Love on Call by Shirley Hailstock

from him, moving back as far as she could get.
    â€œI…” she began, not knowing what to say. “We can’t—”
    Reason seemed to come to Brad, too. He moved away. What had they been thinking? They hadn’t been. They had been reacting, pushed together by his ordeal and her lack of sleep.
    Mallory knew she was rationalizing. She knew Brad had found a way into the locked part of her heart, and she didn’t want him there.
    Looking at him, she guessed from his expression that he didn’t want her anywhere near his heart, either. She stepped forward and picked up her coat. Not bothering to push her arms into it, she headed for the door. Neither of them said a word. Nor did they need to. Mallory knew there would be no mention of this by either of them. What happened tonight would neither be spoken of nor repeated.
    Mallory let herself out the door and walked silently to her car. The sun was rising higher in the sky. The city was waking up, ready to begin another day. Mallory knew there would never again be another day like this for her. Brad Clayton had altered her life.She left his house a different woman than the one who had entered it.
    She wasn’t sure who that woman was or where her life would go from here, but one thing was certain—no other man had ever rocked her world the way Brad Clayton had. And it didn’t help when she looked up to see him smiling from the doorway.

Chapter Four
    I t was Brad’s experience that a secret burned a hole in the jaw muscle. The person holding it just had to tell someone, immediately. Yet Mallory appeared to be true to her word. No mention had been made by the other doctors or nurses of Brad’s encounter with the police. Mallory had been off yesterday, but she was due in to the hospital today. With each passing hour he had expected to hear the story, distorted by facts that changed as word of mouth embellished every detail. Yet his secret was apparently safe.
    Brad entered the nurses’ station on the fourth floor. It was positioned in the center of the floor so only a single one was necessary and anyone coming or going had to pass the station on one side or the other. The circular work space was set up with computers andbright lighting, and a printout of the residents’ schedule was posted on a clipboard inserted into a vertical file near the entrance. Brad scanned it as he often did, checking to see which residents would be on his rotation. Before, he’d only glanced at the names to make sure everyone was there when he was ready to begin. Now he specifically looked for one name; Mallory Russell. He wanted to know when she was on his rotation, and if not, where she was.
    Her name was missing. Why? he wondered. She’d been off the day after she’d picked him up, so she should be in today. Brad flipped the paper to see if there was another page under it. The brown clipboard stared blankly back at him.
    â€œDana?” He turned to one of the nurses on duty. Dana Baldwin was reading orders and preparing morning medication for the patients in her care. “Where is Dr. Russell?” Brad indicated the clipboard.
    â€œShe left about an hour ago.”
    â€œLeft? I thought she was off yesterday.” He replaced the clipboard in its space and took a step toward Dana.
    â€œShe got called in yesterday morning, just after the shift started.”
    Brad frowned. That would be about the time she’d left his house.
    â€œShe’s always the first one they call.” Dana gave a frown of disapproval.
    â€œBut she’d been…” He stopped himself. He almost said she’d been up all night. If she’d just left, she’d been awake more than twenty-four hours.
    â€œBeen what?” Dana asked, drawing Brad’s attention back to the present.
    â€œBeen on my rotation.” Half of the residents were male. Some were married. The females were mostly single, but a few had children. Mallory had