It was the most pleasant, teasing thing he had ever said to her, and he didn’t dare lift his gaze to see how she’d respond. She remained silent for a moment, almost as if she were holding her breath. When she spoke again, her voice was light. “If you’re very lucky,” she said, one hand beginning to stroke the dog’s sweaty side, “you’ll find a wife with a dog.”
Enough. Stop now. Why in the world was he flirting with a nurse? He scarcely knew Jacquelyn Wilkes, and he had no idea how she was reading his comments. If he wasn’t careful, tomorrow she’d be telling the entire office that he’d asked her to marry him, and when he denied it she’d sue for sexual harassment or breach of promise or something.
He frowned. “You animal lovers are the strangest people.” He wiped the inflamed gums with the sterile square. “You’re totally illogical. People like you are the happiest when they are the most inconvenienced.”
He looked up, expecting to see her usual stern expression, but she only smiled and took the dirty gauze from his gloved hand.
“Isn’t that what love is all about?” she asked, looking at the dog with a tenderness he’d never seen in her eyes before.
The ambulance engine slowed and died, and a moment later the surly paramedic opened the rear doors. “End of the road for the mutt, Doc,” he said, gesturing to the clinic outside. “Your office, just like you ordered.”
Jonah smiled his thanks and grabbed the end of the stretcher. “Just give me a hand getting the dog in, and I’ll see you get a commendation for going above and beyond the call of duty.”
After injections of steroids and antihistamines to treat shock and counter the insect venom, Jonah measured out a ten-day supply of amoxicillin from pharmaceutical samples, then labeled a prescription bottle for “Bailey Wilkes.”
“I’d say give him two and a half of these twice a day, but you’ll want to double-check the dosage with your vet.” He made a note on a chart he’d improvised from the supplies on hand, then looked up to find Jacquelyn studying him, a glint of wonder in her eyes. He frowned. “Something wrong?”
“No,” she said, a smile trembling over her lips as she soothed the recovering animal. “It’s just that—well, you’ve surprised me, Doctor. Dr. Kastner would have let Bailey die right there at the lake. Probably ninety percent of the doctors in this hospital wouldn’t want to be bothered with an animal, especially on a holiday.”
“Ninety percent of the doctors in this hospital don’t have my seriously skewed personality.” He snapped the file shut and slid it toward her. “They don’t care if their patients like them.”
A blush ran like a shadow over her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I was wrong to say that.”
She looked so vulnerable, so guilty, that he had to stifle an urge to walk forward and pull her into his arms.
“No, you were right.” He looked away, pretending to search for something on the desk. “A doctor must be careful not to get so involved that he can’t see things clearly. But I’ve always found it’s far easier to get involved with the patients than with—”
Attractive nurses. He stiffened, embarrassed at what he’d almost said. Fortunately, Jacquelyn’s attention seemed focused on the animal.
“I guess you could say I’m just a sucker for eyes that color,” he whispered, keenly feeling the great gulf between what he was and what he suddenly wanted to be.
“They’re coffee-brown,” she said, casting him a fleeting smile. “I’m a sucker for Bailey’s eyes, too.”
He turned away to clean up the counter, allowing her to misunderstand what he’d meant. Don’t even think about it, he warned himself. She’s your nurse. She has a boyfriend, that’s plain enough. Remember the past, stay aloof. Romance and medicine don’t mix.
As if she’d read his thoughts about the boyfriend, Jacquelyn quietly left the room and walked out to the reception area. When she came back a few moments later, she carried a yellow sticky note. “A message from Craig,” she said, a frown settling between her delicate brows. “He says he came, he waited, he had to leave. He had an important appointment at four o’clock.”
Jonah glanced up. “Is that a problem?”
“A little one.” She smiled tentatively. “I hate to bother you, Doctor, especially after all you’ve done today for me and Bailey. But we’re stuck.” She tucked her hands into the belt at her waist. “Without a car, I mean. I guess I could call a cab, but I don’t know how I’ll get Bailey into the backseat.”
“There’s no way you can carry this dog by yourself,” Jonah pointed out. “And Bailey still doesn’t look very steady on his feet. I’ll call a taxi and take you both home. I jogged over to the lake, so I’ll need a cab to get home, anyway.”
Her face was firmly set in deep thought. “That’s asking too much. I need to stay here and clean up the mess we’ve made. I should move Bailey to the waiting area so I can sterilize and prep this room, and then I have to make a list of all the meds you gave him so I can submit and pay the bill.”
She suddenly smiled and tilted her sleepy-cat eyes toward him. “And since I can’t afford your hourly rate, Doctor, just forget about doing anything else for me. Bailey and I can hang out here until Craig is done with his appointment. I’ll call him at five or so. He’ll come and pick us up when he can.”
He laughed, honestly amused by her detailed sense of integrity. “Forget it. Don’t bill yourself for anything,” he insisted, turning toward the sink. “Practically everything I used was a free sample. Don’t worry about it.”
His gaze came to rest on her questioning eyes, then his instinct for self-preservation forced him to turn away.
What was he doing? Acting like a fool, again. He ought to leave her and take a cab back to his apartment. He could spend the night surfing the Internet, and he needed to check out some recent stats from a Johns Hopkins project…but it was a holiday and he did need to relax.
Maybe, just this once, nothing bad would happen.
He cleared his throat. “I’ve never walked out on a patient without making sure that he or she was resting comfortably, and I don’t intend to start now. Really, I’d love to see you home…unless you’d really rather wait for—what’s his name? Craig.”
A spark of some indefinable emotion lit her eyes at the mention of the boyfriend’s name. She smiled to herself, then crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. “There is no way of knowing how long Craig will be. Are you sure you wouldn’t mind taking us?”
He turned the faucet and began to scrub his hands. “Absolutely sure, that is if Craig won’t mind. I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea.”
There. In one statement he’d told her that he meant nothing by his offer and given her the perfect opportunity to laugh and say that Craig was her brother, her cousin, or some casual friend she barely knew…but she didn’t.
“Craig would understand,” she said, her smile fading a little. “A ride home is…no big deal.”
Jonah forced a smile as he shut off the water and allowed his hands to drip into the sink. “Well, you’re going to need help carrying the beast to the waiting room so we can clean up in here. By tomorrow morning, not even the county health department will be able to tell that we’ve treated anything other than Homo sapiens in this clinic.”
Her pensive expression softened into one of fond gratitude as she moved toward the cabinet containing the cleaning supplies. “I will never be able to thank you enough, Dr. Martin. What you did today…well, I wouldn’t have expected it from any doctor. You really surprised me.”
“Nurse Wilkes,” he said, smiling wryly as he reached for a paper towel, “sometimes I surprise