Love On Call

And none of that mattered now. She turned back to the hospital and took a deep breath of the cleanest air she thought she’d ever experienced. So fresh her lungs actually tingled. Smiling at the thought, she followed the drive in the direction she’d seen the ambulance take and found the emergency room entrance without any trouble. At six forty-five in the morning, it was already busy. Several people stood in line at reception, waiting to sign in with the woman sitting at the counter. A line of gurneys waited along the wall on either side of big double doors that stood open at the entrance to the treatment area. An orderly pushed a woman in a wheelchair around a corner, and an elevator dinged. The murmur of voices drew her down a short hall to the nurses’ station. She stopped by the desk and waited until a middle-aged man with thinning brown hair wearing khaki pants and a camo scrub shirt adorned with Snoopy looked up at her and smiled.

“Can I help you? Are you here with one of the patients?” he asked in a surprising lilting tenor.

She held out her hand. “No, I am Mari Mateo. A new PA. I was wondering—”

“Oh, right. That’s today—welcome. Glenn’s not here, but come with me.”

Mari hesitated as he swept around from behind the counter. “If you could just point me to the conference room—”

“I’m Bruce Endie—one of the nurses. This way,” he said over his shoulder as he hurried along. Mari followed down the hall and around the corner before he disappeared completely.

He stopped in front of an open door, rapped quickly, and said, “Dr. Remy. New troops.”

Mari halted abruptly beside him and glanced into a small office where a woman sat behind the desk. She felt her face color when she recognized the head of the ER. They’d only talked via Skype, but Dr. Remy wasn’t someone she would easily forget. “Oh, Dr. Remy! I’m really sorry. I think I was supposed to be in the conference room.”

The blonde with the emerald green eyes, sculpted cheekbones, and warm smile motioned her in. “That’s okay. Mari, isn’t it? Call me Abby. Have a seat.”

“Thanks.” Mari sat in one of the two chairs in front of the ER chief’s desk. “I’m afraid I’m early.”

Abby grinned. “You’ll never hear complaints about that. I’m sorry Glenn isn’t here to—”

“Am I late?” a low, smooth voice inquired from the direction of the open door.

“Not at all,” Abby said. “This is Mari Mateo, our new PA. Glenn Archer is our program director, Mari.”

Mari turned in her seat, her gaze falling on a slightly taller than average woman with shaggy dusky blond hair, a lean face with slate-blue eyes, and a wide sensuous mouth above a square chin with a shadow of a cleft. The expression in those intense eyes was appraising and cautious. No quick smile and friendly welcome here. Not unfriendly, just remote.

“Good to meet you,” Glenn said in a slow, sensuous drawl. A smile flickered and was gone.

“Glenn will take care of getting you settled,” Abby said.

Mari rose, wondering just how settled she’d be when just the slow sweep of Glenn Archer’s gaze over her face made her pulse quicken.

Chapter Three

Glenn strode silently down the hall toward the main area of the ER with the new PA keeping pace. Why the hell had she let Abigail Remy talk her into giving up her position as Flann Rivers’s surgical first assistant to head up this new training program? Abby hadn’t even had to work hard to convince her. It hadn’t been flattery, she wasn’t susceptible to that. Sure, Abby had said she’d needed her, needed someone with experience who was used to leading a team to be sure the PA training program got off the ground and running without any hitches. The new cooperative programs between ACH and the area medical centers were vital to keeping the hospital healthy. The ER, hell, the whole hospital had been in trouble not long before, and there’d been talk of the place being bought out and closed. Everyone thought Presley Worth, the new CEO, had come here to do exactly that. Maybe she had. But not now. Presley, medical staff president Edward Rivers, and every member of the staff were united in turning the place around. So how could she have said no—when had she ever said no when she believed in something and duty called? She’d been happy working as Flann’s second, satisfied with her solo responsibilities. Comfortable. Safe. Hell. She knew what the problem was. She didn’t want to be a team leader, didn’t want to be responsible for success or failure. Didn’t want to be anyone’s go-to. Not again. But she’d signed up for it, hadn’t she? Reenlisted just as automatically as she had the last two times. So here she was, the PA director, with a new staff PA, and she still hadn’t said anything more to Mari Mateo than “Come on, I’ll show you where your locker is.”

Glenn stopped so abruptly Mari took a step past her, then turned back and stared at her with a question in her eyes.

“You drink coffee, don’t you?” Glenn said.