She was so wounded, and so fiercely defensive about keeping people away from her, yet the woman standing there at the door, ready to bolt, didn’t fool him at all.

Not for a minute. She wanted what he wanted to give her—and, unless he was totally mistaken, she loved him.

He turned back and finally did what he’d wanted to do all along. He pulled Bella into his arms and kissed her—not in a friendly little gesture, as he’d done before, but in the way a man needed to kiss a woman. Crushing her hard to his body, he lowered his head to her and sought her lips with a hunger that surprised him. Prying open her mouth with his tongue, he sought the deep recesses, felt her respond with her own tongue, heard just the slightest whimper of a moan escape her as she wound her fingers around his neck and held him there. Pressed her hips to his in a carnal way that caused him to go erect immediately and groan aloud, with no thought whatsoever about where they were and who might be watching them…

Now that her children have left home, Dianne Drake is finally finding the time to do some of the things she adores—gardening, cooking, reading, shopping for antiques. Her absolute passion in life, however, is adopting abandoned and abused animals. Right now Dianne and her husband Joel have a little menagerie of three dogs and two cats, but that’s always subject to change. A former symphony orchestra member, Dianne now attends the symphony as a spectator several times a month and, when time permits, takes in an occasional football, basketball or hockey game.

Recent titles by the same author:

THE WIFE HE’S BEEN WAITING FOR

A BOSS BEYOND COMPARE

ITALIAN DOCTOR, FULL-TIME FATHER

A FAMILY FOR THE CHILDREN’S DOCTOR

THEIR VERY SPECIAL CHILD

DR VELASCOS’
UNEXPECTED
BABY

BY

DIANNE DRAKE

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DR VELASCOS’ UNEXPECTED BABY

CHAPTER ONE

“EVERYTHING checks out fine, Dr. Burke.” Dr. Raul Navarro gave Bella an encouraging smile as he handed her a prescription for eardrops. “It’s just a reaction to flying, a little congestion in the eustachian tube. It happens all the time, and it’s nothing to worry about. But it’s better to treat it now than let it go.”

Fly to Peru, get an earache. Of all the rotten luck. “I’m not worried about it so much as frustrated. My timing’s lousy, isn’t it? I haven’t been sick one day in five years, not even with a simple cold, and yet here I am…” She gestured to the tiny office. “The first thing I have to do when I get off the plane is go see a doctor.”

Navarro chuckled. “It’s true what they say, you know. Doctors do make the worst patients. But I promise you, in another day or two, with the eardrops, you’ll be as good as new. So, what kind of medicine did you say you practice?”

“Pediatrics. I specialize in children under the age of six.”

“It takes someone special to handle the children. I thought about going into pediatrics for about a minute. Then I was assigned to work in the pediatric ward during my first rotation as an intern, and that’s when I learned I had no talent for it. Children are these little balls of mystery, and if you’re not a good detective who can solve that mystery pretty quickly, the child can suffer. It’s easier for me to simply have my adult patient list symptoms and point me in the direction of what’s ailing them.”

“But children point, too. Just in different ways. It’s all in what you know and what you perceive, I suppose.”

“Or where your special talent comes in. With children, you’ve either got it, or you haven’t. I don’t, which is why I’m treating you and not the Menendez twins, who come in every few days for one thing or another. So, use the drops and by tomorrow you should notice an appreciable difference. That plugged-up feeling will start to disappear and the popping you’re experiencing will stop. Of course, you already know that, ddin’t you? Working with children, I’ll bet you treat more ear infections than I do. So, what brings you here?” he asked as he made the last of his notes in the chart. “Holiday? Visiting friends?”

“Just looking around. Curiosity, mostly.” And closure. “My sister loved Peru, and I thought I’d come see what she fell in love with.”

“Well, your sister has very good taste. I was gone for several years when I was in medical school and I came right back.” Finishing his charting, the doctor handed it to the office nurse then led Bella through the hall to the waiting room.

Rounding the corner, she bumped straight into a man with a baby in his arms. A very loud baby at that. A cry that caught her attention, except she wasn’t on duty. “I’m sorry,” she said, stepping back from him as he pulled the infant tighter to his chest.

More intent on the doctor, the man didn’t seem to notice Bella. “Raul, where’s the pediatric clinic?” he asked Dr. Navarro.

“Gabriel, my friend…” Dr. Navarro started, then glanced at the bundle in his arms. “And who do we have here?”

“Ana Maria,” Gabriel said. “Two days old, and she needs a doctor.”

“I didn’t know you had…” Dr. Navarro said, signaling his nurse forward as Bella instinctively stepped closer to take a look at the child. But Gabriel pulled even further away from her. A very natural, protective gesture Bella recognized from so many parents of her tiny patients.

“Who’s your pediatrician?” Gabriel persisted.

He seemed more flustered than frightened, Bella thought, as most parents of newborns like his usually were. She saw it all the time in her pediatric practice—when a brand-new infant sneezed or coughed, the parents went to pieces. Sometimes to the point of being irrational or inconsolable. But it was all fear. She understood that, and sympathized with the man.

“Sorry, Gabriel, but he’s not in today,” Dr. Navarro replied when Gabriel had told him. “I could have one of our general practitioners take a look at her, though. Or perhaps I could…”

“Or I could take a look,” Bella offered without giving it a thought.

Both men looked at her. Dr. Navarro smiled, while the man he called Gabriel frowned. “That’s right,” Doctor Navarro said. “You are a pediatrician. So, you wouldn’t mind doing this? Because I’d appreciate your help, especially considering what you already know about my way with babies.”

Before Bella could reply, Gabriel thrust the baby into her arms. “Her name’s Ana Maria. She’s two days old,” he said. “Closer to three now.”

“I’m Dr. Arabella Burke,” she responded, although she was sure he wasn’t paying that much attention to her. His focus was on the office nurse, who’d thrust a chart at him with a patient history to fill out. “Call me Bella,” she continued, but more to Ana Maria than to Ana Maria’s father, who was scribbling furiously now.

Pulling the blanket back from the baby’s face as she followed Dr. Navarro to an empty exam room, she looked into the face of an angel. A beautiful, perfect little angel. And things felt…right. Right for the first time since Rosie had died. The power of a baby, she thought. A baby who needed her. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Sniffing Ana Maria’s breath, Bella turned up her nose at the unmistakable smell. Curdled milk! The baby had a tummy-ache from curdled milk, which gave the poor little thing every right to cry the way she was doing. “What are you feeding her?” Bella asked Gabriel, her full attention on her tiny patient, although she did chance one brief glance into the adult version of her tiny patient’s eyes. Beautiful eyes, both father and daughter.

“Milk,” he answered. He handed the paperwork back to the nurse then positioned himself where he was able to look directly over Bella’s shoulder, moving in so close to her they were practically pressed together. So close she could smell the wonderful scent of his aftershave. Lime? She wasn’t sure, but it had a nice crispness to it that suited his crisp edge. And it was nothing to admire in a married man with a sick baby!

“As in…what kind of milk? Mother’s milk?” She seriously doubted that was the case, judging from what she smelled on Ana Maria. “Cow’s milk?” Laying a gentle hand across the baby’s chest, she turned to look at Gabriel, this time giving him a full appraisal. Handsome man. Large. Broad shoulders. She liked the look of the locals…liked it very much, especially on this local. Ana Maria took after her father in her looks, and Bella couldn’t help but think that Gabriel’s wife must be beautiful, too. “Soy milk, maybe?”

He cleared his throat nervously. “Goat’s milk. Raw.”

“Raw goat’s milk?” That did surprise her. But there were cultural differences in Peru from those she was used to. She understood that, especially in the more rural areas. That was one of the diversities her sister had loved here. Yet Bella didn’t really peg Gabriel for the rural type. Not in the way he dressed, not in his precisely tailored haircut or the finely buffed finish of his fingernails. Not in the expensive leather dress shoes he wore or the silver wristwatch on his left wrist, which probably cost more than many people here made in an entire year. “Well, she isn’t tolerating the goat’s milk,” Bella said. “It might be an allergy to it, or it simply could be that the milk is too harsh for her newborn system. My suggestion would be to have her mother switch to breastfeeding, if that’s possible, and if it’s not…”

“Her mother died in childbirth. My mother has a goat, and that’s the only available milk.”

Blunt words, and startling. And his face was so dispassionate, the tone of his voice so thorny when he spoke that Bella shivered from his tragedy, from her own… “I’m…I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” That explained the goat’s milk, though.

“Why should you?” he snapped. “You don’t know me, I don’t know you. How the hell would you know anything?”

Surprise, mixed with sympathy and indignation, assailed her over his reaction. People grieved, people got angry over the death of a loved one, and she’d dealt with all the emotions herself these past weeks. That’s why she was here in Peru now—to deal with the emotions. But she was seeing something else in Gabriel, something she couldn’t even guess at. She blinked hard, trying to disconnect herself from the growing opinion that this man was just plain ill mannered. He’d lost his wife, for heaven’s sake, and he was grieving. He also had a sick little girl to deal with, so if ever there was a reason to be rude, this man had it, and her heart did go out to him. “No, I don’t know you. But I’m still very sorry for your loss.”

“I…um…” A deep sigh followed by a barely perceptible wince escaped him as he glanced down at Ana Maria, who’d finally quit crying for the moment. “I didn’t mean to be so…” He ran an impatient hand through his hair. “Do you have any formula suggestions, Doctor? I don’t know enough about what’s available to make a good choice. And I’m sorry for—”

“No need for an apology. I understand.” She’d lost her sister and three friends only two months ago, and in the past few weeks she’d snapped at people the way he did, taken offense where none had been intended, and had found herself apologizing profoundly for her irrational behavior on many occasions.

So, yes, she did understand. Her suffering was unquestionably different from his, but she did know what it felt like to hurt so very deeply and suffer long and hard from it, and her heart ached for this man, for what lay ahead of him. “No need to apologize at all,” she continued. “And as far as a formula for Ana Maria goes, I don’t know what’s available here, but my preference for a little while would be something soy-based, just until her doctor can determine what kind of intolerance she’s built up. Back in the States, there’s a particular product I usually recommend, especially for newborns, and I’d like to see if we can—”

He held out his hand to stop her. “Done. I’ll get the formula. Give me the name and I’ll get it here. Have it over-nighted.”

A man of action. She liked that decisiveness in him. In some people it more resembled arrogance but in Gabriel it was…sexy. Except she wasn’t going to think sexy in terms of a man who’d just lost his wife. It was wrong. Just plain wrong.

Clearing her throat, hoping the diversion would clear her mind of those uninvited thoughts, Bella snapped her head toward the window and fixed her gaze on a boy in the street.

He was playing with a dog…brown and white spots. Cute boy. Cute dog. Focus, Bella. Just…focus. A deep breath steadied her as she looked back at Gabriel…concentrating on one of his shirt buttons, mid-chest. “Overnighted…good. Let me write down the name of a distributor I know, and you can tell him you talked to me. He’s usually responsive to my referrals.” She lifted her gaze to his chin then finally to his eyes again. So dark and…deep. Focus, Bella. “And in the meantime, to feed Ana Maria, I’d suggest—”

“Sugar water,” he volunteered.

He was staring at her…his brown eyes into her green ones. Causing shivers. Goose bumps up and down her arms. Focus, Bella. It was merely a sympathy reaction. “Yes, sugar water is good. As long as you keep her hydrated she’ll be fine with that for a little while, and I think giving her tummy time to settle down is wise at this point. Babies usually tolerate sugar water quite well.” There were different things she might have tried if they were someplace else, but they were here, and the simple approach seemed the best, given the circumstances. Besides, Gabriel was competent. He exuded that, and so much more, which put her at ease with her decision. “And you’re going to be just fine,” she said to Ana Maria, as she picked her up and held her close for a moment, savoring the feel of having a baby in her arms. Savoring the baby smell of her, too.

Dear God, she missed medical practice. It had been two months and it seemed like two years. She needed to get back. “Look, I don’t work here, or I’d advise keeping Ana Maria under observation for a few hours, just to make sure she doesn’t start vomiting or get dehydrated. Let me talk to Dr. Navarro, and maybe he’ll have a suggestion.”

Almost against her will, Bella placed the baby back into Gabriel’s arms. “Another trained eye is always good in situations like this, so let me…”

“I’d appreciate that. But I don’t want her first few days of life to be spent under watch in a medical facility. She deserves…better from me.” There was no animosity in his voice. He wasn’t arguing the point, merely explaining it. And his voice broke with those words, causing Bella’s heart to lurch. Yet what she saw…the way he held the baby wasn’t as nurturing as she would have expected. Or as protective. Ana Maria was pulled close to his body, but it was a stiff gesture, one done more from obligation, or from textbook learning, than his natural desire to take care of this child.

Honestly, that did puzzle her. Of course, she hadn’t lived his life these past few days. Hadn’t experienced his traumas and emotions. Perhaps he was frightened of becoming too attached to his child, especially after the death of his wife. And now that his daughter was sick…yes, his stiffness was certainly understandable, but even one as young as Ana Maria sensed that and Bella feared what might come of what Ana Maria was feeling right now…her daddy’s uneasiness.

Easy, Bella. This isn’t your medical practice. The man Dr. Navarro had called Gabriel was a stranger and his daughter was not her patient. Other than a quick exam as a courtesy to a nice doctor who didn’t have a pediatrician available, she had no business getting involved in this matter. Yet Gabriel seemed so emotionally detached, she couldn’t help but speak. “You may think Ana Maria deserves better than a short stay in a hospital, and I won’t argue with you there, but she also deserves to be watched by someone who’s qualified to see complications and signs and symptoms, and I believe—”

“I appreciate your concern, but I’m physician—well, surgeon, actually,” he interrupted. “Not a pediatrician, but I have enough skills to look after a baby.”

So he was a fellow medic? Now, that was a surprise. Or maybe it wasn’t. The man she was seeing here, right this very minute, wasn’t himself. He was under an extraordinary amount of stress. But, yes, she could imagine him as a doctor, especially when she took another look at his hands…nice hands. Gentle. Smooth. They certainly looked like the hands of a surgeon. “You’re a physician under a lot of stress,” she said sympathetically. “And while I’m sure, under normal circumstances, that you’re very good at what you do, these aren’t normal circumstances, Doctor…”

“Velascos. Gabriel Velascos.”

“And I’m Arabella Burke,” she told him again. This time he was definitely paying attention. “Most people call me Bella.”

His smile turned warm for a fraction of a second. “That’s a pity. Arabella is a lovely name. It suits you, Arabella.”

His voice dropped its pitch just a fraction. Went smooth and silky, like a fine cognac. Was he actually flirting with her? His wife had been dead less than three days and he was already flirting?

It caught her off guard, shocked her. Under different circumstances she might have been flattered by it. But under these circumstances she wasn’t sure what she felt, and in response she donned her best, most professional expression. “I’d still like to have someone else observe Ana Maria for a little while, since you’re emotionally involved.” But maybe not as much as he should have been. Unfortunately, all her initial good impressions of Dr. Gabriel Velascos were starting to melt away, and now she wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Pity, for sure. And a little anger mixed in. Maybe some confusion, too. “I’ll be back in a moment, Dr. Velascos, after I’ve consulted with Dr. Navarro.”

With that, Bella escaped into the hall, all too glad to be away from the very puzzling Dr. Gabriel Velascos. All too breathless over him too, which made no sense whatsoever.

* * *

Well, he’d called it right. Thank God Ana Maria’s problem was only an intolerance to the goat’s milk, as he’d expected. That was easily fixed. And the rest of it…one step at a time. One lousy step at a time. He’d get her milk intolerance straightened out, then think about what came after that. That’s all he could do—just take care of the baby the best way he knew how.

“A baby. I have a baby.” Dear God, what was he going to do with a baby? Yesterday he’d been a man without attachments, today he had a baby. His sister’s baby. “A baby.”

Saying the words out loud, or thinking them…either way, his breath caught in his throat for an instant, threatening to asphyxiate him with the complications of what those four simple words meant—I have a baby. “A baby…Lynda’s baby. My baby.” He whispered the words reluctantly, trying them on the way he tried on a pair of new shoes—cautiously at first, to see if they fit, then, only after they did, deciding if they were comfortable enough to keep. The only thing was, if a pair of shoes didn’t fit, he always had the option of asking for another size or simply walking away from the store empty-handed. But with this baby—Ana Maria—no matter how much she didn’t fit his lifestyle, and there was definitely no give in there for her whatsoever, he couldn’t just send her back and ask for another size, or walk away altogether. Lynda had been so excited to have a child…she’d cherished her pregnancy, lived for the moment she gave birth. So many times over the months she’d told him how being a mother was her destiny, so how could he walk away from that? How could he walk away from what had meant the world to her? And from his own flesh and blood?

He couldn’t. That was his answer, and also his problem. Ana Maria’s father had walked away, but he couldn’t. “My baby,” he said one more time, hoping that by saying the words they would somehow bring about a magical change in his dilemma…like Lynda really being alive, or Hector having a change of heart and welcoming his new baby girl into his family after all.

Neither of those things were going to happen, though. Practicality was one of the traits he counted on most when nothing else worked, and, being the practical man he considered himself to be, he couldn’t see anything else working here. No miracles. No flights of fancy or fantasy. He had a baby now. And nothing changed the fact that those simple words were causing his stomach to churn, his head to pound, his whole world to spin, and his destiny to be cast into directions he’d never looked forward to for himself. Not like this, anyway.

His baby, maybe. But what the hell was he going to do about it?

“We’ll get it figured out,” he whispered to Ana Maria. He didn’t look at her, though. Not too closely. For now it was best to keep her at a distance. Protect her, care for her, but keep the emotional attachment under check until he could figure out what to do. “Whatever happens, Ana Maria, I promise that no matter what I do, it will be in your best interests. You deserve better than what you’ve had so far, and I’ll make sure you get it.” It was a promise he took to heart, and one he didn’t know how to fulfill.

Finally chancing a quick glimpse of the baby in his arms, Gabriel caught her looking up at him, her big eyes full of…was that trust? No, babies that age didn’t trust. They couldn’t even focus. For the most part they merely existed, and responded to their environment. The way Ana Maria was looking at him right now was only a response, probably to his voice. She wasn’t used to hearing a man’s voice, that’s all. But when he risked another quick look to confirm his diagnosis… damn it, he was positive he saw trust again. “Don’t do that,” he warned. “Not with me, because it won’t work, Ana Maria. You can look at me that way all you want, but it’s not going to work.”

Her eyes were so beautiful, though. As beautiful as Arabella’s eyes which, he thought, had been the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. Except in Arabella’s he saw sadness. She held it back, but it was there, and he did wonder what made such beautiful eyes so sad.

Pulling Ana Maria a little closer to him, he assumed a natural rocking action, waiting for Arabella to return, and within seconds Ana Maria was fast asleep in his arms. If only life really was that simple.

“They really don’t have the facilities here in the clinic to keep her, but Dr. Navarro said he’d have his office nurse watch her for a couple of hours to make sure she’s getting along better.” It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would do. And the baby would be under observation for a short time, which made Bella feel a lot better. Gabriel was also a doctor with so much emotional turmoil, and Bella knew, better than most, how that could play on good judgment. She was glad Nurse Melaina Juarez had agreed to keep watch for a while.

“Look, I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, Arabella. I think that while they’re looking after Ana Maria here, I’ll go and make arrangements for the formula to be sent.”

“So before you leave, maybe later today, would you like me to have another look at her?”

He shook his head. “You’ve done more than most people would have, and I’m sure you have things you’d rather be doing than looking after a stranger.”

Things she dreaded doing. Things she wanted to put off doing. “Yes, I do, actually. But to be blunt, Doctor, I don’t think you’re reacting normally to Ana Maria right now. You’re…too stiff. You know, doing what’s required but not with the emotional nurturing she needs from you. She’s a beautiful little girl yet you hold her like she’s made of plastic…a plastic doll. And you seem to respond to her, but in a very stilted way. Which worries me. You said you’d take care of her and maybe you mean that, but I get the feeling that taking care of a newborn is the last thing you want to do. In which case I think it might become very easy for you to overlook something in her condition. And I’m not implying that you’d mean to do it, because I don’t think you would intentionally. But with what you’ve just been through, things aren’t normal for you now, and you’re not responding as you normally would.”

OK, so maybe she was overstepping the line here, but she was concerned because she knew how it felt to go through the motions without really thinking about them, which was what Gabriel seemed to be doing. You did what you needed to do but without any emotional investment. It was like walking through a fog—your senses were distorted, you couldn’t be sure in which direction you were headed. If you were alone it didn’t matter so much, but Gabriel wasn’t alone. And she did recognize that fog around him, which was why she felt compelled to react.

“You’re very quick with accusations, aren’t you? Especially when none of this concerns you!”

“Then tell me I’m wrong. That’s all it will take, Dr. Velascos, and I’ll be satisfied that you don’t need my concern. Or my help.”

His eyes softened for a moment. “You’re a good doctor, aren’t you?”

“I try to be.” She wasn’t sure what to make of him again. The man was vacillating between someone who fascinated her and someone who, likewise, scared her. She didn’t know what it was about him…his circumstances, his natural way? But she felt drawn to him. Or maybe it was to Ana Maria.

Yes, that was it. Ana Maria was desperately in need of the emotional bond only a parent could have for a child…a bond Bella wasn’t seeing in Dr. Velascos. She was reacting to that. That’s all it could be. “Which is why I’m worried. It comes with the territory. I worry about all my patients.” And she worried about Ana Maria, who wasn’t even her patient.

“I suppose we all do, don’t we?”

His comment was more offhand than direct, as if his thoughts were somewhere else. Perhaps they were. “I know this is all confusing for you, Gabriel. But it will get better, I promise. It’s just going to take some time to make the adjustments and for now Ana Maria will be fine. Babies, even as young as she is, are very resilient.” Odd, her need to comfort him. But he seemed like he needed encouragement from somewhere. In brief moments, he looked so…lost.

Good heavens, what was she doing, getting involved like this? Gabriel and Ana Maria were in good hands with Dr. Navarro and his nurse, and that problem was solved. But hers was not, which was why it was time to pull back the emotions. Time to quit looking for ways to put off the inevitable, and getting involved with Gabriel the way she was trying to do was just another way to avoid what she had to do. She recognized that. Accepted it. “Look, if you need something, Dr. Navarro will be able to help you. He seems like a very capable doctor and I’m sure he’ll put you in touch with a good pediatrician.” She pulled the blanket back from Ana Maria’s face, brushed a thumb over her soft, chubby cheek, then stepped back, feeling a sudden sadness she didn’t understand. “Take care of yourself, Gabriel. You and Ana Maria will have a wonderful life together.”

CHAPTER TWO

SHE’D eaten a little dinner, not so much because she’d wanted it but because she’d needed it. Something about holding little Ana Maria in her arms that afternoon had filled her with a longing that scared her. That, added to the dread of what she was here to do, made her meal a necessity, but not an enjoyable one. And now, hours later, she was tired of tossing and turning, and she simply couldn’t sleep. There were too many unwanted thoughts galloping through her mind, keeping her awake.

This was so hard, knowing that she was about to face the worst thing she’d ever faced in her life. Until now, she’d been able to blot out her sister’s death, pretend this trip to Peru was merely a holiday where she could take a stroll through the countryside, mingle with the people, eat the cuisine, see the sights. But it wasn’t that at all, and the nearness of what she needed to face in order to heal herself was pounding at her.

She wanted to do this, but could she? Could she open Rosie’s clinic and make her sister’s dream a reality? Being someone who always took the sure, steady path, the way she did, this seemed almost crazy. Rosie had been the one who had taken the risks, who had looked at life as an exciting mountain to climb. Bella, though, had been the one who had stuck to the flat paths, who hadn’t veered off.

But she was veering in a big way now, wasn’t she? It was terrifying but it seemed right, fulfilling Rosie’s promise this way. If that’s what she decided to do.

Bella was worried about Ana Maria, too. And about Gabriel, who probably didn’t need someone like her worrying about him. Yet she worried anyway, wondering why she’d latched on to the two of them almost immediately. Possibly her need for something that made some sense in her life? Something that made sense in the middle of something so confusing? Treating a sick child made so much sense to her. But Bella didn’t dismiss the possibility that fixing on Gabriel and his daughter was a distraction because she knew herself, knew how she’d wanted to avoid the obvious. Once she stepped into her sister’s dream, took it on as her own, her sister would be gone forever and she couldn’t face that, wasn’t ready to face that.

Whatever the case, there were too many reminders around her of how fragile life could be. She understood that now, more than she had any other time in her life. She was pretty sure Gabriel did, too, and he coped by being distant. She coped by…well, that was the problem. She wasn’t sure how she coped because she hadn’t allowed herself that yet.

Oh, she was strong enough. It had become a requirement with the way she and Rosie had grown up orphans from an early age, being tossed into so many situations where they had been tolerated but not loved the way children deserved. She’d been strong in medical school, too, and in her medical practice. It was easy, being strong, but lately she’d wondered if that strength had been a sham. Because deep down, when it had counted, she hadn’t found any of that strength she’d thought would be there. “You’re a fake, Arabella Burke,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror as she paced by it for the twentieth time in the past few minutes. “A great big fake who didn’t even know she was faking. Which makes you pretty pathetic, doesn’t it?”

She didn’t stay at the mirror long enough for the image in it to reply. The truth was, she didn’t need conciliatory words, or more of the lie she’d been telling herself all this time. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the strongest of them all? Why, it’s Bella! Bella, the queen of self-deception.

Rather than taking on a heated debate with herself, Bella pulled on her pink chenille, floor-length bath robe, stepped into her pink bedroom slippers, and headed to the hall, determined to pace up and down until she was exhausted. A nice brisk walk, in a place without the mirror image waiting to taunt her, was good, she decided as she set off, her footsteps silent on the thick, padded carpet.

Five minutes of power-walking from one end of the hall to another didn’t have the desired effect, though, because Bella felt none the worse for her near-marathon pace. But as she was about to set out on her second round by tackling the stairs, the elevator doors at the other end of the hall whooshed open and a young man in neatly pressed gray slacks and a maroon jacket scuttled out, heading straight to the first room on the left. She watched with mild interest, not because it was interesting as much as any diversion was good. It did seem awfully late to have room service delivered, though. Probably some other poor soul who couldn’t sleep, asking for a glass of warm milk.

Warm milk! Why hadn’t she thought of that? Perhaps its soothing effect would help her. Besides, it seemed much more appealing than running up and down the hotel stairs in her pink nightwear, trying to wear herself out. “Excuse me,” she said to the room attendant, trying not to be too loud about it.

He acknowledged her with a nod as the hotel door at which he stood cracked open and he handed in a covered tray. That’s when she heard it…the sound of a crying baby in the room. Naturally, her attention fixed on that as the attendant backed away from the door and the man inside thanked him.

Gabriel Velascos! She recognized his voice but she wasn’t fast enough to get to the door before he shut it. A couple of loud raps remedied that, and a second later he opened the door to her, immediately blinking his obvious surprise. “Do you have built-in radar?” he asked, his voice more weary than stiff. His eyebrows did raise as he took in her pink nightwear.

“Maybe I do.” He was dressed in jeans, and an unbuttoned white cotton shirt that proved a startlingly sexy contrast to his dark skin. Bare feet, mussed hair, the total image of him caused Bella to step back when he opened the door all the way. She shouldn’t be harboring these kinds of thoughts for him. He had been widowed only three days, for heaven’s sake! A man in mourning. He probably hadn’t even had time to bury his wife yet.

Hormonal reaction, she decided. Biological clock ticking hard and fast. A particularly pointless ticking for a woman who was on a road with an uncertain ending to it. Or maybe she was finally tired. “I heard Ana Maria…”

“She’s been crying for the past hour, and I can’t get her to sleep. I had room service bring me sugar water because I thought she might be hungry, and if that doesn’t work…” He shrugged.

Bella went straight to the crib where Ana Maria was having a royal fit, and picked her up. “Is it your tummy again?” she practically cooed, running her fingers lightly over Ana Maria’s belly to check for any distention. None found. Then she felt her cheeks and forehead for a fever and, again, none discovered. “So far, so good,” she said softly, raising the baby to her shoulder, then giving her a light pat on the back. Ana Maria rewarded the effort with a healthy little burp.

“That’s it?” Gabriel sputtered. “That’s all it was?”

“Just a gas bubble. Babies need a little help getting them out, you know.”

“I know that,” he snapped, then immediately shook his head impatiently. “Sorry. I’ve been going crazy worrying about her, and all she needed was a burp. That makes me look pretty stupid, doesn’t it?”

Bella laughed. “Not stupid, just inexperienced. And don’t take it personally. I think you’re a little overwhelmed right now.” She really wanted to ask more about his situation, about his wife’s death, but it wasn’t her place. And she knew from experience that so many questions hurt. People had asked about Rosie, trying to be kind, of course, but the pain had been unbearable. Still was.

“A little overwhelmed is right. And I’m sorry I’m always snapping at you. It’s just that every time you’ve caught me so far I’ve been at my worst.”

Something with which she commiserated as she hadn’t exactly been at her best lately either. “Believe me, I gave up making assumptions and judgments a long time ago. You’re having a bad time right now and I understand completely.” She glanced sideways at Ana Maria, who’d gone right to sleep with her head on Bella’s shoulder. “I think she’s OK,” she whispered.

Gabriel stepped forward to take Ana Maria, but Bella shook her head. “I know you told me you didn’t need my help, but I think you do. So why don’t you go sleep for a few hours, get yourself rested to face all the things you’re going to have to take care of tomorrow, and I’ll take care of Ana Maria, since I’m wrestling with a bout of insomnia anyway? This will keep me from walking the hall all night.”

He studied her for a moment, taking in her pink slippers and moving upward. When he reached her face, a warm smiled flickered across his lips, and for the briefest moment his eyes were so gentle, so…so deep. Then the worry came back, and along with it the scowl he seemed to wear all the time. “I appreciate this, Arabella. It’s been rough, and unexpected. From the time I got word that Lynda had died…” He broke off, swallowed hard. “You’re right. I do need to sleep. So maybe if I can grab a couple of hours my disposition will improve.”

“Your disposition is fine.”

“My disposition is lousy, and you’re too kind to mention it.” He smiled wearily. “But thank you for trying to make me feel better. So, are you sure you don’t mind doing this?”

“I don’t mind,” she said, lowering Ana Maria into her crib. This was what she did after all. She took care of children. That’s how she defined herself, the way she felt safe.

“Then I promise I’ll be nicer when I wake up.” He made a cross-my-heart gesture. “And better with Ana Maria, too.”

Bella smiled at Gabriel, but didn’t say a word as she settled herself into the chair next to the crib. But she did watch him wander into the bedroom of the suite. He’d be a good father given some time and confidence, she thought. Once he got used to it.

Sleep came fast, and hard. He didn’t dream, although he’d thought he would. Didn’t have thoughts of his sister to keep him awake. Once he’d slumped into bed, that was it. He was out cold. But not for long. It had been only three hours, and he was awake again. Now he was being bombarded by the thoughts he’d wanted to avoid, the feelings he’d wanted to dismiss.

He was angry, damned angry. Lynda shouldn’t have died. She had been young, strong, healthy. Sure, women died in childbirth. But why his sister?

He could have been there, should have been there. Maybe he could have done something, seen something. Gotten his sister to a hospital somewhere.

Pacing over to the window, Gabriel pulled back the heavy curtains and looked outside. The city was dark now. And it seemed so…small. When he had been a boy, Iquitos had been the world. It had had everything. And on those few trips when his parents had brought him here, he’d been exposed to amazing culture and things he hadn’t even known existed in this world. But now the city seemed tiny, compared to Chicago. That was home now, and held everything he wanted. Large medical practice, nice condo on the lake, great lifestyle. He couldn’t even imagine living in a village like Lado De la Montaña again, let alone a city such as this. When he had been young, that life had been all he’d known. It was all in his past though, and he couldn’t go back. Didn’t want to go back. Which meant Ana Maria would be returning to Chicago with him since his mother wasn’t physically able to raise a baby and there was no one else. Not even the child’s father, Hector.

“Hector doesn’t want the child,” his mother had told him. “Nor does his other wife, Estella. They have three daughters already and Hector wanted Lynda to give them a son. That’s why he married her, to give him the son Estella could not. But since Lynda did not, Hector has refused to take this child in and Estella wants no part of raising another woman’s daughter.”

It didn’t make sense to him. How could a man simply give away his child that way? But that’s what had happened. Hector had taken Ana Maria straightway to the village priest, signed the papers giving up custody, and walked away. Probably to find another wife who would might give him that son.

Gabriel had never liked his sister’s marriage arrangement. But in the villages it wasn’t uncommon for the men to have two wives at once. Lynda had been Hector Ramirez’s second wife, one who’d come into the marriage a good ten years after Hector’s first marriage. Oh, he’d tried arguing his sister out of it, but she’d told him that he lived in a different culture now, and his ways were not hers. Hector was a good man, Lynda had contended. He’d make her a good husband.

Yeah, well, what kind of good man abandoned his child after the death of the baby’s mother?

Gabriel continued staring at the empty street below for another few minutes, trying not to think. But there was a little girl just outside his door he couldn’t take his mind off. And a woman tending to her who’d captured a fair share of his thoughts, too. Arabella seemed to be clinging to Ana Maria as if she was a lifeline, what was her story anyway? He thought about asking her, then thought better of it. How could a man who didn’t know enough to burp a baby take on another person’s problems? The answer was simple—he couldn’t.

But he did wonder about Arabella. And worried a little because, come morning, when he and Ana Maria returned to the village, what would she do?

Curiosity got the better of him and, after fifteen minutes of restlessness, Gabriel crept to the bedroom door and peeked out to the sitting area. The room was so quiet he didn’t want to disturb either of them. As he started to pull his door to, he heard Arabella whisper, “She’s just fine. Sleeping like she should.”

Opening the door again, he stepped out, but barely moved past the frame. “Are you OK?” he whispered. “Can I get you anything?” It was an awkward moment between them, the two of them in the near-dark. But what was even more awkward than the moment was the feeling coming over him. It was like…like this was the way it was supposed to be, with Arabella and him watching over the baby. And it was very nice. Disquieting, but pleasant.

Or maybe it was merely an aversion to responsibility, and Arabella presented the easiest solution for the moment. No need to romanticize that, was there? She was good at a task he didn’t accept as his own yet. That’s what it was. He was simply stalling the inevitable.

Rather than whispering across the room and risk disturbing Ana Maria, Bella came over to Gabriel’s door. “I think maybe I should be asking you how you are. With everything you’ve been through, someone needs to be taking care of you.”

“Are you always so…generous? I’ve taken up your entire day, and now your night, and here you are asking me how I am.” She was a woman used to giving, but one, he suspected, who never took. He wondered if she even knew how.

“Trust me, I didn’t have much of a day or night planned for myself that having you take it up interrupted anything I wanted to do.”

“Why are you here, Arabella?” he asked, even to his own ears sounding much more seductive than he’d intended.

“In your room, or in Peru?”

Ah, she was good at the art of avoidance, too. He was more curious now than he had been but he’d respect her privacy, if that’s what she preferred. Grant her the same space she did him. “Look, just so it won’t seem like I’m prying, I checked your credentials earlier.”

She arched her eyebrows, but didn’t say a word.

“I found out you’re a very good doctor, in a highly regarded medical practice in California.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all I needed. Because of Ana Maria.”

“You can’t be too careful these days, can you?” She smiled, and it was such a soft smile it gave him goose bumps. “And just so you’ll know the rest of the story, I’ve resigned from my practice, which leaves me time to explore different possibilities for my career.”

“What kind of possibilities?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I suppose I’ll know it when I see it.”

More avoidance. He was more curious now than just a moment ago. Apparently there were secrets behind all that sadness in her eyes. So, on that rather obvious cue it was time to shift the conversation. Or let it drop—which he didn’t want to do yet. The truth was, he liked talking to Arabella, even if it was more of a one-sided conversation, with him doing most of the conversing. “Do you like Peru?” He asked for a lack of something better to say.

“I hope so.”

Odd, again. “This is your first time here?”

Glancing down at the floor, Arabella nodded yet said nothing, leaving Gabriel to wonder even more what it was about Arabella that drew him in. She was so vulnerable, like she needed someone to protect her. Yet she was strong, maybe even a little defiant. So, did she have someone in her life to protect her, someone who saw her needs even more keenly than he believed he was seeing? Did she have someone back in her own room who wondered why she was spending the night in another man’s room, or perhaps someone who understood why she was compelled to do it? Because he understood. Even without knowing much about her, what he’d come to understand was that she was totally giving, a woman who couldn’t look the other way when she saw need.

Truthfully, he did feel guilty, like he was taking advantage of that. Sure, he’d turned down her offer at the clinic, but when he’d found her at his hotel door there was nothing in him that could have or would have turned her down a second time. He wanted to think it was because he was intrigued by the lady. But his own motives here were suspect, even to him. Or maybe overwhelmed was a better way to describe it. “It’s OK that you’re here, isn’t it?” he asked, sounding like a selfish dolt, as this was the question he should have asked right off. Except he’d been totally preoccupied by his own problems at that moment and hadn’t even thought about Arabella other than what she could do to help him. But now he wanted to know. “No one’s going to be angry that you’re here in my room and not somewhere else…with someone else.”

She laughed. “No, I don’t have anybody back in my room waiting for me, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Did it come out that awkwardly? Because I was trying to be subtle.”

“Yes, I’m afraid it did. As awkward as anything I’ve heard in a while.”

Gabriel chuckled, then immediately cut if off for fear he would wake Ana Maria. “So, then, how does one go about asking personal questions without being too personal about it? Because I do want to respect your privacy, but I’d also like to satisfy my own curiosity.”

“Ask, and I’ll answer. Or not.”

“OK, are you married?”

“No. Not married, not seriously involved. No children. No future plans in any of those directions. And no more questions on that aspect of my life. So, next question?”

In the dark shadows he could barely make out the brief smile on her lips. Stunning. Lips he would have kissed under different circumstances…a thought that caused him to take a step back. “Would you rather have the bed?” he asked, awkwardly again, then clarified it. “Alone.”

“Under the circumstances, I think you need it more than I do. I’m fine in the chair.” She took a step backward, too. “And I think we should be quiet now. I don’t want Ana Maria to wake up.” She took another step, and turned around. But before she returned to the chair by the crib she turned back to Gabriel, studied him for a moment, then smiled. “Thank you for letting me do this. It makes things better for a little while.”

Better? He wanted to ask what was better, but he didn’t. With all the mixed-up feelings rushing through him just now, he was safer not knowing.

“Damn,” he muttered, as he dropped back down into bed. There were too many complications, and he hated complications. All he wanted was to go back a few days in time, to when Lynda had been alive and happy about her pregnancy, when his life had been just the way he’d planned it. When he hadn’t even known Dr. Arabella Burke existed.

Well, maybe that’s the one thing he would have changed in all this confusion—meeting Arabella. He was glad he had because she was interesting. Outside her obvious physical attributes, and she’d been blessed with more than her fair share, she was smart, compassionate, dedicated. But her sad eyes bothered him, much more than they should have. Much more than he wanted to allow, but he really didn’t have any control over that. Even as he drifted off to sleep again, that’s the image that stayed with him—those sad, sad eyes.

“She’s doing well this morning?” Gabriel asked. He wandered over to the crib and looked down, only to find Ana Maria looking up at him. It was hard looking at her, remembering all his sister’s plans. She’d been so excited when she’d called him with the news of her pregnancy, and every time they’d talked after that she’d been so full of expectation, talking about having more babies, saying how good she felt even though her belly was big and her ankles were swollen. So he still had a difficult time looking at the baby because there was always such an overflow of bitter-sweet memories. “No more upset stomach?” he asked, trying to sound clinical about it.

“She had a very good night. Slept like she should have. I think she’d probably like something a little more substantial than the sugar water in her stomach this morning.”

“Well, I’m on my way down to the front desk to pick up the formula. Señora Hernandez, from the clinic, rang me up a few minutes ago, and she’s waiting downstairs. So, do you mind staying here a little longer?” The truth was, the logistics of handling a baby and doing everything else that needed to be done befuddled him. He’d told the nurse he’d be right down before he’d even considered that he would have to deal with Ana Maria somewhere in that arrangement, too. And carting a baby around while he tried moving several cases of formula wasn’t practical. But he wasn’t disposed to planning ahead the way he needed to now. Wasn’t even in the frame of mind to think of it yet.

It ever there was someone who wasn’t cut out to raise a child…

“We’ll be just fine here,” Bella said. “Take all the time you need. And I think I’ll give Ana Maria a bath. Do you have any clean clothes for her?”

Clean clothes? He’d picked up diapers yesterday, but of all the stupid things he hadn’t thought about clothes! “I, um… No clothes.”

Bella laughed. “We’ll make something work. Don’t worry about it.”

But he had to worry. That was the problem. There were so many things to worry about now, even if he didn’t know what they were. “This won’t take long, then I’ll go out and buy some clothes. Um…would you mind making me a list of other things you think she’ll need?”

“Sure, I’ll have it ready when you bring the formula back to the room. And don’t worry about how long it takes. I don’t exactly have a set schedule here, so my time is whatever I want to make of it, and right now this is what I want to make of it.”

“In case I didn’t mention this before, you’re too good,” he said, hurrying out the door. Waiting at the elevator, he tried concentrating on his mental task list, but Arabella kept distracting him. He didn’t really date much, and he didn’t date for long because he hated getting out of commitments, and anything more than two or three dates turned into a commitment. But he was doing well in his practice, loving the lifestyle and not in a particular hurry to change it. Still, with Arabella he saw permanence and commitment, which should have scared him to death. Yet it didn’t, and all he could do was think that when his life settled down again, he might look her up. The distance from Chicago to San Francisco wasn’t that far, after all.

More evidence of crazy, mixed-up emotions, he decided. His life was suddenly out of control and, subconsciously, Arabella presented a good solution. Jumping too far ahead of himself the way he was didn’t mean anything more than a little panic attack. In a life that now had to be lived from moment to moment until he could figure out the best way to manage all parts of it, there were no future plans other than getting through the day. Especially future plans that included permanence and commitment.

But honey-colored hair and green eyes certainly attracted him like he hadn’t been attracted in a while…like he’d never been attracted before, actually, and that had nothing to do with plans or futures or babies or anything else. And for the life of him it didn’t seem all that crazy and mixed up, which proved just how crazy and mixed up it really was.

So, who was this stranger who’d stepped into his life and become so important in what had taken no longer than the blink of an eye? Apart from what he’d been told about her medical qualifications, who was Arabella Burke?

“Dr. Velascos,” Nurse Hernandez said, extending her thin hand to him. “I’m assuming you know what this is about, that Melaina Juarez suggested our meeting?” She also extended a thin, nervous smile. Señora Hernandez was older, probably close to his mother’s age, with black and gray-streaked hair pulled back into a tight knot, and she wore a starchy white uniform like he rarely saw on nurses these days.

Gabriel took her hand and noted her firm shake. Judging by her grip, she was a woman who meant business. Judging from the tight expression on her face, she was well ready to get on with it. “I was aware that they were helping with the arrangements, yes. And thank you for coming, Señora Hernandez. Although you didn’t have to bother. I’d have been happy coming to you.”

She cocked her head slightly to the left, frowning. “That’s not necessary, Doctor. Considering the circumstances of the arrangements we usually make, it’s our aim to make this transition as easy as possible on you.”

Something was wrong here, and he didn’t like the way the warning hairs were standing up on the back of his neck. “What are we talking about, Señora Hernandez? The baby formula?”

“Not formula, Doctor. The adoption of your niece. Melaina Juarez informed us that you’re involved in a very difficult situation over your sister’s death, and that you might be agreeable with allowing us to find a proper home for the child. Ana Maria is her name, I believe?”

Gabriel took a step backward, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again for several seconds before he tried, once more, to speak. “What the hell are you talking about?” he sputtered. “I never indicated to anyone that I wanted someone to adopt my niece!”

“But didn’t you tell Nurse Juarez how you never expected to have a baby in your life, and that you didn’t know what to do? Melaina indicated that you didn’t want the child.”

Had it seemed like that? Yesterday was such a blur he couldn’t remember. But there had been conversation while Ana Maria had been under observation for those few hours, and maybe something he’d said had been misinterpreted. Or perhaps he’d been overcome by the whole emotional roller-coaster, and saying something he hadn’t meant. “You’re correct. I didn’t expect to have a child, and no, I’m not thrilled about making the change in my life that will be necessary, but you’re mistaken if you think I’d give away my sister’s baby. Because I won’t!”

“I know this is a trying time for you, Doctor. But let me make it clear what we do. We place children in good, loving homes where children are wanted. Our waiting lists are long, our clients worthy and we do an extensive search of their backgrounds. For people such as yourself, it’s an ideal situation.” She handed him a packet of information. “I’d like you to consider what we have to offer your niece. Getting her into a nice, stable family situation where she’s wanted, and doing it at such a young age, is to her benefit. So, please, just read the brochures, and I’ll contact you in a day or two.”

“I’m not letting anybody take Ana Maria!” Adoption wasn’t a solution he’d considered, wasn’t even a solution he liked. Not for his flesh and blood. But if worse came to worst? Could he turn over Lynda’s child?

Not a chance in hell! That answer came to him in a fraction of a second, which surprised him because he hadn’t realized his feelings were so strong. But they were. Something else would work out, but it would have nothing to do with giving Ana Maria to strangers. Even the thought of that made him sick to his stomach. “Look, I appreciate your coming here like this, Señora Hernandez, but I don’t think…”

She laid a comforting hand on his forearm. “It’s too early to think, Dr. Velascos. That’s why we urge our prospective clients to take all the time they need. It’s a serious situation, giving up a child, and we certainly don’t want anyone making a decision they’ll later regret. So, please, just read the information. That’s all I’m asking you to do right now.”

Gabriel drew in a sharp breath. Too much, too soon. He wasn’t prepared to deal with any of this yet. “I know you’re only doing your job, but I’m not going to have anyone adopt my niece. Whatever Melaina Juarez might have thought I meant was incorrect, and I’m sorry for any inconvenience I’ve caused. I was under stress and I may have said some things that were mistaken as an intention to give away the baby, but that’s certainly not what I’m going to do.” It seemed abominable, but there was no need being brutal to the woman.

“It’s never easy, Dr. Velascos. But think about what’s best for Ana Maria.” She stepped back. “I have appointments in a few of the villages near Lado De la Montaña over the next few days, so I’ll be back in touch with you in due course.”

He didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no. And maybe he should have. But the image running through his mind as Señora Hernandez walked away from him was one where she was taking Ana Maria with her, and that caused such a sudden and unexpected pain in his gut he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t utter a single word.

“Breakfast?”

Bella nodded. “I called room service. But since I didn’t know what you’d like, I had them bring several different things.”

He looked at the cart full of sweet rolls and various juices and tea, but he just didn’t have the stomach to eat any of it.

“And they brought up the formula, too.”

She pointed to where the stack of cases was sitting next to the door, but he was more interested in watching the way she stood at the window, rocking Ana Maria back in forth in her arms—the perfect picture of motherhood. It made him sad, and angry all over again. Not at her, but at…everything. And the baby formula was just another reminder of how his life was changing in ways he couldn’t control. “I don’t know what I would have done without you, Arabella, but I can’t keep depending on you the way I’ve been doing. We’ve taken up too much of your time.”

“I have nothing but time. And I thought you wanted to go buy some baby clothes.”

He looked at the way she’d tied Ana Maria into one of his T-shirts. There were so many things he needed to do, and shopping for baby clothes was only one of them. “We’ll manage.” Easy to say, but not easy to do.

“Why don’t I stay here for a little while longer? Taking care of Ana Maria makes me feel like I’m back in my element, and I’ve needed that.”

Under the circumstances, the best he could do was offer Bella a stiff nod. Now that the formula was here, it was suddenly all about the days ahead of him. He was on the brink of raising a child. There was nothing to put off any longer. This was his new reality, his new life, and he was drowning in it.

“Go run your errands, Gabriel,” she said gently. “I think it’s all catching up with you and maybe getting out for a little while, taking a walk, clearing your head, will do you some good.” She handed him the list. “I called the front desk and was told there’s a little mercantile two blocks over that will have everything Ana Maria needs.”

“You always think of everything, don’t you?” Another time, another place, she could have been the one to change his mind about so many things. “Look, Arabella, I appreciate this more than you can know. It’s all too new to me. Nothing I’d planned for, nothing that I’d really wanted at this point in my life, nothing that really fits into my lifestyle, and it’s going to take some getting used to.” He pulled the adoption agency papers from his pocket, crumpled them and tossed them at the trash can next to the door. Then he stepped forward. “This won’t take me long.”

“Go do your errands, Gabriel. Take all the time you need. We’ll be just fine here.”

“Thank you,” he said, reaching out to brush her cheek. He wanted to touch her, to feel the softness of her skin, but he caught himself in time and pulled back. Then Gabriel walked out the door, shut it firmly behind him, took five steps toward the elevator, and slumped against the hall wall, breaking out in a profuse sweat. Shaking hands, tight chest, wobbly knees, sagging shoulders…it was all finally beginning to sink in. This was happening to him. Really happening to him.

As if on cue, the baby started crying the split second Gabriel closed the door, to which Bella responded by pacing back and forth across the room, cuddling and rocking her. “It’s going to be just fine,” she reassured the infant. “Your daddy will get over his jitters and the two of you will get along just fine. I know it’s tough not having a mother. I didn’t have one for very long. But you’ll have a good life with your daddy as soon as he calms down.” Was Gabriel a man who’d counted on his wife doing all the parenting? Was that why he was such an emotional mess when it came to the baby? Or perhaps he hadn’t wanted a child at all. He’d said something about not planning on this? So maybe there’d been problems with his wife over her pregnancy then, when she’d died, the remorse over it had set in. They could have argued the way she and Rosie had argued that last time…

That was a bitter guilt she understood very well.

She’d done everything but cope with her sister’s death these past weeks and, even now, when she was on the verge of coming face-to-face with the hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her life, she was avoiding it every way she could. Including getting involved with Gabriel and Ana Maria. That’s why she recognized that Gabriel was avoiding the inevitable right now, because she was the expert at it, a virtual master of pretexts and avoidance.

“It’s not easy, forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do,” she said to the baby. Did he love his baby? Maybe he blamed for her mother’s death? “I know you don’t understand what I’m saying, but be patient with your father. He’s dealing with a tragedy no one’s ever prepared for. When you lose someone like he has…like I did…you lose part of yourself, too. Then it becomes so hard getting up in the morning to face the normal things you’re supposed to. People stare at you and whisper, they pity you and they mean to be kind, but it hurts so much and you have to put on this brave face and pretend that you’re doing well when everything inside you wants to crumble. You don’t know what to do, yet life has to go on even when it doesn’t make as much sense as it used to.” She sighed. “So that’s why you have to be patient with him. Your daddy’s starting over again, and his footing isn’t very sure yet.” Like hers wasn’t. But something about holding Ana Maria made it seem better. Maybe it was because she already missed her medical practice, missed the one solid thing in her life that had never let her down, other than her sister, and Ana Maria reminded her of that stability. “You just wait. It will get better gradually, and pretty soon neither of you will remember the first few clumsy days.”

Pacing over to the door, Bella was about to turn and pace back to the window when she glanced down at the papers Gabriel had tossed at the trash can and missed. After she’d bent to pick them up, it had been her intention to throw them away, but what she saw caused her to pull Ana Maria to her chest even more. It was an adoption pamphlet. No! That couldn’t be right. Gabriel couldn’t be… Was he actually thinking about giving up his child for adoption? Giving away his baby and start over? “No,” she gasped, throwing the adoption information in the trash. She’d thought his detachment would disappear once he was over the shock. It was too soon to make this kind of decision—too soon, too reactionary. But she’d been wrong about Gabriel, and this went far beyond not thinking clearly.

She looked at the trash can, wanting to kick it she was so angry. Those brochures were crumpled and intended for the trash, weren’t they? Could he have considered the idea, then changed his mind?

Or maybe he’d already signed the adoption papers and didn’t need the information brochures any longer. It was a thought that turned her stomach.

“Gabriel,” she whispered, the full weight of a sadness she didn’t even grasp dropping down on her as she dragged her way back to the window. It was such a beautiful sight out there, with the neatly manicured gardens below. Beautiful green grass, perfectly sculpted shrubs lining the walkways, flower-beds all done in reds and whites, white wicker benches on the lawn. All of it made so much sense. Went together the way it should. But glancing down at Ana Maria, who’d settled into her arms to nap, she couldn’t find any sense in what she feared Gabriel was about to do. No sense at all.

Just like there was no sense in the way she was feeling over it—betrayed.

“You didn’t touch the pastries you ordered,” Gabriel commented casually an hour later. Entering the hotel room, he wasn’t bogged down by the bundle of packages she’d hoped he might be bringing. Packages full of baby clothes would mean he wasn’t going to give Ana Maria away. But all he had with him was a small bag with a couple of new sleepers in it. Nothing else, and she’d had so many things on her list—receiving blankets, newborn soaps and lotions, bootees. Which only served to refuel all the raw emotions she’d been feeling from the moment she’d found his adoption literature.

No, she wouldn’t do this. Wouldn’t get involved. It was none of her business and she meant to keep it that way. She had her own problems to fix, her own hard decisions to make, and getting involved in his life in any way was just crazy.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Bella squared her shoulders, marched past Gabriel and straight out the door, without so much as a glance backward or a goodbye. Tears welled in her eyes all the way from his room to hers, and she fought them back, biting hard on her lower lip, hoping the pain would distract her emotions.

But it didn’t. Back in her own room, of all the things to do over a stranger, she collapsed on her bed, drew herself up in a ball and cried like she hadn’t cried since the day she’d heard about the airplane crash. She had no right to those tears, neither did she understand them, yet once they started they didn’t stop for nearly an hour. And at the end, when her eyes were all puffy and red, her face blotched, and she was dabbing cold water on herself, she glanced at the distorted face in the mirror, wondering who’d she been crying for. Her sister? Ana Maria? Gabriel?

Or her own broken heart over so many things she knew and possibly some she didn’t?

Bella searched her own eyes for a moment, then bent low over the vanity sink and splashed more cold water on her face. Better that than finding the answer she was afraid she’d discover if she kept on looking.

CHAPTER THREE

BELLA glanced at the map, then at the road ahead of her. This wasn’t what she’d bargained for. Rutted pits that passed for roads, a rental car that just barely passed for a car, a map that was more of an artist’s impression than a factual interpretation of the topography—it should have been easier. That’s all there was to it. Her trip to Lado De la Montaña simply shouldn’t have been this difficult. But she was four hours into what should have been a two-hour journey now, her back ached from all the bumps, her head ached from the frustration of the situation she’d put herself into, and on top of all that she couldn’t get her mind off Gabriel and his daughter. What he was going to do bothered her, no matter if he actually intended on going through with it or was merely thinking about it. Either way, it made her angry.

She did know where to contact him—through his Chicago office, at the hotel, through Dr. Navarro, and she’d picked up the phone a dozen times to do that, to ask him to take some time to rethink his decision. Each time, though, she’d had second and third thoughts about getting involved in his life, especially now, at a time when her life was on the verge of some drastic changes.

She’d come here to see about setting up the clinic Rosie had wanted to set up, and that had to be her single focus. Rosie had loved this area when she’d first come here with a traveling medical company a couple of years before. After that her heart had been set on returning. And she’d almost got here… She was here, somewhere. But the plane wreckage had never been found. Nurse Rosie Burke and three other medics had perished somewhere in the Andes and now Bella was here to…to, well, she wasn’t sure why yet. She told herself it was to see about setting up Rosie’s clinic, and that had been the motivation that had finally gotten her here.

“I should have hired a guide,” she muttered, wadding up her map and throwing it into the car. Backing up to lean against the driver’s door, Bella raised her hand to visor her eyes and squinted up at the mountain looming ahead of her. As mountains went, it was impressive. Beautiful. Lush green. Alive. And so frightening. Another thing to avoid.

Sighing, she took a drink from the bottle of water she grasped in her hand then turned to open her car door just as a battered old truck wheezed its way round the curve and nearly swerved into the back fender of her rental. Its driver threw on the brakes and hit the horn at the same time as the truck fishtailed all over the dirt road and finally came to a stop on the opposite side in the grass.

Bella’s first reaction was anger over what had almost happened, but her second was concern for the people in the truck, which propelled her across the road and straight to the driver’s side. “Gabriel?” she sputtered, pulling open the truck door at the same time he tried shoving it out.

“What the hell?”

“You almost hit me,” Bella shouted, on her way round to the passenger’s side.

“You were sitting in the middle of the road. Didn’t it ever occur to you that someone could come around the curve and run into you?”

“I was pulled off to the side. There was plenty of room to get around me if you were paying attention.”

“You were pulled off in a spot with absolutely no visibility from where I was coming.”

“On the shoulder. There was no place else to stop.” She reached for the baby the same time Gabriel did, but she didn’t give way to him. Instead, she took Ana Maria out of the child carrier and did a quick check. She looked good. The little jostle hadn’t upset her. In fact, the instant Ana Maria settled into Bella’s arms, she went straight to sleep like that was where she was meant to be.

“She’s OK?” Gabriel asked, climbing across the seat, then getting out.

“Perfect, no thanks to the way you were driving. What were you thinking?”

“What I was thinking was that nobody would be stupid enough to stop along this road.”

Granted, it was narrow. The visibility wasn’t so good either. But coming up from behind her, Gabriel had had plenty of time to see her and stop, which made her wonder where his attention had been fixed. On the baby? Or on his wife?

Or maybe on the adoption agency he was going to give Ana Maria to? No! It wasn’t any of her business. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t involved in this. “Ana Maria’s not hurt, and the rest of it doesn’t matter, OK?”

“Except you could have gotten us all hurt. Or killed.”

“I wasn’t the one not paying attention, Gabriel. I don’t know what you had your mind on, and I really don’t care, but you’re the one who nearly ran into me, not the other way around. So don’t go blaming me, and don’t take out whatever hostility you’ve got going on me either.”

“Hostility? You’re calling me hostile after the way you stormed out of my hotel room this morning?”

That much was true. She had. And even now, thinking about what he wanted to do with his baby brought her blood right back to a boil. “Look, I don’t want to argue with you, Gabriel. In fact, I don’t want to have anything to do with you. I know you’ve gone through a lot these past few days…more than most people could cope with. And I’m sorry for that. But I didn’t come to Peru to deal with…with people like you. We all face situations the best way we know how, and I understand that. But what you’re doing… Look, instead of standing here on the side of the road, fighting about something that’s none of my business in the first place, if you’ll just head me off in the direction of Lado De la Montaña, we can both get back into our vehicles and go our separate ways.” That seemed reasonable enough. A clean parting. She would do what she’d come here to do and Gabriel would… No, she didn’t want to think about what he would do.

Bella stepped forward to hand Ana Maria back to Gabriel, but he didn’t take her right away. Rather, he squared his shoulders like he was about to square off with her. “That’s not possible,” he said, as a tiny smile crept to his lips.

He thought this was funny? Apparently Dr. Gabriel Velascos wasn’t all the man she’d considered him to be. “What’s not possible?”

“Separate ways. Not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m going to Lado De la Montaña, too.”

Bella opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again. This couldn’t be happening. Just couldn’t be. Of all the inconceivable coincidences, how was it that this man seemed to be everywhere she was? The clinic, the hotel, the tiny mountain village near where her sister had been killed. “Why? Are you following me? Is that what this is about, Gabriel? You saw the connection I made with Ana Maria and now you’re thinking that maybe I’ll be the one to take her off your hands?” The words poured out before she thought about what she was saying, but she didn’t regret them. Maybe what she’d said was right. Gabriel could have seen her as the solution to his little problem and followed her, hoping she’d be the one to adopt his daughter. For that matter, what was to keep him from getting in his truck right now and driving away, leaving her here with the baby?

“What are you talking about?”

“Giving up your daughter for adoption. I saw the papers from the agency, Gabriel. And after you told me you didn’t want her…”

“My daughter?” He glanced down at Ana Maria briefly, then shook his head. “She’s not my daughter, Bella. Didn’t Dr. Navarro tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Ana Maria is my sister’s daughter. Lynda died in childbirth and the child was given to my mother, who can’t care for her.”

“Which is why you’re so quick to give her up for adoption. Now I understand.”

“You don’t understand anything! I never said I didn’t want her. I said I’d never planned on having a child, that she didn’t fit into my life. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want her, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to give her away.”

“Then what about the adoption brochures?”

“The nurse in Raul Navarro’s office thought it might be a solution for me. That’s all. When Señora Hernandez from the adoption agency came to the hotel this morning I told her that I wouldn’t even consider giving away my sister’s child.”

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