Following the Doctor's Orders. Caro Carson

       Brooke came in and shut the door.

      “I was looking for you.”

      “You were?” His surprise was genuine. For eight months he’d been bringing patients into West Central. For eight months she’d been ignoring him.

      “I wanted to tell you that your decision to underdose the morphine increased the odds in Harold’s favor. Thank you. And thank you for sticking around after the handoff. I think the way you kept him calm also kept him out of severe shock.”

      She’d never spoken two complete sentences to him. Zach wasn’t sure what to make of it.

      “Not a lot of people would have held a patient’s hand like that. Especially not a … well, I was going to say especially not a man, but that would be gender stereotyping, wouldn’t it?”

      Gender stereotyping—did she have to speak like a sexy schoolteacher as well as look like one?

      “Forget I said that. Job well done, whether you’re male or female.” Apparently done for the day, she started unbuttoning her white lab coat, starting with the button at her chest.

      Damn, damn, damn. He was male, all right.

      Texas Rescue: Rescuing hearts … one Texan at a time!