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“Ow,” Seth said. “That had to hurt.” Again, what had her parents been thinking?
Since the observation really required no comment, Prudence offered none. Instead, she finally pushed herself to standing and rubbed lightly at the crown of her head. But all she said was, “Yes. Tanner was out of sorts today. But it’s not at all unusual for babies of nine months to go through separation anxiety like that,” she added in the voice of experience.
“I don’t doubt it for a moment,” Seth concurred jovially. “It’s not unusual for men of thirty-three, either.” There. Let her make what she would of that.
What she made, he noted, was a funny little squinting type of face, an expression that made him smile. God, she was cute. And she really did have a nice neck. But she said nothing to demand clarification for his comment. Which was just as well, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to clarify it—either to her, or to himself.
So instead he returned his attention to the heart-shaped cake on the table before him. Fine. He had the last scalpel available. It was nice to know he was wanted for some- thing. Impulsively he decided that he would cut the cake—and idly ogle Prudence—stay long enough to consume a piece himself—and idly ogle Prudence—then he’d go home to lick his wounds—and idly fantasize about Prudence.
Carefully he bisected the confection from north to south and east to west, not worrying about whether the sizes were consistent. Everyone present in the break room was a medical professional, he reminded himself. Surely they could manage these small discrepancies without resorting to fisticuffs.
After completing his task, Seth filled a plate with several of the homemade delicacies that constituted the celebratory buffet, then wasn’t much surprised to find himself standing near—gosh, what do you know?—Prudence.
He always gravitated toward her, no matter where either of them happened to be. It was some kind of strange torture game he played with himself. He didn’t for a moment understand his fascination with her, nor did he pursue it these days—not with any real enthusiasm. Not in any way that she would notice, at any rate. Nor in any way that anyone else would notice, either, for that matter.
At least, he hoped nobody else noticed. It would be so embarrassing to be thought of as pathetic. Even if pathetic was exactly the way he felt around Prudence Holloway. Even if pathetic was how he was beginning to think he was destined to be.
Though Seth never lacked for feminine companionship—well, never except today, he reminded himself morosely—the companionship with which he usually found himself generally left him reluctant to continue the relationship for very long. These days it seemed as though his temporary relationships were growing more and more temporary and he was feeling less and less satisfaction from them. Why that might be he couldn’t possibly say. But there was no question that it was getting harder and harder to feel fulfilled in his personal life.
Not to be misconstrued, however—Seth did like women, very much. All women, in fact. And until he’d met Prudence, until he’d spent time with her—most of it indulging in good-natured sparring—he’d been perfectly content with the variety of his social life. But lately, for…oh, about the past two years…the variety he had once found so enjoyable was somehow beginning to lose its appeal.
Living his life day by day, and woman by woman, had all been well and good for a while—actually, it had been all very good—but there was a restlessness rising in Seth of late that he would just as soon quell. Mainly because he suspected that it was a restlessness born of the desire to settle down. And settling down wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that he didn’t think he could manage it. He was socially gregarious by nature, and he had the attention span of a rabid badger. He wasn’t sure he’d be good in a family situation, in spite of his affinity for children. He just wasn’t a one-woman man.
He reminded himself that he was only thirty-three, that he still had plenty of years left before he was so doddering that he wouldn’t be able to bounce a baby on his knee. Then he remembered that at thirty-three most men were at least attached to someone special. Hell, even his best friend, Reed Atchison, whom Seth had never thought to see attached, had recently married. Now he and his wife, Mindy, were expecting the arrival of their first child any minute.
Without meaning to, Seth let his gaze wander over to Prudence once again. She really was lovely, he thought. And she was a warm, witty, gentle woman—with others, at any rate, in spite of her prickliness where he was concerned. He just wished he could understand why she wanted nothing to do with him. And then for some reason—probably because after the day he’d had he was spoiling for a fight—Seth decided to find out.
“So, Prudence,” he began, heedless of the fact that he was interrupting her conversation with another nurse. “You’re pulling second shift on a Friday. How did that happen? Won’t it play havoc with your plans for a romantic evening?”
With obvious reluctance she turned to face him, her expression one of unmistakable, and perfectly expected, annoyance. “Not that it’s any of your business,” she began lightly, “but I don’t have any plans for a romantic evening.”
“How shocking,” Seth remarked.
“Ramona needed the night off, and I was available,” Prudence said with finality.
“You’re never available for me,” he pointed out, loving the way her mouth tightened into a disapproving little moue at his comment. Oh, she was soooo transparent. She wanted him. He was—almost—sure of it.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “There’s a good reason for that,” she said.
“But you’ve never seen fit to tell me what it is.”
She shrugged, but there wasn’t an ounce of carelessness in the gesture. “I figure you’re a big boy, a smart guy. You have a college degree, and—”
“Three of them, actually,” Seth supplied helpfully, holding up his left hand with that many fingers to punctuate the claim.
“—and I knew you could figure it out for yourself,” she finished, ignoring his interjection.
He pressed his index finger against his cheek and, for a moment, feigned deep consideration. Then, after a moment, he told her, “Nope. Sorry. Can’t figure it out. You’ll just have to spell it out for me.”
She smiled mildly at him, but there was no warmth in the gesture. Seth could tell, because the temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees at least as she completed it. “Gosh, then I guess you’re just not the big Mr. Know-It-All you thought you were, are you?”
Seth sniffed indignantly. “Hey, that’s Dr. Know-It-All to you, Prudence,” he countered.
“And that’s Ms. Holloway, to you, Dr. Know-It-All.”
He sidled up closer to her, mainly because he knew it bugged the hell out of her whenever he sidled in her presence. But for every step he took toward her, she took a step back. The nurse with whom she’d been conversing seemed to sense that her presence was no longer noticed, and slipped off nearly undetected. Seth braved another small step toward Prudence, and she, in turn, claimed another giant step in retreat. Doing so, however, rather impeded her progress, because it left her flat against the wall, just inches from a corner that effectively closed the trap.
Such an imprudent move on her part, Seth thought.
He smiled his most predatory smile, set down his plate of goodies and covered what little distance between them remained. Then he flattened one palm against the wall near her head and opened the other on the wall at his shoulder level. At last, he thought, he had fair Prudence where he wanted her.
Now if he could just get rid of the dozen other people present, maybe he could coax her around to his way of thinking. His way of thinking being, of course, that the two of them belonged together. Preferably close together. Preferably naked. Preferably horizontal. Though there was a lot to be said for vertical, too….
“You know,” he murmured smoothly, bringing his face closer to hers—no easy feat, seeing as how she stood a good eight inches shorter than he. “A lot of the nurses here—a lot of the doctors, too—call me something other than Dr. Know-It-All.”
“Do tell,” she remarked dryly.
She almost convinced him that she was completely unmoved by his nearness, but Seth, ever vigilant, had noted the way the pulse at the base of her throat had quickened when he drew closer. Now he noted further that, currently, that pulse was pretty much dancing a samba. He also saw that her cheeks had warmed to pink, that her eyelids were lowering over darkly passionate eyes, and that her lips had parted in faint—but undeniable—desire.
Well, well, well, what have we here? he wondered. He hadn’t had a chemistry lesson like this since he was an undergrad. Who knew?
He inhaled a slow, deep breath, then released it leisurely, intentionally fanning the bare skin of her throat when he did. Again her pulse jumped, and her pupils dilated to nearly eclipse the pale green of her irises. Oh, she did have lovely eyes, he thought. Lovely, radiant, passionate eyes.
Eyes that held no secrets.
And for the first time in two years, Seth began to realize that Prudence wasn’t quite as unaffected by him as she tried to let on. Now if he could just get her to admit that to herself….
“No, what they call me behind my back,” he said softly, “is Dr…. Irresistible. Of course, I myself,” he hastily qualified, “much prefer Dr. Irrepressible, which, to my way of thinking, suits me much better. Dr. Irresistible is just a tad forward, don’t you think? I would never presume to be irresistible. Even if,” he couldn’t quite stop himself from adding, “many women do find me just that.”
Prudence expelled a sound that was decidedly unimpressed. But her pulse still jumped, and her eyes still grew dangerously dark. “Yeah, and some of them,” she said, just a little shakily, Seth noticed, “me included, call you Dr.—”
Quickly, he moved one hand to her hair, skimming his palm deftly over the dark curls in an effort to unbalance her and to cut off whatever she had been about to say. And, he might as well just admit it, because it was something he’d been wanting to do for a long, long time.
“—Insufferable,” she finished, anyway, jerking her head to the side in an effort to end his soft caress. “They—and I—call you Dr. Insufferable.”
Well, this was news to Seth. No one, absolutely no one—no one of the feminine persuasion, at any rate—found him insufferable. Inspirational, impressive, incomparable, intrepid, sure. And of course, irresistible. And okay, maybe impertinent, impetuous, irreverent and incorrigible, on occasion. But insufferable? Him? No way. That was…inconceivable.
Seth shook his head—imperceptibly—and forced himself to turn the page in his mental thesaurus. Unfortunately, moving from the letter I just landed him with a bunch of J words—jerk, jester, juvenile, for example—which were no help at all. So he turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
“Prudence,” he said, swallowing a chuckle, as always overcome by the inappropriateness of her name, “I think you’re making that up.”
The sound she expelled this time was even less impressed than the last one she’d made—but was still much too shaky for it to be nonchalant. “You have no idea,” she told him.
He nodded. Of that, if nothing else, he was certain. Where Prudence Holloway was concerned, he never knew quite what to think. In spite of his conviction, however, he murmured, “Oh, really? Funny, but I actually have a few ideas where you’re concerned.”
“None of them decent, I’m sure,” she said.
He smiled. “Well, of course not. Where would be the fun in that?”
“Dr. Mahoney,” she began.
“Seth,” he quickly corrected her. “How many times have I asked you to call me Seth?”
“Dr. Mahoney,” she tried again, more forcefully this time. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m due at the nurses’ station.”
Her voice was breathless and a couple of octaves lower than normal. Something about it made Seth’s blood run hot—well, hotter than usual, anyway—and he couldn’t quite bring himself to move out of her way, even though that was clearly what she was instructing him to do. He only continued to study her face and to lightly twine a dark curl around his index finger. And he realized then that the color of her eyes reminded him of the shallow waters that lapped at Caribbean beaches.
Someday, he thought, letting his mental meanderings drift to fantasies again, maybe she’d accompany him on a little trip down to that part of the world. They could charter a sailboat, just the two of them, and sail indolently from one tranquil harbor to another. They could make sweet love beneath a blue sky and fiery sun, swim naked in cool waters, and then, when the moon hung high in the sky like a bright silver dollar, make love again. Yeah, if only she’d—
“Now.”
That single word, uttered with such force and insistence, snapped Seth right back to the present. Fine. She didn’t want to take a little sentimental journey right now. He could handle that. He could. He had other things he had to do, anyway. Like go home—alone—and eat dinner—alone—and spend Friday night doing nothing—alone.
Damn, he hated being alone.
As he took a step backward—a very slow step backward—he realized he simply could not let Prudence go without making one last effort to win her over.
“So you’ll be getting off at eleven tonight, right?” he asked smoothly. “Still time to enjoy a romantic evening with someone you love.”
She smiled seductively at his suggestion, then nodded slowly, temptingly, as she unfolded her fingers over the center of his chest. At her unexpected, not-so-subtle acquiescence, Seth’s heart began to hammer hard in his chest, his body heat shot up into triple figures, and his libido hummed with anticipation. Wow. This was going to be easier than he thought.
“You know,” she said in a low, throaty voice, “you’re right. I will have time to spend the evening with someone I love. And I know just the guy I’d like to spend it with.”
Seth’s heart took flight at the look in her eyes. Finally she was coming around. Finally she would admit what he’d known all along. Finally she was going to accept the fact that the two of them were meant for each other. At least for one delirious evening.
“Do you now?” he asked.
She nodded that slow, seductive nod again, smiled that tempting little smile. “Oh, yeah. He’s gorgeous, smart, fun to be around…”
“Yes?” Seth prodded.
“He’s someone I’m looking forward to spending, not just the evening, but the entire night with.”
“Do tell.”
“And not just tonight, either, but every night.”
“Yes?”
“For a long, long time.”
“Oh, Prudence,” Seth murmured low, for her ears only. “It’s about time you accepted the unavoidable fact of what’s happening between us.”
He was reaching up to cover her hand with his when her charming smile turned menacing. Before he realized what was happening, she flattened her palm fiercely and shoved him backward. Hard. He righted himself just before toppling backward onto his…his…pride, but could do nothing about the heat of embarrassment that flamed inside him as he watched her move easily away.
“My son,” she tossed over her shoulder as she went. “I plan to spend this evening, and every other evening I have available, with Tanner.” And with that, she spun around and left the break room, without a backward glance.
You idiot, Seth chastised himself as he watched her go. When would he learn? Prudence Holloway had never, did never, would never, want him. Why couldn’t he just leave it alone? Why did he keep going back for more, when it was abundantly clear that his efforts were pointless?
Because he just couldn’t stay away, he answered himself immediately. That was why. She was Nurse Irresistible. And besides, there was a hint of something…something indefinable…in her eyes whenever she looked at him. He couldn’t quite say for sure what it was, but it was there whenever he drew close enough to see it. And it was that something indefinable that held Seth in thrall. Until he could find out exactly what it was that bound the two of them—because there was most definitely something binding them—he couldn’t let it go.
He told himself that it was the heat of two dozen eyes on his back—and not because Prudence had shoved him aside—that made him lose his appetite. He spun around as quickly as she had, only to find everyone else in the room dropping their gazes hastily to their plates. Sheepishly he tugged his necktie to straighten it, then rolled his shoulders as if totally unconcerned.
Then, to the room at large, he said, “She wants me. You know she wants me. It’s obvious. I’m—almost—sure of it.”
As he had known it would, a ripple of laughter lightened the mood, and Seth punctuated it with a dashing smile of his own. It was widely known at Seton General that he and Prudence indulged in such antics frequently. Everyone knew it was all in fun. Everyone knew it was all in jest. Everyone knew that Seth wasn’t really as crazy about Prudence as he let on. And everyone knew that Prudence was being a good sport about it all.
Everyone knew that.
Everyone except Seth. And maybe, just maybe, Prudence. He only wished he knew what to do about clarifying it all for the two of them. And he only wished he could put whatever it was burning between them to rest, once and for all.
Two
Even after detouring through the women’s room on her way, by the time Pru sat down at the nurses’ station in neurology, she still hadn’t quite recovered from her little…whatever it had been…with Dr. Mahoney. Her heart was still hammering hard in her chest, her blood was still fizzing at light speed through her veins, the strings of her heart were still zinging to beat the band, and her brain was a muddled mass of confusion and—dammit—desire.
Worse than all that, however, her stomach was grumbling hungrily in protest of the fact that it had been anticipating a plate full of cookies by now. Hey, too bad, Pru told her noisy belly. There was nothing to be done for it. No way would she go back to that break room as long as Seth Mahoney was still in the building. Or still in the state of New Jersey, for that matter.
Boy, she’d really been looking forward to scarfing up a few of those springerlies, too, broken, burned bottoms and all. She’d had to miss lunch today, because Tanner had been clingy and fretful, and she just hadn’t had it in her to disregard his demands.
He was such a great kid, after all, and normally made surprisingly few demands on her. Usually he was a pretty free-wheeling, independent little guy, which had made his moodiness today all the more distressing. And since he’d been so unwilling to part with Pru at the hospital’s day care center, she’d used up what little time she had left before her shift to play with him and read to him, in the hope that it would make his transition a little easier.
Ultimately that plan had worked out nicely. By the time she’d left him in the care of her good buddy, Teresa, the little guy was cooing and laughing and having a great time. But then Pru had been cranky and out of sorts, thanks to being so hungry. She’d planned on eating enough cookies to tide her over until her 6:30 dinner break. But she wasn’t about to return to the neurology department’s engagement party for Renee, with Dr. Mahoney on the make.
Then again, she thought dryly, when was Seth Mahoney not on the make? He was the biggest lurer of women to come along since a snake unwound itself from around an apple tree. And she did not want to find herself the object of his temptation. Again. It had been hard enough to resist him the first time he’d tried tempting her—which had been about thirty seconds after starting his first shift at Seton General two years ago. The second time he had tried tempting her had been even more difficult—and had been about forty-five seconds after starting his first shift at Seton General two years ago. Not to mention the third time—sixty seconds after starting his first shift. And the fourth time, at two minutes. And the…
Well, it just never got any easier, that was all. And just how dumb did that make her, wanting to succumb to a man like him, even if she had been successful—so far—in keeping her distance? Seth Mahoney was the very last kind of man Pru needed in her life. He was incorrigible. Immature. Impulsive. Even if he was Dr. Irresistible.
Which, fine, she conceded, was a suitable enough nickname for him, because he was sort of…you know…irresistible. But that was only because he was charming and cute and, okay, a little adorable, too, in a blond, blue-eyed, all-American-boy kind of way. And, okay, so maybe there were times—not that many, though—when Pru caught herself ogling him as he strode down a hallway or when she ran into him in the cafeteria or some such thing.
And yeah, yeah, sure, okay, he showed up in her dreams on occasion, in a fashion that was anything but professional—mainly because he was undressed and the two of them were…well, never mind. And all right, yes, truth be told, she’d even fantasized about him once or twice when she was fully conscious and he was fully clothed.
But honestly. A more philandering, womanizing playboy she had never met. Ever since his arrival at Seton General, Seth Mahoney had left a string of broken hearts, of both the RN and MD variety, in his glorious, blond, blue-eyed wake. He was everything she didn’t want or need in a man. Succumbing to him would be…would be…
Well, it would be totally irresponsible.
And irresponsible was the one thing that Pru Holloway totally, absolutely, definitely, unequivocally, at all costs, avoided being. These days, at least. No way would she tolerate being called irresponsible. So no way was she going to take up with Seth Mahoney.
He was in no way husband-and-father material, and these days that was exactly what Pru wanted and needed—and deserved—in a man. Someone who was upright, forthright, do right. Someone who wanted to build a family, not abandon one. Seth Mahoney had way too much in common with Tanner’s father, she recalled, not for the first time. Both were golden-haired, ocean-eyed charmers. Both had a way of making a woman—any woman—feel as if she were their one-and-only, forever-after kind of love. Both were totally irresistible.
And both had the emotional maturity of thirteen-year-olds.
A year and a half ago, the day Pru had realized she was pregnant, she had hesitated before telling her boyfriend, Kevin, the news. She’d been stunned at first by the knowledge of her impending motherhood—the two of them had been using birth control but had become part of that slight percentage of failure. Yet after giving her condition some serious thought, Pru had been surprised to discover, even then, that she wasn’t all that upset to find herself pregnant.
In the long run—once the shock had worn off, anyway—she’d come to understand that it wasn’t the idea of impending motherhood that had really bothered her then. No, what had really bothered her had been the idea of marrying Kevin. As much as she’d told herself she loved the guy, Pru just hadn’t been able to quite visualize living with him…day after day after day…week after week after week…month after month after month…for the rest of her natural life. Deep down she’d known, even then, that he wasn’t a forever-after kind of guy.
But she had wanted to behave responsibly, and that meant telling Kevin he would be a father and then marrying Kevin so that their baby would benefit from the presence of two loving parents. Unfortunately, she discovered right away that there were a couple of unforeseen factors she hadn’t fully considered where their relationship was concerned. One of those factors was that Kevin was a complete jerk. The other factor was that said jerk took off for Jerkland the day after Pru broke the news to him, and he was never heard from again.
They had made a date to meet for dinner, to talk about their situation once Kevin had had twenty-four hours to get used to the idea of his impending fatherhood. But Kevin had evidently decided what he wanted to do in about twenty-four seconds. Because he never showed up at the restaurant. And when Pru went to his apartment, she discovered that it had been cleaned out. Completely. When she went to the Chevron station where he worked, she was told he had quit his job that morning and had left no forwarding address where he could be contacted. According to his boss, he’d cited “family problems” as the reason for his abrupt departure.
