Winning the Neonatal Doc's Heart
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Amy Ruttan
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CHAPTER ONE
Hey, can we talk?
I really don’t have anything to say to you.
Look, be mad at me, but I need your help on a case.
DR. PENNY BURMAN SIGHED at the sound of texts buzzing on her phone. She should really tell her lying, cheating ex Walter no, but if she helped with a case, then she could show the board of directors in Calgary that she was serious about her job. That she didn’t want to leave it and she wanted to come back.
That she was more than her personal embarrassing mistake.
Penny wasn’t going to punish patients because Walter had broken her heart, lied to her about being married and the thrown her under the bus. Only she, Walter and the board of directors knew what had happened.
Her mother didn’t even know and didn’t need to know that she’d made such a foolish mistake.
One she’d never make again.
So she’d told her mom it was her choice to come up to the Northwest Territories. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her mother and tell her she came up to the north because she’d had her heart broken, not knowing the man she was falling for was already married.
Fine, she texted.
Thanks, Pen, he texted back. I’ll send you the case later. I miss you.
She didn’t know why Walter wanted her on the case. He was the big shot specialist.
She was just a new attending. She’d passed her boards only a year ago.
Ignore the imposter syndrome.
Penny sighed again and pocketed her phone, realizing she’d lost track of time and where she was on her morning jog.
I really hope a bear doesn’t leap out at me.
Penny laughed at the absurdity of that thought. Sure, she was in the Northwest Territories and further north than she had ever been in her life, but just because her geographic location had changed didn’t mean that her chances of meeting a bear here were any different than meeting one in Calgary.
Calgary had bears.
Just like Fort Little Buffalo, where she was currently working for the next six months, had bears.
Maybe not quite the same.
Penny stopped jogging to check her heart rate monitor and catch her breath. It was colder here than in Calgary for September. That was something she wasn’t looking forward to. She was used to cold winters, having spent her life in Alberta, but she wasn’t relishing the idea of her first winter here in the Northwest Territories.
Of course, she wouldn’t have been in this predicament if she hadn’t foolishly ignored her lifelong conviction that love was not real. That true love didn’t really exist. She’d let down her careful guard over her heart, and look where she ended up?
Brokenhearted, humiliated and feeling like a complete fool.
Her hospital had turned on her and suggested, for PR reasons, that she take a leave of absence and work in the north at a smaller hospital Calgary often partnered with while they kept on the brilliant pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon from Toronto they had been wooing.
The man who had shattered her heart.
A married man.
Penny cursed at herself under her breath and continued on her run. She’d be done with this run if she could just ignore Walter’s texts.
It’s for a patient. He’s texting you about a patient. Remember that.
For a patient, she could talk to Walter.
She was still so angry with herself for falling for Walter. She knew better. She had taught herself better than that. Her mother had been the other woman, and her father had chosen his wife and other children, who were in the process of emigrating to Canada from India to join him, over her and Penny. Once her father’s wife and other children came to Canada, Penny’s father left.
Penny missed her father.
Sometimes.
He’d been in and out of her life in her early years, but she hadn’t seen him since she was in high school.
When he didn’t bother to show up to her graduation.
She’d been so certain he would. She’d worked so hard academically for him.
She’d seen the pain and heartache her mother had been through. Her mother was the daughter of Indian parents, but had been born and raised in Canada. So even though her parents both had the same heritage, they’d grown up in completely different worlds. Her mother grew up here and her father in India.
Her father had a whole other secret life her mother never knew.
Penny never wanted to feel the kind of pain that had plagued her mother’s life.
Avoiding that pain guided her to protect her heart.
She was never going to be duped.
And yet she had been.
Now she was here for six months while Calgary appeased Dr. Walter Scott’s wife, who wanted Penny far from her husband. Dr. Scott’s wife, who was rightfully angry, had a large trust fund, and she planned to donate a lot of money to the children’s hospital in Calgary, but only if Penny disappeared while things cooled down.
Penny had had no choice.
You could’ve quit.
She shook that thought from her mind. There was no way she was going to quit. She wasn’t giving up her job as a pediatric physician and surgeon. She’d worked too hard for everything she had. She’d worked three jobs to get through university. Worked for every grade to get scholarships, to better her life.
To prove to her largely absent father that she was worth something.
Only, it was never good enough.
She was never good enough.
Her mother would question her quitting.
Her mother never questioned her decision to come here.
There was a rustle to her left, a crunching in the fallen yellow birch leaves, and Penny froze.
Great. A bear. Just perfect.
Penny reached down for the can of bear spray she carried in her pocket, on the advice of her landlady. She was at the ready for a hungry bear that was prepping for its long winter nap.
She saw a flash of fur bound from the brush.
Okay. This is the end.
Penny screamed and dropped the can of bear spray as the furry beast leaped up and started licking her face.
“Horatio! Down!” came a loud command.
The licking stopped, and Penny was able to collect herself enough to realize that her assailant was sitting on its haunches in front of her, its big pink tongue hanging out the side of its mouth. One blue eye and one brown eye stared up at her.
It was a husky type of dog. That was her assumption just glancing at the jolly-looking fellow, but Penny was by no means a dog expert. She’d never had a pet growing up, though she’d always secretly wanted one.
Then life, school and everything else got in the way. It had been a long time since she’d thought about having a dog or devoting time to an animal. And that was the crux of it. School and then work ate away at all her time.
Her heart stopped racing as she stared down at it. It held out its paw, looking for a handshake, as if it was introducing itself.
“Horatio? I assume that means you’re male?” Penny asked the dog.
Horatio cocked his head to one side, licking his big black nose. Penny knelt down and petted his head. He closed his mismatched eyes and took a swipe at her chin with his big pink tongue.
“Horatio!” came the gruff command again.
Penny stood and saw a mountain man coming out of the forest, looking frustrated. It was like he’d stepped out of the pages of a book. He had on a red flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled up so she could see every inch of his muscular and tanned forearms. His jeans were tight, and he had scuffed work boots on.
He had a well-kept sandy-brown beard and longer hair that was held back with a worn baseball cap. His face was deeply tanned, with a smattering of faint freckles from working out in the sun.
Penny’s heart skipped a beat when she noticed his dark brown eyes and their gazes locked. She held her breath as he seemed to pierce through to her very core, making her tremble. Something deep inside her was telling her that this man would be trouble.
Warmth crept up her neck, and she pulled her gaze away from his intense one. She was not going to let herself be swept away by another handsome face. That’s the last thing she wanted. Her time here was a punishment of sorts, but also a way for her to work and not have everyone pointing and staring at her for getting involved with a married man.
Fort Little Buffalo was her chance to prove herself again and concentrate on work. It was not a holiday, and it certainly wasn’t a time to get involved with a local. No matter how good-looking, rugged and sexy he was.
You don’t know him. Think with your head. He’s probably involved with someone else.
She wasn’t going to get sucked into another scenario where the relationship would prove to be futile. Penny had no plans to stay in the north. Calgary, and the hospital there, were her home. It was there she could truly prove herself and move on to bigger and better things. Even if it meant working with Walter again. She’d learned her lesson. She wouldn’t be swayed again by him.
Calgary had more opportunities than Fort Little Buffalo.
This place was just a means to an end.
“Is this your dog?” she asked.
The man only responded with a curt nod and gave the dog a sharp command, which she didn’t recognize. Horatio looked disappointed and slinked over to sit beside him.
“He didn’t hurt you?” the man asked, reaching down to pet his dog, and Horatio appeared relieved that he wasn’t in too much trouble.
“No. Just surprised me, that’s all.”
The man didn’t say anything. Just nodded again, and an awkward silence fell between them. She didn’t know what to say, but suddenly she had a feeling that she was the one in trouble. Of course, she often felt that way. She was sometimes too good at sucking in everyone’s emotions around her, and there was troubling brewing inside this stranger.
Nothing dangerous, but something sad.
Something that ate away at him.
“I don’t usually meet up with other people on this trail this early,” he stated. “Horatio and I usually have it to ourselves.”
The tone was accusatory, making her hackles rise.
“Last I checked, this was a public trail. Of course, I am new here.”
“I gathered,” he said.
It was apparent that the dog was more friendly than his human counterpart. The stranger just stood there, and she wasn’t sure how to extract herself from this awkward conversation.
She was never very good in these kinds of uncomfortable situations. Kids she understood, but sometimes she really didn’t get adults.
“Well, I guess I’ll be on my way.”
“You going to be here often?” he asked.
“Why?”
“Just so I can avoid another encounter,” he replied gruffly. “I’m trying to train my rescue dog, and he’s too distracted by...”
“By friendly people?” Penny asked, with a hint of sarcasm.
Really, who did this guy think he was? King of the park? He didn’t respond, just gave another command to his dog and stormed off.
Penny watched them leave and shook her head.
“It’s so nice to meet you!” she called out. She watched as he froze in place, but he didn’t look back.
Great. Just what she needed. Her first encounter with one of the locals in the place she was going to call home for the next six months, and it wasn’t the most pleasant. Especially when the winter would soon be coming and she would be stuck in this town. Nothing could be more isolating than not being on good terms with the few people who lived up here.
Penny hoped that the rest of the residents of Fort Little Buffalo weren’t like Horatio’s ornery and grumpy owner, or it would make for a long six months.
Penny got back from her run and tried not to think about the handsome grump she had met out in the park. Right now, she had to make a good first impression on her boss. That was something she prided herself on, good first impressions. Even though this wasn’t where she wanted to be, she was going to do her best.
Like she always did.
And she was curious about who her boss was.
She had only managed to see on her papers when she was in human resources that the chief of pediatrics was a Dr. Spike. There were no initials, but she wondered if it was the world-famous Dr. Atticus Spike. He was the guy who had revolutionized pediatric surgeries across the Eastern Seaboard and who had mysteriously vanished five years ago from Boston after a surgery had gone wrong.
Not that the mistake had been his.
Far from it, but losing one of the conjoined twins when you were recognized as a world leader in separating twins must’ve been a hard blow to handle. It had been a highly publicized event because the twins mother was an influencer and their father was a rock legend. The whole world had been following their progress.
The surviving twin was left paralyzed.
The world mourned with the parents, but Dr. Atticus Spike just vanished.
Penny had always thought that was shame. The papers he wrote had been brilliant. He was a bit of an idol of hers.
There was no way on this green earth that a famous surgeon like Dr. Atticus Spike would ever pick Fort Little Buffalo in the Northwest Territories to work.
In the end, it didn’t matter who the chief of pediatrics was. She just wanted to make a good first impression and get to work.
Her scrubs were freshly pressed, and she smoothed back her hair one more time in the rearview mirror of her car. She took a deep calming breath, but her heart was racing.
No one knows about your indiscretion, Penny, and no one cares.
And that’s what she had to keep reminding herself of. She was worthy of being here. They wanted her here.
“Father, I got first place in the science fair!” Penny had exclaimed over the phone. “You can come visit and see my ribbon!”
“Your brother got a place in the National Science Fair. Did you?”
“No... But...”
“Well. Try harder.”
She got out of her car and locked the door. She was a pediatric surgeon. She hadn’t been one for very long, but she was talented, and she could handle this minor bump in the road. There was a game plan in place now to ensure she’d never make that mistake again.
Penny held her head up high as she made her way into the hospital and straight for the pediatrics department, where the chief of staff was waiting for her.
“Dr. Burman, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Dr. Lance Wood said brightly.
“The pleasure is all mine, Lance. Thank you for having me here.”
“Nonsense. We’re thrilled that a surgeon of your caliber agreed to come up here and fill in for Dr. Thorne while she’s on maternity leave. Atticus will be glad for the competent help.”
“Atticus?” Penny asked, trying to swallow the excitement that was bubbling up inside her.
“Yes. Are you familiar with his work?” Lance asked.
“Yes, if you mean the Dr. Atticus Spike who revolutionized vascular surgery in neonates?”
“Indeed,” came a gruff voice from behind her. “You can cut the fawning, though. That life is behind me.”
A chill ran down her spine as she recognized that voice. She turned around slowly and came face-to-face with Horatio’s sexy, albeit grumpy, owner.
Her idol.
Her new boss.
Dr. Atticus Spike, and he looked none too pleased to make her acquaintance again.
Atticus was never happy when a new doctor from the south joined the staff. There was always the threat that they would know exactly who he was, and then they would flatter him, hoping that they if they buttered him up enough, he would take them under his wing, and once they got what they wanted from him, they would cast him aside.
Just like his ex-fiancée, Sasha, had.
Don’t think about her.
He’d been so in love with Sasha, and he thought she had loved him too, but when the hospital in Boston had turned their backs on him during the investigation into the twin’s death, so did Sasha.
It had nearly destroyed him.
There was no one he could trust.
So, he was already grumpy about that and the fact the new doctor seemed to recognize him. What he wasn’t expecting was the new doctor from Calgary to be the gorgeous woman he had run into this morning.
Or rather the woman Horatio had run into.
Horatio was a reckless rescue and was still learning how to behave in polite society.
So when Horatio bounded off, Atticus hadn’t been expecting to run smack-dab into a woman who took his breath away.
It was like someone had come up and kicked him square in the chest. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She wore her black hair pinned up, and he couldn’t help but wonder how long it was and how it would feel running through his fingers.
Her large dark almond-shaped eyes, with long, thick lashes, drew him in. She was tall and graceful, and her designer jogging gear screamed city.
It took all his control to hold back, because he knew she was new in town, or possibly passing through, and he had promised himself after having his heart broken by Sasha that he was never going to get involved with anyone again.
And once he had made his mind up, that was it.
His father always said he had a stubborn streak, and it was that stubborn streak that had served him well when he was practicing medicine on the smallest patients. It also protected his heart after it had been crushed by betrayal and deceit.
So he was none too pleased to see that the new doctor he would be working with was the mysterious woman from the park whom Horatio took a liking to. Even worse, she knew exactly who he was, which meant she would totally kiss his ass.
And he didn’t need that kind of adoration. Sasha, a pediatric neurosurgeon who’d worked with him, had been like that when they’d first met, and it was all an illusion.
He didn’t want to deal with it again, which was why he’d returned to his hometown instead of moving to another big hospital. Atticus just wanted to be left alone.
“You? You’re Dr. Atticus Spike?” There was a hint of disbelief and maybe derision in her voice.
He was surprised and fought back the urge to smile. Maybe she wouldn’t be that sickeningly sweet adoring fan after all, because by the look of shock on her face and the blush that rose in her high cheeks, she was not too pleased to see him.
Not that he could really blame her.
He had been quite grumpy with her in the park.
“One and the same,” he said gruffly.
“Atticus,” Lance said, a warning tone in his voice. One that Atticus knew well, because he had managed to drive off every young pediatric surgeon in the last couple of years.
Although it wasn’t completely Atticus’s fault.
Some of those other doctors had left of their own accord when they’d realized that Atticus and his reputation weren’t going to get them anywhere.
Atticus could spot a user or manipulator from ten miles away. That he was certain of.
“So, you’re the surgeon from the south?” Atticus asked.
“Calgary,” she said, her eyes narrowing, and she crossed her arms. “I was part of a prestigious program, and I’m very well-versed.”
“Dr. Burman was the youngest to graduate in her class from the University of Alberta in pediatrics,” Lance said, smiling. “We’re so fortunate to have her.”
That was a warning to Atticus. He snorted, acting like he wasn’t impressed, even though he really was, but he wondered why she was here and not in Calgary.
That’s not your business.
And it really wasn’t. He didn’t want to get involved with her life. As long as she was a competent physician and they could work together, then he didn’t care what she did in her personal life.
Don’t you?
There was a little part of him that wanted to know if she had a partner. If there was someone waiting at home for her. Someone who took her in their arms and kissed those luscious lips. Heat surged through him as he thought about it.
He knew one thing. He had to put distance between himself and Dr. Penny Burman.
“Well, you can help with the first shift in the emergency room. There are a lot of colds this time of year, fall allergies and the like,” Atticus said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out and tuck back that little wisp of hair that had escaped her bun.
You need to get a grip.
He had to keep as far from her as possible.
“That sounds spectacular,” Penny said stiffly. She turned to Lance, who handed over her identification and a pager. She was amused they still used pagers up here, but her cell service was spotty so she understood why. “If you’ll kindly point me in the right direction, I’ll start my shift.”
Atticus tried not to smile. She was definitely no wallflower and wasn’t acting like she was all hurt because he didn’t want to be her best friend forever. Maybe he was wrong about her, though probably not.
He never was. Lonely, but never wrong.
“I’ll take you there,” Lance said. He gave a warning glance to Atticus as he led Penny to the emergency room.
Then Atticus smiled to himself as he admired her. Her back was ramrod straight, and she held her head up high. She turned back once, and their gazes locked again.
His pulse quickened as her dark eyes narrowed on him, full of dislike.
It made him sad, but it was for the best.
It really was.
