“Thank you.”
She didn’t meet his gaze and Richard closed his eyes, furious with himself. “Look, I’m sorry. Forget I said anything. I’m just acting like a spoiled brat. I can’t have what I want and so I’m blaming everyone in the world but myself.”
“What…do you want?”
“Haven’t you figured that out yet? I want you. Still. Always.”
She blinked those big gorgeous eyes and with a sigh, he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
She stood frozen with shock in his arms for just a moment then she seemed to melt against him, her mouth soft and eager against his. Her arms clasped around his neck and he lost himself to the heat that always flared between them.
Was it only because he knew he couldn’t have her? he wondered. Was that why each touch, each taste, seemed such a miracle? As if each time might be the last.
He wasn’t sure how it happened but she was backed against the wall, her body wrapped around his, and he was lost in the overwhelming tenderness, unlike anything he had ever known with anyone else.
They kissed for a long time, until finally she sighed against his mouth and he tasted exactly the moment when she started to withdraw.
She slid her mouth away from his and backed away, her eyes wide, slightly dazed, for only a moment before she seemed to blink back to awareness.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“What? Kiss you?”
“Confuse me,” she said, her voice low. “Distract me. Richard, I can’t do this with you. Last night was…”
A mistake. He heard the words, even though she cut off the sentence before she said them.
“I was confused and upset and I—I needed you. I won’t deny that. But I shouldn’t have stayed. The lines are too blurred. Surely you can see that. You’re the hospital attorney and I…”
“And?”
“And things are so complicated right now. I can’t even begin to tell you.” Her gaze flashed to her laptop behind him. “Complicated is an understatement. Right now, I need…I can’t afford to be distracted by you. By this.”
The words had a painfully familiar ring to them. She was doing it again, damn her.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “It’s just…my life is a mess. The merger. My family. Northeastern HealthCare. Everything.”
When would he stop just handing his heart to her and then sit by watching her twist and yank the poor thing into knots?
“You’re right. I wouldn’t want a little detail like the fact that I’m in love with you distract you from all that other important stuff in your life right now.”
He hadn’t meant to say that, damn it. The words slipped out of nowhere to hover between them, where they seemed to expand sharply, to grow and morph until they filled the entire room.
“Richard!”
“Forget I said that.”
“How can I?”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way. Especially since you’re so focused on what’s really important. The merger. Your family. NHC. Everything.”
As he headed for the door, he dislodged some papers from the coffee table. Out of habit, he reached to pick them up to replace them—it wouldn’t do to leave a mess, after all, he thought bitterly—then his attention was caught by the top page in his hand.
He shouldn’t have read it but a few key phrases leapt out and grabbed his attention. Law school had taught him to read briefs rapidly and digest them just as quickly. It took less than ten seconds to read enough to feel like throwing up.
“What the hell is this?”
She stared at the paper in his hand and he saw the color leach from her face like bones in the sun. She grabbed for the memo. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
He held it above his head so she couldn’t reach it. Her dog, thinking they were playing some kind of game, yipped besides their feet. “Nothing! You call this nothing?”
Panic twisted her features and she looked like she shared his nausea, so pale and bilious that he might have allowed a twinge of pity if he’d had room for anything else around the disgust.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“I hope to hell it’s not.”
He pulled it down and read it again and had to fight the urge to shove the whole thing down her throat. “Because what it looks like is your master plan to win this merger fight, no matter what the cost. You’re planning to sacrifice your own brother for the sake of your damn job!”
“I’m not!”
“What else? Take Peter Wilder down, any way you can. That’s what the thing says. With Wilder out of the picture, the opposition will crumble. How could you? What have you become, Anna?”
If possible, her features paled further but she still lifted her chin. “You’re jumping to unfounded conclusions, counselor.”
“To hell with that! The proof is right here. How could you?” he asked again. “You’re willing to destroy Peter—your own brother—just to win. The job at all costs. Nothing has changed with you, has it?”
She ignored his words, holding out her hand. Her fingers trembled, he realized, but the sight gave him no satisfaction. “Give it to me, Richard. That is an internal Northeastern HealthCare memo. You have no legal access to it. You’re an attorney. You know that.”
“It was here in plain sight.”
“Among my private papers, in a private home. You read it without my permission and now you just need to forget you ever saw it.”
She was right, damn it. She was right and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. He handed over the document with bitter reluctance, as all his illusions about her shattered into nothing.
“I don’t even know you, do I? I was completely wrong. How could I have been so stupid? You aren’t protecting your emotions. You’ve got none. You’re a cold heartless woman who is willing to sell your own family down the river to get your way.”
“Richard—”
He shook his head, cutting her off. “I’ve been in love with an image all these years. You never cared about me. I finally see it. I tried to convince myself you were doing what you thought was best to escape your family’s expectations. But the truth is, you left without even a backward glance because I didn’t matter. My feelings didn’t matter. You don’t care about anyone or anything but yourself, do you?”
“Not true. So not true.” Her voice was low and cool but she fluttered one hand over her stomach like he’d kicked her. Her dog, sensing the tension, seemed to get more excited, dancing around their feet.
“It is. I can’t believe I’ve been so blind. I’ve been hanging on to this illusion of the girl you used to be in high school and college. But she has completely disappeared somewhere along the way.”
“I’m sorry you had to read that.”
“I won’t let you and those bastards you work for get away with this,” he growled. “No way in hell. I’ll go to the media. To your family. To anybody who will listen.”
“And say what? You have no proof of anything. Just leave it alone, Richard.”
She was right. He was certain the incriminating document would be shredded and the memo purged from the NHC system the moment he walked out the door.
“You would love that, wouldn’t you? If I just walked out and forgot everything. It’s not going to happen. If I can’t go to the media, I can at least do everything I can to protect your brother.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s not necessary.”
His laugh was raw and scraped his throat. “Oh, believe me, Anna, as the hospital attorney and your brother’s counsel now by default, I think it damn well is. Northeastern HealthCare is running out of time. I’m sure they’re going to move fast. But we’ll be ready for them.”
He headed for the door but her voice stopped him.
“Richard, I…This is not what you think, I swear. Can you just give me a few days to straighten things out?”
“A few days? In a few days, your brother’s life could be devastated. He’s getting marri
ed in a week, Anna. Did you once think of that? A little accusation of sexual misconduct with a patient would be a hell of a thing to have hanging over his head on his honeymoon.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “A few days. That’s all I need.”
“In a few days, this could be a done deal and your bloodsucking company could win. I am not going to let that happen.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and the vulnerability on her features gave him the absurd urge to comfort her.
“Fine,” she said after a moment. “Do what you have to do. And I will, too. Will you excuse me, then? I have a great deal of work to do.”
Without another word, he spun on his heels and headed out the door.
He sat in his SUV for just a moment before turning the key in the ignition. Betrayal tasted like bitter ash in his mouth.
His mind flashed with images. Anna reading to Ethan with his son snuggled against her and her features soft and affectionate. The way her eyes lit up when he kissed her. Making love with her and the tenderness that wrapped around them like a blanket on a cold winter’s day…
All a mirage. He couldn’t believe he was so stupid about her. So very, very blind.
He jerked the vehicle in gear and backed out of her driveway, hitting the speed dial on his cell phone as he went.
“Hi, Mom,” he said when Diane answered. “I need you to keep Ethan a little longer, if you can.”
“Is anything wrong, dear?”
What the hell wasn’t wrong? He was in love with a woman willing to sacrifice her family for her career.
“Just a few work complications. I’ve got to run to the hospital. I’m sorry.”
“No problem,” his mother answered. “We’re having a great time, aren’t we, kiddo?”
He could hear Ethan giggling in the background and the pure sound of it centered him. He loved his son. He might feel like his legs had just been ripped out from underneath him but he still had Ethan, his mom, his practice. He had to hold on to the good things in his life. There would be time to mourn his shattered illusions later.
Right now, he needed to find Peter Wilder.
* * *
Any more shocks in her life and she was going to need a good cardiologist.
Anna sat numbly in her living room after Richard left. Lilli regarded her quizzically for a long moment then leapt onto her lap. Anna managed to yank herself out of her near-catatonia to pet the dog, while her mind continued to churn.
She felt like she was caught in the throes of a raging tornado for the past eighteen hours. The stunning news about her father, the outrageous discovery about NHC’s plans for Walnut River General, making love with Richard and then being forced to face his bitter anger.
Lost somewhere in there had been his stunning declaration that he was in love with her.
I wouldn’t want a little detail like the fact that I’m in love with you distract you from all that other important stuff in your life right now.
He couldn’t be in love with her. Why would he possibly say such a thing? Still, she couldn’t forget the emotion on his face the night before when he had held her, a certain light in his eyes as he kissed her.
I think you’re a brilliant, capable, beautiful woman who doesn’t see her own strengths. You don’t see yourself as I do, as someone with the ability to cope with anything that comes along.
His words seemed etched in her memory, permanently imprinted there, just like the wild pulse of joy that had jumped inside her at his words, only to fade into shock a few moments later when he read that damn memo.
She buried her face in her hands. He couldn’t love her. Not really. Obviously his feelings couldn’t be very sure if he could tell her in one breath that he was in love with her, then believe her capable of betraying her own brother the next.
She remembered the disgust, the disillusionment in his eyes and wanted to weep. She could have told him everything, that she had just read the memo herself and was as sickened by it as he. The temptation to do just that had been overwhelming.
But she had known even as she opened her mouth that she couldn’t do it. Richard had no legal access to an internal NHC memo, just as she had reminded him. But somehow she had a feeling that wouldn’t have stopped him from taking on NHC and its powerhouse attorneys single-handedly and potentially endangering his own career.
She hadn’t wanted him to take that risk. This was her mess and she was obligated to figure a way out of it herself. She wondered what Richard or her siblings would say if they knew she had been the one to bring Walnut General to the attention of her superiors at Northeastern HealthCare.
She had closed her eyes to some of the more questionable practices at NHC. Fury burned through her at her own negligence, her own gullibility. She should have known better. She should have remembered everything James Wilder tried to instill in his children. Things like character and strength and the awareness of greater good.
She had to fix this, and she had to do it on her own, no matter the cost to her job or her reputation.
She would probably face charges—or at least be sued. She had signed a nondisclosure clause when she took the job at NHC and whistle-blowing about an internal memo was in direct violation of what she had agreed to.
She was going to need a good attorney. Too bad she had just ensured the one man she trusted wanted nothing to do with her.
A sob welled up inside her but she choked it down. She had to keep it together. She had far too much to do right now to waste time sitting here feeling sorry for herself amid the wreckage of the life she had created for herself.
She picked up her cell phone and dialed Peter’s number, programmed there just like Ella’s and David’s, though she hadn’t used any of them for months.
At first, she was frustrated when she was sent directly to voice mail, but then relief flooded her at the temporary reprieve.
Eventually she would have to explain to her older brother how stupid she had been, but at least for now she could escape with only leaving a message.
“Peter, it’s Anna.” Her voice trailed off as she floundered for words. “Look, this is going to sound really strange but I have a feeling Richard Green will be trying to get in touch with you. When you hear what he has to say, I would…ask you to withhold judgment for now. I have no right to ask you that. To ask you anything, really. But…I promise, I have my reasons. Just don’t rush to conclusions, okay?”
She hung up, feeling even more like an idiot. Would he think she was crazy or would he give her a chance to explain?
She drew in a deep fortifying breath, then picked up her phone again. She had to fix this, no matter what might happen to her as a result. For her family’s sake—and for her own—she had to make things right.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Richard headed immediately to the hospital, where to his relief he found Peter Wilder’s vehicle in his assigned parking space.
After checking Peter’s office and the cafeteria, he finally found the man on the fourth floor in the administrative boardroom—along with Ella, David and J. D. Sumner.
Ella looked lovely and competent in surgical scrubs, her dark hair held away from her face with a headband, while her brothers and fiancé wore casual clothes, fitting for a Saturday.
Papers were scattered across the table and they all looked deep in conversation.
He hated what he was about to do to the Wilder family.
Not his fault, he reminded himself. He had done nothing. Anna and the bastards she worked for had created all of this. Acknowledging that didn’t make his task any easier, though.
They were so engrossed in conversation that none of them noticed his presence for several moments until Peter finally looked up.
“Richard! Come in. Just the man we need to talk to.”
“Oh?” He felt vaguely queasy at their eager smiles.
“We’ve decided we’re not just tossing a white flag up in the air and giving in to Northeastern Health Care without a fight.” Animati
on brightened Peter’s features. “We need to come up with another plan for the municipal council to consider. A better alternative.”
“Okay,” he said slowly.
“What do you think of this? Walnut River wants out of the hospital business. Fine. I understand where they’re coming from. With overhead and malpractice insurance costs through the roof, it’s tough for public entities to stay viable in today’s health-care market. We get it. But what if we could figure out a way to privatize the hospital without a takeover? If we could find local investors with the financial backing to purchase the hospital from the city?”
“That’s a big what if.”
“Absolutely,” David Wilder interjected. “But with just a few phone calls we’ve found several major players who are interested and I think we could get many of the local physicians to join up on a more limited basis.”
“I really think we could make it work,” Peter said. “This way the city would be out of the hospital business but decision-making control would still remain in local hands instead of some faceless corporate behemoth.”
A corporate behemoth that intends to take you down. Richard forced a smile. “Sounds like you’ve thought it through.”
“We’re just in the beginning stages.” Ella beamed with excitement. “But we need to know what legal hoops we’d have to jump through. That’s where you come in.”
All three of the Wilders were humming with energy and he hated even more what he had to tell them about their sister. He, conversely, was suddenly exhausted. At the same time, he was filled with a fierce desire to do everything he possibly could to beat Northeastern HealthCare any freaking way possible.
“I’m in,” he said promptly. “Whatever you need, I’ll help you.”
It was the least he could do, especially since they would soon be dealing with Anna’s latest betrayal.
“I knew you would help us.”
Ella smiled at him and for the first time Richard saw a trace of Anna in her smile. How had he missed the resemblance all these years? Was it simply because he had been acting on the assumption that Anna was adopted and hadn’t been looking for it?
Reunited in Walnut River Page 13