“You’ve had contact with the woman?”
“Not since that day. Kate says she died six months ago.” Something flashed through his eyes. Regret?
“And she’s just now decided to find you?”
He gave a hard laugh. “She found the picture and my note stuffed in a shoebox. She got the bloke who raised her to admit he wasn’t her real father.” One shoulder went up. “She came looking for me at the house while I was in the hospital. Nearly ruined things for me and Tiggy in the process.”
“Ouch.” Kate did seem to have the ability to stir up trouble wherever she went. He hadn’t slept much for the past two nights. “Things are okay between you and your wife now, though?”
Nick nodded, a smile curving his lips. “She’s pregnant. I never thought I’d want kids, and now I find I have a grown daughter as well as a baby on the way.”
“Congratulations!”
“I guess.”
“Come on, Nick. What more could you ask for?”
“I could ask for my daughter to give me a chance.”
“I’m sure she’ll come round. She asked how you were doing. I couldn’t tell her anything because of patient confidentiality.” He paused. “Maybe I could talk to her. Tell her you’re a regular hero.”
Whoa, why the hell had he offered to do that? Being around Kate was not good for his equilibrium, especially now.
“I’m not a hero. Especially not in her eyes.”
“She just doesn’t know you yet. Maybe you should tell her what you did in the service. For men like me.” Luke hated remembering his injury, how he’d had to fight his way back from the depths of despair when he’d realized his leg would never be right again. He knew he should be grateful it was still there. But on the days when it ached like nobody’s business, he wished he’d just had it lopped off and been done with it.
“I was doing my job.” His friend studied him for a moment. “If she asked you how I was doing, she must care. At least a little.”
“Of course she does.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you had to sign off on her being your daughter first, giving the hospital permission before I could share any information.”
“That could work...”
He frowned. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“If I sign the papers, maybe you could be the one to talk to her for me, like you said. And the medical discussion could turn personal. You could feel her out.”
Well, he’d already done that. It wasn’t something he should do again if he wanted to maintain his sanity. And definitely not something he wanted to admit to Nick. The man who’d saved his leg could very well rip it back off with his bare hands if he found out what he’d done to his newfound daughter.
“You know,” Luke said slowly, “I think it might be better coming from you.”
“Didn’t you just offer to talk to her for me a few minutes ago?”
Yes, and he’d already decided that was not a good idea. “I’m thinking a father-daughter discussion might be more direct. Just tell her that you shipped out right after you were with her mother and over your years of service you saved a lot of men’s lives.”
“It would be stronger coming from a friend.” Nick cocked his head. “One of those very people I saved.”
Wow. He’d never expected Nick to play the you-owe-me card. And, in all honesty, he probably wouldn’t have now if he hadn’t offered to talk to Kate, like a damned fool. His fingers went to his leg, a familiar ache reminding him of what could have been had Nick not been there.
“Not fair.”
“I know.” His friend’s voice was low. “But I’m feeling desperate. She’s due to leave for the States in a week or two, and I want to make sure things are okay between us before she goes.”
“What do you expect me to do? Drop my pants and show her firsthand what a great job you did on my leg?”
He hadn’t even done that in the supply closet. He’d simply unzipped and...
Oh, hell. This was not a good idea.
“No pants-dropping allowed. I may have just found out she’s my daughter, but that doesn’t mean I want you coming on to her. I’ve heard about your reputation from a couple of the nurses.” His voice sharpened a bit. “You’re still a hotshot, just like you were ten years ago.”
Nick might be surprised. He wasn’t guilty of half the stuff floating around the hospital grapevine. And his physical hotshot days were long gone. He might still have the use of his leg, but he’d never be a marathon runner. Or climb the Alps. Or even carry a woman across the threshold. He’d surprised himself by actually getting Kate up onto that sink—although he could lift things just fine, it was walking and lifting together that did him in.
Luckily, he wouldn’t have to fess up to what had happened between him and Kate, because that was obviously not something Nick would be thrilled to hear. And Kate didn’t want Nick knowing either, judging by her quiet plea in the hallway. “So you don’t want me to charm her.”
“I want you to talk to her.” Nick’s voice softened. “Tell her I’m not a bad-boy-love-’em-and-leave-’em type. Just an honest working man who made a mistake. One he regrets.”
“So you want someone who you think is a Lothario to tell your daughter you’re nothing like that.”
Nick grinned. “Exactly.”
Just then an attractive redhead dressed in scrubs came into the center and dropped a kiss on his friend’s cheek. “I thought I’d check up on you. How are you feeling?”
“Better.” He nodded at Luke. “Tiggy, you remember Dr. Blackman...Luke.”
“Of course. He’s the one who called and told me you were in the hospital.” She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Hello again. I don’t know if I’ve ever thanked you properly for what you did. I’m very grateful.”
“I’m glad Nick still had you listed as his next of kin.”
“So am I.” She laid her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Nick’s told me a little about how you met.”
Luke tensed, but forced himself to return her smile. “Nothing bad, I hope.”
“No, just that you came across each other while in the service. I didn’t even know that we did joint missions with the Americans.” She took her husband’s hand in hers.
So that’s what Nick had told her.
No hint that she knew about Nick yanking him from the jaws of death. Or that he’d refused to saw his leg off on the spot, like one of the other medics had wanted to do.
Luke relaxed. He may have told his friend to come clean with Kate about what he’d done in the field, but Luke himself told very few people about that day. Some of his buddies from his service days knew, but only because they’d been there when it had happened. Luke preferred it that way. Anyone who saw his scars and was brave enough to ask about them got a very watered-down version of what had actually gone down.
Hell. Nick was right. He owed the man a debt he could never repay.
Backing out of talking to Kate seemed pretty selfish in the face of it all. He made a quick decision. “About that favor you asked for. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll give it a shot. I’ll need you to sign the paperwork, so I have an excuse to approach her.”
His friend’s eyes closed for a second and he took a deep breath before looking back at him. “Thank you. I owe you.”
No. He didn’t. And that was exactly the point.
* * *
Kate frowned as she took the envelope from the man at the front desk. It couldn’t be from her father back in Memphis, he’d have simply emailed her if he couldn’t reach her. And she didn’t know anyone in London except Nick.
Oh, and one very enigmatic doctor.
And she didn’t even know him. Just that he made her pulse explode...along with other thing
s. Things she was trying very hard to forget.
Walking toward the twin elevators, she slid a thumb beneath the seal of the envelope and popped open the tab. A single sheet of paper was inside.
Could you call me when you get in? I’m at
20-5555-6731
Thanks, Dr. Lucas Blackman
A wave of panic went through her before she realized it probably wasn’t anything related to Nick’s health. If it were, he wouldn’t have left a note. Then she gulped as she remembered his parting shot from yesterday. This couldn’t be about her panties, could it? She’d prefer he just burn them and be done with it. It was just too humiliating to talk about over the phone. Or in person, for that matter.
But if she didn’t call, she’d always wonder.
She wasn’t sure what kept her from booking a flight out of London. She’d done what she’d come to do: looked her father in the eye and drawn her own conclusions. She’d expected that to be fairly quick and easy, but nothing had gone the way she’d planned.
Nick wasn’t the type of person she’d braced herself to find. He hadn’t denied being her father—which surprised her—but then again it was kind of hard to deny the obvious. But there was something in his face that made her want to take a step back and rethink her position. Especially in the face of all those other letters she’d found in the shoebox. Did the man who’d raised her even know about those other men?
She hardened her heart. If those closest to her hadn’t thought twice about lying to her, why not the man who’d contributed nothing to her life other than his DNA?
Her mom had been trying to spare her feelings, she was sure. But surely with all her grandparents’ money, her mother would have been able to track Nick down and tell him about the pregnancy. Or about the baby, once she’d been born. So why hadn’t she?
Her mother wasn’t here to answer any of those questions. Maybe she would have told her someday, but had never gotten the chance.
Or maybe she knew something about Nick that was so terrible she hadn’t wanted her daughter to have any contact with him. Maybe Nick had...forced her, or something.
She stepped off the elevator. No, she had found the note Nick had left the next morning. He wouldn’t have done that if something bad had happened between him and her mother. And her mother certainly wouldn’t have saved a picture of them together had that been the case.
Unlocking her door, she went into her room and dropped her purse on the bed. Her suitcase was still packed, sitting on the mahogany luggage rack. She could just shut the lid and leave with everything she’d come with.
Except answers. And, of course, one pair of panties.
Ugh. She smoothed out the note and traced her finger over the bold strokes of handwriting, smiling at the typical doctorlike scribbles. Luckily she’d had to decipher many notes like these during her physical therapy training, and later, with actual patients, to understand what their doctors wanted.
There was nothing for it but to call and find out what he wanted.
She punched the number that would allow her to reach an outside line and then dialed the rest of the digits listed on the note.
“Blackman here.”
His voice sounded sharp, hurried. “Oh, I’m sorry. You left me a—”
“Kate?” His tone immediately changed. Softened. “I didn’t expect you to call so soon.”
She blinked and glanced at the note again. No time stamp. Was it possible he’d left it only a short time ago? “Oh, I...I just got in.”
“Listen, I’m swamped right now. But basically your father’s listed you as next of kin and has given me permission to fill you in, if you’ve got some free time.”
“I can be there in a half hour.”
There was a pause. “Can we do it somewhere else? I have something of yours I need to return, and I’d rather it not be at the hospital.”
If only he’d been that conscientious a couple of days ago.
And meeting him in her hotel room was out of the question. Not because she didn’t trust him but because she didn’t trust herself. If she’d have sex with him in a public hospital, what would stop her from peeling his clothes off in a private room?
“How about a restaurant?” No, not a restaurant, dummy. “I mean a coffee shop.”
“A restaurant sounds great.” He said something to someone with him then came back to her. “I’ve really got to go. I’ll pick you up when I get off. Say around six this evening.”
“Oh, um...”
“Say yes, Kate.” His voice had gone all soft and gravelly, and she shivered. It was almost identical to the tone he’d used in the supply room. Do you want this, Kate?
She had. She’d said the word that had unleashed them both. And damn if she wasn’t about to say it all over again.
“Yes.”
CHAPTER THREE
LUKE TURNED HIS car into the hotel, giving a soft whistle as he did. He’d heard of The Claymont—knew it was exclusive and pricey—but had never had any reason to visit before now.
Towering white columns framed an ornate cobblestone driveway, the swirling pattern in the black-and-white marble chips echoing the curve of the entryway. An intricate coat of arms placed in the middle reminded him of the X on a celebrity red carpet, giving vehicles a definite stopping point. The place oozed opulence—from the lion’s-head fountain on a side wall, which splashed water into a rustic concrete trough, to the red-coated doorman who emerged from the interior of the hotel to greet him.
Kate had money. Lots of it.
Which might explain their encounter the other day. Maybe she was one of those cute socialites who got their kicks out of toying with danger.
And their time in that supply closet had definitely been dangerous. It had pushed the boundaries, even for him.
But he also remembered her hesitancy that first day at the entrance of the hospital. She hadn’t acted like a spoiled little rich girl.
Maybe her mom had married into money. Nick said Kate’s father knew she wasn’t his biological daughter, so her mother hadn’t used an unwanted pregnancy to trick anyone into marrying her.
She hadn’t lied about it.
Except to Kate, evidently. It had to be rough having your world suddenly turned on its head.
He handed the keys of his little MGB to the valet.
“I won’t be long,” he said.
“Very good, sir.”
The front entrance welcomed him, the double doors swishing open with a quiet hiss. What the hell would he do if she invited him up to her room?
It was a question he’d never thought he’d have to ask himself. But Nick was her father, so there would be no more supply closets...and definitely no hotel rooms in his future. He could keep his hands off her, really he could.
“May I help you, sir?”
The guy at the front desk was just as smooth and refined as he’d expected. “I’m here to see Kate Bradley.”
“One moment.” He tapped some buttons on his computer keyboard, but just as he was picking up the handset to dial her room, the elevator doors pinged and Kate herself emerged.
The air left his lungs, just as it had the first time he’d seen her. It wasn’t so much the way she was dressed as the way she carried herself—although the dark jeans clung in all the right places and the dark green halter-top left her pale shoulders exposed, revealing a smattering of freckles.
“Sorry, I wasn’t sure where we were going,” she said when she reached him.
That soft drawl slid over his body like warm silk. Again.
He noticed the guy behind the desk just stood there, the phone still gripped in his hand. So Luke wasn’t the only one who thought the whole damn package was irresistible. When he turned his eyes toward the other man and lifted his brows, the guy put the phone down with
a quick click, his face turning red. “Can I get you anything, Ms. Bradley?”
How about a fire extinguisher, so she can put you out?
As if he himself was any better at containing that particular fire.
One side of his mouth quirked. Was Nick absolutely sure this was his kid? Because he just wasn’t seeing the resemblance.
Kate smiled at the desk clerk, hiking the shiny metal links of her purse onto her shoulder. “I think I’m good. Thank you, though.”
No thinking needed. She was good.
Giving himself an internal eye roll, he motioned toward the door. “Are you ready? I know a place a couple of miles from here.”
Once in his little car and heading down the road, he noticed Kate flinching periodically as they passed other cars.
“It still seems so strange to be driving on the left. I keep thinking someone is going to honk at us. Or worse.”
“You get used to it.” Not that she was going to be here long enough for that. So exactly how was he supposed to shine up Nick’s halo while avoiding tarnishing his own any further? By returning that little article of clothing she’d left behind a few days ago? “There’s a paper bag in the glove box. You might want to take it with you.”
She tugged on her seat belt as if needing a bit more breathing space and stared at the latch in front of her. “I think I’ll wait until we get back to the hotel, if that’s okay. My purse is pretty small.”
She knew exactly what was in there. He’d had half a mind to take the easy way out and toss the panties into the garbage, but he hadn’t. Luke had never been one to shy away from things that were uncomfortable, even when it had come to his folks’ poverty...his dad’s drunken anger. He’d just stood there and faced it down unblinking. “Don’t forget them. I’d hate the wrong person to go digging through that glove box.”
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