, he wondered, or was it just his luck to run into two of them on the same day?
George glanced from him to Edith and back again. Clearly, he hadn’t missed the undercurrents. “Is everything okay?”
“No problem,” Jason said.
“If you don’t mind, then, I’ve got some calls to return. Let me know if you need anything.” With a friendly nod, George departed.
“You play golf?” Edith asked.
“Occasionally.” Although the change of subject surprised him, Jason tried not to show it. “Do you?”
“No, but Dr. Farajian does. Plays every chance he gets,” said the nurse. “Sometimes with Dr. Sentinel. He’s our younger obstetrician.”
“How about you? How long have you worked at Doctors Circle?” Although Jason didn’t want to sound as if he were conducting an interview, it seemed important to take control and shift the balance of gravity back in his own direction.
“Ten years.” Apparently, Edith wasn’t interested in talking about herself, because she went on to say, “I suppose you know you’ve got patients scheduled starting on Monday.”
“That’s right.” Although the clinic might not be officially open, Jason wanted to begin screening patients and setting up treatment plans.
“One of them is Loretta Arista,” Edith went on. “She’s the public relations director here, and if she doesn’t get pregnant soon, she’s going to give up on having babies altogether.”
“I presume Dr. Rourke already did a workup on her?”
“She’s tried everything she knows,” Edith said. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I’ll do my best.” Jason found himself smiling at the woman’s obvious concern for her patients. Being a mother hen was a useful quality in a nurse. Less so in a doctor, however. He’d learned the hard way to keep a tight rein on his objectivity.
“We sure will.” Edith gave a nod, as if he’d passed inspection. “I’ll be honest with you, Doctor. People say you’re difficult to work with.”
“I set high standards and I’m impatient if they aren’t met,” Jason told her. “When it comes to infertility, time is the enemy. That’s why I hate wasting it. Sloppiness, making assumptions and failing to follow directions won’t be tolerated. I’m sure you agree or Dr. Farajian wouldn’t have recommended you.”
Edith’s grin made her face shine. “You’re tough because you fight for your patients. I like that.”
“I can see that we’re going to get along.” Jason remembered Heather’s comment that Edith had a thick hide. Good. He didn’t want to worry about accidentally wounding her ego if he snapped at her under pressure. Most likely, she’d bark right back at him the moment they were alone. Fair enough.
An almost subliminal scent tantalized Jason’s nostrils. Heather must have arrived for her tour of the new clinic. His subconscious made the connection even before he saw her.
“Hello, Dr. Rourke. How’s everything going with you?” Edith asked the smaller woman hovering outside in the hall.
“Fine. It’s good to see you.” Briskly, Heather came inside.
An auburn curl straggling along one cheek was the only sign of weariness despite what must have been a long day. Having shed her white coat, she wore a dark skirt and a tailored beige blouse that, in spite of some discreet tucks, sketched her generous curves.
Jason tore his gaze away. He had the uncomfortable sense that both women had noticed where he was looking.
“We’re going to check out the clinic,” he told Edith. “Care to join us?”
Meaningfully, her chocolate eyes fixed on Heather and him in turn. “Like my mother used to say, three’s a crowd,” said the nurse. “Right now, this office is so small, I can hardly breathe. Guess I’d better go make sure the Records Department has sent over those patients’ charts for next week. I know how you hate inefficiency.” Fanning herself with one hand, she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
Heather’s cheeks turned an appealing pink. “She’s not very subtle, I’m afraid.”
“About what?” Faced with potential embarrassment, Jason had learned that the best response was to pretend you didn’t get the point.
“Forget it.” She brushed a speck of lint off her blouse, seemingly unaware of how the action emphasized the shape beneath the clothing. Jason struggled to keep his breathing regular.
From the moment they’d met, during registration at a convention hotel in Atlanta, he’d felt the same powerful pull toward her. He found it hard to believe that, even jet-lagged and having consumed a couple of drinks, he’d blacked out as quickly as Heather claimed. Not with such a powerful yearning coursing through him.
Something had happened that night. Jason felt like an idiot for not being able to remember, but that was no excuse for her keeping him in the dark. Heather’s earring hadn’t landed in his bed by remote control.
“I’ll buy you a cup of coffee at the kiosk on the way over.” Jason opened the door for her. “Unless you’ve had too much caffeine today.”
“There’s no such thing in this profession. Now that you mention it, if I don’t get some more, I may keel over.” Heather was so short, she walked under his outstretched arm and cleared it by an inch.
With hardly any effort, Jason could have drawn her against his chest and buried his face in her hair. Rejecting the image, he decided he needed that coffee even more than she did.
Chapter Two
Heather had avoided the first floor of the East Wing since the remodeling began, due to the noise, the sawdust in the air and the hazards of trying to make her way through construction clutter. With Jason as her guide, however, she found herself fascinated.
The work had progressed much further than she’d realized, transforming the area formerly leased to an outside group of pediatricians. The altered layout of the walls showed Heather a state-of-the-art facility, with examining rooms and surgical suites plus an extensive laboratory where they’d be able to offer in vitro fertilization and the whole alphabet soup of new technologies.
In a few short decades, medicine had surpassed what science fiction had proposed when Heather was in high school. In addition to egg donations and embryo transfers, researchers had developed such exotic procedures as AH, or assisted hatching, in which a small opening was etched in the outer coating of the early embryo to help it implant in the womb.
The pace of research had intensified to the point where Heather spent her free time catching up on medical journals, reading research papers and attending conferences. No matter what people thought, she was grateful to have Jason on staff with his advanced training and experience.
She was less grateful for the man’s overwhelming physical presence, not to mention the impulsive way he picked her up and lifted her over a row of boxes blocking her path. His large hands proved surprisingly gentle on her waist, the thumbs clamping lightly across her rib cage, the fingers nudging the skin below her breasts.
Ripples of desire flowed through her, speeding up Heather’s breathing and spurring a sharp, Technicolor memory.
When he caught her nipples in his mouth, heat slammed into her, so intense it was almost painful. Lying on the hotel bed, Heather caressed his thick, black hair with a sense of delicious disbelief. She’d only met this man today. What was she doing? And how many times could they do it again during a three-day convention?
“The director’s office is this way.” Jason, seemingly unaffected after lifting her, led the way past the examining rooms. “You can pick which of the other offices you’d prefer.”
“I’ll take one as far from yours as possible.” Had she said that aloud? Heather managed a smile. “I’m kidding, of course.”
“It’s up to you.” Surely that was studied indifference on Jason’s handsome face, not the real thing, she thought, then wondered why she cared.
They stepped through an anteroom into his future office, which consisted of bare walls, rough wooden flooring and a curtainless window. From against the baseboards, Jason hoisted a couple of sketches washed with pastels.
“Dr. Barr asked what I thought of his commissioning a mural for the hall, a motif that would carry through the examining rooms.” He handed her the samples. “Here’s what the designer is proposing. What do you think?”
The artist had a clever touch with babies, Heather mused as she examined the drawings. Each sketch showed a lively youngster, its face alight with precocious emotions. Rounded and full of life, the infants nearly leaped off the paper and into her arms. They reminded her of some photographs her friend Amy Ravenna Ladd, Doctors Circle’s resident psychologist, had installed in her office.
“From your expression, I gather you like them,” Jason said.
“They’re marvelous.” Heather held them up, trying to imagine how they might figure into a mural. “Still, some patients find it painful to be constantly reminded of the babies they can’t have.”
“Maybe we should post drawings of ancient fertility symbols,” he teased.
“I suspect they’d prefer male movie stars,” she said drily. “That ought to put them in a fertile mood.” Although she didn’t intend to tell him so, she doubted anyone was going to need pictures of movie stars with Dr. Jason Carmichael around.
“Some of our patients are men,” he pointed out.
“I’ll allow a few photos of beautiful women,” Heather said, adding, “In the men’s bathroom.”
“Whatever you’ve been doing until now, I was impressed by the statistics on your success rate,” Jason said. “Of course, even if I hadn’t read the documents, I could tell just by looking around Doctors Circle. There seem to be a lot of pregnant staff members.”
Heather handed the sketches back to him. “I don’t deserve all the credit. Some women manage fine by themselves.”
“I noticed that your nurse is pregnant,” Jason said. “Isn’t she uncomfortable, working so close to her due date?”
“She wants to save as much leave as possible for after the twins are born,” Heather admitted. “Since she’s a single mom…” She stopped, not wanting to reveal more of Cynthia’s situation than necessary.
“I see.” Jason frowned. “As the single mother of two infants, she could have a hard time keeping up with your schedule. Perhaps she and the father will prefer that she switch to a less rigorous schedule.”
“The father’s out of the picture entirely.” She pressed her lips together, not wanting to say anything further.
“I’m sorry to hear it, for everyone’s sake.” He shook his head. “She’s going to be exhausted and distracted. If she starts making mistakes that affect patient care, she’ll have to be transferred.”
“She’ll be fine.” Heather wasn’t sure why she bristled at his tone, since she shared the same concerns. But after providing excellent assistance for several years, Cynthia had earned her loyalty. “She loves working with me. She doesn’t want any other position.”
“Then she should have thought things out more carefully in advance,” Jason said.
How dare he blame the pregnancy on Cynthia when she already had enough problems? “Are you blaming her for having an accident?”
“No, but…” Jason seemed briefly at a loss for words. Finally, he said, “As an obstetrical nurse, she surely has the knowledge to prevent this kind of situation.”
“People have been known to get carried away by their passions,” Heather said. “Not that I need to mention any names.”
She saw by the way his eyes widened that she’d hit her target. “You’re changing your story? It’s no longer that nothing happened. Now it’s that we got carried away by our impulses?”
“We went part of the way before you fell asleep,” Heather said. “That’s all.”
“I’m willing to believe that in my less-than-optimal condition, my memory lost what must have been a delicious experience.” Jason moved closer, looming over her. Heather had to fight the impulse to take a step backward. “But you’re saying that I fell asleep in the middle of making love to you? That’s going a bit far. I’m thirty-six, not ninety-six.”
“What difference does it make?” she snapped. “Whatever we did, it’s over.”
“I’d like to know where I stand.”
“A little too close for comfort, frankly.”
Deliberately, he shifted toward her. “Let me know when you’re ready to run screaming into the woods.”
“I should warn you, I know karate.” And several other Japanese words.
“That won’t do any good. The highest you could kick would be my kneecap.” He grinned. “You know, the two of us really should spend more time together. Maybe my memories will flood back.”
“My memory doesn’t need refreshing.”
Heather had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. “Anything you want to know, you’re free to ask. But since you made it clear the next morning that you had no interest in pursuing the matter, I’m surprised you keep harping on it now.”
Jason reached out and brushed an errant curl off her temple. His touch shivered straight into parts of Heather that she considered off-limits to him or anybody else. “In my hungover condition, I may have muttered something less than gallant. For that, I apologize.”
“Your exact words, as I recall, were, ‘Whatever happened last night, I trust I’ll hear nothing further about it.” A slight tremor undermined Heather’s tone. Darn it, she didn’t want to show any vulnerability around Jason.
He had no right to know how much he’d wounded her. For the first time in years, she’d begun to open up to a man, only to have him throw it in her face.
If she’d had different life experiences, she might have found his attitude merely churlish and dismissed it from her mind. To a woman who’d been abandoned as a teenager by the man she’d loved and trusted, however, his rejection had struck her like a physical blow.
“Did I really say that?” Jason asked. “Ouch.”
“Those were your exact words. I already explained that there’s nothing wrong with my memory.” Heather was preparing a few more sharp remarks when she saw him focus on a spot behind her and realized someone had come into the room.
She turned, already knowing there was only one person at Doctors Circle who could approach that quietly on bare floors. Coral Liu possessed an inner calm that had impressed Heather from the moment the young woman started work in January. Even now, when she was probably quaking inside at facing her boss, her smooth, intelligent face showed only respect.
“I hope I’m not interrupting.” Coral held up a catalog of office furniture. “Mrs. Barr asked me to show you this. I thought it might be helpful to make your selections while you’re in the new office, so you can picture how things would fit.”