“I CAN DO THIS, I know I can,” Cori muttered, settling on an easy casserole for dinner. At least, it looked easy in the cookbook she found in one of the cabinets. She didn’t think she could ruin anything so simple. She hoped.
As she worked in the kitchen, she thought back to her and Ben on the chaise longue and she could feel her entire body tingle with anticipation. After all, tonight was the night she and Ben were going to become lovers. And after the pleasure of his earlier kisses, she had an idea that making love with him was going to be an experience she would never forget.
Humming along with Mick Jagger on the radio, she danced around the kitchen as she worked.
“Cori! Cori!” Ella stopped in the kitchen doorway. Her face was white as if she’d experienced a shock. “I’m picking up the spare blankets and sheets kept in the linen closet.”
“What’s wrong?” Cori followed her into the bedroom where the older woman opened a cupboard and pulled out the linens.
“There was a bad accident on the highway,” she said quickly. “A bus hit a truck, which hit another truck and then plowed into several cars.” She hauled the blankets into her arms. “Ben said for you to stay here. But I’d appreciate if you’d give Lucia a call. She has nursing skills and we could use her.”
“Let me help.”
She shook her head. “Honey, this is really bad. You just stay here.”
Cori didn’t listen. She grabbed half the linens, stopped long enough to turn off the oven and hurried out of the cottage. When she entered the clinic, she found Ben talking into the phone as he loaded up what looked like an overlarge tackle box.
“Look, we don’t know what we have out here yet,” he snapped. “But from what the sheriff said we’re going to need a couple of choppers for the major cases. They can land in the school yard. The clinic’s too damn small to accommodate the number of injured, so we’re using the school gym. Just get them out here!” He slammed the phone down. Finally, he noticed Cori was there, and he looked at her with unfocused eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Helping Ella bring the extra linens over.” She ignored his rude question as she set them down on the table. “Let me help.”
“No.” He piled medication bottles, bandages, gauze pads and syringes in the box.
“I might not know about medical things, but there’re other things I can do,” she insisted. “Even if it’s bandaging people. If it’s my stomach you’re worried about, don’t. I watched a Friday the Thirteenth marathon last night on TV and didn’t feel sick once.” She hoped to defuse the tension, but it didn’t work.
Ben took a deep breath. He closed the box and secured the latch.
“This isn’t a game, Cori,” he said quietly. “The estimate is at least fifty people injured. Some of them could be dying and I’m the only doctor these people have to count on. We have two people with nursing skills and two emergency medical technicians who are out there supervising the transportation of the victims. Time is going to be of the essence tonight and I don’t have time to baby-sit you to make sure you don’t screw up.”
She blamed her hormones for the tears springing to her eyes.
“That’s not fair, Ben. Let me help.”
The expression in his eyes was chilling. “If you feel sick, you get out.” He picked up the box and carried it out of the room.
Cori didn’t waste any time in picking up the linens and running after him. She tossed them in the back of the truck and jumped in the passenger seat. She rightly feared if she hesitated Ben would drive off without her. Ella climbed in next to her.
When they reached the school, she saw trucks and vans parked near the gym doors, which were propped open. Men, carrying stretchers, hurried inside.
Cori’s first impression was noise—a lot of it—crying, voices echoing in the tall building and organized chaos.
“Doc! Over here!” A man wearing a dark blue shirt with a fireman’s patch on one sleeve gestured to one end.
Ben turned to Ella. “Set up a triage,” he ordered. He barely spared a glance at Cori. “And find something for her to do.” He moved off quickly.
Ella looked around. “Gather up the children,” she suggested. “They’re going to be frightened. If I know Lorraine, she brought a pile of books. Use one of the classrooms to keep them occupied.”
“There’re so many people hurt,” Cori murmured. Her shocked system couldn’t take it all in as she looked over the large room. Nothing she had seen on television had prepared her for this.
“And more to come, I’m afraid.” Ella patted her shoulder as she moved off.
As Cori circled the area, she found children afraid and crying. She picked them up, dried tears and tried to allay their fears. She found the stack of books the bookstore owner had brought and, later on, a large urn filled with hot chocolate.
“All because of a drunk driver,” she overheard one of the men say with disgust to a friend as they walked past her.
She heard the steady whop-whop of the helicopter blades as it landed and later took off, along with high-pitched wails of ambulance sirens that arrived to pick up the injured. Time had no meaning as she read stories, comforted the children and even braided a little girl’s hair in a fancy French braid to get her mind off her fears. Several more begged for fancy braids, too, and she accommodated each of them. She did anything to make the hours as normal as possible for them. And all the while, she heard faint voices crying out and sometimes she could hear the low pitch of Ben’s voice as he treated a patient or gave out orders.
“I want my mommy,” one little girl whimpered, climbing into Cori’s lap. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clung to Cori.
“I know, sweetie, but the doctor is helping your mommy feel better,” she soothed.
She had no idea what time it was when an unfamiliar woman stepped in, claiming that she was now going to look after the children and that Cori was relieved.
“I’m going to help them work through the shock,” she explained.
Cori looked at the kids, most of them now asleep. “I’d say they’re doing pretty good if they can sleep.”
“Why don’t you go on home now,” the woman dismissed her.
When Cori stepped inside the gym, she found it not as crowded. Ben was hunched over a cot at the other end of the building. She started toward him, but Lucia intercepted her.
“This is not a good time, my dear,” she told Cori. “It’s been a very long night for all of us and this is something you’re not used to, especially in your condition. Why don’t you go on home and rest? We’ve been able to transport the more seriously hurt and release the lucky ones.”
Cori started to protest, but something in Lucia’s face stopped her. She managed a brief smile and headed for the door.
“I guess no one remembers home for me is L.A.,” she murmured, walking with leaden steps away from the school.
She didn’t have to worry about her safety being out alone. Not here. But as Cori got closer to the cottage, the more she felt as if she were unraveling inside. She picked up her pace and was soon almost running toward the clinic and around to the small house in the back.
By the time she stepped inside the living room, she was shaking like a leaf in a strong windstorm.
*
“IF WE HAD a hospital closer, we wouldn’t have had to worry about losing some of those people,” Ben said through gritted teeth. He dropped onto a bench and ran his hand over his face as weariness set in. “I haven’t felt this tired since I was interning. If it hadn’t been for Dr. Willoughby coming out to help, I don’t know what we would have done.” Lucia had contacted the retired doctor who’d been only too willing to help. Ben had welcomed him with open arms.
“We would have coped as we had before,” Lucia told him. She pressed a coffee cup in his hand.
He gulped down the liquid. “What’s left?”
“Nothing. The Stanleys took that last family to their place.” Ella dropped onto the bench next to Ben and closed her eyes. “I do ho
pe this counted as overtime.”
He smiled at her wry tone. “In your dreams.”
“Bennie, everyone is gone and you must go home and rest.” Lucia got to her feet and patted his shoulder. She stooped down and kissed him on the cheek.
“Yeah.” He shook his shoulders to rouse himself and looked around, but didn’t see what he was looking for. “Does anyone know where Cori is?”
“I sent her home hours ago. Someone came in to be with the children and I told her she would be better off home,” Lucia told him.
Ben felt a faint tingle of fear crawl up his spine. “Was she all right?”
“Tired, but that is natural. I’m sure she went home to bed.”
Why didn’t he feel consoled by her words?
He pushed himself to his feet. “I think I’ll check on her before I turn in.”
“After the night you’ve had, you’d be better off getting sleep. I’m sure Cori’s fine.” Ella smothered a yawn.
Ben held out his hands and helped her up. “I hope so. Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow, Ella. I can handle the office.”
“Oh, I’ll be in,” she informed him. “Do you think I want you to mess up my files?”
Ben drove Ella back to the clinic and watched her drive off. He looked down the street that was known as Farrington’s business district. Now, store and office lights were extinguished and all was quiet. After the absolute chaos of the emergency Ben couldn’t comprehend the silence. He felt jumpy, as adrenaline still pumped wildly through his veins.
He thought about going for a long run. That was what he used to do to settle himself down. But first, he wanted to make sure Cori was all right.
When he approached the cottage he could see a light on in the kitchen and stepped around to the rear door.
“Cori?” he called out as he stuck his head in. “Cori?” Uneasy by the silence greeting him, he stepped inside. He noticed a pan covered with what looked like scorched milk was in the sink and heard the sound of water running in another part of the house. He headed for the bathroom and found the door ajar. Over the sound of the running shower he easily heard heartrending sobs.
He muttered an expletive and hurried inside. In the steam, he could see a shadowy figure behind the frosted glass. He pulled open the door and saw what he knew he’d feared seeing after hearing she had been dismissed. Not cruelly; he knew his mother better. But he should have known Cori would have gone through her own trauma out there and had no idea how to handle it. She huddled in a tight ball under the steaming water, crying as if her world had ended.
“Oh, baby,” he murmured, grabbing a towel and reaching for her. He quickly wrapped the towel around her and turned off the water before gently pulling her out of the shower cubicle.
“I can’t stop crying!” she sobbed, burying her face against the curve of his neck. She curled her arms around him and nestled in his arms as naturally as if she had done it for years. “I tried. I really did. I even tried to make myself hot chocolate in hopes that would help, but I cried so much while I warmed the milk, I burned it.”
“Ssh, it’s okay,” he soothed, carrying her into the bedroom. He dried her off as best he could, then grabbed the quilt and wrapped it around her.
“All those children were so afraid because I couldn’t tell them their parents were all right. All their crying and the pain as they feared the worst,” she babbled, starting to shake uncontrollably. “It’s still in my head. I can’t get rid of the sounds!”
Recognizing her shocked emotions for what they were, he settled for rocking her and murmuring soft words in her ear until she started to calm down. He forgot he was tired. Forgot overworked muscles and eyes burning from weariness. All he knew was the woman in his arms had experienced something she hadn’t been accustomed to.
Cori looked up at him with tear-drenched eyes. “I didn’t let the children know I was scared,” she told him with a note of desperation in her voice as if afraid he might not believe her. “I read to them and played games and let them talk. But I can’t get all those sounds out of my head! They keep coming and coming.”
“It’s normal, Cori,” he assured her. “I should have made you stay here.”
“No!” she clutched his shirtfront. “I’m glad I went because I saw what you did. Saw why you need a hospital here.”
Ben circled his fingers around her wrist to check her pulse and found it racing.
“How about I fix you some warm milk?” He started to get up, but her tight grip on his shirt refused to release him.
Panic flared in her eyes. “Don’t leave me, Ben!”
“Okay, I won’t leave you.” He adjusted his hold on her as he sat back against the headboard, still cradling her in his lap. He picked up the towel and began drying her hair, rubbing the strands gently between the nubby fabric.
Then the quilt slipped just enough to reveal the tops of her breasts. The golden color turned to pale ivory as he looked farther down, noting the delicate curves and lines. He wanted to trace them all. He felt his body tighten with desire as he felt her lips pressed against his throat.
“Make me forget, Ben,” she whispered, shifting her body until she faced him. She tossed the quilt off her shoulders and half sat up in his lap.
“No matter what happens between us tonight, you won’t ever forget,” he told her. “It will always haunt you.”
“Then let me forget for tonight.” She pulled his shirt free and took it off him with a sense of desperation in her movements. She straddled his hips, her fingers feverishly working on unfastening the metal button at his waistband. When she looked up at him, her eyes were large and dark. The shock had now been replaced by arousal.
He grasped her arms, keeping her from touching him again.
“We’re not going to forget anything that happened tonight,” he said in a harsh voice. “If anything, tonight we’re going to create something new. Tonight, we’re going to create a lot of memories that will be all ours.”
Chapter Ten
Cori’s Bedroom
The first thing Ben did was reach out to turn off the overhead light. The room was left bathed in a warm golden glow of one muted lamp.
Not taking his eyes off Cori, he easily unfastened his jeans and pushed them down his hips, kicking them off the bed. When he started to sit up to remove his shirt, she stopped him by placing her palm against his chest. He lay back and allowed her to roll the soft fabric up his chest. He expected her to pull it over his head and was surprised when she paused for a moment just as the fabric covered his neck and left his arms imprisoned by the sleeves. She pulled upward a little more until the shirt covered his face.
Cori did what seemed to come natural where this man was concerned. All she knew was that she had to touch him, assure herself that they were both still alive. She dipped her head and began nuzzling his nipple. It hardened immediately, but she only turned her attention to the other nipple, curling her tongue around the tip.
Ben groaned. He tried to pull at his makeshift mask, but had no way of getting it off since his arms were still confined.
“Cori,” he muttered. “Take it the rest of the way off.”
“Not yet.”
He felt her movements, but quickly realized it only meant she had tossed the bath towel to one side. She moved to straddle his hips, her feminine warmth cradling his arousal with only the soft cotton of his briefs between them. He ached to have that remaining piece of clothing gone. He realized that the evening’s events had left her feeling out of control and this was her way of regaining it.
“I need you,” she murmured, scraping her nails lightly over his midriff.
Ben hissed a sharp curse when her nails danced around his erection. Since he couldn’t see, he could only feel Cori’s fingers trail lightly across his upper thighs and her body shift against his. He felt as if flames of fire traveled up his body with every stroke of her fingertips.
Her leisurely movements felt as if she thought she had all the time in the worl
d. And it was killing him. But he wouldn’t have begged her to stop if his life depended on it. He wanted her to keep that control she so desperately needed.
“I want to feel alive again.” A sob sounded trapped in her throat.
“You are alive,” he told her, then gasped when he felt her teeth gently pull on his nipple.
Even more of a shock to his system was the sensation of hot tears splashing against his skin. “Cori?”
“I want to know there is more to it,” she whispered in his ear as her fingers danced lightly along his rib cage and lower.
Her breath feathered across the path her hands had begun.
Until that moment, Ben hadn’t known a person’s breath could literally shut down. But Cori’s comment and caresses had knocked his breath out of his body. He could tell by the faint uncertainty in her gestures that she wasn’t used to being the aggressor. Which made what was happening between them all the more sweeter.
Except as Cori’s caresses grew even more daring, so did Ben’s desire to plunge deeply into her and never stop. He wanted to show her what they could share together. Show her there was much more than she ever had with that other idiot. Once he started, he knew he wouldn’t ever be able to let her out of his bed.
Unable to take any more, he struggled to release himself from his shirt. He was ready to tear the fabric into pieces by the time he was free. Within seconds, the shirt sailed across the room and he was able to look at Cori. She took his breath away.
Faint tan lines left her breasts and belly a warm ivory shade while the rest of her was a deep gold, thanks to her afternoon sunbathing sessions. Her nipples had begun to darken and there was a roundness to her tummy. There was no doubt she would only grow more beautiful during her pregnancy. The only thing that bothered him were the tear tracks across her cheeks. He vowed to make sure she never had reason to cry again. He reached out for her, and when she melted in his arms he twisted so that she lay back against the covers.
Ben angled his body over hers and captured her mouth, kissing her with a hunger that had been building up since that first day. Their mouths fused with an urgency that electrified the air. He framed her face with his hands and studied her features—not as her doctor but as the man who was falling for her. Falling hard. For a man who had long fought commitment, he discovered he had no desire to start running. Not if it meant having this delectable woman for all time.
Mommy Heiress (Accidental Dads #2) Page 15
