with the date Nick had to report for the fellowship he’d decided to take.
Psychiatry was a far cry from neurosurgery, but it was one of the possibilities open to him now that he lacked the strength and fine motor skills necessary for delicate operations. So they had three short months for Cate to reinvent herself.
He took leave of the Merciers and went back in to speak with Cate. She looked exhausted, barely able to stay awake. “Hey, girl. Did they wear you out?”
“God, this is the longest day ever,” she groaned. “What are my chances of getting out of this place so I can get some rest?”
“Pretty good, actually. You’ll be staying with me for a while,” Nick said, reaching for her hand and clasping it with his left. “Don’t you dare say no. I’m looking forward to making you my famous spaghetti.”
“Oh, please,” she groaned, and made a face. “Not with the olives?”
“Black olives now,” he replied with a grin. “I’ve gone exotic.”
She wriggled around, withdrawing her hand from his and pulling up the sheet to cover her breasts, clearly outlined by the soft cotton print.
Her gaze fastened on the window. “They shouldn’t expect you to babysit me, Nick. I told them that.”
“We are doing this,” he declared. “It’s all settled. No arguments.”
She brushed a hand over her face. “Jack made my alternative pretty clear, but it’s so not fair to you. Gives new meaning to the word imposition.”
“Your mom said that, too, but it’s not imposing. I volunteered for it.” He managed another grin to cover the lie and flashed her the Boy Scout pledge.
“You did no such thing and we both know it.” She sighed. “And what if I don’t choose to be your good deed for the day?”
“I’ll carry you off like the caveman I can be when you strip me down to essentials. You know I’ll do it.”
She laughed. “Caveman stripped down, huh?”
Nick didn’t miss that fleeting expression that said she did recall him stripped. Her awareness of him as a man had always made him feel primal. Again, the old guilt over that surfaced, but he dismissed it. He made up his mind to view her as a grown woman from now on, not as the precocious kid who hit on him regularly and delighted in making him uncomfortable.
She had burst into the bathroom and seen him naked in the shower once. And stared, fascinated, amused and aroused, too, if those little breasts of hers had been any indication. It had not been his fault.
Her gaze shifted from heated to frustrated in the space of a heartbeat. “So when do we blow this joint? I’m sick to death of it.”
Nick released the pent-up breath he’d been holding. “This afternoon looks good for me.”
Her blue eyes flew wide. “Seriously? Today?”
She had been here for three weeks, conscious for two of them, ambulatory for one.
“They’ve done about all they can do here. Now comes the real work.” He shot her a warning look. “You know I’ll be a slave driver, don’t you?”
Cate exhaled, looking incredibly weary. All the visitors today hadn’t helped. Maybe she was too tired to make the trip. “If you want to wait until tomorrow, Cate, it’s okay,” he said.
“Not on your life. If I have to sneak out the back door dressed in this backless wonder and mooning the locals, I’ll do it. You said today.”
“Today it is. You take a short nap while I get the paperwork done. Then I’ll send in a nurse to help you dress. I hope your mom brought some clothes for you. If not, I’ll get you a set of scrubs to wear. Nap now,” he ordered, shaking his finger at her.
She clenched her eyes shut and pulled the sheet up under her chin. “Sleeping, see? Go sign me out.”
Nick reached through the railing of her bed and squeezed her foot. “See you in about an hour, twerp.”
He had to get out of here before he made an idiot of himself, kissed her and promised he’d make her well despite the overwhelming odds against it.
Seeing her this way, weak, bedridden and so desperate to escape the hospital she would go with anyone, made Nick worry that maybe this wasn’t going to work. What if he was too personally involved to help Cate do what she needed to do? Could he ignore all the old feelings and be professional enough?
He had left her alone when she was seventeen because he had to, but it hadn’t been easy. He had put her firmly out of his reach. Now she was thirty. And a patient, he reminded himself sternly. Still off-limits. No way would he become involved with a patient. Not even Cate.
“The last time you wore that look I had just laid a wet one on you under the mistletoe,” Cate said, laughing. “Do I still scare you, sweetheart?”
He shook his head in sheer exasperation. What the hell was he going to do with her? That was what scared him.
Chapter 2
Laughter proved the only weapon available as Cate fought tears of frustration and fear. She had to lick this. And who did they send to help? The man she had avoided like the plague for years.
God, why did he have to look so damn good? Who was she kidding? Even if he had gotten bald and fat, he would still be Nick, the only man she had ever pursued. And she had done that with such a wicked vengeance, ignoring his every protest, knowing that her aggressive behavior had actually pushed him away. How embarrassing was that?
What was her family thinking? Unfortunately, she could no longer tell and that was yet another source of frustration. They had always been a snap to read. Now she couldn’t even grasp how they were feeling, much less pick up any of their thoughts.
Both she and Nick had known their parents hoped for an eventual love match and resented that fiercely as most teenagers would. Only she had rebelled by provoking him, daring him, making him miserable. She was sure he had seen her as a pest. She had deliberately acted like one.
Their folks had given up the matchmaking after they saw their children’s lives headed down totally different paths. Nick’s marriage had quelled their hopes completely. And surprisingly, had secretly devastated Cate. She hadn’t even realized how much she really wanted him.
Nothing had cooled as far as she was concerned. And Nick wanted her, but obviously still felt guilty about it. Now it wasn’t her age or their parents’ interference, it was his ethics. It would always be something. They were just too different to get it on. She would have to curb her libido and give him a break.
Maybe he could help her recover from this injury. Not that further surgery ever could, so her neurologist had said, but if anyone could work a miracle, it would be Nick.
Couldn’t he see they were all using him? That she would feel she was, too, if she let him look after her? He’d insist on it anyway, though. Nick was like that, a born healer, Dr. Responsibility. And stubborn as the day was long. Worse than she was, if that was possible.
God,
