Kitabı oku: «Hot-Shot Doc, Christmas Bride»

Chapter One

‘THANKS for the lift, Tom. You’re an absolute lifesaver.’ Alison gave her neighbour a friendly wave and watched him drive away before hotfooting it into the hospital’s A&E department.

What a way to start the day. She’d had nothing but trouble with the car for the last week, and then today, when she’d tried to start the engine, it had simply spluttered and died. It had been plain from that point that she was going to be late for her shift. Only by a few minutes, but of all the days to break her perfect record it had to be this one—when the new boss was due to put in an appearance.

No one seemed to know very much about him—except that he’d been brought in at the last minute after one of the consultants had been taken ill—and from what she had heard he was only going to be here for two days a week. What kind of job was that? And what did he do for the rest of the time? The only other thing she knew about him was that he was a friend of one of the managers.

The doors of the unit swished open and she hurried along the corridor, bypassing Reception and heading towards the doctors’ restroom. If she could just slip off her jacket and sling her stethoscope around her neck before she made an appearance in the unit, perhaps he would be none the wiser.

‘Whoa…steady on there. Where’s the fire?’

She skidded to a halt and narrowly missed running headlong into the man who suddenly appeared in her path. As it was, her palms grappled with his chest as she sought to stop the collision, and at the same time a pair of large male hands reached out as though to steady her, circling her upper arms in a light but firm grip. The holdall that she carried over her shoulder swung forward with the momentum, and the man let out a soft ‘oomph’ as the weight of it slammed into his midriff.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she managed, sucking air into her lungs. Her fingers scrambled against fine-quality worsted material, and she realised that he was wearing a suit—dark grey and beautifully tailored. That was not a good sign, given that most of the male doctors of her acquaintance went around in rolled up shirtsleeves and trousers.

‘I didn’t see you,’ she said, lifting her gaze. ‘You seemed to come out of nowhere.’ The faint note of accusation hung on the air as she tried to work out whether he had emerged from the side corridor or the supplies cupboard. What on earth would this man be doing in either place? Only staff had access to these areas.

Then she looked at him properly for the first time, and his features came into sharp focus—all clean, angular lines, and crisp black hair, with grey eyes that appeared to look deep down into her soul. The breath seemed to leave her all over again. He was altogether striking. The kind of man who, once seen, was never forgotten.

‘Ah…’ he murmured. ‘That would be me in my ghostly guise—stalking the corridors of the hospital in wait for the unwary. It seems I struck lucky this time.’

She laughed. ‘Maybe. Though from the looks of you, you’re anything but ethereal. Anyway, coming into contact with all that hard muscle and bone was a dead giveaway.’ She studied him once again, her long, honey-blonde hair swirling about her shoulders with the upward tilt of her head. ‘It’s all right for you to let go of me now,’ she hastily reassured him. ‘I’m not running from a fire, but I am anxious to go on duty before anyone realises that I should have been here five minutes ago.’ She frowned. ‘I do hope you’re not my new boss in A&E. I really wanted to show him my best side.’

He gave a wry smile, looking her over, his gaze taking in her softly curving figure outlined by the cashmere top and gently flowing skirt that she was wearing. ‘I think you may have already done that,’ he murmured, a soft gleam in his eyes causing warm colour to rush into her cheeks.

Her mouth dropped open a fraction. Had she heard that right? She decided to ignore the remark. Thinking about it would have made her far too hot and bothered.

‘Oh, dear. That has to mean that you’re the new man,’ she ventured after a moment or two, her brow knotting. ‘What are you doing out here in the corridor? Shouldn’t you be in A&E, tending to the sick and injured?’

Slowly he released her, letting his hands fall to his sides. ‘I dare say I could ask the same of you,’ he countered. ‘But in the interests of good working relationships I think we’ll let that go for the moment. I’m sure you must have good reason for flying in here like a bullet from a gun.’

He looked her over, as though he was making sure she was still all in one piece.

‘As for myself,’ he added, ‘yes, I’m the new locum. And as to what I’m doing here in the corridor…I thought it would be a good idea to acquaint myself with the lie of the land and get to know the people that I’ll be working with. I must say I wasn’t expecting it to happen quite this way, but here in A&E we have to be ready for any eventuality, don’t we?’

‘I suppose we do.’ A wave of heat flowed along her cheeks. Had she really just asked her new boss what he was doing outside A&E? ‘So, you’ll be working here with us while Dr Meadows recovers from his heart attack?’

‘That’s right. I’m Josh Bentley. And you are…?’

‘Alison Randall, senior house officer.’ She winced, absorbing the fact that her worst fears had come to fruition. It seemed there was no end to what could go wrong today. How was she going to extract herself from this awkward situation? ‘We were all shocked when Steven was taken ill,’ she said. ‘He’s a lovely man…exceptional…irreplaceable…no one could possibly match up to him. He worked so hard, and he was so good with the patients.’

‘I can see that I have a lot to live up to,’ Josh said in a faintly whimsical tone. ‘I promise you I’ll do my best to fill his shoes.’

She groaned inwardly. Having her foot in her mouth was getting to be a habit. ‘I didn’t mean to imply that you wouldn’t be able to do that.’ She straightened her shoulders. ‘And about my being late—you have to understand I’m not usually tardy. My car wouldn’t start this morning. I had to beg a lift off my neighbour.’

He nodded, as though he had no problem with that, and then he turned his gaze to her holdall. ‘What’s all this, then? Are you planning on going away somewhere after work? Judging from the weight of it, you’ve packed for the long-term.’

She smiled as she shook her head. ‘No, nothing like that. I brought in some goodies for the cheque presentation ceremony later…just a few nibbles for people to snack on. I wasn’t sure whether anybody would have thought to make an occasion of it, and it occurred to me that we should do something to make it special. I expect you’ll be making a short speech, won’t you?’

He frowned. ‘I’m afraid you’ve lost me there. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, dear.’ She floundered for a moment. ‘I was sure Management would have filled you in. They usually arrange for the press to be on hand—all in aid of good relations with the public and so on.’ She ran a hand through her silky hair in a distracted fashion, conscious of time running away with her. ‘I ought to drop off this holdall in the doctors’ restroom and let it be known that I’m on duty.’

He nodded, and walked with her along the corridor. ‘Perhaps you should tell me about this presentation? There’s nothing in the diary, and my secretary doesn’t come in until this afternoon. What’s it all about?’

‘Fund-raising. A group of people do their best to collect funds for the hospital—in particular the A&E unit. Of course most of the money they raise goes towards buying equipment for the hospital. Every year in December they drop by to present us with a cheque. Partly so that we can start arranging Christmas festivities for the patients. They bring presents for the children who will be staying in hospital over Christmas, either on the paediatric wards or in A&E, or on the observation ward next to A&E. Of course we don’t give them out until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.’

He was still frowning. ‘Isn’t it a bit early for this kind of thing?’

She looked at him askance. ‘Hardly. It takes time to organise things around Christmas…decorations, presents, food. And sometimes we arrange a short entertainment or radio show. We can’t throw it all together in a couple of days, you know, and if we have a pantomime group coming to do a brief production we need to pay them an advance.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t see why everyone has to make such a fuss around the occasion. The world seems to go crazy at this time of year. It amazes me that the shops are full of Christmas stuff from as early as the end of September. Why we have to suffer three months or more of hype is beyond me.’

‘Hype?’ She sent him a doubtful look. Where was his sense of Christmas cheer? Was he one of those dour people who were averse to celebrations? ‘Well, that’s the way it is. Personally, I appreciate having plenty of time to make preparations—and I love the atmosphere in town at this time of year, with everyone crowding out the stores, looking for gifts for their loved ones.’

His expression was sceptical. ‘You’re a sentimentalist.’

‘So what if I am?’ She lifted a finely arched brow. ‘I see nothing wrong with that, and I’m certainly not alone in feeling that way.’ She straightened her shoulders and moved on towards the doctors’ room. If he had a problem with the festive season that was his loss, and she wasn’t going to argue the point.

‘Christmas is my favourite time of year, when all the family gets together.’ She smiled, thinking about it. ‘My grandparents live about fifty miles away from here, but they’re coming over to the Pennines to spend the holiday with us, and my brother will be home from university.’

‘Really? It sounds as though you have a good time to look forward to. I can’t say I’m that enthusiastic about the season for myself.’ He frowned. ‘So, what’s the plan for this cheque presentation?’

She studied him for a moment or two. How could anyone not enjoy this special time of year? Was there something more to his indifference than a simple aversion to hype?

‘Well, Dr Meadows…Steve…always said a few words on these occasions. And since you’re the one in charge here today, I imagine they’ll expect you to be on hand if it’s at all possible.’ She added a warning note. ‘We do try to show how much we appreciate all their hard work. They take on all sorts of fund-raising activities for us throughout the year, and they bring a lot of good feeling into the hospital.’

He pushed open the door of the doctors’ lounge and sent her a thoughtful glance. ‘I’m glad you told me about this. What time are they likely to arrive?’

‘Around lunchtime, I would imagine…perhaps twelve-thirty. I expect one of the managers will deal with the actual proceedings.’ She began to empty the contents of her holdall on to the table, and a variety of plastic containers filled with pastries spilled out. ‘Perhaps I’d better ask one of the desk clerks if she can find time to put the food out in Reception.’ She glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘I hope no one in A&E is desperately in need of attention from me right now.’

‘Only a youth with a badly gashed hand. One of the nurses will tend to him in the first instance, but as soon as she’s cleaned the wound it will need suturing. After that there are half a dozen walking wounded who could do with your help.’

‘Oh, right.’ She stacked the containers neatly on the table and then said, ‘Again, I’m sorry about being late. My neighbour’s going to have a look at the car for me to see if he can figure out what’s gone wrong with it. He said it sounded as though there was a problem with the fuel pump.’ She shrugged out of her jacket and hung it up on a hook at the side of the room, before going in search of her stethoscope. She found it in her locker, along with other bits and pieces that she pushed into the deep pocket of her skirt.

‘Is your neighbour a mechanic, then?’ Josh asked.

Alison shook her head, sending her hair into a flurry of activity. His gaze followed the ripple of silk before settling on her features once more.

‘No,’ she said, ‘but he can turn his hand to most things. He fixed the plumbing when it went wrong, and then he looked at the washing machine when it refused to work. If we waited for the landlord to sort things out we’d still be waiting now.’

‘We?’

‘My flatmate and I…Katie. She’s a senior house officer, too, working with me in A&E.’

‘I see.’ He nodded. ‘I take it she made her own arrangements for coming in here today?’

‘That’s right. She had an early case conference to attend, so she was gone before I realised I had a problem.’

‘Hmm.’ He absorbed that. ‘Wouldn’t it have been better to have a garage mechanic look over your car? What if your neighbour can’t fix it for you?’

She started towards the door. ‘Well, then I suppose I’ll have to do that.’ She guessed he was trying to make sure that her lateness wasn’t going to be a frequent occurrence. ‘It would be unfortunate, though, because it will probably cost me an arm and a leg if I have to go to a garage, whereas this way I can give Tom a realistic amount of money for his time and trouble—that will give him a boost and help him to get back on his feet, and I’ll benefit at the same time.’

‘Does he need a boost?’ They walked together towards A&E. ‘Is your neighbour in trouble of some sort?’ Josh’s brows had come together in a dark line. Clearly he was having a problem coming to terms with her lifestyle.

‘I’d say so. He’s an engineer, but he found himself out of work when the company he worked for folded, and then he’s had difficulty getting another job…which in turn means that he can’t afford to pay the mortgage, and now the building society is beginning to make nasty rumbling noises about repossession. None of that bodes very well for a happy Christmas, does it?’

‘It doesn’t bode very well at any time of the year,’ he commented.

They had only just set foot inside the A&E unit when his bleeper went off. He glanced briefly at the displayed message. ‘That doesn’t sound like good news,’ he murmured. ‘There’s been an accident on the motorway. I guess things are going to become hectic around here very soon. Alison—I want you to stay with me.’

He moved away then, and went to organise the rest of the staff, directing who was to do what before striding towards the ambulance bay. Alison quickly followed him.

‘Twenty-five-year-old male,’ the paramedic reported, wheeling a casualty towards the resuscitation room. ‘Had to be extricated from his car. His blood pressure’s low and he has a broken leg and arm. He also has chest and abdominal pain.’

‘Thanks.’ Josh took control as the patient’s condition deteriorated even further. He began to insert a tube into the patient’s throat, connecting it to the oxygen delivery system. ‘Okay, let’s get an intravenous line in and hook him up to the monitors.’ He made a hasty but thorough examination of the patient, and then ordered a chest X-ray, skeletal survey and a CT scan of the head, thorax and abdomen.

‘We’ve multiple injuries here,’ he said, showing Alison the results a short time later. ‘Apart from the chest injury he has fractures to his right arm and leg and a liver laceration. The broken bones have been splinted, so we’ll concentrate on checking for abdominal injury.’

‘His abdomen is slowly enlarging,’ Alison pointed out. ‘That means there must be some internal bleeding. We need to get him up to Theatre.’

He nodded. ‘Make the arrangements. I’ll do an emergency laparotomy to see what’s going on in there.’

Just a few minutes later, after they had both scrubbed in, Josh began to operate on the patient. Alison assisted by retracting the edges of the incision he made into the patient’s abdomen. ‘He’s bleeding from the hepatic vein,’ she said urgently.

Josh was already tending to it. ‘I’ll do a resection of the liver, but I’m afraid I’ll have to remove the gall bladder.’ All the time he was speaking he was cauterising the tissues that were bleeding and checking for other damage. Alison was in awe of the way he worked. Every action was careful, precise, and no time was wasted. After a while, though, he let out a deep breath and said, ‘That’s it, I believe. We can close him up now. Would you do that for me, Alison?’

She nodded and prepared to suture the wound. This man had opened her eyes to what a skilled surgeon was capable of. ‘What are we going to do about his chest injury?’

‘Nothing for the moment. We’ll keep an eye on things, but let’s make sure his condition is stabilised before we do anything else.’ He thanked the team who had assisted him and pulled off his surgical gloves, dropping them into a bin. ‘I’ll go and see how the other casualties are doing.’

It was some time later, after the mayhem finally subsided in A&E, that she was able to go along to the minor injuries treatment room to see the teenager who had hurt his hand.

He was a pale-looking youth, around sixteen years of age, she guessed, and even though he was lying on a bed, leaning back against the pillows, she could see that he was tall and lanky, with a shock of dark hair and strangely haunted, unhappy grey eyes. There was a bruise beginning to form around the lower edge of his jaw, as though he had been punched.

‘Rees, I’m so sorry you’ve had to wait for such a long time,’ she told him. ‘We’ve been busy looking after some people who were injured in a road traffic accident.’

‘That’s all right,’ the youngster said. ‘The nurse let me know what was happening. I didn’t mind waiting.’

‘That’s good.’ She smiled at him. ‘There aren’t many people around here who say that.’ She glanced around the empty room. ‘Are your parents waiting for you somewhere?’

‘No.’ He looked anxious for a moment, and then started to cough—a deep, chesty cough that racked his whole body for a second or two. ‘Someone who was passing by brought me in. I said I’d be all right, but she insisted on bringing me here. She said she wanted to wait with me, but she had to go to work.’

‘Would you like me to get in touch with your parents?’

‘No…thanks. They don’t need to know I’m here.’ The words came out abruptly, in a staccato manner, causing Alison to wonder why he was so anxious at the mention of them. She sat down beside his bed and began to carefully inspect his hand. There was a ragged, deep gash across his palm. ‘So how did this happen?’

‘I stumbled over some rough ground. I was a bit dizzy and I wasn’t really looking where I was going. I started to fall and put out a hand to protect myself, but there was broken glass on the verge and that’s how I cut myself.’

She nodded, not quite sure whether or not she believed him. The edges of the wound were deep, as though his hand had been rammed by a broken bottle. According to his notes, the woman who had brought him in had said she’d found him wandering in the street, looking dazed. ‘It looks nasty, doesn’t it? Have you any idea what caused the dizziness?’

He shrugged. ‘No, not really.’ He coughed again.

‘Everything all right in here?’ Josh put his head around the door, and Alison wondered if he had come to check up on her. Perhaps he was looking in on all the A&E staff?

‘We’re fine,’ she said.

Josh nodded, and looked as though he intended to hang around for a while. She would have preferred he didn’t do that. How was Rees going to open up to her with Josh watching over them?

‘Your trauma patient is still in recovery,’ she told him. ‘Last I heard, he wasn’t doing too well.’

‘I know. I’m going to do an aortogram. I suspect there’s something wrong with the heart vessel.’

Perhaps he realised that she didn’t want him around. His glance went from her to Rees, and then he nodded towards the boy and said, ‘You’re in good hands.’

Josh left, and Alison let out a slow, soft breath. She went back to checking Rees’s neurological reflexes.

‘Everything seems to be okay on that score,’ she said quietly, ‘although your blood pressure is a bit low. Did you have anything to eat before you went out this morning?’

He shook his head, and was overcome once more by a bout of chesty coughing that left him exhausted. No wonder he hadn’t complained about being kept waiting. She guessed he was probably glad of the chance to sit and rest somewhere warm and comfortable for a few hours.

Something about him brought out all her tender instincts, and she wasn’t exactly sure why. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he looked a lot like her brother had at that age. Anyway, she felt there was more to his story than met the eye.

‘This is a pretty deep cut,’ she said, examining the wound. ‘I don’t think I can follow the usual procedure and leave it open while we wait to see if there is any infection brewing. It will need several stitches—but I’ll give you an injection of anaesthetic first, of course. We’d better make sure that you have an up-to-date tetanus jab as well.’

‘Okay.’

‘Did this happen on the way to school?’ she asked conversationally as she set about preparing the anaesthetic.

‘No. I left school in the summer.’

‘On the way to work, then?’ she murmured.

He shook his head. ‘I don’t have a job yet. I’ve been trying to find one.’

It was becoming clear that she wasn’t going to make any headway on that score, so she contented herself with explaining the procedure to him. ‘I’m going to inject anaesthetic into the wound,’ she said softly. ‘I’m afraid it will sting a little to begin with, but then gradually the area should become numb. When it’s completely anaesthetised I’ll start to put in the sutures.’

He didn’t say anything, but kept up a stoic expression throughout the procedure, and she wondered what might have happened to him in his young life that made him appear so withdrawn and world-weary.

‘There—that’s the worst bit over with,’ she said a short time later. ‘We’ll wait a moment longer for it to take effect.’

She studied his brooding features for a second or two. He had refused to give an address to the desk clerk, and that worried her. What was he trying to hide?

‘That’s a nasty bruise to your jaw,’ she murmured.

‘It’s nothing,’ he said, his voice gruff.

It was the kind of response she was beginning to expect. Coupled with the lack of information about his home or his parents, she couldn’t help wondering if he was a runaway. Of course at sixteen he wasn’t legally any concern of the authorities, but it worried her that he was here alone and injured, apparently with no relative for them to contact.

‘I’ll make a start on the stitches now,’ she murmured. ‘Can you feel anything when I press here—or there?’

‘No, it’s okay.’

She concentrated on her work for the next few minutes. ‘I’ve noticed that you have a nasty cough,’ she said after a while. ‘When I’ve finished here, I think it would be a good idea if I run the stethoscope over your chest, to see what’s going on in your lungs. I’ll take your temperature as well—if that’s all right with you?’

He frowned. ‘What will you do if you find out there’s something wrong?’

‘It depends on what I find. If there’s an infection you might need to take a course of antibiotics. I can give you a prescription for those, and our pharmacy will dispense them for you.’

He nodded. ‘All right.’

She finished suturing his hand and began to clear away the equipment she had used. While she was doing that a commotion started up, somewhere outside the treatment room, and a hum of deep male voices reverberated through the department.

Rees was looking anxious again, and she told him, ‘That’ll be members of the bikers’ club, come to present the hospital with a cheque from their fund-raising efforts. They’ve done that ever since we treated some of their friends here a few years back. As soon as I’ve examined your chest, I’d better go and make sure they’re being looked after.’

There were a lot of crackles and signs of infection coming from his lungs, she discovered. ‘It sounds as though you have bronchitis,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll ask the nurse to take you along to X-ray as soon as she’s put a dressing on your hand. That way we’ll know for certain what’s going on in your lungs.’ She studied him closely. ‘I’ll be back to see you in a while, when I have the results. All you need to do is sit back and take it easy. Are you happy to go along with that?’

He seemed to relax. ‘Yes, that’s okay.’

She studied his pale, tired features. What had happened to this boy? Had he been living rough on the streets? It was cold outside at this time of year and he only had a thin jacket. He looked clean enough, though, and it was possible he had been staying with a friend. Perhaps she was letting her imagination run away with her?

Still, her instincts were urging her to do what she could to help him out. ‘I brought some food in with me, to serve to the people who are here for the ceremony…Would you like something to eat after your X-ray? I’ll see if we can rustle up a cup of tea for you, too, while we’re about it.’

His face brightened for the first time since she had gone to see him. ‘Yes, please…if that would be all right?’

‘Of course it will. I’ll find someone to bring a tray over to you.’

She hurried away. No doubt Josh was still tending to his patients, and she knew that the specialist registrar was busy in theatre, so unless someone from Management had put in an appearance at the presentation, the bikers were being left to their own devices—and that wouldn’t do at all.

As things turned out, though, she needn’t have worried. The chief administrator was there in Reception, and all due ceremony was being given to the burly bikers who had turned up en masse. A few bemused patients looked on from the waiting room, curious to know what was going on. And a man from the local newspaper was there, taking photos as the manager accepted a cheque from the leader of the bikers’ group—a huge fellow, clad in leather biker’s gear and sporting a tangle of wild black hair.

Alison asked one of the ward assistants if she would take a tray of food and a cup of tea to Rees in the treatment room, and then went to watch the proceedings.

Josh, against all the odds, put in an appearance a short time later, stepping up to the front of Reception in order to address the gathering of people. He began by thanking the bikers for their generous donation, and assured them that it would be put to good use.

The hospital managers, he said, would be exhilarated to know that a good portion of this money would be available for new diagnostic equipment, and when Christmas came around any children unfortunate enough to be in hospital at that time would surely find to their joy that Santa, after searching their homes in vain, had after all managed to discover their whereabouts. He brought chuckles from the crowd, and Alison couldn’t help thinking that his impromptu speech was better than anything she had imagined it might be.

Bringing his speech to a close, he smiled, an action that lit up his features in a way that made Alison go unexpectedly weak at the knees. Standing next to her, Katie, her flatmate, said in a low voice, ‘Oh, wow. That man is way too good-looking. How can any of us be expected to work at our best with him around? It’s very difficult to concentrate when you’re running a fever.’

Alison giggled softly. ‘I’m with you on that one. Of course you could always plead that you need his personal attention…the touch of his cool hand on your brow.’

‘Oh, don’t…don’t say that.’ Katie’s green eyes sparkled, and she wafted a hand by her face as though to fan cool air over her hot cheeks. ‘A hand on my brow would hardly do it. Now you have me imagining all sorts of things—long, sensual sponge baths and the like. Oh, my…what am I going to do? I’ll be fit for nothing for the rest of the day, and I have patients waiting to be seen.’

By now they were both chuckling, and Alison was doing her best to sober up when she became aware of Josh coming towards them.

‘Something amusing, ladies?’ he enquired. ‘Anything that you would care to share with me?’

Katie made a strange gulping sound and covered her mouth with her hand, lowering her head so that the curtain of her chestnut-coloured hair hid her features. Alison aimed a discreet tap of her foot against Katie’s leg to encourage her to restrain herself.

How on earth was she supposed to answer him? She felt as though she had been well and truly left in the lurch.