Resisting the Brooding Heart Surgeon, page 1
He’d been glad to get out of the place, because he’d seen Shanna’s eyes light up when she’d seen that shower and it had sent all kinds of wild thoughts spinning through his head.
And if he had read her right, she’d had the same kinds of ideas. And watching color infuse her face when his gaze had landed on the bed had given him a sense of satisfaction that was far too appealing. Far too dangerous.
And he’d actually been glad her mom was there, because it meant he couldn’t act on any of those impulses. It had probably saved him a lot of grief in the long run. A brief romp in the bedroom was one thing, but there was something about Shanna that seemed to hint that she wasn’t one to blithely have one-night stands. He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but it was there in the way she didn’t openly try to figure out if the attraction was mutual and then let him know she was there for the asking.
Which meant he needed to tread a lot more carefully around her.
Dear Reader,
Loss is hard. And when that loss is a parent, it can be even harder. Shanna Meadows knows this firsthand, having lost her father during military service when she was young. But she grows up loving the holiday she and her dad spent so much time preparing for: Halloween. Her love of the holiday transfers even over to her job, where she heads up a special pumpkin-carving party for some of their younger patients and their families. But there’s a new doctor in town. One who has a “bah humbug” attitude toward Halloween that presents a challenge. Yet as she learns more about him, an attraction grows and blooms. Except Shanna doesn’t know everything, and when she finds out more, it sends her into a tailspin.
Thank you for joining Shanna and Zeke as they navigate waters that are emotionally charged and that leave them both with some hard choices to make: take a chance on love or walk away forever. I hope you love their story as much as I loved writing it!
Love,
Tina Beckett
Resisting the Brooding Heart Surgeon
Tina Beckett
Three-time Golden Heart® Award finalist Tina Beckett learned to pack her suitcases almost before she learned to read. Born to a military family, she has lived in the United States, Puerto Rico, Portugal and Brazil. In addition to traveling, Tina loves to cuddle with her pug, Alex, spend time with her family and hit the trails on her horse. Learn more about Tina from her website or friend her on Facebook.
Books by Tina Beckett
Harlequin Medical Romance
California Nurses
The Nurse’s One-Night Baby
Starting Over with the Single Dad
Their Reunion to Remember
One Night with the Sicilian Surgeon
From Wedding Guest to Bride?
A Family Made in Paradise
The Vet, the Pup and the Paramedic
The Surgeon She Could Never Forget
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To my dad, who loved serving his country
Praise for Tina Beckett
“Tina Beckett definitely followed through on the premise and managed to infuse just the right amount of angst and passion to keep me glued to the pages of Miracle Baby for the Midwife from beginning to end.”
—Harlequin Junkie
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM NURSE’S RISK WITH THE REBEL BY KARIN BAINE
PROLOGUE
SHANNA MEADOWS HEARD the sound first, before she fully comprehended what it was. Her mom was crying. Loudly. She slowly made her way toward the living room, realizing she was late for school. She hadn’t meant to oversleep, didn’t even remember her mom trying to wake her up.
The legs of the giraffe pajama bottoms she’d gotten last Christmas were still a little too long, and they dragged across the carpet with every step she took as she moved closer and closer to the sound. Maybe she should go back to her room and get dressed. Even if she was late, her mom could still take her to school.
Her dad had told her she needed to help around the house while he was gone, and she’d tried. She’d really tried. But now her mom was sobbing, and she could hear another voice in the room talking to her. A man’s voice.
It wasn’t her dad’s. She was suddenly scared.
She came into the room and saw two men in uniforms, like the ones her dad wore on special occasions. “Ma’am, we want you to know that your husband was a hero. His sacrifice saved the lives of his troop.”
Sacrifice? What did that mean?
Her mom’s eyes suddenly swung her way, spotting her in the doorway. She dabbed at her eyes, which were really red and had a weird expression in them. “G-go back to bed, baby.”
“But I’m late for school. Is something wrong with Dad?”
The two men stood like statues, not saying anything, but one of them glanced at the other.
Her mother closed her eyes for a second before looking at her again, drawing a deep breath as if she, too, was really scared about something. “You’re not going to school today, Shan.”
Not going to school? She always went to school unless she was really sick or there was too much snow on the ground. “But why?”
“Go back to bed, and I’ll come talk to you in a few minutes.”
As she looked into the unsmiling faces of the two men, who hadn’t even said hello to her, Shanna realized something was very wrong. Something more wrong than not getting up in time to catch the school bus. And it had something to do with her dad. With the word sacrifice the men had used.
Suddenly, she wanted to go back to bed. To go back to sleep and wake up all over again. Wake up to the normal sounds of her mother getting breakfast ready and hollering that she needed to hurry.
Wake up to her mother not crying.
A normal day.
But today wasn’t normal. And from the way her mom looked, and the way Shanna was feeling, days weren’t going to feel normal again for a very long time.
If ever.
CHAPTER ONE
SHANNA PASSED THE wall commemorating military service at Everly Memorial Hospital and averted her eyes. It was a great acknowledgment of staff members’ service, both current and past, but it tended to jar her every time she saw it. She normally tried to avoid this particular corridor, as it pulled at the cloak of positivity she tended to wear for her patients. For her mom, back when they were both grieving Shanna’s dad’s death. The word sacrifice still had the ability to rock her world, since she’d learned that her dad had found and attempted to defuse a pipe bomb found inside a box of food supplies and had been killed in the process. But he had saved lives that day. She and her mom had gone through some very hard times right after her dad’s death, and her mom had never married again. Shanna didn’t think that would ever change.
She couldn’t blame her. After all, she was pretty wary of relationships, too, after watching her mom descend into a depression so deep that she’d had to be hospitalized after her husband’s death. Shanna had gone to live with her grandmother while her mother received treatment, but the terror of somehow losing her mom, too, had never completely healed. She never wanted to live through a pain like that again.
She hurried down the hallway toward the elevator, away from the prints. She was a little late for work, which was almost unheard of for her, but traffic had been horrible today with an accident bringing the line of cars to a standstill.
Once on her floor, Maura, one of the nurses and a good friend, grinned at her. “I never thought I’d see the day Shanna Meadows was late.”
“Ugh! Traffic was awful. How’s it been today?”
“Actually pretty quiet. You have time to sneak away for a piece of cake for that new doctor we’re getting, if you want. It’s in the break room.”
“Cake?”
Maura laughed. “I thought that might perk you up a bit. You looked a little sad when you got off that elevator.”
She forced her face into a mock scowl. “Just irritated at some of the crazy drivers out there.”
“Go get cake. It’ll make you feel better. And bring me a piece, too, while you’re at it, if you don’t mind.”
Maybe a dose of sugar really would help chase the weird sense of melancholy away. Or at least help her put on a happier face. “I don’t mind a bit. I’ll be back in just a minute or two.”
With that, she pivoted and punched the button to call the elevator she’d just exited. The doors opened immediately. Wow, it really was quiet, if no one else had summoned the thing. She could only hope the day stayed that way.
* * *
“Dr. Vaughan, welcome to Everly Memorial Hospital.”
The paper plates surrounding a large rectangular cake was evidently something they did for every new staff member, but it seemed weird somehow. He wasn’t used to any kind of fanfare when he’d changed duty stations in the army. It was simply part of what was expected of you.
He smiled at Dan Brian, the hospital administrator, bypassing the cake and opting for a cup of coffee instead. People file
A stack of papers next to the coffeepot caught his attention, and he glanced at the Mark Your Calendars heading before perusing the rest of the flyer.
The hospital was evidently hosting a pumpkin-carving party for Halloween sponsored by a local charity as a fundraiser and to help boost community awareness of what Everly had to offer. His brows went up as he saw the words “All staff members are encouraged to attend.” From his experience, “encouraged” was a euphemism for “expected.” The party was planned for the day before Halloween, probably so that people with kids could still participate in their neighborhood activities on the thirty-first.
Great. The event was only two weeks away. He’d hoped to be able to stay low-key until he got a feel for the way the hospital ran. He was pretty sure it was nothing like his last post in Pensacola. Not that he missed it particularly. It held a mixture of memories both good and bad. But at least he’d been able to leave the area where his ex-fiancée still lived. The few times he’d run into her over the last couple of years, the encounters had been awkward. Kristen was now married with a baby. And her husband was definitely not associated with the military.
Yes, he’d been happy to move. Happy to be able to make the decision on his own, with no arguing, no debates, no negotiating. And his sense of relief at finally being able to shake off the shadows of his past was surprisingly strong. He was hoping to convince his parents to relocate from Jacksonville, since there were some wonderful specialists here in the Tampa area. It was part of the reason he’d chosen the city.
Compared with what his dad was going through, having to attend a pumpkin-carving party seemed a pretty minor inconvenience. As long as he didn’t have to carve one himself.
He picked one of the flyers up and folded it, tucking it into the pocket of his lab coat.
Dan evidently saw the move and said, “We hope you’ll join us for that. The kids have an absolute ball at it.”
Zeke smiled. “How could I say no?”
“It’s fun. I promise. Have you gotten settled in your office yet?”
He wasn’t much for Halloween. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it. He’d just never been one for costumes or parties. “Not yet. I was just trying to remember where it was. If you’ll just point me in the right direction...”
Dan started to say something, then the door opened, and a woman entered. Her hair was glossy black and hung straight, sliding like silk over her shoulders. Her eyes met his for a second before skipping past him to look at something on the table.
The cake, probably.
The administrator’s brows went up. “Perfect. Shanna, would you mind coming over here for a minute?”
The woman’s easy smile swung back their way. “Sure thing.” Dark brown eyes met his again. “I take it we have you to thank for these tasty treats.” She held out her hand. “Shanna Meadows. I’m a respiratory therapist and nurse here at Everly.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Zeke Vaughan. Cardiothoracic surgeon. And you all have a way of making a guy feel welcome.”
She laughed. “If that’s all it takes to win you over, then consider every day to be cake day.”
No one could be that cheerful all the time. Or was she merely doing it for Dan’s benefit?
As if hearing his thoughts, the other man smiled. “Shanna is actually in charge of making our Halloween party the successful community outreach endeavor that it’s been over the five years she’s been with us.” He paused and glanced at her. “Have you had cake yet?”
“Nope. That’s what I snuck in here for.” She tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder.
“Can I talk you into getting it to go and have you show Dr. Vaughan to his office and fill him in on the party? I’m meeting with members of the board in a few minutes.”
“Of course.” She bypassed the plates that already had some pre-sliced sections on them and cut her own piece. A chunky one. And then she cut a second slice.
For later?
That made him smile, for some reason. If she was peeved that she was going to have to entertain him for the next fifteen minutes or so, she didn’t show it.
“Ready?” she asked. “Ever been to a costume party before?”
Costumes? Had the brochure mentioned that? “Um...not since elementary school.”
She started to push the door open before stopping and turning toward him, somehow managing to hold both the door and her plates. “You’re kidding, right?”
Okay, so maybe Zeke was the one who should be peeved. But he wasn’t. There was something infectiously happy about Shanna Meadows. Something that made him want to take a minute or two longer to get to his office.
Now that peeved him. There was no way in hell he was going to let his thoughts circle around her. The sooner he shook her off, the better. But he was going to have to do it in a way that didn’t offend her. Because it wasn’t her. It was him.
One side of his mouth twisted up. Wasn’t that a classic breakup line?
“I’m actually not the biggest fan of trick or treat. I’m just never home.”
She finished pushing the door open, holding it for him to pass through. Then, still holding both plates in one hand, she somehow managed to spear a piece of her cake and pop it into her mouth as she approached the elevator. “And when you are home, I bet your porch lights are off.”
“Huh?”
“You know. To make kids think you’re not home.”
When she said it like that, she really did make him feel like some old curmudgeon who ran little kids off his property just for kicks.
“Nope. I don’t.”
He just didn’t answer the door. Not because he was mean. He just...forgot what day it was and normally didn’t have candy in the house.
“Well, that’s good to know.”
They got to the elevator and waited as it ticked down floors, headed in their direction. He nodded at the cake. “Good?”
“The best. Everyone swears by this grocery chain’s sheet cakes, and they are right.” The elevator stopped and they got on.
Yes, he remembered that from his childhood when his dad was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in northern Florida. When Zeke chose to join the army rather than the navy, his dad wasn’t mad or upset. Instead, they often had verbal skirmishes that ended in laughter. He still missed those jokes and fun times. His dad was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. He and his mom were still in Jacksonville. It was where his father had loved serving his country. It was one of the reasons he’d chosen to retire from active duty a year ago and become a reservist. So he could spend time with his dad whenever he wanted.
He only realized Shanna had finished her cake and said something to him when the doors to the elevator reopened onto the fourth floor. He waited until she stepped off before following her. “Sorry, I missed that.”
“Any idea what kind of pumpkin you’ll carve?” She dumped her empty plate and fork into a nearby receptacle. “I try to keep track, so we don’t have too many Baby Sharks—as in the children’s song—in the competition.”
“Carve?”
She looked at him like he had two heads. “Do you like to do a traditional jack-o’-lantern? Something elaborate? Spooky?”
“I thought we were just there for moral support while the kids carved them.”
She stopped in front of a door. “Well, we are. But the staff also like to have a lineup of lit pumpkins. Before we help them carve their own. And the kids love going down that lineup and voting for their favorites.”
“Surely in a hospital this big, not everyone participates.”
“No, not everyone. And as for the size, you’re right. Which is why a lot of departments team up to do one, or friends might band together and come up with a design.”
And since Zeke didn’t know anyone here, it was going to be a little hard to just toss his name into a hat and let someone else do all the work. Not that that was his style anyway. “Good to know.”
