Priceless (8 page)

“I don’t have time,” she said as she scrambled from the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and ran into the bedroom. One frantic glance at the clock proved how true that was. She was running well behind schedule.

“Make time. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Mack said, wandering in after her. “You’d think a fine doctor would know that.”

“I do know it. I also know I have a jam-packed day ahead of me and I’m already late.”

“Then ten more minutes won’t make any difference, will it?” he said.

Beth tried not to stare as he pulled on his briefs over his excellent backside, then turned his pants right side out and climbed into those. He didn’t bother to button them at the waist. Since they were the only clothes that had actually made it upstairs, Beth was treated to one more excellent view of his muscles as he left her room without wasting another word arguing with her. She sighed heavily after his exit.

As soon as he was gone, she dived into her closet, dragged out the first skirt and blouse she came to, then
dressed in the kind of rush with which she was all too familiar.

A quick flick of her brush through hair that had a surprising hint of curl to it—no time to tame it into submission—a touch of lipstick and she was done. By the time she walked into the kitchen, she’d figuratively drawn her protective professional cloak around her. Other than those wayward curls, there was no hint of the wanton woman she’d been during the night.

True to his word, Mack had juice on the table and a plate of perfectly scrambled eggs in his hand. He’d put on his shirt, but thankfully he hadn’t buttoned it. She liked the sexily rumpled look. In fact, she was fairly certain she could become addicted to it. She’d have to remind herself later how dangerous and ill advised that would be.

“Sit,” he ordered, his expression uncompromising.

The order was a bit less attractive, but the protectiveness behind it had its charm. “Five minutes,” she muttered, because it was easier than arguing with him. Besides, she was starved and
her
eggs never looked that good.

The toaster popped up, and she stared at it in surprise. “You found bread?”

“In the freezer,” he said, then added wryly, “you should look in there sometime.” He put the buttered toast in front of her, then took his own place opposite her with only a cup of coffee in hand.

“You’re not eating?” she asked.

“Not enough eggs. I’ll grab something at my place when I go home to change.”

“I could share,” she said, shoving the plate in his direction.

“Nope. I fixed those for you with my own secret ingredient.”

She frowned at the eggs. “You didn’t find any poison around, did you?”

His lips twitched at the outrageous suggestion. “Why would I want to kill you?”

“So I can never tell about the night you spent in the arms of a woman who isn’t some glamorous model or sexy actress,” she said, exposing a hint of vulnerability. She’d been attacked by self-doubt almost from the second he’d left her room. It was running rampant now.

Mack regarded her with disbelief. “Are you crazy? Believe me, letting the world know I slept with a brilliant, dedicated doctor would probably do more for my reputation than you can imagine. This is something worth bragging about, not hiding.” He grinned. “Not that I will, of course.”

Beth faltered at his acknowledgment that he wasn’t ashamed of the time they’d spent together. She hadn’t gone looking for any kind of compliment, but she was ridiculously pleased that he’d offered one.

“How?” she asked, unable to resist pursuing it.

“People might finally accept that I have half a brain.”

She’d never considered that one aspect of his football and playboy celebrity might mean that people didn’t take him seriously. She should have, too. Until she’d gotten to know him, wasn’t that how she’d seen him, as a mental lightweight with few scruples? Not even his law degree was that impressive, since he wasn’t using it. On some level she’d wondered if he hadn’t cruised through law school simply because of who he was. Thankfully she’d never said such a thing. Her cheeks still burned when she thought of the com
ments he’d overheard her making the first time he’d come to the hospital to meet Tony.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I never looked at all the gossip from your point of view.”

He shrugged. “Why would you? It’s not as if I ever shied away from it. The image worked for me.”

“How so?”

“Because if I ever let anyone take me too seriously—any woman, that is—I might have to deal with real emotions,” he said easily.

The comment and his tone were fair warning. Beth couldn’t mistake the message he was sending. “Last night didn’t give me any expectations where you’re concerned,” she reassured him, surprised by just how empty those words made her feel. “It was nothing more than two people who were hurting reaching out for each other.”

Mack’s gaze lingered on hers, his expression wary. “And you don’t have a problem with that?”

She forced herself to shrug. “Why would I?”

“I just thought you might,” he said.

“Hey, it was no big deal, Mack. Nothing you need to worry about.”

He nodded slowly. “Good to know.”

Beth expected to see relief in his eyes, to hear it in his voice, but it wasn’t there. In fact, if her imagination wasn’t playing tricks on her, what she heard instead was disappointment.

Or maybe she was merely projecting, because right this second she felt more of an emotional letdown than she’d ever felt in her life. If she weren’t so late, she’d sit right here and try to figure out why.

Then again, the prospect of spending one more sec
ond with Mack right now, when she was feeling totally vulnerable and exposed, was too much to bear.

“Gotta run,” she said, taking one last bite of toast, then standing up. “Lock up when you leave.”

Before Mack could even react, she grabbed her purse and keys and tore out the door. She wanted to be safely in her car and on the road before the first traitorous tear fell.

M
ack sat at Beth’s kitchen table for a very long time after she’d gone, staring into space, trying to figure out why, after such an incredible night, he felt so damned lousy. Surely it wasn’t because he’d been honest with her, warned her not to make too much of what had happened between them. He’d had the same conversation dozens of times with dozens of women. It was a part of his spiel, as routine as the flirting that came second nature to him. It usually filled him with relief to know that things had been clarified.

But Beth was not in the same sophisticated, blasé league as all those women. They knew the score from the moment Mack met them, understood the rules going in and accepted them. In fact, they had rules of their own about the level of emotional attachment they were interested in pursuing…or not pursuing.

With Beth, despite that brave, nonchalant front she’d
put on, he felt as if he’d just kicked a friendly puppy. There had been a brittle edge to her voice, the slightest hint that she might suddenly shatter if pushed. And in those expressive eyes of hers, he’d seen the faint shadow of genuine hurt.

For the first time in a very long time, Mack wasn’t proud of himself and his brand of so-called honesty. He saw it as the cop-out it was, a way to extricate himself from guilt over doing whatever the hell he wanted to do. Something told him if his aunt ever found out about this encounter, she’d tear a strip out of his hide for treating Beth in such a cavalier way. Not that Destiny was likely to berate him any more than he was berating himself at the moment.

Sure, he and Beth were consenting adults. Sure, she’d wanted last night to happen every bit as much as he had. But looking into her eyes this morning, he couldn’t help but conclude that it had really meant something to her. Hell, it had meant something to him, too, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge that to her or to act on it in the future. At the first warning sign that he might become emotionally involved with someone, he generally took off without a backward glance.

In fact, his usual panic was already telling him that if he had half a brain, he’d immediately start making himself scarce around the hospital. He wouldn’t stop seeing Tony, but he was familiar enough with Beth’s routine to avoid running into her. No more casual little drop-ins at her office just to catch a glimpse of her. No more coffee breaks in the cafeteria. No more dinners just to get her away from the hospital for a bit. He was pretty sure she’d gotten the message this morning, but just in case, his actions would reinforce it. That was what he
should
do, what he always did.

And, he realized with a sinking sensation, if he followed his usual pattern, he would feel like an even worse heel than he felt like right at this moment. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to do the smart thing this time.

When Beth’s phone rang, Mack stared at it. With her running late, it could be the hospital calling. It could be an emergency, and at least he could alert whoever was on the other end that Beth was on her way in. Did that outweigh whatever gossip might arise from having a man answer her phone? How would she see it?

With the phone still ringing insistently, he finally grabbed it. “Hello, Dr. Browning’s residence.”

His greeting was met with silence.

“Hello,” he prompted.

“Who the hell is this and why are you answering Beth’s phone?” a very possessive-sounding male voice demanded with open hostility.

Now there was a question that could lead down a path Mack didn’t want to travel, especially with some stranger who hadn’t even bothered identifying himself.

“I’m a friend of Dr. Browning’s,” he said cautiously. “She just left for the hospital. Can I take a message for her?”

His reply was greeted by another hesitation.

“Well?” Mack prodded.

“No. I’ll speak to her when she gets here,” the man said. “I intend to tell her I spoke to you.”

Mack grinned despite himself at the tattle-tale tenor of the warning. “You do that,” he said, then hung up.

He wasn’t entirely sure whether to be amused or worried by the threat. He’d know soon enough. His intention to avoid Beth had flown right out the window
the instant he’d heard that trace of possessiveness in the caller’s voice. If some other man had the right to think of Beth as his, then what the devil had she been doing in Mack’s arms the night before? He wasn’t crazy about the streak of jealousy that had shot through him. He did know that since it was a first in his life, he had no intention of ignoring it.

Beth spent her first two hours at the hospital racing from one crisis to another. She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever get another minute to spend in her lab with the research that was so important to her. She was also having trouble staying focused, which wasn’t like her at all. When it came to medicine and her patients, she rarely allowed anything to distract her. Today, though, images of Mack and the way they’d parted this morning kept intruding.

At eleven-thirty she’d finally had enough of fighting the distraction. She needed a break. She needed caffeine. Caffeine
and
chocolate, she decided en route to the cafeteria. Maybe a lot of chocolate.

After loading up on candy bars and a large takeout coffee, she found a quiet table, spread her loot out on the table and debated about which chocolate to eat first. Snickers had nuts and caramel, but a chunk of plain old Hershey bar melting on her tongue had its own allure. Then there was the Kit Kat or the Peanut M&M’s or maybe the Milky Way.

“Boy, your diet really has taken a turn right off the nutritional charts, hasn’t it?” Jason commented, sliding into the chair opposite her.

Beth glared at the radiologist. “Keep your snide comments to yourself.”

“Tough morning?” he asked, then struggled with a grin as he added, “Or a tough night?”

She stared at him trying to gauge what on earth he knew or thought he knew. “If you have something on your mind, just spit it out. I’m in no mood for games.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Jason said, his grin spreading. “The chocolate’s a dead giveaway, especially before lunch. Usually you don’t have one of these attacks till around four, right after rounds.” He gestured toward the little pile of candy. “Even for you this is a bit over the top.”

Beth was not half as amused by his observations as he clearly was. “Did you come over here to hassle me or is something else on your mind?”

The radiologist regarded her innocently. “Can’t I do both?”

“Not if you expect to live,” Beth said sourly, tearing open the M&M candies and popping several into her mouth.

Unfortunately, Jason didn’t look daunted. If anything, the level of amusement in his eyes increased. “Called your house looking for you earlier,” he said. “You were running late. I got worried. Beth Browning is never late. She never misses an important meeting.”

Her gaze flew to his. “What meeting?”

“Peyton called one to talk about Tony. He wanted to go over a few things with our entire oncology team before Tony’s transfusion this morning. You didn’t know?”

“Oh, hell,” Beth moaned. “Yes, I knew. It completely slipped my mind. Was he furious?”

“Actually, I think he was relieved. It was the first sign any of us have ever had that you’re human and fallible.”

Beth covered her face with her hands. “What is wrong with me? How could I forget a meeting like that?”

“Maybe it had something to do with that man who answered the phone at your house when I called,” Jason suggested mildly. “Could that be?”

Beth had honestly thought it impossible to be any more embarrassed, but with her cheeks burning and her stomach churning, she discovered she’d been wrong. This was a thousand times worse.

“You, um…” She gazed into Jason’s laughing eyes, then sucked in a breath. “You spoke to my houseguest?” There, that was a good, safe, anonymous description of Mack, though she intended to be sure that he was never her guest again.

“That I did,” Jason said gleefully. “Funny thing, too. He wasn’t much more communicative about his identity than you’re being.”

“Maybe because it’s none of your business who he is,” she replied testily.

“My money’s on Mack Carlton,” Jason responded.

Beth fought the panic creeping up the back of her throat. “Why on earth would you think that?”

“Informed guess,” Jason told her. “And the fact that I recognized his voice.”

“From meeting him once?” she asked incredulously.

Jason laughed. “For the moment I’ll ignore the fact that you as much as admitted it was Mack and say that his voice is familiar because he’s interviewed on TV about every ten seconds during football season.” His expression suddenly sobered. “You sure you know what you’re doing, Beth? This guy has a reputation, you know.”

“Tell me about it,” she said glumly.

“Don’t get in over your head.”

Because she desperately needed someone to talk to, because she could use a male point of view and because she trusted Jason to keep his mouth shut, she muttered, “Too late for that, I’m afraid.”

Jason regarded her with shock. “You’re not actually falling for him, are you?”

“No!”
she said so fiercely that Jason whistled in disbelief. She scowled at him. “Oh, shove a sock in it.”

“That will severely limit my attempt to give you some well-meaning advice.”

Beth sighed heavily. “Okay, then, talk, but try not to sound smug or disgustingly macho. Remember, I’m your friend and your colleague. Mack’s just some football idol you met once.”

Jason opened his mouth, then clamped it shut again, his expression going blank.

“Jason?” Beth prodded.

“I think the cat’s got Jason’s tongue,” Mack said, pulling up a chair to join them. “Isn’t that right, Jason?”

“Pretty much,” Jason said. “I think I’ll go take some X rays or do some radiation treatments or maybe lock myself in a convenient closet.”

Mack gave him an approving look. “Thanks. Nice talking to you earlier. That was you on the phone, I assume.”

“Yep,” Jason said.

Then he took off like the little weasel he was. Beth had expected better of him. Hadn’t he just warned her about Mack? Then why would Jason turn right around and leave her alone with the man? It must be some
tacit, male, nonpoaching, noninterference agreement that women weren’t privy to.

“You answered my phone this morning,” she said accusingly, frowning at Mack. “What possessed you to do that?”

He shrugged. “It was ringing. I thought it might be important.”

He sounded so blasted reasonable, she wanted to strangle him. “And it never occurred to you that it could prove embarrassing for me?”

“I thought it would be more embarrassing if you missed being notified of an emergency.”

“If it had been an emergency, someone would have beeped me,” she said.

“Never thought of that.” He nodded in the direction in which Jason had gone. “He sounded a little miffed to find me there. Something going on between you two that I should know about? Until this morning I had the impression you were just friends.”

She could claim there was and put an end to things with Mack right here and now, but then he’d wonder about what kind of woman she was to sleep with him while she had some sort of relationship with Jason. She might accept that there wasn’t ever going to be anything more between her and Mack, but she didn’t want him to think badly of her. She had too much self-respect to leave him with an impression like that, as convenient as it might be at the moment.

“Jason is a friend,” she confirmed finally. “If he implied it was anything more, it was only because he’s worried that I’m in over my head with you.”

“It wasn’t anything he said,” Mack admitted. “Just something in his tone. He sounded possessive.”

Something in
Mack’s
tone sounded a wee bit pos
sessive, as well. Beth studied his expression for a minute before it sank in what was going on in his head. He was jealous. At least for one tiny fraction of a second Mighty Mack Carlton, of the date-a-night gossip, was actually jealous that there might be another man in her life. She had to fight to keep from chuckling aloud. This was definitely a twist she hadn’t anticipated.

Unfortunately, the twist felt a little too welcome, especially after she had spent most of the morning warning herself to cut Mack out of her life before she got burned. Heck, she was sitting here downing chocolate before lunch to forget about him.

“Jason and I have known each other since med school. He’s protective, not possessive. There’s a difference.”

“He thinks you need protection from me?”

She grinned at his vaguely incredulous expression. “Don’t you?”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said sharply.

Beth leveled a look straight into his eyes. “Too late,” she said quietly.

Then, before he could react, she stood up and headed for the nearest exit at a clip that few people could keep up with. Mack, of course, could have caught her in a few long strides had he wanted to. That he didn’t even try told her all she needed to know.

Or at least she thought the message was pretty plain, until she walked into her office an hour later and found a little mound of candy bars in the middle of her desk. She recognized them as the ones she’d left behind in her haste to leave the cafeteria. More disconcerting was the sight of Mack sprawled out on the sofa where she caught catnaps on the nights she couldn’t get away
from the hospital. He had an open medical journal on his chest, but his eyes were shut tight. The steady rise and fall of his chest suggested he was sound asleep.

Beth stood there staring at him in consternation. The memory of waking in his arms just a few hours ago was still a little too fresh in her mind. A part of her wanted to crawl onto that sofa with him and recapture that amazing feeling.

Because of that, she deliberately walked behind her desk and sat down, cursing the loud creaking in her old chair. Mack’s eyes promptly snapped open.

“Ah, you’re back,” he said, “I figured you’d turn up here sooner or later.”

“Good guess, since it
is
my office,” she said tartly. “What are you doing here?”