by Ruby Laska
Snap out of it.
“Look, ladies, I’m already pretty far behind schedule.” An understatement. Dinner would be out of the question. He’d be lucky to have the energy left to microwave a leftover plate of spaghetti by the time he got home. “Can you spare me a minute, Claudia? Out in the hall? And then I’ll be happy to leave you two to yourselves.”
Claudia hesitated, glancing from him to the open door and the corridor beyond, as though estimating the distance. She rose from her seat, but then stood her ground, arms clasped awkwardly across her chest. “I’m—do you think it could wait until tomorrow?”
For a second he almost thought he read a flicker of fear in her eyes. No, not fear exactly, apprehension. As though any news from him was bound to be bad news. As though she wanted to avoid him at all costs.
Well, what could he have expected? That she’d light up with pleasure, throw herself into his arms as though she’d spent those five years missing him, regretting her exit from his life? No, not likely. Once Claudia Canfield made up her mind about something, it was settled for good. A brace of wild horses would be no match for her stubbornness.
Still, she had to recognize how vital it was that she work with him. As Bea’s physician, if nothing else.
He shook his head. “I’d prefer that we spoke now.”
“I’d...prefer not to.”
Impatience surged. What was she so afraid of? She’d never seemed the least bit intimidated by him when they were together. Why should she be now? She held all the cards. She had the advantage of surprise. Still, she had recoiled from him as though he were some sort of...predator.
For God’s sake, it wasn’t as if he was planning to drag her into the hallway and seduce her.
Andy narrowed his eyes. This woman was clearly not the same Claudia he’d once known. Her indecisiveness was something new. She’d been afraid of nothing, running headlong into her decisions, the bad ones as well as the good.
And to hell with anyone who got in her way.
Andy forced the thought from his mind and focused on the woman in front of him.
“A minute or two is all I need. We can talk at greater length another time, once you’ve gotten settled. I just want to...lay the groundwork for that discussion.” Though he chose his words carefully, his voice was cool, distant. His “doctor voice” as some of his colleagues teased him.
But that was all right. Hearing himself speak, hearing the authority and confidence in his voice, got him through the moment. He’d been caught off guard, that was all. He was the doctor. And he was just doing his job.
“All right. But just for a minute.” With a quick backward glance at Bea, Claudia edged past him through the narrow doorway into the hall. The fabric of her sleeve, some filmy purple stuff, brushed against his arm as she slipped by, electrifying the hairs on his arm.
“Excuse me,” he muttered, edging to the side.
The wrong side. Claudia stepped right into his path. They both rushed to extricate themselves, but the distance they put between them didn’t lessen the heat where her hips brushed against his, where she’d stepped squarely into his chest, the warmth of her breasts pressed for the briefest second against him.
“I’m sorry—” The color that rose to her face highlighted a few freckles that dotted Claudia’s nose and cheeks. Another detail he’d missed.
“It’s my fault. These long shifts—well, my reactions aren’t what they used to be.”
“That must be a concern, for a physician,” Claudia said. “Especially one who just had his thirty-fourth birthday.”
Surprised that she remembered, Andy searched her face for irony, but found none.
“Look, Claudia, you can trust me to care for Bea. I’ll do everything I can for her. She’s been like a—she’s been a friend to me.”
“I didn’t mean to challenge you. I’m sure you’re an excellent doctor.”
He let the comment pass. “What I wanted to talk to you about...”
“These fractures,” Claudia interrupted. “It was a simple fall, wasn’t it? Outside the grocery store. How is it that a woman in Bea’s health ends up breaking bones over a little tumble?”
She’d mastered her self-consciousness, Andy saw, forced the blush from her cheeks. A slight upturn of her chin and she was her old self, just this side of imperious.
“Well, that’s a good place to start,” he responded carefully, searching for the right words. “In many ways, Bea enjoys excellent health, especially for a woman of advanced—for a mature woman.”
Discussing Bea this way felt wrong. He cared too much. He couldn’t distance himself from the case.
But he had to do it, owed her that much. If Bea hadn’t been there to pick up the pieces when Claudia left, he might never have gone back to school. When he returned to Lake Tahoe he promised himself he’d return the favor. He’d watch over Bea. The day would come when she needed him, and he meant to be there.
And now the day had come, and he was failing. With all his knowledge, with all his ability, with all the millions of dollars worth of equipment at his disposal, he could offer her only a few options, none of them good. There were decisions to be made. Hard ones.
Decisions that needed to be made by loved ones, by her family. He just hadn’t anticipated having to deal with Claudia yet. Nor, it was clear, she with him.
Too bad. It had to be done. “Bea suffers from a condition called osteoarthritis,” he continued. “Basically this means that the cushioning in her joins has worn away over time. Her hip—the one she fractured when she fell—is severely affected.”
Andy relaxed a little as he warmed to he subject, letting himself be caught up in his explanation. This was the way to approach it, like any number of difficult cases he encountered. Sure, he’d been a little shook up, but he’d recovered pretty well, considering. And why shouldn’t he? Yes, he’d been in deep with Claudia, deeper than he’d ever allowed himself to be with any woman, deeper than he would ever allow himself to go again. But it had been a long time ago, a time when he’d been particularly vulnerable, when his judgment was clouded. A time when he’d given in to needs that he’d since conquered.
“I don’t understand,” Claudia interjected. “Bea’s never had arthritis. I mean, she even won second place in a seniors’ ski tournament a few years back.”
“Three years ago,” Andy corrected. “As I said, Bea is in terrific health in many ways. Her heart is strong, and she takes good care of herself. But this condition can develop relatively rapidly. On average, patients who seek surgery progress to debilitating pain and loss of function over two years.”
“You mentioned surgery,” Claudia said quickly. Andy saw the hopeful light in her eye. “So there is a surgical solution?”
“Well...” Andy swallowed. From here the waters got rougher. “As I said, I don’t want to overload you with details now. I just wanted to sketch out the problem. Tomorrow, or when you’re ready, we can go into more depth.”
“But there is a solution,” Claudia insisted, her voice rising slightly in pitch. Another man might have missed the fear that she was hiding, the way she pulled her arms a little tighter to her body, the faint tremor in her chin.
He’d been doing all right there for a while. Until he saw Claudia’s vulnerability. But now Andy felt that his control was slipping by the second. Below the surface, in the dangerously roiling stew of his subconscious, he found himself responding to Claudia’s voice, her scent, her smallest gestures.
And inexplicably, he longed to offer her comfort. To take her in his arms and press that soft cheek against his neck, wrap her hair in a coil around his hands and murmur that everything was going to be all right.
Not the way a doctor was supposed to feel about a patient’s family member. Even when things looked as grim as they did now.
Besides, judging from Claudia’s reaction to him, she was none too pleased to find that he was Bea’s physician. Or maybe he was overreacting, maybe all he detected in her cool response
was indifference. She wore no wedding ring, but she was no doubt involved with someone, or else playing the field, toying with the rich playboys who were so plentiful in her family’s social circle. They probably tripped all over each other to get close to her.
“There are...a number of options,” he said, willing his voice to be steady and even.
“Please don’t be offended by this question,” Claudia said. “But there are other physicians you are consulting with on this case? Specialists?”
Andy suppressed a mirthless laugh. Leave it to a Canfield to ask that question.
“I’m working with an orthopedist, yes,” he said. “Highly respected. If you like, I’ll get you a copy of her credentials.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Claudia snapped, the worry in her eyes momentarily replaced by annoyance.
Andy drew in a breath, suddenly feeling even more exhausted than when he first entered Bea’s room. Maybe there was another way. Someone else he could discuss the situation with. Surely if Claudia was in Lake Tahoe, her father Jack couldn’t be far behind. They were a tight-knit bunch, those Canfields.
“Look, Claudia. If you would prefer, I can wait and talk to your father. You said he would be coming out soon?”
Claudia was silent for a moment, her emotions scrolling across her face unchecked. Surprise, then mistrust flashed in her eyes.
“What haven’t you told me?”
“Just...a few details about Bea’s condition.”
“So she has this osteoarthritis. It’s not fatal, is it?”
“No—”
“And I can discuss her surgery with the orthopedist?”
As she interjected, Claudia had unwittingly stepped closer, so that Andy could see the fiery glints of gold in the irises of her eyes, detect the faint ghost of her scent. In the hours since she’d applied it, the woodsy perfume had mingled with her own scent, and the result was...intoxicating.
But that sort of thinking was taking him down a path he was determined not to follow. The affair that had nearly devastated him had been nothing but a brief diversion for Claudia, a chance to see how the other half lived, to spend some time with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Sure, she’d talked as though there were something more, dangling the possibility of a future together like an exotic trinket used to taunt a dirty street urchin.
He’d been confused, swimming in a vortex of unfamiliar passions, ready to go anywhere she led, commit to anything she asked.
But then she’d gone too far.
A chill quenched the sensations that seconds before had Andy’s blood threatening to boil. He laid a hand firmly on Claudia’s arm, closing the gap between them by a few more inches.
“Claudia,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “There are some things you need to know about Bea’s condition. And this time I’m afraid you have no choice but to trust me.”
CHAPTER TWO
Andy’s hand gripped her arm. His strong fingers circled her wrist, the warmth of his touch melting into her skin, while the rest of her body broke out in sudden goose bumps.
It was just that the air conditioning was set too high, circulating cold, clinical air.
Yeah, right.
Claudia wrestled her arm back. Andy held on a little too long, his thumb glancing off in what was practically, possibly anyway, a caress before releasing her. She resisted the temptation to close her other hand over the spot where his fingers had rested, to see if the burning trail of sensation was truly a figment of her imagination.
He shouldn’t have touched her. He should have known better. They’d met again by chance, by an unfortunate caprice of fate. He wasn’t to blame for that, at least she didn’t think he was. But he had no business reaching for her, no right to such familiarity.
Not when his touch brought reminders of other caresses, long past. Not when that single touch made her feel more alive, more energized, than she had in a very long time.
Suddenly self-conscious, Claudia jammed her hands into the pockets of her white jeans. Pull it together. Ridiculous, to be reacting this way. It was just that his touch was unexpected.
“Let’s go back inside,” she said. “You can tell me whatever it is that you need to say in front of Bea. I don’t care to keep things from her.”
Andy’s brows knit together in a grimace of frustration. “Nor do I, Claudia, but there’s nothing I’m going to tell you that Bea and I haven’t gone over already. Several times, in fact.”
“Then I can just hear it from her, can’t I?”
Andy clenched his fingers into fists at his sides, then slowly relaxed them. Claudia could feel the frustration in his gesture. Instantly she regretted her words. Like it or not, Andy was Bea’s doctor, and it wouldn’t do to go around provoking him. Bea would never have chosen him if she didn’t have total faith in him, if he wasn’t the best available. Canfields always demanded the best—it was practically genetic.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ll do it your way. That’s the way you’re accustomed to doing everything, if I remember correctly. Besides, I’ve got better things to do than stand here arguing with you and my most difficult patient.”
Andy strode back into the room, leaving Claudia to follow a few paces behind. Bea’s eyes fluttered open as they took their positions on opposite sides of her bed.
“So?”
“Andy’s been telling me a little about your osteoarthritis.”
Bea frowned. “A dreadful word, that. I’ve just got old bones. I didn’t need any fancy diagnosis to tell me, either, but I suppose we have to pay these shysters for something.”
“It’s just a little more complicated than that,” Andy said, making minor adjustments to Bea’s pillow and linens. Bea batted his hands away.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” she admonished—and then winked at him.
Feisty or not, though, her grandmother was 78 years old, flat on her back, the neckline of her handmade batik nightgown barely visible under the white hospital sheets. For the first time in her life, Claudia had to admit that Bea might be in over her head. Away from her log cabin with its wind chimes and sun catchers and crystals and looms and watercolors, Bea seemed to have shrunk and weakened, her hair whiter and thinner than Claudia remembered, a few more wrinkles etched into her skin.
There was no way around it: she was going to have to act as Bea’s advocate. She would be the care-giver, and Bea would be her responsibility—a complete flip of the roles they’d held since Claudia had been an infant nestled in Bea’s lap. It practically broke her heart, but Claudia intended to do whatever was necessary to ensure Bea’s well-being, even if it meant taking on Andy Woods.
“Good night, Queen Bea,” Andy murmured, taking Bea’s hand.
Claudia backed out of the way and watched as Bea clutched Andy’s hand in hers, then brought it to her cheek for a fleeting kiss before she released him. And once again she felt the little surge of jealousy. That touch, so small and yet somehow so intimate, shared between two people who couldn’t be more different, but who had somehow forged something wonderful between them. A touch that spoke volumes of their friendship, devotion, love...
How long had it been since Claudia had felt anyone’s reassuring touch? Yes, she saw her father all the time, but at work they interacted as colleagues, working side by side. The company was doing better than it ever had, and the work never seemed to be finished. Claudia knew her father loved her, and sometimes he remembered to show it, taking her out to lunch and ordering for both of them, so that for a few precious hours she could feel like a little girl again.
Most of the time, though, she felt as though the world was on her shoulders. At least there was that one tender embrace at the end of every day to get her through.
“So, you’ll make some time for our discussion soon?”
Andy was inches away, staring at her expectantly, his expression neutral. She had to pay attention, resist the fatigue that was threatening to overtake her.
“Yes. I’m here fo
r a couple of days, at least. I can’t stay too long. I’m afraid this wasn’t the best possible timing for me, work-wise.”
“You’re working?”
The surprise in Andy’s eyes seemed to be genuine, but Claudia bristled nonetheless. “Of course I’m working. What did you think I would be doing, hanging out at Dad’s estate riding ponies and eating bon-bons?”
“I only meant—”
“As a matter of fact I have a great job, one that I happen to be very good at, where I can use my training and education.”
“Good for you.” Andy stepped back, edging toward the door. “Forgive me if that came out wrong. I know you’re capable, Claudia. I’m glad you’re putting all that talent to good use.”
“No...I’m sorry,” Claudia said, aware too late that she’d come out with both barrels. “I didn’t mean to get so defensive. The truth is...well, I’m working for Dad, and sometimes people just assume—”
“—that Jack gave you the job to keep you busy,” Bea piped up. “Well, let’s admit it, that’s just what he did, honey. But you showed him, didn’t you, sugar? Andrew, this girl’s turned that place around, got things moving like they haven’t since my own father started the company. Do you know, she’s one of Canfield Inc.’s best designers? Sales of her line have been simply soaring—”
“Oh, Bea, that’s enough. I design uniforms, not Seventh Avenue couture.” Claudia felt a blush warm her face and wished she’d never opened her mouth. “Andy, don’t let us keep you any longer. And really, I’ll be much better when I’m rested. We’ll...have that talk.”
“Where are you staying?” Andy asked politely, his slow retreat bringing him to the door.
“At Bea’s.”
Another look exchanged between Andy and Bea, another volume spoken without a single word, communication that Claudia was not privy to. But Bea ducked her brows in her best stern grandmother face, and Andy gave a small wave.
“No Late Show for you tonight, Bea,” he said. “See if you can get that rest you were threatening.”
