lot of things, Drake, but daddy material isn’t one of them. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had lodged a complaint. That’s all we need with the lawsuit ongoing right now.”
Jason saw a look of pain cross Stephanie’s face. Was the department’s legal problems causing her that much heartache?
Dr. Phillips nodded. “The lawyers need to settle it soon. The hospital’s credibility is suffering.”
Jason couldn’t help but agree. His own caseload was the lightest he’d seen since he’d been at Sheffield Memorial. Normally he had to turn down more cases than he accepted.
“Not the whole hospital. Just our department,” Riser clarified. “I hear you’re helping out in the E.R. now, Drake. I could put in a good word for you with one of the specialties, if you want.”
Jason brushed off Riser’s offer, along with his condescending tone. “No need. I’ve already turned them all down.”
Being certified in pediatrics, internal medicine and surgery, Jason had been asked to assist on every floor of the hospital—by the same staff who registered complaints when he overstepped their bureaucracy to save their patients.
Instead, since his residency in an inner-city free clinic had more than prepared him for the E.R., he’d agreed to help out his friend and department head Dr. Mike Tyler. While the pace was frantic at times, the cases had been fairly routine so far, and once his shift was over he was done. No getting lost in late nights, researching until he was too exhausted to think.
The lack of complex problems to solve made getting over the infant’s loss more difficult. His modus operandi was to throw himself into his work. Or, for a while there, into Stephanie’s arms.
Now that option was gone, too. Hopefully, like the shortfall of patients, it would be a temporary problem.
It wasn’t just the sex.
They fit together mentally as well as physically. They laughed at the same obscure jokes, watched the same TV shows, liked the same food, and best of all they communicated on the same wavelength. Stephanie got him. She really got him. And he got her, too.
He’d never experienced that kind of compatibility before. He’d bet a back-rub, followed by a front-rub would fix them both right up without either of them having to say a word between them. If she’d just give their relationship a chance.
Relationship? That was a pretty strong word.
“Let’s get back to Maggie.”
Relationship. Put intimate in front of that and Jason could live with it. In fact he could live with it a lot better than he could live without it.
“Anyone have anything further to add?”
Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, as if shrugging off her worries.
“Macular degeneration,” she said. “Have you tested Maggie’s sight? Having only peripheral vision would explain the child’s lack of eye contact.”
“Possible.” Jason agreed.
Stephanie was so brilliant. He loved being around her. Love? Another strong word. This time purely used as a figure of speech. Love wasn’t in his scope of training.
“I’ll order the test. Anything else?”
Dr. Phillips’ phone vibrated.
He scowled, letting her know how he felt about the interruption.
She checked the display, then rose. “I can’t stay.”
Dr. Riser’s phone buzzed, too. He grimaced an apology as he glanced at his watch. “An appointment.”
At noon? Both of them?
Jason would bet his lunch they’d preplanned this mutiny so they wouldn’t have to skip another noon break.
Yes, he worked his team hard. Anyone who partnered with him needed to show unflagging dedication, and a missed meal on occasion was part of the package.
Riser and Phillips headed for the door.
Stephanie stood, too. But she didn’t make a move to leave. “Dr. Drake, could I speak privately with you for a moment?”
Dr. Drake? She only addressed him so formally in front of patients, or on occasion in bed.
“Of course.” He closed the door to the conference room.
So she was finally ready to forgive him for missing dinner the weekend before last. It was about time. She’d ignored him for two whole weeks. Though, to be fair, she’d been away for one of them for a directors’ conference.
“We both know how quickly rumors spread in this hospital. I need this to be kept confidential between you and me.”
Jason’s expectations crashed. Stephanie had been worried that their relationship might cause problems with their work. If she suggested they carry on covertly he would refuse. He wouldn’t be anyone’s dirty little secret.
“Stephanie, we’re two consenting adults. What goes on between the two of us—”
“This is strictly business, Dr. Drake.” A fleeting expression of something—sorrow?—crossed her eyes before she blinked it away. “We now have an open position in Diagnostics. I would like your opinion on several of our prospects before I contact them for discussion.”
She thought about the pulmonary doctor’s resignation, locked away in her desk drawer. Now, with Sheffield Memorial’s name on the verge of making the gossip rags and tabloids, was not a good time to be enticing new doctors into the hospital. Hopefully Jason’s involuntary sacrifice would put a stop to the talk.
But that was a problem for tomorrow.
“Absolutely.” Jason’s lips twisted into a cynical grimace. “Let’s eliminate the candidates that might claim to have sham appointments during consultation meetings first. We’ve already got two doctors like that.”
“Drs. Phillips and Riser’s fake pages were rather immature, weren’t they? I’ve talked to both of them about being firm and telling you they aren’t at their best when they work through lunch, but they’re intimidated by you.”
“Intimidated? Why?”
“You’re so intense.”
“I’m focused.”
“Yes, you are.” Too focused—to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. “No one can refute your dedication to medicine, Dr. Drake.”
He used his work as a shield, to keep everyone at a distance. While she had glimpsed the deep sensitivity Jason covered with sarcastic scowls and a cutting wit, she needed more than an occasional lapse in cynicism. She needed a man with a whole heart as well as an exceptional brain and outstanding body.
“You’re not intimidated by me.”
She laughed, but it came out bitter. “Remember who my father is. Dr. William Montclair is known the world over for his intensity of purpose. And my mother isn’t a slouch in that department, either.”
Jason waved away the mention of the formidable Dr. William Montclair and his spouse, Dr. Clarice Sheffield-Montclair.
“We’re good together, Stephanie.”
Yes, they were. She could smell his cologne, feel his body heat. His tone made her quiver to the core. Instinctively she felt herself leaning toward him.
She licked her lips.
His eyes followed her movement, like a cat ready to pounce. Intense didn’t begin to cover it.
She missed him so desperately, even if he was bad medicine. Being in a room alone with him was not a good thing for her. He was like an addiction. A quick high when they were wrapped arm-in-arm, followed by a debilitating low when he detached and became solitary