Marrying the Playboy Doctor - By Laura Iding Page 0,3
mark? Or was he like this with all women? “Dr. Taylor, I’m not interested in sharing a meal with you. All I want to know is what areas of improvement you see for education and training in our paramedic crew.”
“Okay.” He lifted his hand as if in surrender. “Let me think about this for a minute.”
She was glad he dropped the flirtatious smile and sat back in his chair. He idly doodled on the slip of paper in front of him.
“One thing that I’d personally like to see is for the paramedic crew to start using hypothermia on all resuscitated patients.”
“Hypothermia?” Kylie sat up straighter, her interest piqued in spite of her annoyance. “In what way?”
Seth lifted a shoulder. “There are devices that can be placed over a patient right in the field to start bringing their temperature down.”
They’d been talking about instituting a hypothermia protocol in Chicago when she’d left. How amazing to discover that even small-town Cedar Bluff was up on the latest resuscitation techniques. “I’d love to institute some sort of protocol. Do you have one already written up?”
“Not yet. But I’d be happy to work on one with you.”
His smile wasn’t entirely innocent, yet at the same time she couldn’t let such a fantastic opportunity pass by. “I’d love to help create a protocol. Anything we can do in the field to save lives is worth the effort.”
“I agree.” Seth raised a brow. “I’m not trying to cross your boundaries—clearly you’re already involved in a relationship—but my schedule is tight. We may need to meet over a lunch hour, since that might be the only available option.”
Kylie stared at him suspiciously, wondering if he was really being sincere or if he was simply probing for more information. Either way, it didn’t really matter. This job was a promotion for her, and since her sole reason for taking the job and moving to a safe, rural area was to provide a better home life for Ben, she wasn’t about to do anything to mess it up.
Which included falling for Seth Taylor’s not-so-subtle charm.
“I do have a man in my life,” she said, playing along with his assumption. The man was her six-year-old son, but Seth didn’t need to know that. “I’ll try to be as flexible as possible, though, in order to meet your needs.”
“Great. You’re a beautiful woman, Kylie, and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” Seth pulled out his PDA and scrolled the buttons on the tiny screen. “Okay, how does next Monday work for you? Say about twelve-thirty?”
Beautiful? He’d actually called her beautiful? No man, not even Ben’s father, had ever used that word to describe her. Cute—pretty, maybe, in a girl-next-door type of way—but never beautiful.
Seth Taylor was charming, and she was just beginning to realize how dangerous his smooth charm really was—especially when she was feeling at her most vulnerable. Living in a new town, with people she didn’t know, wasn’t easy. And she’d been so focused on helping her son adjust to his new day care that she hadn’t done anything for herself. Luckily she wasn’t interested in relationships, or she might have been tempted.
She found her voice. “Monday at twelve-thirty is perfect. Thank you.”
As she stood and moved to leave, he called out, “Kylie?”
She turned. “Yes?”
“I hope the man in your life realizes how lucky he is.”
She doubted Ben would think so. At least not in the way Seth meant. But she nodded and quickly escaped before she blabbed the truth.
If Seth knew she didn’t really have a man in her life outside her son, Ben, then he might just continue his charming assault on her defenses.
And she wasn’t too certain she possessed the strength to withstand a second attack.
CHAPTER TWO
SETH finished the rest of his shift and then made his way to the cardiac cath labs located on the third floor, hoping he’d run into Michael. He wanted to know how their cardiac patient, Marilyn Warner, was doing.
His colleague, dressed in scrubs, walked out of the cath lab door as Seth came in. “Hey, Seth.”
“Michael.” Seth tucked his hands into the pockets of his lab coat as he turned to fall into step with Michael. “I’ve come to find out how Marilyn Warner is doing.”
“You mean our patient from this morning?” When Seth nodded, Michael grimaced. “Not so good. She needed emergency surgery, so I had to send her off to Trinity Medical Center in Milwaukee via Air Flight.”
Damn. Emergency surgery was not a good sign. Especially emergency