The Greatest Risk Read Free Page A

doors—and other things—for him his entire life.
    How dare he be so incredibly sexy, and so darned sure of it?
    â€œAre you saying this was my fault?” she demanded.
    â€œFifty-fifty?” he suggested with aggravating calm.
    â€œOh!”
    â€œMr. August!”
    He turned toward the voice. Maggie turned, too. Hillary Wagner, a nurse Maggie knew slightly from her own work as a social worker at Children’s Connection, an adoption agency and fertility clinic that was affiliated with this hospital, was coming toward them, looking very much like a battleship under full steam.
    Apparently here was a woman who was immune to the considerable charm radiating off Mr. August. “What on earth have you been up to now?”
    â€œRemember the nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? ” he asked Maggie in an undertone.
    Maggie sent him a look. Was he an escapee from the psych ward, then?
    Hillary took in the upturned wheelchair, and her tiny gray eyes swept Maggie’s disheveled appearance.
    â€œMr. August, you’ve been racing the wheelchairs again!” she deduced, her tone ripe with righteous anger. “And this time you’ve managed to cause an accident, haven’t you?”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” he said, and hung his head boyishly, but not before giving Maggie a sideways wink.
    â€œMr. August, really! You cannot be racing wheelchairs down the hallways. Who were you racing with? Don’t tell me it was Billy Harmon.”
    â€œOkay. You won’t hear it from me.”
    â€œDon’t be flip, Mr. August. He’s a very ill boy. Which way did he go?”
    â€œI think I caught a glimpse of him wheeling off that way in a big hurry when I had my, er, collision. Frankly,he looked better than I’ve ever seen him look, not the least ill.”
    â€œYou are not a doctor, despite that horrible prank you pulled, visiting all the poor ladies in maternity.”
    â€œIsn’t impersonating a doctor illegal?” Maggie asked.
    â€œIt certainly is!” Hillary concurred.
    But he ignored Hillary and turned to Maggie, not the least chastened. “What are you—a lawyer? I wasn’t impersonating a doctor. I found a discarded lab jacket and a clipboard. People jumped to their own conclusions.”
    â€œYou are a hazard,” Hillary bit out.
    â€œWhy, thank you.”
    â€œIt wasn’t a compliment! Billy is sick, Mr. August, and even if he wasn’t, wheelchair racing is not allowed. Do you understand?”
    â€œAye, aye, mon capatain, strictly forboden.” He managed to murder both the French and German languages.
    Maggie wanted to be appalled by him. She wanted to look at him with the very same ferocious and completely uncharmed stare that Hillary was leveling at him.
    Unfortunately, he made her want to laugh. But it felt to Maggie as if her very life—or at least her professional one—depended on hiding that fact.
    Hillary drew herself to her full height. “I could have you discharged,” she said shrilly.
    â€œMake my day,” he said, unperturbed by her anger. “I’ve been trying to get out of this place for a week.”
    â€œOh!” she said. She turned to Maggie. “Are you all right? Maggie, isn’t it? From Children’s Connection? Oh dear, your skirt is—”
    â€œVery attractive,” Mr. August said.
    The skirt continued to be bound up in some horrible way that was defying Maggie’s every attempt to get it back where it belonged.
    Strong hands suddenly settled around her hips, and Maggie let out a startled little shriek.
    The hands twisted, and the skirt rustled and then fell into place.
    Maggie glared at the man, agreed inwardly he was a hazard, and then patted her now perfectly respectable skirt. “I don’t know whether to thank you or smack you,” she admitted tersely.
    â€œSmack him!” Hillary crowed, like a wrestling fan at a match, without