Her Playboy's Proposal

Her face flamed, clashing with that spectacular hair. ‘I—um—sorry. I’d just heard …’ She broke off. ‘Sorry. I’m putting my foot in it even more.’

‘Heard what?’ The words were out before he could stop them.

‘You have, um, a bit of a reputation for, um, dating a lot.’

He sighed. ‘Honestly, where the hospital grapevine’s concerned, you can’t win. If you don’t date, then either you’re gay or you’ve got some tragic past; and if you do date but make it clear you’re not looking for a serious relationship, then you’re at the mercy of everyone who wants to be the exception to the rule and you get called a heartbreaker. Not everyone’s desperate to pair off and settle down.’

‘I know.’ She bit her lip. ‘Sorry.’

But he noticed that she still hadn’t accepted his invitation to join him for lunch. Which stung. Was his reputation really that bad?

Pushing down his exasperation at the hospital grapevine, Harry gave Isla his sweetest smile. ‘OK, but I give you fair warning—if you try and eat a sandwich in here, you’ll be lucky to finish half of it before someone calls you to help out with something.’

‘I guess it’s all part of working in a hospital environment,’ she said lightly.

OK. He could take a hint. ‘See you later,’ he said.

In the canteen, Harry saw a crowd he recognised from the maternity ward and joined them. But all the while he was thinking about Isla. Why had their new nurse been so guarded? Was it just because of whatever nonsense she’d heard about him on the hospital grapevine? Or was she like that with everyone?

Just as Harry had predicted, Isla was halfway through her sandwich when someone came into the rest room and asked her to help out.

She didn’t mind—it was all part and parcel of being part of a team on the busiest department in the hospital.

But she did feel bad about the way she’d reacted to Harry the Heartbreaker. Especially after he’d explained why he’d asked her to lunch; it was just what she would’ve done herself if a new team member had joined the practice where she’d worked on the island. She’d been unfair to him. And, even though she’d apologised, she’d felt too awkward to join him and ended up making things worse. He probably thought she was standoffish and rude. But how could she explain without telling him about the past she was trying to put well and truly behind her?

It didn’t help that she found him so attractive.

Common sense told Isla that she needed to keep her distance. Apart from the fact that she’d seen a few working relationships turn really awkward and sour after the personal relationship had ended, she wasn’t in the market for a relationship anyway. Particularly with someone who had the reputation of being a charmer.

Professional only, she reminded herself. She’d apologise again for the sake for their working relationship. And that would be that.

Isla was rostered on cubicles again with Josie and Harry in the afternoon. Harry had just finished with a patient who’d been brought in with a degloving injury; when he came out of the cubicle, she asked quietly, ‘Can we have a quick word?’

‘Sure.’

Isla took a deep breath. ‘I wanted to apologise about earlier.’

He looked blank. ‘About what?’

‘I was rude and standoffish when you asked me to go to lunch with you.’

His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘Oh, that. Don’t worry about it. Blame it on the hospital grapevine blowing everything out of proportion.’

She felt the betraying colour seep into her face. This would be the easy option because there was some truth in it, but he’d been kind and he didn’t deserve it. ‘Should’ve known better because hospital gossip likes to embroider things,’ she said. Not just hospitals: any small community. Like an island off the coast of Scotland where everybody knew practically everything about everyone. And she of all people knew how it felt to be gossiped about unfairly. ‘I was rude. And I apologise. And maybe I can buy you a cup of tea later to make up for being so horrible.’

‘You weren’t horrible, just a bit … well, offish. Apology and offer of tea accepted. We can have Mr Kemp as our chaperone, if you like,’ he suggested.

How could he be so good-natured about it? It made her feel even more guilty. ‘I guess it’s a good excuse to see how he’s getting on.’

‘Great. It’s a non-date,’ Harry said.

And oh, that smile. It could light up a room. He really was gorgeous. And nice with it. And he had a sense of humour.

It would be all too easy to let Harry Gardiner tempt her.

But this nurse wasn’t for tempting.

They spent their afternoon break in the Acute Medical Unit with Mr Kemp.

‘Thank you for the tea,’ he said.

‘Our pleasure,’ Isla told him with a smile.

‘You won’t get into trouble for being here, will you?’ he checked.

This time, Harry smiled. ‘It’s our afternoon break. We’re allowed to take it outside our own ward if we want to.’

‘I’m such a trouble to you,’ Mr Kemp said.

‘It’s fine,’ Isla reassured him. ‘Has your daughter been able to visit, yet?’

‘She’s coming straight after work. I do feel bad about it. She’s had to get someone to pick up the kids.’

‘All the working mums I know are great at juggling,’ Harry said. ‘I bet you she’s picked up her friend’s children before now. It won’t be a problem. Everyone mucks in to help their friends. How are you feeling?’

‘Well enough to go home,’ Mr Kemp said. ‘If I was home, I wouldn’t be a burden to everyone.’

He was able to swallow again, Isla thought, but he definitely wasn’t quite ready to go home. And he’d be far more of a worry to his family if he was on his own in his flat. ‘I’m sure the team here will sort things out for you,’ she said brightly.

And she discovered that Lorraine had been absolutely on the ball about Harry being great with patients, because he somehow managed to find out that Mr Kemp loved dogs and got him chatting about that, distracting him from his worries about being a burden.

‘You were brilliant with Mr Kemp,’ she said on their way back to the Emergency Department.

Harry gave a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘Just chatting. And I noticed you were watching him drinking and assessing him.’

She nodded. ‘I’m happier with his swallowing, but I think he’ll be in for a couple more days yet. They’ll want to assess him for a water infection or a chest infection, in case that contributed to the fall as well as the stroke. And they’ll need to get social services in to look at his care plan as well as talk to his family. I’m guessing that he’s not so good with accepting help, and from what he said to us earlier it sounded as if his son-in-law doesn’t have much patience.’

‘Very true.’ Harry gave her a sidelong look. ‘Though I know a few people caught between caring for their kids and caring for their elderly parents. It can be hard to juggle, and—well, not all parents are easy.’

‘And some are brilliant.’ Isla’s own parents had been wonderful—they’d never believed Andrew’s accusations right from the start, and they’d encouraged her to retrain in Glasgow and then move to London and start again.

‘Yes, some are brilliant.’ Harry was looking curiously at her.

‘It takes all sorts to make a world,’ she said brightly. Why on earth hadn’t she moved him away from the subject of parents? Why had she had to open her mouth? ‘And we have patients to see.’

‘Yes, we do. Well, Sister McKenna.’ He opened the door for her. ‘Shall we?’

CHAPTER TWO

‘IS ISLA NOT coming tonight?’ Harry asked Lorraine at the bowling alley, keeping his tone casual.

‘No.’

Lorraine wasn’t forthcoming with a reason and Harry knew better than to ask, because it would be the quickest way to fuel gossip. Not that Lorraine was one to promote the hospital rumour mill, but she might let slip to Isla that she thought Harry might be interested in her, and that would make things awkward between them at work. She’d already got the wrong idea about him.

All the same, this was the third team night out in a fortnight that Isla had missed. On the ward, she was an excellent colleague; she was good with patients and relatives, quick to offer sensible suggestions to clinical problems, and she got on well with everyone. The fact that she didn’t come to any of the team nights out seemed odd, especially as she was new to the department and going out with the team would be a good chance for her to get to know her colleagues better.

Maybe Isla was a single parent or caring for an elderly relative, and it was difficult for her to arrange someone to sit with her child or whoever in the evenings. But he could hardly ask her about it without it seeming as if he was prying.

And he wasn’t; though he was intrigued by her. Then again, if it turned out that she was a single parent, that’d be a deal-breaker for him. He really didn’t want to be back in the position of having parental type responsibilities for a child. OK, so lightning rarely struck twice—but he didn’t want to take the risk.

‘Shame,’ he said lightly, and switched the conversation round to who was going to be in which team.

Two days later, it was one of the worst days in the department Harry had had in months. He, Isla and Josie were in Resus together, trying to save a motorcyclist who’d been involved in a head-on crash—but the man’s injuries were just too severe. Just when Harry had thought they were getting somewhere and the outcome might be bearable after all, the man had arrested and they just hadn’t been able to get him back.

‘I’m calling it,’ Harry said when his last attempt with the defibrillator produced no change. ‘It’s been twenty minutes now. He’s not responding. Is everyone agreed that we should stop?’

Isla and Josie both looked miserable, but voiced their agreement.

‘OK. Time of death, one fifty-three,’ he said softly, and pulled the sheet up to cover their patient’s face. ‘Thank you, team. You all worked really well.’

But it hadn’t been enough, and they all knew it.

‘OK. Once we’ve moved him out of Resus and cleaned him up, I’ll go and find out if Reception managed to get hold of a next of kin and if anyone’s here,’ he said.

‘If they have, I’ll come with you, if you like,’ Isla offered.

‘Thank you.’ He hated breaking bad news. Having someone there would make it a little easier. And maybe she’d know what to say when he ran out of words.

The motorcyclist, Jonathan Pryor, was only twenty-seven, and his next of kin were his parents. The receptionist had already sent a message to Resus that Jonathan’s mum was waiting in the relatives’ room.

‘I hate this bit so much,’ he said softly as he and Isla walked towards the relatives’ room.

‘We did everything we possibly could,’ she reminded him.

‘I know.’ It didn’t make him feel any better. But the sympathy in her blue, blue eyes made his heart feel just a fraction less empty.

Mrs Pryor looked up hopefully as they knocked on the door and walked in. ‘Jonathan? He’s all right? He’s out of Theatre or whatever and I can go and see him?’

Harry could see the very second that she realised the horrible truth—that her son was very far from being all right—and her face crumpled.

‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Pryor,’ he said softly, taking her hand. ‘We did everything we could to save him, but he arrested on the table—he had a heart attack, and we just couldn’t get him back.’

Sobs racked her body. ‘I always hated him riding that wretched motorcycle. I worried myself sick every time he went out on it because I knew that something like this would happen. I can’t bear it.’ Her voice was a wail of distress. ‘And now I’ll never see him again. My boy. My little boy.’

Harry knew there was nothing he could do or say to make this better. He just sat down next to Mrs Pryor and kept holding her hand, letting her talk about her son.

Isla went to the vending machine. Harry knew without having to ask that she was making a cup of hot, sweet tea for Mrs Pryor. He could’ve done with one himself, but he wasn’t going to be that selfish. The only thing he could do now for his patient was to comfort his grieving mother.

‘Thank you, but I don’t want it,’ Mrs Pryor said when Isla offered her the paper cup. ‘It won’t bring my son back.’

‘I know,’ Isla said gently, ‘but you’ve just had a horrible shock and this will help. Just a little bit, but it will help.’

Mrs Pryor looked as if she didn’t believe the nurse, but she took the paper cup and sipped from it.

‘Is there anyone we can call for you?’ Harry asked.

‘My—my husband.’ She shook her head blankly. ‘Oh, God. How am I going to tell him?’

‘I can do that for you,’ Harry said gently. ‘It might be easier on both of you if I tell him.’ Even though he hated breaking bad news.

Mrs Pryor dragged in a breath. ‘All right—thank you.’

‘And you can come and see Jonathan whenever you feel ready,’ Isla said. ‘I’ll come with you, and you can spend some time alone with him, too. I can call the hospital chaplain to come and see you, if you’d like me to.’

Mrs Pryor shook her head. ‘I’ve never been the religious type. Talking to the chaplain’s not going to help. It’s not going to bring Jonathan back, is it?”

‘I understand,’ Isla said, ‘but if you change your mind just tell me. Anything we can do to help, we will.’

‘He was only twenty-seven. That’s way too young to die.’ Mrs Pryor shut her eyes very tightly. ‘And that’s a stupid thing to say. I know children younger than that get killed in accidents every day.’

Yeah, Harry thought. Or, if not killed, left with life-changing injuries, even if they weren’t picked up at first. His own little sister was proof of that. He pushed the thought and the guilt away. Not now. He needed to concentrate on his patient’s bereaved mother.

‘It’s just … you never think it’s going to happen to your own. You hope and you pray it never will.’ She sighed. ‘I know he was a grown man, but he’ll always be my little boy.’

Harry went out to his office to call Mr Pryor to break the bad news, while Isla took over his job of holding Mrs Pryor’s hand and letting her talk. On the way to his office, Harry asked one of the team to clean Jonathan’s face and prepare him so his parents wouldn’t have to see the full damage caused to their son by the crash. And then he went back to the relatives’ room to join Isla and Mrs Pryor, staying there until Mr Pryor arrived, twenty minutes later. The Pryors clung together in their grief, clearly having trouble taking it all in. But finally, Mr Pryor asked brokenly, ‘Can we see him?’

‘Of course,’ Harry said.

He and Isla took the Pryors through to the side room where Jonathan’s body had been taken so they could see their son in private. They stayed for a few minutes in case the Pryors had any questions; then Isla caught Harry’s eye and he gave the tiniest nod of agreement, knowing what she was going to say.

Then Isla said gently to the Pryors, ‘We’ll be just outside if you need us for anything.’

‘Thank you,’ Mrs Pryor said, her voice full of tears.

Outside the side room, Isla said to Harry, ‘I’ll finish up here—you’ll be needed back in Resus.’

‘Are you sure?’ he asked. He was needed back in Resus; but at the same time he didn’t think it was fair to leave Isla to deal with grieving parents all on her own.

She nodded. ‘I’m sure.’

He reached out and squeezed her hand, trying to ignore the tingle that spread through his skin at her touch—now really wasn’t an appropriate time. ‘Thank you. You were brilliant. And even though I know you’re more than capable of answering any questions the Pryors might have, if you need backup or want me to come and talk to them about anything, you know where to find me.’

‘Yes. Those poor people,’ she said softly.

‘This is the bit of our job I really wish didn’t exist,’ Harry said.

‘I know. But it does, and we have to do our best.’ She squeezed his hand back, and loosened it. ‘Off you go.’

He wrote up the paperwork, and headed back to Resus. To his relief, the next case was one that he could actually fix. The patient had collapsed, and all the tests showed Harry that it was a case of undiagnosed diabetes. The patient was in diabetic ketoacidosis; Harry was able to start treatment, and then explain to the patient’s very relieved wife that her husband would be fine but they’d need to see a specialist about diabetes and learn how to monitor his blood sugar, plus in future they’d have to keep an eye on his diet to suit his medical condition.

Mid-afternoon, Harry actually had a chance to take his break. He hadn’t seen Isla back in Resus since leaving her with the Pryors, so he went in search of her; he discovered that she was doing paperwork.

‘Hey. I’m pulling rank,’ he said.

She looked up. ‘What?’

‘Right now, I really need some cake. And I think, after the day you’ve had, so do you. So I prescribe the hospital canteen for both of us.’

‘What about Josie?’

Harry smiled. ‘She’s already had her break and is in cubicles right now, but I’m going to bring her some cake back. You can help me pick what she’d like.’

For a moment, he thought Isla was going to balk at being alone with him; then she smiled. ‘Thanks. I’d like that.’

‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘We have fifteen minutes. Which is just about enough time to walk to the canteen, grab cake, and chuck back a mug of coffee.’

She rolled her eyes, but stood up to join him.

‘How were the Pryors?’ he asked softly when they were sitting at the table in the canteen with a massive slice of carrot cake and a mug of good, strong coffee each.

‘Devastated,’ she said. ‘But they got to spend time with their son and I explained that he didn’t suffer in Resus—that the end was quick.’

‘Yeah,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I hate cases like that. The guy still had his whole life before him.’ And something else had been bugging him. ‘He was only five years younger than I am.’ The exact same age as one of his siblings. And he’d had to fight the urge to text every single one of his siblings who was old enough to drive to say that they were never, ever, ever to ride a motorbike.

‘He was three years younger than me,’ Isla said.

It was first time she’d offered any personal information, and it encouraged him enough to say, ‘You were brilliant with the Pryors and I really appreciate it. I assume you had a fair bit of experience with bereaved relatives when you worked in your last emergency department?’

‘Actually, no.’

He blinked at her. ‘How come?’

‘I wasn’t in an emergency department, as such—I was a nurse practitioner in a GP surgery. I retrained in Glasgow and then came here,’ she said.

Something else he hadn’t known about her. ‘You retrained to give you better opportunities for promotion?’ he asked.

‘Something like that.’

She was clearly regretting sharing as much as she had, and he could tell that she was giving him back-off signals. OK. He’d take the hint. He smiled at her. ‘Sorry. We’re a nosey bunch at the London Victoria—and I talk way too much. Blame it on the sugar rush from the cake.’

‘And on having a rough day,’ she added. ‘So you’ve always worked in the emergency department?’

‘Pretty much. I trained in London; I did my foundation years here, with stints in Paediatrics and Gastroenterology.’ Because of what had happened to Tasha, his first choice had been Paediatrics. He’d been so sure that it was his future. ‘But, as soon as I started in the Emergency Department, I knew I’d found the right place for me. So I stayed and I worked my way up,’ he said.

‘Thirty-two’s not that old for a special reg,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Though I’ve already seen for myself that you’re good at what you do.’

Funny how much her words warmed him. He inclined his head briefly. ‘Thank you, kind madam.’

‘It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. It was a statement of fact,’ she said crisply.

He grinned. ‘I like you, Isla. You’re good for my ego. Keeping it in check.’

She actually smiled back, and his heart missed a beat. When she smiled, she really was beautiful.

‘I’ve known worse egos in my time,’ she said.

‘And you gave them just as short shrift?’

‘Something like that.’

He looked at her. ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘That depends,’ she said.

‘Why haven’t you come to any of the departmental nights out?’

‘Because they’re not really my thing,’ she said.

‘So you don’t like ten-pin bowling, pub quizzes or pizza.’ He paused. ‘What kind of things do you like, Isla?’

‘Why?’

‘Because you’ve only been at the London Victoria for a couple of weeks, you’ve told me that you retrained to come here, and I’m assuming that you don’t really know anyone around here. It must be a bit lonely.’

Yes, she was lonely. She still missed her family and her friends in the Western Isles hugely. And, even though she was trying to put her past behind her, part of her worried about socialising with her new colleagues. It would be too easy to let something slip. And then their reaction to her might change. Some would pity her; others would think there was no smoke without fire. And neither reaction was one she wanted to face.

She didn’t think Harry was asking her out—he’d already made it clear he thought his reputation wasn’t deserved—but it wouldn’t hurt to make things clear. ‘You’re right—I don’t know many people in London,’ she said softly. ‘And I could use a friend. Just a friend,’ she added. ‘Because I’m concentrating on my career right now.’

‘That works for me,’ Harry said. ‘So can we be friends?’

‘I’d like that,’ she said. Even if his smile did make her weak at the knees. Friendship was all she was prepared to offer.

‘Friends,’ he said, and reached over to shake her hand.

And Isla really had to ignore the tingle that went through her at the touch of his skin. Nothing was going to happen between them. They were colleagues—about to be friends—and that was all.

CHAPTER THREE

WHEN ISLA WENT into the staffroom that morning for a mug of tea, Harry was the only one there. He was staring into his mug of coffee as if he was trying to lose himself in it. She knew that feeling well—she’d been there herself only a few months ago, when her life had turned into a living nightmare—and her heart went out to him.

‘Tough shift so far?’ she asked, gently placing her hand on his arm for a moment.

‘No—yes,’ he admitted. Then he grimaced. ‘Never mind. Forget I said anything.’

It wasn’t like Harry Gardiner to be brusque. The doctor she’d got to know over the last month was full of smiles, always seeing the good in the world.

He also hadn’t quite lived up to his heartbreaker reputation, because since Isla had known Harry he hadn’t actually dated anyone. He’d even turned down a couple of offers, which was hardly the act of the Lothario that the hospital rumour mill made him out to be. Maybe he’d told her the truth when he’d said he wasn’t a heartbreaker.

Right now, something had clearly upset him. Though she understood about keeping things to yourself. Since the day that Andrew Gillespie had made that awful accusation and her fiancé had actually believed him, she’d done the same. Keeping your feelings to yourself was the safest way. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘But if you want to talk, you know where I am.’

‘Thanks.’ But Harry still seemed sunk in the depths of gloom. He was still serious when he was working in minors with her, not even summoning up his store of terrible jokes to distract a little boy whose knee he had to suture after Isla had cleaned up the bad cut.

By mid-afternoon, she was really worried about him. To the point of being bossy. ‘Right. I’m pulling rank,’ she said. ‘You need cake, so I’m dragging you off to the canteen.’

‘Yes, Sister McKenna,’ he said. But his eyes were dull rather than gleaming with amusement. And that worried her even more.