Safe In The Surgeon's Arms

“Seriously? I had no advanced warning. You could have called me.” Dammit. Someone should have called him and let him know she was coming.

“And what? Warned you I was going to be working in the ER and might run into you? For all I knew, you weren’t even here, or were married with six kids.” Big. Fat. Lie. She still had friends in the hospital, and they’d let her know he was still there. Still single. Still hot. Very hot.

“I see.” He stiffened, and his eyes went icy. “Danny could have told me.”

“Why? We’re old news, right? Now we’re just two professionals working together, and the rest doesn’t matter, does it?” What mattered was that her heart was palpitating, her breath was tight in her throat, and her legs didn’t want to move. Old news. Right. Denial was her BFF.

“Yes. Well. I can be professional, and I’m certain you will be, too.” The ice hadn’t left his veins, but at least he was being civil. That was more than she should expect from him. And there was nothing he could do about her presence. She was a good nurse, so he’d have to keep his personal reasons to himself. They had no bearing here.

“Of course. I expected nothing less. I’m sorry. I should have gotten word to you.”

“Yes, you should have. It would have been simple courtesy.”

At least she’d apologized and some of his irritation dissolved. Maybe he could overlook it, maybe not, but it was a situation he was going to have to deal with.

“Again. Sorry.” She glanced away. “I was going to grab some coffee then head back out there.”

“Pot’s on the right. Creamer and sugar in cupboard above.” Dammit. Why had he said that? He didn’t care how she took her coffee any longer. Why had he told her that when he hadn’t meant to?

“You remember how I take my coffee?” Surprise showed in her eyes. Blinking those big blue eyes of hers, she held his gaze for the first time since he’d seen her again. What was she looking for? Hell, what was he looking for? The past revealed in each other’s eyes? Hardly.

“I never forgot.” He paused for another second and took a long slow look over her. “Anything.” With that declaration he pushed away before he said something truly stupid and headed into the main part of the ER. How in the world was he going to get through three months with her underfoot, under his skin? Had he just lied to her and himself by telling her he could be a professional? The way he felt now was nothing close to it. What he felt was … ripped open. Raw in a way he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in the years since she’d broken him and left town.

He was a physician, an ER doctor and an emergency surgeon, and proud of what he’d accomplished in his career. He was a professional, and he saved the lives of trauma victims every day. That was why he was here in this hospital. But if he were being honest with himself, so was Emily. She was a damned good trauma nurse with excellent skills. The hospital had had a turnover of staff in the last few months, and they needed quality staff, hence the number of travel nurses presently in the hospital. Experience didn’t come easily or without cost. He knew that, and he was forced to admit she’d worked damned hard for hers.

She also had the unfortunate, firsthand experience of being on the receiving end of a terrible trauma, which made her uniquely qualified to be doing the kind of work she did.

Not wanting to travel down that bumpy road again right now, he moved forward, moved toward the next patient, the next chart, the next issue in front of him, despite his memories wanting to drag him back into the past.

The day progressed more slowly in the afternoon. Staff came to him with more mundane issues that kept him busy, but he still felt as if he were walking through water up to his chest. Slowly, trudging along. The oppression of the past weighed heavily on his mind and his spirit.

“Dr. Montgomery? Chase?” The words eventually penetrated his brain that someone was calling to him.

“Yes?” He frowned as Liz and Emily stood beside him.

“I was going to introduce you to our new travel nurse, but I think you’ve met before, right?”

“Correct.” That was the simplest, most unemotional way to present it. Dry.

“Okay. One less thing on the checklist to do.” She gave an awkward smile. “I see. Sorry to bug you.”

“No problem.” Keeping all expression and emotion from his face was getting harder to do, and he felt himself gritting his teeth. Thankfully he had a good dental plan, because he would probably be doing that for the next three months.

“Actually, I had a question for Dr. Montgomery about a new patient.” Emily spoke to Liz, but looked at Chase. Professional. Cool. Fine.

“Sure. What’s up?” He could do it, too. Really. He leaned back in the desk chair and raised his hands over his head, waiting for her to speak.

“I’ll catch you later,” Liz said, and moved away.

Emily filled him in on the background of the patient in question. “This is a twenty-five-year-old male who is accustomed to being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing and camping. He’s complaining of joint pain, fatigue, and general malaise. I’m going to put in a lab request for the usual workup, but I was wondering if we should test for Lyme disease as well.”

Chase frowned as he thought about the details of the case and processed the facts. Concise, important symptoms, and a little detective work to boot. Smart, beautiful and still sexy as hell. Dammit. “Is he running a fever?”

“On and off for a few weeks, since his last camping trip in western Maryland.” She didn’t face him but stood beside him, facing the computer. “He also noticed a classic bull’s-eye rash on his leg and got worried when it didn’t resolve right away.”

“That’s ground zero for Lyme exposure.” He nodded. “Go ahead and add the panel, but explain to him it’s a two-part test and it will be a week before we get results.”

“I will. Thank you, Doctor.” She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast as she walked away.

So it was going to be the cool doctor-nurse relationship between them. He could do that, too. He watched as she walked away. Her body had changed since back then. There was something different about the way she walked, more confident, more sure of herself, and her posture was definitely more upright. She actually appeared to be a little taller than her five-foot-five, petite frame, which had fit him perfectly. Now he’d have to reconsider that. Not that there was going to be an opportunity for her to fit to his body anymore. Ever.

An hour later she approached again. He was still in the same position at the computer console, having gotten no further in his documentation. “Can you see this patient now? The possible Lyme guy?”

“Sure. Are labs back?”

“Yes. Chest X-ray, too.”

“Let me have a look at them first.” He clicked a few times, certain he was following the right pathway to the test results, but there was no X-ray. “It’s not here. Are you sure you ordered the right tests on this patient?” Irritation crept into his voice, despite his desire to not react to her at all. “Being timely is important around here, Emily. We don’t sit around—”

“Yes. I’m sure. I printed them up if you’d like to look at them the old-fashioned way.” She gave a tight smile. “Might be easier for you.”

“No.” Focusing on the screen, he gave an irritated sigh, then clicked and clicked again, with no better results. “Dammit.”

With a sigh, Emily leaned over his shoulder and took the mouse from his right hand. “Let me see. Oh, you’ve got the wrong patient up, that’s all.” She masterfully clicked here and there and in seconds had the proper patient with the labs and X-ray reports side by side on the screen. “There you go. Easy.”

He cast a baleful eye at her and really wanted to feel irritated, but the fact was he hated this computer system and had refused to spend the time to learn it properly. As soon as he did that, it would be changed to something else, so why bother?

“Show-off.” The second he turned to glare at her he knew it was a mistake, making him grit his teeth again. The fragrance he’d never been able to get out of his mind filled his senses and images of her in his arms hit him like a ton of bricks. The memories came over him hard and fast. The body wash she loved to use in the shower, her long hair slicked back from her pretty face, the water sluicing down her body, over the curves of her breasts and hips. Jeez, his thoughts were inappropriate. So much for being a professional.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, as lush and full as he remembered it. The smile on her face froze as she met his gaze full on. Her pupils dilated, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. Would there be anything, any spark between them again? Could there be? Then she straightened and took a step back.

“Yes. Well. There they are, Doctor. I’ve used this system a few times at other hospitals. Pretty simple once you get to know it.” She dropped her gaze and blew out a quick breath.

“I see.” Clearly, she was not unaffected by his presence and not as cool as she pretended to be. But that was not his problem.

Nothing Emily Hoover did was his problem. Ever again.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_fcad1bc6-bfcb-5966-8fa1-a4a1cda67c16)

THE SOUND OF raised voices generally got some attention, even in an ER full of chaos. This one was in relation to Emily’s last patient of the day, who had come in thirty minutes ago. A woman, in her midforties, had said she’d tripped over her cat and hit her cheek on a doorknob. Emily had seen plenty of trips and falls and doorknob injuries, but this was not one of them. The woman had warned Emily her husband was going to be making an intoxicated appearance. He stumbled his way through the automatic doors right on cue.

“I don’t care who you are—I’m going in there to see my wife.” The man was a belligerent one, not used to a woman who had her own power and didn’t care one whit about his. He was used to getting his way by bullying and it wasn’t working, which only made his color go from pink to a florid red.

“Sir, your wife doesn’t want to see you right now. You’re drunk and—”

“The hell you say.” Unable to stand up without swaying only added proof to her statement. Emily kept him in full view of the security camera so there would be plenty of evidence if needed later.

“I don’t say. She says, and what she says goes. Got it?” Emily stood her ground, facing the large man dressed in hunting camo. This wasn’t the first time she’d had to handle an upset family member, so she called on her years of ER experience to remain calm and keep the upper hand. She cast a glance at one of the staff members and nodded. It was a silent signal to notify Security they were needed in the ER immediately. Her job was to keep him distracted until they arrived.