Wanted: Parents for a Baby!. Laura Iding

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СКАЧАТЬ fill a large cup with ice water. The hardest thing about working second shift was the inability to fall asleep once she got home, and the last thing she needed was the added impact of caffeine zipping through her system.

      She sat down at a small table near the back of the cafeteria and quickly dug into her salad. A few nurses greeted her, but none of them lingered. Obviously the whole hospital was busy, not just her neonatal unit.

      She kept an eye on her watch as she ate, knowing she needed to return to the unit before Dr. Ryan brought over his latest patient.

      With any luck he’d be busy with the new admission for a while, giving her some badly needed breathing space. She really didn’t understand what her problem was around him. There were plenty of other single guys around. James Green, one of the ER doctors, had asked her out just last month.

      Too bad she hadn’t felt one iota of interest in him. She’d politely declined James’s offer, refusing to feel bad at the dejected expression in his eyes.

      Her divorce had only been final for a little over a year. Six months ago she’d moved to Cedar Bluff to start afresh. It was too soon to enter the dating scene.

      So why was she always so keenly aware of Dr. Ryan Murphy?

      No clue. She shook her head, scraping the bottom of her salad bowl to get the last bit, before wiping her mouth with a napkin and rising to her feet.

      Ten minutes. Not bad, she mused as she headed back toward the elevators. Walking up three flights of stairs seemed daunting after she’d practically inhaled her meal, so she took an elevator up.

      She got off the elevator on the third floor and headed down the east hallway toward the neonatal unit.

      Cassie frowned when she saw an older woman, probably in her midsixties, leaning heavily on a cane near the doorway. It looked as if the woman was trying to peer through the small window to see inside the unit.

      “Good evening. Can I help you with something?” Cassie asked.

      The woman started badly, spinning around so quickly she almost lost her balance. Cassie darted forward to slide a supportive arm around the woman’s waist.

      “Easy there, I don’t want you to fall,” Cassie said. “Is there something you need? Are you waiting to go in to visit?”

      “Oh, no. I’m not waiting to visit. I … um …” The woman seemed flustered and avoided her gaze. “I was visiting a friend and thought I’d come over to peek at the babies. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break any rules.”

      Since the woman obviously felt bad, Cassie decided she wouldn’t push it. “That’s okay, but you can’t go in there unless you’re related to one of the babies. It’s a locked unit to protect them from being taken.”

      “Oh, of course. I—I’m sorry. I have to go.” The woman took a step and leaned on her cane, making her way back toward the elevators. Cassie waited a moment, watching her.

      It wasn’t until she was back at Emma’s bedside that she realized the woman might have being trying to catch a glimpse of Emma. Surely the news of their safe-haven baby had already spread throughout the small town of Cedar Bluff.

      She wished she’d asked the woman for her name. Had she been peeking into the unit out of pure curiosity?

      Or because she knew Emma’s mother?

CHAPTER THREE

      RYAN KEPT A close eye on the newborn baby boy for the next hour, relieved when the umbilical-cord blood-gas results weren’t as bad as he’d feared.

      The infant seemed to be doing well, so he drifted over to where Cassie was working with Emma.

      “How’s Emma doing?” he asked.

      “Good,” she said with a tired smile. “I haven’t seen any seizure activity since we started her on the medication.”

      “Glad to hear it.” He forced himself to tear his gaze away from her to focus on the baby, although he was very much aware of Cassie’s warm vanilla scent. “Isn’t your shift ending soon?”

      “In another hour,” she agreed. “I was supposed to be off tomorrow, but one of the nurses called in sick, so I agreed to come back for the day shift. Gives me a good excuse to check up on Emma.”

      He wasn’t surprised she’d agreed to come back in less than eight hours. Over the past few months he’d discovered Cassie was always jumping in to help cover shifts as needed.

      Despite his attempts to keep his distance, he found himself curious about why she devoted so much time and energy to her work. He sensed she was using work as a distraction from not having a personal life, the same way he was.

      He told himself the similarities between them didn’t matter, since he wasn’t interested in having a relationship.

      “They should let you leave early,” he said with a frown. “You deserve to get some rest.”

      “I’ll be fine,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve doubled back before and it’s not too bad.”

      He was hardly in a position to argue, since his job required him to be on call often. Too often, according to Victoria, who’d accused him of staying late at work on purpose. Had he? Looking back now, he had to admit there may have been a kernel of truth to Victoria’s accusations.

      He thrust the useless guilt aside. “I’m going to get some rest in the call room, but page me if you need anything.”

      “We will. But don’t worry, I promise we won’t bother you unless it’s important.”

      For a moment he was taken aback by her statement. Was she actually trying to protect him? The concept was so foreign he could barely wrap his mind around it. “Call me anytime,” he corrected, before turning away.

      The attending physicians’ call room was located just outside the neonatal intensive care unit, close enough for emergency situations but with enough soundproofing to be able to get some sleep.

      Ryan kept his scrubs on as he stretched out on the narrow bed, so that he could rush out in a hurry for an emergency. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in an effort to relax.

      Unfortunately, Cassie’s face, etched with the deeply caring expression he’d seen while feeding Barton, bloomed in his mind. He cursed under his breath, knowing that if he didn’t find a way to pry her out of his mind, he’d never get any sleep.

      Too bad Cassie wasn’t the type to go for a nice sweaty bout of no-strings sex. Because unfortunately, since he’d destroyed his chance to have a family, that’s all he had left to offer.

      Cassie groaned when her alarm went off at the ungodly hour of six o’clock in the morning. It felt as if she’d barely fallen asleep, as she’d tossed and turned until well past midnight, her thoughts darting from Dr. Ryan to Emma and back again. With a heavy sigh she dragged herself out of bed and stumbled toward the shower.

      The hot water helped wake her up, although she wouldn’t be СКАЧАТЬ