breathing roughened, and her touch started sliding across Dar’s belly, searching for a path to her skin. They both broke off, breathing hard, hands still exploring, until Kerry let her forehead rest against Dar’s collarbone.

“Gonna be a long day.” Dar sighed wryly.

“Oh yeah,” Kerry agreed. “Did you have to do that?”

A soft chuckle. “Don’t forget to set up that staff meeting for Friday. If I don’t go over all this fourth quarter stuff with everyone, Mariana’s going to have a cow.” She glanced around, then touched her belt. “Did I…oh, damn.”

Kerry also looked around in some alarm. “What?”

“Forgot my cell phone.” Dar tapped the side of her head. “I’m losing it. I don’t know where my brains been the past few days. Even Maria said something about it.” She gave Kerry one last hug. “Oh well. See you in the office.”

“See you.” Kerry reluctantly let her go and watched her leave in pensive silence. Then she looked down and plucked at her shirt, realizing she had it on inside out. And backwards. “Jesus.” She softly tapped the side of her own head. “That makes two of us.”

DAR WAITED QUIETLY as an efficient and far too cheerful nurse poked her arm with a needle roughly the size of an Olympic javelin.

“Just a moment, dearie. It won’t hurt a bit.”

“You shouldn’t lie to patients,” Dar growled, feeling the lancing pain as the needle found its mark. “It’s not nice.”

“Now, now.” The nurse patted her arm. “We don’t want our patients worrying unless they need to. It’s nothing but a prick.”

“I’ve been saying that about guys for years,” Dar remarked, trying not to look at the vial filling with the rich, red blood coming out of her arm.

“What?” the nurse queried.

Dar rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”

The door pushed open, and Dr. Steve poked his head in. “Hey, sweetpea.”

Dar glared daggers at him, receiving a charming smile in return. The nurse finished, removing the tube, covering the seeping needle hole quickly with a cotton ball and tightly stretching a Band-Aid over it all. “There you go, all done.” She bustled out, leaving Dar with her doctor.

“C’mon, c’mon, stop with the sour look, Dar.” Dr. Steve came in and leaned on the examination table where she was sitting. “I hear you had a moment of terror at the Heart Institute.”

Blue eyes regarded him dourly. “I got over it.”

“Ooo, aren’t we tough.” Dr. Steve laughed and patted her knee. “You can play that corporate killing machine with other people, Dar, but I’ve known you since you weren’t tall enough to lick my knees, so don’t try it with me.”

Dar scowled. “Did she leave any blood in there? She must have taken six quarts.”

He waved her off. “Psh. Two vials, you big baby. How’re you feeling?”

“Better,” his reluctant patient admitted. “Took a few days off, went up to Orlando and just played tourist for a couple days.” She paused. “Haven’t had 294 Melissa Good a headache since the day after I was here last time.”

“Really?” Dr. Steve gave her a skeptical look. “You’re not just saying that are you, tricky girl? I remember you saying that broken arm didn’t hurt much either.”

Dar had to smile at the memory, bittersweet though it was. “I’m not,” she replied. “I’ve really been trying to be good.”

He nodded. “All-rightie, then.” Gentle hands lifted and turned her face to the light as he peered at her intently. “Hmm, interesting.”

“What?” Dar queried, a touch nervously.

“Nothing, I just love looking at those baby blues,” Dr. Steve answered mischievously as his patient rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Dar, you do look more relaxed.” He patted her shoulder. “Glad to hear about the headaches.

We’ll just check your blood, see how you’re doing. I want to look at your white cell count. That was very low last time.”

Something else occurred to her. “While you’re there…I’ve been running into some…I don’t know, I guess I’ve been forgetting things lately,” Dar muttered. “And I’ve been having trouble concentrating. It’s starting to bug me a little.”

“Mmm?” Now her doctor’s face was serious. “All right, I’ll check to see if there’s anything strange in your blood work, but it probably won’t show up there. You having dizzy spells, or problems with your vision?” He put on his stethoscope and listened to her chest. “Ticker sounds all right.”

“No, well, not dizzy, exactly.” Dar struggled to explain. “Just, I’ll be doing something, and I’ll just go blank, like my attention gets distracted,” she said. “I walked out last night and left my cell phone in the condo. Last time I did that… Hell, I don’t remember the last time I did that.”

“Hmm.” Dr. Steve pressed against her shoulder. “Lie down.”

Dar did, letting her eyes close and feeling the pressure cuff tighten against her bicep. Her mind drifted, thinking of the coming day. Or to be more precise, the coming night, and she found herself thinking of Kerry, and those warm, green eyes, and…

“Dar?”

She opened her eyes, to see the doctor regarding her in puzzled concern.

“Damn, sorry.” She sighed. “See what I mean?”

Dr. Steve leaned against the table, a lock of gray hair dropping down over his forehead. “I don’t understand. Your pressure is fine; your heart sounds fine. Maybe I should schedule you for a CT scan,” he suggested warily.

Dar rubbed her eyes. “Maybe,” she muttered.

“You saying that without arguing means your pretty head’s probably about to pop off.” He shook his head. “Well, let me go run a quick scan on the blood and see if I see anything. Go wait in my office. I think I have the new PC

World in there.”

“Oh, great,” Dar grumbled. “Just what I need—to read all about the new bugs.” She hopped off the table, though, and made her way to Dr. Steve’s comfortable office, slouching in an armchair and picking up the indicated magazine. “Where’s the cartoon? At least I can laugh at that.”


Tropical Storm 295

“HEY! KERRY!”

KERRY turned, her fingers sliding on the strap of her briefcase as she spotted Mark Polenti catching up to her. “Hi. Morning.”

Mark’s eyes fastened on Kerry’s face for an instant, then he looked aside again without comment. “Listen.” He looked around quickly and asked, “You know where the boss is?” His voice was low and urgent.

Kerry paused in momentary indecision. “Um…”

“They’ve been trying to call her all night, and she’s not picking up,” Mark said. “We dropped the ball on the payroll transfer last night and we needed her sign off on a workaround.”

Oh. Damn. “Why didn’t you call me?” Kerry asked. “Maybe her cell’s down.”

Mark sidestepped the question. “I was kinda worried. I called the condo.”

Kerry looked him in the eye. “She’s at a doctor’s appointment,” she said.

“So I guess we should go upstairs and clean up the mess before she gets here, shouldn’t we?”

Two women walked past them, giving them wary looks. Mark waited for them to pass before he answered. “Uh, yeah, sure.” His uncertainty showed on his face. “But you talked to her right? She’s okay?”

Kerry was torn between wanting to believe Mark was just honestly worried about Dar, and the knowledge that loose talk could seriously damage both of them. “I talked to her this morning,” she finally said. “She’s fine.”

Mark cocked his head a little. “So I guess her cell’s okay.”

Bleeping damn. “She called me,” Kerry replied in an even tone. “I really don’t know where she was calling from, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s go take care of business.” She started toward the elevator. “You can ask her about it when she shows up, right?”

“Um. Sure.” Mark caught up to her and they walked together to the elevator. “Sorry they didn’t call you. I guess we’re not really used to having a Dar Junior.”

She was about to hit the button, but Kerry stopped and glanced at him as he looked uneasily back at her. “Flattery will get you nowhere,” she said after a long pause, swiping the control and walking through the sliding doors as they opened. She almost wished they would be joined by some of the anonymous secretarial staff in the lobby, but the elevator closed and they faced each other for the long ride up.

Mark stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall, whistling softly under his breath.

Dar Junior. Kerry studied the inlaid tile on the floor of the elevator . Dar would probably laugh like a nut at that.

“Um.” Mark cleared his throat. “Hey, um…can I ask you something?”

Uh oh. Kerry looked warily up at him. “Am I going to regret saying yes?”

“Maybe. Yeah.”

Kerry sighed. “Can I get some coffee first?”

DAR HAD READ through over half the magazine before she heard 296 Melissa Good steady footsteps on the carpet and looked up as Dr. Steve ambled in, a folder under his arm and a peculiar look on his fact. “Finished?” She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got a million problems waiting for me at the office.”

The stocky, gray-haired man put the folder down and dropped into his seat, folding his hands over his belly and gazing at her. “Well, my friend, your stress indicators are down, that’s for sure.”

Dar let a small smile tug at her lips. “That’s good.”

He nodded. “Mmm. Yes, I was glad to see it. I also ran an analysis for hormones and other anomalies, and I think I might have figured out what your little forgetfulness problem is. Maybe or maybe not.”

Dar sat up and cocked her head. “Yeah?”

He nodded solemnly. “Yes, I’m afraid you have elevated levels of endorphins in your bloodstream, my friend, especially oxytocin.”