her again.
Chapter Four
Braden needed to leave the hospital. He was done here. Done. There were too many emotions. Too many bad memories.
Too much Lana. Here, in the flesh. Not a memory of her, which he’d come ready to bury. No, the woman herself was here. Vibrant. Passionate. Real.
He was too old to be blinded by sexual attraction. Chemistry had never been their problem, so it shouldn’t surprise him now that it still existed at some level.
A level a little too dammed close to the surface...
He walked past the chapel without slowing, without stopping, without so much as throwing a glance at its doors. The entire reason he’d bothered himself with flying to West Central personally had been to stop in that chapel. He’d proposed to Lana there, and he’d had some idiotic notion that by saying goodbye to the memory of that promise, he’d be free to propose to another woman, elsewhere.
God, he was a fool. What an idiotic, sappy idea for a man of science and business to entertain, let alone act upon. If he was ready for a permanent relationship, then he’d make a commitment to the woman of his choice, and damn his youthful college engagement to hell. Lana certainly had. She’d dumped him over the phone and mailed his engagement ring to his Harvard address in an empty tongue depressor box.
Six years ago. He was over it. He was dating Claudia St. James now, a woman who could make a perfect wife for a professional man like himself, but damn it, seeing Lana in person had been a shock. Braden, don’t go, she’d practically shouted, and the plea in her voice had kept him from stepping on the elevator. His response had probably been an old reflex, a bad habit ingrained long ago. Still, it had been damned disconcerting.
He stopped abruptly at the corner of a garden fountain, disoriented for a fraction of a second. There was a fountain in the lobby now? Yes, and he’d nearly walked into it, distracted by thoughts of Lana.
He should not be distracted by his past. He’d come here to begin his future, and he’d already picked out the right woman to spend the rest of his life with. Claudia never caused him to walk into fountains, thank God.
Braden kept walking, past the paintings of his father and the other founders, not breaking his stride as he threw a glance at the modern domed ceiling. The renovated lobby looked more like it belonged to an elegant hotel than a hospital. It was a far cry from the single-story construction his father had begun. Would his father have approved of the changes if he’d lived to see them?
Braden imagined that patients who were sick and worried would appreciate the welcome this new lobby extended. It had an air of grace and authority that could be reassuring when patients arrived with serious health concerns. They’d probably feel hope, as though they’d come to the right place. His father, Braden decided, would have approved of the modern West Central. He would have approved of the job his son was doing.
That son being Quinn, of course. Quinn was the only MacDowell on the hospital board.
Dad had not approved of the job I was doing.
His father had always expected him to follow in his footsteps. Braden had tried. He’d tried for his father’s sake, and then he’d kept trying after he’d met Lana, but by his last year of residency, he’d known the life of a family-practice physician was not for him.
He’d wanted to show his father and his fiancée that his life could be a different kind of success. He had shown them, really. He’d graduated magna cum laude from arguably the best graduate school in the country, perhaps in the world. He’d gone on to be a key player in the biotech industry, working to contribute valuable medicines and devices not just to the city of Austin but to all people, all around the globe. But his dad had died before that first patent had made it to the marketplace, before he’d been able to prescribe any of the drugs his son had chosen to develop.
And Lana? Hell, she’d mailed his ring back before he’d even graduated.
Still, Braden was one of the most successful men in America, if only someone besides his accountant appreciated it.
Claudia St. James appreciates success.
Exactly. He needed to keep his thoughts in the present. Braden realized his steps had taken him to the former main entrance of the emergency department. An involuntary smirk lifted one corner of his mouth despite his bitter feelings. Not even the resurrected emotions of a broken engagement and a disapproving father could disengage his mind completely. His day’s agenda had included a quick visit to his younger brother, another physician, of course. Jamie worked here in the emergency department. Without trying, Braden had stayed on schedule.
This entrance to the E.R. was now a shortcut for staff only, and the heavy double doors were unlocked when personnel waved a badge in front of the security box on the wall. A man in scrubs stepped up to the box and lifted his name tag. A tiny light blinked from red to green, and the doors swung open slowly. The man nodded at Braden deferentially, probably assuming he was an off-duty physician.
Technically, Braden was a physician, one who was not on duty. The man had made an accurate assumption, then. Braden returned the man’s nod and followed him into the treatment area. He stopped at the centrally located wraparound desk. “Where can I find Dr. MacDowell?”
The nurse he’d addressed frowned at him slightly. “And you are...?”
From long practice, he smiled at her with just the right amount of professional friendliness. “Please tell Dr. MacDowell that Dr. MacDowell is here to see him.”
Her frown lifted into a smile. “I should have guessed from the resemblance. He’s just back from his honeymoon, but you must be one of the bachelor MacDowells.” She tilted her head at an attractive angle and winked at him.
Braden returned her smile with very little effort. The world was returning to normal. Women liked him. He liked women. It was only Lana Donnoli that made him feel irritated. Angry. Vaguely dissatisfied with his life.
“Is that you, Braden? Can’t be. That would make three times in one year that you’ve come to Texas.”
Braden turned at the sound of his brother’s voice. Jamie was the youngest son, Braden the eldest. They shook hands, which quickly morphed into a one-armed hug. More of a slap on the shoulders, really. They were exactly the same height, something that never failed to catch Braden by surprise. Jamie had only been in middle school when Braden had left for college. Somehow, Braden always expected him to still be the runt baby brother.
“What’s the occasion?” his six-foot-tall runt of a brother asked. “Is New York City finally wearing on you? Don’t tell me you missed me.”
Braden should have had a quick comeback for that one, the kind of jokingly derogatory comment brothers would exchange, but he was startled into a momentary silence by the realization that he had, in fact, missed Jamie. It had been good to see him at a charity event in the fall. Even better to see him for a few days in December, when he’d carved out some holiday time to get to know Jamie’s new wife and his baby. Jamie’s family.
Family. Braden hadn’t spent much time with his family after turning his back on practicing medicine. He’d avoided Texas for years after his broken engagement, if he was honest with himself, but that was about to change. Whether Lana would be here or not, it was time to come back home.
Braden would soon announce
