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And now that the emergency was over, Casey was left with the strong feeling that he needed to see this woman again. Not because she was pretty, or sexy, though she was both those things. No, he felt a pull that had nothing to do with the usual reasons he sought out a woman.
“Jackie, I—”
She shifted her gaze from him to the floor and backed up a step. The movements were slight, but enough to make his confidence falter.
“I’ve got to get back in there. We need to treat a couple of fractured bones. Our baby’s still in the operating room…”
Our baby. He liked that she’d said it that way, connecting the two of them to the child they’d saved. “Is she okay? Do you think I could see her?”
The expression in her eyes softened. “That’s nice of you to be concerned. But her operation won’t be over for a while yet. I’m not sure if they’ll allow visitors after that.”
“Well, until they locate her next of kin, I feel kind of responsible for the squirt.”
“I do, too. But they will find her father soon, don’t you think?”
“Probably working on it right now.”
Jackie started to leave, then turned back. “Thanks for getting us to the hospital so quickly.”
Seeing Jackie smile at him, Casey felt an unaccustomed twisting of his heart. He really did feel the most inexplicable concern for that child—a paternal response that was shockingly out of character. He hadn’t been faking it just to win Jackie over.
But he had to admit that in the past, he wouldn’t have been above using tactics like that.
He suddenly felt ashamed.
“Jackie?”
She paused again, and he could tell she was impatient to move on.
“What time does your shift end?”
“Not for ten more hours. It was nice to meet you, Officer Guthrie.”
Then she was gone, having made it all too clear that she had no intention of seeing him again.
CASEY RODE ACROSS the street to the gas station, where he washed his regulation bike and filled it with gas. He chatted briefly with the woman at the till—he and Debbie were big fans of the Mighty Ducks—then headed the few blocks back to the station to park his bike in the garage and hand in his tickets for the day.
He found his lieutenant reading copy straight from the fax machine. Tank Gordon, in his forties but so clean-cut he could pass for ten years younger, checked him out.
“That was quite a mess on PCH today. You okay? What happened?”
“I’m fine. I was on my way back to the station at the end of my shift. The collision happened right in front of my eyes. First a sedan burst into flames. A tractor-trailer rig right next to it lost control and overturned. Cars piled up on both sides of the highway.” He shook his head, remembering.
“You left the scene without clearing an exit route for the emergency vehicles.”
Casey frowned. Was he being reprimanded here? “Backup had arrived, sir. We had lots of men on hand. I figured it was more important to get an injured baby to the hospital.”
“I heard.” The lieutenant was holding a grin in check.
“Huh?”
“They’re running footage on the evening news. Picked yourself a pretty little nurse, I’ll say that for you. Reminds me of Sally Fields in her younger days.”
Used to being teased about his ability to attract lovely women, Casey bristled this time. “Jackie Kellison was amazing out there. I’ll bet she saved more than a couple of lives.”
“So you didn’t notice her huge brown eyes? Or long, bare legs?”
“Cut the B.S., Lieutenant. In case you’ve forgotten, we had an injured baby on that bike, too. Her mother was killed in the crash.”
The lieutenant sobered with that. “Yeah. I know.”
“Any luck locating next of kin?” In those hours he’d paced the ER floor, Casey had worried a lot about the father. He couldn’t stop imagining the man coming home from work and wondering where his wife and baby were. Then the phone would ring and his life, as he’d known it, would come to an end….
Lieutenant Gordon turned to watch the fax machine slowly regurgitate a new sheet of paper. “Actually, the baby’s family is turning out to be a problem.”
“What do you mean, a problem?”
“We haven’t been able to ID the woman. And that car she was driving?” Gordon pulled out the latest fax and handed it to him. “Take a look at this.”
JACKIE’S SHIFT ENDED at dawn. She didn’t change out of her uniform since the shorts and top she’d been wearing yesterday afternoon were too torn and bloody to salvage. At the water fountain, she stopped to pop two muscle relaxants. She’d considered taking them earlier in her shift, but had worried that the medication might make her drowsy.
As a result she could barely move her head more than a couple of inches to either side. She hadn’t been this bad at the beginning of her shift, but now her muscles were seizing in protest. Driving would be impossible, but that was okay.
She no longer owned a car.
Declining a sympathetic colleague’s offer of a ride home, she took the stairs up to the infant care ward on the third floor. She had to see the baby to find out about his—no, her—eyes.
She checked the board at the nursing station and saw an infant listed as “Jane Doe.” She nodded to a nurse sitting behind a computer monitor. The buxom woman, in her early forties, was ponderously inputting chart information into the system.
“Excuse me. Is Jane Doe the baby from the accident on PCH yesterday?” Twelve hours had passed since Jackie’s shift had begun. The accident had occurred on Monday, so it was now Tuesday morning, very early.
The nurse stopped typing. She seemed glad for the interruption and eyed Jackie curiously. “Yes, poor thing, that’s her. The cops still haven’t figured out who she is.”
“But the accident happened over twelve hours ago.” Something was wrong here. “The mother died in the crash, but surely they must have located her father by now.” Her father and, Jackie hoped, a mess of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. As far as she was concerned, the more family the better.
“Well, the cop who keeps checking up on her is doing a good job looking after her for the time being.”
Cop? Was Casey Guthrie…? She shot a speculative glance down the corridor.
“He’s in with her right now,” the nurse confirmed. “Why don’t you go say hi? You two looked real good together on the six o’clock news.”
CHAPTER FOUR
JACKIE REGISTERED the woman’s teasing words with some confusion—until she remembered the reporters who’d been waiting outside the ER when Casey had driven up to the door yesterday.
It felt like forever ago now.
So they’d made the regional news broadcast. That meant her older brother Kell would know what had happened and be worrying. Of course, Nate had probably told him by now anyway. She’d have to phone them both.
“Thanks.” A hand to her sore neck, she set off down the wide corridor. The name Jane Doe was posted on the wall next to the second room on the left. She tapped the partially open door, then stepped inside.
And held her breath.
A tall, athletic man in jeans and a white T-shirt was holding a blanket-wrapped bundle and rocking back and forth on his heels like a seasoned parent. He held a cold compress gently against the patch on the baby’s eye. Jackie thought he might have been humming a soft tune, but he stopped as soon as he noticed her.
“Hi,” she said.
Casey Guthrie had changed out of uniform and cleaned himself up. Oh, did he look good. Now Jackie did care about her ratty hair and her awful, soiled uniform. She pulled out the elastic from her ponytail and tried to run her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t.
“Hi,” he said softly.
“How’s our Janey?” Jackie moved close enough to brush her fingers over the fuzz on the baby’s head. Though she’d expected the baby to wear an eye patch, the sight of it made her own eyes tear. She distracted herself by referring to the baby’s chart.
She checked the list of medications and saw everything she would have expected from mydriatics and cycloplegics, which would keep the pupil dilated, to the antibiotics that would ward off infection.
“She’ll have to wear that pressure patch for at least a day,” Jackie said.
“Yes. I was here when the surgeon stopped by to see how she was doing. As you suspected, there was a glass shard in her eye.” Casey broke the news in a quiet, sympathetic tone. “The doctors are hoping damage won’t be permanent, but at this point they just don’t know.”
“Oh, Casey.” She moved in close enough to kiss the little one’s forehead. “Does she seem to be in pain?”
“Mostly she’s been sleeping. Nurses have been in here ’round the clock. One just left to get a clean dressing.”
Jackie noticed Casey start his rocking motion again. “You’re good with kids. Do you have any?”
Though he didn’t wear a ring, she wasn’t going to simply assume he wasn’t married.
He grinned. “No wife. No kids. But I’m glad to get a little practice in. It may come in handy when my big brother starts a family.”
She noticed he didn’t say when he had kids. Did that mean he wasn’t planning a family for himself? A nurse bustled into the room then, and he handed Janey over to her—not before touching his forefinger to the side of the baby’s cheek.
Again, Jackie felt thick, bittersweet emotion stealing over her. Where was this child’s father? She blinked away a threatening tear, then noticed Casey wasn’t gazing at the baby anymore but at her.
Oh, Lord. He must be appalled at how awful she looked.
“I haven’t had a minute to myself since I saw you last,” she confessed. “I know I look like hell.” The accident had strained the ER department to the limit, even though they’d called in extra nurses and doctors.
“You were incredible.”
Casey’s eyes shone with admiration and, oddly, that made her want to cry again, too. What a crazy day.
“Hardly.” She turned to the chart once more, not knowing what else to do, and stared at the blurred lines of writing.
“You were a real hero today.”
“No.” She wasn’t. She’d helped some people a little, but there’d been too many she couldn’t help. That poor man incinerated in his own car. And Janey’s mother crushed and trapped under the tractor-trailer rig…
She blinked rapidly, but still felt her eyes growing damp.
No, she wasn’t a hero. She’d only done her job, and now she felt so…so tired. And more taxed emotionally than she’d admitted to her co-workers.
“Let me take you home.” Casey put an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. She was reminded of riding with him on the bike, leaning against his back for support. Strange that she’d felt comfortable enough to do that. She barely knew Casey Guthrie.
Gently she eased out from under his arm. “It’s nice of you to offer. But I can take a cab.” It was more than nice of him to offer, actually. If he’d been at the hospital for most of the night, he had to be exhausted, too.
She attempted a smile and a feeble joke. “Anyway, I don’t think I can take another ride on your motorbike.”
He laughed. “That belongs to the department. I do own a bike of my own, a sweet little Harley that I know you’d love.” He winked, acknowledging the joke. “But I brought my car this time. Come on.”
There was no polite way to avoid walking down the corridor with him and taking the elevator together to street level. Outside, in the faint light of dawn, he led her to the visitors’ lot and she made out the sleek lines of a luxury sports car.
A white convertible Saab. She thought sadly of her totaled Mazda. “Nice car. I didn’t know cops were paid that well.”
“We aren’t.” He unlocked the doors and held the passenger one open for her. She hesitated, then decided she had no energy to argue the point. If he wanted to be chivalrous, then she would let him. He waited until she was settled, then closed the door gently and loped to the driver’s side.
“As a man with no ties or responsibilities, which is the way my big brother, Adam, always describes me, I can afford to spend most of my money on toys.”
Toys meaning fast cars and motorcycles. And women, too? Jackie could only speculate. Now that the emergency was over, she was able to fully appreciate just what a hunk this motorcycle cop was. Besides his great build and hot smile, his eyes held a certain sparkle that she guessed would appeal to women. No doubt he had a very active social life.
Unlike her.
She gave him directions to her condo, a few blocks back from the beach. She’d moved here two years ago, after selling the house she’d lived in with Andrew. At the time, leaving had been painful, but no way could she have stayed. Even packing had been more than she could endure. Her brothers, bless their hearts, had taken care of all of that, including the garage, Andrew’s study, his clothes…
Don’t go there, Jackie.
As she concentrated on relaxing her muscles, she realized that the pain in her neck was easing. The medication she’d taken must have finally kicked in. She leaned back against the leather seat and closed her eyes. Casey, thank goodness, took the corners slow and easy. She wondered if he would drop her off on the street or come up to her door.
From what she’d seen of his manners so far, he would insist on walking her to the door. At which time she would thank him politely and he would leave. She would grab a quick bite to eat, then crash into bed.
Only, what if he asked if she would see him again?
He won’t. I’m not his type.
She was sure she’d pegged him right as a real ladies’ man. And she didn’t date that sort. Never had. Not even the bold and daring old Jackie had ever cared for that kind of a guy.
Okay, if that’s true, then stop thinking about him. And definitely stop looking at him as if you’d like to eat him for breakfast.
She tried thinking about what she would eat when she was home. What, if anything, did she have in her fridge right now? Her intended trip to the grocery store yesterday had been curtailed when the unseasonably warm weather had drawn her to the beach instead.
“Hungry?” Casey asked.
“You must have been reading my mind. I was trying to remember what I had in my fridge.”
“And?”
“Condiments, mostly,” she admitted. “Though I may have a pizza in the freezer.”
Just saying the word pizza made her realize how famished she was. Several hours ago she’d grabbed an energy bar and supplemented it with two or three colas since. But that was all.
