Free Winning Back His Doctor Bride by Tina Beckett Page B

glanced at his tablet. Maybe one of the surgical suites had come available sooner than they’d expected.
    Nope. The projections still put them at an hour out. Luckily the face had an overabundance of blood vessels, so there was a longer window for repairs than for some other areas of the body, where the lack of blood supply created a need for quick intervention.
    He glanced at the nurse. “Can you stay with her for a minute?”
    Patricia grabbed his hand. “You’re not leaving me, are you?”
    His heart went icy. Those were almost exactly the same words Mila had used on the last night they had been intimate. He’d gotten out of bed almost immediately, guilt eating him alive. She’d known something had been wrong and had tried to get him to talk.
    You’re not leaving me, are you?
    He’d denied it at the time, even as he’d known he was indeed going to leave her. He’d fallen into bed with her in despair, days after Cindy had told him he was going to be a father. He’d meant to talk, not have sex, but once the deed had been done, it had been easier to play the denial game than to have it out with her. Then it had been too late. He’d broken things off just as he’d learned that the tabloids were going to break a story about how he and Cindy had been seen together at a hotel days earlier—when she’d told him she was pregnant.
    And then his father had...
    Not the time, James.
    This wasn’t about him. It was about Patricia. “I’m not leaving. I’ll be right back.”
    When he opened the door he swallowed hard.
    The woman he’d just been thinking about was standing there, worry in her hazel eyes. “What is it? Leo?”
    He stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him.
    She nodded. “They think his uncle has fled to Mexico. All they found at his apartment was a note saying the boy’s parents had been killed by one of the drug cartels and that he wanted a better life for Leo than what he could get in his home country.”
    Her face was as white as a sheet. Mila had told him her parents had been murdered when she’d been a child and that her aunt had lied to her for years about how they’d died. Was she remembering that?
    Gripping her hand in his, he lowered his voice. “I’m so sorry, Mi. Are you okay?”
    â€œWhat am I going to tell him?”
    â€œNothing, for now. He’s only three years old.” He took a step closer. “If you’re thinking about your parents, this isn’t the same thing. You were older and your aunt never told you the truth, and she should have. Just not when you were Leo’s age.”
    â€œMaybe. But after a while it becomes easier to let the lie stand than to have the courage to do what needs to be done. I don’t want his trust destroyed like mine was.”
    A shot of hot bile stormed James’s throat. He’d done exactly that with Mila. Destroyed her trust. And, yes, it had been far too easy to let the lie stand. Even now.
    â€œWas his uncle abandoning him a better choice? I don’t think so.”
    Hell. Why did every word out of his mouth seethe with accusation? But not at the wayward uncle. At James. At what he’d done six years ago.
    He’d wanted Mila to have a better life than what he could give her. To do that, he’d done much the same thing as Leo’s uncle had. And Mila’s aunt. He’d lied to protect her.
    From the angry flash of her eyes he wondered if she knew what he’d done six years ago. If so, there was no plastic surgery known to man that could repair that particular scar. It was far too old and covered too great an area. He’d thought cutting things off with her would leave a clean line...an easy fix.
    How wrong he’d been.
    He opted to change the subject. “What did DCFS say?”
    â€œThat as long as he’s in the hospital they can hold off on putting him into foster care, but