by Joan Hohl
Seth was tired. He was tired of the heat. He was tired of the humidity. He was damn sick of feeling tired. He knew most of his problem was mental, not physical.
Physically, Seth was feeling pretty good. He wasn’t back to performing surgery yet, but he had been helping his practice partner, Colin Neil, by doing hospital rounds checking on the progress of Colin’s pre-and post-surgical patients.
No, the problem wasn’t physical…except in one particular and vulnerable part of his body. But, sexual frustration aside, his health was much better than when he had left Africa weeks ago.
Truth to tell, Seth felt fine as long as he was inside the hospital. Talking to patients, checking charts, reading test results along with discussing individual patients with Colin kept him too busy to think or brood about other, personal matters.
Actually, there was only one matter, and that matter’s name was Becca. The moment he stepped through the hospital doors at the end of the day, her name filled his mind and senses.
Thinking about her, wondering about her—how she was feeling, what she was doing, who she might be meeting—was driving him nuts. And underneath the relentless, nagging thoughts was an emotion he refused to recognize.
Seth had tried evasive action. He did something he had never done before. He had dated another doctor. Her name was Kristi and she was doing her internship. He had agreed to let her trail behind him, observe as he did his daily rounds.
That had been a few days after Becca had left. Seth had hoped having an intern with him, answering her questions, explaining his and Colin’s procedure, might keep his mind centered.
And it had worked, so well that he figured if it worked during the day, maybe…
Anyway, Seth had asked Kristi out to dinner. She didn’t so much as hesitate—she said yes immediately.
All well and good, Seth figured. They could share a nice dinner and possibly, very probably, some professional conversation. He fully expected her to pick his brain, and why not? He didn’t mind.
Kristi was a very attractive woman. Any man would be proud to be seen with her. She was pretty, slender and petite, very feminine.
She was also very bright, which was what appealed to Seth even more than her looks. In his opinion, she would make an excellent physician. In addition, she had a good sense of humor. All and all, Seth found her a wonderful dinner and conversational companion.
On seeing her home, Seth had even kissed her, not a friendly peck but a real kiss.
He felt nothing.
Oh, it wasn’t horrible or even unpleasant. But it was bland, ho-hum, not at all the shockingly erotic physical and emotional impact he had experienced when he had kissed Becca.
Dammit.
It wasn’t her fault. Kristi simply wasn’t Becca. The most ridiculous part was he had actually felt as if he had cheated on Becca.
Talk about being tired.
He missed Becca and Seth was, in a word, miserable. Still, he soldiered on, making rounds, checking charts, answering Kristi’s questions.
Seth lasted until near the end of the third week after Becca left. Then he caved to the urge gnawing inside him. He had to see her, be convinced she was taking care of herself, resting, eating, getting well.
On Friday of that week, he told Colin he would be leaving town for an end-of-summer vacation, and that hopefully he would be ready to go back into active practice when he returned. His partner agreed it was an excellent idea, and that he’d hold down the fort…so to speak.
Packing enough clothes to last about a week, Seth set out for West Virginia near dawn on Saturday morning.
The trip was long and tedious, with a short break for breakfast. Finally, around lunchtime, he brought his car to a stop at the cabin. Some cabin, Seth thought, shaking his head in near disbelief at the beautiful structure. But then, it belonged to a billionaire, he should have suspected more than a mere cabin in the woods.
Leaving the car, he mounted the steps to the wide porch and knocked at the solid oak door. The door opened to reveal a sober-faced, middle-aged woman.
“Yes?” Her eyebrows rose.
Seth smiled. “Hi, I’m Seth Andrews. I’m looking for Rebecca Jameson,” he said. “Is she here?”
“You’re Dr. Andrews,” she said, smiling back. “Becca didn’t say she was expecting you.”
A funny sensation trickled through him. “Has she mentioned me?”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded. “Said you worked together in Africa.”
“That’s right…and before Africa.” He frowned. “Isn’t she here?”
“Oh…my goodness, where are my manners,” she said, sounding flustered. “My name is Sue, I’m the housekeeper. Come in, Doctor, come in.” She stepped back, swinging the door wide.
Once inside the lovely room, Seth tried again. “Is Becca here?”
“No, she isn’t,” Sue answered. “She’s working.”
For an instant, everything stopped cold inside Seth. He arched his brows. “Working?” He had to work to keep his voice calm. “Where is she working?”
“She’s helping out part-time with our doctor at the clinic in town.” She glanced at her watch. “Matter of fact, I was about ready to go pick her up.”
“I’ll go,” Seth quickly offered. “If you can point me in the right direction?”
“Oh, it’s easy to find,” Sue said, grinning. “Fact is, it’s hard to miss. You follow the road at the other side of the house down the hill to town, it’s called Forest Hills, the clinic is right along West Street
, the main drag.”
“Thank you, Sue.” He turned to leave. She brought him to a stop at the door.
“Dr. Andrews, have you come to take Becca home?” Sue’s voice had a note of disappointment.
He looked back to offer her a wry smile. “Only if she is ready to go, Sue. It’s up to her.” Without waiting for a possible response, he opened the door and walked out.
Working. Working. Seth fumed and sped down the winding road as if there were no tomorrow. Dammit, had the woman completely lost her mind? He barely felt ready to go back to work, and she had been in a lot worse shape than him.
Seth found the clinic easily, just as Sue said he would. He found a parking space along the curb, then walked to the nondescript building and stepped inside. The first thing he saw was the back of Becca.
She was slightly bent over a woman who appeared to be weeping. He hesitated, waiting until she turned to walk to a door set in the far wall next to a reception desk, unattended at the moment.
When she opened the door and stepped through, he followed her, sparing a concerned frown for the softly crying woman.
Following Becca through the door, he saw her, shoulders slightly drooping, about to enter another door farther along a hallway. Even in profile, he could see the tension on her face, the tired, anxious look.
Exasperation immediately turned to impatience. Searing anger spiraled through Seth’s entire being. Without thinking, he snapped at her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Five
F or an instant, Becca froze in surprise and shock at the sharp sound of Seth’s voice. The sensation swiftly changed into a quick burst of joy inside at the reality of him being there. Then the present reality intruded.
As mere moments passed, she kept her hand curled around the doorknob and turned to scowl at him.
“I don’t have time for this, Doctor,” she said, anger rising to replace all other feelings. “There’s a young boy choking in here.”
Turning the knob, she entered the room, fully aware Seth was right behind her. Dr. Carter stood next to the examining table, on which a boy lay unconscious and gasping for every breath. The doctor was very carefully working a breathing tube down the boy’s nasal passage.
“Foreign object?” Seth quietly asked from where he had come to a stop right beside her.
“No.” Becca shook her head. “Allergic reaction to a bee sting.”
“Have you administered epinep
hrine?”
“No,” she repeated. “The doctor’s receptionist is looking for—”
“Becca, who is this man, and what’s he doing in here?” Dr. Carter interrupted. He didn’t look up from the boy, but his tone gave clear indication of his impatience.
“The name’s Seth Andrews, I’m also a physician. I worked with Rebecca in Africa.”
Dr. Carter gave Seth a quick glance.
“Have you called for an ambulance?” Seth asked, keeping his gaze on the boy. “He’s still struggling to breathe. He should be in a hospital.”
“I agree.” John sighed. “Problem is the closest hospital is over a half hour away. He wouldn’t have made it there.”
“Not without the epinephrine,” Seth responded caustically. “Why is there none available?”
“Becca told you my receptionist is looking for one.” His tone was sharp. “And I’m beginning to panic here, as I can’t get this tube any deeper.”
This entire exchange lasted no more than a few seconds, during which Becca had moved to stand beside the doctor in case he needed her. Both she and John looked up when Seth spoke again.
“He’s not getting enough air,” he said urgently. “He needs a tracheotomy…now, or there could be brain damage.”
John’s eyes widened and his face drained of color. “I never…I’m not a surgeon…” He glanced at the boy, swallowed, straightened his shoulders and said, “But I’ll do my best.”
“I am a surgeon, and while I’ve never performed this procedure, I know how it’s done,” Seth said. “Would you prefer I do it?”
“Please.”
“Is he sedated or did he pass out?”
“Passed out,” John answered. “He was terrified.”
Seth nodded. “Where can I scrub?”
“There’s a sink behind you.” John inclined his head.
Seth turned, saying, “Becca.”
That’s all he had to say. Becca got busy. By the time Seth turned from the sink, with his hands up, she was masked. She held a lab coat out and he straightened his arms for her to slide it on backwards. Moving behind him, she closed two buttons to hold the makeshift scrub top in place. The next second she was shoving plastic gloves onto his hands, and tying a mask on his face.
“Anesthetic?”
“I’ve administered a low dose,” John said. “We don’t need another reaction.”
Seth nodded, and without saying another word, or asking any more questions, he moved to the side of the examining table, as if he knew without doubt Becca would have everything he needed prepared for him to begin.
And, of course, she did. Still not speaking or looking at her, he held out his right hand. Becca slapped a scalpel into his palm.
Concentrating on the job at hand, Becca was still vaguely aware of a light tap on the door, the quiet voice of Mary, the receptionist, saying, “I found it, Doctor,” and John’s equally soft voice thanking her. He then told her to call at once for an ambulance, and also said to tell the boy’s mother he would be all right.
In short order, working with his accustomed precision, Seth set aside the instrument and inserted the breathing tube Becca handed to him into the child’s trachea. The boy’s breathing eased noticeably at once and slowly returned to a normal pattern. John handed the syringe to her and she plunged the needle into the boy.
As Seth stepped back, away from the table, another tap sounded on the door, and a voice said, “Ambulance crew.”
Glancing at John, Seth said, “He’s about ready to go.”
With her usual calm efficiency, Becca dressed the wound around the tube. Just then, the boy’s eyelids fluttered and opened. She smiled into his startling and blessedly clear green eyes.
“Mommy,” the child cried in a rough whisper.
“I’m here.” Tears streaming down her face, the woman from the waiting room shouldered her way by the ambulance crew. “I’m here, baby, Mommy’s here.”
While the crew gently slid the child from the table to their litter, the woman grabbed John’s hands. “Thank you, Doctor, thank you so very…”
“I did very little, it’s Dr. Andrews you should thank.” He turned her to face Seth.
She repeated her gratitude to Seth, and impulsively grabbed and hugged him.
Not unused to being hugged by grateful patients and family members, Seth patted the woman’s back gently. “You’re welcome, now go with your boy.”
With tears still trickling down her face, she gave him a brilliant smile and rushed after the ambulance crew.
Becca felt misty-eyed but exhilarated…for all of three or four minutes. Then she crashed. Exhaustion, part physical but mostly emotional, struck like a blow. With a last surge of energy, she pulled off the lab coat and the mask from her face. Heaving a heavy sigh, she dropped like a stone onto the chair at the doctor’s small desk.
Seth heard her sigh and he turned to give her a probing look, in exactly the same piercing way he would gaze at one of his still shaky patients.
“You look beat.” His tone was not kind, more accusing. “You shouldn’t be working yet. It’s obvious you aren’t strong enough.”
“I’m okay,” she insisted, abruptly standing to prove her point. For a second the room spun around her and her stomach lurched, proving only that she was completely played out.
“Right.” Seth shook his head, showing his impatience with her. “Let’s go.”
“I can’t go now,” she protested, feeling the need to sit down again. “I have to clean up in—”
“Seth is right, Becca, you’ve done more than enough for one day,” John interrupted. “You look about ready to collapse. Mary and I will do the cleaning up.”
“But—” Becca began once again, and again she was interrupted, this time by Seth.
“Don’t argue,” he said, moving to her to gently but firmly take hold of her arm. “And be still,” he went on as she tried to shake his arm off.
In truth, Becca was too tired to argue. She allowed Seth to lead her from the clinic to his car. It was a nice one, too, and expensive. But she was even too tired to comment on the vehicle.
Becca nearly fell asleep on the drive back to the cabin. Fortunately, she thought, as she roused with a start when the car came to a halt at the house, she hadn’t drifted deep enough for her to dream.
The very idea of Seth witnessing her in the throes of one of her erotic dreams was embarrassing. Whatever would he think? She didn’t want to find out.
Seth was out of the car and at her door before Becca finished undoing her seat belt. Pulling the door open, he again took her arm, guiding her from the car and up the porch steps.
The door swept open, revealing a concerned-looking Sue. “What happened, Becca? You look awful.” She leveled a narrow-eyed look at Seth. “What have you done to her? You, of all people…” That’s as far as Seth let her get.
“She’s all right,” he said, brushing past her to lead Becca inside to a chair. “There was an emergency at the clinic. A child stung by a bee had an allergic reaction. He was asphyxiating when I got there.”
Sue’s eyes widened and her one hand flew to her chest. “Oh, my lord,” she exclaimed. “Is he…” She paused, as if afraid to voice her fear.
“No.” Seth shook his head to reassure the woman, but kept his intent gaze on Becca, who had her eyes closed and was resting her head against the back of the deeply padded chair. “He’ll be fine. He’s being ambulanced to the hospital.”
“Thank goodness,” Sue murmured, her anxious gaze also fixed on Becca. “She overdid it, didn’t she?”
“What else?” Seth’s tone was wry. “I believe she thinks she’s indestructible…but…” He hesitated before adding, “She was magnificent.”
Becca blinked her eyes open. “I was no such thing,” she protested, scowling at him. “I didn’t perform the surgery.”
“Surgery?” Sue jumped on the word. “John performed surgery on the boy?”
Becca shook her head. “No, no, S
ue. Seth did it, although John was prepared to do it.”
“But John’s not a surgeon!” Sue said.
“That’s why I did it,” Seth inserted. “I am a surgeon. But John would have tried.”
“Of course he would,” Sue agreed. “John is a devoted, caring…” The ringing of the phone stopped her cold. “I’ll get it,” she said, turning away.
“Is there any coffee, Sue?” Becca called after her. “I think I need a shot of caffeine.”
“Yes,” Sue called back. “I made a pot for lunch, but I’ll make a fresh pot as soon—”
“No, I’ll get it,” Becca said, interrupting.
“No, I’ll get it,” Seth interrupted Becca. “You stay here and rest. Where’s the kitchen?”
“Follow me,” Sue said from the dining room. “That’s where I’m going.”
“But…” Becca started to rise.
“Sit down and behave yourself,” Seth ordered, in his most I’m-the-boss tone, as he strode after the housekeeper.
Watching the back of his retreating form, Becca began to simmer. That…that…man, she thought. Who the hell did he think he was? Well, she continued in her mental rant, she wasn’t about to let him order her around. She no longer worked for him. He was not her boss.
Carefully rising, Becca stood still a moment. When her head didn’t whirl, or her stomach rebel, she smiled. Moving slowly, she took one step, then another. Ha! She could walk just fine. Take that, Mister-Big-Deal-I’m-The-Man-Surgeon.
Feeling proud of herself, which she admitted to herself was pretty childish, Becca sauntered through the dining room to the kitchen. Seth was standing at the countertop, pouring coffee into two mugs.
“You take orders much better in the O.R.,” he grumbled, turning to carry the mugs to the table.
“But we’re not in the O.R.,” Becca said, calmly, seating herself, “are we?”
He raised his incredible amber eyes.
She met his steady stare head-on.
Standoff?
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, after a long moment. Turning, he went to the fridge to get milk. “Considering your condition, I’m still in command.” Giving her a wry smile, he set the carton of milk on the table. “Do you use sugar?” As if he didn’t know.