Jaclyn raised a brow. “On what grounds?”
“That we reacted in the extreme and that Dr. Matthews was wrongfully terminated.”
Jaclyn frowned. “How can they say that?” Although she’d asked the question, in a way she already knew the answer. The Matthewses just happened to be one of the richest families not only in Alexandria but in all of Virginia. It was a known fact they were Hopewell’s biggest benefactors. They even had a wing named after them. Their son Terrence had also been an intern. Jaclyn hated being the reason for Terrence’s termination, but she felt she’d done the right thing when she’d witnessed his attempting to steal drugs from the hospital pharmacy more than once.
“The hospital feels we had sufficient grounds to release him. And although we are faced with a lawsuit as well as the withdrawal of the Matthewses’ support to the hospital, we will deal with it,” Dr. Dudley said assuringly.
He then glanced over at Camille. “As public relations supervisor it will be your job, Ms. Hunter, to make sure the hospital maintains its stellar reputation through all of this. I can just imagine the type of image the Matthewses will try painting us with.”
Camille nodded, her expression sober. “I will.”
Dr. Dudley smiled at Camille, a smile that made Jaclyn’s flesh crawl. She wondered if she was the only one who’d caught on to it. She glanced over at Dr. De Winter and their gazes met, and not for the first time she thought she felt something emitting from the dark eyes holding hers.
Knowing she was just imagining things, she drew in a deep breath and shifted her attention back to Dr. Dudley as a question suddenly burned in her mind. “Now that there’s a lawsuit pending, does that mean I will be named as the person who was …”
“The whistle-blower?” Dr. Dudley finished for her. “You won’t have that to worry about. Your name will be held in the strictest confidence and protected by hospital policy. It has been proven that Dr. Matthews does indeed have a drug problem and it will be up to the Matthews family to prove otherwise.”
Jaclyn was glad to hear that. She knew that once the news broke everyone would wonder who had snitched on Terrence because he was well-liked and had a promising future. It hadn’t taken her long to figure him out and she’d been able to read the signs mainly because her older brother had had the same problem before he’d gotten help. Now he was married with a little girl and volunteered a lot of his time trying to help others kick the habit that had nearly destroyed him eight years ago.
“And because of the sensitive nature of the matter and the Matthews family’s association with this facility, we have decided to hire someone to handle the suit that is not one of our regular hospital attorneys. In other words, we’ve decided to bring in the big guns.”
“But we can assure you again, Dr. Campbell, that your confidentiality won’t be compromised,” Dr. De Winter interjected.
Jaclyn nodded while trying to ignore the warm, husky tone of his voice that seemed to caress every inch of her skin. She glanced over at him, met his gaze, felt her heart rate quicken. “Thank you.”
“That will be all, Dr. Campbell,” Dr. Dudley said, reclaiming her attention.
“All right.” She stood and turned to leave. Although she was tempted to glance back over her shoulder to look at one person in particular, she was fully aware that doing so would be foolish as well as risky, so she continued to move toward the door.
Lucien entered his Georgetown row house at close to eight that night, hours later than his schedule at the hospital dictated. But then when was the last time he had what he considered a bona fide schedule? Certainly not since he’d taken the role of chief resident at Hopewell. At least this group of interns was halfway through this leg of their training. He had high hopes they would become good physicians one day. Some more so than others. There were a few he still needed to work on.
And one in particular he needed to keep his mind off.
Scowling, he paused and rubbed his hands down his face. Jaclyn Campbell would be his downfall if he wasn’t careful. He of all people knew the hospital’s non-fraternization policy and the consequences if it wasn’t obeyed. Yet that hadn’t stopped him from remembering every single thing about her whenever he saw her.
Take today, for instance. A surge of desire had rushed through him the moment she had entered the conference room. And when their gazes had connected it seemed that every nerve ending in his body had awakened.
Drawing in a deep breath, he forced one foot in front of the other as he made his way into the kitchen. Tonight would be one of those nights when dinner would be a guessing game and frankly he wasn’t in the mood. He could have stopped somewhere to eat before coming home, but this was one night he wanted to put as much distance between him and the hospital as he could.
The day hadn’t gotten off to a good start. The moment he’d entered the hospital and been told Dr. Dudley needed to see him immediately, he’d gotten a clue how things would be. Because Lucien had been the one to actually terminate Terrence, his name would come under fire as well. The thought of the Matthewses actually filing a suit against the hospital when they knew their son had a drug problem was ludicrous. It only went to show that people with money thought they could do just about anything.
Lucien opened his freezer and pulled out a microwave dinner. Moments later while waiting for his meal to heat up he decided to switch his thoughts to more pleasant things.
Namely, Jaclyn Campbell.
After the morning meeting with Dr. Dudley, they had met again when one of her patients, Marvin Spencer, had presented with shortness of breath and she needed approval to increase the dosage of the man’s medication. As usual she was precise and right on point. There was no doubt in his mind that she would become an outstanding physician. On her previous rotations she’d received nothing but compliments from patients and fellow doctors alike. Patients felt she listened to what they’d had to say, and doctors remarked on her professionalism.
His thoughts shifted back to their time in Mr. Spencer’s room. They had worked well together, adjusting the intravenous line, asking the patient questions.
Jerome Stubbs, a male nurse who usually worked in O.R., had also been in the room. But even while Lucien was checking Mr. Spencer’s vital signs, the only person he had been aware of was Jaclyn. The first time it happened had been her first day at Hopewell, over a year ago. He’d gotten upset with himself for his immediate attraction to her, and he still wasn’t sure what had brought it on. For some reason the sight of her in her pale blue scrubs had been a total turn-on.
Later that week, when the staff had joined the interns offsite at a nearby bar and grill for a casual get-acquainted session, all it had taken was seeing the way her body had been shaped by a pair of denim jeans and a pullover sweater, and his mouth had watered for days.
And then he had run into her at a grocery store one Sunday. She had been dressed for church and he’d gotten a chance to see the most gorgeous pair of legs any woman could own. She had looked so good in her peach-colored fashionable two-piece suit that he had only narrowly avoided running his grocery cart into a display of canned goods in the middle of the aisle.
Never had any woman been able to dominate his attention like she had, especially in the workplace. And no matter how much he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to lick his inappropriate attention for the female doctor who was reporting to him directly. And that wasn’t good.
The bummer was that the attraction was one-sided. There was not one incident he could cite as being deliberate on her part. She had the type of beauty a woman didn’t have to flaunt. It was just there and he honestly doubted she knew the effect she had on men.
Hell, he’d even seen Dr. Dudley eye her down more than once and had to bite down the jealousy that had consumed him. But then the old man was known to have that bad-ass habit