The Surgeon's Convenient Husband

He was crazy.

So he hadn’t expected his mother to come down to San Diego. And he definitely hadn’t expected his mother to offer him a job.

When his mother had offered him a chance to work on an elite trauma team—like working on the front line, but without enemy fire—he’d felt a faint glimmer of hope again. It had crushed him completely when he’d been injured and unable to go back to the front line, and working in a military hospital was something he didn’t want to do. He liked to be out in the field, saving lives.

Of course when he’d heard that the leader of this team of trauma surgeons, paramedics and nurses was none other than his fake wife, he’d almost thought about backing down. He knew Ruby wouldn’t like it.

He didn’t know much about her, because she never let anyone in, but he admired her tenacity—which was why he’d proposed to her. He’d wanted her to make her dream become a reality and he’d valued their work friendship.

It hadn’t hurt, either, that Aran had always thought she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on, and for one brief moment in that time just after they were married—just before he shipped out—he’d wished that he could get to know her better. Wished he had more time to bring down those walls of hers.

He had been hoping that their years apart would have changed the attraction he felt for her. Only they hadn’t. She was just as beautiful and feisty as ever. With those dark eyes that seemed to pierce right through his soul, her pink full lips, and the black hair that was really a rich dark brown and shot through with hues of auburn.

But she was unobtainable to him, and he knew that a relationship with a woman so connected to her work and to the north would never work out for him.

Now he was really wishing he had said no to the offer of working up here in Anchorage. He should head back to San Diego.

You made your bed. Now lie in it.

Ruby shook out of his grasp. “Fine. I will give you a chance. But if you can’t keep up then I’m sorry but I can’t use you on my team.”

Aran nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Are you going to keep up with physiotherapy?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m about to head there now, and then on to Human Resources.”

“I’ll walk with you and explain a bit about what I’m doing.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

Ruby walked slowly. He appreciated that she was trying to be nice, but it was actually harder on his leg than walking quickly.

“We can speed it up, you know.”

“What?” she asked.

“It’s actually better for stretching out the muscles if we move a bit faster.”

“Sorry.” A blush tinged her warm tawny-colored cheeks.

“It’s okay. I’ve been adamant about getting back into fighting form. I didn’t want to lounge away in a hospital bed for long.”

She nodded. “Do you mind if I ask exactly how it happened? I was told it was an IED, but nothing else. They didn’t give me any more details.”

Yes, I do mind.

Only he didn’t say that out loud. He hated talking about it—but he didn’t have to talk about everything that had happened the night he was injured. He just had to talk about his leg wound. She didn’t need to know the rest and he wouldn’t tell her. That was his business and he wasn’t going to let it interfere with his work here. He was going to make damn sure of that.

“No, I don’t mind. I was transporting some wounded soldiers to a field hospital and there was an IED explosion.”

Cold sweat broke across his brow and he hoped she wouldn’t notice. He had thought he was over the initial trauma of talking about it, after he’d recounted what had happened countless times to his superiors and his counsellors during his recovery, but telling Ruby changed the game, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

He hoped that she wouldn’t pry further. He really didn’t want to talk about it, and just thinking about the incident was making him a bit dizzy.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said, and didn’t ask anything further. “Well, keep up with the physiotherapy.”

Aran nodded curtly. “I will.”

“I don’t know what your mother has told you about the team I’ve put together...” She trailed off.

“I remember your ideas for it from back when you were first talking about it.”

The blush crept into her cheeks again. “You do?” she asked in amazement.

“I thought it was a good idea—which is why I offered to marry you so you could stay here. I still think it’s a good idea. You’ve done a great job.”

“Thanks,” she said.

He nodded curtly and looked away. He couldn’t let himself get sucked into her life. She was off-limits. Every relationship was off-limits. He didn’t have it in him to pursue one. Not until he got his life back on track.

“Look, I know that it’s physically taxing. You’ve said as much. But I won’t hold you back. I have a lot of expertise working in some of the roughest conditions and working with minimal resources to save lives. I would like to continue that work. It’s my passion.”

A smile tugged on the corner of her lips and made his pulse race. He liked it when she smiled. Since he’d met her all those years ago he hadn’t seen her smile genuinely once. Her smiles on their wedding day had been forced and for show.

This smile—it was genuine. It was as if she understood him.

“It’s mine as well.” She cleared her throat and looked away, the smile disappearing. She stopped, pointing at a door that led to another hall. “Physiotherapy is down the hall. Third door on the left.”

Aran nodded. “Thank you.”

“Sure.” She turned to leave.

“Ruby, maybe...” He couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “Can I take you to dinner tonight?”

CHAPTER TWO

“WHAT?” RUBY COULDN’T believe what she was hearing.

“I asked if I could take you, my wife, out to dinner?” His blue eyes were twinkling and he was smiling at her.

“Dinner?” she asked, a bit dumbfounded.

“You know—where people share a meal? We have had dinner together before, if you recall.”

“I hardly call a sandwich in the cafeteria after doing a round when we were residents a meal.”

“Well, then, it’s time to rectify that, don’t you think?”

“Do you think that’s wise?” she asked, stunned.

“You are my wife,” he teased.

She took a step closer and lowered her voice. “In name only. We’re friends, but...really that’s all.”

“Yeah, but you haven’t gained your citizenship yet, have you? Also, since you haven’t mentioned divorce...”

Ruby bit her lip. He was right. She had been granted a temporary stay in the country while Aran served, but soon they would have to be interviewed about their marriage before she could obtain citizenship. And then they would have to wait some more time before she could divorce him without it looking suspicious.

Once she got her citizenship she could go back to Canada and visit her relatives.

Do you really want to?

She tried not to think about going back. When she went back to her community it was great to see her mother and her brothers, but it always reminded her of her father’s death. How they hadn’t been able to get him the help he needed in time. He had died of such a simple thing. If he had been in a city, or had had quick access to a hospital, he would have lived.

She missed her home. She missed the summers spent on the McKenzie, or boating and swimming on Great Slave Lake. She missed flying her brother up to Great Bear Lake to fish and watching muskox across the tundra.

But Ruby didn’t want to go back until she was able to fulfill her dream. Completely. Everyone in the north—Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut—needed resources. More lives could be saved. And in order to do that she needed dual citizenship.

Aran had done her a huge favor. The least she could do was have dinner with him, she decided.

Big mistake.

All those old feelings she’d had for him—the ones that she’d thought locked away—came rushing back. He was still as charming as ever. Which was why he had been somewhat of a playboy when they were residents. She hadn’t been immune to him. She’d just kept him at a distance to protect herself.

Having dinner with him now wasn’t exactly keeping her distance from him, but... “Okay. Sure. I suppose we could,” she agreed grudgingly.

“Great. I’ll see you about six?”

She nodded. “I’ll meet you at the front entrance. Right now I have to check on a patient, and then I’m headed home to sleep.”

Aran nodded and then opened the door, disappearing down the hall toward Physiotherapy. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed her temples, trying to will the stress headache that was building up to dissipate.

She didn’t like to date.

She didn’t want to settle down with anyone.

In her job, her life was on the line. She was put in perilous situations. That was no way to raise a family.

Aran was making her question her plans in a way she didn’t like. She had been attracted to him once but she’d hoped over their years apart those feelings would change.

They hadn’t.

And going out to dinner with him would probably be a big mistake.

She was not looking forward to it.

Not even a little?

There was a part of her, deep down, that was. Her job was the most important thing but, whether she liked to admit it or not, she was lonely. It was just a dinner out. What harm could that do?

* * *

Ruby looked at her watch. It was a quarter past six and still there was no sign of Aran. It was frustrating. She liked to be punctual. She liked things done a certain way. Aran was late.

So that hadn’t changed. Aran had always used to run late for rounds.

She glanced at her watch again.

“A watched pot never boils.” That was what her grandmother always said. Her grandmother also always said that Ruby was in a rush to do everything all at once and do it right away. Maybe she was right, but Ruby had learned that you didn’t get very far in life just by sitting around or running late.

It was a bad habit of hers to watch the clock, but watching the clock was important when it came to surgery and saving lives.

A minute could mean life or death. It had been a matter of minutes that had cost her father his life. The delay of the Air Ambulance by that one minute had meant her father didn’t have a chance, so Ruby was slightly obsessed with timing.

It didn’t do her any good when she was waiting for other people, though. Like now, waiting on Aran to arrive...

“Sorry I’m late,” Aran said from behind her, causing her to jump because she hadn’t been expecting him to sneak up behind her. He cocked an eyebrow. “You’re a bit jumpy?”

“I didn’t see you coming.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. “Where did you come from, anyways?”

“My cab was late. I had to go back to my hotel room and change.”

“Your hotel room? Aren’t you staying with your mother?”

“No,” Aran said quickly. “I’ve learned that my mother and me should not live together. I haven’t lived with her since I was about eight.”

“You had your own place at eight years old?” Ruby teased.

“No.” He chuckled. “My parents divorced and I lived with my father. My mother would come down to see me, and when I came up to Anchorage to see her my dad would usually stay in town so that I could stay with him.”

“Wow!”

Ruby knew Jessica was divorced, but she’d assumed Aran had stayed with her. And then she remembered Aran had told her he was from San Diego when he was doing his residency, and said how much he loved Southern California.

They’d been friendly with each other, but she was realizing now she really didn’t know much about him—and that worried her.

Why had she ever agreed to this sham of a marriage? She shouldn’t have, but Aran had been so persuasive. So insistent.

“You okay?” Aran asked.

“Why?”

“You seem a bit tense.”

“I’m fine. Sorry, I forgot you said you were from San Diego. I forgot you didn’t grow up here.”

And it was mistakes like this that made her worry about what they’d done.

“Don’t get me wrong—I love my mom. It’s just she does certain things a certain way.”

“Oh... That’s not going to bode well for us, then,” Ruby teased.

Aran cocked an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

“I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to doing things a certain way—like being on time.” She pointed to her watch and hoped he’d get her joke. She was relieved when he smiled.

“I think it’ll be fine.” He shoved his hands in his jean pockets. “Where do you want to go?”

“There’s a little crab shack down by the water. Do you like crab?”

He nodded. “I do—and it’s been some time since I had Alaskan crab.”

“Good. I can drive—or we can walk? It’s not far from here.”

“A walk would be nice. Lead on, Macduff.”

She hadn’t heard anyone say that to her in a long time. Her father had used to say it all the time, and it brought a memory flooding back to her.

“And where did you see this footprint, Ruby?”

“In the woods. Just before the ice road.”

“The ice road is closed and that’s all muskeg.”

“I know, Papa. I didn’t go traveling through that. I was on my way back from the corner store and I saw the footprint. I want to show you.”

Her papa smiled. “Okay, show me. Lead on, Macduff.”

They walked the way she had taken back from the corner store. She always listened to her parents and kept to the paths she’d been taught to. She knew not to wander in the woods because of bears and other wild animals—not that many would be out in the middle of the day in the summer. Usually the heat and the bugs drove the animals further into the woods. Animals were most likely to come out during the early morning or when it briefly went to dusk.

It was a short walk along the well-worn path from her parents’ place, and they stopped when Ruby found the strange footprints she’d never seen before.

Her father knelt down. “Ah, this is a wolverine.”

“A wolverine?”

“Yep—and they’re nasty. You did good, showing this footprint to me.” Her father stood. “Let’s go inform the elders and make sure that the other kids keep away from this area. The wolverine has obviously found a food source and will come back, like a bear. A wolverine would attack a young child if it was hungry enough. Remember that, Ruby. Remember that sometimes in the north it’s a battle of survival. Eat or be eaten. But you must also respect the land.”

“Right, Papa.”

“What?” she asked quizzically now, trying to shake the memory away.

Her father had never learned a lot of stories, except what he had been taught when he had been forced to attend a school far from home. The residential school was something he didn’t like to talk much about to her. It had been an awful place where his culture and heritage had been forced out of him. Where his language had been stolen. All he had known was what the priests and nuns had taught him, but her father had liked Shakespeare.

“It’s ‘Lay on, Macduff’,” Aran remarked offhandedly as he held open the door for her. “‘Lead on’ is a popular misquote.”

“I know. It’s just... I haven’t heard someone say that in a long time. The way my father said it.” She cleared her throat and tried not to let emotion overtake her. She didn’t have time to deal with her grief or her sadness.

Aran didn’t say any more as they walked down the street from the hospital to the waterfront.

Because it was summer, it was nice to have sunlight so late. It made for pleasant evenings. And it was nice to have the sun because in the winter the sun wouldn’t be around long, and there would be a period of time where it just stayed dark, especially the further north you went.

“How long have you lived in Alaska now?” Aran asked.

“This is my sixth year.”

“Right!” He chuckled. “We got married five years ago—right after our residency finished. I’m sorry I forgot.”

“Well, now I’m going to have to hold it against you.”

“Hold what against me?”

“Forgetting our anniversary,” she teased.

He shook his head. “So, where in Canada are you from?”

“Behchokǫ̀.”

His eyes widened. “I have no idea where that is.”

Ruby laughed. “Well, it’s just outside of Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories.”

“I do know where that is. So you’re from the north? That makes a lot of sense of why you love it up here.”

She nodded. “I went to university and then medical school in London, Ontario. That was a hard transition. I much prefer the north over the city. Although Anchorage is a city, so it must be the north I love.”

She was rambling. She knew that. But she really didn’t know what else to say to ease the awkward tension that had fallen between them.

“I prefer the south,” he said.

“Then why did you come north?” she asked.

“My mother had an opening for a residency.”

“I know that. That’s how we met.”

“Right...”

“I mean now...besides our marriage, I guess.”

“It’s because of our marriage,” Aran stated, making her blush.

“Oh?”

“Also it’s an opening now I’ve been discharged from the army.”

“And your father? How does he feel about you moving near your mother?”

Aran’s expression hardened. “My father died just before I was deployed.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

And she truly was. She knew what it was like to lose a parent when you were young. It sucked. And she felt bad that she hadn’t known that, since they’d got married right before he’d deployed.

Of course. Now it made sense why he’d been so distant during their wedding...

“Look, if you don’t want to go through with this it’s okay,” Ruby offered. Aran was not his usual jovial self.

“No. It’s fine,” he said quickly.

But he didn’t offer a reason why he was so cold. So preoccupied.

“Is it something I did?”

“No,” he said tersely.

Before she could back out the court reporter came out into the hallway. “Dr. Cloutier and Dr. Atkinson?”

Aran took her hand and led her into the judge’s chambers.

He looked down at her. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“Like what?” Ruby asked. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Relax. It’s okay.”

Only it wasn’t okay. He’d married her when he’d been grieving. People made a lot of mistakes when they were grieving. Life was like a blur. And when you lost a parent it was as if a piece of your soul had been gouged out from you and you had to relearn the world without that vital piece there. Even twenty years later she was still mourning the loss of her father. She was still grieving him, even though she kept it to herself.

They didn’t say much else as they walked the rest of the way to the crab shack. When they got down to the docks the familiar scent of Old Bay seasoning, melted butter and salt water hit her and her stomach growled in response. It had been a long time since she’d come down here and had some Alaskan King Crab. She’d been so busy at work.

Aran held open the door for her and they took a seat in the screened porch that looked out over the Cook Inlet.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been here in all the times I’ve visited Anchorage,” Aran said, looking around.

“Your mom never brought you here? It’s an Anchorage institution, apparently.”

“This is not my mom’s type of place. Brown paper tablecloths, crab and beer... Yeah, so not her thing.”

Ruby laughed. “Well, I’m not having any beer tonight. I have a patient to check on when we’re done.”

“Right—this is the patient who was brought in this morning from up near Wainwright?”

“Yes...” Ruby sighed looking at the menu.

“What can I get you folks today?” asked a waiter, coming up then and interrupting their discussion of the patient.

Which was fine. Ruby really didn’t want to talk about her patient at that moment. She was worried about him. He wasn’t doing well.

“I’ll have an order of crab legs and an iced tea.” She handed the menu to the waiter.

“Same,” Aran said and handed his menu back.

“Great! I’ll be back with your drinks in a moment.”

An awkward tension settled between them. She saw Aran was picking at his napkin. What had happened between the two of them? They’d used to be so comfortable around each other. They’d used to be able to work and converse easily.

Of course that had been when they were just friends and not husband and wife. And, really, they hadn’t talked much about anything besides work.

“He’s not doing well. My patient,” Ruby finally said, breaking the tension.

“Oh...?”

“I think an infection has set in. I started a round of rabies shots, obviously, but...”

“Go on,” he urged, interested.

“I’m not going to talk about the nature of a bear attack in a restaurant. It was pretty bad. I’m actually surprised that he made it to Anchorage.”

Aran nodded. “Yeah, it’s best not to talk too much about that when people are eating.”

“He’s in the ICU, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to open him up again and see if an abscess has formed.”

The waiter appeared again just then, with their drinks, and there was a slightly horrified look on his face at hearing the word “abscess.” She tried to stifle a laugh.

“Enjoy,” the waiter said quickly, before leaving.

Ruby chuckled and Aran smiled.

“See what I mean?” she said. “That waiter was grossed out.”

“He did look a bit green around the gills,” Aran said looking over his shoulder. “Remember that time when we had to take those first-year medical students on rounds?”

Ruby groaned. “Oh, don’t remind me. That was so awful.”

“I dragged one young man into the operating room and there was that infected bowel...”

“No, you really need to stop!” Ruby laughed. “That was awful.”

“Well, it helped him decide that surgery was not his cup of tea.”

Ruby nodded. “It did—and he looked just as green as that waiter.”

Aran nodded. “So, who pilots your plane while you’re saving lives?”

“Me. I do.”

“You’re a pilot?” Aran asked, stunned.

“Yes. You seem surprised.”

“I haven’t met many women pilots. Logically, I know they exist. I’ve just never met one.”

“Well, I grew up in a community where for a long time the only access in or out during different parts of the year was via plane.”

Aran cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Up until 2008 the side of Great Slave Lake I lived on could only be accessed in the summer if you drove your car onto a ferry or in the winter when the river froze and you drove your car across it.”

Aran’s eyes widened. “You mean people drive across ice?”

“Have you never heard of an ice road? They have them up here in Alaska.”

“No. I haven’t.”

Ruby chuckled. “You really are a southern boy.”

“So, now you have a bridge?” he asked.

“Yes, there’s a bridge crossing the river now, and those communities aren’t landlocked during certain seasons. See, when there was ice breaking up the ferry couldn’t run, and of course you couldn’t drive across it. And ice road seasons are becoming shorter. Still, there are many other places that rely on bush planes to service their communities. When I was old enough I started to take flying lessons. I wanted to be a pilot. My older brother is a bush pilot.”