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There was a knock on her office door, but before she could answer the man in question swaggered into the room and she had to remember herself. She had to control the flush that was threatening to creep up her neck and erupt in crimson blooms in her cheeks.
It was a damn pain in the rump that she was basically his boss and that he was so devilishly sexy. Reddish-gold hair, green eyes like emeralds. Even the scar on his cheek, which just grazed that deep, deep dimple, made the young woman she’d buried under her businesslike façade squeal just a little bit. He was the quintessential bad boy and she’d always had a soft spot for bad boys. Even though her mother had warned her not to give them the time of day.
Virginia and Shyanne had listened. Shyanne had got involved with a good boy. One who had been a golden son of De Smet, South Dakota. A golden son who had knocked Shyanne up and taken off on a football scholarship, leaving Shyanne in the lurch.
“You wanted to see me, Dr. Potter?”
“Yes. Please, take a seat.” Pulling at the collar of her blouse, she motioned to the seat in front of her desk. When he moved closer she caught a whiff of his scent. A clean scent of something spicy but rugged and the smell made her insides flutter. With a calming breath she folded her hands neatly in front of her on her blotter. “The board has asked me to speak with you.”
A brief smile quirked on his lips as he sat down. “Again?”
“Yes. Are you surprised?”
“Not really.I did happen to catch the expression of some of those investors today.”
“You think it’s funny?”
Gavin cocked his head to one side. “A bit.”
Virginia bit her lip and silently counted to ten. “I managed to smooth things over.”
He rolled his eyes. “Look, can I lay something out for you, Dr. Potter?”
She was stunned. “Of course, by all means.”
“I don’t care what the board approves or disapproves of. I don’t care if they think the way I practice medicine is barbaric.”
“I don’t think they actually said barbaric, Dr. Brice.”
He grinned. “Please, call me Gavin.”
Virginia swallowed the lump in her throat. It was the first time since they’d met that he’d asked her to use his first name. Not that they’d had much social interaction, besides work-related conversations, and these seemingly frequent discussions about the board and his disregard for following hospital policies.
“Gavin, if you’re unhappy, perhaps there’s something we can do, or I can do, to make your practice here better?”
“There’s nothing you can do. Frankly, I wouldn’t be happy anywhere outside Border Free Physicians.”
Intriguing. “Then can I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course, but I may not answer.”
Touché. “Why did you leave Border Free Physicians and apply here?”
Gavin’s easy smile faded and his mouth pressed into a thin line, his brow furrowing. Virginia couldn’t help but wonder if this was something he wasn’t going to answer. In his few weeks here she’d ascertained he was a private man. He didn’t socialize with many people, ate his lunch alone and did his job efficiently, as far as Virginia was concerned. Maybe not to the board’s approval, but as long as the patients lived and there were no lawsuits she was happy.
“I’m needed here,” he said finally. Only that’s all he said. No explanation about why he’d applied for the job or why he’d told her he wasn’t happy here and wouldn’t be happy anywhere but with Border Free Physicians.
So why had he left?
“You look confused,” Gavin said, the teasing tone returning to his voice.
“Not confused.” Oh, who am I kidding? “Okay, a bit confused.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t really want to put you in this position.”
“You haven’t put me in a position, Dr. Brice.”
“Gavin.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “Gavin. I only want to help you, even if this position is not the one you want.”
Gavin nodded his head. “I thank you for that.”
“For what?”
“For trying to help, but I really don’t think I need it.”
“I know it’s difficult, you came from a job where you worked in rough conditions and had to think on your feet and quickly, but the board of directors has to protect the hospital’s best interests.”
“Isn’t that basically what all trauma surgeons do?”
Virginia smiled. “Yes, but there are certain rules and regulations that have to take place in a hospital setting. They feel what happened today was inappropriate.”
He snorted. “Inappropriate to save a man’s life?”
“There are rules and the board is protecting the interests of the hospital.”
“So you keep reiterating.”
“It seems I have to.” She crossed her arms. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“The bottom line.” That look of disdain returned and he shook his head slightly.
Virginia knew and understood what he was feeling, but what choice did they have?
“Unfortunately.”
Gavin stood. “I have to protect my patient’s best interests, Dr. Potter. I won’t change the way I practice medicine.”
“I’m trying to help you.” Now she was getting irritated. How could she help someone who didn’t want her help? Easy. She couldn’t. She was losing an uphill battle when it came to Dr. Brice.
He pulled out his pager and glanced at it. Not looking at her, thus silently ending their conversation. “I appreciate that, but I’m needed back in the ER.”
Stunned, Virginia stood as he left and then watched through the glass as he jogged down the hall towards the ER.
What just happened?
She slowly sank back down into her chair, feeling a bit like a deer caught in headlights, like someone had just pulled a fast one on her.
The board wouldn’t be happy with her for not reining him in, but then again she didn’t really want to. Dr. Brice was someone who moved to the beat of his own drum. He annoyed the nurses because he couldn’t remember their names, didn’t have much time for interns and, yes, performed a medical procedure in front of a bunch of rich investors, but the point was he saved lives.
His curriculum vitae was impressive. As far she was concerned.
His image, his work in Africa, doing surgery on refugees, brought in good press for the hospital. People had a soft spot for good Samaritans.
Even if the board thought he was a bit of a rogue surgeon.
Virginia rubbed her temples. Her tension headache was becoming stronger. Couldn’t he see how she was trying to make his transition to a metropolitan hospital setting just a bit easier? There was one thing Virginia took away from this meeting today and that was that Dr. Gavin Brice was a bit of a pompous ass.
Dammit.
Gavin glanced at his wristwatch and noticed the time. He was late and Lily was going to kill him. Rose wouldn’t, though, she was so sweet, but Lily was a force to be reckoned with. This was the third time he’d missed taking her to ballet lessons and he’d pinky-sworn that he’d be the one to take her this time instead of Rosalie, the sitter.
He had no idea what he was doing and he was a terrible father figure, but that was the crux of the matter—he wasn’t Lily’s and Rose’s father. He was their uncle, but as he was their only caregiver since their mother, his sister, had died of cancer, he was no longer cool Uncle Gavin who sent them postcards from new and exciting locations as he traveled to different developing countries with Border Free Physicians.
Now he was Mr. Mom and not very good at it. Lily, who was eight, had reminded him of it every day for the last couple of months.
“That’s not how Mom did it.”
Rose was four, all smiles, but she didn’t say a single word.
It’s why he was here, in San Francisco, instead of continuing with Border Free Physicians. He hated not being where he wanted to be, but he’d do anything to take care of those girls. To give them the home life and stability he and his late sister, Casey, had never had.
After all his nieces had been through, there was no way he could drag them from pillar to post, living rough while he worked. He’d had to give up his life as a field trauma physician and get something stable, reliable and in the girls’ hometown.
He needed to give them structure and not rip them away from all they knew. Especially not when their world had been shattered after their mother’s recent death and their father’s when Rose had been only an infant.
He had to be reliable or he could lose the girls to their paternal grandparents. He’d promised Casey he wouldn’t let that happen. It had been only three months since Casey had died and though he’d always said he didn’t want to be tied down, he wouldn’t give the girls up for anything.
Even though he was a hopeless failure.
A cool breeze rolled in off the bay and Gavin shivered. He pulled his coat tighter. Even though it was August, there was a nip in the air and he still wasn’t acclimatized to anything that wasn’t subtropical.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed for the grey minivan he’d inherited from Casey. His motorbike was sitting alone and forgotten under a tarp in the garage, because you couldn’t ferry kids to and from various dance rehearsals, art classes and Girl Scouts’ meetings on the back of a motorcycle.
As he made his way across the parking lot he caught sight of Virginia walking toward her dark, sleek-looking sedan. Gavin paused a moment to watch her move. She was so put together and she moved with fluid grace. Even if she seemed tight, like a taut bowstring most days.
Her dark hair was piled up on her head, not a strand of hair loose. There was a natural look to her and she didn’t need to wear garish makeup to accentuate those dark, chocolate eyes or those ruby lips. Her clothing was stylish and professional but sexy. Today it was the pencil skirt, paired with a crisp shirt and black high heels that showed off her slim but curvy figure in all the right places.
She climbed into her car, and just as she was sitting down her skirt hiked up a bit, giving him a nice view of her stocking-clad thigh.
Gavin’s pulse began to race. If any woman could emulate the princess Snow White it was Dr. Virginia Potter.
He let out a hiss of disgust; he’d been reading Rose far too many fairy tales if he was comparing the chief of surgery to Snow White.
Did that make him a dwarf? Though the way some of those surgeons and nurses moved through the hospital, it was like they were on their way to the mines for the day.
Virginia drove away and Gavin scrubbed his hand over his face. He needed a beer and to veg out in front of the television for a while.
One of the perks of being in the city.
He drove through the streets in a trance, letting the day’s surgeries just roll off his back. When he pulled up into his sister’s pink-colored marina-style home in the outer Richmond district, a twenty-minute commute from the hospital, he finally let out a sigh of relief mixed with frustration.
It had to be pink.
His whole life seemed to be wrapped up in various shades of pink from coral to bubble gum. At least his scrubs weren’t pink.
The lights were all on in the living room above the garage, which meant the girls were home from dance rehearsal. Rosalie’s car was on the street outside. The garage door opened and he pulled the van inside, next to his tarp-covered Harley.
I know, baby. I miss you too.
He sighed with longing, pulling the garage door down and locking it. Rosalie, having seen him pull up, was leaving as he opened the locked gate onto the street that led to the front door.
“Dr. Brice, how was your day?” Rosalie asked, brightly.
“You don’t really want to know. How’s Lily?”
Rosalie gave him a broad, toothy grin as she heaved her bag over her shoulder. “You don’t really want to know.”
“That bad?”
“It’s been a rough day for her.” Rosalie moved past him to the car. “When is your next shift?”
“Tomorrow, but then I’m not on call this weekend. I don’t go back until Wednesday afternoon.”
“Ah, a four-day weekend. Que bueno. I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Brice. Have a good night.” Gavin waited until Rosalie was safely in her car and had driven away before he locked the gate and headed inside.
The stairs from the entranceway to the main level were scattered with various dance paraphernalia and pink things. As he took a step something squished and squeaked under his feet, causing Rose to materialize at the top of the stairs, scowling with her chubby little arms crossed.
Gavin peeled the rubber giraffe from under his foot. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on Georgiana.”
Rose grinned and held out her hand. Gavin placed Georgiana in Rose’s hand. “How’s Lily?”
Rose rolled her eyes and then skipped off. Gavin groaned inwardly and dragged himself up the last few steps.
He found Lily sitting at the kitchen table, her chin resting on the table with a dejected look on her face. The same face Casey had made when he’d been taking care of her when their dad and mom had left them while they did their duty to their country.
It made his heart hurt just to think about how much he missed his sister.
“Lily.”
Lily glanced at him sideways, her blue eyes so like Casey’s. “I know. There was an emergency. I get it.”
Gavin took a seat opposite to her. She talked so much like a little adult. “There was an emergency, in fact, a car accident. I had to perform surgery.”
“Did you save the person’s life?”
“I did.”
Lily sat up straight. “Then I guess that’s worth it.”
At least someone thinks so.
“Very mature of you, Lily. Look, after tomorrow’s shift I have the next four days off. I’m not on call and I can spend it with you and Rose.”
Lily chirked up. “Really?”
“Really. We can go down to the piers, watch the sea lions.” Rose skipped into the room then and crawled up on his lap.
“Can we get some clams?” Lily asked brightly.
Clams? I was willing to offer ice cream…
“You girls like seafood?”
“Yeah, Mom used to take us down to the fish market all the time. We’d get some seafood and she’d make her famous chowder.”
Gavin nodded. “Sure. I’ll try to make you guys some chowder. How about you two get ready for bed?”
“Sure.” Lily got up and took Rose by the hand, leading her towards the front of the house. When Gavin had made sure they were out of earshot he laid his head down on the table. He had never thought he would be a father because he had always been afraid he would be terrible, like his own father was. Oh, his father was a hero all right, but he’d never hugged them, never complimented them and had never been there. It was the same with their mother and it terrified Gavin to his very core. He didn’t want to become like them.
Only Casey had had the same fears about becoming a mother and she had been one of the best.
God, I miss her.
He just hoped he was doing right by his nieces.
He owed Casey that much.
CHAPTER THREE
VIRGINIA PICKED UP Mr. Jones’s chart and read Gavin’s notes quickly. When she glanced up she could see Gavin through the glass partition in Mr. Jones’s room. Mr. Jones was still unconscious, so he needed to be in the ICU, but Gavin was speaking to Mrs. Jones.
At least Virginia assumed it was Mrs. Jones, as the woman had been by Mr. Jones’s bedside all night. Which was what the night charge nurse had told her when she had started her shift at five that morning.
“Is everything okay, chief?” the charge nurse at the desk asked.
“Yes, Kimber, everything’s fine.” Virginia smiled and handed the binder back to her. “Just checking on the ER’s newest celebrity before I head into surgery.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Brice.”
Kimber grinned. “Oh, yes, I heard about the excitement in the ER yesterday. I always miss the drama when I’m off.”
Virginia cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so? What did you hear?”
“That Dr. Brice inserted a chest tube in front of the investors.” Kimber shook her head and chuckled to herself. “I bet they were impressed.”
Virginia didn’t say anything else as Kimber walked the file back to where it belonged. Before Virginia had been the Chief of Surgery, she’d had friends and comrades she’d been able to talk to about anything. Now, because of her position, she had to be careful of everything she said.
There was no one she could blow off steam with. No one to vent to.
Except the cactus in her apartment.
Even then it wasn’t the most animated of conversations.
She missed the days when she could go down to the cafeteria and sit down with fellow attendings and residents and shoot the breeze.
Heck, she could even talk to the nurses back then.
Now they all looked at her for what she was. Their boss.
Their careers were in her hands.
Kimber returned back. “Chief, really, is there anything I can do?”
Deal with the board for me? “No, why?”
“You were staring off into space.”
“Thinking.”
“About?”
Virginia cocked her eyebrow. “What do you think of Dr. Brice?”
“Dishy.” Kimber waggled her eyebrows, but then she instantly sobered. “Sorry, chief.”
“Professionally, what do you think?”
“Oh, well…” Kimber hesitated.
“Go on,” Virginia urged.
“He’s pretty brusque with nurses, doesn’t remember our names. Refers to most of us as ‘hey you’. Rarely says thank-you. But he’s good with the patients and he’s a great surgeon.”
“Thank you, Kimber.”
“Is Dr. Brice in trouble, chief?”
Virginia shook her head. “No, I just wanted to see how well he was getting on with the other members of the staff.”
“The answer to that is not well.” Kimber walked away from the charge desk, just as Dr. Brice left Mr. Jones’s room.
He was staring at his pager, headed right for her. Finally he glanced up and saw her there and his eyes widened momentarily. “Dr. Potter, what brings you to the ICU today? I thought you’d be in more investor meetings.”
Virginia gritted her teeth. “No. No meetings today, Dr. Brice.”
“Gavin.” He flashed her a smug smile, which she wanted to wipe off his face. Instead she ignored him.
“I’m headed for the OR, actually.”
“Amazing, I didn’t think chiefs of surgery were able to operate.”
“I’m a surgeon first and foremost. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be off.” She turned from him and headed for the OR suites, but Gavin followed her, keeping pace.
“What surgery are you preforming?”
“A routine cholecystectomy.”
“I thought you were a trauma surgeon.”
“I’m a general surgeon, but I did work in trauma during my fellowship years. Besides, our ER is staffed with several capable surgeons.”
Gavin chuckled. “Not me, though.”
Virginia cocked an eyebrow, but continued toward the ORs. “What do you mean?”
“We had this talk yesterday, Virginia. I’m not an asset to Bayview Grace.”
“Dr. Brice—”
“Gavin,” he interrupted.
She took a calming breath. “Gavin, who said you weren’t?”
“You did.”
“When?”
“Yesterday, after I saved Mr. Jones’s life in front of the board, or have you mentally blocked that catastrophe of public relations proportions from your brain?”
Virginia chuckled. “I never said you weren’t an asset. You’re a fine surgeon, Gavin, you just have to work on your interpersonal skills.” The doors to the scrub room slid open and she stepped inside. Gavin followed her.
Lord. Just let me be.
All she wanted to do was this surgery. Here she could clear her head and think.
“Interpersonal skills?” A smile quirked his lips. “In what ways?”
“I don’t have time to talk the semantics over with you. I have a choly to attend to, that is, unless you want to scrub in?”
Please, don’t scrub in, one half of her screamed, while the other half of her wanted to see him in action. To work side by side with him.
“I haven’t done a routine choly in…well, probably not since my residency, and it wasn’t done laparoscopically. The attendings and indeed the hospital where I obtained my residency weren’t up to par with Dr. Mühe’s ground-breaking procedure.”
“I would love to have you assist, Gavin.” Virginia stepped on the bar under the sink and began to scrub.
Gavin grinned, his eyes twinkling in the dim light of the scrub room. “Liar.”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t want me in your OR. I think you’ve had enough of me.”
“That’s true. You’ve been a thorn in my side since I hired you.”
He laughed. “I know.”
Virginia shook her hands and then grabbed some paper towel. “I would like to see you work, though. I haven’t had the chance to observe you, and the nurses tell me you’re a brilliant surgeon.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think the nurses cared much for me.”
“They don’t.” She smirked. “You really need to work on remembering their names.”
“Not at the top of my priority.”
Virginia shook her head and moved towards the sliding door that separated the suite from the scrub room. “Make it a priority, Gavin. You’ll find things run a lot smoother if you do. Are you joining me?”
“I think I’ll pass, Dr. Potter. I may be needed in Trauma.”
“Virginia.” She shot him a smug smile and headed into surgery, both relieved and disappointed that he wasn’t joining her.
I should’ve gone into surgery with her.
Gavin was beating himself up over not taking the opportunity to sit in on a surgery with Virginia, the ice queen, even if it had been a routine one.
Emergency had been quiet. Eerily so. He’d resorted to charting, though secretly he was trying to learn the nurses’ names but couldn’t.
He could remember the most complicated procedure, but when it came to mundane, everyday things like dry-cleaning or remembering a name he couldn’t.
What was wrong with him?
Something was definitely wrong with him, because he’d turned down the chance to get to know Virginia by operating with her. She’d been so uptight every time they’d spoken, but this time there had been something different about her.
She was more relaxed, more receptive to gentle teasing.
He’d enjoyed his verbal repartee with her, even if it’d only been for a moment. Gavin had seen the twinkle in her eyes before she’d entered the operating room, that glint of humor, and he’d liked it.
And it had scared him.
He had no time to be thinking about women. The girls were his top priority.
“I won’t say what you’re thinking, because if I say it we’ll be bombarded with a bunch of trauma.”
Gavin looked up from his chart to see Dr. Rogerson leaning over the desk, grinning at him. Moira Rogerson was another trauma surgeon, but only a fellow as she’d just passed her boards.
“Pardon?” Gavin asked.
“You know, like how actors don’t say ‘Macbeth’ in the theater.”
“Oh, I get what you mean.”
ER physicians never remarked on a slow day. If they did it was bad juju and they’d have an influx of patients. Gavin returned to his charting, dismissing Moira.
At least he hoped it gave her the hint. The woman had been pursuing him like a lioness hunting a wounded wildebeest since he’d first set foot in the hospital.
“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a bite to eat with me after work?”
The lioness obviously couldn’t take a hint. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with her, she was pretty, intelligent and a brilliant surgeon, but he wasn’t interested in her.
He didn’t like to be pursued and he wasn’t interested in starting a relationship with anyone at the moment.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Gavin sighed in frustration. “I just can’t.”