Free The Nurse Who Saved Christmas by Janice Lynn Page B

and take the ones on my list to deliver. Dr. Kelley can go home and rest.”
    Eyeing her like a kid studied a sole, tiny package labeled for him under the Christmas tree, Dirk frowned. A tightly controlled muscle jumped at the corner of his mouth. “This is too much after working all night. Call and cancel the fruit basket delivery.”
    Tempting, but then who would deliver the baskets? Besides, she was pretty sure it was the stress of being near him making her feel so bad. That and the virus. If he’d just quit looking at her…
    “No.” She couldn’t cancel her activities. Sure, she’d been a little out of sorts. That wasn’t any reason to let down those depending on her. They needed her help to make their Christmas all it should be, all hers wouldn’t be.
    “Abby, if you’re not feeling well, Joyce and I can finish this up,” Judy, the lady in charge, offered, placing her hand on Abby’s shoulder.
    Dirk smiled smugly, obviously viewing the woman’s offer as reinforcement that he was right, that she should do as he wanted. Enough was enough.
    “Seriously.” She made eye contact with the elderly lady she’d bonded with while still in nursing school on her first volunteer project. “I’m fine. I just made themistake of mentioning to Dr. Overprotective—” she flicked her thumb toward Dirk, hoping how much he meant to her didn’t show “—that I’d been feeling under the weather.”
    “Nothing serious, I hope,” Judy said sympathetically, completely ignoring that Abby had said she was fine.
    “Of course not. I’ve just had a little nausea and fatigue for a few days. No big deal.” At the woman’s look of concern, Abby added, “Nothing contagious.”
    At least, she didn’t think so. If so, surely some of her coworkers would be having symptoms by now since she’d been fighting this for more than a week. For that matter, Dirk would be having symptoms. He’d definitely had up-close exposure the night of the Christmas party.
    “I’m definitely not contagious,” she repeated, hoping to reassure her friends.
    Her face brightening, Joyce clapped her hands together gleefully. “Ooh, when you walked in today, I just knew there was something different about you. Beside the fact you brought this gorgeous man with you.” The older woman sent a knowing smile Dirk’s way then returned her attention to Abby. “Just look at how you’re glowing.”
    “Glowing?” Abby’s mouth dropped just as Dirk’s can crashed to the concrete floor as the woman’s meaning sank in. The sharp intake of his breath almost drowned out the loud clang. Abby was surprised the thunderous beat of her heart didn’t deafen them all. “If you’re implying… I think you’re making a wrong assumption.”
    The two smiling volunteers looked at each other, thenback at Abby and Dirk, their smiles fading as realization dawned. “You’re not pregnant?”
    “Uh, no.” Abby coughed into her hand, trying to make sure she worded this correctly so she didn’t end up as before, protesting to the point that she was only convincing her friends of the opposite. “Of course I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.”
    Dirk had used a condom. Although she’d been wrapped up in what they’d been doing, she was sure he had used protection. She’d found two opened foil pouches.
    She faked another cough, whether to show her symptoms were from something else entirely or just to buy a few more seconds to think of what to say she wasn’t sure.
    “You ladies are as bad as Dirk about overreacting.” She laughed as if their suggestion was preposterous. It was preposterous. Pregnant. Her. No way. “I’ve just been pushing myself a little too hard with the holidays and have picked up a minor bug of some sort at work. You know how I’m exposed to everything in the emergency room. It’s a wonder Dirk isn’t sick, too.”
    But even as she gave the excuse she counted back the days since her last menstrual period and came up with a too-high number.