LITMIR.BIZ

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underestimated him.

       His cockiness was titanium strength.

       “I’m the most qualified orthopedic surgeon in Southern Michigan,” he continued. “Are you really going to waste precious time booking appointments with other specialists who are going to tell you exactly what I just did? All because you’re too proud to acknowledge a kiss? Or are you too stubborn to admit how much you liked it?” he added in a low, rough voice.

       He’d done the impossible for the second time in her life. He’d made her hyperaware of her weakness, not to mention speechless with the knowledge. She responded precisely as she had that first time on Sunset Beach.

       By turning and walking away.

       Late the next morning, Colleen and her mother conferred across the hospital bed, their voices hushed because Brendan lay sleeping between them. He’d awakened in the recovery room earlier, but he’d soon fallen asleep once he’d been hooked up for his first round of IV antibiotics. To Colleen, he looked smaller than usual lying motionless in that bed, more vulnerable than she cared to consider with the tubes running from his arm to the machine administering the medication.

       “I wish Dr. Fielding would come and examine him,” Brigit Kavanaugh said as she studied her grandson, her brow creased with worry.

       Colleen experienced a twinge of annoyance at her mother’s uncertainty about Eric Reyes operating on Brendan. Guilt followed her mild irritation. What right did she have to be annoyed at her mother when she’d expressed even worse doubts about him just yesterday afternoon?

       It hadn’t taken her long to work past her wariness about Eric. Of course she wanted the most qualified surgeon available. Brendan’s well-being was her top priority, and if that meant she had to squirm in discomfort because of the identity of the most qualified candidate, so be it. She heard from practically everyone on the planet how skilled, smart and gifted Eric was at his job. Working with him for the past year plus had proven to her the accolades weren’t overrated. He was talented, all right, even if his approach with her patients had occasionally set her on edge. He’d been known to trump her clinical opinion a time or two.

       But truth be told, Eric’s kindness and attention both toward Colleen and Brendan before and after the surgery had cooled her uncertainties considerably.

       “Brendan is under Dr. Reyes’s care, Mom,” she said quietly. “He says the surgery couldn’t have gone any better. He assured me the wound has been completely cleaned. Brendan is going to be fine.”

       Colleen waited, her breath burning in her lungs, sure she knew what her mother would say next. He’s only a specialist because he took all of our money in that lawsuit and bought himself a medical degree. She’d learned to dread her mother’s hurt and defensiveness every time the crash or anything relating to it was mentioned.

       But the bitter words never came.

       Brigit had changed a lot in the last two months, ever since Liam—Colleen’s brother—had confronted her about her past; ever since old Kavanaugh family secrets had been exposed, secrets that revealed why Derry Kavanaugh had been so upset and intoxicated on that fateful night sixteen years ago. The Kavanaugh family was still reeling from the revelation of those painful truths, perhaps Brigit—the secret-keeper—most of all.

       Brigit had not only hidden the fact that her daughter Deidre was another man’s child for Deidre’s entire childhood, she’d also withheld the identity of Deidre’s father until just a few months ago.

       At times like this, Colleen found herself missing her mother’s anger. It was better than the quiet, sad resignation that seemed to have replaced the bitterness.

       “I know, but still…Dr. Fielding delivered Brendan. He knew Darin,” Brigit added, referring to Colleen’s husband, who had died in a special operation in Afghanistan three years ago. Brigit gently tucked the blanket around Brendan’s waist. “We’ve known Dr. Fielding for so long now.”

       They’d known Eric Reyes longer, Colleen thought. Her mother hardly needed reminding of that, though. One of the innocent victims of the crash had been Eric Reyes’s mother, Miriam. Another victim had been his sister, Natalie. Natalie had escaped the tragedy with her life, but she’d spent the better part of her eleventh year in the hospital, suffering from severe injuries and scarring sustained in the accident. Eric had been both father and mother to his little sister since he was eighteen years old.

       It was no wonder Eric could be so cool and businesslike at times, Colleen admitted to herself. He’d hardly ever had the opportunity to be a carefree teenager. None of the kids in the Itani, Kavanaugh or Reyes families had really had much of an opportunity for that. At least, not since the crash.

       She stood like she’d bounced off springs when the object of her thoughts walked into the room. She was surprised to see him so soon after he’d conferred with her so extensively postoperatively only around an hour ago. He was so tall that he seemed to fill up the small, curtained-off area of the hospital room completely. Or maybe it wasn’t just his physical stature that caused her reaction, but the strength of his formidable personality.

       He nodded at Colleen in a friendly, professional way.

       “Out like a light, huh?” he murmured as he studied his patient.

       “He’s been asleep for about forty-five minutes. Should I wake him?” Colleen asked.

       “No, he’s fine. The nurse took his vitals before he fell asleep, and he looks likes he’s resting easy. I’ll come back in a bit and check on him.”

       Colleen nodded. She had a feeling that most surgeons didn’t offer this much bedside attention, and she was thankful.

       She was also a little confused by his solicitation, but she thought she might understand it. Colleen had worked as a social worker in hospitals for most of her adult life. She was familiar with the professional courtesy employees in the medical field extended one another when it came to caring for family members. Besides, thanks to Liam and Natalie’s flourishing romance, Eric and Colleen were related now, in a sense. Colleen had managed to deny that connection in her mind for the past several months as she watched her brother and Eric’s sister growing closer and closer. It seemed impossible to ignore it under these new circumstances, however.

       “Mrs. Kavanaugh,” Eric said politely to her mother, “are you comfortable? Would you like something to drink?”

       Color stained her mother’s pale cheeks. She wondered if it was the first time Eric and her mother had met with anything less than animosity since the courtroom proceedings following the crash. She couldn’t help but feel thankful to him for his kindness.

       “I’m fine,” Brigit said softly, her gaze averted. “Thank you for taking such good care of my grandson.”

       “He’s a strong kid. Smart, too. I had nature on my side as his doctor.” He glanced at Colleen. “I’ll just come back in a short while.”

       “Thanks,” Colleen said.

       She hadn’t meant for the word to come out sounding so pressured…so earnest. Maybe it was his unexpected kindness toward her mother that had made her sound that way. His gaze flickered over her face, and his small smile faded. Their gazes locked. For a split second, she was unguarded. She felt it: that connection that took place whenever she looked—really looked—into his eyes. For the first time, she admitted that jolt of awareness was the reason she’d been so determined to avoid his presence for over a year.

       She glanced away, feeling breathless.

       “Of course,” she heard him say stiffly before he left the room.

       Her mother picked up a magazine and began to leaf through the pages. Colleen suspected she was trying to be tactful by not discussing Eric. What did one say, precisely, in these unusual circumstances?

       The silence stretched, interrupted only by the soft beeps of the IV machine and the distant sound of voices at the nurses’ station. She had nothing to distract her from recalling that

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