shot him a quick glance and apologetic smile over her shoulder. “I—It’s … an emergency. A friend …” She gave a vague wave of her hand as she skirted around groups of people in the foyer. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”
“I figured that out,” Alex said gruffly. “Not a client.”
“No.”
“Your ex?” he bit out.
Daisy blinked at him. “What?”
“Guess not. A new boyfriend?” His gaze narrowed. When she didn’t answer, it narrowed further. “Did you tell him you were coming out with me?”
There were no answers to anything he was likely to ask now. “I need to go, Alex,” she repeated, then forced herself to stop and face him squarely, even managing to paste a smile on her face. “Thank you for this evening. I enjoyed it.”
“I did, too,” he said, a grim set to his mouth. Then he stepped around her to present the claim check for her coat to the lady behind the desk.
“Thank you. You don’t have to wait. I’ll just catch a cab.”
He didn’t reply. But he didn’t leave, either. And moments later, when the lady brought her coat and she reached for it, Alex was there first, shaking it out and holding it so she could slip it on.
“Thank you.” As the coat settled on her shoulders, Daisy flicked a grateful smile in his general direction. “I’m sorry to run off. I did have a lovely evening.” She paused, hoping he’d say, Of course, I understand. Thank you for coming. Then, niceties observed, she could dart away.
He said, “I’ll come with you.”
“No! I mean, no, thank you. It’s not necessary. Really, Alex. I mean it,” she said when she saw his jaw tighten. “Thank you for everything, but I’ll say good-night here.” There was a moment’s silence. Then, not knowing what else to do, she thrust out a hand for him to shake.
He looked at it as if she’d offered him a poisonous snake.
Hastily Daisy withdrew it. “Good night, Alex.” And without giving him time to reply she turned and darted out of the hotel to catch a cab.
He should just let her walk away and get on with his life.
It was clearly what she wanted. Whatever the hell she was doing, dropping everything and running off at the drop of a hat, it wasn’t any of his business.
Alex knew that.
She didn’t want him there. He knew that, too.
But he couldn’t let her go and face whatever the hell she was about to face when the mere thought of it turned her white-faced and stricken.
So what if it was a boyfriend? Once he saw that she was all right, he’d leave her to it. To him—the boyfriend. Though he couldn’t help grinding his teeth at the thought.
The cab he’d grabbed outside the Plaza took a right on Fifty-seventh and headed west. It was Saturday night in midtown, and the traffic was bumper-to-bumper traffic. The theaters had just disgorged people by the hundreds onto the streets. Progress was excruciatingly slow.
He should have just followed her straight out the door. But she’d got a head start on him, and then Standish had called his name. There was no way to pretend he hadn’t heard, and impossible to be impolite and brush the older man off—not without being able to offer a convincing excuse.
And what was he going to say? “My date had to rush to the hospital because she thinks her ex-husband … or maybe her boyfriend … or some guy she knows called Charlie needs her?”
Damn it. Didn’t she have any pride?
He glared out at the traffic, willing it to move. At least Standish had told him where St. Luke’s was. It wasn’t that close to Daisy’s office, though perhaps it was near where she actually lived.
He didn’t even know where she lived. Something else she hadn’t shared with him. And something else to fume about until the driver dropped him off outside the emergency services department and sped away.
Facing it, Alex’s feet suddenly felt rooted to the pavement.
He didn’t do hospitals. Of course he’d been in and out of the hospital he’d designed the wing for. But he’d never been in it other than for work. He’d never been in a hospital for anything resembling a medical reason—for anyone—since the day Vass died. Everything in him wanted to walk away.
Only the memory of Daisy’s stricken face made him take a breath, then another deep one, and stride straight in.
It was a zoo. There were people everywhere, sitting, standing, crying, bleeding, filling out forms.
Not one of them was Daisy.
Alex stood by the door, cracking his knuckles. He didn’t even know who to ask for. Charlie Somebody.
Hell, he didn’t even know the guy’s last name. He got in line anyway. Maybe he’d spot her before he had to come up with a name.
He was two cases from the desk when he heard the sound of her voice. His head jerked around, his heart lurched at the sight of her drawn pale face.
She stood in the doorway of one of the examining rooms, her expression intent as she listened to a white-coated doctor. Whatever he said, she nodded, still looking fragile. The doctor patted her arm, then went into the room. Daisy started to go after him.
Alex went after her. “Daisy!”
She jerked as if she’d been shot. Then she spun around, white as a sheet.
He started to go to her, but instead she hurried toward him. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was thready, strained.
He just looked at her. “You’re here.”
She swallowed. Something shuttered in her gaze. “You don’t need to be here.”
“You look like hell.”
“Thank you so much.”
He moved closer. She moved back until he’d cornered her between a chair and the wall. Then he put a hand on her arm so she couldn’t pull away. “I came to see if I could help, Daisy.”
She shook her head almost fiercely. “I don’t need your help. I told you that. It’ll be all right.”
“Charlie will,” he clarified, needing to see her reaction to his name. He tried to keep his voice even, nonjudgmental, but he didn’t like it when she flinched.
Her jaw tightened. Her fingers knotted.
“Is it bad?” he asked. He didn’t want the guy to die, for heaven’s sake. He just didn’t want Daisy dropping everything to race across the city for him.
“He has a broken arm.”
“A broken arm?” Alex almost laughed with relief at the same time he
