The Lone Wolf's Craving. Tina Beckett
Absolutely not. I’m glad you did. I just wish I’d known that...well, that’s neither here nor there. Could you come, do you think?”
“If she’s sure.”
“She is. She’s had a rough go of it recently, but she’d like to get to know you. As would I.” Another voice sounded in the background, and Nick answered before coming back on the line. “I’d invite Luke as well, of course.”
Of course. She almost smiled. Maybe he and Tiggy thought they’d need Luke’s help sorting out her Southern accent. Funny how she never thought of herself as having one. But then again, no one ever thought they did. “Will you be well enough to have company? I mean, with your surgery.”
“I’m a bit sore still, but, well...I don’t know how long you’ll be here or when you’ll be back.”
Kate didn’t know if she’d ever be back. It all depended on how everything went. And she had told Luke she wanted to get to know Nick better, and possibly help with his therapy in some way. “If you’re sure.”
“We are.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the emphasis he’d place on the word we. He sounded...happy.
* * *
He didn’t want to pick up his car.
Oh, some perverse part of him did, but the realist in him wanted to just call her up and say, “Keep it.” His flail chest patient, despite everyone’s best efforts, hadn’t made it. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’d evidently been a single mom, and no one knew who the baby’s father was.
So the child—a little girl—was now at the mercy of the system. At least until they could find someone to give them some answers about her relatives. A social worker had already come to the hospital and carried the baby away, saying she’d get her into foster care.
And his leg hurt like the devil. The stress of running—something he normally avoided—had done a number on it. And standing for another three hours as they’d feverishly fought to stabilize the patient hadn’t helped, although he’d barely noticed the throbbing pain while they’d been in the thick of battle.
The thick of battle.
There’s a term he hadn’t used in a while. But it was true. Emergency medicine never knew what it might face on any given day. Some days were good. And some days were horrific. Like the day he’d taken Kate by storm after losing another patient.
A day very much like today. He leaned against the hallway wall just outside the break room to take the weight off his leg.
Only he couldn’t afford to let his guard down like that again. There was that little promise he’d made to Nick to consider, but it was also ridiculous to think Kate would simply fall into bed with him whenever he lost a patient—for as long as she was here, anyway.
Not only that, but he had a feeling that she was going to ask questions as soon as he saw her. She’d already looked at him oddly at the accident site, and it was doubtful he’d be able to hide the limp that went along with overdoing it. The last thing he wanted to do was trudge through old, familiar territory.
Okay, so he could take a cab over to the hotel, meet her beside his car, jump in and take off. She’d be none the wiser, right?
Unless she asked him to come up.
He didn’t see that happening.
But just in case... He straightened, exhaustion taking hold as he made his way to the nurses’ station. Luckily, there was a familiar face behind the desk, her dyed hair just a shade shy of blue beneath the cool light of the tube fluorescents. Mimi Copeland. His favorite nurse.
He rested a hand on the desk and waited for her to glance up at him. When she did, she gave him a compassionate smile, deep wrinkles in her cheeks coming to life. “Well, hello, Dr. Blackman. Heard you had quite a night.”
“You could say that. I have to pick my car up from a visiting...friend. Could you do me a favor and call and let her know I’m on my way?”
“You mean could I ring her?”
He chuckled at her good-natured ribbing, trying to ignore the speculative gleam in her eyes. Great. He turned a pad of paper toward himself and scribbled down the number of the hotel. “If you could ask the front desk to give Kate Bradley a message, saying I’m on my way over and could she please meet me downstairs.” There. He’d emphasized the word. Maybe that would keep the gossip to a minimum. He doubted it, but it was the best he could do on short notice.
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