to sidle over about an inch, only to have the photographer make another gesture, bigger this time. Suddenly a hand was on her hip, dragging her close to Santa’s side. Eyes wide, she looked down at Clancy just as he glanced up at her, his grin dark and wicked, making her mouth go dry as she instinctively leaned into him. The world seemed to fade away.
It was then that a couple of blinding flashes reminded her that someone was taking photographs. She hurriedly turned her face back toward the photographer and forced herself to smile again. Except he was already gathering his equipment.
What? That was it? Her face had to have been the craziest of crazies. She looked at Kristen to see her laughing at something Clancy was saying, and her smile suddenly deserted her.
It was like being at the dog park all over again. Was there a woman on this earth who was immune to his charm?
Evidently not, judging by the way Hollee herself had stared at the man just moments earlier, her gaze dropping to his lips.
And then her mind shifted to the music that was currently playing, and she rolled her eyes. Seriously? Well, some kid’s mom might have been caught kissing Santa, but she was not about to join that particular club. Especially not now.
So before she could somehow incriminate herself even further, she decided to hang up her Santa’s helper costume and leave Clancy in Kristen’s more than capable hands. She cringed at the image that thought evoked.
Because if he started actively flirting with her, Hollee was afraid she might scratch the other woman’s eyes out. Despite the fact that it should mean nothing to her. And it looked like she had her answer after all.
This Santa had no place in her life. Not now. And probably not ever.
WHAT THE HELL had possessed him to pull Hollee toward him like that the other day? The thought had rolled round and round his thoughts until he was dizzy.
He’d been trying to help the photographer, he reasoned.
Sure he had. What he’d really tried to do was get his hands on her, like he’d been itching to do all afternoon. Watching her help those kids, her warm smile as each one of them passed by, had worn away at him. Chipping away like a lumberjack preparing to fell a tree.
And sure enough, the second his fingers had cupped the curve of her hip, he could hear the distant shout of Timber! as he’d come crashing to the ground.
He wanted her. Wanted to toss her onto the nearest bed and do what he hadn’t gotten to do ten years ago. He wondered if maybe he should sleep with her to get it out of his system, but that was not going to happen. The last thing he needed was to make a messy history even messier. No one, except he and Hollee, knew what had happened that night, although he sometimes wondered if Ava had somehow guessed, since she was the one who’d pointed out the mistletoe.
He’d been hard-pressed to hide his emotions after telling her the kiss had been a mistake. But, at the time, he’d felt Jacob had been right. So he’d made the break as definite as possible.
He’d have to be just as adept now, although there was no need. Not anymore. She wasn’t interested in him. The way she’d sped out of the room after that photo told him all he needed to know.
He glanced at his watch. He was a few minutes early to his first appointment but decided to see if his patient was in her room. If he immersed himself in work, he could wipe everything else from his mind.
The phone on his hip buzzed, and without stopping what he was doing, he shifted it so he could see the screen. Hollee?
What the hell? It was almost as if she’d known he was thinking about her.
Pulling the phone free, he put it to his ear. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I need you down here.”
“What?” His brain stalled for a second, almost missing her next words.
“We have a problem in Maternity. Can you come?”
His thoughts sidestepped back to reality, although he couldn’t imagine why they would need him. But she wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t urgent. “I’ll be there in three.”
Hanging up, he changed his route and headed for the elevator.
He reached the third floor and exited, glancing in both directions before seeing Hollee waving at him from the end of the hallway. She looked pretty upset. “What is it?”
“We have a situation. A newborn with a cleft palate. The mom came in with full-blown eclampsia and gave birth. She won’t believe us when we say it can be fixed. If we can’t get her blood pressure down, we’re in danger of losing her.”
Now that he listened, he did hear a disturbance down the hall. “Is her obstetrician here?”
“He’s in there. But he thought if you came, you could explain the repair procedure to her and it might calm her down.”
“And the baby?”
“She’s in the nursery. Every time she caught sight of her, she just started up again. The husband is in there, but he’s not much help. He almost passed out during the delivery.”
“Okay. Can you bring the baby but stay just outside the door? Let me talk to her, and then we’ll go from there.”
She touched his arm. “Thank you. You’ll understand when you see her.”
Clancy knocked on the door she’d indicated and then pushed it open. Dr. Brouchet waved him over. “Marilyn, I’ve asked our plastic surgeon to talk to you about Sara, okay?”
The wailing he’d heard outside the door decreased in volume, becoming pained whimpers instead. The young woman was curled in on herself but shifted her eyes to look up at him. Her face was wet with tears.
“Hi, Marilyn, I’m Dr. de Oliveira. Congratulations on your new little one.” No answer, but the crying had stopped, so she was listening. “I hear that she might need a little surgery. I haven’t seen her yet, but I assure you I can help her.”
“It’s my fault.” The soft voice was filled with a terrible conviction that tugged at his gut.
“Why do you say that?” He didn’t want to jump to offer platitudes before he knew the situation.
“I… I…”
Her husband, who’d been standing silently beside her, touched her shoulder. “Tell him. It’s okay.” His voice was shaky—hesitant—like he knew something awful was coming.
“I—I was on drugs…heroin…when I got pregnant. Only I was too high to realize I wasn’t having a period.” She glanced at her husband. “We both were. And—Oh, God! It suddenly hit me, and I took a test. Afterward, we both went to rehab and got clean, but it was too…too late. My baby is paying for what I did. For what we did.” Tears spilled over onto the pillow, but the hysteria wasn’t there, like it had been.
Unfortunately,
