The Nurse's Christmas Wish

He took a deep breath and prepared to question her further, and then he caught the warning gleam in his brother’s blue eyes. ‘All right. You can stay.’ What the hell was he saying? ‘Just for now. Once you start working in the department you’ll find you won’t have time to clean up after us.’

She’d get fed up and leave and that would save him the bother of sending her away.

The tension seemed to ooze out of her. ‘I can stay? Really?’ Her voice was husky and curled itself around his insides like velvet. ‘Thank you.’

Josh grinned and put down his fork. ‘Thank goodness for that. She would have been a pretty difficult Christmas present to send back.’ He raised his glass and winked at Louisa. ‘To a decent Christmas dinner for once in our lives.’

CHAPTER THREE

‘SO MY Christmas present has so far tidied your house and cooked you an amazing meal. And the coffee she left for us this morning was the best I’ve tasted. Any time you want to thank me, just go ahead.’ Josh threw a smug smile at his brother and held out his hand to one of the A and E nurses, who was hovering with some X-rays. ‘Are those for me?’ He took the X-rays, flicked on the light box and whistled. ‘Just look at that.’

‘I’m looking.’ Mac narrowed his eyes. ‘That’s a nasty fracture. Did you call the orthopods?’

‘No, I thought I’d fix it myself in my lunch-break,’ Josh drawled sarcastically, a wry smile touching his mouth as he glanced at his brother. ‘Of course I called them. What do you think I am, a first-year medical student who you have to watch out for?’

‘Sorry.’ Mac gave an apologetic smile and ran a hand over the back of his neck. ‘You may be a consultant but to me you’re still my kid brother.’

‘The kid brother who works like a dog so that you can get some sleep at night,’ Josh reminded him, yanking the X-ray out of the light box and returning it to the brown envelope. ‘I’d better go and talk to the relatives. Have you seen Louisa this morning? How’s she getting on?’

‘At first glance she seems good,’ Mac conceded, walking with his brother back through the department towards the trolley bay. ‘Certainly knows her way round an A and E department.’

‘And she knows her way round a kitchen, too, which has got to be good. I’m sick of take-aways.’ Josh gave a shudder and came to a halt outside one of the treatment rooms. ‘Just don’t frighten her off with any more of your sharp remarks. I’m looking forward to tasting proper turkey for the first time in years.’

Mac sighed. ‘I want to make sure that she doesn’t get any ideas. She was giving me ‘‘I want to save you’’ looks this morning.’

It happened all the time since Melissa had died and it drove him nuts.

‘Has she thrown herself at you?’

‘No, but—’

‘Trust me.’ Josh’s tone was dry. ‘Even you wouldn’t get that lucky. Louisa doesn’t do casual relationships.’

Mac looked at his brother, his hackles rising for some reason he couldn’t fathom. ‘You’ve tried?’

‘Do I look stupid?’ Josh threw him a wicked grin. ‘Of course I tried. Several times, actually. She wouldn’t have me.’

Mac hid his surprise. He knew only too well that most women found it hard to resist his younger brother. ‘In that case, she’s just gone up in my estimation.’

‘Thanks.’

Mac shrugged. ‘I still don’t understand why she would want to come to Cornwall in the middle of winter to look after two strangers.’

‘Speak for yourself. I’m not strange.’ Josh smothered a yawn. ‘And the answer to that will become clear once you get to know Louisa.’

Mac frowned. ‘Meaning?’

‘OK.’ Josh took a deep breath, his blue eyes serious for once. ‘Louisa doesn’t like being on her own at Christmas. On top of that, she’s a genuinely kind and generous person who can’t pass someone in trouble without trying to help. Watch her in action and you’ll see what I mean. She’s a fixer.’

‘So what exactly is she fixing with me?’

‘Your life,’ Josh said, slapping him hard between the shoulder blades, ‘and, goodness knows, it needs it.’

* * *

‘I know I’ve broken it, Nurse.’

Louisa stared down at the badly deformed wrist and then at the wrinkled, aged face of the lady looking at her so anxiously. ‘I think you’re right, Alice,’ she said gently. ‘I’ll get a doctor to look at it and then we’ll take some X-rays. Try not to worry. We’ll get it sorted out.’

‘I can’t believe this has happened.’ Alice’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I should never have gone out but I wanted to do some Christmas shopping. I don’t want to miss the last posting date. Vera is useless at that sort of thing, you see. The shopping is my responsibility.’

‘Who’s Vera?’ Louisa reached for an X-ray form and filled in all the necessary details.

‘My sister. She relies on me for everything,’ Alice fretted. ‘I’m the organised one, you see. She’s not very strong. I look after her.’

Louisa glanced at the date of birth on the notes and calculated that Alice was eighty-six. ‘You look after her?’ She kept her tone level, careful not to betray surprise or concern.

‘Ever since her husband died twenty years ago. We argue, of course.’ Alice gave a weak smile. ‘But generally we rub along very well together. I’m the active one.’

Louisa mentally filed that information. ‘Do you have any help in the home?’

‘We’ve never needed any,’ Alice said proudly, clutching her handbag with her good hand. ‘I shop and cook and Vera manages a bit of housework around the place. We’re a good team. And if we get stuck then someone in the village will always help. That’s the good thing about living in a small community. Everyone looks out for everyone.’

Louisa smiled. ‘Well, you might need some help with the shopping and cooking with that wrist out of action.’ She tucked her pen back in her pocket. ‘I’m going to get a doctor to take a look at your wrist so that we can get you sorted out.’

‘You need a doctor?’ Mac’s deep drawl came from right behind her and she felt her heart jump in her chest. She turned quickly, feeling colour touch her cheeks as she met his cool gaze. Whenever she laid eyes on him she found it difficult to breathe.

Which was ridiculous, because Mac Sullivan was not a man who encouraged the attentions of women, even though he clearly attracted them.

He was brooding, gorgeous and too remote for his own good, she decided. Why did he insist on keeping people at a distance? Resolving to peel away the layers until she revealed the man underneath, Louisa turned her attention back to her patient.

‘Poor Alice had a bit of a fall,’ she said huskily, giving the old lady with a reassuring smile. ‘I’ve filled out the X-ray forms but she hasn’t been seen yet.’

Mac pulled out a chair and sat down so that he was at eye level with his patient. ‘Pavements icy out there today, Mrs Ford?’

‘Yes, and you’re probably thinking that it was stupid of me to go out,’ Alice fretted, glancing helplessly at Louisa. ‘I should have stayed indoors but I needed some last-minute presents. The annoying thing is that I didn’t even get round to buying them.’

‘Don’t worry about the presents,’ Mac said calmly, examining the wrist with gentle fingers. ‘Are you tender here?’ He moved his fingers. ‘What about here?’

‘No, not particularly.’ Alice watched as he checked her pulses and finished his examination.

‘All right. That’s fine for now.’ He reached for the X-ray form that Louisa had already started filling in and signed it. ‘We’ll check your X-rays and then take it from there.’

‘I can’t stay in hospital,’ Alice said firmly. ‘I’ve got my sister to look after. She can’t manage without me.’

Mac frowned slightly and stood up. ‘Let’s see what the X-rays tell us and then we’ll worry about that.’ He looked at Louisa. ‘Give me a shout when the films are back.’

She nodded and watched as he strolled away, the bright lights of the A and E department glinting off his dark hair, his shoulders impossibly broad.

He wasn’t her type, she told herself firmly.

He might be shockingly handsome but he was remote and distant and not at all tactile.

When she finally fell in love, it was going to be with a real family man. Someone who wanted a noisy, crowded home, just as she did, with hordes of children and several dogs.

Not someone like Mac who was self-contained and kept himself apart from others.

Did he even like children? she wondered.

‘We’ve all worried about him since his wife died,’ Alice said wistfully. ‘Such a tragedy. We’ve been longing for him to find someone else but he only has time for his work. After she died we all mucked in, you know—made him food, tried to get him out and about, but he wasn’t having any of it. Spends time with his surfboard and that playboy brother of his with the wicked smile.’ She made a clucking sound with her tongue. ‘What a waste. He’s such a handsome boy.’

Louisa chuckled. ‘He’s the senior consultant and in his mid-thirties at a guess. I don’t think he’s a boy, Alice.’

As far as she was concerned, he was all man. Every delicious, intimidating inch of him.

‘When you’re ninety, he’s a boy,’ Alice said dryly. ‘Now, shall we take that trip to X-Ray?’

Louisa smiled. ‘Good idea. Let’s get a closer look at those bones of yours.’

* * *

‘Well, it’s not displaced so she can just go to the fracture clinic and have a back slab,’ Mac muttered, studying the X-rays carefully, his broad shoulders brushing against Louisa, who stood next to him.

This close he could smell her perfume and it played havoc with his senses. He wasn’t even sure if it was perfume. It could have been shampoo or just Louisa. But whatever it was, she smelt amazing.

He sighed and closed his eyes briefly, reminding himself that he wasn’t interested in women. Once or twice he’d tried to rekindle that part of himself after Melissa had died, but women always wanted more than he was willing or able to give. He wasn’t interested in a relationship. He was better off on his own.

‘I expect we ought to write to her GP. This sort of fracture is very common in women with osteoporosis. He ought to arrange a DEXA scan.’ Louisa frowned at the light box, oblivious to his scrutiny. This close he noticed that her nose turned up slightly and was dusted with freckles. She never seemed to stop smiling. She turned to look at him. ‘Don’t you think?’ Didn’t he think what?’

He searched his mind for the last thing she’d said. ‘DEXA scan. Good idea. I’ll write to the GP.’

‘I gather she lives down the road from you.’ Louisa handed him the notes and he took them, wondering what his response was supposed to be. ‘With her sister.’

‘That’s right.’

‘She told me she used to cook for you sometimes.’

Mac looked at her. ‘The two of them kept checking up on me after my wife died. Every time I came home one of them would be on my doorstep with a cake or a casserole.’

She smiled. ‘How kind.’

Mac inhaled sharply. ‘I prefer my privacy.’

‘That’s what I heard.’ There was a hint of reproach in her voice and he bit back an impatient remark.

‘Living in a village comes with disadvantages, Louisa,’ he said grimly as they walked back towards the treatment room. ‘One of those is a total lack of privacy. Not everyone wants to be surrounded by people discussing their business all the time, and I’m one of them. I’m better off on my own.’

‘Why?’ Her gaze was clear and direct. ‘What’s wrong with knowing your neighbours, Dr Sullivan, and allowing them to know you?’

He sighed. Somehow she managed to make him feel in the wrong. Which was ridiculous, because he gave enough of himself to his patients. He had a right to privacy. ‘In case it’s escaped your notice, I have a busy job. I give everything I have to the hospital. I don’t have time for anything else.’

She nodded slowly. ‘That’s what I thought. But what about you, Mac? Who gives to you?’

He frowned. ‘I have everything I need.’

‘Maybe you don’t know what you need.’ She took the X-rays from him. ‘This is going to cause Alice a problem. She looks after her elderly sister. Does everything. Shopping and cooking. She can’t do that with a broken wrist.’

Mac gave a brief nod, impressed that she’d discovered that so quickly. ‘Good point. We’ll give Social Services a ring. Get them some help.’

‘I’m not sure that they’re the sort to accept help easily. They’re obviously very independent.’

‘Well, if there’s no family to step in, what’s the alternative?’ Mac asked patiently, and Louisa chewed her lip thoughtfully.

‘I don’t know, but I’m working on it.’

‘Don’t tell me.’ His tone was dry. ‘Your interfering personality again?’

‘Probably.’

She looked so worried that Mac gave a sigh. ‘She’s a sweet lady, I grant you, but it isn’t our job to care for her until her bones heal.’

She lifted an eyebrow. ‘That’s a cop-out.’

He inhaled deeply. She was doing it again. Making him feel guilty. ‘What do you expect me to do? Move in with all my patients?’ His tone was testy but he couldn’t help it. ‘Our job is to patch them up, Louisa. Someone else has to sort out the other stuff.’

‘But I don’t believe the ‘‘other stuff’’, as you call it, can be so neatly separated,’ Louisa said calmly, tucking the X-rays under her arm. ‘A patient is so much more than just a broken wrist.’

Mac’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re too idealistic. This is the real world, Louisa. Too many patients, too few staff. If we mend the broken bones then we’re doing well. We certainly don’t have time to sort out the rest of people’s lives.’

She gave him a smile designed to melt the heart of the most hardened cynic. ‘You’re working too hard, Dr Sullivan. You’ve developed tunnel vision. These patients of yours are human beings, not bones. And Alice is your neighbour.’

‘You can drop the ‘‘Dr Sullivan’’. If you’re going to abuse me, you may as well use my first name,’ he said dryly, and she chuckled.

‘All right, but I still think you’re working too hard. Someone needs to reintroduce you to the world.’

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