The Millionaire And The M.D.

Rebecca returned, looking grim, a stark contrast to how she’d looked with her patient Elena. “Amy never called here, Gabe.”

“What?”

“Like I said, Grace or I would have talked to her. If she’d called, we would have scheduled an appointment that was convenient for her or we’d have fit her in. Neither of us has spoken with her. I’m quite sure she never contacted the office.”

He rubbed his neck. “Amy lied to me?”

Rebecca shrugged as she slid her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. “She’s trying to avoid her pregnancy. The problem with avoiding your problems is that when you bury your head in the sand you leave your—”

“Backside exposed,” he finished.

“Pretty much.” The look she gave him was guarded. “The thing is, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. What we do know is that your sister is troubled. But sooner or later she’s got to face what’s happening to her. She ran away from home, but for her sake and the baby’s, she’s got to stop running.”

“She ran to me and I don’t know why.”

“Me, neither.”

Her look was wary and suspicious and made him feel more like crap than he had before. She definitely acted differently with him than she had with Amy, Grace or her patients. The weird thing is that he noticed at all. Since losing Hannah he’d been all work—no social life, extracurricular activities or interpersonal interaction. But through circumstances beyond his control he’d become responsible for his pregnant sister and was feeling a man/woman kind of vibe for her doctor.

He wasn’t very happy about either situation. Ignoring this “thing” with Rebecca was a piece of cake, compared with ignoring the fact that his sister was going to have a baby. And Hannah’s words echoed through his mind.

The baby is the most important thing.

“Okay.” Gabe nodded. “I get the point.”

“If you say so.”

“Look, Doc, I’m sorry about storming in here. It won’t happen again.”

“Right.”

Her hostility was showing, and part of him didn’t like that. But he couldn’t afford to care. One crisis at a time. Right now that crisis was getting Amy in here for the test.

“On my way out I’ll stop and make an appointment for the ultrasound. You have my word that my sister will show up for it.”

“Okay.”

Her tone said she didn’t believe him, and he wanted to say her cynicism was showing, but that would prolong a meeting that had definitely not been his finest hour. Actually, dignity was the least of his problems. The fact that he’d been tempted to prolong this meeting at all had taken him by surprise.

After stopping to schedule the appointment, he left the office and realized getting out of there fast wasn’t as much about saving face as it was the fact that he wanted to pull sexy Dr. Hamilton into his arms and kiss the daylights out of her.

That was bad enough. Worse was that he had to bring Amy back to see the doc again. All of that begged the question: Which god had he pissed off, and what penance could he do to stop the harassment?

Chapter Three

Rebecca stood with Gabe in the hallway outside the exam room where his sister was going to have her ultrasound.

“What’s going on? Grace said you needed to see me.”

Poor Grace was getting worn-out being their go-between, Rebecca thought. If it was up to her she wouldn’t see him at all, but she wasn’t the pregnant teenager who was on the other side of that door waiting for a test she didn’t understand and trying really hard not to let anyone see that she was scared spitless. Ultrasound technology wasn’t invasive or painful, which made it an extremely useful diagnostic tool for gathering information.

Most expectant mothers were excited at the prospect of “meeting” their child for the first time. The majority of them brought along the expectant father to share in the joy. But Amy had no one, at least no one she felt she could count on. No one except her brother. And counting on him was iffy at best.

“Amy asked if you could be there while she has the test done.”

“My sister?”

Rebecca smiled. “Do you know another pregnant Amy?”

“What I meant was—are we talking about the same sister who thinks I don’t know anything?”

“That would be the one. I know tolerance is a challenge when she’s been so difficult. But try to put yourself in her shoes.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “Did you ditch those anatomy classes in med school?”

“Humor me. Just try to get in touch with your feminine side.” Yeah, right, Rebecca thought. Could the man possibly look more masculine with his long sleeves rolled up, revealing wide wrists with a dusting of hair on his forearms. It was a sexy look and so far from feminine she felt stupid for even making the suggestion. Taking a different tack she said, “Try to understand that her body is changing and all of this is new to her. In spite of the fact that she’s doing her best to pretend it’s not happening, she’s scared and would like someone there when she has the test.”

“She’s got you.” The look on Gabe’s face said he’d rather hike barefoot through a foot of snow on Mount Charleston than walk in that room.

Benefit of the doubt, Rebecca thought. Maybe he was one of those squeamish types who couldn’t handle seeing a loved one in discomfort. During Amy’s first appointment he’d known about the ultrasound, but the procedure was so routine that practically everyone knew the term, although not necessarily the specifics of how it was performed. A few of those specifics might help.

“Look, Gabe, it won’t hurt her. It’s a noninvasive procedure. I’m going to take a transducer—a wandlike instrument—and move it across her belly. It bounces harmless sound waves off the fetus and gives us an image that will tell me the approximate size and weight of the baby, and general information, possibly the sex—”

“She doesn’t really want me in there.”

He started to turn away, but Rebecca put her hand on his arm and he froze. The muscles beneath the warm skin were hard and unyielding, not unlike the man. Which made the unexpected flutter in her stomach all the more puzzling.

Ignoring the sensation, she said, “Not so fast.”

The teen had been alternately passive, hostile and defensive. There’d been apprehension in her eyes and a tremor in her voice when she’d asked if Gabe could be there, and it was the first time she’d asked for anything. Rebecca had no idea what their history was or the nature of the problems between them, but he was the grown-up and wasn’t getting off the hook.

He looked surprised as he glanced at the hand still on his arm, then met her gaze. “Not so fast?”

“I’m not letting you walk out on her.”

One corner of his mouth curved up. “And just how do you plan to stop me?”

She removed her hand, then curled her fingers into her palm. “I haven’t quite figured that part out yet.”

She inspected the width of his shoulders and the idea of using physical force lost some appeal at the same time it produced even stronger stomach flutters. The sensation did not improve her odds of figuring it out and, in fact, made thinking even more of a challenge. What were they talking about? Oh, yes. Stop him from leaving.

She could share the fact that his sister was at increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension. Violating a patient’s privacy would be a minor blip on the trouble scale if she couldn’t get the teen to take care of herself. But she’d rather not break a rule.

She figured it was a positive sign that he was still there. “I’m hoping you’ll just do it.”

Gabe didn’t say anything for several moments. Then his mouth thinned and a muscle jerked in his jaw before he simply nodded his head.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” she said, opening the door.