The Doctor's Baby Dare. Michelle Celmer

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      “How do you figure?”

      “Until they find Janey’s mother, or get her into foster care, you and I are the only ‘parents’ she has. She may be a ward of the state, but it’s up to us to see that she gets the best care. That’s a huge responsibility.”

      “You’re right,” she said, sounding cautiously optimistic. “Maybe that’s why I have this deep need to protect her.”

      “Right now, she needs protecting.”

      She looked up at him and there were those lips again. Plump and juicy and pink. She had pale, flawless skin and the brightest, clearest green eyes that he had ever seen.

      He would never forget the day he’d met her, when she’d walked into the staff meeting and the administrator had introduced them. He had been totally blown away. He’d probably held her hand a little too long when he shook it, and all through the meeting he hadn’t been able to stop staring at her. Which, in retrospect, might have seemed a little creepy. Maybe they’d just gotten off on the wrong foot.

      “I’m not sure if I’ve ever said it, but you’re a really good doctor,” she said.

      He wiggled his brows and said, “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

      “Now if we could just do something about your personality,” she grumbled with an exasperated shake of her head, but there was the hint of a smile, and a twinkle of something sly and impish in her eyes. She was teasing him.

      “Admit it,” he said, teasing her right back. “I’m starting to grow on you.”

      “I admit nothing,” she said, nose in the air, trying not to smile, but he could see that she was having as much fun as he was. “Though I will say that after this, it might be a little more difficult to dislike you.”

      He grinned and wiggled his brows. “Then my evil plan is working.”

      * * *

      Clare laughed. She couldn’t help it. Because it was just so Parker. And boy did it irritate her that she knew him well enough to say that. Five minutes ago she’d felt lower than low; now he had her laughing. How did he do that?

      Try as she might to push him away, he always pushed back a little harder. Was this campaign to keep him at arm’s length a futile waste of time? Was falling for him an inevitability?

      She refused to believe that. She would just dig extra deep for the will to resist him.

      No meant no, not maybe.

      “You know that I don’t date people from work,” she said. “Especially doctors.”

      He grinned. “Who said anything about dating?”

      The way he was looking at her mouth... If only he knew how tempting that really was.

      On second thought, it was probably good that he didn’t know. “I don’t sleep with people at work either,” she said.

      “We definitely won’t be sleeping. And we won’t be doing it at work.” His grin was teasing, but there was a fire in his eyes, and it was one hell of a blaze. He was so damned sexy and he smelled so good. He’d missed a small strip of stubble on the underside of his chin. Any other man would look sloppy or unkempt. On Parker it looked sexy and charming. And she wanted to kiss him there. And pretty much anywhere else.

      Okay, why was she saying no? He had a body to die for; he was beyond gorgeous. Not to mention nice, with a really good sense of humor, and she had the feeling that he would not disappoint in the bedroom. Maybe, if they could keep it a secret...

      No, no, no!

      What was wrong with her? She was a strong, independent woman. When she made up her mind about something, there was no changing it. So why this sudden ambivalence? What was it about being around this man that made her go all gooey?

      The dynamics were fairly simple: rich doctor, bad.

      Parker was watching her, looking amused. “Penny for your thoughts.”

      Considering the semismug grin he wore, her inner struggle must have been pretty obvious.

      Swell.

      “Tell you what,” he said. “Since you seem to be having a rough time with this, I’m going to give you an easy out.”

      Why would he do that?

      Suspicious, she asked, “What’s the catch?”

      “No catch. If you can honestly tell me that you aren’t attracted to me, and that you want me to leave you alone, I promise I’ll back off.”

      Really? After all this time he would really just give up? “I’m not attracted to you,” she said.

      His smile was smug. “That was great. Now tell it to me, cupcake, not your shoes.”

      Darn, she was hoping he wouldn’t notice the lack of eye contact. The truth was, she was a terrible liar. As a child she could never get away with anything.

      There was no avoiding it—she had to look at him, and the instant their eyes met, she was totally tongue-tied. He seemed to know every button to push and he pushed them liberally. But that was what womanizers did, right?

      “You are evil,” she said.

      “Nah, just irresistible.” He stood and held his hand out to give her a boost. “We’d better get back on the floor before someone misses us.”

      Without thinking, she took his hand, realizing as he pulled her up how insanely stupid it had been. Though they bumped elbows and shoulders occasionally, other than a handshake when she met him, they had never deliberately touched each other. And while she didn’t actually see any sparks arcing between them as his hand wrapped around hers, boy did she feel them. And so did he.

      “Interesting,” he said, with a slight arch of his brow. “Very interesting.”

      That single word spoke volumes. But mostly it just told her that she was in big trouble.

Three

      Her arms loaded with bags of donated clothes, Clare trudged through the brisk February wind to her car in the staff lot. It had gotten so cold the puddles of rain from earlier that day had turned to patches of ice. All she wanted now was to go home, take a long hot shower, crawl into bed and forget today ever happened. Although mostly she just wanted to forget the part with Parker.

      Janey had begun to show very slight signs of improvement over the course of the day, but she was nowhere close to being out of the woods. Fragile as she was, her condition could turn on a dime. Until they could figure out what was wrong, they were treating the symptoms, not the cause.

      Clare left the night staff very strict instructions to contact her if Janey went into distress again. She wasn’t obligated to come in on her off hours, but this wasn’t about obligation. And hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

      Shivering, Clare popped the СКАЧАТЬ