Island Fling with the Surgeon Read online

  “Yeah,” Mina replied in a rueful tone. “Coo-calloo-calloo.”

  * * *

  Zach Lewin closed his locker, then snapped the padlock into place, but instead of heading straight out the door as he usually would, he stood there a little longer, lost in thought.

  Normally he easily compartmentalized work, and once he was finished a shift rarely let his thoughts stray back to anything to do with the hospital. But today was different, and it wasn’t a patient he was worried about, but one of the surgeons.

  Dr. Genevieve Broussard.

  They’d worked together earlier in the day, operating on a patient who’d come in with volvulus. While Dr. Broussard had performed with her usual calm competence, Zach was sure he sensed a difference in the way she’d spoken and behaved toward him. A certain coolness that hadn’t been present the umpteen other times they’d worked together.

  He wasn’t given to flights of fancy. In fact, he’d been described as unimaginative and detached. If memory served, daft and oblivious had been tossed about too, but who was counting? Yet, he was sure he’d sensed something strange in Dr. Broussard’s manner during and after the operation.

  And it irked him.

  He admired her skill as a surgeon. They’d always got on well, and had a cordial relationship. She had an effervescent personality, although mixed with firm professionalism. It was a combination that worked well for her, as he hadn’t heard one murmur of complaint about her the entire time he’d been at the hospital. She seemed universally liked and never appeared to have any problems with anyone, which made her change in attitude toward him all the more noticeable.

  Normally he’d brush it off and leave it alone. His time in the military and as a nurse had taught him not to expect everyone to like him and, if someone didn’t, not to take it to heart or even care. But the sudden shift in their previously easy working relationship gave him pause, and made him want to know if it was because of something he’d done. If he’d inadvertently caused the change, it made complete sense to make it right, since they’d be working together for at least the foreseeable future.

  Another thing he’d learned was to nip problems that had the potential to become career threatening in the bud. While unsure whether this could be classified that way or not, he wasn’t willing to take the chance.

  He’d come to St. Eustace to get away for a while and get his head on straight. Although he didn’t plan on staying forever, this was, after all, his father’s homeland, and he wanted to maintain the family’s good name while he was here.

  Yet, did it make sense to bring it up at all, at this early stage? Maybe she’d just been having a bad day, and he’d presented an easy target?

  He bent to pick up his kit bag, still unsure of what to do but leaning toward letting things remain as they were, just to see what would happen when next they worked together. That wouldn’t be for at least three days, what with their overlapping days off.

  Right, then.

  Decision made, Zach headed out of the changing room, only to see the object of his ruminations standing just down the hall, looking at her phone. She was still in her scrubs, but her bag was on the bench next to her, and he knew from the schedule that, barring emergencies, she was now off duty.

  So, why was she hanging about?

  And, even with the decision he’d only just made, he was tempted to stop and speak to her about what had happened earlier. In fact, he found himself heading right toward her, but before he’d taken more than two strides, a door on his right opened and Dr. Kiah Langdon stepped out.

  Kiah immediately stopped and said, “Hey, cuz. On your way to the gym?”

  From the corner of his eye Zach saw Dr. Broussard turn her head toward them, before he gave his full attention to Kiah.

  “Going down to Coconut Beach for a run,” he replied.

  “How’s the house coming?”

  Kiah knew Zach was refurbishing his grandfather’s home, which had sat mostly empty since the old man died, and always took a moment to ask about the progress being made.

  “Good. Finished the veranda and just about to start upgrading the kitchen.”

  And by the time they’d finished chatting, Genevieve Broussard was gone, leaving him no option but to revert to his prior plan of letting things ride and seeing what would happen.

  The drive over to Coconut Beach took only about fifteen minutes, but Zach found his thoughts repeatedly going back to Genevieve, no matter how he tried to keep them on other matters. So much so that, on turning into the car park next to the beach, he thought perhaps his eyes, following the lead of his brain, were playing tricks on him.

  That couldn’t be Dr. Broussard sitting on the bonnet of her car waving to him, as he pulled into a nearby space, could it?

  It most certainly was, and as she hopped down from her perch and made her way toward his car, bemusement had the muscles in his neck tightening.

  What the heck was going on?

  He had hardly closed the car door behind him before she started speaking.

  “Hey, I’m sorry to stalk you like this, but I really needed to talk to you, and the hospital wasn’t the best place to do it...”

  Although she stopped to take a breath, Zach didn’t have a chance to utter even one word before she asked, “Would you be my boyfriend?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  GEN HADN’T MEANT to blurt it out like that, but she was so nervous her palms were sweating, her knees were weak and the words just tumbled out of her mouth. The look of shock on Zach’s face just made it all worse. Heat climbed the back of her neck, and she rubbed at it, trying to dispel the prickling sensation.

  “I’m sorry?” he said, his voice clipped and terribly precise, sharp enough to cut. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Oof,” she replied, then wished she could pull the inarticulate sound back into her mouth, especially when his eyebrows contracted into a fierce scowl. Who would have thought she’d won prizes for elocution in the past, if that was the best she could come up with? “No, I’m sorry. I know it sounds crazy, but will you give me a chance to explain?”

  He was still wearing that scowl, and the searching nature of his gaze made her wonder if he thought she was nuts.

  She was wondering the same thing herself and couldn’t blame him if he were!

  “I’m waiting with bated breath for you to do just that,” he said with a hint of sarcasm overlaying the words.

  She rubbed at her nape again and tried to regain some hint of composure.

  “I’m not propositioning you, although I know it sounds like it.” The urge to start babbling again had her stopping and taking a deep breath. After blowing it out, she continued. “The truth is, I lied to my mother and told her you and I were involved in a relationship.”

  “You what?”

  He said it softly, but he couldn’t have sounded any more dangerous if he’d shouted.

  Gen held up her hands. “I know. I know. It was stupid, but Mom is always on at me about not having a social life, and one night I just couldn’t take it anymore. So, I made up a story to get her off my back.”

  Not the entire truth, but close enough under the circumstances.

  “Why me?”

  Now she could hear curiosity warring with his outrage, and it made her embarrassment deepen, if that were at all possible.

  “I don’t know for sure,” she replied, trying to be honest. “I think it was because you’d just arrived, and I’d worked with you in the OR for the first time, so your name just popped into my head.”

  Zach shook his head slowly, still giving her a suspicious glare.

  “And now—?”

  “Now Mom’s coming to visit, and I can’t let her know I lied.”

  His nostrils flared slightly, as he drew in a harsh breath. “Just tell her it didn’t work out, and we’re not friendly anymore. Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

  “No!” Yikes, now she was barking at him. She had to get a grip. “It would make it worse—for me anyway—because then the whole cycle would start again.”

  His gaze made her feel like a recalcitrant child, and now her entire body flushed hot. Looking around, she spied a small gazebo farther along the beach and gestured toward it.

  “Can we sit down and talk about it?” Yeah, she was pleading, but although it felt weird, she was willing to do whatever it took to get Zach on board with her plan, no matter how crazy it was.

  He didn’t reply for such a long interval she was absolutely sure he was going to tell her to get lost, but finally he nodded and waved his hand in the direction of the hut.

  “After you.”

  “Thank you,” she said as they started walking that way. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said in that cool, cutting tone. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”

  “You agreed to at least hear me out,” she pointed out, perhaps more sharply than she should, all things considered.

  That earned her a stern, sidelong glance, but he was gracious enough to say, “That’s fair.”

  By the time they sat across from each other at the shaded table, she was struggling with what she was going to say. It had sounded, if not sensible, at least reasonable when she’d rehearsed it all in her head, but now all that she’d planned to say fled in the face of that interrogatory gaze.

  “Well?” he said, not breaking eye contact. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  She was suddenly catapulted back in time to the principal’s office, where she was supposed to explain how one of her many escapades had gone awry and the sensations were still the same. r />
  Embarrassment.

  Shame.

  But also the unmistakable high of an adventure unfolding.

  The last made her smile, and Zach’s scowl grew even more ferocious.

  “The fact is,” she started quickly, before he could cuss her out the way he seemed set to do. “My mother thinks that I’m suffering ongoing psychological effects from my bout of Bell’s, and I’m trying my hardest to reassure her that isn’t the case.”

  “Are you sure you aren’t, though?” he asked, no longer looking as fierce as he had a moment before.

  “No.” She shook her head in emphasis. “I’ll freely admit it was a setback I wasn’t anticipating—not that anyone anticipates a situation like that—but my main concern, really, was whether it was going to destroy my career. Once I got to the stage where I knew I could still operate, I was okay with what had happened.”

  Again, not the full story, but enough for him to get the gist without exposing her private issues too much.

  He looked skeptical, but only said, “So, if you’re okay, why the deception? Wouldn’t it be better to just tell your mother the truth, instead of lying to her?”

  “I’ve tried repeatedly, believe me, but she’s unrelenting.” Gen rubbed at her eye, which was getting a little dry, but stopped when Zach’s gaze followed the motion of her finger. She quickly continued, “I know she just wants to see me happy, but the stress of her constant worrying was wearing me out. Telling her I was in a relationship at least allayed some of her fears.”

  Zach pondered her words in silence, and Gen wondered what was going on in his head. There was more to it, of course, but she wasn’t willing to tell him about Johan abandoning her after the Bell’s palsy, or the shock of him marrying Loren immediately thereafter. The aftereffects of her illness were nothing in comparison to the pain of the betrayal. If anything was holding her back from moving forward in life and considering getting involved with a man again, it was that.

  “So, what exactly did you tell your mother about our imaginary relationship?”

  Gen gave him her most winning smile, aware that it was a lot more lopsided than it had been when she used it on her teachers, parents and any others she wanted to impress. Hopefully it would still do the trick.

  “I told her that you’re fabulously good-looking and had a body to die for. And, because my mom is big on excellence, I also told her you’re the best surgical nurse I’ve ever worked with.”

  His lips twitched, ever so slightly, at the corners.

  “In other words, you’ve compounded the original lie several times over.”

  She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Not one of those statements is a lie. You are extremely handsome, and you obviously work hard to stay fit, so I don’t know why you wouldn’t just admit your body is amazing. Plus, you actually are one of the best, if not the best surgical nurse I’ve had in the operating room.”

  He gave what could only be classified as a snort and said, “Now I know you’re just buttering me up. What else did you tell her?”

  His modesty made her smile. Who knew that humbleness could be so attractive and tempting? His brushing aside her honest compliments made her want to push, to see what it would take to make him really self-conscious.

  “I told her your father was originally from St. Eustace, but you were born in England and had a sexy English accent.” She paused, thinking back to the conversations she’d had with her mother, then added, “And that although you’re ridiculously cute, you’re not flashy in any way.”

  He rubbed the side of his hand across his lips, and Gen saw a little rush of color stain his cheeks for an instant.

  “Good grief. I meant, what did you tell her about the progress of this mythical relationship of ours? Such as, what we were supposedly doing over the last few months? Have we got serious or anything ridiculous like that?”

  For some reason, hearing him talk about them getting serious as “ridiculous” kinda hurt. Was there something about her that made him think her unfit to be serious girlfriend, or even wife, material?

  Realizing she was pushing at the corner of her mouth, she dropped her hand back onto the table and replied, “Well, I told her you were getting over a really bad breakup and weren’t interested in getting too involved too soon, and that slowed her down some.”

  His demeanor changed so quickly it was shocking, going from slightly amused to cold and intense in a blink.

  “Who told you that?”

  There was that soft, dangerous voice again, coupled with a narrow-eyed stare. It should have sent alarm bells ringing like crazy, but instead Gen felt a tingle of unmistakable excitement rush through her veins.

  “No one told me anything,” she replied, trying for a conciliatory tone and wondering if she’d touched a nerve. “I made it up, remember?”

  His response was to swing his leg over the bench and get up so abruptly she was left looking up at him, bemused.

  “Listen, this is just bonkers,” he said. Pausing, he rubbed a hand across his mouth again. “I can’t even digest this right now. I’m going for a run. If you’re here when I get back, I’ll try again to listen to what you have to say, but I can’t right now.”

  Then he took off at a blistering pace, leaving her with a mouthwatering view of a whole lot of hard-bodied man in motion.

  As she watched his long muscular legs and amazing butt disappear along the shoreline, Gen shook her head, wondering why her heart was pounding so hard. And she couldn’t help asking herself if it was worth waiting for him to come back. Who knew how long he’d be, or if he’d have run off the snarky attitude?

  Getting up, she picked up her car keys, then just stood there, stupidly poised between staying and going, unable to make up her mind about what to do.

  Looking to where Zach was just disappearing around a bluff was like watching her grand, brilliant plan disappear into the sunset.

  “Coo-calloo-calloo,” she muttered. “Coo-calloo-ca-cock-a-doodle-do.”

  * * *

  Zach pushed himself hard for the first two hundred meters of his run, then, when his muscles started reminding him that he hadn’t done his usual warm-up routine, he slowed.

  It felt, strangely enough, as though he was running for his life, from a woman who was in turns amusing, infuriating and—curiously—beguiling. He’d seen Gen Broussard in work mode, but hadn’t spent much time in casual conversation with her, so he hadn’t known what it would be like to be the recipient of her full attention. Or that she had all the impish charm of a pixie.

  Those dark twinkling eyes that seemed to be perpetually laughing at herself and the world, coupled with her beautiful, asymmetrical grin, had made it hard for him to truly take in what she was saying.

  What she was asking of him.

  And when she said she’d told her mother he’d had a bad breakup, he’d been shocked. So much so that the hurt, which he’d assiduously pushed to the back of his mind, was as sharp as the day his very real relationship imploded. The wave of embarrassment that had inundated him almost knocked him off his seat and made him wonder if the entire island knew his sorry story.

  Hence the quick retreat, which he refused to think of as running away, although clearly it rather was.

  She’d said she’d made it up so, clearly, she hadn’t actually heard how he’d been used by Moira, then discarded like a piece of chewed gum. Now, remembering the honesty he’d heard in her tone filled him with relief. He’d come to the island to get away from the embarrassment, and the thought of once again being the recipient of pity, sympathy or unkind amusement made him cringe.

  That aside, even now he found it impossible to believe Genevieve had told her mother they were involved. If an hour ago someone had asked him to describe Dr. Broussard, he’d have used words like sensible, and steady. That was her persona in the hospital, and definitely when she was in the operating theater, so this whole switch to troublemaker and spinner of tales had thrown him for a loop.

  How on earth was he supposed to respond to her crazy scheme?

  It would be better, easier, to make her tell her mother the truth, yet there was a part of him that absolutely understood where she was coming from.