Tempted By The Brooding Surgeon: Tempted by the Brooding Surgeon / From Fling to Wedding Ring

“Before you go off on me, I have a couple things I want to talk to you about,” he said, lifting his palm to stop whatever angry comment she was clearly ready to fling his way.

“What this time? Have you convinced the mission heads that I’m too incompetent to even work at the other clinic? Thrown your weight around the way you did in Philadelphia? Made a plane reservation for me to go back to the States right this minute, dragging a bad reputation home with me?”

“No, I want to talk to you about your good reputation.”

She folded her arms across her chest and glared. “Yeah, right. This isn’t a cold day in hell, you know.”

In spite of everything, his lips quirked at what a spitfire she was. “Doesn’t need to be a cold day in hell for me to tell you that you’ve done a good job here so far, and that I know you’ll do fine work at the clinic in Huancayo.”

A suspicious stare was her only response, and he forged on, hoping they could at least make a little progress toward having a better working relationship.

“And Jennifer just told me about your Med Mission Wishes organization. It’s a good thing, a valuable thing, and I should have thought of it myself. But since I didn’t, I’d like to find out how I can bring it to my hospital, too.”

“You’re not finding a reason to criticize me for it?” Her eyebrows rose in clear surprise, and there was no mistaking the skeptical look she sent him. “You want your hospital to participate?”

“Of course I wouldn’t criticize you for it. How could I, when it’s a brilliant idea? And you know the size of the hospital where I work, the amount of equipment we’d be able to donate.”

He dropped down onto the dirt and soft plants surrounding the tree to sit next to her. Because his back was tired from standing all day he let himself lean back against it, nearly shoulder to shoulder with her. It felt oddly comfortable, and he was glad she didn’t scoot away. “I want to get your bins set up there, learn about the distribution and where all it goes around the world. How to ensure some of it gets sent here, to the various clinics in Peru.”

“Having your hospital in the loop would be good. I already know you have an obnoxious amount of clout there and think everyone should do your bidding. But in this case it would be helpful.” She tipped her head and seemed to study him, and he found himself mesmerized by the little flecks of green and gold inside the beautiful blue of her eyes.

For what seemed like long seconds they just looked at one another. Apparently, she finally decided he was completely sincere, since the suspicious frown vanished. “All right. After I get home, I’ll send you all the information about how to sign up and how it works, and hopefully the hospital administrators will agree.”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“Always the autocrat.” She rolled her eyes. “But just this once I appreciate that about you. It’s a deal, though you or someone else from the hospital will have to earmark some of it for Peruvian clinics, as that’s done at the local level.”

“I’ll take care of that. Thank you.”

“You thanking me for something,” she murmured, looking up at him as though she genuinely found it incomprehensible. “Now, there’s a shock.”

“I’ve thanked you in the OR. I know I have. You only hear the negative when it’s me speaking.”

“Maybe. And with good reason.”

“Annabelle.” He found himself reaching for her soft hand without thinking, and was surprised she let it stay in his grasp. “I want us to have a good working relationship. Mutual respect is important to a smoothly operating OR, and even though it might irritate you to hear me say it again, a cohesive team is important for surgeries to go as well as possible.”

“I agree. The problem is, you don’t respect me.”

Along with the flash of frustration and indignation in her eyes, was he seeing something like self-doubt? In every one of their interactions, five years ago and here, she’d come out fighting for herself. Was it bravado, hiding some kind of insecurity? Was she not as confident as she seemed?

“I do respect you.” He leaned closer, wanting her to really hear him. “Today I realized that I haven’t given you the praise you deserve. I’ve seen that you’re good at your job and great with patients. It’s just that I need to know with one hundred percent certainty that everyone on a team doing open-heart surgeries is the absolute best. Surely you can understand that, after what happened before, I—”

His phone jangled in his pocket, and he nearly didn’t answer it, wanting to finish this conversation. Impatient, he fished it out and saw a number he didn’t recognize.

“Daniel Ferrera.”

“Dr. Ferrera, it’s Luciana, at the Huancayo clinic. I’m here getting it cleaned up and ready to open. A little while ago I was surprised when a family banged on the door. They heard we were opening and were worried about their eight-month-old. He’s been in respiratory distress, wheezing. Hasn’t been eating well. They thought he had a bad cold and might need some medication. So I listened to the baby’s chest, and I’m positive he’s in congestive heart failure. Luckily, we still have an old echocardiogram machine here, and it showed deep and wide waves. Seems to be ALCAPA.”

“Damn.” If Luciana was right, there was a real risk of sudden cardiac death for the child. “I need to get there. We’ll leave as soon as possible, but it’s at least a three-hour drive. I’ll bring the anesthesiologist we have here. You have the equipment we need?”

“No. There’s nothing here right now.”

“I’ll see what we have that we can bring. Expect us no later than eleven, and be ready to assist.”

“Got it.”

“We need to get to Huancayo tonight?” Annabelle’s question was asked in a matter-of-fact tone. Her angry expression and clear frustration with him was gone, replaced by a calm professionalism, and he had to give her credit for that. For putting work and patients before the emotions that kept flaring up between them.

“Yes.” They both started moving down the path toward the hotel. “The nurse opening the clinic said there’s a baby that needs surgery as soon as possible. We’ll have to take the equipment from here. I’ll do an inventory of what we have, to see if we have any extra that I can leave there.”

“Already done. I took a full inventory the first day I got here, including what I’d brought with me.”

“Good.” He felt a stab of shame at his ongoing doubts about her not being quite good enough at her job for him to feel confident in her. Noting all the equipment available was something usually done by nurses, not the anesthesiologist, not to mention she’d had the foresight to bring more. Then again, being organized in that way was a totally different thing than delivering anesthesia to the sickest patients during long and serious surgeries. “That will save us time, but I can’t imagine it’s enough for both places, is it?”

“Probably not. If only the stuff I shipped had gotten here already.”

“Yeah, that’s unfortunate. But from what you’ve said, it should be here soon, right? So it’ll be good to have on hand here after we get back. With more equipment coming, we can leave whatever we take to Huancayo. And I’ll see what Eduardo can provide when he gets there.” He stopped at the fork in the path. “Let’s start at the OR, getting stuff together, before we pack and take off.”

He shoved open the OR door and snapped on the lights. Annabelle quickly began pulling together the necessary anesthesia items as he gathered the surgical ones.

“Dare I suggest we take the monitor, or will you have another fit about it?” Annabelle asked.

“I don’t have fits. You make me sound childish.”

“Well, you know the saying, if the shoe fits...”

The little smirk she sent him took any sting from the words and he couldn’t help but grin back. “A part of me doesn’t want to see you gloat, but the mature part of me says to take the monitor. If it’s really ALCAPA, it’ll be a long, tricky surgery.”

“Acknowledgement that it’s handy to have is all I wanted to hear, Dr. Ferrera.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to say she still should have shipped it instead of being so late because of it, but hadn’t he decided to stop being so rigid and critical with her? So he kept his mouth shut and concentrated on making sure he had all the surgical supplies he’d need. He and Annabelle packed things so efficiently together he couldn’t help but think they were like a well-oiled machine, and neither interrupted their work even when the door swung open again.

“You guys are back fast,” Jennifer said, walking in with a big box in her arms. “Good news! Your package came, Annabelle. I’ll go through it tomorrow to see what all’s in here.”

“Can you do it now? We have an emergency surgery in Huancayo, and it would help to see what we can leave up there.”

“No problem. What should I tell the little girl and her family who were expecting her to get treatment tonight?” Jennifer asked.

Before Daniel could say anything Annabelle briskly and efficiently went through her mental roster of the next morning’s surgeries and suggested the best way to fit the young patient in. He couldn’t blame her for the look of triumph there, the slow curving of her mouth. “See, Dr. Ferrera? I’m not worthless at all. Maybe you’ll actually come to appreciate me.”

“Never said you were worthless, and as for appreciating you? It might surprise you to hear that just might be happening already.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“THE CLINIC IS right around this next curve,” Daniel said, turning to Annabelle with a slightly tired smile. “I think we made good time.”

“Probably because you drove like a maniac. It’s a wonder I didn’t have a heart attack and need a cardiologist. Good thing there was one close by.”

A soft laugh left his lips, his eyes gleaming at her through the dark interior of the car, and she found herself staring at how much younger and more handsome he looked when he was relaxed and away from the OR. At least for the moment.

“I’d have let you drive except for that whole controlling streak of mine you’ve already noted.”

“And I’d have declined anyway, since I’m sure you’re the worst backseat driver in the whole world.”

Again, he laughed, and she had to quickly turn away from the unexpected charm of his smile. The same way she had the past three hours of semi-torture, sitting way too closely to the man who utterly confused her. One minute he was being a total jerk toward her, then the next he was sitting snugged up next to her against that tree and holding her hand in his large grasp. Sending a smile her way that was so sexy and attractive she’d nearly forgotten how much she disliked him.

All through the drive it had been a huge effort to not frequently glance over at his handsome profile. At his firm jaw and nicely shaped mouth. To not think far too much about how large and masculine he was. To not make too big a deal out of the seemingly sincere admiration in his warm, dark eyes as he’d looked at her beneath that tree and told her she was doing a good job and that he respected her.

Because, yeah, he’d then quickly followed that praise with a statement about needing the best anesthesiologist for difficult heart surgeries, and he clearly still didn’t believe she was that person.

The friendly banter on this car ride, completely different from the friction in all their exchanges before this, had thrown her off guard, making her see him in a way she didn’t want to. Her completely unexpected and unwelcome feelings of attraction to the man were a whole lot of stupid for a whole lot of reasons, and she wouldn’t let herself think about his sex appeal for one more second.

The car growled to a stop, and she was more than glad to have something else to focus on in the darkness of the night, when his shadowed shape next to her had been the only thing she’d been able to see and think about, the scent of him filling her nose the way it had earlier that evening.

She peered at the building in front of them, very similar to the one in Ayllu that she’d always worked in on her trips to Peru. The one she’d never dreamed Daniel Ferrera would end up working in, too. This one, though, looked a little more worn and neglected. Faded green paint peeled from the cement walls, exposed by a single, dangling bulb of light above the front step. Scrubby plants and weeds grew all around its perimeter, and the door was slightly off-kilter on its hinges.

“Looks like the front door doesn’t really close,” she said. “Not a good thing when it comes to keeping the space as sterile as possible.”

“Not a good thing for keeping creatures out either.” Another one of those smiles that made her ridiculous heart inexplicably flutter.

“Very true.” She reached for her seat belt, more than happy to get out of the car and away from the close proximity to Daniel. “I’d been congratulating your home country at the miles and miles of completely paved roads we drove on to get to Huancayo. Then we hit that last however many miles of dirt and rocks outside the city to get up here, and I’m pretty sure it might have jarred one of my teeth loose.”

“Don’t worry. I could probably perform emergency oral surgery if I absolutely had to.”

That startled a laugh out of her. “Thanks, but, no, thanks. I’d eat through a straw for the rest of my life before I’d submit to something so terrifying.”

“Smart woman.” Daniel sent her another quick grin before he pulled the monitor and oxygen tank from the back of the car, and it struck her that the past hours had been the first time she’d seen a smile on his face quite like that. Laid-back and friendly and genuinely amused. “Not to mention that we have a different kind of surgery to get to ASAP. Luciana said the child is inside, prepped and ready to go, so let’s get to it.”

Grabbing the rest of the items they’d brought for the surgery, including the cooler of blood bags, Annabelle followed him. She was determined to keep the conversation either light, like the tooth comment, professional, talking about how they would approach diagnosing the child’s problem to ensure they got it right, or nonexistent. Keeping somewhat of a distance between them and forgetting all about her sudden, peculiar attraction to the man.

His good looks couldn’t erase their former animosity, and certainly didn’t replace his ongoing doubts about her skills. Sure, he’d said he was finally coming to respect her more, but it had been too little too late, as far as she was concerned.

No, she’d shake off whatever it was that was making her feel so weird and just be glad they were forming a better working relationship. Because taking the best care of patients they possibly could was their whole purpose for being here.

Once inside the door, Annabelle tried to adjust her eyes to the space, lit just slightly by a small table lamp. Obviously, it was a small entryway that probably served as the greeting room for patients and families, the way the bigger space at the other clinic did. A wooden desk sat in front of a row of folding chairs, and the room had an antiseptic soap smell to it.

“Luciana’s obviously been at work cleaning this place up, probably with the help of locals. Last time I came, I was with the first crew to arrive and it was quite a battle to sweep out all the cobwebs and dust, along with a nest of baby opossums and their mother, who was not happy to have her family disturbed.”

“Is that what you meant by creatures coming in? Good heavens. Where were they?” That the man had actually helped clean this place and chase out marsupials was a surprise. She’d always viewed him as a guy who thought of himself as the holier-than-thou king of the OR, and not someone who would pitch in with that kind of grunt work.

“In a mostly empty supply box in the back. Got to admit, the tiny ones were cute, though the mother looked like a huge gray rat, with some seriously sharp-looking teeth.”

Annabelle couldn’t help an involuntary shudder. She’d never seen an opossum in real life, but she’d seen more rats than she cared to remember. Lying awake at night, wondering if one would jump onto her bed and run across her, was one of her least favorite childhood memories.

“Um, not to be a wimp, but I don’t think I’d be good at rounding up wildlife. I’d prefer scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees any day.”

“Doesn’t look like either one of us will have to work on our hands and knees tonight, which is a very good thing.”

She saw his gaze slide down her body and stop at her derriere, and his expression had a teasing quality to it, a little glint even, that took her by surprise and inexplicably made her heart start beating a little faster.

Stupid heart.

“Dr. Ferrera?” A small, dark-haired woman appeared in the doorway from the back room, and Daniel stepped toward her.

“Hi, Luciana. Nice to see you—it’s been a long time. Thanks for seeing the child and getting this place ready. Is our patient in the back?”

“Yes, and his parents, too. How about you speak with them, then I’ll send them home during the surgery?”

“Do they live close?”

“In town, so not too far. Since the surgery will take many hours, I told them they’d be more comfortable there. They didn’t want to agree at first, which I understand. Perhaps you can reassure them that it’s better if they go home and get some rest? That we’ll contact them when it’s over?”

He nodded before turning to Annabelle to introduce the two of them. From that moment on he was all business, moving into the back room to talk with the parents, who looked like they couldn’t be older than twenty or so. Clearly worried, they also looked intimidated, standing to talk to Daniel when he approached them. Annabelle couldn’t understand very much of what he said to them, but whatever it was had their faces relaxing slightly, their unsure expressions turning to gratitude as they both shook his hand.

Annabelle worked to get the equipment out and set up while Daniel looked at the EKG that Luciana had done, then examined the fussy baby. For long minutes he carefully listened to the child’s heart and lungs with his stethoscope, his brows lowered in deep concentration.

“Definitely heart failure,” he said, his gaze meeting hers. “Good thing we came. Thanks for being willing.”

“No thanks necessary. You know that.”

But it warmed her heart a little to be thanked anyway, silly as that was. Didn’t people thank one another all the time, barely noticing it? Lord, had the man made her become all needy for a little praise? Surely she wasn’t that pathetic.

Daniel listened to the infant’s chest again, and even from several feet away she could hear the wheeze as he cried. Maybe the baby would have lived quite a while with congestive heart failure, but it was more likely that he wouldn’t have. And that’s why they did these missions, wasn’t it? To save lives.

Finally, Daniel pulled his stethoscope from his ears and raised his head to look at Annabelle again. “I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. Good call, Luciana. In an ideal world we’d do more testing, but we have no choice but to open him up and see what we find, then get it fixed.”

“Ready with the gases and IVs, Doctor,” Annabelle said.

He gave her a nod then shocked her with another knee-weakening smile—had he ever smiled even once in the OR at the other clinic at any of the team? She was pretty sure she would have remembered if he had. Then again, for some reason his lips and jawline and those warm brown eyes were attracting her attention in a whole new way. Something she absolutely had to squelch.

Annabelle sucked in a meditative breath as he turned away to speak to the parents again, his voice a calming rumble. More hand shaking, then the couple were gone, leaving the three of them to scrub, gown and finish prepping the space.

“Do you know this family, Luciana?”

“I didn’t know them, but I do know the baby’s grandmother. She goes to my church, and I’d posted there about the clinic opening in a few days, which is why they came up.”

“Sounds like it was all meant to be that we’re here doing this tonight. You two ready?”

Luciana nodded, and Annabelle placed the mask over the baby’s nose and mouth. Once he was asleep, she put the IV lines into his tiny arms and legs, and the central line into his neck. After carefully checking his vitals, she nodded at Daniel. “All set.”

Together, they all did their jobs meticulously, with Daniel exposing the baby’s small heart and beginning the intricate surgery with steady hands, Luciana assisting. “Looks like he already has some tissue death from lack of oxygen, poor little guy. But we’ll get him fixed up, as close to perfect as we possibly can.”

* * *

Long past midnight and hours into the surgery, Annabelle quelled a big yawn, wishing she had a giant cup of coffee. She blinked hard, briefly moving her attention from the baby’s vital signs to look at Daniel’s intense eyes above his surgical mask. No sign of fatigue there, just an impressive, unwavering focus.

She’d participated in many delicate and skilled surgeries, though most had been more like what they’d been doing in Ayllu, and not quite as complicated as this. And every single time she felt awed by the steady hands, the years of training it took to perform such detailed work.

She loved her job but honestly couldn’t imagine doing what the cardiac surgeons did day in and day out. A special breed of doctor, for sure.

He literally held this baby’s life in his hands. She did too, but it was different. Administering then carefully monitoring the anesthesia throughout surgery kept the child safe and made the procedure possible. But to be able to restructure a tiny heart so it could function normally?

Truly amazing.

He’d talked about a surgical team needing to respect one another and the admiration she felt for him at that moment welled up in her chest as she watched him work. As it did, a revelation struck her right between the eyes.

For the first time she fully understood Daniel’s perspective from five years ago.

She’d made a huge mistake, there was no doubt about that. And if he, or any other surgeon, didn’t feel confident that someone on their team was capable enough, the life they were responsible for could be lost. What had happened back then might have technically been partly her resident’s fault, as well as her own. But when it came right down to it, the buck had stopped with her, the same way it did for a talented surgeon like Daniel.

He’d said that sometimes patients didn’t get second chances. That horrible day, theirs nearly hadn’t. And maybe that really did mean he’d been right. That she hadn’t deserved a second chance either.

Still absorbing all that and letting it sink into her brain, she pulled her attention from the fierce focus on his face. When she looked at the baby’s vital signs again, she sat straighter and stared.

“Doctor, your blood loss is ahead of where it needs to be.”

“Okay. Working on it.” He nodded, keeping his intent attention on his work.

Her throat tightened as she glanced at the blood-pressure monitor again, not liking one bit the continued drop in pressure. Not only did they clearly need more blood to compensate, they might need even more than she’d originally thought. Thank God she’d brought a good supply.

She hurried to retrieve a bag from the blood box, along with a second bag so it would be ready to hang if the first one didn’t do the trick. Trying to work as fast as possible without making a hasty mistake, she got the first bag attached and released more blood and medicine into the child’s IV lines.

“I’m having some trouble controlling the bleeding,” Daniel said. “Hang another five hundred cc of blood.”

“Just did. I have another one here ready to go. I’m pushing some meds to help.”

For a split second his brown gaze lifted to hers, before he gave her a short, nodding salute.

“I’m going to need it. Wait just a couple minutes then go ahead and hang the second bag.”