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negativity.”
    â€œI doubt it. I think kids come with their own personalities pretty well intact,” Kate remarked. “I used to worry that Eliza would take after her father in some of the ways I found difficult, but that hasn’thappened. She’s very much her own person. And from the little I’ve seen of your daughter, I’d say she has a delightful personality all her own.”
    â€œIt’s comforting to hear you say that,” he said with a sigh. “It’s impossible to be impartial about your own kid, isn’t it?”
    She nodded agreement. “Raising kids is a challenge, but it’s also the best game in town as far as I’m concerned. Which is lucky, seeing how much time and energy it takes.”
    â€œIt’s a full-time job, all right,” he agreed. “Sometimes I envy the couples I see on Sundays at the park or the science center. It has to be easier, having a partner you can talk stuff over with, someone who cares the same way you do about your kid.” He added quickly, “Not that my ex doesn’t care about McKensy, she does. We’re good friends. It’s just that she’s never been around to do the actual parenting.”
    â€œWell, Scott’s there every day,” Kate said with a shrug, remembering the previous night and the birthday party. “But it doesn’t seem to help much.”
    Tony waited, but she didn’t go into detail. She didn’t want to sound like a typical ex-wife listing the shortcomings of the person she’d once chosen to marry. “It makes for a certain amount of conflict,” she admitted.
    God, that was the understatement of the century. The truth was, Scott managed to drive her to the brink of homicide. She wondered what Tony wouldthink if she admitted to having fantasies about hitting her ex in the head with a tire iron.
    She happened to glance at her watch and leaped to her feet. “My gosh, look at the time. I’m late for a meeting.” An hour had sped past in what she could have sworn was ten minutes.
    â€œDon’t run to get to it,” he counseled. “You could slip on a candy wrapper in the lobby,” he said with a wry grin. “I was on my way to a meeting that morning and I was late, which is how I ended up flat on my back in here.”
    â€œI’ll keep that advice in mind.” She gave him a wide smile and a wave. “I enjoyed our conversation, and I really enjoyed meeting McKensy.”
    â€œThanks. Come again when you get a minute, okay? I never realized how mind deadening it is to be a patient in this place.”
    â€œYou’ll be going home soon, won’t you?”
    He shrugged and held out his hands, palms up. “How would I know? These doctors never tell you a damned thing.”
    She was laughing as she raced for the elevator.

CHAPTER SIX
    M AYBE IT WAS LYING IN BED this much that made him so damned horny. Or maybe it was the perfume Kate wore, a light, flowery scent that reminded him of summer picnics with his first real girlfriend. Whatever it was, he’d been uncomfortably conscious of her the whole time she was in the room. And that ridiculously short skirt hadn’t helped any. Not that women with legs like that should wear anything but short skirts.
    He wasn’t complaining, though, and it was hardly the first time he’d felt aroused when Kate Lewis was around. Usually he’d been grateful that their differences of opinion irked him enough to take his mind off her sex appeal.
    Still, there was something irresistible about the contrast between her wide, open smile and that way she had of tilting her head down and looking up at him as if she was just a little shy. Her body didn’t hurt, either. It curved in and out in all the right places, and he’d had to make a special effort to appear totally businesslike and professional around her.
    But today McKensy had made him forget aboutprofessional