Meant for Each Other Page 6

  Mike set the box on the bedside table. “Checkers. I figured since you’ve improved so much during the past week, you’d probably be up to a game. I’m sure you’re getting bored with nothing to do but watch TV.”

  “Yeah, kinda. But how’re we gonna manage it with me in here and you out there?”

  “Easy. I’ll push the table close to the bed so you can reach the board using the glove in the side of your bubble.”

  “I don’t know. It’ll be hard to handle those little checkers with that glove on.”

  “What’s the matter? Afraid you’ll get beat?”

  Quinton responded to the challenge instantly. Rolling onto his side, he fumbled for the glove. “No way, man. Set ’em up. And prepare to get whupped.”

  “Ho, ho. Big talk comes cheap. Let’s see some action, chump.”

  An hour and a half later, Leah checked her watch as she hurried down the hospital corridor. Six-thirty. Not as early as she had planned, but at least it was better than she’d managed to do all week.

  She had hoped to knock off early today so that she could spend more time with Quinton. Every evening since she’d returned to work her waiting room had been packed. By the time she had finished and reached Quinton’s room he’d been so drowsy and tired they’d barely had a chance to talk before he’d drifted off to sleep. Today, just as she was leaving her office, one of her expectant mothers had called to say she was on the way to the hospital. Mercifully, the labor had been short and the delivery normal.

  Leah was optimistic about Quinton’s chances. He had a long way to go, but already he had made marvelous progress, and according to his doctors, his mood was upbeat and cheery, which always helped.

  She breezed into ICU a moment later, prepared to apologize once again for being late, but the words were never spoken. When she glanced inside Quinton’s cubicle she jerked to a halt. “What the devil—”

  The sight of Mike McCall sitting beside Quinton’s bed nearly stopped her heart.

  Lying on his side with his right hand stuck in the plastic glove, Quinton studied the checkerboard on the table beside the bed. After a moment he picked up a black checker and jumped three red ones on the board, then hooted when Mike groaned. “Gotcha!”

  “Hey, don’t get cocky, kid. This game’s not over yet.”

  Leah stared, horror-struck. The two of them were laughing and razzing each other like old friends!

  Or brothers.

  The thought sent her charging into the room.

  “Dr. McCall, what’re you doing here?”

  “Oh, hi, Sis. I didn’t see you come in.”

  Mike looked up from the checkerboard. “Hiya, Doc. I’m just keeping Quinton company.”

  “Oh, really? How long has this been going on?” Her voice came out harsher than she had intended, but she couldn’t help it. Fear had her nerves jumping like a drop of water on a hot griddle.

  “Sis? What’s wrong? You’re acting like you don’t want Mike to visit me.”

  Her gaze switched to Quinton, and she experienced a pang when she saw the look of puzzlement and hurt on his face.

  She forced the harshness from her voice and managed a weak smile. “Don’t be silly, Quinton. It’s not that. It’s just that, well, I was surprised to see Dr. McCall here. He isn’t one of your physicians, after all.”

  “I’m not here as a doctor, Leah,” Mike said quietly, watching her. “I’m here as a friend. I stopped by the day after Quinton’s transplant and we had a nice chat. I’ve dropped by every day since then.”

  “Every day?” she repeated weakly, feeling sick. “Quinton, I’m surprised at you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I guess I was so tired by the time you got here that I forgot. Anyway, why didn’t you tell me that Mike was my donor?”

  Shock slammed into Leah like an iron fist, nearly knocking the breath out of her. She whirled on Mike. “You told him? Without consulting me? How could you?”

  “Actually—”

  “Why shouldn’t I know?” Quinton demanded, before Mike could finish.

  It was the first time Leah had heard that belligerent tone in her brother’s voice, and she deeply regretted it, but at the moment, she had a more pressing problem to deal with. She gritted her teeth and forced a calmer tone. “Quinton, I told you donors’ names are kept confidential to preserve their privacy.”

  “I don’t have any objection to Quinton knowing that it was me who donated the marrow.” Mike shrugged. “After all, I knew who he was beforehand, so it seems only fair. But to set the record straight, I didn’t tell him. He guessed.” He winked at Quinton. “The kid’s a smart cookie.”

  “Yes, he is, but—”

  “Gee, what’s the big deal anyway?” Quinton demanded. “Mike doesn’t mind. And I like having him visit me.”

  “Quinton, dearest, Dr. McCall is a busy doctor with a heavy workload. I understand that you enjoy his company, but you can’t take up all his free time. Not when he’s done so much for you already.”

  Quinton looked crestfallen. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

  “Hey, buddy, don’t worry about it,” Mike said quickly, before turning to Leah. “Look, I’m not that busy right now. I wouldn’t be spending time with Quinton if I didn’t want to. Unless you have some objection to us being friends, I’d like to continue.”

  “Shoot, why would she mind? You don’t, do you, Sis?”

  Leah’s heart sank. “I...no. No, of course not.”

  What else could she say? After what Mike had done for them, she would look like a rude ingrate if she was truthful. Quinton was obviously struck with a giant case of hero worship, and who could blame him? Mike had saved his life.

  “Good.” Mike turned his attention back to the checkerboard. “Now then, where were we?”

  “About half a minute away from me winning,” Quinton taunted with a grin.

  “Yeah, well, like I said, the game’s not over yet, chump,” Mike drawled, and jumped two of Mike’s checkers and swept them off the board.

  Mike won the game—barely. Over the next hour, they played two more, teasing each other mercilessly the whole while. Quinton won both times by a narrow margin. Whether Mike had deliberately let him win Leah didn’t know, but she suspected as much.

  As she sat by and watched the brothers and listened to their banter, it struck her that she had never met anyone as open and friendly as Mike, or anyone who had such a good rapport with young people. After watching him in action, it was not surprising that he had gone into pediatrics.

  By the end of the last game Quinton was visibly tired, and Mike stood up. “I’d better go and let you get some rest, tiger. I’ll stop by tomorrow after rounds and we’ll have a rematch.”

  “I’ll just whup you again, but if you’re into humiliation, I’m game.”

  The boast ended with a huge yawn, and Mike grinned.

  “Big talk. We’ll see if you can back it up.” As he headed for the door he looked at Leah and said, “Can I speak to you outside for a minute, Leah?”

  For some reason, Leah’s heart gave a little leap, but she nodded and followed him out. What could he want to talk to her about? Immediately her guilty conscience took over, arousing her worst fear. Oh, Lord, had he somehow discovered that Quinton was his brother? Was he about to tear into her for tricking him?

  In the hall she braced herself and faced him with her arms crossed over her midriff. “Yes?”

  “Regardless of what you said in there, I get the feeling that you’re opposed to me visiting Quinton. Is there a problem I’m not aware of?”

  Oh, yes, there was a problem, all right. A huge one. She was terrified that if they spent much time together Mike might somehow discover the truth. But of course she couldn’t tell him that.

  The simple question put her on the spot, and for a moment she was so flustered all she could do was stare at him while she groped for an excuse.

  “I’m just not comfortable with him knowing you were his donor, that’s all,” s
he finally blurted out.

  “Look, I wouldn’t have told him if he hadn’t guessed. As I said before, the kid’s smart.”

  “True. However, I doubt that he would have figured it out if you had stayed away.”

  Mike shrugged. “Maybe. But what harm does it do? He obviously wanted to know who had given him a chance at life.”

  “Of course he wanted to know. He’s an impressionable seventeen-year-old. You’re a hero to him.”

  “Look, I can deal with a little hero worship, if that’s what’s bothering you. Besides, I like the kid. If he wants us to be buddies, that’s fine with me.”

  Leah nearly groaned. How could she fight that kind of generosity? To make matters worse, she knew that Quinton was starved for male attention. Mike was a strong, intelligent, caring and decent man. He would provide exactly the sort of masculine influence Quinton needed in his life.

  How ironic.

  “Is it really the ethics that are troubling you?” Mike asked softly, watching her. “Or is it me you object to?”

  “No, of course not,” she said too quickly.

  His wry look reeked with disbelief, and Leah felt heat flood her face and neck. He gave her a coaxing smile. “I’m really a nice guy, you know. Just ask anyone.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you? Then why do you go out of your way to avoid me?”

  “I—I don’t.”

  “Sure you do. You’ve done it for years, ever since I joined the staff here. And the minute I walk into a room you’re in, you leave.”

  “You’re imagining things.”

  “Am I? Okay, fine. Have dinner with me.”

  The invitation caught her off guard and set her heart to racing. “D-dinner? You mean tonight?”

  “Yeah. You haven’t eaten, have you?”

  “No,” she admitted before she thought, then could have kicked herself.

  “Neither have I. So why don’t we go to a quiet restaurant where we can unwind over a nice meal and talk, maybe get to know each other.”

  “I, uh...I—”

  “You have to eat sometime.” He edged closer.

  Leah found it suddenly difficult to breathe and retreated a step, only to bump into the wall at her back. Mike’s smile was knowing, and she felt her color rise. He braced his arm against the wall beside her head and lowered his voice to a coaxing murmur.

  “And remember, you owe me a rain check.”

  He was so close she could smell his scent, dark and masculine and uniquely his. Mixed with it was the smell of antiseptic soap—the doctors’ cologne—and the combination was surprisingly heady.

  Leah couldn’t remember when she had been so aware of a man. Mike was well over six feet tall and broad shouldered. She had to tip her head back at a sharp angle to look up at him. When she did she experienced another little jolt as her gaze ran over chiseled features, raven black hair and eyes the pale, cool blue of the ocean in winter. Dear Lord, why hadn’t she noticed before how good-looking he was? No wonder the nurses and other females on staff turned to putty whenever he was around.

  Suddenly realizing that he was waiting for her answer, Leah blinked twice and gave her head a tiny shake. “I remember. But it can’t be tonight. My dad and stepmother are expecting me home.”

  “That’s right. You did mention they were here. I’m surprised I haven’t run into them.”

  Leah made a fluttery gesture with her hands. “Oh. Well, that’s, uh, that’s because they both came down with the flu just after Quinton’s transplant. Then they both had a relapse. They, uh, they’re still recovering.”

  “Ah, I see. Too bad. Well, Quinton will be here for a while. I’m sure I’ll get the chance to meet them before long.”

  Leah fervently hoped not, but she gave him a weak smile. “Yes, I imagine so. But you can see that tonight I need to get home and check on them.”

  He studied her for an interminable time, his gaze probing. Leah fought the urge to squirm and prayed the lie didn’t show on her face. Finally he pushed away from the wall.

  “Okay, Doc. You’re off the hook for now, but that makes two you owe me.”

  He winked and touched her cheek with the tip of his forefinger, making her jolt again. Electricity streaked through her body from the point of contact all the way to her toes.

  “Good night, gorgeous. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Still leaning against the wall, Leah watched him stride away down the hall. An odd tightness squeezed her chest and her heart seemed to be doing an erratic dance against her rib cage. Until now, she had always thought of Mike as—not an enemy, exactly—but a danger, someone to be avoided. The very thought of him visiting her brother daily, perhaps discovering the truth, filled her with alarm and dread, but she was also aware that a part of her—the foolish, female part of her—experienced a little thrill at the idea of seeing him every day.

  When she realized the drift her thoughts were taking she snorted and straightened away from the wall. Heaven help her, where had that come from? What nonsense. Of course she didn’t want Mike hanging around her brother’s room. Or around her. The stray thought must have been brought on by exhaustion.

  Like it or not, however, it looked as though she had no choice but to resign herself to Mike’s presence in the sickroom.

  Which meant that somehow she would also have to come up with a way to keep him and Julia from running into each other.

  Chapter Five

  Leaving her patient to get dressed, Leah stepped out of the examination room and closed the door behind her. She paused in the hallway to rub the back of her neck and flex her taut shoulders. Across the hall in another examination room, her nurse, Sandy Johnson, was straightening up and readying the examining table for tomorrow morning.

  At least, Leah hoped it was for tomorrow morning.

  “Please tell me that was the last patient,” she pleaded as Sandy finished and joined her in the hallway, pulling the door shut on the spotless room.

  Sandy chuckled. “It was.”

  “Good. I’m about to drop.”

  As they talked, the two women walked toward the front office, where Leah’s receptionist, Mary Ann Trent, was filing away the day’s patient charts.

  “You do look a little peaked, Doctor,” Sandy remarked. “What’s the matter? Have a late night? Maybe with a certain yummy pediatrician? Hmm?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I told you, there is nothing going on between Dr. McCall and me.”

  “Uh-huh. If you say so.”

  “It’s true. He visits Quinton, not me. They have formed a bond, which is only natural under the circumstances.”

  “Uh-huh. That gorgeous hunk drops by every evening just to see a seventeen-year-old kid. We believe that, don’t we, Mary Ann?”

  “Oh, yes, definitely.” The receptionist exchanged a look with Sandy. “We’re just wondering what sort of bond he’s formed with you. From the look of you, it’s pretty intense.”

  “All right, you two. Knock it off. You both know perfectly well that I was rousted out of bed at 2:00 a.m. to deliver a baby. I’ve been up ever since, so naturally I’m tired. I’m going to stop by Quinton’s room for a short visit, then head home, take a relaxing hot bath and go to bed. With any luck, none of my mothers-to-be will call and I’ll get a decent night’s rest.”

  “Humph. If you want to relax I can think of a much more enjoyable way to do it than taking a hot bath,” Sandy drawled. “Unless, of course, you take it with a tall, dark, handsome man.”

  “Yeah. Preferably one who’s a doctor,” Mary Ann tacked on with an innocent look.

  “For the last time, get it through your heads—I am not interested in Dr. McCall.”

  Sandy snorted. “Not interested? Doctor, a woman would have to be dead, blind or comatose not to be interested in a man like that.”

  She shook her head woefully. “If you ask me, it’s a shame—a crime, really—that he’s a pediatrician. Imagine, those good looks and all that delicious masculinity wasted
on a bunch of rug-rats. If he were almost any other kind of doctor and I were ten or fifteen years younger, I guarantee you—I’d be his patient. And you can bet the farm that I’d have a chronic ailment that required frequent attention.”

  Mary Ann sighed. “I know what you mean. Just the thought of him examining me makes me weak.” She fanned her hand in front of her face. “Be still my heart.”

  “Honestly, you two are pathetic. Mike is just a man. A very nice man, it’s true, but still just a man like any other.”

  Which was a whopping lie. Even as Leah spoke the words she half expected lightning to strike her down. As she was learning nightly, Mike McCall was anything but ordinary.

  “Just a man! Like any other!” Mary Ann squeaked. “Doctor, you’d better run a test on your hormones. And get your eyes checked while you’re at it. The man is a hunk—six feet two, black hair, sea-blue eyes, rugged good looks and a killer smile. And as if all that weren’t enough, he’s a doctor, for heaven’s sake. A doctor who loves kids, no less. What more could a woman want?”

  “That’s right,” Sandy agreed. “If Dr. McCall is just a man, then King Kong was just an ape. Moby Dick was just a fish. The Rocky Mountains are just a pile of dirt and rocks. The South Pole is—”

  Chuckling, Leah held up both hands. “Okay, okay. You’ve made your point. Dr. McCall is a prize. A prince among men. I’ll concede that. I just don’t happen to be interested.”

  Liar, her conscience jabbed. You know you could be, under the right circumstances.

  Which was a complication she had not anticipated. In the past she had been so concerned with avoiding Mike, she had never thought of him in that way. Also, what little she had known of him beyond his reputation as an excellent doctor had been based on information received from Julia, none of which had been very complimentary.

  “He was always such a difficult child. From the time he was born he was just like his father,” her stepmother had complained. “Ryan is a hard man and as cold as steel. And he’s selfish. He was totally indifferent to my feelings, my needs. A wife is entitled to her husband’s affections. Not that Ryan was a particularly loving man,” she had said, sniffing. “What few tender feelings he did have were always for that family of his. They always came first. I’m quite sure that as Mike has matured he has become just as bad.”