cocked her head with a smile. “A little risqué, I’m afraid…particularly for a medical convention. I don’t know what got into me.” Except the roses. If Alan thought she merited five dozen roses, just once she’d wanted a dress to fit the image. The bodice was wrapped into a V at the throat and held together by a single button at the side of her waist. The skirt flowed when she walked, occasionally revealing more of her legs than the future wife of a pediatrician probably should. The future wife of a pediatrician also probably shouldn’t have sprayed cologne between her breasts or left her bra at home, but there it was. The roses had done something to her judgment, and she looked at June with sudden uncertainty.
“You’ll knock his socks off,” June said placidly. “Exactly what that boy needs. For two weeks now, he’s been in the strangest mood…”
Carroll knew; however, it wasn’t the new Alan who strode out of the examining room with a toddler in his arms but the old one. Tired lines were creased around his eyes; his white jacket was wrinkled and dotted with cartoon stickers. Holding the four-year-old on one arm, he was clearly trying to transform a Transformer with the other, talking to the little boy all the while. “I give up,” he admitted to the tyke.
“You can’t help it if you aren’t as smart as me.”
“True,” Alan said gravely. “But we’ve got a deal, don’t we? You stay in bed all day tomorrow, and your mom gets you another Transformer.”
“You really wrote that on the pres’tion pad?” the boy asked suspiciously.
“Of course I did. See?” Alan read from a small white prescription form. “One Transformer that turns into a dinosaur.”
“Swoop,” the little boy helpfully supplied the name of the Transformer.
“Ah.” Alan handed him back his toy, grabbed a pen and added “Swoop” to his prescription. Minutes later, Alan handed the little one to his mother and caught sight of Carroll in the doorway. His face showed a transparent array of emotions—mostly guilt. “Hell, Carroll, I did call you to tell you I’d be late, didn’t I?”
“Just take care of your last patient,” she told him.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was gone but the two of them, and Alan was behind the open door of his bathroom. A hand appeared holding his doctor’s white jacket. Carroll took it. Then his old shirt, well wrinkled, and she took that, too. When he strode out buttoning his new shirt, he was scowling. “The last thing I feel like is going to a medical convention. Much less giving a speech I haven’t even had time to prepare.”
“Yes.” She handed him his tie.
“Nor do I want to drag you to this thing. You know darn well it’ll be boring.”
“Yes.”
“And the food will be terrible.”
“Yes.”
“The whole thing is a ridiculous waste of time.”
“Of course it is.” This was just so very much Alan, who hadn’t noticed her dress yet, who hadn’t the least interest in being a keynote speaker for anything, and who was cranky as a bear when he forgot to eat lunch—and she knew darn well he’d forgotten to eat lunch. The tiny invisible worries that had been nagging her all week abruptly disappeared. Her heart swelled, loving him. This was a man she knew she could live her life with.
She took his speech—he would have forgotten it—and flicked out the last light, because he would have forgotten that, too. At the door, he suddenly turned, dropped a surprise kiss on her mouth, and said worriedly, “Did I bring this shirt to work this morning?”
She hid a chuckle, and briskly ordered him out the door before they were late.
How silly…to worry for even a minute that he’d seriously changed from the man she’d loved and trusted.
Chapter 4
Alan took one appalled look at the crowded hall and promptly muttered, “Good Lord. There must be a private corner someplace.”
Just as promptly, he was surrounded by his colleagues. Amused—why Alan persisted
“You’ll knock his socks off,” June said placidly. “Exactly what that boy needs. For two weeks now, he’s been in the strangest mood…”
Carroll knew; however, it wasn’t the new Alan who strode out of the examining room with a toddler in his arms but the old one. Tired lines were creased around his eyes; his white jacket was wrinkled and dotted with cartoon stickers. Holding the four-year-old on one arm, he was clearly trying to transform a Transformer with the other, talking to the little boy all the while. “I give up,” he admitted to the tyke.
“You can’t help it if you aren’t as smart as me.”
“True,” Alan said gravely. “But we’ve got a deal, don’t we? You stay in bed all day tomorrow, and your mom gets you another Transformer.”
“You really wrote that on the pres’tion pad?” the boy asked suspiciously.
“Of course I did. See?” Alan read from a small white prescription form. “One Transformer that turns into a dinosaur.”
“Swoop,” the little boy helpfully supplied the name of the Transformer.
“Ah.” Alan handed him back his toy, grabbed a pen and added “Swoop” to his prescription. Minutes later, Alan handed the little one to his mother and caught sight of Carroll in the doorway. His face showed a transparent array of emotions—mostly guilt. “Hell, Carroll, I did call you to tell you I’d be late, didn’t I?”
“Just take care of your last patient,” she told him.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was gone but the two of them, and Alan was behind the open door of his bathroom. A hand appeared holding his doctor’s white jacket. Carroll took it. Then his old shirt, well wrinkled, and she took that, too. When he strode out buttoning his new shirt, he was scowling. “The last thing I feel like is going to a medical convention. Much less giving a speech I haven’t even had time to prepare.”
“Yes.” She handed him his tie.
“Nor do I want to drag you to this thing. You know darn well it’ll be boring.”
“Yes.”
“And the food will be terrible.”
“Yes.”
“The whole thing is a ridiculous waste of time.”
“Of course it is.” This was just so very much Alan, who hadn’t noticed her dress yet, who hadn’t the least interest in being a keynote speaker for anything, and who was cranky as a bear when he forgot to eat lunch—and she knew darn well he’d forgotten to eat lunch. The tiny invisible worries that had been nagging her all week abruptly disappeared. Her heart swelled, loving him. This was a man she knew she could live her life with.
She took his speech—he would have forgotten it—and flicked out the last light, because he would have forgotten that, too. At the door, he suddenly turned, dropped a surprise kiss on her mouth, and said worriedly, “Did I bring this shirt to work this morning?”
She hid a chuckle, and briskly ordered him out the door before they were late.
How silly…to worry for even a minute that he’d seriously changed from the man she’d loved and trusted.
Chapter 4
Alan took one appalled look at the crowded hall and promptly muttered, “Good Lord. There must be a private corner someplace.”
Just as promptly, he was surrounded by his colleagues. Amused—why Alan persisted
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