Priceless (3 page)

Beth studied the older woman seated across the elegant dinner table from her. So, this was Destiny Carlton.

Beth had been caught completely off guard when
she’d returned to her office after Mack’s visit to find a message from his aunt inviting her to dinner. Curiosity had compelled her to accept. Maybe tonight she’d learn why Mack had seemed so sure that Beth and his aunt were already acquainted.

So far, though, the evening had been filled with idle chitchat. Beth was growing increasingly impatient. She put down her fork and met Destiny’s penetrating gaze.

“Pardon me for being direct, Ms. Carlton, but why am I here?”

Destiny’s blue eyes sparkled with merriment. “I was wondering when you were going to ask that. I’d heard you were direct.”

Beth wasn’t sure what to make of that. Surely there hadn’t been time for Mack to report back to his aunt. “Oh?”

“No need to look so worried,” Destiny said. “As I’m sure you know, I do a lot of fund-raising for the hospital. I tend to hear about the rising stars on the medical and research staff. Your name has come up rather frequently in recent months. When I heard about your messages for my nephew, I decided it was time we met.”

“I see.” Beth was still a bit confused. “Are you interested in funding some of the research at the hospital?”

“Always, but my interest here has more to do with Mack. What did you think of him?”

“I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking,” Beth responded cautiously.

“Come, dear,” Destiny said with a hint of amusement in her voice. “From all reports, you’re an exceedingly brilliant doctor. Surely you have some idea of what I’m asking.”

“Not really,” Beth insisted, not sure she wanted to go down the path Destiny seemed determined to explore.

“Women have a tendency to fall all over themselves when they first meet Mack,” Destiny said.

“I don’t doubt that,” Beth said, not that she intended to be one of them. She didn’t have time for a man who took so little seriously. Even as that thought entered her head, she recalled just how seriously Mack had taken Tony’s situation. Maybe he wasn’t as much of a lightweight as she’d assumed, but that still didn’t make him her type.

Not that she had a type, she amended. Not anymore. Not since she’d discovered that the kind of man she’d always been drawn to, men who loved medicine as much as she did, often had an ego that couldn’t stand the competition from a woman in the same field.

That was how she’d lost her fiancé. Her team had inadvertently applied for the same research grant Thomas had applied for, and she’d won it. He had not taken the news well. Not only had she lost him, but a month later the grant had been withdrawn because of a vicious rumor he’d deliberately spun about her research methodology. Beth had been crushed by the betrayal, but she’d learned a valuable lesson about not mixing her professional and personal life.

“But you weren’t impressed by Mack,” Destiny guessed.

Now there was a minefield, Beth thought. Insulting him to his face was bad enough. Insulting him to his doting aunt, who raised millions for the hospital, was something else. Beth wasn’t the most politically savvy creature on earth, but she knew better than to offend a major donor.

“Actually I didn’t spend that much time with him,” Beth said truthfully.

Destiny’s lips twitched as if she were fighting a smile. “Very diplomatic. I like that.”

“Are you trying to set me up with your nephew?” Beth asked bluntly.

Destiny’s eyes widened in a totally phony display of innocence. “How could I do that? You and Mack have already met. Either something clicked or it didn’t. I’m sure you know as much about chemistry as I do, perhaps more.”

Beth chuckled. “Some forms of chemistry, yes. The male-female thing is definitely not my area of expertise.”

“My nephew might make an excellent teacher,” Destiny suggested slyly.

“I don’t think so.” Beth grinned at the determined woman. “Does Mack know you’re sneaking around behind his back trying to fix him up?”

“As I said, how could I fix him up with you since you’ve met? You’re two consenting adults capable of making your own decisions,” Destiny said, as if the thought had never crossed her obviously devious mind.

“But a little nudge from you wouldn’t be out of the question, would it?” Beth suddenly recalled Mack’s earlier suspicion that she and his aunt knew each other. “He’s on to you, isn’t he? He thinks you deliberately got him over to the hospital today to meet me. Seeing Tony was simply a means to an end.”

“You called his office,” Destiny reminded her. “He came over there to meet Tony at your request.”

Beth couldn’t argue with that. “Would you have been as quick to intercede if the request had come from one of my male colleagues?”

“Of course,” Destiny claimed. “We’re talking about a sick child.”

Beth wasn’t entirely sure she believed her. Nor, she suspected, would Mack.

“Look, Ms. Carlton—”

“Please call me Destiny. I insist.”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Destiny, or at least what I think you’re trying to do, but it’s a bad idea,” Beth said emphatically. “I’m not interested. Mack’s not interested. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Rather than the disappointment Beth had anticipated, Destiny’s expression brightened.

“Perfect,” Destiny said.

“I beg your pardon.”

“I said that was the perfect response. You’re going to be a challenge,” Destiny explained. “I love that. More important, it is exactly what my nephew needs in his life. Most women are all too eager to fall right into his bed.”

“I don’t have time to be the challenge your nephew needs,” Beth said, beginning to feel a little frantic. She had a hunch that Destiny Carlton was a force to be reckoned with once her mind was set on something. Besides that, the whole image of falling into Mack’s bed was a little too attractive. She needed to stay away from these two. They had money. They had power. And one of them at least had a plan for the rest of Beth’s life, a plan she wasn’t one bit happy about.

“Of course, you have the time,” Destiny said blithely. “Everyone has time for love.”

Love?
Love?
Sweet heaven, how had they gone from talking about the prospect of her even having a date with Mack to falling in love with him?

“Not me,” Beth said fiercely. “I definitely do not
have time for a relationship. Really, Destiny. I don’t have a second to spare. My days are crammed. There are simply not enough hours for all the work I have to do.”

“You made time to have dinner with me at the last minute,” Destiny reminded her. “You could just as easily make time for Mack. Keep that in mind when he asks you out.”

“He is not going to ask me out,” Beth said confidently. “And if he does, the answer will be no.” A resounding no, she thought to herself. Bad enough to have to fight that little twinge of attraction she’d felt for him. She did not need to waste her time trying to fend off his aunt’s machinations as well.

Destiny’s smile spread.

“Stop that,” Beth said. She could practically read the woman’s mind. She was going back to that challenge thing again. “I am not saying no just to play hard to get. I am saying it because I am not interested. Period. That isn’t going to change. I suspect your nephew has enough women saying yes that he won’t waste too much time mourning my rejection, assuming he even asks me out in the first place. We didn’t exactly get off on the best foot. I was being very insulting about him, and he happened to overhear me.”

Destiny looked vaguely shocked by that. “You insulted him?”

“I never meant for him to hear me,” Beth said in her own defense.

“But all the same,” Destiny said. “He really is a fine man.”

“I’m sure you believe that,” Beth said, trying to extricate herself from the increasingly deep and murky waters of this conversation. “I only pointed out what
he’d heard so you would understand why I don’t think he’s likely to ask me on a date.”

“Oh, Mack has a thick enough hide. He has to, after being in the public eye for so long. He’ll ask you out. He won’t let a little unwitting insult stop him,” Destiny said confidently. “All I ask is that you give the invitation some thought.”

“Why me?” Beth asked, completely bemused that a woman she’d barely even met seemed so certain Beth was right for her obviously beloved nephew.

“I think that will become clear in time,” Destiny said enigmatically. “Just promise me you won’t close any doors.”

“I can’t promise that,” Beth said honestly. In fact, at the moment, with panic spreading through her, she was pretty sure that slamming the door on Mack Carlton and his meddling aunt, then bolting it tight, would be the smartest thing she could do.

Then again, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt this little
zing
of anticipation humming through her veins. Sadly, it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. Just dangerous.

M
ack Carlton was as good as his word. It began to seem as if every time Beth went into Tony’s room in late afternoon, Mack was there. It was evident he’d become a quiet, comforting, dependable presence in Tony’s life, just as he’d promised he would. She began to feel the first faint hint of respect for him, despite her determination to keep her guard up.

Sometimes he sat quietly reading a book while the boy slept. Beth couldn’t help noticing that Mack’s taste ran to thrillers, rather than to the sports books she would have guessed. She even caught him totally absorbed by a recently released presidential biography. He rose another notch in her estimation that day. She tried to smother the reaction by reminding herself that she couldn’t weaken, not with Destiny Carlton scheming in the wings.

Sometimes Beth arrived to find Tony in a spirited
argument with Mack over the best football players ever. Mack listened intently to whatever case Tony made, and even when he disagreed, he did it in a respectful way that seemed to make Tony sit a little taller in bed, pride shining in his eyes at being taken so seriously by a man he idolized.

On more than one occasion, they played one of the electronic games that Mack provided. When they were caught up in the competition, they barely spared Beth a glance. That gave her a chance to observe the two of them a bit more closely. To her amusement, it was evident that Mack was having as much fun as Tony and was every bit as determined to win, not giving the boy an inch out of pity.

There was something a little too appealing about Mack with his hair mussed, his collar open, his expression totally focused as he concentrated on that little screen with such intensity.

To Beth’s surprise Mack was also sensitive to Tony’s level of exhaustion and his shifts in mood. Mack seemed to know just when to encourage a nap and just when to initiate some distracting activity. And he always left shortly after Tony’s mother arrived, clearly attuned to Maria Vitale’s need to spend time alone with her son.

The first time Beth saw Mack in the hallway outside Tony’s room consoling an obviously shaken Maria, she caught herself looking for evidence of the kind of chemistry that Destiny Carlton had been talking about over dinner. If her reaction had involved anyone other than Mack, she might have labeled it a ridiculous twinge of jealousy, but with Mack that would be absurd. There was absolutely nothing between her and the ex-football star. Her interest was purely clinical, a
chance to study how the male-female-chemistry thing worked.

After all, Mack was a virile man with a reputation for appreciating beautiful women. Maria was a gorgeous woman with a flawless olive complexion, a lush body and flowing waves of black hair. Only the exhaustion that was clearly visible in and around her eyes marred her beauty. For some men, Beth thought, that evidence of vulnerability would make her seem even more attractive. Beth couldn’t help wondering if Mack was one of those men.

But despite her intense curiosity, Beth never saw the slightest sign that Mack was interested in the single mom. Even his attempts to comfort her were verbal, not physical. And rather than any hint of a growing closeness between the two, more often than not, he left mother and son together and sought Beth out when he left Tony’s room.

In little more than a week, Beth had come to count on him dropping by far more than she should. While he’d shown no evidence of being attracted to her, he was giving her more attention than she’d expected from him.

Now, at the rap on her office door near the research lab, Beth glanced at the clock and saw that it was just past six. That was when Mack usually stopped in.

“Yes?” she said, fighting the little flash of heat that licked through her as she anticipated seeing him for a few minutes.

Her office door cracked open and, as expected, Mack peered around the edge. “Busy?”

Just this once she should tell him yes. That would be the smart thing to do. These brief little visits were
beginning to feel too right, as if her day would be somehow incomplete without them.

“I have a few minutes,” she said instead, telling herself that there was nothing wrong with indulging herself in the company of a sexy man in the privacy of her office. It didn’t mean a thing. It just proved she was a woman, something she tended to forget when she was caught up in the whirlwind of her job.

“Long enough to go for coffee?” he asked, his expression hopeful. “I could really use a jolt of caffeine. It’s been a long day, and I still have a dinner thing at eight.”

This was something new. Beth wasn’t sure what to make of the invitation. In her office, on her turf, she felt confident and in control of the situation. Even in a setting as thoroughly unromantic as the hospital cafeteria, with Mack buying her coffee she had a feeling that the balance of power between them would somehow shift.

Mack grinned at her hesitation. “I’m asking you to go for coffee, Doc. I swear I won’t try to seduce you behind the vending machines.”

“I was just thinking about everything I have to do before I can get out of here tonight,” she fibbed.

Mack’s grin spread. “If you’re going to make a long night of it, then you need the coffee as much as I do.”

“You’re right,” she said, telling herself that any other reply would make her seem churlish and ungrateful. After all, this man was coming here almost daily to bolster the spirits of one of her patients. The least she could do in return was share a cup of coffee with him. “I’ll buy.”

Her offer seemed to amuse him, but he stood aside
as she brushed past him, then he closed her office door behind them.

As they walked through the hospital corridors, Beth noticed the stares of the nurses, which were accompanied by more than a few whispers. This, she realized, was what she’d feared about being seen with Mack. She needed to command respect among the staff, not be the subject of speculative gossip.

“Doesn’t that sort of thing get old?” she asked as they passed another cluster of gaping females.

“What?” Mack asked blankly.

“The women staring at you, speculating about you, looking you over as if you were a piece of meat.”

He shrugged. “I don’t really notice it anymore.”

Beth couldn’t decide if that was ego talking or a weird kind of humility. In fact, she was beginning to think there were a lot of fascinating contradictions in Mack Carlton. Worse, she was beginning to want to unravel them.

He studied her with a penetrating look. “I’m sorry if it bothers you. It didn’t occur to me that you being seen with me around here might stir up talk. Would you rather go somewhere else?”

She shook her head. “No, the cafeteria’s fine. I don’t have time for anything else.”

As they approached the line, he regarded her with concern. “Have you eaten?”

“No, but I’ll grab something later or take a sandwich back to my office.”

He glanced at the board of specials. “Come on. They have meat loaf. How can you pass that up?”

Beth chuckled. “I’ve had it before. Trust me, it is not like anything you ever had at home.”

“Ah, then no to the meat loaf.” He glanced along
the display of prepared foods. “The salads look fresh.” Before she could decline, he reached for two and put them on a tray, then added two bowls of soup. “Crackers?”

Giving up the fight, Beth nodded. “Sure, but I thought you were going to dinner at eight.”

“I am. Rubber chicken and a lot of schmoozing. I’ll be lucky to get a couple of bites. Believe me, this is a lot more appetizing, and the company is a thousand percent better.”

Beth tried not to feel flattered by the compliment, but it warmed her just the same. No wonder Mack had women falling at his feet. His charm was instinctive and natural, not the phony kind of lines she would have expected him to utter. He was slipping right past her natural wariness.

When he’d added apple pie and two cups of coffee to the tray as well, he brushed off her offer to buy and paid the cashier himself, then led the way to a table in a far corner of the room where there were fewer people around.

Once they were seated, Beth regarded him with curiosity. “Do you always get your own way?”

He seemed genuinely surprised by the question. “No, why?”

“You just steamrolled right over me back there,” she said.

“I figured you were trying to be a lady.”

She studied him with a narrowed gaze. “Meaning?” she asked, expecting some totally chauvinistic remark that would permit her to dislike him again.

“When it comes to food, my experience is that most women would rather starve than admit to a man that they’re hungry. They seem to think we’ll worry that
they’re about to start putting on weight. Personally I like a woman with a healthy appetite and a little meat on her bones.”

Beth bit back her impulse to point out that she had neither. She should have known Mack wouldn’t be so reticent.

He gave her a thorough once-over, then added, “You could use a few more pounds, Doc. People might take you more seriously if you didn’t look as if a strong wind could blow you away.”

“The people who count seem to take me fairly seriously already,” she said.

“But it’s important to get lots of vitamins and minerals from food, right?” he said, placing her food in front of her. “Munching on a couple of vitamin caplets and drinking an energy shake does not constitute a healthy diet.”

Beth almost choked on her first spoonful of soup. How the heck did he know what she usually ate? “What have you been doing? Lurking outside my office door at mealtime?”

“Nope. No need to. The industrial-size vitamin bottle’s in plain view on your desk and the trash is littered with empty shake cans. If you ask me, that’s a sure way to end up sick.”

“What made you an expert on nutrition?” she asked irritably, because he was right and she didn’t want to admit it.

“Destiny pretty much drilled the basics into us, but anything she missed, I got from the team doctors when I was playing football,” he explained. “Food is fuel. Without the right fuel, the body isn’t going to run properly, not for long, anyway.”

She gave him a wry look. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You should,” Mack said, his expression serious. “Tony and a lot of other kids are counting on you, Doc. You won’t be able to help them if you get sick yourself.”

“Point accepted,” Beth said, deliberately taking a bite of salad to prove she’d gotten the message.

They ate in silence for several minutes, then Mack asked, “How’s Tony doing? Any change?”

“You’ve probably seen for yourself that he’s getting weaker every day. We’re doing everything we can to build him back up so we can try another round of chemo, but nothing’s working,” she admitted, her frustration evident in her voice. “Maybe you could work some of your nutritional magic with him. He’s not eating.”

“I’m on it,” he said at once. “Anything he can’t have?”

“No.”

“And I won’t be breaking any rules by carting in takeout?”

“I’ll save you from the food police around here, if you can just get him to eat,” Beth promised.

“Consider it done. I think I have a pretty good idea what might tempt a twelve-year-old kid to eat. And I can always give him the same spiel I gave you about the body needing fuel.”

“Thanks,” Beth said sincerely. “These days he’s much more likely to listen to you than me.”

“It’s a guy thing.” Mack grinned. “Of course, I might have to insist that you stop by to split a pizza with us or maybe some tacos. Kids learn best by example.”

Beth chuckled despite herself. “Still trying to fatten me up?”

“Just a little.”

“It seems to me the women I usually see on your arm are all model thin.”

Mack’s expression darkened a bit. “Don’t believe everything you see in the paper, Doc.”

“Are you saying the pictures lie? How can that be?”

“Put an ambitious female and a sleazy photographer in the same room and all it takes is the click of a shutter to create a false impression,” he said with an unmistakable touch of bitterness.

Before Beth could comment, he waved off the topic. “Let’s not talk about that. Anything on the search for a bone marrow donor?”

Beth wasn’t sure what to make of the quick change in subject, but she accepted that Mack didn’t intend to say another word about the women in his life. Instead, she tried to answer his question about Tony honestly. “He’s on the list, but we haven’t been pushing because he’s not a good candidate right now.”

“Anything I can do?” Mack asked.

“Just keep coming to see him. It’s the only time I ever hear him laugh,” she said quietly.

Mack studied her intently. “What about you, Doc? How are you doing? This is getting to you, isn’t it? I mean even more than it was before. You’re scared, aren’t you?”

Beth struggled with the emotions she tried to keep tamped down so they wouldn’t overwhelm her. Mack had a way of bringing them right back to the surface, of forcing her to confront them.

“Terrified,” she admitted finally.

Mack reached for her hand. “You know, even doctors are allowed to have feelings.”

“No, we’re not,” she said, jerking her hand away
from the comfort it would be far too easy to accept. “We have to stay focused and objective.”

“Why?”

“It’s the only way we can do our jobs.”

“Without falling apart, you mean?”

She nodded, her throat tight. Now she was the one who was uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “Can we talk about something else, please? I can’t do this, not tonight.”

Mack sat back in his chair. “Sure. We can talk about whatever you like.” He grinned. “Want to talk about football?”

She relaxed at the teasing note in his voice. “It would have to be a brief conversation, unless you intend to do all the talking.”

“You know us jocks. We can go on and on about sports at the drop of a hat,” he taunted. “But I’ll spare you. How about politics? Any opinions?”

“I saw in the paper that your brother finally announced he’s running for city council in Alexandria.”

Mack’s expression darkened a bit. “Yep, Richard’s fulfilling the legacy our father left for him.”