Mac's Bedside Manner

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Jolene’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to utter a retort that bordered on scathing. But then she shut it again. She despised being criticized—especially when she knew the criticism was warranted. She didn’t need anyone to point out that she was being waspish, but she’d had a rough day tacked on top of a rough night. She was close to running on empty.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” In her present mood, it cost her to admit this.

Mac cocked his head, as if honing in on a strange surprise. “Wow, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” All she heard was the howl of the wind as another gust came in, plastering her skirt against her legs.

“I swear that’s the sound of frost forming in hell.” Mac grinned broadly at her from the confines of his warm vehicle. “Boy, talk about a long reach—”

Her eyes blazed as if someone had set a fire within her. Mac could feel himself getting singed…and intrigued.

She didn’t know why she was wasting her time talking to him. “Look, my baby’s sick, my car’s sick and I think I’m getting sick. I don’t need this.”

Leaning over as far as he could, Mac twisted the latch on the passenger door and pushed it open. “No, you don’t. Get in.”

She looked back at her offending vehicle. It had been giving her trouble in one way or another since the day she’d bought it, but she wasn’t in a position to buy a new one right now. “I can’t just leave my car.”

“Nobody’s telling you to.” He looked at her meaningfully. “You do have enough sense to get in out of the rain, don’t you?”

More than anything, she wanted to give this hotshot surgeon a piece of her mind. But since discretion was the better part of valor, she held her tongue. If she was being fair, Jolene figured she had that one coming. But only that one. “Yes.”

Mac looked at her expectantly. She wasn’t moving. “Well?”

Blowing out a breath, Jolene opened the door farther and got in. And began dripping all over her side of the vehicle.

“Boy, you are wet, aren’t you?” Pressing the control panel on his armrest, Mac rolled up the window on her side quickly. He reached behind him and got the towel he’d forgotten to take out of the back seat the last time he’d been to the gym. He offered it to her. “It’s really coming down, isn’t it?”

Jolene used the towel to rub the water from her hair and then her face. Stopping abruptly, she sniffed the towel and gave him a curious look.

“I used it at the gym.” He saw her drop the towel as if it was contaminated. “Don’t worry, I just had it draped around my neck when I finished my workout. This doesn’t mean our sweat glands are bonding or anything.”

Still, she folded the towel, finished, then sighed. “I think I shrank an inch just standing there.”

Belated, he turned off the engine. The windows were beginning to fog up, creating an impression that they were sealed off from the rest of the world. He forced his mind back on the topic at hand before he let it drift with that image.

“Do you know what’s wrong with your car?”

Yes, she knew what was wrong with it. It was a lemon. It happened even with the most reliable of makes. Just her luck.

“Same thing that’s been wrong with it the last three times. The distributor cap malfunctioned.”

She didn’t look like a woman who would know a distributor cap from a baseball cap. The woman was one surprise after another.

Mac looked at her with renewed respect. “I’m impressed, Nurse DeLuca. All I know how to do is jump-start.” The startled, wary look that came into her eyes had him biting his tongue not to laugh. He figured that wouldn’t go over very well right now. “A car,” he added. “Jump-start a car.”

The smile on his lips was nothing short of sensual, she thought, and it was telegraphing strange electrical impulses all through her. God, she really was coming down with Amanda’s fever, wasn’t she? Jolene squelched the urge to feel her forehead.

“Since you probably don’t carry a spare distributor cap in your purse,” he began jokingly, although if she’d pulled one out, at this point he wouldn’t have been all that surprised, “have you called a tow truck?”

Jolene shook her head. Several drops went flying, one hitting him in the eye. “My battery’s dead.”

Taking out a handkerchief, Mac dabbed his eye. He gave her the once-over with his good one and commented, “Not from where I’m sitting.”

Jolene realized she was clenching her teeth. “My cell phone battery. I forgot to charge it last night.” She’d started to, but then Amanda had started crying again and she’d left the charger connected to the cell phone, but unplugged.

“Ah.” Nodding his head, he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned forward, digging into his back pocket. He noticed that Jolene was watching his every move as if she expected him to either jump on her bones, or turn into a vampire—possibly both. “Relax, there’s no need to be so tense. I’m just getting my cell phone out.”