Priceless (2 page)

“She’ll be with you as soon as she gets her foot out of her mouth,” Jason said, breaking the tension.

Grateful to the radiologist for helping her out, she managed to stand and offer her hand. “Mr. Carlton, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Obviously,” he said, his lips curving into a slow smile. “My aunt said you’d had trouble contacting me. My staff shouldn’t have put you off. I apologize for that.”

Beth had read that he was a heartbreaker. Now she knew why. If his gaze could render her speechless, that smile could set her on fire. Add in the unexpected touch of humility and the sincerity of his apology, and her
first impression was pretty much smashed to bits. She’d never experienced a reaction to any man quite like this. She wasn’t sure she liked it.

“Would you…?” Exasperated by her inability to gather her thoughts, she swallowed hard, took a deep breath, then tried again. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Actually I’m on a tight schedule. I found myself near here and wanted to let you know that I haven’t been deliberately blowing off your calls. I thought I’d take a chance that now would be a good time to meet Tony.”

“Of course,” she said at once, knowing what such a visit would mean even if regular visiting hours were later in the day. This was one instance when she didn’t mind breaking the rules. “I’ll take you to his room. He’ll be thrilled.”

Jason cleared his throat. At his pointed look, Beth realized that her colleagues were hoping for an introduction to the local football legend. Amazed that grown men could be as enamored of Mack Carlton as her twelve-year-old patient was, she paused and made the introductions.

When it seemed that the doctors were about to go over every great play the man had ever made on the football field, she cut them off.

“As much as you guys would probably like to discuss football for the rest of the day, Mr. Carlton is here to see Tony,” she reminded them a bit curtly.

Mack Carlton gave her another of those smiles that could melt the polar ice cap. “Besides,” he said, “we’re probably boring Dr. Browning to tears.”

Now there was a loaded statement if ever she’d heard one. She didn’t dare admit to being bored and
risk insulting him more than she had when he’d first arrived and overheard her. Nor was she inclined to lie. Instead she forced a smile. “You did say you had a tight schedule.”

His grin spread. “So I did. Lead the way, Doctor.”

Relieved to have something concrete to do, she set off briskly through the corridors to the unit where twelve-year-old Tony had spent far too much of his young life.

“Tell me about Tony,” Mack suggested as they walked.

“He’s twelve and he has leukemia,” Beth told him, fighting to keep any trace of emotion from her voice. It was the kind of story she hated to tell, especially when the battle wasn’t being won. “It’s the third time it’s come back. This time he’s not responding so well to the chemotherapy. We’d hoped to get him ready for a bone marrow transplant, but we don’t have the right donor marrow, and because of his difficulty with the chemo, I’m not so sure it would be feasible for him right now anyway.”

Mack listened intently to everything she was saying. “His prognosis?”

“Not good,” she said tersely.

“And you’re taking it personally,” he said quietly.

Beth promptly shook her head. “I know I can’t win every battle,” she said, as she had to the psychologist who’d expressed his concern about her state of mind earlier in the day. Few people knew just how personally she took a case like Tony’s. She was surprised that Mack Carlton had guessed it so easily.

“But you hate losing,” Mack said.

“When it’s a matter of life and death, of course I
do,” she said fiercely. “I went into medicine to save lives.”

“Why?” Before she could reply, he added, “I know it’s a noble profession, but dealing with sick kids has to be an emotional killer. Why you? Why this field?”

She was surprised that he actually seemed interested in her response. “I was drawn to it early on,” she said, aware that she was being evasive by suggesting that it hadn’t been the motivating force in her entire life. With any luck, Mack wouldn’t realize it.

“Because?” he prodded, not accepting the response at face value and proving once more that he was a more insightful man than she’d expected him to be.

“Why does it matter to you?” she asked, still dodging a direct answer to his question.

His eyes studied her intently. “Because it obviously matters to you.”

Once again his insight caught her off guard. It was evident he wasn’t going to let this go until he’d heard at least some version of the truth. “Okay, here it is in a nutshell. I had an older brother who died of leukemia when I was ten,” she told him, revealing more than she had to anyone other than her family. They knew all too well what her motivation had been for choosing medicine, and they didn’t entirely approve of her choice, fearing she was doomed to have repeated heartaches. “I vowed to save other kids like him.”

Mack regarded her with what appeared to be real sympathy. “Like I said, you take it personally.”

She sighed at the assessment. “Yes, I suppose I do.”

“How long do you think you can keep it up, if you take every case to heart?”

“As long as I have to,” she insisted tightly. “I only see a few patients. Most of my time is spent in re
search. Our treatments are getting better and better all the time.” Sadly, Tony wasn’t responding well to any of them, which was why she’d taken such an intense interest in his case.

“But not with Tony,” Mack said.

Beth fought against the salty sting of unexpected tears. “Not with Tony, at least not yet,” she admitted softly. Then she set her jaw and regarded Mack defiantly, blinking back those tell-tale tears. “But we’re going to win this battle, too.”

He gave her an admiring look. “Yes, I think you will,” he said quietly. “Will my being here actually help Tony?”

“Hopefully it will improve his spirits,” Beth assured him. “He’s been a little down lately, and sometimes boosting a child’s morale is the most important thing we can do. We need to keep him from giving up on himself or on us.”

Mack nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s go in there and talk football.” He gave her an impudent grin. “I assume you won’t be saying much.”

Beth laughed despite herself, liking Mack far more than she’d ever expected to. She could forgive a lot in a person who had a sense of humor, whether about her foibles or his own. “Probably not.”

His expression sobered. “Good. What I do for a living may not be medicine or rocket science, but I’d hate to have you dismiss it in front of a kid who thinks it matters.”

Beth stared at him as his point struck home. Her opinion of football or of Mack Carlton didn’t matter right now. “Touché, Mr. Carlton. I’ll definitely refrain from comment. This is all about Tony.”

He winked. “Call me Mack. My fans do.”

“I’m not one of your fans.”

“Stick around,” he taunted lightly. “You might be, after this.”

Beth bit back a sigh. Yes, she could be, she admitted to herself. Not that Mighty Mack Carlton needed another conquest in his life. The gossip columns were littered with the names of women who thought they had the inside track in his life. She’d noticed that few of them ever got a second mention. She wasn’t the least bit inclined to test her luck in an already crowded field.

“Don’t hold your breath, Mr. Carlton. Besides, the only person whose adoration counts is Tony, and you’ve already got a lock on that.”

“I wouldn’t mind at least a hint of approval from you, too,” he said, his gaze capturing hers and holding it.

Despite the obvious attempt to disconcert her, Beth felt herself falling under his spell. She found it irritating. “Why? Do you have to win over every woman you meet?”

He hesitated then, and an odd look that might have been confusion flickered in his eyes. “How well do you know my aunt?” he asked.

The out-of-the-blue question caught her off guard. “Your aunt?”

“Destiny Carlton, the woman you contacted who made sure I came over here today.”

Beth shook her head. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said. “Though I recognize the name. I think she raises a lot of money for the hospital. I never spoke to her, though.”

Mack seemed surprised. “You really don’t know her?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t call her?”

“No. Why?”

He shook his head, obviously more puzzled than ever. “Doesn’t matter.”

Despite his denial, Beth got the distinct impression that it mattered a lot. She simply had no idea why.

M
ack had been in his share of hospital rooms. He’d had enough football injuries to guarantee that—including one final blown-out knee that had ended his career on the field. Granted, his life had never been on the line, but even so, he hated the antiseptic smell, the too-perky nurses, the beeps and whirring of machines, the evasiveness of the doctors who never looked you in the eye when the news was bad. If he’d hated it, how much worse must it be for a kid, especially a kid who had to face the possibility that he might not come out alive?

During his football career, Mack had made it a habit to visit children in this hospital and others. The smiles on their faces, knowing that for a few minutes, at least, he’d taken them away from their problems, made his own discomfort seem like a small thing.

Now that his own playing days were over, he made fewer of these visits. Most kids wanted to meet the
current players, and from his position in the team’s front office, he made sure it happened, even if it made some of the biggest, brawniest players in the league cry afterward. Men who took a lot for granted suddenly started counting their blessings after a hospital visit to cheer kids facing the toughest fights of their lives. Nothing he’d ever encountered had given him a better perspective on what mattered in life.

Outside Tony Vitale’s door, he braced himself for what he’d find inside—a pale kid, maybe bald, his eyes haunted. Mack had seen it too many times not to expect the worst. It never failed to make his chest tighten and his throat close up. Forcing himself not to react visibly had been one of the hardest lessons he’d ever had to learn.

“You okay?” Beth asked, regarding him worriedly. “You’re not going to walk in there and pass out on me, are you?”

Mack gave her a disbelieving look. “Hardly.”

“You wouldn’t be the first man who couldn’t take seeing a kid this sick,” she said.

“I’ve been here before.”

She gave him a look filled with understanding and commiseration. “It’s always hardest the first time. After that, it gets easier.”

“I doubt that,” Mack said.

Her gaze stayed on his face. “You ready?” she asked finally, as if she’d seen some minute change in his demeanor that had satisfied her.

“Let’s do it.”

Beth pushed open the door, a seemingly genuine smile on her face. “Hey, Tony,” she called out cheerfully. “Have I got a surprise for you!”

“Ice cream?” a weak voice called back hopefully.

“Better than that,” she said, then stood aside to allow Mack to enter.

Admiring her performance and determined not to let her or the boy down, Mack gave her a thumbs-up and strode into the room.

The boy lying amid a pile of pillows and stuffed animals was wearing a too-large football jersey with Mack’s old number on it. He clutched a football against his scrawny chest. When he spotted Mack, he struggled to sit up, and for just an instant there was a glimmer of childish delight in his dull eyes before he fell back against the pillows, obviously too weak to sit upright.

“Mighty Mack!” he whispered incredulously, his gaze avidly following Mack’s progress across the room. “You really came.”

“Hey, when I get a call from a pretty doctor telling me that my biggest fan is in the hospital, I always show up,” Mack said, swallowing the familiar tide of dismay that washed over him. The men who walked onto a football field every Sunday and allowed equally brawny men to tackle them and pound them into the dirt didn’t know half as much about real bravery as this kid.

Tony nodded enthusiastically. “I’m your biggest fan, all right. I’ve got tapes of every game you ever played.”

“That can’t be that many. I had a short career.”

“But you were awesome, the best ever.”

Mack chuckled. “Better than Johnny Unitas in Baltimore? Better than Denver’s John Elway? Better than Dan Marino in Miami?”

“Way better,” Tony said loyally.

Mack turned to the lady doc. “The kid knows his sports legends.”

She gave him a wry look. “Obviously, the two of you agree you’re in a class by yourself.”

“He is, Dr. Beth,” Tony asserted. “Ask anyone.”

“Why ask anyone else, when I can get it straight from the horse’s—” she deliberately hesitated, her gaze on Mack steady before she finally added “—mouth?”

Mack had the distinct impression she would have preferred to mention the opposite end of the horse. He had definitely not won her over. Not yet, anyway. That was a challenge for another time, though, one he was surprisingly eager to pursue. For now, his focus had to be on Tony.

“How about I sign your football for you?” he suggested to Tony.

The boy’s eyes lit up. “That’d be great! Wait till my mom comes tonight. She’ll be so excited. She’s watched all those tapes with me a million times. I’ll bet she’s the only mom around who knows all your stats.”

Mack read between the lines, but managed to keep his expression neutral at the hint that there was no father in this boy’s life. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a valuable football card from his rookie year that he’d brought along. “Want me to sign this for your mom or for you?”

“Oh, wow! I saw that card on the Internet. It was selling for way more than I could pay,” Tony said, obviously struggling to do the right thing. “Sign it for my mom, I guess. She can show it to all her friends at work. She’ll probably want to put it in a frame on her desk.”

Mack grinned at him. “Good choice. I’ll bring you your own on my next visit. I think I can come up with
one from my MVP year that’s even more valuable, especially when it’s signed.”

“You’ll come back?” Tony asked, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Really? And we can talk about all the guys you drafted for this season? We really need that defensive lineman you got.”

“Tell me about it,” Mack said.

“Has he signed yet?”

Mack grinned at his enthusiasm and his up-to-date knowledge. “Not yet. We’re still bargaining.”

“He’ll sign,” Tony said confidently. “Who wouldn’t want to play for your team? What I don’t get is why you didn’t go after that punter at Ohio State.”

Mack laughed. “Maybe I’ll explain budgets and salary caps to you the next time I come.”

“I can’t believe you’ll really come back,” Tony said.

“I’ll be back so often you’ll get sick of me,” Mack promised. “Nothing I like more than talking to someone who remembers all my great plays.”

“And I do,” Tony said. “Every one of them. That game against the Eagles, when you threw for a team record was the best ever, but I liked the way you scrambled for a winning touchdown against the Packers, when everybody said you ought to be off the field because of a shoulder injury.”

Mack laughed. “That was a great one,” he agreed. “I still get a twinge in that shoulder every time I think about it. I had to scramble, because I couldn’t have thrown the ball if my life had depended on it.”

“I knew it!” Tony said, obviously delighted to have his impression confirmed. “I told my mom before you ran that there was no way you were going to try a pass. How come the Packers’ defense didn’t get that?”

“Pure, dumb luck,” Mack admitted. “And just so you know, I shouldn’t have stayed on the field. I could have cost us the game.”

“But you didn’t. You won it,” Tony said.

“That doesn’t mean it was the smartest play. It means I was showing off.”

“I don’t care. It was a great play,” Tony insisted.

Mack laughed at the kid’s stubborn defense. “Too bad you weren’t around to talk to the coach. He almost benched me for the next game because of that play.”

Tony’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Really? But that’s so unfair.”

Mack studied the boy’s face and thought he looked even paler than he had when Mack had first arrived, despite his obvious excitement. Mack glanced at Beth and saw the lines of worry creasing her forehead. He was pretty good at reading cues and he definitely got this one. It was time to go.

“Listen, Tony, I’ve got to head to a meeting. You get some rest. Maybe next time we can go down to the cafeteria for some hot chocolate. I hear it’s pretty decent.”

“Really?” Tony asked, his voice fading as if he were falling asleep but struggling to fight it.

“If the doc okays it,” Mack said, giving her a questioning look.

“No problem,” Beth said, but she didn’t seem too enthusiastic.

Mack took Tony’s frail hand and gave it a squeeze. “Take good care of yourself, son.”

By the time he released the boy’s hand, Tony was already asleep.

A few seconds later Mack and Beth Browning were
back in the hall. She scowled at him with fire in her eyes.

“Why did you do that?” she demanded.

“Do what?” Mack asked, confused by the sudden return of overt hostility. He’d felt good about the way things had gone during the visit. He was sure he’d lifted Tony’s spirits and gotten his mind off of his illness for a few minutes at least. Wasn’t that the point of his being here?

“Why did you say you’d be back?” she asked.

Mack was annoyed by the implication that he’d made a promise he had no intention of keeping. “Because if I was reading the signals correctly, that boy doesn’t have a dad, and he needs someone around to support him,” he retorted. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Tony’s not alone. You heard how he talks about his mom. She’s great with him.”

Mack regarded her with a steady look. “And I think that’s fantastic, but now he has me, too.”

Beth’s expression faltered as the sincerity of his intentions finally sank in. “You actually mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I know what it’s like to grow up without a dad,” Mack said honestly. “That was bad enough. To grow up sick and terrified without a dad must be a thousand times worse. If I can help by coming to visit, then that’s what I intend to do. Any objections, Dr. Browning?”

She hesitated, her gaze locked with his, then finally she shook her head. “None, as long as you don’t let him down.”

“You concentrate on getting him well, Doc. I’ll concentrate on giving him a few extra reasons to live.”

That said, he turned and walked away, not sure whether he was more upset by Tony’s situation or by the doctor who doubted his own good intentions.

Not until he was on his way to his business meeting did Mack allow himself to consider Beth’s earlier claim that she had never spoken to Destiny. Was she telling him the truth? He couldn’t imagine any reason she’d have to lie.

Destiny, to the contrary, might well be inclined to lie if this was another of her matchmaking plots as he’d initially suspected. The instant he’d met the doctor—pretty, brainy, serious—his suspicions had been aroused all over again. The fact that Destiny had never mentioned Dr. Browning being a woman raised all sorts of red flags, as well.

As he drove across town, he voice activated his cell phone and called Destiny.

“Darling, I didn’t expect to hear from you again so soon,” she said. “How did things go at the hospital? Were you able to meet Tony?”

“Yes. He’s in rough shape.”

“Then I’m sure your visit meant a lot. I’m so proud of you for taking the time to stop by.”

“It’s the least I can do.” He hesitated, debating whether it was wise to ask his aunt any question at all about Beth Browning. She might make way too much of his curiosity. Still, he wanted to know what he was up against. Had she schemed to bring the two of them together? If so, she had to know that it was an unlikely match. The woman didn’t even like football, much less understand it, and the game was an integral part of his
life. And she seemed to have formed some very negative opinions about the kind of man he was.

“By the way, your Dr. Browning is not exactly a huge fan of the game,” he said eventually.

“Really?” Destiny said.

He listened for a false note in her voice, but didn’t detect one. “You didn’t know?” he pressed.

“How would I know?”

“You did say you’d talked to her.”

“Did I say that? Actually your secretary passed along all those messages.”

Now she was getting her stories mixed up. Mack knew he was on to something. “Destiny, it’s not like you to forget what tale you’ve told. What’s the real scoop here?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I asked you to do a good deed. You did it. That’s the end of it, isn’t it?” Now she hesitated. “Or did you find Dr. Browning attractive?”

“In a quiet, no-frills sort of way,” he said, considering that to be a bit generous. She had nice, warm eyes, pale blond hair in a chin-length style and lovely skin, but she didn’t do much to accentuate her femininity, not like most of the women he knew. All of that made it much harder for him to understand the little frisson of attraction he’d felt toward her. Maybe it was nothing more than the obvious challenge she represented.

“Mack, didn’t I teach you that the packaging is not what counts with a woman?” Destiny chided.

He laughed at that. “You tried.”

“Perhaps you should reconsider the lesson. It was a good one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, if that’s all, Mack, I’ve got to run. I have a million things to do before my dinner guest arrives.”

“Anyone I know?” Maybe if his aunt had a social life of her own, she’d stop messing with his.

“No. This is just someone with whom I’ve recently become acquainted.”

“A man?” he pressed.

“If you must know, no.”

“Too bad. I could introduce you to some eligible bachelors anytime you say the word,” he said, warming to the idea.

Destiny laughed. “Most of the men you know are half my age. As flattering as I might find that, I doubt it’s very wise. There’s nothing worse than a foolish old woman trying to be something she’s not.”

“I do know a lot of rich, powerful men who own their own companies,” Mack retorted. “Though, frankly, I think a guy my age might find you more fascinating and challenging than some of the women they’re currently dating.”

“Ah, there’s that silver tongue of yours again,” she said, chuckling. “Thank you, darling. I must run, though.”

Mack said goodbye, then went over the conversation a few more times in his head. Had Destiny actually admitted to knowing Beth or not? He had a hunch it was something he needed to know before he got sucked right smack into the middle of one of her schemes. Forewarned was forearmed with his aunt.