Next of Kin

“Not too bad. The burn victim…” She squeezed her eyes shut as if blocking a horrible mental picture. “He and our baby’s mom are the only fatalities. The really good news is that we had a young woman trapped in a car who couldn’t move her legs, but it turns out her injuries won’t be permanent.”

“What about the rig driver?”

“Amazingly, he walked away with minor cuts and a few bruises.”

“Life makes no sense sometimes.”

She looked at him as if what he had said was somehow profound. “Yes. Like that poor mother. Now that she’s dead, who’s going to look after her baby?”

He encountered tragedies like this all the time in his work. She must, too. Yet he had to agree that this particular situation hit harder than most.

“With any luck she has a good father,” he said.

“I hope they find him soon. Though I sure wouldn’t want to be the one to tell him what happened.”

He nodded, feeling again the sense of affinity that they’d shared at the accident scene. They’d been strangers, tossed into circumstances beyond their control, but their impulses had been identical. To help as many people as they could.

And now that the emergency was over, Casey was left with the strong feeling that he needed to see this woman again. Not because she was pretty, or sexy, though she was both those things. No, he felt a pull that had nothing to do with the usual reasons he sought out a woman.

“Jackie, I—”

She shifted her gaze from him to the floor and backed up a step. The movements were slight, but enough to make his confidence falter.

“I’ve got to get back in there. We need to treat a couple of fractured bones. Our baby’s still in the operating room…”

Our baby. He liked that she’d said it that way, connecting the two of them to the child they’d saved. “Is she okay? Do you think I could see her?”

The expression in her eyes softened. “That’s nice of you to be concerned. But her operation won’t be over for a while yet. I’m not sure if they’ll allow visitors after that.”

“Well, until they locate her next of kin, I feel kind of responsible for the squirt.”

“I do, too. But they will find her father soon, don’t you think?”

“Probably working on it right now.”

Jackie started to leave, then turned back. “Thanks for getting us to the hospital so quickly.”

Seeing Jackie smile at him, Casey felt an unaccustomed twisting of his heart. He really did feel the most inexplicable concern for that child—a paternal response that was shockingly out of character. He hadn’t been faking it just to win Jackie over.

But he had to admit that in the past, he wouldn’t have been above using tactics like that.

He suddenly felt ashamed.

“Jackie?”

She paused again, and he could tell she was impatient to move on.

“What time does your shift end?”

“Not for ten more hours. It was nice to meet you, Officer Guthrie.”

Then she was gone, having made it all too clear that she had no intention of seeing him again.

CASEY RODE ACROSS the street to the gas station, where he washed his regulation bike and filled it with gas. He chatted briefly with the woman at the till—he and Debbie were big fans of the Mighty Ducks—then headed the few blocks back to the station to park his bike in the garage and hand in his tickets for the day.

He found his lieutenant reading copy straight from the fax machine. Tank Gordon, in his forties but so clean-cut he could pass for ten years younger, checked him out.

“That was quite a mess on PCH today. You okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. I was on my way back to the station at the end of my shift. The collision happened right in front of my eyes. First a sedan burst into flames. A tractor-trailer rig right next to it lost control and overturned. Cars piled up on both sides of the highway.” He shook his head, remembering.

“You left the scene without clearing an exit route for the emergency vehicles.”

Casey frowned. Was he being reprimanded here? “Backup had arrived, sir. We had lots of men on hand. I figured it was more important to get an injured baby to the hospital.”

“I heard.” The lieutenant was holding a grin in check.

“Huh?”

“They’re running footage on the evening news. Picked yourself a pretty little nurse, I’ll say that for you. Reminds me of Sally Fields in her younger days.”

Used to being teased about his ability to attract lovely women, Casey bristled this time. “Jackie Kellison was amazing out there. I’ll bet she saved more than a couple of lives.”

“So you didn’t notice her huge brown eyes? Or long, bare legs?”

“Cut the B.S., Lieutenant. In case you’ve forgotten, we had an injured baby on that bike, too. Her mother was killed in the crash.”

The lieutenant sobered with that. “Yeah. I know.”

“Any luck locating next of kin?” In those hours he’d paced the ER floor, Casey had worried a lot about the father. He couldn’t stop imagining the man coming home from work and wondering where his wife and baby were. Then the phone would ring and his life, as he’d known it, would come to an end….

Lieutenant Gordon turned to watch the fax machine slowly regurgitate a new sheet of paper. “Actually, the baby’s family is turning out to be a problem.”

“What do you mean, a problem?”

“We haven’t been able to ID the woman. And that car she was driving?” Gordon pulled out the latest fax and handed it to him. “Take a look at this.”

JACKIE’S SHIFT ENDED at dawn. She didn’t change out of her uniform since the shorts and top she’d been wearing yesterday afternoon were too torn and bloody to salvage. At the water fountain, she stopped to pop two muscle relaxants. She’d considered taking them earlier in her shift, but had worried that the medication might make her drowsy.

As a result she could barely move her head more than a couple of inches to either side. She hadn’t been this bad at the beginning of her shift, but now her muscles were seizing in protest. Driving would be impossible, but that was okay.

She no longer owned a car.

Declining a sympathetic colleague’s offer of a ride home, she took the stairs up to the infant care ward on the third floor. She had to see the baby to find out about his—no, her—eyes.

She checked the board at the nursing station and saw an infant listed as “Jane Doe.” She nodded to a nurse sitting behind a computer monitor. The buxom woman, in her early forties, was ponderously inputting chart information into the system.

“Excuse me. Is Jane Doe the baby from the accident on PCH yesterday?” Twelve hours had passed since Jackie’s shift had begun. The accident had occurred on Monday, so it was now Tuesday morning, very early.

The nurse stopped typing. She seemed glad for the interruption and eyed Jackie curiously. “Yes, poor thing, that’s her. The cops still haven’t figured out who she is.”

“But the accident happened over twelve hours ago.” Something was wrong here. “The mother died in the crash, but surely they must have located her father by now.” Her father and, Jackie hoped, a mess of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. As far as she was concerned, the more family the better.

“Well, the cop who keeps checking up on her is doing a good job looking after her for the time being.”

Cop? Was Casey Guthrie…? She shot a speculative glance down the corridor.

“He’s in with her right now,” the nurse confirmed. “Why don’t you go say hi? You two looked real good together on the six o’clock news.”

CHAPTER FOUR

JACKIE REGISTERED the woman’s teasing words with some confusion—until she remembered the reporters who’d been waiting outside the ER when Casey had driven up to the door yesterday.

It felt like forever ago now.

So they’d made the regional news broadcast. That meant her older brother Kell would know what had happened and be worrying. Of course, Nate had probably told him by now anyway. She’d have to phone them both.

“Thanks.” A hand to her sore neck, she set off down the wide corridor. The name Jane Doe was posted on the wall next to the second room on the left. She tapped the partially open door, then stepped inside.

And held her breath.

A tall, athletic man in jeans and a white T-shirt was holding a blanket-wrapped bundle and rocking back and forth on his heels like a seasoned parent. He held a cold compress gently against the patch on the baby’s eye. Jackie thought he might have been humming a soft tune, but he stopped as soon as he noticed her.

“Hi,” she said.

Casey Guthrie had changed out of uniform and cleaned himself up. Oh, did he look good. Now Jackie did care about her ratty hair and her awful, soiled uniform. She pulled out the elastic from her ponytail and tried to run her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t.

“Hi,” he said softly.

“How’s our Janey?” Jackie moved close enough to brush her fingers over the fuzz on the baby’s head. Though she’d expected the baby to wear an eye patch, the sight of it made her own eyes tear. She distracted herself by referring to the baby’s chart.

She checked the list of medications and saw everything she would have expected from mydriatics and cycloplegics, which would keep the pupil dilated, to the antibiotics that would ward off infection.

“She’ll have to wear that pressure patch for at least a day,” Jackie said.

“Yes. I was here when the surgeon stopped by to see how she was doing. As you suspected, there was a glass shard in her eye.” Casey broke the news in a quiet, sympathetic tone. “The doctors are hoping damage won’t be permanent, but at this point they just don’t know.”

“Oh, Casey.” She moved in close enough to kiss the little one’s forehead. “Does she seem to be in pain?”

“Mostly she’s been sleeping. Nurses have been in here ’round the clock. One just left to get a clean dressing.”

Jackie noticed Casey start his rocking motion again. “You’re good with kids. Do you have any?”

Though he didn’t wear a ring, she wasn’t going to simply assume he wasn’t married.

He grinned. “No wife. No kids. But I’m glad to get a little practice in. It may come in handy when my big brother starts a family.”

She noticed he didn’t say when he had kids. Did that mean he wasn’t planning a family for himself? A nurse bustled into the room then, and he handed Janey over to her—not before touching his forefinger to the side of the baby’s cheek.

Again, Jackie felt thick, bittersweet emotion stealing over her. Where was this child’s father? She blinked away a threatening tear, then noticed Casey wasn’t gazing at the baby anymore but at her.

Oh, Lord. He must be appalled at how awful she looked.

“I haven’t had a minute to myself since I saw you last,” she confessed. “I know I look like hell.” The accident had strained the ER department to the limit, even though they’d called in extra nurses and doctors.

“You were incredible.”

Casey’s eyes shone with admiration and, oddly, that made her want to cry again, too. What a crazy day.

“Hardly.” She turned to the chart once more, not knowing what else to do, and stared at the blurred lines of writing.

“You were a real hero today.”

“No.” She wasn’t. She’d helped some people a little, but there’d been too many she couldn’t help. That poor man incinerated in his own car. And Janey’s mother crushed and trapped under the tractor-trailer rig…

She blinked rapidly, but still felt her eyes growing damp.

No, she wasn’t a hero. She’d only done her job, and now she felt so…so tired. And more taxed emotionally than she’d admitted to her co-workers.

“Let me take you home.” Casey put an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. She was reminded of riding with him on the bike, leaning against his back for support. Strange that she’d felt comfortable enough to do that. She barely knew Casey Guthrie.

Gently she eased out from under his arm. “It’s nice of you to offer. But I can take a cab.” It was more than nice of him to offer, actually. If he’d been at the hospital for most of the night, he had to be exhausted, too.

She attempted a smile and a feeble joke. “Anyway, I don’t think I can take another ride on your motorbike.”

He laughed. “That belongs to the department. I do own a bike of my own, a sweet little Harley that I know you’d love.” He winked, acknowledging the joke. “But I brought my car this time. Come on.”

There was no polite way to avoid walking down the corridor with him and taking the elevator together to street level. Outside, in the faint light of dawn, he led her to the visitors’ lot and she made out the sleek lines of a luxury sports car.

A white convertible Saab. She thought sadly of her totaled Mazda. “Nice car. I didn’t know cops were paid that well.”

“We aren’t.” He unlocked the doors and held the passenger one open for her. She hesitated, then decided she had no energy to argue the point. If he wanted to be chivalrous, then she would let him. He waited until she was settled, then closed the door gently and loped to the driver’s side.

“As a man with no ties or responsibilities, which is the way my big brother, Adam, always describes me, I can afford to spend most of my money on toys.”

Toys meaning fast cars and motorcycles. And women, too? Jackie could only speculate. Now that the emergency was over, she was able to fully appreciate just what a hunk this motorcycle cop was. Besides his great build and hot smile, his eyes held a certain sparkle that she guessed would appeal to women. No doubt he had a very active social life.

Unlike her.

She gave him directions to her condo, a few blocks back from the beach. She’d moved here two years ago, after selling the house she’d lived in with Andrew. At the time, leaving had been painful, but no way could she have stayed. Even packing had been more than she could endure. Her brothers, bless their hearts, had taken care of all of that, including the garage, Andrew’s study, his clothes…

Don’t go there, Jackie.

As she concentrated on relaxing her muscles, she realized that the pain in her neck was easing. The medication she’d taken must have finally kicked in. She leaned back against the leather seat and closed her eyes. Casey, thank goodness, took the corners slow and easy. She wondered if he would drop her off on the street or come up to her door.

From what she’d seen of his manners so far, he would insist on walking her to the door. At which time she would thank him politely and he would leave. She would grab a quick bite to eat, then crash into bed.

Only, what if he asked if she would see him again?

He won’t. I’m not his type.

She was sure she’d pegged him right as a real ladies’ man. And she didn’t date that sort. Never had. Not even the bold and daring old Jackie had ever cared for that kind of a guy.

Okay, if that’s true, then stop thinking about him. And definitely stop looking at him as if you’d like to eat him for breakfast.

She tried thinking about what she would eat when she was home. What, if anything, did she have in her fridge right now? Her intended trip to the grocery store yesterday had been curtailed when the unseasonably warm weather had drawn her to the beach instead.

“Hungry?” Casey asked.

“You must have been reading my mind. I was trying to remember what I had in my fridge.”

“And?”

“Condiments, mostly,” she admitted. “Though I may have a pizza in the freezer.”

Just saying the word pizza made her realize how famished she was. Several hours ago she’d grabbed an energy bar and supplemented it with two or three colas since. But that was all.

“That sounds good,” Casey said.

A frozen pizza? Was he serious? “Have you had breakfast?”

“No breakfast. Or dinner, either, come to think of it. What with running back and forth between the station and the hospital—with one quick trip home to change—I don’t think I’ve eaten in over twelve hours.”

No wonder the frozen pizza sounded good to him. “Well, in that case—”

“Thought you’d never ask. I’d love to join you.”

His grin was cheeky and sexy at the same time. She wondered if there was a woman alive who could avoid a man like this. And more important, why would she want to?

Casey was unattached, he was gorgeous, he had a good job. There was no reason in the world she shouldn’t take the opportunity to get to know him better.

No reason, that is, except for the buzzing of nervous fear in her stomach. It was past time for her to start dating again—everyone said so.

But she needed to ease into the dating scene with caution. Maybe start with a nice, quiet accountant. Work her way up to a dentist. Then, maybe…maybe, she’d be ready to date a cop. One who rode motorcycles no less.

Though, maybe she was jumping the gun here. What made her think this was a date? She and Casey had shared a harrowing experience. As a result, he’d offered her a ride home. Now he wanted to join her for pizza because he really was starving, just as she was.

As her condo complex came into view, she directed him to the visitor parking lot under the building. They rode the elevator to the second floor, then walked the long hall to her corner unit.

“It’s small,” she said as she unlocked the front door. “But I do have an ocean view from the bedroom.”

“Hmm. I’d like to see that.”

Her hand froze. She lifted her head. He was smiling at her, that sparkly expression in his eyes again, as if he thought she was something special.

At the hospital when he’d looked at her that way, she’d assumed he was admiring her medical expertise. Now she had to wonder.

“Be careful, Officer Guthrie. I’m going to think you’re flirting with me.”

He laughed. “Finally she gets it.”

Oh. Her heart skipped with an excitement she hadn’t felt in years and years. Okay, so maybe he is interested. She opened the door, suddenly lighthearted. A quick glance at her reflection in the hall mirror brought her down to earth quickly. Oh, Lord, she looked worse than she’d thought. She dropped her keys in the wicker basket by the door and flung her purse on top.

She heard Casey lock the dead bolt behind her and felt a momentary doubt. What did she really know about this man?

She shook off the fear. He was a cop for heaven’s sake. How dangerous could he be?

CASEY LIKED JACKIE’S HOME. It was casual and comfortable, without much in the way of decorating froufrou. Her slip-covered couch looked inviting, the wooden table next to it seemed like something a person could put his feet up on without scratching or breaking anything. He strode to the window, but from this angle could only see the apartment building across the street.

As Jackie headed for the counter dividing living room from kitchen, she paused by the flashing red light on her phone. That light made him wonder. Jackie didn’t wear any rings, but maybe she took them off for work. Or maybe she had a boyfriend who hadn’t yet figured out what a treasure she was and staked his claim.

“This is probably a call from my older brother. Excuse me a minute while I let him know I’m okay.”

Pretending a casual interest in the volumes on her bookshelves, he unabashedly listened as she picked up the receiver and made the connection.

“Kell, it’s me, Jackie. Sorry I missed your call. My shift just ended and I wanted to let you and Nate know that I’m okay. My car, though…” She sighed. “I’m afraid it’s totaled. I’ll have to buy a new one.”

She kept the conversation brief, not mentioning the fact that she had a visitor. After she’d hung up, she went to the stove and turned on the oven. “I’m going to shower and change, really quick. Would you pop the pizza in when the oven’s ready? Help yourself to something to drink. I have orange juice and cola and I keep filtered water in the fridge.”

“Thanks.” He watched her disappear down the hall and soon heard the pounding of water from the shower in the bathroom.

He thought about her conversation with her brother. She’d been upset about her car. Casey wondered if it was too soon in their relationship to offer to help her shop for a new vehicle. He had some contacts at a few of the dealerships. As soon as he had the thought, he laughed at himself.

His usual reaction when he met a pretty new woman was to calculate how much fun he could have without getting in too deep. But he could tell already, Jackie was not going to be just another pretty new woman to him.

Considering he knew that, logic dictated he get out of here while the getting was good. The one problem with that very rational plan was that he didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to be anywhere except here, with her. Besides, he still hadn’t told her the latest development in locating Janey’s family.

He strolled to the kitchen, noticing little things like the vibrant lime-green of her tea towels and an opened envelope on the counter by her phone. The return address was from a Dr. Michael Temple, clinical psychiatrist. It looked like the sort of envelope that would contain an invoice for services rendered.

Ignoring the urge to check to see if his hunch was right, he pulled the boxed pizza from the freezer and removed the wrappings. Once he had their meal in the oven, he returned to the task of inspecting her bookshelf. He wanted clues about this woman. Her novels were mostly bestsellers, like the kinds he enjoyed. Lots of action, mystery, suspense.

Interesting, but he needed more personal information. He picked up a framed photograph of Jackie and two men, obviously her brothers. Both were good-looking guys, with thick dark hair like their sister. He was surprised when he recognized the older one from the police station. Robert Kellison—Kell—rode mounted patrol. Jackie’s other brother looked familiar, too, but Casey couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.

The photograph had been taken in the country, probably at a ranch, since the three were posed on and around a wooden fence. There was a horse in the background, a real beauty.

They looked like a close-knit bunch, he thought, noticing the easy way Jackie’s hand rested on Kell’s shoulder and the protective way both men leaned in toward their sister. He set the photo down, then was about to turn on the television to pass the time when he caught a glimpse of something silver behind a crystal vase filled with colored glass disks. Was that another picture frame? He was reaching to move the vase when Jackie came out dressed in gray sweatpants that hugged her hips and a short white T-shirt that didn’t quite meet her navel. With her damp hair brushed back behind her ears, her thickly lashed eyes appeared huge.

“Something smells good.”

He’d forgotten about the pizza. He dashed back to the kitchen and pulled it from the oven, thankful that only the edges of the crust had begun to darken. She took plates from a cupboard and put cutlery on the counter, but neither of them bothered with anything but a napkin. She inhaled her first slice standing next to him. By the second, they were on the floor in the living room. She couldn’t finish the third, but he did. And a fourth, too.

“You were hungry,” she teased.

“Apparently so.”

Her long legs were spread out on the carpet as she leaned her back against the sofa. He noticed she was still careful about how she moved her head. After cleaning his hands on an extra napkin, he went to sit on the sofa behind her.

“Tell me how this feels.” Slipping his fingers under the neckline of her T-shirt, he massaged the muscles of her shoulders. He could feel the clenched knot to the right of her neck. Gently he worked his thumbs in opposing circles. It took several minutes before she finally relaxed.

“That feels great.”

“Good.” He kept his touch gentle, enjoying the soft feel of her skin, the minty scent of her shampoo, the warmth of her body between his legs.

“What a crazy day.”

She sounded drowsy. Really, he should leave and let her get some sleep. But he lingered for ten more minutes…fifteen. Finally she leaned forward, out of his grasp.