His kiss had been like nothing she’d ever experienced. It had made her melt. And if it had been anyone but Gavin she would have taken it a little bit further.

Since their stolen kiss and her panicked reaction to it she’d tried to get her mind off it. Only she couldn’t. All she thought about was the feel of his lips against hers, his stubble tickling her chin, his tongue in her mouth, his fingers in her hair.

Her knees knocked and she felt herself swooning like some lovelorn heroine in a romance novel.

She’d been berating herself for walking away, and she couldn’t face being alone in her apartment reliving that kiss over and over again. So she went back to work on Monday instead of taking the rest of her time off. Janice didn’t even question her early return to work. Virginia often came in on her days off.

Truthfully, Virginia didn’t want to admit to her or to anyone else that she just couldn’t stand the oppressive loneliness of her apartment and Gavin invading her dreams, her thoughts, her every waking moment.

One kiss had made her realise how lonely she was.

Dear Reader

Thank you for picking up a copy of MELTING THE ICE QUEEN’S HEART. I don’t think authors can ever truly express how much it means to us that readers like you enjoy our stories.

MELTING THE ICE QUEEN’S HEART is set in one of my most favourite cities of the world: San Francisco. My grandmother had a painting in her dining room of the Golden Gate Bridge. I used to stare at it for hours on end. It’s now in my home.

I always wanted to go to San Francisco, and in 2008 at a Romance Writers of America conference I had that chance. It was amazing, and I knew I had to set a romance in that city some day.

This story is about two stubborn surgeons who have never wanted a family of their own because they’ve both lost someone they cared about deeply and it has made them afraid to love.

Yet somehow love always finds a way, and even the most stubborn man can melt a heart of ice.

I hope you enjoy MELTING THE ICE QUEEN’S HEART. I love hearing from readers, so please drop by my website www.amyruttan.com or give me a shout on Twitter @ruttanamy.

With warmest wishes

Amy Ruttan

Born and raised on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario, AMY RUTTAN fled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams. When she’s not furiously typing away at her computer she’s mom to three wonderful children, who have given her another job as a taxi-driver.

A voracious reader, she was given her first romance novel by her grandmother, who shared her penchant for a hot romance. From that moment Amy was hooked by the magical worlds, handsome heroes and sigh-worthy romances contained in the pages, and she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Life got in the way, but after the birth of her second child she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a romance author.

Amy loves to hear from readers. It makes her day, in fact. You can find out more about Amy at her website: www.amyruttan.com

Melting the Ice Queen’s Heart
Amy Ruttan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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This book is dedicated to one of my best friends, Diane.

You are so strong and my awe and admiration of you is so much I can’t even begin to explain it. Love you.

And to a great friend, Chris. There are friends you make who you feel like you’ve known your whole life in just a few short moments upon meeting. You were one of them.

My family and I miss you every day, Mr. Baxter.

Table of Contents

Cover

Excerpt

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

“WE HAVE A state-of-the art facility here at Bayview Grace and we’re staffed with some of the top surgeons in the country.” Dr. Virginia Potter gritted her teeth, but then flashed the board of directors and investors the best smile she could muster.

She hated this aspect of her job, but as Chief of Surgery it was par for the course. She’d rather have her hands dirty, working the trauma floor with the rest of the emergency doctors, but she was used to schmoozing. Earning scholarships and being on countless deans’ lists had helped her perfect the fine art of rubbing elbows. It’s how she’d got through school. Her childhood certainly hadn’t prepared her for that.

Still, Virginia missed her time on the floor, saving lives. She still got surgery time, but it wasn’t nearly as much as she used to get.

This is what you wanted, she reminded herself. It was career or family. There was no grey area. Her father had proved that to her. He had spent more time with his family instead of rising up in his job and because of that and then an injury he had been the first to be let go when the factory had moved its operations down south. Virginia had learned from that. To be successful, you couldn’t have both.

It was the values her father had instilled in her. To always strive for the best, go for the top. Again, that was a sacrifice one had to make. It was a position she wanted.

To not make the same mistakes in life he had. Keep a roof over your head and food on the table. That was what she had been taught was a mark of success.

Others have both. She shook that thought away. No. She didn’t want a family. She couldn’t lose anyone else. She wouldn’t risk feeling that pain again.

“I’d really like to see the hospital’s emergency department,” Mrs. Greenly said, breaking through Virginia’s thoughts.

Anywhere but there, her inner voice screamed, but instead Virginia nodded. “Of course. If you’ll follow me?”

Why? Her stomach felt like it was about to bottom out to the soles of her feet. Virginia had planned to steer clear of the emergency room. There were so many more “tame” departments at Bayview Grace.

Departments with Attendings who were more polished and less dangerous to her senses.

Bayview Grace’s ER Attending was the quintessential bad boy of the hospital.

She led the investors and the board of directors towards the emergency department and tried to think back to the posted schedule and whether Dr. Gavin Brice was scheduled for the day shift, because even though Dr. Brice was a brilliant surgeon he and the board of directors didn’t see eye to eye.

Maybe he’s not working?

Oh, who was she kidding? He was always working and she admired him for that, except this one time she wished he wasn’t so efficient.

Virginia had been the one to push for them to hire Brice. They hadn’t been impressed with his extensive CV. The board had wanted a more glamorous, “citified” surgeon. Not one who’d gotten his hands dirty and lived rough.

“It’s all on your head, Dr. Potter. If Dr. Brice fails, you fail.”

The threat had been clear.

At first Virginia had been nervous, because hiring Dr. Brice had put her job on the line, but then she’d realized she was being silly. His work with Border Free Physicians, practicing surgery in developing countries around the world, was an experience in itself. His survival rates were the highest she’d ever seen.

There was no way Dr. Brice would not succeed at Bayview Grace.

She’d see to it, but the board still wasn’t impressed with him.

His survival rates were still high. Topnotch, in fact, but Gavin was unorthodox and a wild mustang on the surgical floor.

He had no patience for surgical interns. No patience for anyone really.

Gavin followed his own rules when it came to practicing medicine. He was the perpetual thorn in Virginia’s side.

Please, don’t be on duty. Please, don’t be on duty.

The board of directors and their investors headed into the emergency department.

“Get out of the way!”

Virginia just had time to grab Mrs. Greenly out of the line of fire as a gurney came rushing by from one of the trauma pods.

Speak of the devil.

Gavin Brice was on top of a man, pumping an Ambu bag and shouting orders to a group of flustered interns.

“There’s no time, he has a pneumothorax. We have to insert a chest tube.” He climbed down and handed the operation of the manual respirator over to a resident.

Oh. My. God. Did he just say what I thought he said?

“Dr. Brice,” Virginia called out in warning.

Gavin glanced over his shoulder and didn’t respond, effectively dismissing her presence. “Get me a 20 French chest tube kit.” One of the interns ran off.

“Dr. Brice,” Virginia said again. “Think about what you’re doing.”

The intern returned with the chest tube kit, handing it to Dr. Brice as he finished wiping the patient’s side with antiseptic. “Ten blade.”

Virginia gritted her teeth, angered she was being ignored. She spun around and gauged the expressions of the board members. Most had nasty pallors. Mrs. Greenly looked like she was about to pass out.

“Dr. Brice!”

“I said ten blade! Have you actually studied medicine?” he barked at an intern, ignoring Virginia.

She stepped towards the gurney. “You can’t place that chest tube here, Dr. Brice. Take him to a trauma bay or an OR, stat!”

“Dr. Potter, there are no rooms free and I don’t have time to mince words. As you can see, this man has sustained crush injuries and has pneumothorax from a motor vehicle accident. He could die unless I do this right here, right now.”

“I really think—”

Gavin didn’t even look at her as he cut an incision in the man’s chest and inserted the chest tube. “Come on, damn you!”

Virginia watched the patient’s vitals on the monitor. It didn’t take long before the man’s blood pressure and systolic regulated and for the fluid to start to drain through the silicone tube.

“Great. Now we need to clear an OR, stat.” Gavin shot her a look. One of annoyance. He shook his head in disgust as the trauma team began to wheel the man off towards the operating rooms, his hand still in the patient’s chest.

All that was left in his wake was a spattering of blood on the floor from where he’d made the incision to insert the tube.

Virginia rubbed her temples and turned to the board and the investors. “Well, that’s our ER. How about we end this tour here and head back to the boardroom?”

It was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever said, but she didn’t know how to recover from this situation. In her two years as Chief of Surgery this had never happened to her before. She’d never had an emergency play out in front of the board in the middle of a tour.

Investors had never had to watch a chest tube be inserted in front of them before.

The stunned members nodded and headed out of the department, except for Mr. Edwin Schultz—the tight-lipped head of the board. Another thorn in her side. It was no secret that he thought the hospital was bad from a business perspective. He was the one holding Bayview Grace back, because as far as Virginia was concerned, Edwin Schultz wanted to drop the axe on her hospital.

“Dr. Potter, I’d like to speak with you about Dr. Brice in private.”

“Of course,” Virginia said, rolling her eyes when his back was turned. She opened a door to a dark exam room, flicked on the lights and ushered Mr. Schultz inside. When she had closed the door, she crossed her arms and braced for a verbal onslaught of tsunami proportions.

“What was that?” Mr. Schultz asked.

“A pneumothorax. The chest tube insertion probably saved the man’s life.”

“Can you be certain?”

“If Dr. Brice hadn’t have performed that procedure, the patient would’ve certainly died.”

Mr. Schultz frowned. “But in the middle of the ER? In front of the investors and other patients?”

“It wasn’t planned, if that’s what you’re implying.” Virginia counted to ten in her head. Her whole body clenched as she fought back the urge to knock some common sense into Edwin Schultz’s addled brains.

“I didn’t say it was, Dr. Potter.” He snorted, pulling out a handkerchief to dab at his sweaty bald head. He folded it up again and placed it in his breast pocket. “I’m suggesting that maybe you should have a talk with him about the proper place to perform a medical procedure.”

She wanted to tell Schultz that sometimes there was no time to find a proper room or an OR in trauma surgery when a life was at stake, only that wasn’t the diplomatic way and she’d worked so hard to become one of the youngest chiefs at Bayview Grace, heck, one of the youngest in San Francisco at the age of thirty. She wasn’t about to give that up. Job stability was all that mattered.

Her career was all that mattered.

“I’ll have a talk with Dr. Brice when he’s out of surgery.”

Mr. Schultz nodded. “Please do. Now, let’s go take care of the investors because if they don’t invest the money we need, the emergency department will have to be cut.”

“Cut?” Virginia’s world spun around, her body clenching again. “What do you mean, cut?”

“I was going to speak to you later about this, but the hospital is losing money. Many members of the board feel that Bayview Grace could make a lot more money as a private clinic. The emergency department is the biggest detriment to the hospital’s budget.”

“We’re a level-one trauma center.” And they had just got that distinction because of two years of her blood, sweat and tears.

Mr. Schultz sighed. “I know, but unless we get the investors we need, we have no choice.”

Virginia cursed under her breath. “And how do you feel, Mr. Schultz?”

“I think we should close the emergency department.” The head of the board said no more and pushed past her.

Virginia scrubbed her hand over her face.

What am I doing?

As a surgeon, she wanted to tell Mr. Schultz what she thought about shutting down Bayview Grace’s ER, but she didn’t. She held her tongue, like she always did, and her father’s words echoed in her ear.

“Don’t tick off the boss man, darling. Job security is financial security.”

And financial security meant food, home and all the necessities.

Virginia wanted to hold onto her job, like anyone did. She wouldn’t wish a life of poverty like she’d endured as a child on her worst enemy.

So she was going to hold her head up high and make sure those investors didn’t walk away. She was going to make sure Bayview’s ER didn’t close its doors so the people who worked in trauma didn’t lose their jobs.

Though she respected Dr. Brice and his abilities, she knew she had to rein him in to keep control of her hospital.

She just didn’t know how she was going to do that, or that she really wanted to.

“Where’s the family?” Gavin asked the nearest nurse he could wrangle.

“Whose family?” the nurse asked, without looking up from the computer monitor.

Gavin bit back his frustration. He knew he had to be nicer to the nurses. At least here he had them.

“Mr. Jones, the man with the crush injuries who had the pneumothorax.”

The nurse’s eyes widened. “In the waiting room. Mrs. Jones and her three teenage sons. They’re hard to miss.”

“Uh, thank you…”

The nurse rolled her eyes. “Sadie.”

“Right. Thanks.” Gavin cursed inwardly as he ripped off his scrub cap and jammed it into a nearby receptacle. He should really know her name since he’d been working with her for six weeks, but Gavin couldn’t keep anyone’s name straight.

Except Virginia’s.

It wasn’t hard to keep her name straight in his head. The moment he’d met her, his breath had been taken away with those dark brown eyes to match the dark hair in a tidy chignon. She was so put together, feminine, like something out of a magazine, and then she spoke about all the rules and regulations, about everything he was doing wrong, and it shattered his illusion.

No wonder the staff called her Ice Queen. She was so cold and aloof. There was no warmth about her. It was all business.

The woman was a brilliant surgeon, he’d noticed the few times they’d worked together, but she was always slapping his wrists for foolish things.

“It’s not sanitary. Legal is going to talk to you. The hospital could get sued,” Virginia had stated.

In fact, when he had a moment, he planned to discuss the functionality and the layout out of this emergency department with her and the board.

It was horrendous.

When he’d been working in the field, in developing countries, everything he’d needed had been within arm’s reach, and if it hadn’t been then he’d made do with what he’d had and no one had complained. No one had talked about reprimanding him.

He’d been free to do what he wanted to save lives. It’s why he’d become a trauma surgeon, for God’s sake.

If he wasn’t needed in San Francisco, if he had any other choice, he’d march into Virginia’s office and hand in his resignation.

Only Lily and Rose stopped him.

He was working in this job, this suffocating, regimented environment, because of them. He didn’t blame them; it wasn’t their fault their mother had died. It’s just that Gavin wished with all his heart he was anywhere but here.

Although he liked being at home with them. He wanted to do right by them. Give them the love and security he’d never had.

Gavin stopped at the charge desk and set Mr. Jones’s chart on the desk to fill out some more information before he approached the family with news.

“You know that was the board of directors you traumatized today,” Sadie said from behind the desk.

Gavin grunted in response.

What else was new?

Board of directors. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I suppose Dr. Potter wants to have a little word with me?”

“Bingo.” Sadie got up and left.

Gavin cursed under his breath again. “When?” he called after her.

“Ten minutes ago,” she called out over her shoulder.

Damn.

Well, Virginia would have to wait.

He had to tell Mrs. Jones her husband, who’d sustained severe crush injuries in a car accident, was going to be okay.

All thanks to his minor indiscretion over the chest tube insertion in front of the board.

Only he wouldn’t get any thanks. From Mrs. Jones, yes, but from the people who ran this place, no.

It would be another slap on the wrist. Potter would tell him again how he was skating on thin ice with the board of directors.

It would take all his strength not to quit. Only he couldn’t.

No other hospital in San Francisco was hiring or had been interested in him. He didn’t have a flashy CV after working as a field surgeon for Border Free Physicians.

He didn’t make the covers of medical journals or have some great research to tempt another hospital with.

All he had were his two hands and his surgical abilities.

Those two hands had saved a man today, but that wasn’t good enough for the board. The bottom line was the only thing that mattered and it made him furious.

If it wasn’t for the girls, he’d quit.

He couldn’t uproot them. He wouldn’t do that to them, he wouldn’t have them suffer the same life he and Casey had endured as army brats, moving from pillar to post, never making friends and having absentee parents who had both been in the service.

Although he understood his parents now. He respected them for serving their country and doing their duty. He lived by the same code, only he wasn’t going to raise a family living out of a backpack, and because he loved his life and his work he’d never planned on settling down.

He planned to die doing what he loved. Like his father had done.

Working until he’d dropped.

Of course, that had all changed seven months ago when Casey had called him.

Casey wanted stability for her girls and that’s exactly what Gavin was going to give them.

Stability.

He picked up Mr. Jones’s chart and headed towards the waiting room.

Virginia could wait a few moments more and he’d smooth things over with the board. Mrs. Jones, however, wouldn’t wait a second more.

CHAPTER TWO

HE’S GOOD PR for the hospital.

Virginia felt like she was running out of ways to praise Dr. Gavin Brice to the board of directors. None of them were physicians.

None of them understood medicine.

And because none of the board understood medicine she constantly had to explain to them the actions of Dr. Brice; just like she’d done for the past hour.

Virginia rubbed her temples, trying to will away the nagging headache that gnawed her just behind her eyes.

It’d been grueling, but she’d managed to smooth things over. By again reminding them of Dr. Brice’s phenomenal survival rate. It was probably that way because of the unorthodox techniques he used.

Of course, what was the point when the head of the board seemed so keen to shut down the hospital’s emergency department and make Bayview Grace a private hospital? Private meant only for the wealthy.

And catering only to the wealthy made her sick.

When she’d first decided to become a doctor she hadn’t just want to help those who could afford it. It was one of the reasons she’d chosen Bayview to do her intern and residency years. Bayview, back then, had had a fantastic pro bono fund and a free clinic.

The free clinic had been closed two years ago when she’d done her boards. When she’d become chief she’d tried to get it back, but that would have meant dipping into the pro bono money and that money had been needed.

Mr. Schultz had feigned regret, but Virginia had seen those dollar signs flashing in his eyes. It made her feel a bit sick.

Her stomach knotted as she thought about the countless people from all walks of life who came to her hospital. The pro bono budget was dwindling and she wished she could help more, because at one time in her life she’d been in the poorest of the poor’s shoes, getting by on only sub-par medical care.

It was why her sister Shyanne had died.

Shyanne had hidden her pregnancy from her parents, knowing they couldn’t afford to help her with medical bills, but the pregnancy had turned out to be ectopic. Virginia had happened to be home on a school break in her first year of medical school and had kicked herself for not seeing the signs early enough.

By the time the ambulance had come to take Shyanne to the hospital, she was gone. Ruptured fallopian tube. She’d bled out too fast.

It was one reason why Virginia donated so much time to the pro bono cases, why she didn’t want Bayview’s ER closed, like the free clinic had been closed.

There was a knock on her office door, but before she could answer the man in question swaggered into the room and she had to remember herself. She had to control the flush that was threatening to creep up her neck and erupt in crimson blooms in her cheeks.

It was a damn pain in the rump that she was basically his boss and that he was so devilishly sexy. Reddish-gold hair, green eyes like emeralds. Even the scar on his cheek, which just grazed that deep, deep dimple, made the young woman she’d buried under her businesslike façade squeal just a little bit. He was the quintessential bad boy and she’d always had a soft spot for bad boys. Even though her mother had warned her not to give them the time of day.

Virginia and Shyanne had listened. Shyanne had got involved with a good boy. One who had been a golden son of De Smet, South Dakota. A golden son who had knocked Shyanne up and taken off on a football scholarship, leaving Shyanne in the lurch.

“You wanted to see me, Dr. Potter?”

“Yes. Please, take a seat.” Pulling at the collar of her blouse, she motioned to the seat in front of her desk. When he moved closer she caught a whiff of his scent. A clean scent of something spicy but rugged and the smell made her insides flutter. With a calming breath she folded her hands neatly in front of her on her blotter. “The board has asked me to speak with you.”

A brief smile quirked on his lips as he sat down. “Again?”

“Yes. Are you surprised?”

“Not really.I did happen to catch the expression of some of those investors today.”

“You think it’s funny?”

Gavin cocked his head to one side. “A bit.”

Virginia bit her lip and silently counted to ten. “I managed to smooth things over.”

He rolled his eyes. “Look, can I lay something out for you, Dr. Potter?”

She was stunned. “Of course, by all means.”

“I don’t care what the board approves or disapproves of. I don’t care if they think the way I practice medicine is barbaric.”

“I don’t think they actually said barbaric, Dr. Brice.”

He grinned. “Please, call me Gavin.”

Virginia swallowed the lump in her throat. It was the first time since they’d met that he’d asked her to use his first name. Not that they’d had much social interaction, besides work-related conversations, and these seemingly frequent discussions about the board and his disregard for following hospital policies.

“Gavin, if you’re unhappy, perhaps there’s something we can do, or I can do, to make your practice here better?”

“There’s nothing you can do. Frankly, I wouldn’t be happy anywhere outside Border Free Physicians.”

Intriguing. “Then can I ask you a personal question?”

“Of course, but I may not answer.”

Touché. “Why did you leave Border Free Physicians and apply here?”

Gavin’s easy smile faded and his mouth pressed into a thin line, his brow furrowing. Virginia couldn’t help but wonder if this was something he wasn’t going to answer. In his few weeks here she’d ascertained he was a private man. He didn’t socialize with many people, ate his lunch alone and did his job efficiently, as far as Virginia was concerned. Maybe not to the board’s approval, but as long as the patients lived and there were no lawsuits she was happy.

“I’m needed here,” he said finally. Only that’s all he said. No explanation about why he’d applied for the job or why he’d told her he wasn’t happy here and wouldn’t be happy anywhere but with Border Free Physicians.

So why had he left?

“You look confused,” Gavin said, the teasing tone returning to his voice.

“Not confused.” Oh, who am I kidding? “Okay, a bit confused.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t really want to put you in this position.”

“You haven’t put me in a position, Dr. Brice.”

“Gavin.”

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “Gavin. I only want to help you, even if this position is not the one you want.”

Gavin nodded his head. “I thank you for that.”

“For what?”

“For trying to help, but I really don’t think I need it.”

“I know it’s difficult, you came from a job where you worked in rough conditions and had to think on your feet and quickly, but the board of directors has to protect the hospital’s best interests.”

“Isn’t that basically what all trauma surgeons do?”

Virginia smiled. “Yes, but there are certain rules and regulations that have to take place in a hospital setting. They feel what happened today was inappropriate.”

He snorted. “Inappropriate to save a man’s life?”

“There are rules and the board is protecting the interests of the hospital.”

“So you keep reiterating.”

“It seems I have to.” She crossed her arms. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“The bottom line.” That look of disdain returned and he shook his head slightly.

Virginia knew and understood what he was feeling, but what choice did they have?

“Unfortunately.”

Gavin stood. “I have to protect my patient’s best interests, Dr. Potter. I won’t change the way I practice medicine.”

“I’m trying to help you.” Now she was getting irritated. How could she help someone who didn’t want her help? Easy. She couldn’t. She was losing an uphill battle when it came to Dr. Brice.

He pulled out his pager and glanced at it. Not looking at her, thus silently ending their conversation. “I appreciate that, but I’m needed back in the ER.”

Stunned, Virginia stood as he left and then watched through the glass as he jogged down the hall towards the ER.

What just happened?

She slowly sank back down into her chair, feeling a bit like a deer caught in headlights, like someone had just pulled a fast one on her.

The board wouldn’t be happy with her for not reining him in, but then again she didn’t really want to. Dr. Brice was someone who moved to the beat of his own drum. He annoyed the nurses because he couldn’t remember their names, didn’t have much time for interns and, yes, performed a medical procedure in front of a bunch of rich investors, but the point was he saved lives.

His curriculum vitae was impressive. As far she was concerned.

His image, his work in Africa, doing surgery on refugees, brought in good press for the hospital. People had a soft spot for good Samaritans.

Even if the board thought he was a bit of a rogue surgeon.

Virginia rubbed her temples. Her tension headache was becoming stronger. Couldn’t he see how she was trying to make his transition to a metropolitan hospital setting just a bit easier? There was one thing Virginia took away from this meeting today and that was that Dr. Gavin Brice was a bit of a pompous ass.

Dammit.

Gavin glanced at his wristwatch and noticed the time. He was late and Lily was going to kill him. Rose wouldn’t, though, she was so sweet, but Lily was a force to be reckoned with. This was the third time he’d missed taking her to ballet lessons and he’d pinky-sworn that he’d be the one to take her this time instead of Rosalie, the sitter.

He had no idea what he was doing and he was a terrible father figure, but that was the crux of the matter—he wasn’t Lily’s and Rose’s father. He was their uncle, but as he was their only caregiver since their mother, his sister, had died of cancer, he was no longer cool Uncle Gavin who sent them postcards from new and exciting locations as he traveled to different developing countries with Border Free Physicians.

Now he was Mr. Mom and not very good at it. Lily, who was eight, had reminded him of it every day for the last couple of months.

“That’s not how Mom did it.”

Rose was four, all smiles, but she didn’t say a single word.

It’s why he was here, in San Francisco, instead of continuing with Border Free Physicians. He hated not being where he wanted to be, but he’d do anything to take care of those girls. To give them the home life and stability he and his late sister, Casey, had never had.

After all his nieces had been through, there was no way he could drag them from pillar to post, living rough while he worked. He’d had to give up his life as a field trauma physician and get something stable, reliable and in the girls’ hometown.

He needed to give them structure and not rip them away from all they knew. Especially not when their world had been shattered after their mother’s recent death and their father’s when Rose had been only an infant.

He had to be reliable or he could lose the girls to their paternal grandparents. He’d promised Casey he wouldn’t let that happen. It had been only three months since Casey had died and though he’d always said he didn’t want to be tied down, he wouldn’t give the girls up for anything.

Even though he was a hopeless failure.

A cool breeze rolled in off the bay and Gavin shivered. He pulled his coat tighter. Even though it was August, there was a nip in the air and he still wasn’t acclimatized to anything that wasn’t subtropical.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed for the grey minivan he’d inherited from Casey. His motorbike was sitting alone and forgotten under a tarp in the garage, because you couldn’t ferry kids to and from various dance rehearsals, art classes and Girl Scouts’ meetings on the back of a motorcycle.

As he made his way across the parking lot he caught sight of Virginia walking toward her dark, sleek-looking sedan. Gavin paused a moment to watch her move. She was so put together and she moved with fluid grace. Even if she seemed tight, like a taut bowstring most days.

Her dark hair was piled up on her head, not a strand of hair loose. There was a natural look to her and she didn’t need to wear garish makeup to accentuate those dark, chocolate eyes or those ruby lips. Her clothing was stylish and professional but sexy. Today it was the pencil skirt, paired with a crisp shirt and black high heels that showed off her slim but curvy figure in all the right places.

She climbed into her car, and just as she was sitting down her skirt hiked up a bit, giving him a nice view of her stocking-clad thigh.

Gavin’s pulse began to race. If any woman could emulate the princess Snow White it was Dr. Virginia Potter.

He let out a hiss of disgust; he’d been reading Rose far too many fairy tales if he was comparing the chief of surgery to Snow White.

Did that make him a dwarf? Though the way some of those surgeons and nurses moved through the hospital, it was like they were on their way to the mines for the day.

Virginia drove away and Gavin scrubbed his hand over his face. He needed a beer and to veg out in front of the television for a while.

One of the perks of being in the city.

He drove through the streets in a trance, letting the day’s surgeries just roll off his back. When he pulled up into his sister’s pink-colored marina-style home in the outer Richmond district, a twenty-minute commute from the hospital, he finally let out a sigh of relief mixed with frustration.

It had to be pink.

His whole life seemed to be wrapped up in various shades of pink from coral to bubble gum. At least his scrubs weren’t pink.

The lights were all on in the living room above the garage, which meant the girls were home from dance rehearsal. Rosalie’s car was on the street outside. The garage door opened and he pulled the van inside, next to his tarp-covered Harley.

I know, baby. I miss you too.

He sighed with longing, pulling the garage door down and locking it. Rosalie, having seen him pull up, was leaving as he opened the locked gate onto the street that led to the front door.

“Dr. Brice, how was your day?” Rosalie asked, brightly.

“You don’t really want to know. How’s Lily?”

Rosalie gave him a broad, toothy grin as she heaved her bag over her shoulder. “You don’t really want to know.”

“That bad?”

“It’s been a rough day for her.” Rosalie moved past him to the car. “When is your next shift?”

“Tomorrow, but then I’m not on call this weekend. I don’t go back until Wednesday afternoon.”

“Ah, a four-day weekend. Que bueno. I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Brice. Have a good night.” Gavin waited until Rosalie was safely in her car and had driven away before he locked the gate and headed inside.

The stairs from the entranceway to the main level were scattered with various dance paraphernalia and pink things. As he took a step something squished and squeaked under his feet, causing Rose to materialize at the top of the stairs, scowling with her chubby little arms crossed.

Gavin peeled the rubber giraffe from under his foot. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on Georgiana.”

Rose grinned and held out her hand. Gavin placed Georgiana in Rose’s hand. “How’s Lily?”

Rose rolled her eyes and then skipped off. Gavin groaned inwardly and dragged himself up the last few steps.

He found Lily sitting at the kitchen table, her chin resting on the table with a dejected look on her face. The same face Casey had made when he’d been taking care of her when their dad and mom had left them while they did their duty to their country.

It made his heart hurt just to think about how much he missed his sister.

“Lily.”

Lily glanced at him sideways, her blue eyes so like Casey’s. “I know. There was an emergency. I get it.”

Gavin took a seat opposite to her. She talked so much like a little adult. “There was an emergency, in fact, a car accident. I had to perform surgery.”

“Did you save the person’s life?”

“I did.”

Lily sat up straight. “Then I guess that’s worth it.”

At least someone thinks so.

“Very mature of you, Lily. Look, after tomorrow’s shift I have the next four days off. I’m not on call and I can spend it with you and Rose.”

Lily chirked up. “Really?”

“Really. We can go down to the piers, watch the sea lions.” Rose skipped into the room then and crawled up on his lap.

“Can we get some clams?” Lily asked brightly.

Clams? I was willing to offer ice cream…

“You girls like seafood?”

“Yeah, Mom used to take us down to the fish market all the time. We’d get some seafood and she’d make her famous chowder.”

Gavin nodded. “Sure. I’ll try to make you guys some chowder. How about you two get ready for bed?”

“Sure.” Lily got up and took Rose by the hand, leading her towards the front of the house. When Gavin had made sure they were out of earshot he laid his head down on the table. He had never thought he would be a father because he had always been afraid he would be terrible, like his own father was. Oh, his father was a hero all right, but he’d never hugged them, never complimented them and had never been there. It was the same with their mother and it terrified Gavin to his very core. He didn’t want to become like them.

Only Casey had had the same fears about becoming a mother and she had been one of the best.

God, I miss her.

He just hoped he was doing right by his nieces.

He owed Casey that much.

CHAPTER THREE

VIRGINIA PICKED UP Mr. Jones’s chart and read Gavin’s notes quickly. When she glanced up she could see Gavin through the glass partition in Mr. Jones’s room. Mr. Jones was still unconscious, so he needed to be in the ICU, but Gavin was speaking to Mrs. Jones.

At least Virginia assumed it was Mrs. Jones, as the woman had been by Mr. Jones’s bedside all night. Which was what the night charge nurse had told her when she had started her shift at five that morning.

“Is everything okay, chief?” the charge nurse at the desk asked.

“Yes, Kimber, everything’s fine.” Virginia smiled and handed the binder back to her. “Just checking on the ER’s newest celebrity before I head into surgery.”

“Who?”

“Dr. Brice.”

Kimber grinned. “Oh, yes, I heard about the excitement in the ER yesterday. I always miss the drama when I’m off.”

Virginia cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so? What did you hear?”

“That Dr. Brice inserted a chest tube in front of the investors.” Kimber shook her head and chuckled to herself. “I bet they were impressed.”

Virginia didn’t say anything else as Kimber walked the file back to where it belonged. Before Virginia had been the Chief of Surgery, she’d had friends and comrades she’d been able to talk to about anything. Now, because of her position, she had to be careful of everything she said.

There was no one she could blow off steam with. No one to vent to.

Except the cactus in her apartment.

Even then it wasn’t the most animated of conversations.

She missed the days when she could go down to the cafeteria and sit down with fellow attendings and residents and shoot the breeze.

Heck, she could even talk to the nurses back then.

Now they all looked at her for what she was. Their boss.

Their careers were in her hands.

Kimber returned back. “Chief, really, is there anything I can do?”

Deal with the board for me? “No, why?”

“You were staring off into space.”

“Thinking.”

“About?”

Virginia cocked her eyebrow. “What do you think of Dr. Brice?”

“Dishy.” Kimber waggled her eyebrows, but then she instantly sobered. “Sorry, chief.”

“Professionally, what do you think?”

“Oh, well…” Kimber hesitated.

“Go on,” Virginia urged.

“He’s pretty brusque with nurses, doesn’t remember our names. Refers to most of us as ‘hey you’. Rarely says thank-you. But he’s good with the patients and he’s a great surgeon.”

“Thank you, Kimber.”

“Is Dr. Brice in trouble, chief?”

Virginia shook her head. “No, I just wanted to see how well he was getting on with the other members of the staff.”

“The answer to that is not well.” Kimber walked away from the charge desk, just as Dr. Brice left Mr. Jones’s room.

He was staring at his pager, headed right for her. Finally he glanced up and saw her there and his eyes widened momentarily. “Dr. Potter, what brings you to the ICU today? I thought you’d be in more investor meetings.”

Virginia gritted her teeth. “No. No meetings today, Dr. Brice.”

“Gavin.” He flashed her a smug smile, which she wanted to wipe off his face. Instead she ignored him.

“I’m headed for the OR, actually.”

“Amazing, I didn’t think chiefs of surgery were able to operate.”

“I’m a surgeon first and foremost. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be off.” She turned from him and headed for the OR suites, but Gavin followed her, keeping pace.

“What surgery are you preforming?”

“A routine cholecystectomy.”

“I thought you were a trauma surgeon.”

“I’m a general surgeon, but I did work in trauma during my fellowship years. Besides, our ER is staffed with several capable surgeons.”

Gavin chuckled. “Not me, though.”

Virginia cocked an eyebrow, but continued toward the ORs. “What do you mean?”

“We had this talk yesterday, Virginia. I’m not an asset to Bayview Grace.”

“Dr. Brice—”

“Gavin,” he interrupted.

She took a calming breath. “Gavin, who said you weren’t?”

“You did.”

“When?”

“Yesterday, after I saved Mr. Jones’s life in front of the board, or have you mentally blocked that catastrophe of public relations proportions from your brain?”

Virginia chuckled. “I never said you weren’t an asset. You’re a fine surgeon, Gavin, you just have to work on your interpersonal skills.” The doors to the scrub room slid open and she stepped inside. Gavin followed her.

Lord. Just let me be.

All she wanted to do was this surgery. Here she could clear her head and think.

“Interpersonal skills?” A smile quirked his lips. “In what ways?”

“I don’t have time to talk the semantics over with you. I have a choly to attend to, that is, unless you want to scrub in?”

Please, don’t scrub in, one half of her screamed, while the other half of her wanted to see him in action. To work side by side with him.

“I haven’t done a routine choly in…well, probably not since my residency, and it wasn’t done laparoscopically. The attendings and indeed the hospital where I obtained my residency weren’t up to par with Dr. Mühe’s ground-breaking procedure.”

“I would love to have you assist, Gavin.” Virginia stepped on the bar under the sink and began to scrub.

Gavin grinned, his eyes twinkling in the dim light of the scrub room. “Liar.”

“Pardon?”

“You don’t want me in your OR. I think you’ve had enough of me.”

“That’s true. You’ve been a thorn in my side since I hired you.”

He laughed. “I know.”

Virginia shook her hands and then grabbed some paper towel. “I would like to see you work, though. I haven’t had the chance to observe you, and the nurses tell me you’re a brilliant surgeon.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think the nurses cared much for me.”

“They don’t.” She smirked. “You really need to work on remembering their names.”

“Not at the top of my priority.”

Virginia shook her head and moved towards the sliding door that separated the suite from the scrub room. “Make it a priority, Gavin. You’ll find things run a lot smoother if you do. Are you joining me?”

“I think I’ll pass, Dr. Potter. I may be needed in Trauma.”

“Virginia.” She shot him a smug smile and headed into surgery, both relieved and disappointed that he wasn’t joining her.

I should’ve gone into surgery with her.

Gavin was beating himself up over not taking the opportunity to sit in on a surgery with Virginia, the ice queen, even if it had been a routine one.

Emergency had been quiet. Eerily so. He’d resorted to charting, though secretly he was trying to learn the nurses’ names but couldn’t.

He could remember the most complicated procedure, but when it came to mundane, everyday things like dry-cleaning or remembering a name he couldn’t.

What was wrong with him?

Something was definitely wrong with him, because he’d turned down the chance to get to know Virginia by operating with her. She’d been so uptight every time they’d spoken, but this time there had been something different about her.

She was more relaxed, more receptive to gentle teasing.

He’d enjoyed his verbal repartee with her, even if it’d only been for a moment. Gavin had seen the twinkle in her eyes before she’d entered the operating room, that glint of humor, and he’d liked it.

And it had scared him.

He had no time to be thinking about women. The girls were his top priority.

“I won’t say what you’re thinking, because if I say it we’ll be bombarded with a bunch of trauma.”

Gavin looked up from his chart to see Dr. Rogerson leaning over the desk, grinning at him. Moira Rogerson was another trauma surgeon, but only a fellow as she’d just passed her boards.

“Pardon?” Gavin asked.

“You know, like how actors don’t say ‘Macbeth’ in the theater.”

“Oh, I get what you mean.”

ER physicians never remarked on a slow day. If they did it was bad juju and they’d have an influx of patients. Gavin returned to his charting, dismissing Moira.

At least he hoped it gave her the hint. The woman had been pursuing him like a lioness hunting a wounded wildebeest since he’d first set foot in the hospital.

“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a bite to eat with me after work?”

The lioness obviously couldn’t take a hint. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with her, she was pretty, intelligent and a brilliant surgeon, but he wasn’t interested in her.

He didn’t like to be pursued and he wasn’t interested in starting a relationship with anyone at the moment.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

Gavin sighed in frustration. “I just can’t.”

“I know you’re new to this city. What can you possibly have to do?”

Gavin slammed the binder shut and stood up, perhaps a bit abruptly. “Things.” He set the chart down and headed towards the cafeteria. Maybe grabbing some lunch would clear his head.

Moira, thankfully, didn’t follow.

Sure, he’d been harsh with her and, yeah, he had an itch that needed to be scratched, but since the girls had come into his life he had to be more responsible.

A year ago he would’ve taken Moira up on her offer and then some. As long as she hadn’t wanted anything serious.

She was attractive.

Now that he had his nieces, he just couldn’t be that playboy any more. His dating life could be summed up in two words. Cold. Showers.

In the cafeteria he grabbed a ready-made sandwich and a bottle of water. He was planning to take them outside and get some fresh air when he spotted Virginia on the far side of the cafeteria. It surprised him, as he never saw her in here.

She was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria at a table for two, but she sat alone. She was reading some kind of medical journal as she picked at a salad.

The cafeteria was full of other doctors, nurses, interns, but Virginia sat by herself.

She’s the chief of surgery. The boss.

The ice queen.

No one would want to sit with their boss at lunch. They wouldn’t feel comfortable, and he felt sorry for her. She was so young and she didn’t have it easy.

Just like me.

He crossed the cafeteria and stopped in front of her. “May I join you, Virginia?”

She looked startled and glanced up at him. “Of—of course, Dr. Potter. I mean Gavin.”

Gavin took the seat across from her. “How was your choly?”

“Routine.” She smiled and his pulse quickened. He liked the way she smiled and especially when it was directed at him, which wasn’t often. “How was the ER?”

“I think you can guess.”

“I know. I won’t say it.”

“I’m trying to work on interpersonal skills, but I’m having a hard time putting faces to names.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t seem to have that problem with patients.”

He nodded. “This is true.”

“You’re agreeing with me? Amazing.” The twinkle of humor appeared again.

“You’re mocking me now, aren’t you?”

Virginia stabbed a cherry tomato. “So what’s the difference between the nurses and the patients?”

“The patients aren’t all wearing the same kitten patterned scrubs.”

Virginia chuckled. “Not all the nurses wear kitten scrubs.”

“Well pink, then.” Gavin snorted. “Always pink.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.” Gavin didn’t want to talk about his nieces. His private life was just that. It was his and private.

“What did you do in Africa? How did you remember names there?”

“It was easy. There were only ten of us at the most at any given time.”

“It’s a number thing, then.”

Gavin swallowed the water he had taken a swig of. “There are so many nurses. I think they’re multiplying and replicating in the back somewhere.”

Virginia laughed. It was a nice one, which made him smile. “Please, don’t tell them you think they’re cloning themselves. You’re a good surgeon, Gavin, and I’d hate to lose you to a pyre they’d light under the spit they’d tie you to.”

Gavin winked. “I’m trying.”

“Good.” She leaned forward and he caught the scent of vanilla, warm and homey like a bakery. He loved that smell. Gavin fought the sudden urge to bury his face in her neck and drink the scent in. “I have a secret.”

“Do tell.”

“They wear nametags.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha. Very funny.”

Virginia just laughed to herself as she ate her salad. “So, do you have any plans for the weekend?”

He cringed inwardly and then picked at the label on his bottle of water. “Nothing in particular. Are you off this weekend?”

“Yes, surprisingly.”

“And do you have plans?”

“I do.”

Gavin waited. “Not going to tell me?”

“Why should I? You don’t divulge aspects of your personal life.”

“Touché.” He downed the rest of his water and stood. “I’d better get back to the ER. It was nice chatting with you, Virginia.”

“And with you, Gavin. I hope the ER remains quiet for you for the rest of the day.”

A distant wail of an ambulance could be heard through an open window of the cafeteria. Several people raised their heads and listened.

Gavin groaned. “You had to jinx it, didn’t you?”

And all that minx did was grin.

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