Christmas Every Day Part 17

"I'm Dr. Brice." The surgeon shook her hand, then glanced curiously at Nik as he wiped his brow. "You're her husband? "

"No." Sara's quick, emphatic denial left absolutely no room for speculation as to the nature of their relations.h.i.+p. There wasn't any.

Nik shook the doctor's hand, offering an amiable smile. "Family friend." His tone smoothed over the jagged edge that Sara's renouncement had left behind.

The doctor's smile was automatic, if a little worn. "We had a close call halfway through the surgery. The vein we were working on collapsed and I thought we were going to have to do an immediate coronary bypa.s.s. We always have an operating team standing by during these procedures " , Dr. Brice a.s.sured Sara. His smile was warm, genuine.

"Luckily they didn't have to step in. I managed to get the vein reopened. Your father's doing fine now."

She had heard a commotion down the hall earlier and seen several green-clad people rus.h.i.+ng to the operating room. She'd been afraid to inquire what was going on.

"Fine?" she echoed. Sara scrutinized the man's face to see if there was any hesitation in his p.r.o.nouncement. She found none.

"Fine," he repeated. "I can't make any promises, of course." The doctor slipped his cap off and wadded it in his hand. This sort of thing never failed to humble him. "The next seventy-two hours will tell us if the surgery took. And I'll want to see him in my office two weeks after that for an EKG. A treadmill test would be better, but he'll be in no condition for that for a while." Dr. Brice leaned over toward

Sara. "Don't tell him I said so," he advised. "He's crusty about his pride."

Weren't they all? Nik thought, glancing at Sara.

Sara nodded. The numbness temporarily refused to drain out of her limbs. He'd made it. "So-" she took a deep breath "-what happens now?"

"He'll be taken to recovery, then to the Coronary Care Unit for two of the three days he's to be here. He'll be monitored continuously: The doctor smiled at her again. " " l wouldn't worry if I were you."

Sara drew herself up. Now that the worst was over, she could return behind the walls she'd carefully built. "I'm not : '

The doctor nodded. "Good. If you have any questions, feel free to call my office." He inclined his head to both of them. " " Good day.

Nik waited until the doctor was gone. He'd been studying

Sara as she received the news, watching the different emotions play over her eyes. Watching the line in her jaw grow rigid and then slack.

For someone who pretended not to care, she was a cauldron of tension.

He had no trouble identifying with that. He'd gone through it himself.

Sara didn't trust her voice for a moment. The relief she felt vibrating within her was too overwhelming. She hadn't thought that she would feel like this, but she did. It was as if a wave had dashed over her, was.h.i.+ng away all the grit on her body.

She stared down the hallway. At the end was the operating room. "We're not out of the woods yet," she murmured

True, but the doctor's words had been encouraging. "You don't strike me as a pessimist."

"I'm not a pessimist. I'm a realist." Sara turned away from the hall and looked at Nik. He was a.n.a.lyzing her again. She liked it even less the second time than she had the first. A tall man and a woman entered the lounge. Sara lowered her voice. "And you strike me as a man who doesn't normally abandon s.h.i.+p for no reason at all."

Nik crossed his arms in front of his chest, but made no attempt to answer her. " " Well ? " she pressed.

The woman gave a new spin to the word exasperating. But somehow, Nik sensed that she needed him to ride out the storm. "I'm waiting for the subt.i.tles to kick in. Right now I haven't the vaguest idea what you're talking about."

"You left the restaurant," she pointed out.

His eyes teased her, but he maintained a straight expression " "

Apparently. "

She moved, stepping into the hall, glad to be out of the lounge, knowing he was right behind her. "From what Julia told me before I came here, you practically have to be dynamited out of there."

When she turned to look at him, she found that they were standing too close to one another in the small hallway. She took a step back and felt her shoulder touch a wall. "There was really no reason for you to come."

A nurse hurried past them. Nik moved over and brushed up against Sara.

Something warm and fluid coursed through his veins. He saw her expression tighten just a little.

"I already told you, I thought you needed a friend." He grew serious.

"Look, my parents died within seven months of each other...."

She hadn't known. For a moment empathy flowed between them, unguarded.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, so am I." They were standing almost directly in front of the gift shop entrance. Nik took her arm and moved her aside as two women emerged from the shop. "But what I'm trying to say is that I had to face that on my own."

She didn't quite understand. "But your sisters-" "-Were little more than kids themselves." At sixteen and eighteen there was little else he could think of them as. "They needed to have someone to turn to, not someone to dump on them."

He couldn't have been that much older than they were at the time. He.

surprised her with the depth of his understanding " " No grandparents?

Nik shook his head. "No anybody." They had been entirely on their own after their parents' deaths. On their own with next to no money to fall back on. Thank G.o.d the house had been paid off. "The point I'm trying to make is that I understand what it's like to suddenly find yourself facing the fact that your parents are mortal. I know how frightening that can be."

Sara managed to steel herself against his sympathy. She didn't need it, she told herself. She was doing just fine.

"I'm sure you do, but you don't have to concern yourself about me, or my feelings. They're quite unfazed, thank you." She saw Nik's brows draw together in a question. Maybe she owed him the smallest of explanations for putting himself out, even though she hadn't asked him to. Or maybe she just wanted to say it out loud for once. "My father gave up the t.i.tle of parent, with all the a.s.sociated rights that are tied to it, fourteen years ago."

She believed that, he realized. Or thought she did. "Then why are you here?" he prodded quietly.

Sara squared her shoulders. "I keep asking myself the same question."

Nik thought he already knew the answer to that. "I think it's because you care, Sara."

Sara's face grew somber and her eyes became dark. "Don't transfer your own philosophy onto me." Her mouth twisted cynically. "Not everyone is as n.o.ble as you are, Nik Sinclair."

He refused to believe she was devoid of feelings. "n.o.bility has nothing to do with it. Being human does."

" " Oh, I'm human enough. " She gave a short laugh, looking away. "

Human enough to remember, even if he doesn't. " She realized that she was saying too much. " See? " She turned her eyes toward Nik. " I didn't need that shoulder to lean on, after all. "

Directly behind her, in the window of the gift shop, was a white negligee arranged amid boxes of candy and stuffed baby toys. Nik couldn't help wondering what Sara would look like in it. The vibrations she gave off were laced with pa.s.sion that was seeking a release.

He forced his mind back on the conversation. "That's not how I see it."

She didn't want to argue and she knew that, in his own way, Nik was trying to be kind, even if he had no right to put his two cents in. Her mouth curved. "You're a typical man, you know."

Had she seen him looking at the negligee and guessed what had pa.s.sed through his mind? He lifted a brow. "How's that?"