Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
The standing woman clutched her stomach harder and pressed the other fist to her mouth like she might vomit. Her eyes were wild. She babbled an apologetic denial and shot me an imploring look.
“How can it be that the idiot doctor who misdiagnosed me has prescribed me the same treatment as you, Dr. Carter? I am surrounded by incompetence!” Santiago’s face was an apoplectic red, and veins protruded from his forehead. Had he had an actual heart condition, this situation would have been very dangerous for him.
Since he didn’t, it was very dangerous for me. And for Riggs.
And possibly Lucrecia, who’d pointed out the correlation.
I swallowed hard. “Señor!” I shot back angrily. “You must calm yourself! You have one of the worst cases of pyrosis I have ever encountered, and this excitement will not help! I’m glad you’re feeling better this morning, but you simply cannot risk your important self with all this stress.”
Santiago narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin. “One of the worst cases, you say?”
“If not the very worst,” I confirmed. “A lesser man would not be experiencing such a remarkable—but no doubt temporary—recovery. Should you actually go into cardiac arrest, there would be very few things I could do to help you,” I went on, as though pyrosis and a heart attack were in any way related. “Just yesterday, I nearly lost a patient with a serious heart condition who needs to be seen at a cath lab in Caracas, but the facilities are so crowded, I couldn’t get her seen even if I could get her to the city. I would not want to explain to your beautiful, er… ladies that I could not save you.”
Santiago darted a glance at his women and huffed out a breath. “Explain, then, why this trick of yours worked on my debilitating heart condition.”
Because you don’t have a debilitating heart condition, you fucking—
Riggs cleared his throat, probably reminding me to keep my temper, and I glanced behind me. He was standing way closer than I’d thought, almost looming over me.
Though he looked none too pleased with me and was probably cursing me for telling Santiago to sit up straight—even though I had no way of knowing Santiago would associate it with his first doctor—his hovering felt protective and sort of lovely. Far more comforting than it should have been.
There are a limited number of people in the world I’d save from a rampaging capybara…
“It’s because your blood didn’t have to pump as hard while you were sitting up,” Riggs lied smoothly. “This is well-known.”
I wasn’t sure how much English Lucrecia knew, but she nodded like a bobblehead, corroborating his lie, and that’s when I noticed that although she did look nauseous, she wasn’t clutching her stomach like it hurt. In fact, she was actually rubbing the protruding bump of it. Almost… almost protectively. In fact, very extremely protectively.
Realization struck. “And!” I exclaimed. “You must be even more cautious if you are about to have un bebé! Muchas felicidades to you and Lucrecia.”
The assembled ladies gasped in surprise and stared at one another.
Santiago blinked at me for one beat, and then his face turned purple again. “You mock me, Dr. Carter? I have explained to you the facts of my condition, the curse of my all-powerful seed, and you would use this information to—”
“No, no!” I glanced at Lucrecia, whose eyes were wide, and I realized I’d either been totally wrong or I’d totally spoiled the surprise. Damn it. “I mean. I mean, I may have misunderstood—”
The man gasped, and his gaze swung toward Lucrecia.
“Is this true, Lucrecia? Has Gustavo’s seed rooted itself within you? Is it even now ripening into a youthful virile man like myself who will one day be the heir to all the Santiago holdings?” He cast an arm wide, encompassing the house and the mountain, possibly all of Venezuela.
For the sake of his dependents, I really hoped Gustavo was better at crime than he was at metaphors. And I noted that he was talking about himself in the third person again, damn it.
Lucrecia nodded slowly and forced a smile. “¡Sorpresa!”
“Oh my God! Felicidades!” Gustavo breathed. He tossed aside his heavy covers and stood—all five feet of him—before hurrying to Lucrecia and hugging her tightly.
It was very, very moving. Or it would have been. If not for, you know, the whole imminent death thing.
“Sir, if you’d like, I could speak to Lucrecia after your men show me to the lab so I can begin testing your blood samples,” I offered. “Prenatal care is so important. Especially, um, in a case involving… this.”
I tried to make myself say “the miracle spawn of your ultra-powerful seed,” but I could not get there.
Gustavo waved me away. “Yes, of course. Only the best for precious Lucrecia and Gustavo’s heir.”
We followed Beardy out of the room with me still hauling our backpack of supplies. When we reached the same corridor where I’d heard Amos the night before, I paused and jerked my head toward his door.