It wasn’t nerves that fluttered in her stomach, it was something else altogether.
But what was she afraid of?
Just because he’d carried her to bed, tucked her in and left her didn’t change the way she felt about him. She was attracted, that was true, but it didn’t go deeper than that.
She didn’t want that and neither did he.
“I need to go. I’m already late for a meeting with a rep from a ski company. Good luck. If you need anything, call me.”
He lifted a hand to Sean and strode off toward the outdoor store attached to the Center.
Sean parked the car and strode over to her carrying a large backpack.
“Hey, Dr. O’Neil—” Sam Stephens was circling on his new bike and Sean paused to talk to him, a smile on his face.
“Hey, yourself. Is that the birthday bike?”
“Sure is. I got the red one.” He beamed with pride and rode it closer to Sean, who duly admired it.
“How’s your vacation?”
“Awesome. Except we only have two days left. Today my dad and I are cycling on the forest trail. Mom is staying here with my baby sister.”
“Sounds good. You be careful. Keep that helmet on. If you come off that bike you don’t want to bang your head.”
“I saw your car. Did you just come from Boston? Did you save any lives today, Dr. O’Neil?” The boy’s eyes were big, ro
und and full of admiration.
“Not yet.” Smiling, Sean fastened the backpack. “But the day is young. Who knows what will happen.”
Élise felt her throat close
He was so good with the child.
Sam pushed his bike closer to his hero. “Did you know he saved a man’s life, Élise?”
“No.” She was relieved her voice sounded normal. “No, I didn’t know that, Sam. But he’s a doctor, so I suppose that’s his job.”
“This wasn’t his job. It didn’t happen at the hospital. It happened on the mountains up there—” Sam waved an arm and the bike wobbled. “A man fell skiing. Broke every bone in his body.” The boy described it with a ghoulish delight that made Élise wince.
“It wasn’t quite every bone,” Sean said mildly, but there was no deflecting Sam who was determined to tell Élise the whole story with as much embellishment as possible.
“There was blood all over the snow and people were screaming. The man was screaming. My dad was nearby and he saw it all. He said Dr. O’Neil skied over, cool as a Popsicle and he just took over. And he fixed him.” Drunk on hero worship, Sam let his concentration lapse and his bike wobbled again. With lightning reflexes, Sean shot out a hand and steadied him before the boy could crash into the dirt.
“I didn’t exactly ‘fix’ him. I stabilized him enough to get him down the mountain to hospital so the doctors there could fix him.”
“But if you hadn’t done that, he would have died. Right there on the mountain.”
“Maybe. Now put your feet down before you fall over.” Sean was patient. “That’s it. And be careful on that trail. It’s rough in places.”
“I’m fine.” But the boy put his feet down. “What’s the French word for blood, Élise?”
“Sang,” she said. “But I hope you don’t ever need that word.”
“I might. When I grow up I’m going to be a surgeon like Dr. O’Neil. I’m going to save people. That would be really cool.”
Checking that the boy was steady, Sean let go of the bike. “You’ll be a great doctor, but that’s enough talk of blood for one day. You’re making my stomach turn.”