Renegade Millionaire (11 page)

“No problem, and I'm sorry it took so long for you have your son with you.”

While Rita continued to hold the baby, Mrs. Rutherford unwrapped the blanket to do the usual motherly all-parts-accounted-for check. “Two hours is a long time to be without your child.”

Try two months, Rio thought as Joanna's predicament worked its way back into his brain. As he watched the family gathered around to survey the miracle, he realized how much Joanna needed to have her son with her.

He'd been alone for so long, Rio was only beginning to realize the importance of that concept—and the extent of his own loneliness. He hadn't stopped to consider how difficult it must be for Joanna, not having those she loved and needed nearby. He'd only considered how much he wanted her, his own desires and needs. That made him a selfish bastard, and somehow, someway, he needed to make amends.

Starting now.

 

Joanna dismissed her next-to-last patient and moved on to the final one, thankful to discover the patient was Allison Cartwright. She could use a familiar face right now, someone who might distract her from thoughts of Rio.

As Joanna entered the exam room, Allison smiled but it immediately faded. “You look absolutely beat, Joanna.”

She felt as if she'd taken a beating—to her heart. “It's been a long day.” Joanna moved to the chair next to the table where Allison sat wearing a cornflower-blue exam
gown, her swollen feet propped up on a stool. “How have you been feeling?”

“Pretty good, except for the usual pregnancy woes. Caroline examined me since you were running behind.”

Joanna tamped down her guilt. “I'm sorry. I'm not moving very fast today. Anything special to report?”

Allison's smile disappeared. “Actually, she's a little concerned about my blood pressure.”

Flipping open the chart, Joanna scanned the notes. “Your pressure is a bit high but your urine looks normal for now. However, you do have quite a bit of edema.” She set the chart down and turned her attention to Allison. “To be on the safe side, I'm going to put you on bed rest for the next couple of weeks. I also want to check you on Monday, and in the meantime, we'll order a few lab tests.”

Allison's eyes widened. “Bed rest? Is that necessary? I really don't have any extra sick leave coming to me. If I have to take off early then I run the risk of losing my job.”

“Allison, I know it's tough, but I don't want to run the risk of anything happening to you or your baby. You could be facing preeclampsia and we don't want to take any chances. Preeclampsia is a condition where—”

“I know all about it,” Allison said. “My sister had it and so did my mother. In fact, my mother died giving birth to my sister from full-blown eclampsia.”

Joanna's concern increased. “I'm so sorry to hear that, Allison. And that's all the more reason to watch you carefully since you could have a genetic predisposition.”

Allison sighed. “Okay, I'll figure something out. This baby is very important to me and I don't want to take
any chances whatsoever. After all, the doctors said I'd never be able to get pregnant.”

Joanna smiled. “Well, I guess they were wrong, weren't they?”

“Yes, they were, and speaking of doctors, I spoke to Dr. Madrid today.”

Joanna swallowed hard. “Really?”

“Yes, on the phone, and I appreciate you letting him know about my decision.”

“He seemed okay with it?”

“Yeah, he was fine, as far as I could tell.”

Joanna wondered how cooperative Rio would be if he knew of Allison's current problems. “I'm glad.”

“He did seem a little distracted, though.”

He could join the club, Joanna thought. “I'm sure he's probably very busy.”

“He said I was in good hands with you.” Allison grinned. “Does he have personal knowledge of your hands?”

Boy, did he. “Very funny, Allison.”

“I'm sorry, but that day I saw him here at the center, I could tell something was going on between you two.”

Joanna's face felt like an inferno. “What makes you think that?”

“By the way he looked at you. Are you going to deny there's something going on between you two?”

After hesitating just a little too long, Joanna realized she might as well come clean. After all, she could use someone to talk to. Several times she'd almost called Cassie O'Connor but she didn't want to burden a busy mother of twins. And she
had
forged a friendship with Allison in the past few weeks. Right now Joanna could use a friend. A female friend.

Turning away from Allison, Joanna walked to the
counter and toyed with the chart. “Actually, I live with Rio.”

Allison's sharp intake of air caused Joanna to face her once more. “I had no idea it was that serious,” Allison said.

“I'm only living with him temporarily until I can find a decent place of my own.”

“But there's a little more to it, isn't there?”

Joanna lowered her eyes and fiddled with the stethoscope hanging around her neck. “I suppose you could say that.”

“Are you sharing his bed?”

Maybe not his bed, but she had shared his bathroom floor. “I guess you could say things have progressed from an intimate standpoint. Right now I'm kind of confused over the whole situation.”

“Sex can definitely cause confusion. It certainly changes things.”

“Yes, it does,” Joanna said.

Joanna glanced up to see Allison's hands resting on her distended belly, regarding her with a questioning gaze. “Are you in love with him, Joanna?”

Hearing the words sent shock waves spiraling through Joanna. “I'm, um, well, I'm very fond of him.”

Allison's eyes went wide. “God, you
are
in love with him, aren't you? Didn't they teach you in school to never fall for a doctor?”

Joanna had sworn to never fall in love again, probably an unrealistic goal unless she decided to stop living completely. But she certainly hadn't intended to take that leap now, and especially not with a man like Rio Madrid. A man who steered clear of commitment. “I'm not in love with him.” Yet.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” Liar. “Believe me, I've worked with more than a few doctors that are great at what they do, attractive in a lot of ways and anything but commitment material.” Rio in a nutshell.

“So have I,” Allison said wistfully. “And it's the hardest thing to accept, isn't it?”

Joanna was beginning to suspect Allison had more than a little personal experience with doctors. “Stop me if I'm being too intrusive, but does a doctor figure into your baby's parentage?”

After glancing at the picture of a perfect family hanging on the pale-blue wall, Allison turned sad eyes back to Joanna. “Yes, my baby's father happens to be a doctor.”

“Does he know about the pregnancy?” Joanna asked.

Allison twisted the hem on the gown until Joanna thought it might rip. “No, not yet.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I'm not sure. He's only recently returned from a six-month leave of absence. I don't know how he would take the news or if he would even want to be involved. It happened one night, a huge mistake, except for the pregnancy. I wouldn't take that back for a minute. This baby is a miracle.”

Joanna's heart went out to Allison knowing she might have to raise a child alone. How well she could relate to that. And although she was curious to know exactly who the unidentified doctor might be, she wouldn't ask. “Right now, let's concentrate on your health. Get plenty of rest, we'll monitor you carefully and by this time next month, you'll have your little one. Then you can decide what you want to do about the father.”

Allison sent Joanna a knowing smile. “And maybe
soon you'll have what you want, too. Whatever that might be.”

Right now Joanna only wanted to go home and consider what she needed to do about Rio. At least it was Friday and she wasn't scheduled to take call but she did intend to phone her son. She needed to hear his voice, to speak to the little man, the center of her life, the only male who should matter at the moment. And Joseph did matter, more than anything in the universe. But one thing had become all too apparent. Despite how angry he'd made her that morning, Rio Madrid was starting to matter to Joanna. Too much.

A
t a little past 8:00 p.m., Joanna arrived home and held her breath as she pulled up behind Rio's truck. In a way she'd hoped to find him gone. Another part of her warred with excitement just knowing he was there.

“I'm mad at you, Rio,” she murmured as she turned off the ignition and slid out of the sedan. She continued her litany as she strode up the front walkway. “Very angry. Furious, in fact. Absolutely livid—”

“Mama!”

Joanna's mouth dropped open at the same time she dropped her keys and purse onto the walk. Before she could quite register the sight of her son running toward her from the house, Joseph had already hurled himself at her waist in an enthusiastic embrace. Tears of pure joy rushed in and a boulder-size lump formed in Joanna's throat as she knelt to hold her precious baby in her arms. She brushed the dark hair from his forehead
and replaced it with kiss after kiss until Joseph pulled away and said, “You're getting me all wet, Mama.”

“I'm sorry, but I've missed you so much, honey.” She swiped an arm over her damp face then immediately wrapped it back around him. “What are you doing here?”

Joseph grinned and in the diffused light coming from the porch, she could see the dark space where he had lost his first tooth in her absence. “Mr. Rio put me and Gran on a plane so we could come see you this weekend.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Joanna was so utterly surprised by the gesture, so totally grateful to Rio that her anger died like fall foliage in winter. “That was very nice of him,” she managed to say through a sniff. “Where's Gran?”

“In the house with Mr. Rio.”

Joanna grabbed up her belongings and took Joseph's hand, relishing the feel of his tiny fingers wrapped around hers. Oh, how she had missed him. “He's a doctor, sweetie, not a mister. Dr. Madrid.”

Joseph shrugged and skipped along the path, dragging Joanna with him. “He said I could call him Rio, but Gran always says you should call someone mister if you don't know him.”

“If he told you to call him Rio, then you can do that.”

Only a few moments before, Joanna had wanted to call Rio much worse. Now she only wanted to thank him and hug him for doing something so totally incredible as reuniting mother and son.

Once in the foyer, Joanna found her mother waiting for her at the entry to the den, her light-blue eyes still vibrant and full of mischief despite her advancing age,
her silver hair still styled in the same short casual cut, as it had been for as long as Joanna could remember.

She opened her arms to Joanna. “Hello there, daughter dear.”

Joanna relinquished Joseph in order to hug her mother hard. She fought another bout of tears with great effort as she kissed her cheek. “You really pulled a fast one this time, Margaret Ann Mathis. I can't remember when I've had such a welcome surprise.”

Margaret patted Joanna's cheek. “You have Dr. Madrid to thank for that. He actually persuaded me to get on a plane. Can you imagine that?”

Joanna wasn't at all surprised. Rio could be very persuasive. She glanced beyond her mother and visually searched the den but found it deserted. “Where is the doctor, anyway?”

“He's in the garage. He said he'd stay out of the way until we had a chance to say our hellos. I told him that wasn't necessary, but he insisted. He also insisted on having dinner brought in. I hope you don't mind, but we've already eaten. Joseph was starving and Rio wasn't certain when you'd be home. We saved you some.”

“That's okay. I'm not really hungry.” She wanted to find Rio, to thank him properly. “Why don't I see if he'll join us? We can have a nice visit before Joseph's bedtime.”

“I'm not sleepy,” Joseph said adamantly as he bent and hugged Gabby who had come into the foyer to check out the happenings. The dog wagged her tail furiously and licked Joseph's face until the boy fell into a fit of giggles.

Gabby had never paid Joanna much mind. Obviously the dog was quite taken with both Joanna's men.

Both her men…

But Rio wasn't hers.

“While you go and get the doctor, I'll put Joseph in the tub,” Margaret said.

Joanna nodded toward the stairs. “There's a really nice old bathtub up in my room. Joseph will love it. Through the door at the top of the—”

“I know.” Margaret patted her arm. “Rio gave us the grand tour. He said that Joseph and I could have his room and he'll sleep on the twin in the guest room.”

“I wanna sleep with Mama,” Joseph said. “In Rio's room.”

Joanna ruffled his hair. “That's fine, Joseph. As long as you don't steal all the covers or kick me out of the bed.”

“Then I'll take your room, Joanna. Now you run along and go find your young man.”

Better to set her mother straight immediately, Joanna decided. Before she got the wrong idea. “He's not my young man, Mom. He's my landlord.”

Margaret flipped a hand of dismissal toward Joanna and sent her a smile that said she believed otherwise. “Whatever you say, my dear.” She held out her hand to Joseph. “Come along, tough stuff. Time to get cleaned up.”

Joseph ran back to Joanna and hugged her around the waist, then set off with his grandmother up the stairs. Joanna took a minute to watch them as they made their way to the second floor where Joseph paused at the stained-glass window and said, “Cool.” Joanna smiled, still not quite believing they were here, in the flesh, thanks to Rio.

On that thought, she headed through the kitchen and outside toward the detached garage. She noted a sliver of light coming from beneath the closed entry door and
heard the sound of a blaring classic-rock song. She knocked on the side door twice and after receiving no response, concluded that Rio couldn't hear anything over the din. She entered to find him sitting cross-legged beside a shiny black motorcycle, oblivious to her presence.

He wore a pair of tattered faded jeans and an equally faded blue T-shirt that read, Let the Power Consume You. And boy, did she ever feel consumed by his power while watching him tightening some sort of bolt near the bike's rear tire. The tendons in his forearms flexed as he worked and Joanna was as mesmerized now as she had been the time she'd watched him perform the C-section on Mrs. Gonzales. Everything he did with his hands seemed effortless, especially when he'd used them on her.

Images drifted into her mind of that morning, images of kisses and caresses, bodies entwined…

She tried to shut them off at the same time she shut off the radio positioned on a worktable to her right. The music abruptly stopped but to her chagrin, the memories did not.

Rio glanced up, confusion in his expression until he pinned her in place with his hypnotist's eyes. “Sorry, I didn't know you were there,” he said as he unfolded and stood, grabbed a rag from a nearby shelf then began wiping his hands.

Joanna walked a little closer and surveyed his work. “What are you doing?”

“Just a few minor adjustments. I ran over a curb today on the way to the hospital. Guess I wasn't paying attention. But I've almost got it fixed.”

Joanna was surprised she hadn't taken out a few trees on her way to work after their morning together. She caught a whiff of his trademark exotic scent mixed with
a faint hint of grease and quelled the urge to launch herself into his strong arms, much the same as Joseph had with her. “Just wanted to let you know that your presence has been requested in the house by our surprise guests.”

He continued to wipe the black-brown smudges from his hands as a smile played at the corners of his sensuous mouth. “Hope you didn't mind me inviting them here without your consent.”

“Mind? I'm ecstatic. I'm also in awe that you managed to get them here without my knowledge. How did you know where to find them?”

“It wasn't difficult considering you have the address and phone number taped to the refrigerator.” He gave her a one-shoulder shrug and tossed the rag aside. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I decided you could use some company.”

At the moment she could use a little fortitude, because right now she really wanted to thank him for his efforts in a few decidedly wicked ways.

She opted to hug him, engage him in an innocent embrace. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around his waist then stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, “Thank you, Rio.”

He responded with only a murmured, “I'm going to get you dirty, Joanna.”

She tipped her head back and stared up at him but didn't let him go. “I don't care. I'm just happy and grateful for what you've done.”

Finally his arms—warm and solid and strong—circled her, drew her closer. “My pleasure.”

That simple word
pleasure
seemed to take on a life of its own in the empty garage, and Joanna, ignoring
every caution bouncing around in her brain, pressed her lips against his.

She wasn't at all sure what to expect from Rio, maybe even a rejection. What she got was a kiss that could melt the motorcycle. He tasted like cherry-flavored candy, sweet and sensual and seductive as he swept his tongue inside her mouth in a slow, scorching rhythm. Joanna forgot what she'd come for—to thank him verbally and nothing more. Totally forgot herself.

She sent her hands on a journey over his back, delighting in the feel of corded muscle against the damp T-shirt. Rio's hands traveled to her hips where he nudged her forward. Without breaking the kiss, he turned her around and backed her up against the utility shelf. Several items fell to the floor in a noisy clatter but it wasn't enough to part them, or to stop Rio from slipping his hands up her sides and sending brush strokes along the outer rim of her breasts with his thumbs.

Joanna knew they should stop now—
she
should stop him—but short of an earthquake, it wasn't very likely that was going to happen.

“Mama?”

After a moment of shock, Joanna ducked under Rio's arm to find Joseph standing at the door looking faintly surprised and more than a little curious. She shoved her hair away from her face and tried to appear nonchalant. “Hi, sweetie. I thought you were taking a bath.”

Joseph's gaze wandered past Joanna, she presumed to home in on Rio. “Gran wants to know where we can find clean towels.”

Joanna glanced at Rio over one shoulder as if she had no idea what a towel was, much less where her son could find one.

Rio cleared his throat. “I have extras in my bathroom. Or there're a few in a basket in the laundry room.”

Joanna nodded. “Yes, in the laundry room. I washed some but I haven't had a chance to put them away.”

Joseph backed out the door, flashed them a huge grin then spun and ran toward the house.

Joanna grabbed her nape and closed her eyes. “Oh, God. I can't believe that just happened.”

“Us kissing or your son catching us kissing?”

“Both.”

Rio's palms rested on her shoulders from behind as she opened her eyes to stare out the door, half expecting her mother to come marching in to see what the heck was going on.

“I'm sorry we got caught,” he said in a low, controlled voice. “I can't say I'm sorry you kissed me.”

She shrugged off his hands and faced him, angry once more, this time at herself. “You don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm the one who started it.”

“You didn't hear me protest, did you?”

Forking both hands through her hair, she sighed. “What is it with me, anyway? What is it with us?”

Rio hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans, drawing Joanna's attention to the obvious ridge beneath the denim. “When two people are as attracted to each other as we seem to be, it's bound to happen.”

She pulled her gaze back to his face. “It's not normal. Not for me, anyway.”

“Oh, it's normal, all right. You've never wanted to acknowledge it before.”

Not before him. “If you say so.”

He studied her straight on. “Do you really think Joseph's going to have a problem with it?”

“I don't know. He's never even seen me with a man, much less seen me kissing one.”

“Maybe it's time he understands that his mother might need someone else's company aside from his.”

“I don't want him or my mother thinking—”

“That you're involved with someone like me?”

The hurt in his tone took Joanna aback. “I don't want them to know that I'm involved with anyone. They might make more out of it than they should.” Joanna was battling that very thing where Rio was concerned.

“Maybe you're vying for sainthood.”

“That's not what I'm doing.”

“Are you sure?”

“I can't believe you'd ask me that after this morning. I acted anything but saintly.”

He grinned. “I can't really argue that. But then I wasn't likely to win any medals in the saint department either.”

Joanna tried to force her smile away but it came calling despite her efforts to hold it back. “I guess you could say both of us were feeling a bit sinful.”

“You felt damn good, if you ask me. Tasted good, too.”

“So did you,” Joanna said on a breathy whisper.

Turning back to the bike, Rio reclaimed his place on the ground. “Go back inside, Joanna. Before I…” He picked up a wrench without looking at her.

“Before you what?”

“Before I lay you down on this concrete floor for a little horizontal Olympics.”

Joanna shivered at the thought, and it wasn't from the cold air filtering through the open door. She felt as if she were balanced on a tightrope, poised to fall at any given moment. No doubt they wanted each other with a
passion that crushed common sense on a regular basis. Still, she had to remember that great sex was all that existed between them, was all that would ever exist. Rio had made that quite clear.

She also needed to remember that Joseph was now present and he didn't need to believe that Rio would be a constant in their lives. Come summer, she should have enough money to find her own place, to move on. God help them all if Joseph should become too attached to the doctor. God help her if she did the same.