The Proposal (5 page)

“She almost fainted?” Aidan questioned at the same
time Patrick replied, “Aw, bless her heart, I sure hate that I upset her so
much.”

“It’s okay. I got her to lie down for a while, and I
got her little guy—I mean,
her,
something to eat.”

Aidan’s chest clenched not only at Dr. Nadeen’s
familiarity with Emma, but the mention of Noah. This dude was getting under his
skin and fast. Even though Aidan was a guy, he knew competition when he saw it.
It wasn’t just the fact that Dr. Nadeen had the looks that made women’s panties
ignite, but the fucker was kind and considerate. Throw in the fact he was a
doctor, and he was a triple threat.

Finally, Aidan found his voice. “That was very kind
of you. I appreciate you taking care of her,” he said, trying hard to speak
without gritting his teeth.

A warm smile spread across Dr. Nadeen’s face. “I was
happy to do it for her. Your sister is a kind young woman—her spirit shines from
within.”

Aidan’s mouth gaped open. What the hell? He thought
Emma was his…
sister
? “Did you just say…?” Aidan sputtered.

Patrick shook his head. “Emma isn’t my
granddaughter, Doc.”

“Oh, my apologies. You have a very sweet daughter
then.”

“No, no, she isn’t even related to me.”

“Ah, I see. Well, you’re very fortunate to have
someone in your life who cares that much about you.”

Patrick glanced from Aidan to Dr. Nadeen. “Did I
hear you call her beautiful?”

Pesh’s expression turned apologetic. “I’m sorry. That
was entirely too forward of me.”

“It’s all right, Doc.” Rubbing his hands together,
Patrick said, “Hmm, I can’t help but play matchmaker while I’m laid up here.
Would you be interested in dating Emma? She’s single, you know.”

Aidan glared at his father, which only caused
Patrick to widen his grin. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Aidan
hissed.

“Forcing your hand.” A mischievous gleam burned in
his eyes, and Aidan knew there was no stopping him. He didn’t know how after
everything Patrick had been through that day he could still find the energy to
goad his own son. He knew what a sore spot Emma was.

At the moment, she was more like a gaping hole in
his chest. “You better be damn glad you’re in the ER right now,” he muttered
under his breath.

Patrick ignored him and focused his attentions on
Pesh who was staring strangely at the two of them. “Whatcha say, Doc?”

“Uh, well, I don’t normally pick up women in the
emergency room, Mr. Fitzgerald,” Dr. Nadeen murmured, shifting uncomfortably on
his feet.

“Oh please. This isn’t picking up. It’s a
fix-up
.
That’s totally different,” Patrick argued.

“Pop,” Aidan growled.

With a hesitant smile, Dr. Nadeen said, “Maybe we’ll
get a chance to talk again.”

“She’s six months pregnant!” Aidan countered.

Dr. Nadeen jerked back like he had been slapped. He
cleared his throat before he spoke. “Yes, I’m well aware of that. It’s what
concerned me most when I met her. I didn’t want her to get so upset in her
condition.”

Aidan grunted but didn’t argue.

Dropping his gaze to the floor, Dr. Nadeen said,
“After she assured me there was no husband or boyfriend to call, I thought I
had surmised she wasn’t with anyone. I apologize if my assumptions were wrong.”

“Don’t worry about my son, Doc.” Patrick stared
pointedly at Aidan. “He has no claims on Emma’s happiness. Anymore.”

A sense of understanding seemed to pass over Dr.
Nadeen’s face. “Oh, well, when you see Emma again, tell her to call me.” He
took a card out of his iPad case.

Aidan snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’ll
never happen. Em’s not the kind of girl who calls a man. She’s very
old-fashioned.” His blue eyes narrowed at Dr. Nadeen’s dark ones, silently
taunting him to give the card to Patrick.

Dr. Nadeen smiled. He took a pen from his coat
pocket. He then turned his attention to Patrick. “Mr. Fitzgerald, would you
happen to have Emma’s number? I’ll be happy to call her myself.” He held up a
hand. “But only on the pretense of inquiring about her health after today’s
incident.”

Patrick chuckled. “Why yes I do.”

After Dr. Nadeen had scribbled the number down, he
gave Aidan a fleeting glance before looking back at Patrick. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

With a sheepish, grin, Dr. Nadeen said, “Now I
suppose we should get back to business.” He peered down at his iPad. “If you’ll
hang tight for just a few minutes, we should be ready to transport you
upstairs. Surgery is set for…” he scrolled through something on the screen
before wrinkling his nose. “Bright and early at seven am.”

“I figured as much.”

Dr. Nadeen laughed. “Well, I’ll wish you the best of
luck then, Mr. Fitzgerald.” He leaned over and shook Patrick’s hand.

With a wink, Patrick replied, “Same to you, Doc.”

Cutting his eyes over to Aidan, Dr. Nadeen gave a
slight nod before walking to the door.

When he exited the room, Aidan turned a wrathful
gaze on Patrick. “After the last three weeks of experiencing my pure and total
hell, how could you do that to me, Pop?”

“I didn’t do anything to you.”

Aidan gripped the rails on the hospital bed and
leaned in closer. “Giving him Emma’s number? Pawning her off on him?”

Patrick grinned. “I’m glad to see I got you fighting
riled right now.”

“Oh, I’m far from riled. I’m fucking livid!”

“Good. You need to be. It’s important that you keep
up your fighting spirit.”

Aidan shook his head. “What will my spirit matter if
she…” His heart shuddered at the thought of Emma being receptive to Dr.
Nadeen’s charms. After all, he was a good-looking doctor who wasn’t even turned
off by her being pregnant. That should be enough to make any woman swoon.

“There is not a doubt in my mind that Emma loves
you, and while Dr. Nadeen’s interest might be flattering, it will only serve
one purpose.”

“And what’s that?” Aidan croaked.

“To show her there’s no one else in the world for
her but you.”

They were interrupted by Julia sweeping through the
door with her husband, Tim. While Becky, Angie, and Aidan favored their mother,
Julia and Liz both took after Patrick with their dark hair and eyes. She gave
Aidan a quick hug before wagging her finger at Patrick. “Pop, I can’t believe
it took a collapse at the VFW to finally get you checked out!”

Patrick rolled his eyes. “I was going to the doctor
next week.”

“Always a stubborn ass,” Julia replied, pinching the
bridge of her nose. “I’m just thankful you weren’t alone. Thank God Emma was
there, and you were so close to the fire station.”

The mention of Emma’s name heightened Aidan’s
senses. She had been gone an awfully long time to get a drink. “Speaking of Em,
I better go find her.”

“You do that, son.”

“She was out in the hallway when we came in,” Julia
replied.

As Aidan whirled around, he stumbled over his feet,
almost knocking Tim over. Julia grabbed his arm to steady him. “Easy, Little
Brother. I don’t think she’s running away.
Yet
.” She then winked at
Aidan.

“Thanks, Jules,” he mumbled under his breath. When
he stepped out into the hallway, he craned his neck left and right, but he
didn’t see Emma. Walking briskly, he smacked the button for the Authorized
Personnel Only entrance and walked into the waiting room. Slumped in one of the
chairs, Emma’s fingers texted furiously on her phone.

“Em?”

She jumped at his voice. “I, uh, I thought you and
your family needed some space.”

“That was sweet, but you could never be in the way,”
he said.      

Emma held his gaze until her cheeks tinged, and she
dropped her head. “I was just seeing if Casey or Connor could take me to get my
car.”

“I’ll will,” he offered.

Nibbling her bottom lip, he could tell Emma didn’t
like his proposal at all. “Well, since it’s Saturday night, I can’t seem to get
either of them to answer, so…”

“Good. Then it’s settled.” He held out his hand to
her. She eyed it warily. “Let’s go tell Pop goodbye.”

Hesitantly, she put her hand in his. Crackling
electricity surged from his fingers all the way up his arm. From her stunned
expression, he wasn’t the only one to experience it. He refused to let go until
she pried her grip from his. He didn’t argue with her. Instead, he pressed his
hand into the small of her back, leading her to Patrick’s room.

When they got to the doorway, they found the room
was empty. “Oh, they must’ve already taken him upstairs.”

The corners of Emma’s mouth turned down in a frown.
“I didn’t get to tell him good-bye.”

“I’ll text Julia and get her to tell him I’m taking
you home.”

Emma bobbed her head in agreement.

As they started back down the hall, he turned to
her. “I could pick you up in the morning, so you could see him before the
surgery.”

“Aidan, I—”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I guess I’m the last person on
earth you want to spend time with, huh?”

She reached out and touched his arm. Once again,
electricity pulsed through him, and he fought to catch his breath. “I just
thought it would be better for me to drive myself, so you don’t have the burden
of taking me home tomorrow after Patrick’s surgery.”

“Trust me. Pop’ll have my sisters fawning all over
him.” He swept a lock of hair away out of her face and pinned it behind her
ear. “Besides, you could never be a burden to me.” His fingertips feathered
across her neck, causing Emma to shiver.

Her eyes widened, and she jerked away. “We should
get going.” She spun around and started power-walking back into the waiting
room. Aidan almost had to break into a jog to catch up with her.

When she started out the door, he grabbed her arm.
“Wait here. I’ll go get the car.”

“Thank you,” she replied, ducking her head.

Aidan experienced a bounce in his step as he started
into the parking lot. He had a chance to be with Emma again, and he was going
to get her to see the truth if it was the last thing he did.

CHAPTER FOUR

Aidan had barely put the car in park by the curb
when he hopped out. “What—” she began, but then she realized he was getting out
to open the door for her. She couldn’t help but cock her eyebrows at him. “My,
my, aren’t we the gentleman tonight?”

He gave her a tight smile. “If you’ll really stop
and think about it, I was always a gentleman.” His body gave a slight tremor
when she crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, for the most part, at least.”

“I guess,” she replied. He motioned for her to get
inside. With the biting chill in the air, Emma gladly slid across the warmed
leather seats of Aidan’s car.

He closed the door and then hurried around to his
side. “It’s awfully cold for October, isn’t it?” he mused.

Shivers went all down Emma’s body like rivulets of
rain. Immediately she thought of their parking lot conversation after Aidan
first propositioned her at O’Malley’s. He had been nervous then and talked of
traffic. She knew now just how nervous he was since he had resorted to talking
about the weather. The memory touched a raw nerve, sending a longing ache for
the past through her.

To ease the chill of emotions, she rubbed her hands
together. Aidan reached forward and turned the heater on. She glanced over at
him. Her heart thumped wildly at his continued attentiveness. “Thank you.”

“You wanna grab some dinner?” he asked.

“I’m not really hungry,” she lied.

Aidan grunted. “Guess Dr. Nadeen filled you up,
huh?”

Emma tensed at the jab. “He just brought me a
snack.”

“Well, you need to eat.” He glanced away from the
road to pin her with his stare. “For Noah’s sake, if not yours.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m well aware of
what Noah needs, thank you.”

He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to
come out like that.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “It’s just I figured you
needed to eat for him, even if you were still upset about what happened today
with Pop.”

The sincerity in his voice, along with his
compassion, softened Emma. Her eyes took in his thinner frame. Patrick hadn’t
been exaggerating when he had said Aidan hadn’t been eating. “From the looks of
it, you could stand to eat as well.”

His jaw tensed. “Maybe if you’ll eat with me, I
can.”

Emma knew the last thing in the world she should do
was agree to dinner. But she felt her resolve slowly fading as her traitorous
stomach growled. She winced when it caused Aidan to smirk at her. “Hmm, so you
are hungry? Was it just the company you wanted to refuse?”