A Knight for Nurse Hart by Laura Iding

Author:Laura Iding
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

“RAINE?” She glanced up when Caleb called her name, staring at him blankly when he leaned forward, his gaze full of concern. “You’re awfully pale. Are you all right?”

“Fine,” she forced herself to answer, willing the nausea away. Telling Caleb the truth had felt good last night, but now she was beginning to regret giving in. Why did he feel the need to keep talking about what had happened? There was no reason to keep harping on it. She wasn’t ready to give him every excruciating detail.

As Helen had said, talking about it didn’t change what had happened.

And if he knew everything, he’d realize he might have been right to accuse her of wanting other men. Hadn’t she attended the bachelorette party that night, flirting like crazy, in an effort to prove she was over Caleb?

Grizz came over to lick her fingers, as if he could sense her distress, and she stroked his silky ebony fur, trying to summon a smile. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about that night. It’s been really hard, but I’m trying to move past what happened to me.”

Instantly, Caleb’s face paled, his gaze stricken. “I’m sorry. I should have realized…”

His self-recrimination wasn’t necessary. Being treated differently was part of the reason she’d chosen not to say anything to anyone. She lifted her chin. “I don’t want your pity, Caleb. I’ve been trying to move forward in my life. To focus on all the positive things I have to be grateful for, rather than dwelling on the negative.”

He frowned a little and rubbed the back of his neck. “Pity is not at all what I’m feeling right now. I admire you. I think you’re amazing, Raine. Truly.”

His sincere, earnest expression eased some of the tension in her stomach. “I’m not. Obviously, taking care of Helen proves I still have a long ways to go. But each day gets a little better. At least, it had been, until last night.”

If anything, he paled more. “Because you told me? Telling me made it worse for you?”

“No,” she hastened to reassure him. “Because of Helen. I fainted, for heaven’s sake. I thought I was handling trauma fairly well, even though taking care of Becca had been really hard. We saved Greg Hanson, which helped immensely. I thought I’d gotten over the worst, but then Helen came in and I lost it.”

“You handled the stress all far better than anyone could expect.” He frowned a little. “I knew you’d taken a temporary position in the minor care area. This was the reason?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t take off work for more than a week and still pay my rent, so I asked Theresa, my boss, to put me in Minor Care. Just happened that one of the nurses was out on a medical leave so it was easy to cover her hours.”

“I thought you were avoiding me,” he admitted.

She lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “I was avoiding everyone, not just you.”

He stared at her for several long seconds, the last few bites of his meal forgotten.

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