Emergency in Alaska Page 14

  “Serious?”

  “Probably not. Our patient went a little wild and Michael’s head got in the way.”

  “If you’d kept the plane level, I wouldn’t have slammed into the wall,” Michael commented, though his eyes were still closed.

  Alek smiled at Dimitri. “Sounds to me like he’s talking out of his head,” she said, crawling over and sitting down next to Michael.

  “And you talk in your sleep,” Michael quipped, opening his eyes and raising his hand to feel the collar.

  “This is something I should want to hear?” Dimitri asked, stepping back from the plane as Maggie ran up to it.

  “I’m taking him to surgery,” she said, looking inside. “Is Michael all right?” she asked Alek.

  “As a physician, he’ll survive to heal another day. As a pugilist, I think he’s retired.” She rubbed her fingers lightly over his jaw. It was puffy now and beginning to turn blue from bruising.

  “I deserve some kind of medal for going above and beyond the call of duty,” he said, struggling to sit up.

  “No getting up,” Alek said, pushing him gently back to a flat position. “Not until that collar comes off, and it’s not coming off until we get an X-ray. Which means you get to go in on a stretcher, too, like all the other patients do.”

  Maggie leaned in further to take a look, and once she was satisfied her son was going to be fine, she gave him a squeeze on the arm then ran to catch up with the men hauling Bill into the back of an SUV-turned-ambulance.

  “Think I’ll go scrub up with her,” Dimitri said, backing away, too.

  “You scared him,” Alek said, once the two of them were alone.

  “But you do talk in your sleep.” He reached up and rubbed his chin. “And you snuggle. Quite nicely, actually. Best I’ve had since…”

  “You’re loopy,” she stated.

  “And the best cure for that is a little tender bedside manner. Care to practice some on me?” He smiled up at her in spite of his swollen face.

  “Not likely,” she said, laughing.

  “I’m your patient. I have needs only my doctor can take care of.” He pointed to his chin. “Right there, for instance. Big need on my jaw.”

  “And what would cure that big need?”

  He reached up and brushed his fingers across her lips. “That, for starters…”

  “And you expect me to kiss you because you’re playing on my sympathy?”

  Rolling his eyes at her, he grinned. “Yes.”

  “That’s forward, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, but it’s a perfect medicine. I’m already feeling much better thinking about it.” He stroked her lips again. “Much better.”

  How could anyone who’d been punched like that be so utterly sexy only a few minutes later? “Just one kiss?”

  “Normally, these prescriptions call for much more. But one would do for starters, followed by several follow-up doses over the course of the illness.”

  She wanted to. Dear lord, how she wanted to, and if there had been no other considerations to be made, it would have been such an easy thing. But one would lead to another would lead to heartbreak because he would leave and she wouldn’t. And while he might have it in him to be cavalier about such matters, she didn’t. Not at all.

  Alek looked down at Michael, who’d already shut his eyes and seemed to be drifting off. “You’re persuasive,” she whispered. Persuasive because there was nothing she wanted to do more than give him that kiss. She always had. Always would.

  Sighing, Alek gave in to her desires—for the first time in her life she allowed her heart to dictate her head, as she first ran her fingers lightly over his swollen jaw, then followed with a kiss. It was a light, delicate kiss that elicited his sigh as her lips touched him. “We shouldn’t,” she whispered. “Not while we don’t know the extent of your injury.”

  “No neck injury,” he said, reaching up to remove his collar. “And sometimes we have to do what we shouldn’t.” He raised a shaky hand to stroke her cheek. “Sometimes life has to be about the things we shouldn’t do.”

  In her life, she’d rarely ever done what she shouldn’t, and this departure, while it didn’t make sense, was one of those shouldn’ts that had to happen. Every irrational impulse inside her said it had to, so she kissed him again. Light and delicate once more, as he turned his head ever so slightly, his eyes still closed, and pointed to his lips. “Right here,” he whispered. “It’s a little sore, too.”

  The kiss she placed there was much like the one to his jaw, but as she was about to pull away, Michael’s hand snaked up around her neck and held her in place—her lips pressed to his—and the kiss he returned was anything but delicate and gentle. It was hard and demanding, the kiss of a lover desperate for more and not an injured man in pain. Immediately, Alek succumbed to the wild demand, returning what he was giving with a passion she’d never before known, opening her mouth to the probing of his tongue and returning his exploration with a torrential frenzy that made her realize she’d been waiting for this moment for three years.

  It was only when she found herself giving more, taking more from the kiss than she should, that she pulled back from Michael. Raising her fingers to her swollen lips, the sudden impact of what had happened hit her so hard she stifled a gasp. “I’ll go see what’s keeping that stretcher,” she choked out, then fled from the plane before he had a chance to stop her.

  Outside, she leaned against the fuselage and closed her eyes, trying to forget, trying to shut it all out. But the frantic pounding of her heart wouldn’t be shut out.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “HE’S going to be fine,” Dimitri said, settling down next to Alek on the sofa in his tiny office, then pulling her into his arms. “Maggie took a look while I finished up on Bill, and it’s a little contusion from the blow to the head, like we thought, but nothing’s broken, nothing’s permanently damaged, eyesight’s fine, no diminished capacity. He’ll be as good as new in a day or so.”

  “No amnesia?” she asked, almost crossing her fingers that there was, that Michael wouldn’t remember her little flight from reality. It had only been a simple kiss after all. People did it all the time. Meant nothing. Wouldn’t happen again. Except it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and it did mean something. That was the problem.

  “Something you wish to forget?”

  “More appropriately, someone.”

  “Ah, my Aleksandra is wrestling with affairs of the heart at long last. I was about to give up hope, you know. But if that young man is anything like his mother, it’s no wonder you’re falling for him.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You don’t lie very well. You never have, and I could always tell.” He smiled. “You always had such a serious look on your face, and when you lied you were even more serious. And look at you now, twisting your hands the way you are.”

  Alek glanced down at her hands, and sure enough…

  “And the frown on your face. If you keep it there too long, you know what will happen, don’t you?”

  Alek laughed. This was the same gentle scolding he’d always given her when she’d been a little girl. “A cold Alaskan wind will blow down from the Arctic and it will freeze the frown in place.”

  “And what would your young man think of that?”

  “He’s not my young man, Dimitri.”

  “But do you want him to be?”

  “It’s always easier staying blissfully uninvolved. No heartbreak, no worry, no distractions. And the truth is, I don’t know if I want to stay uninvolved anymore. But as far as Michael’s concerned, he’s going to leave here soon, go back to his real life and a job that offers him so much more than we can here, so there’s really no point in talking about him because he’s just passing through. And he can’t stay.”

  “Have you considered going with him when he leaves?”

  She gave her head an adamant shake. “I’m not leaving here. Not unless you open the door and kick me out.”


  “Maybe I should, because sometimes I think you stay here for the wrong reasons. I think you find Alaska an easy place to hide.”

  “But I love this life. It’s what I want to do, who I want to be, and that has nothing to do with Michael, and everything to do with me.” And that much was true. But what Dimitri said was also true in part, as much as she hated to admit it. Living in an outlying area as she did made it easy to keep herself removed, and not only in the geographical sense. Uninvolved, but maybe not so contented with that anymore.

  “But will you love this life as much when Michael leaves?”

  Alek tucked her feet up under her and looked out the window at the falling snow. “I do thrive here, you know.” She laughed. “Of course, I suppose the definition of thriving is open to interpretation, isn’t it?”

  “So why do you stay, Alek? I know you love the work but you could do the work almost anywhere. Is it because of me? You don’t want to leave me? If I were to go to Florida to retire to someplace warm, would you follow me there?”

  “But you wouldn’t,” she argued.

  “Probably not, but I could. And my life is changing now. Maggie might decide she prefers warm weather.”

  Alek didn’t respond for a moment. Instead, she thought about her life without Dimitri. It would happen someday. She knew that. In one way or another they would be parted and she was prepared for that as much as anyone could be. “I’d stay here,” she said, not at all as tentatively as she thought she would be about it. “I’d miss you terribly, and I’d have someplace nice and warm to visit, but I belong here, Dimitri, and it’s not merely because of you.”

  “Well, I’d hate spending half my life sticky and sweaty,” he muttered, pushing himself to the edge of the sofa. “But changes are inevitable, Aleksandra. Mine, yours…It was easier protecting you from them when you were a little girl, and maybe I protected you too much. But I can’t protect you from them anymore.”

  “You and Maggie?”

  He nodded. “At my age, I don’t have time to sit about and ponder the changes. I have to act on them before it’s too late.”

  “What about the money, Dimitri?” she asked. “That’s why Michael is here, you know. He thinks you’re being some kind of a cad about Maggie’s resources, robbing her of her savings.”

  “What good son wouldn’t?”

  “Meaning you’re not going to tell me?”

  “Meaning Maggie asked me to keep a confidence, and I’ll honor that. So don’t put me in a position to choose, because I’ve already given my word, and I don’t wish to hurt any feelings over this.”

  “My feelings?”

  He nodded. “I love you with all my heart, but you’re not the only one in it now. And it’s nice after such a long time, making room for more. You ought to try it.”

  “I’m sure I’ll love her after I know her better.”

  “Not for Maggie. I expect she’ll find her place there in time, but I’m wondering if Michael shouldn’t be finding a much larger place in your heart right now. After all, he does know that you talk in your sleep. And you do.”

  Dimitri disappeared out the door, leaving Alek alone on the sofa wondering about what he’d said. So maybe it was love. It could be, but she didn’t know since she’d pretty much escaped it all these years. There’d been a few casual relationships—a date here and there, and then…

  “He wants to see you,” Mariska said, poking her head in the door. “The good-looking doctor…he said he wants to see you right away. Sure wish I had a good-looker like that wanting to see me right away, but all I have is Ivan, and good-looking…” She smiled fondly. “In his own way, I suppose. But nothing like yours.”

  “Tell him I’ll stop in when I can.” She wasn’t anxious to see Michael, because the truth was, she didn’t know what to expect, what to say, what to do. The easiest thing was simply to stay away until she did.

  “Trying to play hard to get?”

  “Trying not to be got,” she replied with a disheartened sigh.

  “Doesn’t sound like much fun.”

  That much was true. It didn’t. “Thanks for coming to find me,” she said, trying not to sound too hard in her dismissal. Right now, though, she wanted to be alone. That was all.

  Mariska took the hint and retreated into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her and leaving Alek by herself in the near-darkness. This was the better way. Not the easiest, but easy wasn’t always the best option.

  “The money?” Michael snapped. “You don’t think it’s any of my business?”

  “You mind your money and I’ll mind mine. That keeps it relatively simple, I think.” Maggie pulled up a chair next to Michael’s hospital bed and sat. “And my mental faculties are perfectly fine, thank you very much, so don’t go getting any ideas to have me declared incompetent because I might turn the tables on you and have you declared incompetent.”

  “But it’s not normal,” he said, sitting up so he could get a better view of the door in case Alek decided to stop by. It had been hours since he’d asked for her, and so far, besides his mother and the nurse, the only other person he’d seen had been an old-timer who padded up and down the hall in his mukluks and a hospital gown, dragging his walker more than using it. “This isn’t exactly a retirement destination, you know.”

  “And I’m not exactly retiring. Dimitri and I work well together, and I expect that I’ll work as well with Alek, too.”

  “But you’re—”

  “Old,” she interrupted. “Do you really think I’m too old to be useful?”

  “Hell, no, I don’t think you’re too old. But I do think you’re still rebounding from Dad’s death. And I’m entitled to worry that you might be getting yourself into something you shouldn’t.”

  “Practicing medicine in a small hospital where I’m truly needed is what you consider getting myself into something I shouldn’t?” She shook her head impatiently. “I know you mean well for me, but this is my life and I’m not making any rash decisions. I want to be here. I want to be with Dimitri.” A soft mellowness filled her voice. “And Dimitri wants to be with me.”

  “And your money,” Michael snapped.

  “You know what, Michael? Go home! Go back to your own life and quit interfering in mine, because I’m not changing the way things are here. I appreciate your concern, but I don’t appreciate you butting in.” Standing, Maggie leaned over the bed and gave him a motherly kiss on the forehead. “You’re a skilled physician, but you really need to get a life of your own and let go of mine,” she said, then left the room.

  “She’s a feisty one,” Dimitri commented, stepping in seconds after Maggie had exited. “A lot like Alek, I think. Headstrong, full of ideas, passionate.”

  “I was beginning to wonder if we were going to talk,” Michael replied stiffly.

  “If your mother had her way, we wouldn’t. That would be Alek’s way, too. The women are conspiring to keep us apart. But it was inevitable since, in one way or another, I’m going to be part of Maggie’s life now, which makes me part of your life, too.”

  “As in the one she’s writing out all those checks to.”

  “That would be me, but I can assure you that it’s not what you think.”

  “You sound like Alek. She assures me that it can’t be what I think, yet no one will tell me otherwise so I’m left to think that you are taking advantage of my mother.”

  “And you are a good son for thinking so, and trying to protect her.”

  “Not good enough, since she’s asked me to leave.”

  “And I’m asking you to stay a while longer.”

  Michael blinked back his surprise. “Why?” he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion as he looked up at Dimitri. “Why would you want me to stay?”

  “Because I don’t want to come between you and your mother, and I think you need time to work out your problems.”

  “My only problem with her is you.”

  Dimitri chuckled. “Your only problem with her is
that she has moved on in her life. When my wife died, I didn’t budge for a long time. It was easier to stay where I’d always been, but I had a force in my life that pushed me back into the world and made me stay there when I wanted to retreat. And I did. It’s not easy, loving someone for as long as I did—as long as Maggie did—then losing them. But I was lucky because Alek was devoted. Probably too much. Maggie was lucky, too, because you were devoted. But devoted and possessive are two different things, Michael. I know you want to protect her, and I’m sure that if you keep pressuring her, in the end she’ll give in and go back with you. That may be the best thing for you, but is it really the best thing for your mother?”

  In spite of wanting to hate Dimitri, Michael found himself actually liking the man. He could see why his mother did, too. He had a forthright honesty about him. He was pithy and insightful, and if not for the fact that he was in possession of so much of his mother’s money, Michael might have extended his hand to Dimitri in friendship. But there was still the issue of his mother’s vulnerability and the possibility that Dimitri was exploiting it.

  Of course, the two women he cared for most were absolutely devoted to Dimitri, which did tip the scales slightly. “I suppose we’ll have to see how it works out, won’t we?” Michael declared, his voice not quite so stiff as earlier.

  “For Maggie’s sake, as well as Alek’s, I suppose we will.”

  “What’s Alek got to do with this?”

  “You love her, don’t you?”

  “What makes you think that?” Michael asked, not sure how to take this. Not even sure how to answer.

  “You’ve been with her these past days. She’s beautiful, intelligent, gifted.” He chuckled. “You look at her like a man possessed. So how could that not be love?”

  “Three days. That’s how it could not be love. But even if I were developing some feelings, which I’m not admitting, it wouldn’t matter because Alek would never love me back. She doesn’t want to be involved and I think that prevails over anything else in her life.”

  “You could be right about that. But sometimes the best rewards are the hardest earned.” He smiled tenderly as he talked about Alek. “You see her affection for me now, but it took me years to earn it. And it came little by little, sometimes in such small degrees I wondered if it would ever happen. But when it did, on that first time she crawled up in my lap and tugged on my beard, it was worth the wait. She’s not easy, Michael. I know that better than anybody. But Aleksandra is well worth the wait, and something tells me you’re not going to be standing in that line for very long.”