froze. A look flickered across her face that didn’t seem to be just a reflection of what he was feeling. The feeling that it would’ve been better if they hadn’t been stuck working together again. Bringing back memories of hot passion and cold goodbyes.
No, it was more than that. The same shock he felt was accompanied by very obvious dismay. Horror, even. No happy reunion happening here, he guessed. Obviously, the way they’d parted three years ago had not left her with warm and fuzzy feelings toward him. Or even cool and aloof ones.
“Chase! Come meet your new cohort in crime,” Spud said.
He moved closer to the car on legs suddenly gone leaden. Dani’s heart-shaped face wore an expression of near panic. She bent down to peer into the backseat of the Land Rover then bobbed back up, their eyes meeting again.
“Danielle, this is Dr. Chase Bowen,” Spud said as he heaved her duffle. “Chase, Dr. Danielle Sheridan.”
“Dani and I have met,” Chase said. And wasn’t that an absurd understatement? They’d worked together for over a year in Honduras. The same year they’d made love nearly every day. Within warm waterfalls, on green mountain meadows, in sagging bunk beds.
The year Dani had told him she wanted to make it permanent, to have a family with him. For very good reasons, a family couldn’t happen for Chase, and he’d told her so. The next day she’d left the compound.
All those intense and mixed-up memories hung in the air between them, strangely intimate despite the presence of Trent and Spud. Suddenly in motion, she surprised him by moving fast, stepping around the hood of the car in a near jog straight towards him, thrusting her hand into his in a brusque, not-very-Dani-like way.
“Chase. It’s been a while. How’ve you been?”
Her polite tone sounded strained, and he’d barely squeezed her soft hand before she yanked it loose.
“Good. I’ve been good.” Maybe not so good. As he stared into the blue of her eyes, he remembered how much he’d missed her when she’d left. More than missed her sunny smile, her sweet face, her beautiful body.
But he’d known it had been best for both of them. If a family was what she wanted, she should marry a guy rooted in the States. No point in connecting herself to a wandering medic who wouldn’t have the least idea how to stay within the confines of a white picket fence.
Apparently, though, she hadn’t found husband and father material, because here she was in Africa. The woman who had burrowed under his skin like a guinea worm, and he had a bad feeling that her arrival would start that persistent itch all over again.
“Dani,” Spud called from across the car, “I’m going to take your duffle to your quarters, then be back to help you get—”
“Great, thanks,” Dani interrupted brightly. “I appreciate it.”
She turned back to Chase, and he noted the trapped, almost scared look in her eyes. Was the thought of having to work with him again that horrible?
“I thought the GPC website said you were in Senegal,” Dani said. “Are you … staying here?”
“No, just stopped in for a little day tour of the area.”
The twist of her lips showed she got his sarcasm loud and clear. What, she hoped he was about to grab a cab and head to the next tourist destination? He couldn’t remember Dani ever saying dumb things before. In fact, she was one of the smartest pediatricians he’d had the opportunity to work with over the years. One of the smartest docs, period.
“Well. I …” Her voice faded away and she licked her lips. Sexy, full lips he’d loved to kiss. Tempting lips that had been one of the first things he’d noticed about her when they’d first met.
“So-o-o,” Trent said, looking at Dani, then Chase, then back at Dani again with raised brows. “Chase and I were about to have a late dinner and a beer. Are you hungry?”
“No, thanks, I had snacks in the car. You two go on and eat, I’m sure you’re starved after a long day of clinic and surgeries.” She put on a bright and very fake smile. “I’ll get the low-down on the routine around here tomorrow. Right now I’m just going to have Spud show me my room and get settled in. Bye.”
She walked back to the other side of the Land Rover and then just stood there, hovering, practically willing them to leave. Well, if she wanted to act all weird about the two of them being thrown together again, that was fine by him.
“Come on,” he said to Trent as he moved towards the kitchen. While his appetite had somehow evaporated, a beer sounded damned good.
“Mommy!”
The sound of a muffled little voice floated across the sultry air, and Chase again found himself stopping dead. He slowly turned to see Dani leaning into the back of the Land Rover. To watch, stunned, as she pulled a small child out through the open door and perched him on her hip.
Guess he’d been wrong about her finding husband and father material. And pretty damned fast after she’d left.
“Mommy, are we there yet?” The sleepy, sweet-faced boy of about two and a half wrapped his arms around her neck and pressed his cheek to her shoulder. A boy who didn’t have blue eyes and crazy, curly blond hair like the woman holding him.
No, he had dark hair that was straight, waving just a bit at the ends. A little over-long, it brushed across eyebrows that framed brown eyes fringed with thick, dark lashes. A boy who looked exactly like the photos Chase’s mother had hauled all around the world and propped up in every one of the places they’d lived. Photos of him and his brother when they were toddlers.
Impossible.
But as he stared at the child then slowly lifted his gaze to Dani’s, the obvious truth choked off his breath and smacked him like a sledgehammer to the skull. He didn’t have to do the math or see the resemblance. The expression in her eyes and on her face told him everything.
He had a son. A child she hadn’t bothered to tell him about. A child she had the nerve, the stupidity to take on a medical mission to a developing country. Something he was adamantly against … and for good reason.
“I guess … we need to talk,” Dani said, glancing down at the child in her arms. She looked back at Chase with a mix of guilt, frustration and resignation flitting across her face. “But let’s … let’s do it tomorrow. I’m beat, and I need to get Andrew settled in, get him something to eat.”
“Andrew.” The name came slowly from his lips. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Andrew was his own middle name. Anger began to burn in his gut. Hot, scorching anger that overwhelmed the shock and disbelief that had momentarily paralyzed him. She’d named the boy after him, but hadn’t thought it necessary to even let him know the kid existed?
“No, Dani.” It took every ounce of self-control to keep his voice fairly even, to not shout out the fury roaring through his blood and pounding in his head. “I’m thinking a conversation is in order right this second. One more damned minute is too long, even though you thought three years wasn’t long enough.”
“Chase, I—”
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Trent said, stepping forward and placing his hand on Chase’s shoulder.
