Expecting His Secret Heir(33)

Josh Calhoun-a ghost from her past that she never wanted to face again-smiled widely at their small group.

Until his gaze landed on her.

Lucinda wasn't surprised when that good-time grin of his died on the  vine. After all, they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms when  Lucinda had made an absolute fool of herself on the worst day of her  life and Josh had turned her down flat.

They stared at each other and Lucinda was at least a little relieved  that he was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

And then everything got worse. Because Josh Calhoun, the boy who'd  shattered her already broken heart, lifted one corner of his mouth in  what she knew all too well was his real smile.

Oh. Oh, my. Something about him had changed. He was a little taller and a  heck of a lot more broad in the shoulders. His chin was sharper now and  his eyes...

Josh Calhoun had grown up.

Lucinda did not allow herself to feel a rush of instant attraction. Lust  had no place in her life. It was an inconvenient emotion at best, and  she only had so much emotional energy to spare after spending her days  as the head of the oncology department at Midwest Regional Medical  Center. She couldn't waste a bit of it, certainly not on the likes of  Josh Calhoun, the last person she had allowed herself to lust over.

But watching Josh's lips curve into that real smile instead of the big  one he used when he was befriending every single person in the room?  Lust hit her low and hard, and she wasn't ready for it. She wasn't ready  for him. Not now, not ever.

But she refused to let any of that show. She didn't suck in air, even  though her lungs were burning. She didn't allow her skin and circulatory  system to betray her in any way. She didn't even bat a single eyelash  at him.

He was nothing to her. She didn't need him; she didn't want him, and  she'd be damned if she let him know how much he'd hurt her back in high  school.

Carson's scowl broke into a wide smile as he said, "You made it!" Then  he and Josh wrapped their arms around each other and performed a few  manly thumps on each other's back.

Lucinda couldn't help but glance at Eve during this display of masculine affection. Eve was rolling her eyes.

"Man, I'm glad to see you," Carson said to Josh. "Josh, this is Eve Winchester-it turns out that she's my sister."

"Stop telling people that," Eve snapped.

Lucinda sighed heavily. She'd heard variations on this particular theme  over and over again whenever it came time to make a decision about  Sutton Winchester's care. The Winchester daughters-Nora, Eve and  Grace-refused to acknowledge that Carson was their half brother and did  everything within their power to make sure that he did not have any say  in family decisions.                       
       
           



       

But Carson Newport wasn't exactly taking this decision lying down.

Just as he did every time Eve threw this insult in his face, Carson  opened his mouth to retort that she didn't have any choice in the  situation. Lucinda knew the script by heart.

Josh didn't. Instead, he cut Carson off with a warm smile and an  extended hand. "Ms. Winchester, it's a pleasure to make your  acquaintance. I'm sorry that we can't meet under better circumstances,  but Carson has told me how impressed he is with how you've been handling  all the new developments."

Lucinda had no idea if this was a true statement or not. Maybe it didn't  matter. Josh's words went off like a little bomb in the conversation,  completely resetting the discourse.

She shouldn't be surprised. Josh Calhoun had always been the peacemaker  of their high school. He had a way of finding the common ground and  making everyone happy.

Everyone except her.

"He...what?" Eve stared down at Josh's outstretched hand. "Who are you?"

If Josh was insulted by this lack of manners, he didn't show it. "Beg  your pardon-I'm Josh Calhoun, of the Calhoun Creamery. I went to college  with the Newport boys and I count them as some of my oldest friends. I  understand that things have been challenging recently and I wanted to  stop by and see if I could do anything to help." As he said this last  bit, his gaze shifted back to Lucinda.

Oh, come on-was he seriously including her in that statement? If that's what he thought, he had another think coming.

But he was the Newports' oldest friend? Figured. As if the  Winchester/Newport feud wasn't enough of a tangled web to be caught in,  Josh Calhoun had to go and add another thread. A big, fat, complicated  thread.

Carson jumped in, taking advantage of Eve's stunned silence. "Josh, this  is Dr. Lucinda Wilde. She's the oncologist who's overseeing Sutton's  care. If there's one thing that Eve and I can agree on..." At this, Eve  snorted. "It's that Dr. Wilde has managed to stabilize our father.  Without her, he would probably already be dead."

"Dr. Lucinda Wilde," Josh said, rolling each of the words off his tongue  as if he was trying to figure out which part was the strangest. He  leaned forward, his hand out. "Lucinda? And you're an oncologist now? I  should have guessed."

She did not want to touch him. So she nodded her head and stuck her  hands behind her back. "Josh. Sorry," she added in a not-sorry voice.  "Germs, you know."

Eve and Carson shared a look. "Do you two know each other?" Carson asked.

She didn't answer. She didn't want to cop to knowing Josh. She didn't  want anyone in Chicago to know about their tangled past, and she  absolutely didn't want to be thinking about Josh Calhoun, past or  present.

Sadly, it seemed as though she didn't have much of a choice. "Yeah,"  Josh said, letting his hand hang out there for a second before he  lowered it back to his side. "Well, I knew Lucy Wilde."

She shuddered at the sound of her name. She'd left Lucy Wilde behind  when she'd left Iowa, and there was no going back. "We went to the same  high school," she explained to Carson and Eve. "But only for two years."  She shot a warning glare at Josh because if he took it upon himself to  add to that simple truth, she might have to kick him somewhere very  important.

He notched an eyebrow at her and something in his eyes changed, and she  knew-knew-that he remembered exactly how things had gone down between  them. Or not gone down, as the case may be. But, thankfully, all he said  was "Yup."

"I'm very happy for the high school reunion     , but none of this brings  us any closer to getting my father out of the hospital," Eve Winchester  snapped.

Josh-without looking away from her-asked, "Is that a possibility?"

Right. Lucinda had a purpose here that had nothing to do with Josh  Calhoun or Lucy Wilde. She had ventured out to this dusty, half-finished  work site to try to talk some sense into Carson and Eve because they  were the most invested players in this family drama.

Not that that was saying a lot.

"It would be best for the patient if he remained in the oncology ward at  Midwest," Lucinda said as all three looked at her. "I want to keep him  under my direct supervision, and there are several experimental  treatments I would like to try-with his consent-that have the potential  to increase his life expectancy. There are promising developments with  low-dose naltrexone..."

"I don't understand why these experimental treatments have to be done in  the hospital," Eve snapped, cutting Lucinda off. "Every day that he's  in a public space-and no, you can't promise me that his privacy will be  respected in that hospital-it becomes that much more likely that someone  will access his records, take pictures of him while he's incapacitated  or bribe a nurse for information they can use against him in the court  of public opinion." She paused and shot daggers at Carson. "I want him  home where I know that he'll be protected and safe."                       
       
           



       

Ah, so they were back on the script again. Josh looked to Lucinda for a  reply, but she was unable to provide any other details of her patient's  medical condition to him. She was not about to break her Hippocratic  oath for him.

Instead, it was Carson who answered. "We've been over this, Eve. He's  sick. He belongs in a hospital." He turned to Josh. "He's got inoperable  lung cancer-years of smoking and hard living, I guess. It's spread to  his lymph nodes. Stage three."

Josh had the decency to wince.

"But," Eve said as she jumped back in, "he's not going to die tomorrow."

"You can't just cut the cancer out?" Josh asked Lucinda.

She glared at him even harder. "I cannot share anything about my patient's condition with a nonfamily member."

Carson rolled his eyes at her. "As Dr. Wilde has explained to us, due to  the original tumor's location, she can't perform surgery and  traditional chemo, and radiation won't be powerful enough to eradicate  the malignant cells that have spread to the lymph system."