Kitabı oku: «The ffrench Doctors»

CONTENTS

COVER

Dear Reader

TITLE PAGE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

LEAH’S hand was shaking violently as she tried to put the telephone back on its cradle and she was only successful on the second attempt.

For just a moment she was blazingly angry that she’d been treated so cavalierly, but then her brain returned to its usual logical processes.

Still, she was sorely tempted to drop her head to the desk and howl her disappointment but the last thing she wanted was for the whole department to know what had just happened—at least, not until she’d had time to come to terms with it.

For a moment she glanced around the cramped room, focusing on all the things she hated about it—the shabby, boring paintwork, the limp, sun-bleached curtains and the institutional furniture piled high with the overflow of case files—and mourned the fact that she wouldn’t have time to finish her self-imposed task of rearranging the chaotic filing system into something more streamlined and efficient.

‘Problem?’ queried a voice from the doorway, and she realised that her trembling hands could not have been the only outward sign of her feelings. She drew in a swift bracing breath before she turned to face the department’s most senior nurse, knowing that the time for licking her wounds was already over.

‘No problem that I know of, Kelly,’ she said brightly, hoping her smile didn’t look as false as it felt.

‘So you got the lab results at last!’ A smile lit her gamine face as she entered the room eagerly.

Lab results? Leah blinked, having to force her mind back to her first phone call of the recent session, the one before disappointment had descended over her.

‘Ah…Yes! Here they are. I got Stanley to read them out for me over the phone and jotted them down.’ She handed the piece of paper to Kelly. ‘They’ve promised to follow up with written confirmation, a.s.a.p., and I promised to come up there personally and extract them with the most painful methods at my disposal if they didn’t keep their promise!’

Kelly laughed at the empty threat. They both knew exactly how important it was that the labs were meticulous, especially in the work of this department, and Stanley was one of the best.

‘Well, we’ll see what happens, won’t we,’ Kelly said with a doubting shake of her dark head. ‘They promised me the same, hours ago, and nothing happened. Still, I’m not the head of St Luke’s Assisted Reproduction department, so perhaps that’ll make all the difference.’

A swift pang of renewed disappointment tightened around Leah’s heart, but she couldn’t avoid breaking the news any longer. Soon everyone would know.

‘Only acting head,’ she reminded Kelly, hoping she didn’t sound as bitter as she felt. She’d been carrying the full load for months while Donald had avoided coming to terms with his need for heart-bypass surgery. Due to her willingness to work herself to a standstill, her superior’s sudden death had hardly registered in the smooth running of the department, and she’d hoped that it would be little more than a formality for her unofficial position as head of the AR department to be given the stamp of approval.

‘That’s just administrative claptrap,’ Kelly declared supportively. ‘We all know you’re the best one for the position, especially as you’ve been doing it for so many weeks—’

‘Apparently, not everyone agrees with you, Kelly,’ Leah interrupted, her voice a little sharper than usual with restrained emotion. ‘The board has appointed a new head of department from outside the hospital. He’s supposed to be joining us in a matter of days.’

‘Oh, Leah,’ Kelly murmured, clearly stricken. At least that was some kind of sop to Leah’s ego. ‘Oh, damn, I’m sorry. Why didn’t you say something? When did you find out?’

‘Just a moment ago.’ She gestured towards the phone. ‘Apparently someone was supposed to have informed me of the board’s decision before the weekend, but in the excitement of snagging someone as eminent as David ffrench…’ She shrugged, trying to appear philosophical about hospital management’s total lack of courtesy.

‘David ffrench?’ Kelly frowned.

‘The name doesn’t ring a bell with me either,’ Leah agreed. ‘But, then, I just grabbed the minimum time necessary from the department to attend the interview. There just wasn’t time to hang around to meet the competition so I don’t even know where he’s been working.’

‘Well, if he’s such hot stuff, how come he’s free to take up a position here at the drop of a hat?’ Kelly demanded.

‘All I know is that he’s apparently been at a top-flight IVF centre in New Zealand and he’s come to Britain for family reasons.’

‘Is he a New Zealander?’ There was a definite spark of interest in Kelly’s dark eyes and Leah actually had to subdue a grin at the predictability of her colleague’s reaction. ‘Oh, tell me he’s one of those gorgeous seven-foot rugby-playing Maoris, please! That’s what this department could do with—a few really sexy hunky single men!’

‘Sorry I can’t oblige,’ said a dry voice behind them, and they both whirled in surprise to face the man who had arrived unannounced at the office doorway. ‘I’m not a New Zealander and it’s years since I played any rugby.’

That didn’t mean he was lacking in the looks department, Leah registered with an unexpected surge of awareness, something that hadn’t happened since…for ever.

At five feet seven, she wasn’t short, but she had to look up some way to meet his uncomfortably direct greeny blue gaze, in spite of the fact that she hadn’t had time to change out of her heeled shoes this morning. His bronzed skin was a testament to the fact that he’d just returned from a summer in New Zealand but his face was all planes and angles as though he’d recently lost more weight than was good for him. He certainly didn’t look as though he was carrying enough muscle bulk to be a rugby player now.

‘You’re English!’ Kelly’s gurgle of laughter startled her and Leah felt a wash of heat surge up into her cheeks. Had she really been standing there admiring the man’s physique, for heaven’s sake? Had he noticed?

‘Through and through,’ their new boss agreed with a slight smile, but Leah noted that, for all his pleasant manner, the smile hadn’t reached his eyes. ‘In fact, I did part of my training at this very hospital.’

And that would account for his appointment, Leah thought waspishly, then had to stifle a grimace.

She knew she was being illogical. No hospital would appoint a head of department without being certain that they were the best for the position, especially when they had several to choose from. She would just have to learn to console herself with the idea that it had probably been her age—or lack of it—and a lack of seniority in this particular discipline that had lost her the headship this time. David ffrench looked to be several years older at least, and had already headed a similar department in New Zealand. Added to that, her experience of holding the department together over the last few months had gone largely unnoticed by the hospital hierarchy as her head of department had been covering his tracks to conceal how badly his health had been hampering him. While the extra burden had been exhausting, Leah hadn’t really blamed Donald for wanting to hang on to the job he loved as long as possible. She knew what it was like to build your whole life around a special profession.

‘I’m Kelly Argent,’ Kelly was saying with the sort of blinding smile that would tell even the slowest-witted man that she was interested. ‘I’m Senior Sister in the department.’

‘David ffrench,’ he said, accepting her handshake but, as far as Leah could tell, not even registering any other offers. ‘I’m not actually starting till the beginning of next week but I was hoping to meet up with my second in command so that we could compare notes about the department and the case load. Is he here at the moment?’

‘He?’ Leah repeated in shock, her thoughts a whirling maelstrom. Had she lost out completely? Had she been so shocked by the announcement of his appointment over her that she’d missed a vital second part to that phone call? Had there been another appointment, replacing her without her knowledge? Was she now relegated to third in the pecking order, or even bounced out of the department altogether?

‘Lee Dawson,’ he said with a hint of impatience. ‘The chap who’s been holding everything together since my predecessor—’

‘Lee!’ Kelly giggled, clearly delighted with his mistake. ‘You mean Leah!’ She sketched a sweeping gesture in her direction. ‘And I bet the panel didn’t tell you that if it weren’t for her working twenty-six hours a day, there wouldn’t be a department for you to take charge of.’

Leah cringed with embarrassment when he turned the full force of those striking eyes on her. It had been for the sake of her—their—patients that she’d worked so long and hard, not to have fulsome praise heaped on her shoulders. She would far rather have had the position of head of department instead.

‘Loyal staff,’ her new boss said quietly, his eyes giving nothing away. ‘That speaks well of a department. I hope I can earn the same sort of loyalty as my predecessor.’

‘Oh, he wasn’t the one—’ Kelly began, but Leah quelled her with a glare. She might be disappointed to have lost the plum job but there was no way she wanted to start off a new working relationship with the rest of the staff taking sides.

A frown briefly pleated the smooth skin of his forehead, as though he’d suddenly become aware of unanticipated undercurrents, but with her deliberately noncommittal expression, Leah hoped that there was nothing for him to glean.

‘Well, then, Leah, if it’s convenient, I’d like to spend some time in the department today to see how things are run at the moment. I expect you’ve got everything ready for my arrival on Monday, but have you got time this morning to go over the current patient files?’

To see how things are run at the moment? Leah’s heart sank. That certainly sounded as if he intended making changes before he’d even seen how things were organised. Not that there weren’t changes that she’d had in mind should she have been given the job, but she already knew what needed changing because she’d been running the department for months.

‘Actually, there’s nothing ready for your arrival on Monday because we had no idea that you were coming,’ she said bluntly, unable to stop her frustration coating her words. ‘In fact, we’d never even heard of you until five minutes before you turned up, and we certainly didn’t know that you’d been appointed head of department.’

To say that he looked taken aback was putting it mildly, Leah thought, and, in spite of her own feelings of disappointment, she suddenly found herself having to fight laughter. Was it hysteria? Perhaps. But it certainly wasn’t a good example of professional courtesy, especially when she was going to have to work with the man.

‘Of course, the patients’ notes are completely up to date,’ she assured him with a touch of justifiable pride. He obviously didn’t think so and she could hardly blame him, given the fact that there were piles of files dotted around as a result of her ongoing reorganisation. ‘And the computer system the hospital uses is very quick to master so you shouldn’t have any trouble accessing any other details you may need.’

‘I see.’ He was silent for a nerve-stretching moment as his eyes roved the apparent chaos surrounding them, the dubious expression on his face saying everything. ‘And will you have any time free this morning?’

There was something in the tone of his voice that she couldn’t put her finger on, but it made Leah feel uncomfortable. She had no idea whether he was pleased to hear that all the paperwork was in order or whether he seriously doubted it and was wondering how soon he could find a way to replace her.

Just the thought of having to leave her beloved department was enough to send a chill down her spine and she instantly resolved to be less prickly. After all, she may have applied for the post but she hadn’t got it. It certainly wasn’t the first disappointment she’d suffered. Life went on.

She slid back behind the desk, leaning forward to press a combination of keys on the computer keyboard until the relevant diary page flashed up onto the screen. She always arrived at least an hour before she was due to start and she may as well get their initial meeting over as soon as possible. The situation wasn’t going to change even if she put him off until the end of the day, and she’d have it hanging over her, too.

‘I’m free for the next three-quarters of an hour,’ she began briskly, then realised that she’d automatically treated the room as her own domain, sitting at the desk as if it was her right. ‘That is, I’ll be free as soon as I’ve had time to take my belongings out of your room…although where I’ll be able to put them…’ she finished under her breath, completely unable to think of anywhere in the department that she could set up as her own space. She’d been doing so much of the day-to-day running of the department for so long that there was very little in the room to remind her that it had actually been her former head of department’s office.

‘That’s not important for the moment,’ he said dismissively. ‘We’ll just have to share the office if there isn’t anywhere else.’

Leah nearly choked at the impossibility of the idea. The room was far too small for a second desk to be shoehorned into the cramped space and they certainly couldn’t share the existing one. What was he proposing? That she should sit on his lap?

‘The important thing,’ he continued while she fought to rid her brain of that seductive image, ‘is that I need to be up to speed before I start work properly on Monday. Where we do it or whose name is on the door is immaterial.’

‘So, what do you think of him?’ Kelly demanded eagerly, her coat over her arm, at the end of her shift.

‘Who?’ Leah asked weakly, knowing it was a forlorn hope that the topic of conversation would be anything other than their new head of department.

‘David ffrench, of course,’ Kelly said impatiently, almost as though she doubted Leah’s sanity. ‘Remember? The man you’ve spent ages closeted with in that cosy little office, you lucky girl.’

‘He’s very different to Donald,’ Leah said blandly, hoping that Kelly hadn’t picked up on the fact that her heart had just performed a sudden jig at the mention of his name. It had been bad enough when he’d been standing in the office doorway and she’d been able to put the width of the desk between them, but sitting side by side with their elbows and knees in almost constant contact had quickly become torture. She’d never been this aware of any man, not even…

‘Duh!’ Kelly mocked, halting that particular train of thought before it could hit the buffers. ‘Tell me something I haven’t noticed! David ffrench is absolutely nothing like Donald, thank God. Tell me…while you were in here, what have you managed to find out about his private life? Is he married, engaged, living with a significant other or is he gloriously, wonderfully free to fall instantly in love with yours truly?’

‘I haven’t got a clue,’ Leah replied honestly, but felt the tide of warmth seeping up her face with the silent admission that for the first time in a long time she’d actually found herself thinking exactly the same questions. ‘All I can tell you is that he doesn’t wear a ring—not that that is any indication of anything these days, especially for a surgeon.’

‘Ah, so you were looking!’ Kelly pounced.

‘Not really, but I couldn’t help noticing as we were working our way through the current case files.’ And couldn’t help noticing what nice hands he had either. They were all lean and long fingered and looked as if they had the sort of sinewy strength that any surgeon needed, combined with the delicacy of touch and fine control that was essential for their exacting specialty.

‘So, do you think he’ll be good for the department?’ Kelly asked, suddenly reverting to a more serious frame of mind. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to work with him?’

‘Time will tell,’ Leah said noncommittally. ‘He certainly seems to know his stuff.’

‘And the fact that he’s so easy on the eyes is a big help, too,’ Kelly joked archly. ‘Not that he seems very interested in playing the flirting game. I think nearly every female in the entire obs and gyn section perked up as he’s gone by, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Oh!’ She gasped as a sudden thought struck her. ‘You don’t think he’s…you know, batting for the other team?’

‘You mean, homosexual?’ Leah fought a grin, determined to at least appear to take the suggestion seriously. ‘I suppose he could be. Once again, though, only time will tell.’

She was grinning openly as a scowling Kelly made her way out of the unit, muttering darkly that all the good-looking men were either married or gay, absolutely certain in her own mind that, married or not, David ffrench was a hundred per cent pure functioning male.

‘Hey, big brother! How did it go today? Did you get a chance to look around your new domain?’

‘Hi, Moggy! How are you doing?’ David felt a wide smile spread over his face at the sound of his sister’s voice at the other end of the phone, grateful for the chance to stop unpacking boxes. He lowered himself into his borrowed armchair and suddenly realised why it had been so eagerly donated when it nearly swallowed him whole. He might have to call for help just to escape from its smothering clutches. ‘Is that new husband of yours treating you right?’

‘Like a fragile piece of priceless china,’ she grumbled, but he could hear the happiness underlying the complaint. It was so good to know that she’d finally found what she’d always wanted—a man who loved her every bit as much as she loved him—and if it left him feeling pea green with envy, that was his own problem. He’d thought he’d had it all once, and look where he was now.

‘Perhaps that’s because you’re not only newly-weds but you’re also pregnant with his baby,’ he pointed out. ‘And you know you wouldn’t want it any other way.’

‘True,’ she conceded cheerfully and with a definite hint of smugness. ‘Hey! No sidetracking! You didn’t answer my question. What did you think of your new department? Are you glad I twisted your arm to apply for the post? Did you have a chance to meet Leah Dawson? What did you think of her? Don’t you think she’s just—?’

‘Hey, Moggy! Give me a chance to answer the first half-dozen questions before you pile on the next dozen!’ He chuckled, glad that she’d never grown out of that habit. He’d been teasing her about it ever since she’d learned to talk.

‘Not so much of the Moggy!’ she complained, as she always did. ‘I’m not ten any more. So, start answering. Isn’t Leah just great?’

For some reason that was the last question David felt like answering, and he couldn’t think of a single logical reason why—at least, not one he cared to contemplate with his nosy little sister on the other end of the phone.

Hurriedly, he reverted to an earlier question.

‘Yes, Moggy, I freely admit that I’m absolutely delighted that you brought the AR vacancy to my attention. It has the makings of an excellent department.’

‘The makings? You mean, once you’ve done your new-broom bit and completely reorganised it?’ she teased, but he knew there was more than a hint of the truth in her words. He did like to put his own stamp on the way his department was run, but he certainly didn’t want to start off by alienating the existing staff.

He wondered just how well his sister knew Leah. Maggie and Jake hadn’t needed the assistance of his new department to start her pregnancy, but she might have met his new colleague when they’d had to call for someone to take a look at a potential admission down in A and E. She might also have met her when she’d accompanied an emergency patient up to the department at some time.

Had she also noticed the chaotic disarray in his predecessor’s office, with files on every available surface? It certainly wasn’t the way he liked to run a department and he’d been amazed that Leah had apparently had no trouble putting her hand on everything he’d requested.

And there she was, back inside his head again, no matter how hard he tried to keep her out. He had far more important things to think about than a pair of serious grey eyes and a wealth of honey-blonde hair tied tightly back to reveal the delicate bone structure of her face.

He shook his head, glad that Maggie couldn’t see him. What did it matter that his new colleague was tall and slender and filled with almost incandescent nervous energy? It certainly hadn’t helped her to keep on top of a simple job like keeping the office straight. Come Monday, he dreaded discovering that her attention to other things, like the important details that should have been recorded in each of those case notes since her superior died, was equally slap-dash. In the short time she’d had free, he hadn’t been able to do much more than get an idea of the scope of patients currently under investigation and treatment, and the general routine of the department on a daily and weekly basis.

‘Would Jake be happy working in a disorganised department?’ he challenged gently. ‘I bet the first thing he did when he got his consultancy was go over every tiny detail in person.’

‘And you’d win, you rat!’ Maggie grumbled. ‘Just promise me something—don’t ruffle too many feathers on your first day. Take it gently until you’ve had a chance to get to know the people you’ll be working with. They’re a good tight-knit team.’

‘Yes, Mother,’ he said in a singsong voice. ‘I’ll play nicely with the other boys and girls.’

‘Oh, you’re impossible!’ she spluttered. ‘Sometimes I don’t know why I bother.’

‘Because I’m your lovable big brother?’ he suggested, tongue in cheek.

‘Exactly,’ she said, heaving a theatrical put-upon sigh. ‘But, seriously, David…’

‘Uh-oh! When she uses those dreaded words…!’ he teased. ‘It’s OK, Moggy. You can stop worrying about me, I’m a big boy now.’

‘I know that, but I don’t just want you to be successful, I want you to be happy, too,’ she said plaintively.

The words hung in the air between them for several seconds.

David knew exactly what she meant. Since she’d found happiness with Jake, she wanted everyone to be equally happy, but he knew that wasn’t possible for him. He’d had his chance and it had all gone horribly wrong.

‘It wasn’t your fault, David,’ she said softly in his ear, and he shivered at the accuracy of the way she’d followed his thoughts. Was he really that transparent?

‘That didn’t make any difference to the pain,’ he said gruffly, startled that he’d even admitted that much. In fact, it was probably the most he’d said to anyone about the loss that would haunt him for ever, and it would be the last. ‘So, if you don’t mind, little sister, I’ll concentrate on my new job and making the department second to none. That’ll make me happy.’

‘But you can’t take the department to bed for a cuddle,’ she retorted stubbornly. ‘David, you can’t cut yourself off from people like that. If you don’t want to talk to me, you could phone Mum and Dad. Calls to New Zealand may be expensive, but on your salary—’

‘No way!’ he exploded a second before he could put a guard on his tongue.

‘What?’ Maggie sounded startled. ‘But, David, you’ve always been so close to them—they moved halfway round the world to be near you, for heaven’s sake. Surely they’d be willing to listen if you wanted to talk?’

‘Too damn close!’ he muttered under his breath, then realised that he needed to make some sort of explanation.

‘Mum and Dad—at least, Mum—is one of the reasons why I left New Zealand. I had to get away, Maggie. She was still trying to smother me, the way she did when I was a kid. I’m thirty-four, for heaven’s sake! I don’t need my mother to bandage my grazed knees and kiss them better!’

Maggie giggled. ‘That’s an image to conjure with!’

‘Well, it’s not so funny when you’re on the receiving end of it,’ he pointed out grimly.

‘But, David—’ she began persuasively, but he’d had enough.

‘And you’d better watch your step,’ he warned. ‘If you’re going to start nagging, I’ll set Jake on you. I’ll tell him that he needs to keep a closer eye on you.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ she squealed in dismay. ‘I can hardly breathe as it is. If somebody from Obs and Gyn told him I needed watching he’d never let me out of his sight.’

‘That’s because you and the baby mean that much to him,’ he pointed out softly, the pain of memories tightening its grip around his throat and his heart. ‘Enjoy every precious minute of it, Moggy. Sleep tight.’

‘This isn’t working,’ Leah muttered as she stepped back from her little workbench in disgust.

Usually she could lose herself in the timeless art of repotting, trimming and training her precious bonsai trees, the cares of the day simply melting away as she put her concentration to each measured task. Tonight it just wasn’t happening and it was all his fault.

‘I might just as well be doing something useful, rather than risking spoiling one of you,’ she muttered as she collected and cleaned her tools and put them away. ‘And I know just the job.’

Decision made, it took mere moments before her hands were washed and she was reaching for her keys with a wry grimace. It would always seem wasteful to drive such a short distance, but it would be a very foolish woman who would wander about in the deep shadows between her flat and the hospital buildings in the dark.

Not long after that, she’d shut herself in the nighttime seclusion of the untidy office and was rolling up her sleeves in preparation for the final stage in her reorganisation of Donald’s filing system. The audit of all his files had been long overdue and a surprising number should already have been sent to the hospital archives. The remaining stacks were a far more manageable number for the available space in the filing cabinets.

She pulled open the first empty drawer and couldn’t help chuckling when she remembered the horrified expression on David ffrench’s face when he’d seen the chaos in the room. It had been sheer stubbornness mixed with her disappointment at losing out on the head of department job that had stopped her from explaining what was going on, and she felt a bit guilty about it now.

‘Guilty enough to lose some sleep to finish the job, but as I’ve already checked the contents of each one of these and put them all into alphabetical order, at least this part should be a breeze,’ she muttered as she prepared to slot each file into position. In a relatively short space of time she could have every last piece of paper filed neatly out of sight and she could push the last drawer shut with a warm feeling of achievement.