[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
number.
Maureen answered on the first ring. Casey?
Yes, it s me. What s up?
Sweeting, your father and I are in the car, on the way to the hospital with Mary Kate. She s gone into
early labor. You and Dennis meet us at the emergency room entrance, okay?
Right. We re on our way.
It s Mary Kate, isn t it? Dennis demanded the in-stant she pushed the off button.
Yes. I m sorry, Mr. Britton, she said to the night watchman. We have a family emergency. We have
to go. She grabbed Dennis s arm. C mon, I ll explain on the way. And I ll drive.
Oh, God, it must be bad if you don t trust me to drive.
Just get in the car.
Dennis was so distraught he was like a shell-shock victim. She had to guide him to the car and stuff him
inside.
Using the siren, Casey got them to the hospital, which was only a couple of blocks from the Powers
Building, in less than two minutes, beating her parents and cousin.
However, when she brought the car to a screeching stop in the ER entrance, her partner shook himself
out of his panicked stupor and took control. While Casey parked the car he ran inside, alerted the staff
and com-mandeered doctors and nurses and hustled them outside. Casey s father pulled up to the ER
entrance moments later to find her and Dennis waiting with a team of med-ical people.
One by one over the next few hours Casey s brothers arrived. Joe and Francis had followed her
par-ents in their car, bringing Roger and Granda with them. There was nothing they could do but wait
and pray and comfort one another, but not one of them gave a thought to leaving, nor would they until
they knew that Mary Kate and the babies were out of danger.
Finally, around eight that evening, a weary-looking Dennis walked into the waiting room. In an instant
they were all on their feet, pelting him with a barrage of questions.
It s good news, Dennis said, holding up his hands for quiet. Mary Kate and the babies are okay. The
doc-tors gave her something that stopped the labor, he con-tinued when the collective sighs of relief
died down. They re going to keep her overnight to be sure, but if all goes well we can take her home in
a day or two. She s been transferred to a private room, so you can all go see her now.
Lying propped up in bed, looking tired but beautiful, Mary Kate beamed at the relieved group as they
tromped into the cramped room. They all took turns kissing and hugging her and teasing her about
scaring them.
Twas a nasty fright ya gave us, Mary Kate, Granda scolded in his heavy brogue, which was all the
more prominent due to the emotional situation. He shook his bony finger at her. In the future ya d best
remember, I m an old man. Me poor heart won t take many more scares the likes o that. So ya ll be
showin a little con-sideration for your poor old granda and no be doin such again. Ya hear?
Yes, Granda. Mary Kate kissed his papery cheek, then lowered her eyes and pretended to be duly
chastised, but a small, pleased smile tugged at her lips. Though, technically, Granda Seamus was Casey s
paternal grand-father and not related by blood to Mary Kate, the dear old man had accepted his
daughter-in-law s niece as one of his own from the day she d joined the Collins family.
For a while they visited with the patient and one an-other, but when Roger started getting cranky Francis
an-nounced that it was time to take him home and put him to bed.
Getting the okay from his parents and grandparents, she asked the toddler, Roger, sweetie, how would
you like to spend the night with Auntie Francis and Uncle Joe?
The cranky little boy s eyes lit up and his whining im-mediately changed to shouts of joy. Yeth! Yeth! I
thay wiff Auntie Fancis and Unble Thoe, he declared.
Shortly after the O Tooles departed with Roger and Granda Seamus, Casey s brothers began to take
their leave, until soon only Dennis and Casey and her parents remained with Mary Kate.
Can I get you something before I go? Casey asked her cousin.
You re leaving, too? Mary Kate looked hurt and stared down at her beautifully manicured fingernails,
which were plucking the coarse thermal cotton blanket that covered her. Can t you stay a little longer?
Casey chuckled. Whenever Mary Kate assumed that pathetic pout, Dennis invariably caved like a sand
cas-tle at high tide, but Casey was made of stronger stuff. She d shared a room with her cousin for four
years be-fore going away to college, and she knew all her wiles.
Leaning over the bed, she kissed Mary Kate on the cheek. Sorry, love, but I m starving. Now that I
know you re going to be okay, I m going home to have din-ner.
Oh, all right. But we will see you for dinner tomor-row night, right?
You bet. I wouldn t miss Mom s home cooking. Casey kissed her parents and went to the door and
pulled it open. Looking back over her shoulder, she waggled her fingers and stepped outside, then
slammed into a hard chest as the door swished shut behind her.
Whoa, there.
A pair of masculine arms encircled her and pulled her tighter against the broad chest, and Casey s
senses were suddenly bombarded with the feel and scent of male.
Well, well, if it isn t Detective Casey O Toole, a deep voice rumbled with a hint of amusement, just
above her head. You know, we re going to have to stop meeting like this.
Chapter Ten
Casey s head jerked up. What are you doing here?
Mark grinned. For an instant Casey was distracted by the way the skin at the corners of his eyes
crinkled at-tractively. That s funny, I was about to ask you the same thing. I work here, remember? I
just finished an emergency surgery.
Duh, Casey thought, mentally giving herself a whack on the forehead with the heel of her hand. Some
detec-tive you are, O Toole. For Pete s sake, the man is dressed in hospital scrubs.
Her gaze wandered over his torso, and her heart gave a funny little thump against her rib cage. The
garment s loose V-neck partially exposed the mat of short black hair on his chest, and beneath the
capped sleeves his upper arms were muscular, the forearms sprinkled with more of the short, silky hair.
As always, he smelled of antiseptic soap and his own personal manly scent. Who would have thought the
two would be such a heady combination?
Her gaze wandered over his broad shoulders, up the strong column of his neck to his jet-black hair. It
still bore the marks of a scrub cap and was slightly mussed.
It wasn t fair, she thought peevishly. How in the world did he manage to look mouthwateringly sexy
wearing a baggy pair of cheap puke-green cotton hos-pital-issue scrubs? It simply wasn t fair.
Casey? Are you okay? Mark asked, jarring her out of her daze.
What? Oh, uh& yes, I m fine. So, uh, was there an-other car accident? Was that your emergency?
A troubled look flickered over his face. No. This was a domestic assault. During an argument a man
sliced his wife s face with a knife. I was called in to try to minimize the scarring.
Oh. I see. Casey understood his sudden gloom. She hated domestic-assault calls, herself. She d
worked a few as a uniform cop, and that was plenty for her. Never in a million years could she work the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]