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were red and mottled. “You need to go to emergency. These look like second-degree bums, but I can’t be sure they’re not third. In any case, they need treatment.” She reached for his wrist. “I’m going to take off your watch.” Slowly she removed it. The man moaned; she swathed both arms in the clean linen she’d asked a waitress to bring.
    Paige looked at Ian. He was inspecting a younger woman whose hands were burned. “Palms and fingers, looks like second or third degree to me.” He smiled at the girl. “You need to go, too, young lady.”
    “Is there any sterile gauze here?” Paige asked.
    Someone produced a first-aid kit. She undid the gauze pads and inserted them between the girl’s fingers. Then she wrapped both hands in more fresh linen.
    Together she and Ian gave a few instructions and in less than ten minutes, the victims were on their way to the hospital, driven by the club manager.
    As they stepped out of the kitchen, Ian slid his arm around Paige. It felt...good. “See, Paige, honey, we make a great team. We’re going to be dynamite together at the Center.”
    She drew away. Obviously she didn’t like the sound of that.
    Frankly, Ian was surprised that he did.
    o0o
    THE PORCH SWING creaked as Nora gave it a push with her foot. A soft light at the door bathed her and Dan in its mellow glow, and the spring air enveloped them. Nora sighed against his shoulder.
    “Something wrong, love?” he asked, kissing her hair.
    She still couldn’t get used to his open affection. Oh, she’d known for years that he loved her, though he’d never spoken the words until Mary died. But to have him touch her, pamper her, appreciate her as a woman was like a gift from God.
    She squeezed his hand, inched closer. “Not wrong, exactly.”
    “You’re worried about Paige.”
    Nora nodded. “Why would she agree to work at the Elsa Moore Center?”
    “She’s a pediatrician, Nora. She works with children all the time.”
    “I know. I was concerned about her choice of career in the first place, but this? The girls she’ll be treating will remind her of her own past. It will open old wounds.”
    Dan was silent for a moment. She loved the way he thought before he spoke. She loved everything about him. Moonlight turned his angled features soft, and she couldn’t see the gray that liberally sprinkled his hair now. Finally he said, “Maybe old wounds need to be opened, Nora. Lanced. I worried that giving up her baby would come back to haunt Paige at some point.”
    “Because she never dealt with it? Never talked about it?”
    “Uh-huh.” He pushed the swing again. “You tried to get her to open up.”
    “That didn’t work. I don’t think she’s ever discussed it with anyone. Not even Jade.”
    They were silent. The crickets chirped loudly and the swing swayed. “You can’t protect her, honey.”
    “I know. I just hope Ian didn’t bulldoze her into doing something that’s going to cause her pain.”
    Dan smiled. “I like that boy.”
    “I like that he cares so deeply about things.”
    “They’re very different, aren’t they?”
    “Paige cares,” Nora said defensively. “She just hides it better than most of us.”
    “I know she does.” Dan’s tone was gentle. “I just meant she doesn’t show her feelings.”
    “She’s cautious. She doesn’t trust easily.”
    “Why would she, after the hand she was dealt?” Again the quiet. “We’ll keep an eye on her, like we’ve always done.” In a swift and surprising move, he tugged Nora onto his lap. “Now kiss me, woman. I’ve waited years for you and now I can’t get enough.”
    “What about the—” She didn’t finish. Her mouth got busy and her mind turned to mush. She forgot about the girls upstairs in Serenity House. She forgot about Paige. For now, anyway.

CHAPTER THREE
    A WEEK AWAY from opening, construction on the Elsa Moore Center was just shy of being finished. As the four doctors and one physician’s assistant met in the