Newborn Needs a Dad / His Motherless Little Twins by Dianne Drake Page A

miracle.”
    “Spoken like a man who’s jaded about marriage.” Sniffles coming to an end, she stepped over to the nearest sink and washed her hands.
    “Jaded about one marriage in particular. Admiring of the ones that make it.” He gave her a patient chart. “Room five, mysterious rash. Nothing sentimental as far as I can tell.”
    “Well, one bad marriage doesn’t a bad institution make. In my opinion.”
    “Eternal optimist?”
    “Don’t you have to be when you’re a doctor? Especially an obstetrician?” She took the chart from him. “Or even someone falling in love?” Without awaiting an answer,Gabby marched straight into a full hour of incidental complaints—nothing too taxing, nothing communicable. Because Neil was considerate. He could have stuck her with the flu patient who came in dehydrated and coughing, or the man with the gashed hand who was loud and obnoxious, but he didn’t. He was protecting her. Giving her what she wanted by allowing her to work yet looking out for her at the same time.
    If they’d been more than colleagues, she might have considered that a little romantic. Maybe not as much as oysters, but nice all the same.
    So why wasn’t a man like Neil Ranard taken? He was a looker in every way that should attract a woman. Great personality. Considerate. Good doctor. Yet he seemed to have no life outside his work. It didn’t seem like he wanted one. So, why was that?
    It did make her wonder, especially when she stood off to the side in the emergency department, as she was doing now, watching him work, watching him interact with other people. He was with a grumpy child. A loud, grumpy child with a tummy ache. The little boy had been crying for fifteen minutes, then Neil pulled back the curtain, entered the emergency cubicle, and…what was that he did? Did Neil make a funny face? She couldn’t tell, but suddenly the child was laughing. No words even spoken.
    The way he related to his patients was simply astonishing. And the way they responded to him…Just like the little boy did. People lit up around him. Reacted in amazing ways. Come to think of it, she had reacted like everybody else did.
    Well, one thing was certain. Whatever kept Neil estranged in his personal life had to be his choice. Because as she watched him work, she noticed any number of admirers who would have loved being included in his off-duty hours. The clerk at the emergency desk whocouldn’t keep her eyes off Neil, the volunteer who giggled when he got near her, the grumpy little boy’s mother…Neil Ranard had a way about him when he was being a doctor. Just not so much in the personal sense. “So, anything else?” Gabby asked when he left the child’s cubicle. She was actually beginning to feel a little tired. “Because I think now would be a good time for me to go back to the cabin and get some rest. Unless you need me.”
    Rather than looking at her, he looked straight at her belly. “Your baby is the one who needs you right now…needs you to be rested.” Then he looked at her. Stared straight into her eyes, with no attempt to rush the encounter—apparently lost in thought before he finally spoke. “So, go. Take care of yourself. And Bryce.”
    It surprised her to hear him say her baby’s name. Until now, no one ever had. They always said the baby or it. But, honestly, she was pleased that he’d even remembered Bryce’s name, and hearing it from someone else gave her an unexpected thrill, like she wasn’t the only one in the world who thought of her child as a real person. “For once, I’m not going to argue.” She arched her back, then raised her hand to rub the small of it, but Neil stepped behind her and started a gentle massage to her shoulders.
    “You don’t mind me doing this, do you? Chivalry may be a little old-fashioned, but sometimes old-fashioned is called for.”
    Rather than answering, she responded with a groan that sounded more like a purr. And did it again when he found a