in my work and taking care of my family, first and foremost.”
He leaned forward, giving Michelle a lethal dose of his cologne and a good look at his serious expression. “That won’t keep you warm at night.”
“I manage okay.”
“I’m sure you do. Or at least you think you do. But take it from me, after a while burying yourself in your work won’t give you the satisfaction you need. And your family can only offer you so much comfort.”
“And what satisfaction are you referring to?” Did she really just ask such a thing?
His smile made another grandstand appearance. “The kind that makes you really feel alive, and believe me, you won’t find that in ad layouts or Sunday dinners.”
Michelle abruptly stood, looking for an escape from his truths. Looking for a way out from underneath all the heat the man was generating in her turncoat body. “Well, right now I have a lot of satisfying work to do, so I’ll see you out on my way to the copy room.”
She grabbed up the papers that didn’t need copying and quickly moved from behind her desk, but the doctor was much quicker.
He stood by the door, one hand braced on the facing, the other hidden away in his trouser pocket. She grasped the doorknob, but before she could turn it, he said, “There’s one more thing I need to say.”
She dropped her hand from the knob and faced him with the papers clutched against her chest. “What?”
“Speaking as a doctor, you need to get some rest. You look tired.”
A nice way of putting she looked like pond scum. “Your advice is duly noted.”
He took his hand from his pocket and traced a path underneath her eyes with one sturdy fingertip. “Dark smudges. Looks like you’re not getting much sleep.”
She probably wouldn’t sleep tonight, either. But work wouldn’t be standing in her way. He would. Right now an invigorating stream of warmth flowed from where his fingertip had been all the way down to places that weren’t tired at all. In fact, they were totally alert and making themselves known.
Fumbling in her blazer pocket, she withdrew her glasses and slipped them on. “Now you don’t have to look at them.”
“I’m serious, Michelle.” If his expression was any indication, he was.
“Okay. I’ll take a nap. Would that appease you, Doctor?”
“It’s a start. And I wish you would call me Nick.”
She had once, a poor move on her part. First names denoted intimacy, and she couldn’t afford to have that with someone so terribly hard to resist. “Since we’re in the office, I think it’s best we maintain a professional relationship.”
He grinned. “So you’re saying you’ll call me Nick when we’re not in the office?”
“I’m saying…actually…” She was rambling like an idiot, all because of him. “Don’t you have something to fix? Maybe a broken leg or two or three?”
He dropped his hand from the door and checked his watch. “Yeah. As a matter of fact, I’m late for my next surgery.”
“Don’t let me keep you from your work.”
His smoldering smile returned. “You already have, but it was well worth the lost time.” He bent closer and whispered, “That’s the kind of satisfaction I’ve learned to appreciate.”
Michelle stared at the ringing telephone sitting on the end table next to her favorite lounge chair. She needed to answer but hesitated. For some reason she worried that maybe Nick Kempner was calling. If so, she worried more that she might find herself agreeing to something she had no business agreeing to, namely going with him to the gala. He had shaken her up today like an out-of-control blender. She’d barely been able to concentrate on her work.
Why couldn’t she get him off her mind? Because he had more magnetism than a televangelist, that’s why. But it wasn’t just his charisma. Beneath that magnetic facade, she sensed true caring. She’d seen it at Brooke’s when he’d offered her consolation and again another glimpse of it in her office today when he’d voiced his concern about her health. And he was so gentle with his daughter. But that wasn’t quite enough to persuade her to give in to his charms. She had done that once with another charmer; she didn’t intend to do it again.
On the fourth ring she finally answered.
“Hey, sis, where’d you go yesterday in such a hurry?”
The call Michelle would have made herself had it not been for Nick Kempner’s untimely appearance.
Michelle gripped the phone with all the hurt she had felt since the backyard barbecue. “I needed to get out of there.”
“Was it that bad?”
Not all of it. Nick crept into her thoughts like some panther on the prowl. She willed him to disappear, at least for the time being. “Actually, it was okay. I just had some work to do at home.”
“You’re mad at me for not telling you about the baby, aren’t you?”
The remorse in Brooke’s tone helped to ease Michelle’s hurt, but it didn’t completely go away.
“I’m disappointed, Brooke. I hated learning about the baby as if I’m some casual acquaintance. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I tried to tell you last Friday evening, but you were still at work. I even left a message on your cell phone voice mail for you to call. I never heard from you. And then you came late to the party and there just wasn’t enough time or the opportunity.”
All valid reasons, Michelle decided. Valid reasons for Brooke not telling her this past weekend. “True, I haven’t checked my private voice mail in a couple of days. But why didn’t you tell me after you found out?”
“Because I knew you’d be worried about me. You know how you get when it comes to my health, especially with the asthma. I wanted to make sure enough time had passed so you’d know that everything’s fine.”
Michelle couldn’t deny that she was concerned. More than concerned. “Of course I’m going to worry. You’re my baby sister. But you have to know how happy I am for you and Jared.”
“I do know that, and please understand I never meant to hurt you, Shelly. This was just something Jared and I agreed upon, waiting until I was at least in my second trimester.”
Second trimester? “When is this baby due?”
“October twenty-ninth.”
Michelle did a mental countdown. “You’re beginning your third trimester, Brooke. How is that possible? You’re barely showing.”
“Mom told me she didn’t show until the later months so I guess I’ve inherited that from her. But I really can’t believe you didn’t notice my, shall we say, blossoming figure.”
With Michelle’s recent work schedule and her visits with her parents, she hadn’t been around Brooke all that much in recent months to notice. Besides, Michelle had a knack for being oblivious to certain things. “Well, I did notice you’re looking a bit more healthy than normal, and that you’re wearing baggier clothes, but I thought that went along with being happily married.”
Brooke laughed. “Heavens, I hope not. I hope it’s the pregnancy that’s necessitated a Wide Load sign across my butt, not my marriage.”
Michelle joined in the laughter for a few moments before her concern for Brooke’s health again kicked in. “What about the asthma?”
“I’m doing fine with that. My doctor’s watching it closely. I’m getting by without much medication. We’ll just hope for the best.”
Brooke, always the optimist. Michelle