The Millionaire and the M.D. (9 page)

He wanted to kiss her. Maybe if he didn't know that she tasted like heaven, he could have resisted. But he'd already made that mistake once; now resisting temptation turned painful. He needed the touch more than his next breath.

Gabe lowered his mouth to hers, deliberately keeping the contact soft, hardly more than a brush of butterfly wings. Instantly he felt her tense just before he heard her gasp. He lifted his head and saw that her eyes were wide and scared.

“No.” She put her hands flat against his chest and pushed. “Get off me. Let me go!”

“Rebecca, it's okay. It's me. Gabe.”

“Let me go.”

Was she still asleep? Having a bad dream? “Wake up, Rebecca—”

“Don't touch me—” Panic laced her voice. “Get your hands off.”

He did, but everything in him wanted to gather her in his arms and reassure her that she was safe. That he would never hurt her.

He made his voice as calm as possible when he said, “Rebecca, it's Gabe. We went out tonight. Remember? You're in my car. In front of your house. You're home.”

Not sure whether or not she was awake, he squatted beside her because he sensed that looming over her would be more frightening.

Her breathing was harsh, frantic and her chest rose and fell rapidly. The same streetlights that moments ago had highlighted her beauty now exposed the fear. He hated that she was afraid of him.

She shrank back, away from him, and her gaze darted from his face to her front door as if she were calculating her chances of successful escape. She drew in air as she touched a trembling hand to her forehead.

“Gabe—”

“I'm here.” Thank God she recognized him.

“I…I guess I fell asleep.”

“Yeah.”

But this was so much more than her being disoriented after waking from a deep sleep. He felt it in his gut that this was way more than a bad dream.

He held a hand out. “I'll take you inside.”

Her gaze locked on his and shame mixed with alarm. She glanced around. “My purse—”

“It's inside,” he assured her. “I used your key to unlock the door. I only wanted to let you sleep a little longer.”

“Oh. I…I don't know what to say.”

“You don't have to say anything.” Not right now. But they would talk about this.

“I want to get out.” She sat there, struggling to get her breathing under control as she watched and waited for him to give her space.

Gabe stood and backed away. “Okay.”

She slid out of the car and rested her hand on the door for a second, steadying herself. He let her because he was afraid to touch her, afraid she would shatter. She gathered her composure for several moments without looking at him. And when she did, she couldn't manage a smile. “Thank you for taking me,” she said, trying to follow the rules in spite of everything.

“Let's go in,” he said.

“No.” She seemed to sense the sharpness of her tone and looked at him. “That's okay. It's late.”

“Rebecca, I—At least let me see you to the door.”

“Please, just let me go in,” she pleaded.

Grimly he nodded. “All right.”

“Good night,” she said.

It had been. Until now. He watched her walk inside and shut the door without looking at him.

For a long time he stood there but couldn't manage to make sense of what just happened. All he knew for sure was that the doc had issues. If anyone knew about issues, it was him. After losing first Hannah, then the baby within a week of each other, he would admit to personal wounds. Rebecca hid behind a facade of professionalism, but he knew there was something wounded in her, too.

He hadn't asked to start feeling again, but somehow it had happened. And he wasn't sure it was a good thing. In fact, there was only one thing he
was
sure of.

She'd managed to touch him, deep inside where no one had for a long time. When he'd touched her back, she'd been afraid of him. He couldn't stand that. He hated the fear he'd seen in Rebecca's eyes.

The question was, What was he going to do about it?

I
t had been a week, and Rebecca hadn't seen Gabe since the night she'd—well—she'd treated him a lot like a criminal. It wasn't her fault. She knew that. She'd been startled, and that horrible memory was always in her subconscious. It reared its ugly head at unexpected times. The blame for that ugly memory sat squarely with the man who'd forced himself on her. When she'd awakened from a deep sleep to find a man holding her, looming over her, she'd gone straight back to the bad place and panicked. And Gabe had paid the price for what another man had done to her.

In the years since the assault, she'd learned that though there was no shame, unfortunately there was no trust, either. Ten years and the bastard was still taking from her. She had a profession that she loved, but he'd stolen so much from her, including a personal life. No doubt Gabe thought she was a raving lunatic.

In the past seven days she'd spent far too much time and energy thinking about this because there never was going to be anything between her and Gabe. No one in Vegas would ever have bet on the two of them being a couple. But she couldn't seem to get it, or him, out of her mind. Maybe when she saw him, got the first post-meltdown, face-to-face meeting over with, she'd be able to stop thinking about him.

And that meeting would be soon. Amy was here in the office, the last appointment of the day, and Gabe hadn't missed one yet.

Rebecca lifted the chart from the holder on the outside of the exam room door. Before she saw a patient, the nurse would already have taken her blood pressure and weight and checked the glucose in the patient's sample.

Rebecca noted all Amy's numbers were within normal limits. She took a deep breath and opened the door, but bracing herself had been a waste of time. Amy was alone. Her brother wasn't in the room.

“Hi, Amy.”

“Hi.” Amy did a double take. “You look weird.”

“I'm fine,” Rebecca said with far more enthusiasm than she felt.

She'd been dreading seeing Gabe and had no idea how much she'd actually wanted to see him until she didn't see him. She shook her head to clear it. His sister was her patient, and that was the most important thing. “So, Amy, what's up?”

The teen shrugged.

“Your weight looks good. How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“You guess? Any specific complaints?”

“I wake up every two hours to pee.”

“That's normal. Other than that how are you sleeping?”

Amy rocked her hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. She put her hands on her belly. “I can't get comfortable.”

“That's normal, too. I like to think it's Mother Nature's way of getting you ready to take care of your baby when it gets here. Babies need to eat frequently. That means he, or she, is going to wake up during the night.”

Amy looked away, clearly not wanting to talk about caring for the baby. With approximately five weeks until she delivered, there wasn't much time left to work on winning her cooperation. Rebecca had hoped the teen would come around by now. Very soon she was going to be responsible for the welfare of a child. Or make a serious decision.

Rebecca was really getting worried about what would happen when the baby arrived. It wasn't just Amy's life she was concerned about. There was a child at risk, too.

“You're going to need help, Amy,” Rebecca said gently.

“Gabe will help.”

Rebecca remembered the strained expression on his face when he'd looked in Mercy Medical's newborn nursery. Her guess would be that he didn't have a lot of experience with infants.

“I'm sure your brother will do whatever he can. But does he know about babies?”

“Gabe can do anything,” Amy said.

Not according to him, Rebecca thought. He didn't think he was the right person to help his sister through this but he'd stepped up as best he could. Somehow they needed to convince this traumatized girl to
want
to take care of her baby.

“The point is, do you know how to care for an infant?” Rebecca asked.

The question was direct and she didn't mean to be unkind, but the deadline was quickly approaching and facts needed to be faced.

“Are we done?” Amy started to slide off the exam table.

“No.” Rebecca put her hand on the girl's shoulder, indicating she should lie on her back. “I need to check the baby.”

The teen did as requested, but not without eye rolling and a long-suffering sigh. Rebecca put her stethoscope on Amy's belly and moved it around, listening for the fetus's heart rate, which was strong. “The baby sounds good.”

Then she examined Amy's ankles and calves for edema, which was moderate, not uncommon at this stage of pregnancy. “Your legs are a little swollen. I want you to avoid salty foods and put the salt shaker away. It makes you retain fluid.”

“Is that it?”

Rebecca held out her hand and assisted the girl to a sitting position. “For now. I'll see you next week.”

“Okay.” Amy slid off the table and headed for the door.

Rebecca followed, to make certain Amy made an appointment, she told herself. As they approached the front office, voices drifted to them—one was Grace. The other was male and it didn't sound like Gabe. Amy walked through the door, and Rebecca joined Grace at the reception window where she was talking with Jack O'Neill.

“I know your type,” Grace said.

He leaned an elbow on the counter, the movement blatantly flirty and a clear invasion of space. “And what type would that be?”

“The type who is self-absorbed and egotistical.”

He winced and put a hand over his heart. “I can't believe you said that.”

“But I'm right, aren't I?”

“Pretty much,” he said.

Grace laughed. “At least you're an honest scoundrel.”

“Does it say somewhere that scoundrels are dishonest by definition?” His wicked smile widened when he saw Rebecca. “Hey. Nice to see you again.”

“You, too,” she lied.

It wasn't exactly a lie. Jack was all right. He just wasn't Gabe. She knew by the way her heart jumped into her throat, then thudded when it hit bottom again that it was a symptom and she was in a lot of trouble.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Gabe sent me to pick up Amy,” he explained. He looked at the teen and draped an arm across her shoulders. “Hey, squirt. Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Grace, will you give Amy an appointment for a week from today?” Rebecca asked.

“Okay.” The receptionist typed in the commands and pulled up the schedule. “How about the same time?” she asked, looking at the girl.

“I guess.”

“Done.” Grace handed her a card with the time and date written on it.

“Okay.” Jack looked at Rebecca. “Did you have a good time at the benefit?”

It had been too much to hope he wouldn't bring that up. Especially since he'd been responsible for pushing her and Gabe together in the first place. Had he asked Gabe how it went? Had Gabe mentioned that she was a lunatic? She had no way of knowing. There had been no communication since the night in question.

“I had a great time,” she said. That was the truth. Everything had been magical until the end.

It took every ounce of willpower she possessed, but she refrained from asking what Gabe thought of her. She was a grown woman. This wasn't junior high.

“Good.” Jack looked at Amy. “Let's get you home, kiddo.”

When she nodded, he looked at her, then winked at Grace. “Don't let the scoundrels get you down.”

The outside door closed behind them, and Rebecca walked over to lock it. Amy was their last patient of the day.

“So you've met him before?” Grace asked.

“Jack?” Grace nodded and she said, “He's a friend of Gabe and Amy's from Texas.”

“You could have warned me about Mr. Slick.”

“I had no idea he would be here instead of—”

“Gabe?” Grace guessed.

“Yeah.” She shrugged.

It was for the best. No harm, no foul, Rebecca thought.

“Did you know that Jack is an outrageous flirt?” Grace asked, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded over her chest.

“You're asking the wrong person. Social skills are not my specialty. Although I had a feeling.”

“In the future, a flirt alert would be helpful.”

“You can count on it. If there is a next time,” she said.

There wouldn't be, at least for her and Gabe. Rebecca went to her office and closed the door. Leaning back against it she blew out a long breath. He hadn't missed a single appointment until after the night she'd gone mental on him. It didn't take superior social skills to understand the rejection. And the cut was far more than a superficial sting. She felt the rebuff as deeply as if he'd said she was too much trouble to deal with.

So much for no harm. This was a definite foul, and it hurt a lot.

After making her evening rounds to check on a couple of patients, Rebecca exited the hospital elevator on the first floor. She turned to her right and walked down the long hall, past the bank of employee lockers and out the back door to the doctor's parking lot. It was time to go home and she wasn't looking forward to it. Without work, she wouldn't have anything to take her mind off Gabe's snub. On top of that, because he'd picked her up at her place, it was no longer a Gabe-free memory zone. But she couldn't put off the inevitable. Sooner or later she had to go home.

Without the protection of the building, when she got closer to her car a cold wind hit her full force. She told herself that's what made her eyes water. Because it couldn't be tears. She was a doctor. And she especially didn't cry over a man.

After pulling out of the parking lot onto Mercy Medical Parkway, she went through the traffic light on Eastern Avenue and kept going until she saw the lights from Green Valley Ranch, her cue to make a right on Paseo Verde. A quarter of a mile up the road, she turned into her complex and touched her remote control to open the guard gates. When they slowly swung wide, she pulled through and turned left. Halfway down the street on the left was her place, and she saw a familiar silver BMW parked at the curb in front.

Her heart stuttered, then started to pound when she saw a familiar man get out of it. “Gabe,” she whispered.

She wasn't sure whether or not to be happy, but the adrenaline rush of seeing him pushed away her sadness. She was grateful for that. If the last week had taught her anything, it was to not have expectations. In fact, she hadn't even realized they were there until every one was not met, followed swiftly by a deep hurt. So she was going to assume he had a purpose for being here that had nothing whatsoever to do with her. But she couldn't help wishing she was dressed in something nicer than her powder-blue scrubs and a ratty old sweater.

She parked in the garage, then walked out and met him in the driveway. He had a big, flat cardboard box in his hands that looked suspiciously like pizza. There was a bag on top and a bottle of wine under his arm. “Hi, Gabe.”

“Hello, Rebecca.”

“What are you doing here?” It was a natural question. On the other hand, her voice sounded unnatural, strained. Defensive? Not if there was a God.

“I wanted an update on Amy. I missed her appointment today.”

Rebecca wasn't very good at playing dumb, but she really sucked at hiding her feelings. The thing is, she didn't want him to know she'd missed seeing him because that would make her
look
as stupid as she
felt.
“Really?”

“Yeah. Jack took over for me today.”

“Oh. Amy didn't mention it.”

Technically that was true. It wasn't until they'd gone to the waiting room that she'd known for sure Gabe wasn't there. But once you started playing dumb, bluffing the rest seemed prudent.

“So, what's the scoop?”

“Gabe, you know the rules.”

He lifted the box. “I brought pizza.”

She sniffed and her stomach growled. “Pepperoni?”

“Is there any other kind?”

When he grinned, her stomach started acting really weird and it had nothing to do with a hunger for food. She had a bad feeling all the pepperoni in the world wouldn't take the edge off what ailed her.

She put her hands on her hips and pretended indignation. “Do I look like the kind of doctor who can be bought off with a pepperoni pizza?”

He lifted one broad shoulder. “If the stethoscope fits…”

“Okay, then. Come on in.” She led the way through the garage and into the house. In the laundry room she slid off her shoes, then reached around and turned on the kitchen lights before glancing over her shoulder. “I don't have much to go with this.”