Sam followed at her heels, he couldn’t help but wonder what he was getting himself into.
Chapter Two
Now that Amanda had a moment to think over what she had just done, she had no idea what had made her decide to get him involved. Stupidity, she supposed. Initially, she had thought that, under the circumstances, Sam could have come in handy. But even if that did turn out to be the case, it didn’t excuse the fact that he was arrogant and demanding, and that any woman with a lick of sense could have easily seen that about him, first and foremost, before noticing how handy he might have been. But was she looking at him with a lick of sense?
Uh-uh. Oh, no, not her. From the moment she had laid eyes on him, she had yet to use an ounce of her brain power.
Which told her one thing. She had better get a grip on herself—and quick. She didn’t have time to be toying around with thoughts of Sam Arquette. At this very moment, she had an emergency on her hands.
Still, Amanda found that her heart was pounding like crazy at the idea that Sam Arquette was following close on her heels and that if she so much as paused, even for a second, he would be right on top of her.
Needless to say, she didn’t pause, not even as she swung open the door leading from the back part of her office into the waiting room area. The last thing she wanted was to have Sam Arquette on top of her. In fact, the very thought of it left her feeling breathless.
“Has anyone called an ambulance?” she asked, taking in some badly needed air. She had several reasons for needing it. Of course, the number one reason was Sam Arquette himself. The man was...well...suffocating.
“No, not yet,” Kathy replied.
“Then do it,” Amanda ordered, hurrying forward.
Within a split second of scanning the entire waiting room, Amanda saw Lucy Foreman hunched over in a chair in one corner of the room. Crouched down at Lucy’s feet was Sheré, Amanda’s nurse. She was taking Lucy’s blood pressure.
Amanda hurried over, then bent down in front of her patient. “What’s going on, Lucy?” she asked, trying to evaluate the situation for herself. For the moment, at least, Sam Arquette was nowhere within her immediate thoughts. Still, her pulse was racing from the urgency of the moment—and, regardless of what else she told herself, from the fact that it was him, she knew, who was now standing right behind her, practically breathing down her neck. As a result, chills ran rabid down her spine.
But, regardless of her reaction to Sam Arquette, one thing was becoming perfectly clear to her.
Ready or not, there was a baby on the way, and it looked as though he or she wasn’t planning to wait around very much longer for the rest of the world to figure that out.
“It’s the baby, Dr. Lucas,” Lucy cried out.
“I know, Lucy,” Amanda said in a comforting voice. “But don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay. Where’s Tom?”
Tom was not only Lucy’s husband, but he was also supposed to be her coach during labor.
“At a cattle auction in Freemont Springs,” Lucy replied, tears brimming in her eyes.
Amanda stood and drew in a deep breath. Freemont Springs was almost two hours away from Mason’s Grove. There was no way Tom Foreman could make it back to Mason’s Grove in time to be at his wife’s bedside for the birth of their first child. One thing about babies, they were notorious for ignoring the readiness of others and coming into this old world when they were good and ready.
And, without a doubt, Lucy’s baby was ready.
“I can’t do this without Tom,” Lucy cried out.
“Of course, you can,” Amanda said, giving her patient a warm, reassuring smile. In her experience as an OB doctor, it never failed that when a woman went into labor, the one person she wanted at her side was the man she loved. But sometimes that simply wasn’t possible. She thought of Sabrina Jensen. If Mr. Arquette’s story was true, the young waitress would have to deliver her baby into the world all alone. As a woman, Amanda allowed herself a moment to feel sad for Sabrina; however, as a physician, she knew she had to get a grip and focus on what was happening right now.
“I know you were counting on Tom being here with you,” she said, gazing at Lucy, “but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Just think about it, honey,” she added, her whole manner growing serious, but confident. “You could do this all by yourself if you had to. But, of course, you don’t have to. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
After a moment’s pause, Amanda’s words seemed to sink in, and Lucy nodded in agreement.
Assured in her ability to get her patient through her labor without the added guidance of a labor coach, Amanda moved quickly to get her office ready for the unexpected delivery. Still, she took a moment to give Lucy a reassuring hug.
Turning with the idea of giving her staff additional instructions on what to do next, Amanda was startled to find herself face-to-face with Sam Arquette.
Well, they weren’t exactly face-to-face. It was more like face-to-chest. Her face. His chest. Her eye level was just below the base of his threat—in fact, right above the V opening of his sport shirt. Never in her life had she been so starkly aware of the dark, springy hair that grew on a man’s chest. Not even in med school. He swallowed, and without much upward movement of her eyes, Amanda watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down. Her breath lodged in her throat. The whole thing gave her the silliest feeling in the pit of her stomach. Then she lifted her eyes a few inches higher, and wham! They locked with his.
He grinned knowingly, as though somehow he knew about the silly feeling in the pit of her stomach and the breathlessness that was presently making her feel almost light-headed. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.
For some reason, that question was enough to suck out any air that was left in her lungs. If she ever decided to allow herself a naughty moment, there would have been plenty of things she would have liked to have seen him do. But, of course, she never allowed herself such things.
“Uh...” she stammered, mentally shaking herself free of the unconscious hold he had on her. “I need to get Lucy Foreman to one of the examining rooms in the back. Can you help me?”
A cocky, lopsided grin slid up one side of Sam’s face. “I can do better than that,” he said, brushing past her and lifting Lucy into his arms. “I can get her there myself.”
In his sudden move to get to her patient, he had rubbed his arm across Amanda’s breasts. Without actually looking at her, he mumbled an apology.
“Uh—no problem,” Amanda answered.
But, of course, there was a problem.
A big problem.
Her nipples were squeezed tight. And the tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach persisted.
Amanda was rattled, no doubt about it. Still, she refused to accept what was happening to her. She had come too far from her past experience with men to allow some arrogant so-and-so to walk into her world and shake it up.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Amanda straightened her shoulders.
