that Elwin hadn’t been just beating his gums, but wanted the best for his children. And as the eldest, Kyle was expected to set a good example.
“Mr. Chatham?”
Kyle’s head came up when he heard someone call his name. Rising to his feet, he saw a tall, gangly doctor with a mop of light brown hair falling over his forehead standing a few away. “Yes, I’m Mr. Chatham.”
The doctor extended his hand. “I’m Dr. LaMarca, and I’ve just completed my examination of Ms. Warrick.”
Kyle took the proffered hand. “How is she?”
Bright-blue eyes met his warm brown ones. “I’m recommending that we keep her overnight for further tests.”
A frown settled on Kyle’s face. “What type of tests are you talking about?”
“Ms. Warrick has suffered a concussion—”
“It’s only a concussion?” he asked, interrupting the doctor.
Dr. LaMarca nodded. “Yes. In order to rule out any other neurological damage I’ve ordered Ms. Warrick to undergo a CT scan.”
His frown deepened. “You suspect her injury may be more serious?”
“Mr. Chatham, I’m requesting the scan to err on the side of caution. I’ve seen patients who’ve been diagnosed with a mild concussion end of up with something a lot more serious because the examining doctor failed to order a brain scan.”
“When are you going to do the scan?”
“Not until tomorrow morning. The only neurosurgeon on staff at the present time is in surgery. Ms. Warrick will stay overnight, and will be released if the scan comes back negative for neurological injury.”
“Did you tell her that she has to remain overnight?” Kyle asked.
A deep flush crept up the doctor’s neck to his hairline. “Yes, I did. Unfortunately Ms. Warrick wasn’t receptive to the idea until I outlined the seriousness of her injury.”
Kyle’s eyebrows lifted. “Injury? She got hit in the face with an air bag.”
A wave of doubt had crept into Kyle’s mind when he’d thought that perhaps Ava Warrick was trying to make something more of a simple fender-bender. After all, she was the one who’d mentioned New York’s no-fault insurance law. He quickly changed his mind when he recalled her reluctance to seek medical assistance. He was the one who’d insisted she go to the hospital.
“When you see her face it looks like she has been hit with a baseball bat.”
“May I see her?”
The doctor nodded. “I’m hoping you can convince her that she should stay and have the scan.”
Kyle followed the doctor across the waiting room, where mothers sat cradling their sick children and a group of teenagers huddled together, talking and awaiting news of their friend who’d come in bleeding from a gunshot wound.
He made his way down a corridor to an area where curtains cordoned off a row of stretchers into examining rooms.
Dr. LaMarca stopped and swept back a curtain. Ava Warrick sat on a chair, eyes closed and hands clasped in her lap. The right side of her face was bruised and swollen, and Kyle doubted whether she had complete vision in her left eye.
Moving quickly, he went to his knees and took her hands. They were ice-cold. “I’m sorry, Ava.” Now he knew why the doctor had recommended a brain scan.
Ava opened her eyes when she felt the warmth of the hands cradling hers. It took her a full minute before she recognized the man hunkered in front of her. He was the one whose car she had rear-ended.
“I want to go home, Mr….” Her voice trailed off when she realized she didn’t know his name.
“My name is Kyle Chatham, and no, you can’t go home tonight.”
“Why not?”
“The doctor wants you to have a CT scan.”
Ava blinked slowly. “Why?”
“To make sure there isn’t another problem.”
She closed her eyes. “The only problem I have right now is a mother of a headache.”
“You have more than a headache. You suffered a concussion.”
Her eyes opened again. “What I have is a slight concussion.”
“What you have is an injury to the brain which interferes with your cerebral functioning. Simple or severe—it’s still the same thing.”
“Don’t tell me you’re a doctor.”
“No. I’m a lawyer.”
“I guess you’re going to sue me for dinging your little car.”
“My little car happens to be a classic Jaguar XKE.”
Ava shook her head then chided herself for not remembering how much it hurt just to move her head. “That means nothing to me.”
Rising to his feet, Kyle glared at her. “Of course it doesn’t mean anything to you, because if it did then you wouldn’t have been trying to run the light.”
Resting her fingers on her forehead, Ava gently massaged her temples. “I wasn’t running the light, Kyle. It was still green.”
“It had just changed to yellow.”
She lowered her hands. “I’m not going to argue with you. I’m going home.”
Kyle knew he had to act quickly, or Ava would walk out of the hospital. “If you leave here I will sue you.”
Ava went completely still, not wanting to believe she was being threatened. Her chin lifted and she stared up into the steady gaze of a man who, up until an hour ago, she hadn’t known. Everything about him reeked of power: his voice, his body language. She stared at the shirt with French cuffs that bore his monogram. The silver buckle on the black alligator belt around his slender waist was also monogrammed.
“You wouldn’t,” she whispered.
A hint of a smile tilted the corners of Kyle’s mouth. “Hell, yeah, I would if you decide to walk out of here.”
“What’s with you?” Ava asked. Her fingers curled into tight fists. “My insurance company will pay for the damage to your little classic car, and I give you my word that I’m not going to…” Her words trailed off again, this time as a rush of bile filled the back of her throat.
Clapping both hands over her mouth, she scrambled off the chair as Kyle reached for a plastic kidney-shaped bowl and pushed it under her chin. Vomiting left Ava gasping for air, her eyes filled with moisture and her throat raw and burning.
Reaching into the pocket of his suit trousers, Kyle handed her a handkerchief and watched as she touched
