“I think that will become clear in time,” Destiny said enigmatically. “Just promise me you won’t close any doors.”
“I can’t promise that,” Beth said honestly. In fact, at the moment, with panic spreading through her, she was pretty sure that slamming the door on Mack Carlton and his meddling aunt, then bolting it tight, would be the smartest thing she could do.
Then again, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt this little zing of anticipation humming through her veins. Sadly, it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. Just dangerous.
Mack Carlton was as good as his word. It began to seem as if every time Beth went into Tony’s room in late afternoon, Mack was there. It was evident he’d become a quiet, comforting, dependable presence in Tony’s life, just as he’d promised he would. She began to feel the first faint hint of respect for him, despite her determination to keep her guard up.
Sometimes he sat quietly reading a book while the boy slept. Beth couldn’t help noticing that Mack’s taste ran to thrillers, rather than to the sports books she would have guessed. She even caught him totally absorbed by a recently released presidential biography. He rose another notch in her estimation that day. She tried to smother the reaction by reminding herself that she couldn’t weaken, not with Destiny Carlton scheming in the wings.
Sometimes Beth arrived to find Tony in a spirited argument with Mack over the best football players ever. Mack listened intently to whatever case Tony made, and even when he disagreed, he did it in a respectful way that seemed to make Tony sit a little taller in bed, pride shining in his eyes at being taken so seriously by a man he idolized.
On more than one occasion, they played one of the electronic games that Mack provided. When they were caught up in the competition, they barely spared Beth a glance. That gave her a chance to observe the two of them a bit more closely. To her amusement, it was evident that Mack was having as much fun as Tony and was every bit as determined to win, not giving the boy an inch out of pity.
There was something a little too appealing about Mack with his hair mussed, his collar open, his expression totally focused as he concentrated on that little screen with such intensity.
To Beth’s surprise Mack was also sensitive to Tony’s level of exhaustion and his shifts in mood. Mack seemed to know just when to encourage a nap and just when to initiate some distracting activity. And he always left shortly after Tony’s mother arrived, clearly attuned to Maria Vitale’s need to spend time alone with her son.
The first time Beth saw Mack in the hallway outside Tony’s room consoling an obviously shaken Maria, she caught herself looking for evidence of the kind of chemistry that Destiny Carlton had been talking about over dinner. If her reaction had involved anyone other than Mack, she might have labeled it a ridiculous twinge of jealousy, but with Mack that would be absurd. There was absolutely nothing between her and the ex-football star. Her interest was purely clinical, a chance to study how the male-female-chemistry thing worked.
After all, Mack was a virile man with a reputation for appreciating beautiful women. Maria was a gorgeous woman with a flawless olive complexion, a lush body and flowing waves of black hair. Only the exhaustion that was clearly visible in and around her eyes marred her beauty. For some men, Beth thought, that evidence of vulnerability would make her seem even more attractive. Beth couldn’t help wondering if Mack was one of those men.
But despite her intense curiosity, Beth never saw the slightest sign that Mack was interested in the single mom. Even his attempts to comfort her were verbal, not physical. And rather than any hint of a growing closeness between the two, more often than not, he left mother and son together and sought Beth out when he left Tony’s room.
In little more than a week, Beth had come to count on him dropping by far more than she should. While he’d shown no evidence of being attracted to her, he was giving her more attention than she’d expected from him.
Now, at the rap on her office door near the research lab, Beth glanced at the clock and saw that it was just past six. That was when Mack usually stopped in.
“Yes?” she said, fighting the little flash of heat that licked through her as she anticipated seeing him for a few minutes.
Her office door cracked open and, as expected, Mack peered around the edge. “Busy?”
Just this once she should tell him yes. That would be the smart thing to do. These brief little visits were beginning to feel too right, as if her day would be somehow incomplete without them.
“I have a few minutes,” she said instead, telling herself that there was nothing wrong with indulging herself in the company of a sexy man in the privacy of her office. It didn’t mean a thing. It just proved she was a woman, something she tended to forget when she was caught up in the whirlwind of her job.
“Long enough to go for coffee?” he asked, his expression hopeful. “I could really use a jolt of caffeine. It’s been a long day, and I still have a dinner thing at eight.”
This was something new. Beth wasn’t sure what to make of the invitation. In her office, on her turf, she felt confident and in control of the situation. Even in a setting as thoroughly unromantic as the hospital cafeteria, with Mack buying her coffee she had a feeling that the balance of power between them would somehow shift.
Mack grinned at her hesitation. “I’m asking you to go for coffee, Doc. I swear I won’t try to seduce you behind the vending machines.”
“I was just thinking about everything I have to do before I can get out of here tonight,” she fibbed.
Mack’s grin spread. “If you’re going to make a long night of it, then you need the coffee as much as I do.”
“You’re right,” she said, telling herself that any other reply would make her seem churlish and ungrateful. After all, this man was coming here almost daily to bolster the spirits of one of her patients. The least she could do in return was share a cup of coffee with him. “I’ll buy.”
Her offer seemed to amuse him, but he stood aside as she brushed past him, then he closed her office door behind them.
As they walked through the hospital corridors, Beth noticed the stares of the nurses, which were accompanied by more than a few whispers. This, she realized, was what she’d feared about being seen with Mack. She needed to command respect among the staff, not be the subject of speculative gossip.
“Doesn’t that sort of thing get old?” she asked as they passed another cluster of gaping females.
“What?” Mack asked blankly.
“The women staring at you, speculating about you, looking you over as if you were a piece of meat.”
He shrugged. “I don’t really notice it anymore.”
Beth couldn’t decide if that was ego talking or a weird kind of humility. In fact, she was beginning to think there were a lot of fascinating contradictions in Mack Carlton. Worse, she was beginning to want to unravel them.
He studied her with a penetrating look. “I’m sorry if it bothers you. It didn’t occur to me that you being seen with me around here might stir up talk. Would you rather go somewhere else?”
She shook her head. “No, the cafeteria’s fine. I don’t have time for anything else.”
As they approached the line, he regarded her with concern. “Have you eaten?”
“No, but I’ll grab something later or take a sandwich back to my office.”
He glanced at the board of specials. “Come on. They have meat loaf. How can you pass that up?”
Beth chuckled. “I’ve had it before. Trust me, it is not like anything you ever had at home.”
“Ah, then no to the