The Doctor's Damsel (Men of the Capital Book 3) by Cara Nelson Page B

cynical times that kindness and consideration are viewed as a weakness?”
    “Well, yeah. That’s about the size of the situation. Like, when you came into the ER, when I was treating you, I could tell you wanted to be consoled, babied, but I can’t let myself do that. If I allow myself to sympathize with patients, I’ll drive myself mad and be unable to help them at all. I have to distance myself, look at it as a wounded hand, not a person. Do you know what I mean?”
    “I do know what you mean. I just don’t agree with it,” Becca said evenly. “I think you’re doing yourself and your patients a major disservice by being distant and clinical.”
    “Clinical kind of goes with my job description.”
    “No, it doesn’t. You work in emergency care. Part of taking care of people in a crisis involves some social and emotional skills as well as medical training, Abe.”
     
    There was a little vertical line between her eyebrows from frowning at him so hard. He couldn’t help thinking it was adorable, despite the fact that what she said was threatening his entire belief system. Surely there was something seriously wrong with him if he could be attracted to her while she was making him question everything. He should be defending his reasoning, citing instances in which the injuries or accidents were so upsetting that allowing any human emotion would have sent him into a panic and rendered him useless. Abe knew he ought to argue with her but he had a nagging feeling that the woman had a point.
    “There are situations—oh, hell.”
    “It’s harder to live with your whole heart out there. Believe me, I do it every day, Abe. But it’s worth it. Because you’re really there, all in, not holding back part of yourself for safety’s sake.”
    Becca leaned forward, her eyes alight with feeling. Harrison Abrahemson felt smitten, besotted, and older than God. She seemed so young and so idealistic. He wanted to protect her, make sure no one ever knocked her around, used her wages to buy drugs or yanked her kid’s arm out of the socket. He wanted to hold her. More than that, Abe wanted to cover her eyes with his hands. Don’t look , he longed to say to her. It’s bad out there . It’s bad and it’ll break you in half.
    It damn near broke his heart to think of how painful disillusionment would be for her...and then it made him mad, because she was twenty-seven years old and by all rights she ought to know better by now. Why should he feel protective of her? Why should he worry about how miserable she’d be when life finally scraped the naïveté off her?
    His hands clenched into fists as he experienced what he could only identify as a rare moment of emotional conflict. On one hand, he wanted to tell Becca to grow the hell up and realize that not everything can be done well and efficiently with an open, affectionate heart. On the other hand, he wanted to make sure no one hurt her while she tried to live that way. Regardless of which impulse won out, the woman was tying him up in knots over pickles and a salad.
    “Try it for one day,” she said, her voice almost pleading. She looked at him with such faith that he wanted, for one fleeting instant, to promise her anything, to do anything to keep her from being disappointed. That rush of emotion overwhelmed him. Abe was not in the habit of having feelings, apart from the occasional surge of anger like the one he’d had over Deonte Richmond.
    “Absolutely not. I also won’t try veganism for a day, or colonic irrigation. There are certain lifestyle choices incompatible with my personality, and being—snuggly to everyone I encounter definitely belongs into that category.”
    Abe watched her expectant face fall with a hint of something like satisfaction. There, he’d disappointed her, and it wasn’t so bad. He could live with that. Hell, he’d been disappointing his family for years and it hadn’t held him back. Surely he could convince this actressy little creature with