Strictly Professional Read Free Page A

sweetie. I need to make sure whether it’s broken or not.”
    “Where’s my mom?”
    Savannah’s heart sank in her chest. She didn’t want to be the one to break the news to this little girl that her mother was dead. “Was your dad in the car with you, pumpkin?’
    “No. He’s at work.”
    “Do you know his phone number? I need to call him.”
    “It’s in Mom’s phone.”
    “Let me go see if I can find it, okay? I’ll be right back, but in the mean time, I’ll have one of the nurses come in and sit with you for a minute.”
    “Will you come back?”
    Savannah stroked the hair back from Molly’s forehead and whispered, “You bet. I won’t leave you alone.”
    “Okay.”
    She fought the tears burning behind her eyelids and stepped out of the trauma bay. “Marie? Can you sit with this little girl while I see if I can find a phone number for her dad?”
    “Sure.” Marie’s gaze searched her face. “Did you tell her?”
    “No. I’m hoping to get in touch with her father.”
    Savannah moved toward the room where Molly’s mother lay and pushed open the door. A pretty thirty-something woman lay on the gurney covered with a white sheet to her chin. Savannah could see where Molly probably got her coloring and it saddened her to think the little girl would never be held against her mother again.
    God, I hate this part.
    Inhaling a deep breath, she tipped her head back on her shoulders for a moment before she moved to the woman’s side and moved the sheet so she could look for her cell phone.
    A knock sounded on the door and she answered with a crisp, “Come in.”
    “Hey, doc.”
    Her gaze shot up to the state trooper then back to the patient. “Hey, John. You working this one?”
    “Yeah. Sad, huh?”
    “Definitely. Did you get some identification—a purse, maybe? I need to see if there is a cell phone in her things. The little girl in four is this one’s daughter and her father is at work.”
    “Yeah, I have her purse at the nurses’ station. I think there’s a cell in there.”
    “Good.”
    “You okay Savannah?”
    “I wish everyone would quit asking me that,” she grumbled.
    Her gaze swept over his broad shoulders stretching his tan, button-down uniform until it disappeared into the waistband of his trousers and the maxed-out utility belt around his waist. John Carter wasn’t bad looking, but he had the ego to go with those handcuffs he sported and she was pretty sure he knew exactly what to do with them.
    “Lighten up. Maybe we’re just worried.”
    “Sorry, John. I’m under a lot of pressure right now with work and all. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
    “It’s okay. Are you working all night?”
    “Probably. I’m on call, so you never know.” She cocked an eyebrow, wondering why he'd asked. “Why?”
    His shoulder lifted in a shrug as his gaze fixed on his shoes. “I thought maybe you might like to get a cup of coffee later.”
    “Sorry, John. After work I’m getting some shut eye before I have to catch a plane to Texas tomorrow.”
    “Texas? That where you’re from?”
    “Yep. East of Houston. Small hole-in-the-wall town called Destiny in the Yellow Rose Valley.”
    “Cowgirl?”
    She almost cracked up laughing. If anyone could be considered the farthest thing from a cowgirl, it would be Savannah Gibson. “Not now I’m not. I rode when I was a kid, but I stay as far away from cows, horses, and cowboys as I can get.”
    “Why is that?’
    “Grew up with them. Cows are stupid, horses are ornery, and cowboys are arrogant, selfish, commitment phobic, mean, rotten....” His eyebrows rose as the words rolled off her tongue.
    “Been burned?”
    Air rushed out from between her lips in a sigh. “Is it that obvious?”
    John chuckled. “Yeah, just a little.”
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to go off. It’s a bit of a sore spot.”
    “No! Really?” He pulled open the door and they moved together toward the nurses’ station to find the woman’s purse. “Let me check