Harlequin Medical Romance December 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 (5 page)

“Where did you get this?” He couldn't resist touching the silky lock now.

“The gray, you mean?” Her smile widened. “A llama at a petting zoo decided to get a little too friendly with my hair clip when I was a kid. It yanked the clip—and a good hunk of my hair—out and chewed on them for a while before deciding they weren't so great, after all. When the hair grew back, it was white.”

He ran the bleached-out tresses between his fingers. “Your sister doesn't have this, then.”

“No, she doesn't.” She gave a slight shrug. “It's my own personal souvenir.”

A visible reminder of past hurt. Thankfully his own past remained invisible to the world, even if the aftermath still bubbled up inside of him from time to time. It was one reason he hadn't wanted to work with toddlers or young children. His suspicious mind would probably jump to conclusions each time a boy or girl presented with a broken arm. Or a broken heart.

No. This was where he belonged.

Jess leaned forward and glanced at her niece, the act tugging her hair from his fingers. “I never even noticed the spot on her leg before,” she murmured.

“Because it's not important.”

“It is to Abbie.”

His fingers itched to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. He curled them into a ball at his side, instead. “It may fade with time.”

“My sister has always tried so hard to be perfect. She's incredibly disciplined about everything she does.”

“And you're not?”

She shrugged. “I don't expect everyone around me to live up to a certain set of expectations.”

“You expect yourself to live up to them, instead.”

She paused. “Maybe.” She glanced up at him. “Can I hold her?”

Dean nodded. “Of course. Only for a minute or two, though.”

* * *

It took a little doing to manage all the tubes and wires, but the second the baby was placed in her arms, Jess was in love. From her little pink cap to the teeny-tiny nappy, Marissa Fay Stewart was as perfect as could be. She didn't stir other than to twitch a shoulder as she settled into place.

Jess cuddled her with one arm while she stroked a gloved thumb down the newborn's leg. She didn't understand why Abbie didn't want to stay by her cot. Why she didn't seem to even want to hold her baby. Was she just afraid?

Her sister was a good mother to her other three children. At least from what she'd heard from her parents—the kids were all happy and well-adjusted. Maybe that was it. It had to be a huge adjustment to add another child to their family. Her sister would come around.

She touched the little mark on her calf, just barely visible from where she sat. “She's gorgeous.”

“She is.” Dean agreed with her without hesitation. When she glanced up at him, though, his eyes weren't on the baby. They were on her.

Her face heated and she ducked her head again, hoping he didn't notice the way he affected her. This was why almost every female in the hospital swooned over him, including some of the babies' mums.

Well, Jess wasn't about to be one of those women. Not even a pretend one. If what he'd said was true, that her sister believed his little charade, then they were going to leave it at that. No need to take it any further.

The sound of something tapping on the viewing glass across the room caught her attention and things went from bad to worse. Martin stood there waving at her. Why wasn't he with his wife?

She clenched her teeth at her own stupidity. Maybe he'd already been to Abbie's room. He must have ended his business trip early when he heard the news.

Dean gave her a questioning look.

“It's the baby's father. Martin.”

“The same Martin who left you for your sister.”

She cringed, but it was true. Hearing it said out loud though brought back a whole host of awful memories. But Dean was no longer beside her, he was striding toward the door, letting in her ex...her sister's husband.

“I was in Tokyo, and had a dickens of a time finding a flight out. How is she, Abbie?”

Jess froze at the mistake. Before she could say anything, though, Dean moved beside her. “Look again.”

Her ex glanced at her. “Oh, hell, sorry, Jess. You were holding the baby, and I just assumed...”

“It's okay. Abbie's tired. She's in her room. I take it you haven't been to see her yet?”

“I thought I'd find her here, actually.” He squatted down beside her chair. “Is the baby okay?”

The tears that hadn't come earlier now stung her eyes. “She's tiny. But perfect.”

“And Abbie? Is she all right?”

“Yes. She's upset, naturally, but she's doing well physically.” She decided to leave out the details of what had transpired, pretty sure someone would soon enlighten him as to her part in the ordeal.

He touched the baby's head. “She looks like you two.”

A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and Jess stiffened when she realized it was Dean. A trill of apprehension went through her, and, as much as the rational part of her brain was yelling at her to shake off his touch, she just sat there without a word.

Martin noticed as well and slowly climbed to his feet. He held out a hand. “Sorry. I'm Martin Stewart, the baby's father. And you are?”

“Dean Edwards. Your baby's doctor. And Jess's significant other.”

What?
What?

Her entire body suddenly went numb. Dean had just upped the ante from a few casual dates to being involved in a more intimate relationship. Without her permission.

Oh, Lord, she did not want to do this. What if Martin jumped to the conclusion that they were living together?

Except her parents were staying at her house.

Significant other could mean any number of things, though...right?

Her ex was slow to respond, but he finally brought his eyes back to her. “This is a surprise, Jess. Do your folks know?”

Oh, no. Martin had never been great at keeping secrets. And if the way she'd found out about his preference for her sister was anything to go by, her parents were about to get the shock of their lives.

“Please don't say anything. We've been keeping everything kind of hush-hush. I didn't want to take away from Mum and Daddy's anniversary celebration.”

“Of course.” He glanced down at the baby again. “Can I hold her?”

Well, at least one of the baby's parents wanted to.

Just then the newborn shifted in her arms and stretched, giving a chirping cry. All of her misgivings left in a rush. “She's waking up.”

Tiny blue eyes squinted up at them, as if not quite sure what to make of this big new world. Jess leaned over and kissed her little forehead and then carefully stood, minding the tubes and glancing at Dean. “Is it okay?”

“Yes. Just for a moment.”

Martin slid into the chair, and Jess carefully placed his baby into his arms. Like the expert he was by now, he rocked her and murmured little endearments, already forgetting anyone else was in the room.

Jess took the opportunity to grab Dean's arm and pull him out of earshot. “What were you thinking?” she whispered.

“Just wanted to reinforce our story. To make sure Abbie bought it.”

“Bought it? It's a little over the top, don't you think? What if my parents find out?”

One side of his mouth kicked up. “It wasn't just for Abbie's sake. I wanted to make sure your brother-in-law knew he couldn't go back in time.”

“Go back in...” She glanced at Martin and then rolled her eyes. “What is wrong with you people? He's married to my sister. They're happy together.”

“Which is why your sister is so worried about what's going on behind her back.”

“Nothing. Is. Going. On.”

He tugged a stray curl that had gotten loose from her ponytail. “Your sister might just think otherwise. Only now, she and everyone will assume it's going on between you and me.”

The man had a point, and she hated him for it. And as soon as the baby was well and on her way home, she and Dean were going to abruptly end their so-called relationship, making sure everyone in her family knew that it was she who'd done the dumping this time.

And as soon as that happened, things could go back to the way they were before. When life was sane...and maybe just the tiniest bit dull.

CHAPTER FIVE

“S
O
WHERE
IS
HE
, and why have we never met him? Or even heard about him?”

The impatience in her mum's voice came through loud and clear. Far from solving all her problems, it seemed she and Dean had stirred up a firestorm. “We've been waiting for years for you to finally decide to invest in something besides your career.”

Her jaw tightened. This was the same argument they'd had on many other occasions. They thought she didn't want to get married because she was too busy with her job. Her mum was wrong. Jess did want a family. She wanted to feel as if she belonged to someone as more than a mere shadow of her sister. But she'd never met the right man, and, after Martin, she'd found it much harder to trust than she used to.

It was easier not to argue the point, though. She'd been there and done that, and it had solved nothing.

“I didn't want to ruin your party, Mum.”

“Ruin it?” She glanced over at her husband. “We would have had something else to celebrate, right, Norman? Instead, I had to hear about it the day before we return to London. From Martin, no less.”

So much for her ex keeping things quiet.

Right now, though, the look in her dad's eyes made her heart ache. Unlike her mum, her dad had always been the master of giving unconditional love—the type that forgave any transgression. He didn't fuss or join in to castigate her with how she needed to “find a nice boy and settle down”. He simply came over and dropped a kiss on her head. “I'm happy for you, love. We both are.”

“Oh, Daddy.” Unable to stop herself, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. She couldn't undo what had already been done. Not yet, anyway. Once things died down a bit, she would quietly click that chapter shut and tell her parents it was over between her and Dean.

Somehow.

“So why didn't you say something?” Her mother's crisp voice pulled her back from her father's arms.

She wasn't sure what her mum wanted to hear and was loath to say more than she absolutely had to.

“With the party and Abbie's pregnancy and then...” She shook her head, unable to bring up the painful subject of what had happened at the party. “Well, things have just been hectic.”

“We'll want to meet him, of course. It seems your sister and Martin already have.” She sat in one of the two slipper chairs in Jess's cottage, her face softening. “Finally. Both of my girls are going to get their happy-ever-afters.”

Oh, Mum. Not yet. Not yet.

But she hoped someday she would be as happy as her parents seemed to have been these past thirty years. A lot of that had to do with how easygoing her dad was.

“Tonight.” Her mum said the word with a finality that made her blink.

“I'm sorry?”

“I'm going to fix my special shepherd's pie and you'll invite him to dinner. I intend to meet my future son-in-law.”

“We're not engaged. We're just...” She took two steps back, horror welling up her throat. This was getting too far out of hand.

“No matter, I want to meet him. What better way than to chat over a meal? Besides, I'm sure he'll eventually propose. Why wouldn't he?”

Um...maybe because he didn't love her. Heavens, how was she going to get out of this?

Her parents had been staying at her little cottage, and her mum had done most of the cooking for the last week and a half. But this? No. She couldn't bring Dean into what could become a powder keg. Even if he had been the one to start it. “Dean probably has to work.”

Her mum frowned. “You don't know his rotation schedule?”

Caught in her first lie, she tried to recover. “It's not that I don't know it, it's just that I...”

Don't know.

She did the only thing she could. “I'll ring him and see if he can come.” Misery pulled at every word. She was hoping, at the very worst, she could get by with a quick introduction at the hospital along with a smile and a peck on the cheek that was halfway believable. Not a full-blown meal. Where people might actually have to talk. In depth. For hours.

She blamed Dean. And he was going to get an earful the first chance she got.

“Perfect,” her mum said, the fingers that had been drumming on the arm of the chair finally going still.

“Why exactly did Martin mention it?”

Her mum smiled. “I heard him and Abbie talking about you, and... Martin let it slip while visiting her room. You know how he is at keeping secrets.”

Yes. Unfortunately she did know. All too well. He had barely been able to contain himself when he and Abbie had shown up on her doorstep as a united front. He'd apologized, multiple times, but said he'd fallen in love.

Which was quite funny, considering he'd professed his love to Jess a week before that.

“Ring him now, won't you? Now that we know Marissa Fay is out of the woods, it gives us even more of a reason to get to know your young man.”

“He's not my young man, and she's not exactly out of the woods.”

Alarm clouded her mother's face. “Did something change?”

“No, Mum, she's doing fine.” She couldn't bring herself to put a negative spin on the baby's prognosis just to worm her way out of an uncomfortable situation.

“Well, then?”

Her dad seemed to sense something was afoot, because he laid a hand on his wife's arm. “Gloria, maybe this isn't the time.”

Her mum looked closer at her. “You two aren't fighting already, are you?”

No. Because they didn't know each other well enough to argue. Although they'd had a bit of a row at the pub the other evening. “Of course not.”

Left with no choice, she pulled her mobile phone out of the pocket of her scrubs, just in time to realize she didn't even know Dean's mobile number... She'd rung his home phone the other times. So she couldn't very well ring him directly.

Damn. Now what did she do? Claim she had no coverage?

No, because one of them could simply check their phone and offer to let her use it. So she did the next best thing. She pressed the button that would connect her with the hospital's main number. She recognized the woman who answered. Gulping back a bubble of dismay at involving anyone else in this charade, she simply said, “Madeline, this is Jess Black. Would you mind terribly paging Dr. Edwards and asking him to give me a ring?”

“Sure. What's the number?”

Her face heated as she was forced to reel off her mobile number, knowing her mum was going to wonder why Dean wouldn't already have it programmed into his phone. She rang off and swallowed again before turning back to her parents. “He might be with a patient, and I didn't want to disturb him.”

Except her mobile buzzed almost immediately. Assuming it was him, she took a deep breath and pressed the button. “Hi, honey.”

“Well, hello, there...honey.” The low mellow voice on the other end of the line was rife with amusement.

Her teeth clinked together a couple of times before she got up the nerve to continue. “It seems the cat is out of the bag, thanks to you and Martin. He told my parents. About us.”

“Ah. I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed. I thought that ‘honey' meant you were actually growing fond of me.”

“I am. I mean...well...” She couldn't believe this was happening. Any of it. “Mum and Daddy are leaving
tomorrow
—” she put a subtle emphasis on that word before continuing “—and are anxious to meet you. She thought you might like to have dinner at my place tonight. I told her I wasn't sure of your schedule and that you're extremely busy, so you probably have to work—”

“I would love to come. Tonight, was it?”

“What?” The word came out as a high-pitched squeal, her heart galloping out of control. She'd given him the perfect out, and he'd completely ignored it. Was he that dense? Or was he simply laughing at her discomfiture?

“I said I would love to come to dinner.”

Yep. That smug amusement was still there, coloring every word he spoke.

He was getting his jollies at her predicament, was he? A predicament he'd helped create.

“You're sure you don't
have to work
?” She was a little less subtle this time.

“Positive. I'm off duty. Free as a bird.”

Damn him.

“I guess that works perfectly, then. Six-ish?” She glanced toward her mother, who nodded before reaching for her father's hand and gripping it tight, her own triumph evident.

Time to make Dean pay a little bit for not bowing out. “I'll save the story of how we met, then, for tonight. I know how much you adore telling that funny bit about the lake. About how you fell in, and I had to rescue you.”

“Brat.”

“No more than you...honey.”

“I'll see you tonight. I take it I have carte blanche on that story, then?”

She had a feeling that not only had the cat been let out of the bag, but the genie had just been released from the bottle. “I trust you to stick to the pertinent points.”

“Always. I need to go—I still have a few patients to see.” There was a pause, then he came back. “I guess I'll see you tonight, sweetheart.”

Ack! Even though she knew he was just trying to make her fidget—and he was doing a good job of that—the words still made a funny little pinging happen in the center of her chest. She decided to ignore it. Especially since she was the one who'd started the whole endearment thing.

“See you tonight.” As she hurried to mash the button to cut off the call, she could have sworn it ended with Dean's laughter.

* * *

Despite the way he'd teased her on the phone, Dean wasn't all that sure about doing this dinner thing tonight. But he'd given his word. He pulled into the driveway of a small cottage, then checked the address again. This was the place.

The beige paint with its crisp white gingerbread trim reminded him so much of Jess that it made him smile. He couldn't see the sister living in a minuscule place like this, but Jess? Absolutely. This fit her to a tee. And the image of coming home to something like this...of that sturdy wooden door opening and a couple of happy kids rushing down the walkway to greet him, made a pang go through his gut. It would be so very different from the loneliness and never-ending fear he'd experienced as a child.

As if by magic, the door did open. But it wasn't children who stood there, but the woman he'd just been sitting here thinking about.

Jess. Dressed in jeans that were tucked into brown boots and a long beige sweater that hugged her curves, she looked homey and, oh, so different from the way she dressed for work. She was as quaint and welcoming as the cottage. Except for that nervous frown.

Over their little deception?
His
little deception. He was to blame for this entire thing, and he could see it wasn't going to be without consequences.

He'd put Jess into an untenable position. No one wanted to lie to their parents. But her sister had pushed just the right buttons, and he'd instinctively stepped in between her and Jess in a figurative sense. If he'd had more time, he might have come up with something a little less drastic though.

Which brought up another point. Were Jess's parents so unused to seeing her with a man that they assumed this was something special? From the way she'd acted about their bet a few days ago, maybe that was indeed the case.

Staring. He was staring.

Clicking open the door to his car, he exited, giving her a little salute as he retrieved something from the passenger seat. Two sets of flowers. One for Jess and one for her mum. No need to make anyone suspect things weren't what they seemed in paradise.

He'd never bought a woman flowers in his life, not wanting anyone to think he planned on sticking around after a night or two.

But this was safe, right? Jess knew it was all a charade. Easily ended. Once her parents and her sister left, that would be that.

He made it up to the front door, making sure his eyes stayed glued to her face, no matter how much they might want to roam over that delectable figure. Once he arrived, though, and handed her one set of flowers, he glanced behind her and noted her mum was watching from a few yards behind Jess.

What better excuse to...?

He placed one hand on her shoulders and squeezed slightly, watching her eyes widen and her nostrils flare as he drew close and pressed his lips to hers, allowing his mouth to graze across them and then continue along her cheek.

She shivered as he reached her ear, and he couldn't hold back a smile. “Relax,” he whispered. “Mum is watching.”

With that, he released her, waiting for her to step back. Which she did, but it was in a stumbling rush that had him reaching out to grip her wrist to steady her. He threaded his fingers through hers to keep her next to him. He had a feeling all she wanted to do was disappear into the inner depths of the house. Not something a woman in a serious relationship would do.

He tugged her closer as he turned his smile onto the woman who looked so much like her. “Mrs. Black. Thank you again for inviting me.” He held out the second bouquet, watching her smile as she accepted it with a look that might have been relief.

“Please call me Gloria. I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that you and Jess are together.” Her smile reached her eyes this time. “I'll just go put these in water. Would you like something to drink?”

“Just a glass of wine, please. Red, if you have it.”

Gloria looked confused for a second, then Jess cleared her throat. “I don't keep alcohol in the house, Dean, remember?”

Bloody hell. That was something he should know. “Of course. I should have brought a bottle with me. How thoughtless.”

“It's fine.” If anything, Jess's voice was even tighter. “It's better for Daddy not to have it sitting at the table, anyway.”