“Anything I can do?” Mack asked.
“Just keep coming to see him. It’s the only time I ever hear him laugh,” she said quietly.
Mack studied her intently. “What about you, Doc? How are you doing? This is getting to you, isn’t it? I mean even more than it was before. You’re scared, aren’t you?”
Beth struggled with the emotions she tried to keep tamped down so they wouldn’t overwhelm her. Mack had a way of bringing them right back to the surface, of forcing her to confront them.
“Terrified,” she admitted finally.
Mack reached for her hand. “You know, even doctors are allowed to have feelings.”
“No, we’re not,” she said, jerking her hand away from the comfort it would be far too easy to accept. “We have to stay focused and objective.”
“Why?”
“It’s the only way we can do our jobs.”
“Without falling apart, you mean?”
She nodded, her throat tight. Now she was the one who was uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “Can we talk about something else, please? I can’t do this, not tonight.”
Mack sat back in his chair. “Sure. We can talk about whatever you like.” He grinned. “Want to talk about football?”
She relaxed at the teasing note in his voice. “It would have to be a brief conversation, unless you intend to do all the talking.”
“You know us jocks. We can go on and on about sports at the drop of a hat,” he taunted. “But I’ll spare you. How about politics? Any opinions?”
“I saw in the paper that your brother finally announced he’s running for city council in Alexandria.”
Mack’s expression darkened a bit. “Yep, Richard’s fulfilling the legacy our father left for him.”
Beth heard the edgy note in his voice and studied him curiously. “You don’t seem pleased by that.”
“If it were what my brother really wanted, I’d be all for it, but the truth is Richard has spent his whole life living up to these expectations that were drilled into him when we were boys. Running Carlton Industries is one thing. That’s the family legacy and he loves it. He was clearly destined for it. But politics? I’m not convinced it’s what he wants. He’ll do it, though, out of a sense of duty to a man who’s been gone for more than twenty years, and he’ll do it well.”
“Have you told him how you feel?”
He gave her a rueful look. “Nah. You don’t tell Richard anything. He’s the one who tells the rest of us what to do.”
“Do you resent that?”
“Good grief, no. If he hadn’t taken the pressure off the rest of us years ago, I’d probably be behind some desk at Carlton Industries pushing a pencil. I’d not only be totally miserable, but I’d probably bring down the company.”
“Singlehandedly?” Beth asked skeptically.
“No, I imagine Ben, our younger brother, would be even worse at it than me.”
“I think I read somewhere that he’s an artist. Is that right?”
Mack’s eyes twinkled with knowing amusement. “Checking us out, Doc?”
“No, it’s just hard to avoid the mention of the Carlton name in the local media. Even your reportedly reclusive younger brother’s name pops up from time to time.”
“If you say so.”
“Why would I bother checking you out?” Beth inquired irritably.
“Some women think we’re pretty fascinating men,” Mack responded with a straight face.
“I’m not one of them.”
“So you only tolerate me hanging around for Tony’s sake?”
“Yes,” she said.
His skeptical gaze caught hers and held until she flushed under the intensity. Only when he was apparently satisfied that he’d rattled her and proved his point did he finally glance away.
Relieved to be out from under that disconcerting gaze, Beth drew in a shaky breath. No man had ever unnerved her the way Mack Carlton did. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why that was. Sure, he had the kind of body that would look great on a beefcake calendar. Sure, he even showed evidence of being kind and sensitive, two traits she admired in a man. He had a killer smile, an agile brain and a charming personality. With all of that added together, the question shouldn’t have been why he unnerved her, but why she hadn’t thrown herself straight into his arms.
That she could answer. Mack Carlton was a rich, ex-jock playboy, who didn’t take anything seriously. His affairs were played out publicly, and she was a very private woman with a reputation to protect. So even if that glimmer of heat she thought she saw in his eyes from time to time was real, even if these brief hospital encounters implied a certain fascination on his part, she couldn’t allow any of it to lead anywhere—assuming he even wanted to pursue it himself beyond the occasional cup of coffee or idle conversation at the end of the day.