The Millionaire and the M.D. (3 page)

For that reason she wished she could champion his cause of convincing Amy to go home. But that crossed the line between professional and personal. “So I guess I've made my position clear?”

“You have.” His mouth pulled tight. “And I'll do the same. If I can't convince my sister she'd be better off in Texas, then I
will
be involved. I'll be there for her.”

Rebecca nodded. “Okay, then.”

“So what
can
you tell me? What can I do?”

“It's important that she eats right. She really is eating for two. The baby will get what it needs from her and that will take a toll on her body unless she replenishes with proper nutrition. She needs to hydrate herself. No soda. Juice and water are best. Lots of sleep. And she's supposed to call the office to set up an appointment for an ultrasound.”

“Okay. I'll see she does all that. What else?”

“Encourage her to share her feelings. This is a life-altering event. You haven't made a secret of the fact that you're not happy she's here. As much as possible, let her know she's not alone.”

“Okay. Thanks, Doc.”

When he put his hand out, Rebecca only hesitated a second before putting her fingers in his palm. It was warm and strong, and again she had the sensation of not being able to draw in enough air.

Since Amy had gone to her brother in her time of need, it was a good thing he had, however reluctantly, decided to support her. It was good for Amy, not so much for Rebecca. It meant she hadn't seen the last of him as she'd hoped.

But that was today. From experience Rebecca knew that tomorrow he could decide it was all too much trouble and that would be that. She'd learned the only one she could count on was herself and hoped her patient wasn't in for a similar painful lesson at the worst possible time.

Gabe turned his BMW right from Siena Heights onto Eastern Avenue and crawled through the congestion to Horizon Ridge Parkway. Wasn't it handy that Dr. Rebecca Hamilton had her office up the street from Mercy Medical Center? He had a portable trailer set up there for his office, which made it easier to supervise construction on the hospital expansion. But the short drive didn't give him a lot of time to plan what he'd say to the doc when he read her the riot act. What kind of game was she playing? He and Amy had their problems, but he wouldn't stand by and do nothing when his sister's medical needs were being ignored.

Just past the Radiology Center he turned left into the parking lot and pulled into an empty space. The desert landscaping outside the medical building was rock and shrubs—different from the lush bushes, grass and trees in Texas. But he knew from his last visit that the inside would bring back memories he'd done his damnedest to forget.

And as for Doc Goody Two-shoes, she talked a good game. Miss I'll-Treat-Her-No-Matter-What might look like an angel, but not so much. He had a bone to pick with her.

Inside, Grace was sitting in the reception area and smiled when she saw him. “Hi.”

“I want to see Rebecca.”

He didn't give a rat's ass whether or not the doc wanted him to call her that.

“The doctor is with a patient. If you'd like to take a seat—”

The last thing he wanted was to be here at all. Next to last was taking a seat.

“I want to see her
now,
” he said.

Grace's eyes widened as she studied the look on his face. Apparently, she knew he meant business because she stood and said, “I'll let her know you're here.”

Gabe paced in front of the reception window and noticed the waiting room was empty. It was after five and probably she was with her last patient of the day. Not that he cared if he inconvenienced her. She wasn't being especially accommodating.

Grace returned to the reception desk and said, “I'll show you into the doctor's office.”

“I know where it is.” He walked through the door that separated the waiting area from the back office and went down the hall, turning left into the room with the desk and diplomas where he'd seen Rebecca working.

Grace was right behind him. “If you'll have a seat, the doctor will be here in a few minutes.”

“I'll stand,” Gabe said.

The office phone rang and Grace looked torn. She picked up the extension and listened, then put the caller on hold. After giving him a don't-touch-anything look, she left.

He glanced around the small room, which was as cluttered as the last time. Charts, a computer and papers littered the top of her desk. On the wall in front of him was a seascape and another of a gondola gliding under a bridge on a canal, probably Venice. Apparently, she liked water. That was about as personal as she got because there were no photographs scattered around.

Before he could think about that, he heard voices in the hall, then saw Rebecca with a very pretty, very pregnant woman.

“Should I make an appointment, Doctor?”

“Yes. Although I don't think you're going to need it, Elena. I have a feeling the next time I see you it will be in Labor and Delivery at Mercy Medical.”

The woman crossed her fingers. “From your mouth to God's ear.”

Rebecca hugged her. “Very soon you'll be holding your baby.”

“I can't wait.”

Gabe's chest tightened painfully. The woman's pregnancy glow hurt his eyes, and the overwhelming feeling of emptiness and loss hurt his heart. And that was why he hated being here.

Rebecca glanced into the office, waved goodbye to her patient, then came inside. “Is Amy all right?”

“You tell me. Not only am I kept out of that particular loop, apparently further information from this office won't be forthcoming. At least not anytime in the near future.”

She walked behind her desk but didn't sit in the chair. When she met his gaze, her brown eyes were shadowed and puzzled. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“And I have no idea what's going on. Did you or did you not promise to take my sister as a patient?”

“You know I did.”

“Then why was she turned away?”

The puzzled look intensified. “Again, I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“When I asked Amy about her ultrasound appointment, she said she didn't have one because when she called there were no openings.”

“That's not possible,” Rebecca said, shaking her head.

“Define ‘not possible.'”

“She's an existing patient. The next very important step of her treatment is an ultrasound. I want the test done stat—ASAP,” she translated. “No way would she be denied an office visit.”

“Well, she was.” He folded his arms over his chest and stared at her.

She glared back. “She's your sister, but she's a mixed-up, hormonal teenager. And I'm not going to argue with you, Gabe. Grace answers the phone and makes most of the appointments. If she's unavailable, I do it myself. I'll clear this up right now.”

The look she flashed him just before leaving the room was rife with irritation, and he had the absurd thought that she was beautiful when she was angry. He didn't like his next thought any better. He wanted to see what kind of curves she had going on under her shapeless white coat. That kind of thinking felt like cheating. Cheating felt like crap and was just another in a growing list of reasons why he didn't want to be here.

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?

R
ebecca 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.

Amy was lying on the exam table with the head slightly elevated. She looked expectantly at Rebecca, then smiled when she saw her brother. Not a big smile, but it was the first Rebecca had seen. It was a start.

“Gabe, you sit there next to Amy.”

He did as instructed and the teen started to reach out for him then dropped her hand when he ignored it and sat. Not a good start, Rebecca thought, when he rested his elbows on his knees and linked his fingers.

She walked around the exam table and sat on the stool beside the instrument. “This won't hurt. I promise.” She gently lowered the sheet covering the teen's belly, then picked up a tube of gel. “I'm going to squirt some of this on. It's not cold. One of the really exciting advances in medicine is warm gel. Now, if someone could just come up with a way to keep a stethoscope above freezing.”

This was a tough room and she was getting no cooperation in her attempts to ease the tension. One look at brother and sister told her the bridge over those troubled waters would have to be miles long. Probably it would be best just to get this over with. She picked up the transducer and pressed it against Amy's stomach, then moved it around, relieved that she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“The baby is active. That pulsing is the heart—it's normal and strong. Everything looks very good.” She glanced at her patient, who was staring straight up at the ceiling. Again, benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it was hard to decipher organs and limbs unless they were pointed out. She pointed at the image on the screen. “Here's a foot. And a little hand. See here?”

Amy said nothing and Gabe wasn't looking, either. He was staring at the floor and frowning as if it were a competitive sport. What was up with these two? She suspected she knew what Amy was going through, but Gabe's reaction puzzled her. Did he not like babies? Or doctors? Or his sister? Whatever it was, they were going to have to get over it because there was a life at stake. An innocent life.

“The baby has a very strong kick. Right now it's turned away, but if it moves just right, I might be able to tell you the sex.” She looked at them to gauge a reaction to that suggestion, but neither responded, and she didn't understand the absolute indifference. But she couldn't make them care. All she could do was her job. The best outcome to this pregnancy was a healthy mother and baby and she'd do everything in her power to make that happen.

When she'd seen everything and gauged a due date, she moved the transducer around and typed in the command to print various views of the fetus. After wiping the gel off the teen's stomach, she said, “Okay. We're finished. I can—”

Amy pulled her shirt down, sat up and swung her legs to the side of the table before sliding off. “I'm going to the car.”

Gabe stood. “Amy, wait. Dr. Hamilton is—”

The girl never looked back but simply opened the exam room door and left.

Gabe rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, then met Rebecca's gaze. “I apologize for my sister's rudeness.”

“Don't worry about it.”

“Hard not to.”

“I'm concerned, but not about her manners.”

His frown deepened. “What's wrong?”

“Everything looks okay with the baby. I was just hoping that this procedure would help her connect to what's going on, engage her emotionally with the changes in her body, help her bond with her baby. But she's still in denial.”

“I guess I can understand.”

“Then maybe you can tell me why she's indifferent to this pregnancy,” Rebecca said.

“Why would I be able to do that?”

“Because you're acting the same way.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Gabe, you wouldn't look at the baby, either. Is it possible that she's interpreting that as disapproval?”

“I'm not judging her.”

“Does Amy know that?”

“You'd have to ask her. But like you said, what with all the changes happening to her, it's—” He blew out a long breath. “I don't have a clue why she's acting the way she is.”

And he didn't volunteer an explanation about his own attitude, which unfortunately made Rebecca acutely curious, on a strictly personal level. The difference was he was in perfect health and not facing a life crisis like Amy. Maybe it was time to say out loud what she suspected.

“Is it possible, Gabe, that this pregnancy is a result of your sister being sexually assaulted?”

If she'd punched him in the stomach, he couldn't have looked more stunned. “No.” He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

Two for two in the Thorne family denial department. Rebecca needed him to get it, but no way would she tell him her own experience was the source of her gut feeling. When she'd talked to Amy about the baby growing inside her, the defensive expression was replaced by a bruised look and she'd bet it was all about trust betrayed in the most intimate way. Rebecca knew how that felt. She just didn't know how it would feel to have a part of the assaulter growing inside her.

“Look, Gabe, I know you think I'm young and inexperienced, but I've handled a lot of pregnancies. They don't give you a license to practice medicine unless you have the training. I've seen a lot of reactions—from the unplanned pregnancy in a committed relationship to the infertile woman heartbroken when she learns that she will never feel a baby move inside her. In my experience, even the mother who didn't plan to get pregnant usually gets excited and is emotionally engaged when she sees her baby for the first time. Amy wouldn't even look. A child conceived through an act of violence would explain why.”

He shook his head again. “That's just not possible.”

“No?”

He loosened his tie with a quick and irritated jerk of his hand. “It's just…Amy…In your practice…Have you seen assault victims?”

Every time she looked in the mirror. Rebecca's chest tightened, but this wasn't about her.

She let out a long breath. “Yes. Unfortunately. Before, when I suggested you get in touch with your feminine side, I know you can't. Not really. And especially with something like this—Men don't understand what it's like to feel powerless. But it would explain a lot about Amy's apathy.”

“If she'd been—If someone had…raped her…she would have—” Anger snapped in his eyes, making them a bottomless blue. “I'd like to say that she would have said something to me. But—”

“What?”

“But the truth is we've never been close.”

“Maybe this is an opportunity to change that.”

“The age difference,” he went on. “And…other things.”

Rebecca couldn't afford to care what those other things were, although she was curious. And, okay, she did care. But he wasn't eighteen and pregnant. Whatever he was dealing with would have to wait. The clock was ticking for Amy and she needed him.

“It's possible that this situation could bring the two of you closer.”

For a split second amusement flashed through his eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that sometimes people just want to brood and be ticked off? They don't want to see the silver lining in any situation.”

“I understand.” She leaned a hip against the exam table.

He did the same and half sat, just inches from her. “I doubt it. You're Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”

Not so much, she wanted to say. But his words opened up a warm fuzzy place inside her—a place where she wanted to be a normal woman attracted to a very good-looking man. But…There was always a “but.” And she'd learned there always would be. Her trust had been betrayed twice—first in body, then in spirit. There wouldn't be a third time.

She opened her mouth to say something, and Gabe silenced her with his index finer. In spite of her cold thoughts the touch made her warm again, but it was a heat that started in her center and radiated outward. She'd never experienced warm-and-fuzzy warm followed by wow-he-makes-me-hot warm. It was a one/two punch and she so didn't need it.

“I'm not Shirley Temple. I'm not an empty-headed optimist. I'm a doctor and my name happens to be Rebecca.”

“So now it's okay for me to call you Rebecca?”

It had been okay since he barged into her office demanding that his sister get an appointment. The man might want his sister to go home, but he wasn't going to leave her out in the cold.