Kitabı oku: «The Doctor's Damsel In Distress»

CHAPTER ONE

DR. LEVI FIELDING wrapped his arms around Nurse Madison Swanson, positioned himself just right, and gave a hard thrust. Then another.

Nothing.

The food that had lodged in her throat didn’t budge.

In the universal choking signal, she grasped at her neck, her rising panic emanating off her tiny body.

She couldn’t breathe.

Knowing the hot July sun wasn’t the cause of the sweat forming on his brow, Levi’s own fear whipped through him. His heart jackhammered against his ribcage, interfering with his ability to breathe. He gave a hearty heave, hoping he was dislodging whatever she’d choked on and didn’t break her in half in the process.

“Oh, Dr. Fielding,” one of the hospital picnic attendees implored, fanning her pudgy red face with all the theatrics of a true Southern belle from more than a century before. “Save her.”

He was trying. Ignoring the small crowd gathering around where he’d rushed to Madison’s rescue, his every cell tuned into the woman he held. He performed the Heimlich maneuver yet again, knowing that if this didn’t work he’d be opening her airway via an emergency tracheotomy.

At a picnic at the local park in downtown Angel Creek, North Carolina.

Which meant he’d be using something rudimentary to jab into her airway. Probably the barrel of an ink pen. Or if he couldn’t find one, he’d have to make an incision with, what? A plastic knife? What he wouldn’t give to have his doctor’s bag. His brain raced ahead, planning to do whatever was necessary to get life-giving air into Madison’s lungs. Somehow, he would save her. He had to.

At his powerful thrust, she sputtered, whatever had been in her throat flying from her mouth.

Levi said a prayer of thanks. For numerous reasons. The foremost being he preferred pretty little Madison Swanson alive and breathing. She was a great nurse. The best. But even if she hadn’t been, a nurse choking to death at a hospital picnic while surrounded by medical professionals—what kind of message would that send to the community where they worked?

Gasping and coughing at the same time, her hand went in front of her mouth. He turned her, assessing that she was indeed taking in air, that she was going to be okay. Tears streaming down her heart-shaped face, she lifted her heavily lashed green eyes to his.

The ground shifted beneath Levi’s feet.

Her expression gutted him, left him feeling as if something had lodged in his throat. Something hard, full of emotion, and unrelenting, something that would require more than the Heimlich to rescue him from.

Damn. That was exactly the same varoom that had hit him when he’d first met her. When he’d thought he’d met someone worthy of settling into a relationship with.

Then she’d come at him like a heavy truck, which hadn’t been at all what he’d been looking for. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with an overly forceful woman. Been there, done that, liked it, but the time had come to grow up.

After his last encounter with his father, he’d turned over a new leaf, decided he was ready to quit playing games, that he wasn’t “a chip off the ole block”, and would settle into a relationship, see where that took him.

He’d initially thought Madison would be that woman, but he’d overheard her telling another nurse that she played the game as well as any man, that she wasn’t looking for commitment, just a good time.

He’d known right then and there that no matter how attracted he was to her, he needed to keep his distance. But that hadn’t dulled his reaction to her. Not one bit.

So he’d avoided her as much as possible.

Today, there’d been no avoiding.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he began, wondering at how his knees wobbled like a newborn foal’s and why he wanted to wrap his arms back around her. This time to hold her close and assure her she was going to be okay, that he’d never let anything happen to her.

Totally insane. Outside of work, he barely knew her.

Only a few weeks before he’d have thought Madison’s enlightened outlook regarding sex exactly what he wanted. But his father had cured him of that attitude. He’d actually wondered if his reaction to Madison might partly be because he’d decided he was ready for a new phase in life. A more settled phase than his former playboy ways. Not marriage or happily-ever-after, but something more permanent than he’d been willing to commit to in the past.

If the thought of falling into old habits, his father’s habits, didn’t disgust him, he’d have been all over Madison Swanson. Figuratively and otherwise.

Drawing his attention, her chest expanded and relaxed in jerky breaths. Her fingers trembled as she swatted at the moisture on her cheeks. She looked in shock. As if she might pass out at any given moment. Or burst into full-fledged sobs.

An odd spasm tightened his chest.

“We should run to my office and shoot a few X-rays to make sure I didn’t crack anything. That last thrust was a bone-crusher.”

“No.” She shook her head back and forth, still greedily sucking in air. “I’m fine.”

She didn’t look fine. Her smooth skin had lost its usual healthy glow and blanched a pale gray, contrasting eerily with the vivid green of her almond-shaped eyes. Barely coming up to his shoulders, she looked more like a child than a woman in her mid-twenties. A child who needed looking after. Who needed him.

“I insist,” he said, studying her ragged breaths, her shaky hands, the quiver to her plump lower lip. Those lips.

He averted his gaze before he gave in to the urge to lean in and give her a breath or two. In the name of medicine, of course. Right.

“I just want to sit down for a few minutes.” Closing her eyes, she lowered her head, but didn’t move from the spot where she stood. “And crawl under a picnic table and die from total humiliation.”

Levi blinked. She could have died, and she was embarrassed? Not in a million years would he understand women, but after holding Madison in his arms, he fully understood that he wanted to get to know her better even if he shouldn’t. Lots better. Enough better that now he’d acknowledged that truth, he also admitted Little Miss Madison might be responsible for the fact he hadn’t been on a date since she’d come onto the scene.

He’d blamed his father’s pat on the shoulder and condemning words of praise, but perhaps Madison played just as strong a role in his change of pace. Maybe the two really did go hand-in-hand.

Not quite understanding why his realization didn’t upset him, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Choking can happen to anyone.”

She didn’t look up, just took a step back. Letting his hand fall away, she dropped onto the wooden slat seat of a picnic table. She looked so miserable that another protective wave hit him and he fought to keep his arms to himself.

Sure, he wanted to get to know her better, but it wasn’t as if he planned to start sweeping women off their feet at company functions where they were surrounded by co-workers, friends and family. The last thing she would want was for him to hold her like she really was a small child needing comfort.

He wanted to hold her and kiss away the tears that fell faster than she could wipe them away.

“Hey,” he bent, cupped her face. His fingers pressed firmly against the silky skin of her jaw, forcing her to look at him. His fingertips burned with hot awareness. “You okay?”

“Just Jim Dandy,” she mumbled, wincing at the crowd moving in, offering her a drink, a wet cloth, a word of commiseration.

Willing away his physical responsiveness to touching her, Levi couldn’t decide if she was really okay and embarrassed or if she was hurt and trying to hide it. She looked as if she really would like to crawl under the picnic table. As if she desperately needed someone to rescue her again. This time from the crowd.

Still, she kept a wobbly smile on her face and nodded her well-being to the many well-wishers surrounding her. She might have only worked at Angel Creek hospital for a month or two, but she’d won many a heart.

No wonder. Madison Swanson was cute.

Cute? Nah, that word didn’t exactly fit the woman he’d heard say she ate men for breakfast. Not that he’d ever gotten the impression Madison was a man-eater, but she’d said the words herself.

Ignoring the reasons he shouldn’t, ignoring the well-wishers’ praise for his “heroic act”, Levi bent enough to slide his arm beneath Madison’s shaky legs. Straightening, he scooped her into his arms and ignored her protests and the crowd’s whoops of delight.

Yeah, he was ignoring lots of things today.

How good Madison felt in his arms topped the list. He really shouldn’t be noticing her apple-blossom scent, shouldn’t be noticing how toned her petite body was. He definitely shouldn’t be feeling twinges of lust at just how delectably female she was.

Twinges? More like earthquakes.

Get a grip, ole boy.

He wanted substance, not a quick fix. He wanted a long-distance haul, not a rush across the finish line. He wasn’t like his father.

Willing his adrenaline-hyped body under control, he flashed a reassuring smile to the crowd. “Sorry, folks, but she’s had a scare. I’m going to take her to my office and make sure I didn’t crack her ribs.”

A couple of co-workers, including the medical floor’s charge nurse who he’d heard through the hospital grapevine was Madison’s roommate, rushed along beside him, talking a mile a minute, mostly asking if she was okay and did she have any idea how much she’d scared them all?

“This is crazy,” Madison protested, shooing her friends away with assurances that she was fine and for them to please go back to the picnic. “I can walk,” she directed at him as her roommate left, casting a few curious glances over her shoulder.

“Yes, you can,” he agreed, but kept on toward the parking lot. When he reached his sports utility vehicle, he contemplated setting her down, but wasn’t quite ready to let her go. “Can you get my keys? They’re in the right pocket of my shorts. If you reach down, you should find them.”

Madison had wanted to get Dr. Levi Fielding’s arms around her since the first time she’d met him not quite two months ago, had fantasized about doing exactly what he was asking of her now, only keys hadn’t been involved.

The current circumstances hadn’t been anywhere close to what she’d had in mind, though.

Neither had her embarrassing choking episode where he’d had to Heimlich her into upchucking the piece of ice that had lodged in her throat.

Ice that had lodged because she’d been staring at him, lost in her private fantasy, and been caught.

Caught when he’d turned, his hot fudge-sundae eyes colliding with hers with heated awareness. Awareness that she’d been looking at him like she wanted to eat him up and lick the spoon clean. Hot fudge sundae, indeed!

She’d thought there had been a spark between them when they’d first met. She’d have sworn there was. But he’d ignored all her smiles, all her attempts at flirting, at showing him she was a player, the kind of woman he reportedly liked.

To see blatant interest in his unguarded eyes today had startled her. She’d decided she’d been wrong about the chemistry between them when they’d first met, had decided she should find another carefree man to try out her new improved persona on, her new love ‘em-and-leave-’em attitude, because she was never again falling in love for real.

Carefree because that was the only type of man she’d date after Simon. Because he’d hurt her so badly she’d never allow another man to worm his way into her heart, make her believe in happily-ever-after. Happily-ever-after didn’t exist. A fairy-tale. A myth. Pure propaganda to make women long for what they’d never find. Just look at her. At her friend Susan. At so many women she knew who’d been taken for a ride emotionally, and often financially.

At least Simon hadn’t abused her pocketbook. That was about the only thing he’d let alone, though.

If Levi had been interested in her, he’d lost it almost immediately and nothing she’d done had seemed to reignite that spark.

So, seeing his matching look when he’d brushed aside all her attempts to get to know him better had taken her by storm. Face burning, she’d taken a drink of her diet soda and gulped a half-melted piece of ice right into her trachea. Of all the stupid things to do!

First choking. Then, while he’d performed the Heimlich maneuver on her, having the absurd thought that at least if she died, she’d go happy, having his arms wrapped around her.

Yep, totally insane when men were nothing but trouble. Hadn’t she learned anything from her Simon experience? To be looking at Levi with such thoughts, obviously she hadn’t. She was certifiable.

But could she really help it if she’d been gaga over him since the day she’d started working at Angel Creek Hospital?

Her and every other female who’d ever laid eyes on the gorgeous general practitioner. Which was the problem with men like Levi and Simon. Totally gorgeous, and they and the rest of the world knew it. They used their many charms to lure unsuspecting hearts into their lairs.

Now he was telling her to get in his pants? Um, well, not in his pants, just to put her hand in his pants. Well, his pants pocket. To get his keys. Same difference, right?

Clearly, she’d died from a freak ice cube in the throat choking accident and angel Levi was her heavenly reward for all those years of being a way, way too good girl and having her heart trampled on.

“Madison?”

She blinked up at Levi, still not quite believing that she was in his arms, that he’d carried her from the park’s picnic area to the parking lot. No one would be talking about this at the hospital for weeks to come. Right.

But what did she care? She was in the afterlife in the arms of her fantasy man. A man she’d watched interact with his patients, watched smile and laugh with his co-workers, watched with longing deep in her gut because when she looked at him she saw stars and rainbows and fireworks and things so marvelous she didn’t even have a label, and for a few brief moments she could forget all the hell Simon had put her heart through.

Not that she’d fall for Levi. She wouldn’t. She might think him the best thing since chocolate, but her heart was off limits.

Only today, when she’d needed him, he’d come to her rescue just like a proverbial white knight. Only, rather than having to wake her with a kiss, he’d had to Heimlich her.

She glanced up, met his eyes and melted.

That did it. If she’d had any doubt before, she no longer did. The ice really hadn’t dislodged. She’d bitten the big one. Had to be true. Because she’d swear that was concern in Levi’s eyes. Not indifferent concern, but real concern. For her. Why would he care?

And, oh, baby, if she didn’t know better, she might think that was physical awareness in his eyes, too. Physical awareness as in he felt the same bing-badaboom at the contact of their bodies.

Thank goodness, she did know better, that she knew she was pushing up daisies.

Seeing a woman regurgitate a chunk of ice wasn’t exactly the kind of event that made a man suddenly aware of what he’d been overlooking for almost two months.

“My keys?” he prompted when she continued to stare up at him, probably with stars in her eyes and drool on her chin. “If you’ll grab them and hit the unlock button…”

“Oh, right.” Embarrassed that she’d left him standing, holding the bag so to speak, she reached down for his pocket.

That so wasn’t his pocket, but my, oh, my, what a package.

He cleared his throat and Madison tried again, finally sliding her fingers into the pocket of his loose cargo shorts.

She pulled out his keys, pressed the unlock button twice, and sighed in relief at the resounding click of the lock.

“You can put me down now.” Or hold me for ever, your choice. No, not for ever, that didn’t fit with her new never-have-her-heart-broken again persona. Just for however long the fun lasted. Yep, that was better.

“I know.”

But he didn’t until he’d maneuvered the door open. And had that been her imagination or had Levi’s voice sounded hoarse? As if maybe she wasn’t the only one affected by his arms around her, by how close her entire body was to his.

Just how long had she gone without oxygen anyway? Maybe she’d suffered brain damage and just didn’t know it.

“Feeling okay?” He gently settled her in the passenger seat. “No light-headedness or dizziness? Shortness of breath?”

Only from you holding me. She rolled her eyes, determined to get her thoughts under control, to focus on her promise to herself to never again be made a fool of, to never again feel as if her entire world had come crumbling down around her.

“I choked on an ice cube.” Because she’d been ogling him. “I’m fine. Really.”

He reached across her, secured her seat belt into place, his arm grazing across her breasts, sending shockwaves of tingles through her.

“You’re a tiny little thing,” he pointed out, sounding a bit breathy himself, “and I did the Heimlich maneuver on you.”

She could think of a few other maneuvers he could do on her.

No. Thoughts like those were what had gotten her into this mess to begin with. Thoughts that had blasted off with his very buff body working up a sweat during the softball game earlier.

After the game, she’d still been distracted by his lean physique, by the sinewy calves on display. She’d never seen him in anything other than scrubs or dressed casually. She’d never seen his bare legs, that was for sure.

Oh, baby, she was a legs woman, if there was even such a thing. But surely if there could be legs men, there could be women with preferences for certain body parts. As of the moment she’d set eyes on Levi’s calves, she was most certainly a legs woman.

Or maybe she was a butt woman.

He certainly did it for her there, too. Nice, tight, squeezable. Oh, yeah, she was a nice tush and legs woman.

And eyes. Those dark chocolate eyes…she was certainly into those, too.

And pathetic.

Had she mentioned how pathetic she was?

She’d never reacted to the opposite sex this way. So physically. Not even to Simon. Maybe it was all the pep talks she’d given herself about her new playgirl persona, all the books and tapes about becoming the modern woman. Wasn’t that why she’d relocated? To start over? To not be goody-two-shoes Madison Swanson any more? So why was she mooning over the first guy she’d set her sights on? Why hadn’t she flicked her fingers and said a resounding “Next”?