In His Angel's Arms by Lynne Marshall

Author:Lynne Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

MALLORY parked the car, gathered the cardboard transport box with the three cones in small cups, and took a deep breath. She’d need all the nerve she could call up. How could she explain to Dr. Berger and Samantha Prescott that she hadn’t been negligent, neither had she abandoned her job, when she’d left the premises while on duty?

She couldn’t.

Her stomach cramped, and she closed her eyes. “I’ve totally blown it.” With her arms covered in anxious tingles, she bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering. She shook her head, hoping to generate an idea.

Having left JT and Corey out back, she got out of the car and retraced her steps to the backyard down the red-brick walk at the side of the house. If she ever got sent before a firing squad, she suspected it would feel something like this.

She heard quarreling long before she reached the gate.

“What if you’d had an emergency?” said Dr. Berger in a grating voice. “What would that trauma do to your son?”

Oh, no. Please, don’t drag Corey into this fight. Don’t force him to take sides or be in the middle of your manipulation. Had Dr. Berger any knowledge of child psychology? He was making Corey feel guilty about loving his father. Please, don’t make him take sides.

She leaned against the garage wall to gather her wits and listened to the voices raised in anger.

“What if he’d fallen and hurt himself?” came Samantha’s shrill response.

“I have a cellphone, Samantha. I’m not an idiot.”

“I…I just wanted an ice-cream cone,” Corey said, sounding forlorn.

“This just shows that I can’t trust Corey with you ever again,” Samantha said, her voice rising. “I’ve said it before, but now I’m adamant. I want total custody.”

“Now is not the time to have this conversation.” JT’s booming response forced everyone into silence.

With the lull, Mallory took a deep breath, opened the creaking cedar gate and drew everyone’s attention her way. Dr. Berger and Samantha glared at her. Corey looked torn about his ice cream, and stopped himself from running up to her after a few steps.

The knot in her stomach grew to the size of a soccer ball.

JT sat straight and proud in the wheelchair, sunlight shining in his raven hair. He clenched his jaw and didn’t so much as glance her way.

Was JT so ready to dismiss her? What about everything he’d said? Pain cut like a searing dagger through her chest. So her fears had been justified. He wanted a playmate, someone to distract him while he healed, but when things got sticky he would cut her free.

She could hardly breathe, but she was damned if she’d give Samantha, Dr. Berger and, most especially, JT the satisfaction of seeing her come apart in front of them.

“I suppose there is no explaining why I left the premises.”

“As a matter of fact, no,” Dr. Berger said with a cutting tone. “Consider yourself fired and pack up.”

“Knock it off, Wayne. She works for me, and I’ll make that decision.

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