Plain Jane and the Playboy by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2009-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Jane hurried out the moment the silver doors parted on the fourth floor children’s ward. And narrowly avoided crashing into an older woman dressed in immaculate hospital whites.

Rather than be upset at the near collision, the woman offered up half a prayer of thanksgiving. “Oh, thank God you’re here,” she cried. “I thought you weren’t coming. I would have had a rebellion on my hands.” She sounded completely serious.

“We had a little traffic,” Jane explained. By now, the nurse had stopped looking relieved and had focused the sum of her attention on the man directly beside her. “Adrienne, this Jorge Mendoza. He told me he’s never read Heidi and wanted to hear the story.”

The nurse’s eyes were all but shining as they skimmed over Jorge. Had there been more time, there might have been questions, or at least inane conversation. But Adrienne’s first order of business was to maintain peace and that was giving every indication of disappearing if she didn’t get Jane into the room—fast.

“You’d better hurry and get out there, Heidi. Some of those kids have been waiting for over twenty-five minutes,” Adrienne told her.

“Twenty-five minutes?” Jane echoed. She shrugged out of her coat, draping it on her arm. “I thought we agreed that they weren’t supposed to gather together in the lounge until I got here.”

“We agreed but they didn’t,” the nurse corrected. “They all started coming into the lounge on their own right after dinner. I don’t think you realize how much they look forward to you reading to them or what a big hit you are.”

Silent up until now, Jorge put in his two cents. “Jane has this tendency to underestimate herself,” he confided to the nurse.

Jane caught the look in the head nurse’s eyes as they shifted from Jorge to her. She could swear she could almost hear the woman applauding her.

As if she had anything to do with Jorge’s being here, Jane thought.

But there was no time to protest or ponder over whatever accolades the woman was silently awarding her. She had a pint-sized audience eagerly waiting to hear the further adventures of a plucky little girl who lived in the Alps with her grandfather.

Leaving her purse on a chair, along with her coat, Jane picked up her book and walked into the next room.

The walls were decorated with paintings done by patients and the room was littered with toys, some worn, some fairly new, all scattered about on small tables.

The children broke into a cheer when she walked in. Some were sitting on the floor, others took their places at the miniature tables. A couple of the children were in wheelchairs.

“Hi, kids,” she greeted them cheerily. “Sorry I’m late.”

She sounded, Jorge thought as he took his place by the doorway, like a completely different person than the woman he’d met on New Year’s Eve. Confident, poised and full of fun.

Definitely a woman he wanted to get closer to.

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