The Australian's Proposal: The Doctor's Marriage Wish / The Playboy Doctor's Proposal / The Nurse He's Been Waiting For

‘Outback people aren’t like that. They don’t desert their mates. And Jack’s worried about being disinherited for something that’s happened since his uncle sacked him. My guess is he met up with some unsavoury characters—no doubt innocently, he’s a city kid too, remember—and when he realised something was wrong, he tried to leave.’

‘And someone shot him? To stop him leaving? Someone who’s out there? With a gun?’

Kate must have sounded more panicky than she’d realised, for Hamish put a comforting arm around her shoulders and drew her close. It was probably a ‘poor Kate’ kind of hug and she should have been reaching for a scalpel, but the heavy arm was exceedingly comforting so she let it stay there—even snuggled a little closer.

Not a good idea as far as the immunity was concerned. She unsnuggled and thought a little more about Hamish’s hypothesis.

‘What kind of unsavoury characters might you have out here?’

‘Cattle duffers.’

‘Stupid cattle?’

Hamish laughed.

‘Cattle thieves. They steal cattle from properties in the area. These properties are the size of small countries so their boundaries can’t be watched all the time. The duffers keep the cattle somewhere safe—this gorge would be ideal—until they can alter the brands, then truck them to the markets.’

‘So Jack meets these guys who say come and steal some cattle with us and he does?’ She turned to study their sleeping patient for a moment. ‘He doesn’t look that dumb.’

Hamish turned to look as well, bringing his body closer.

‘No, but say he meets a couple of guys at a pub, and their story is that they’re droving a mob of cattle to a railhead. Something like that. Jack joins, thinking they’re OK, then slowly works out there’s something wrong. I’d say he recognised his uncle’s brand on some of the cattle. He tries to leave and the boss, who’s about to reap a good reward for his thievery, tries to stop him.’

‘With a bullet?’

Bother the immunity. Kate scooted back to snuggle position by Hamish’s side.

‘They play for keeps.’ He tucked his arm back around her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘It’s my guess he didn’t shoot to kill the kid. In his mind, that gave Jack a chance of survival and himself time to get the cattle away from here. Jack was lucky the second guy, Digger, had a conscience.’

‘That does explain Jack’s concern, but surely if he went into the job innocently, he can’t be charged with cattle … What was the word you used?’

‘Duffing.’

Kate nodded. ‘I like it. Cattle duffing. It has a ring to it, doesn’t it? Not quite as nasty as stealing.’

‘Apparently it’s gone on ever since Australia was first settled, but that doesn’t make it right, or legal. No, our Jack will be in trouble. For a start, we have to report bullet wounds to the police.’

‘But if he’s the father of the baby, and we know he loves the girl because he told us so, then it’s not very lucky for Lucky if his father’s in jail. We’ll have to get him off the charge. Don’t people get a second chance? Or if he’s responsible for the police catching the duffers, won’t he be rewarded, not punished? Perhaps we could help catch the duffers?’

‘Well, that gives me hope,’ Hamish said.

Kate shifted reluctantly away from him so she could turn and look into his face.

‘Hope for what? What kind of hope?’

He grinned at her.

‘Well, I thought earlier you’d only come closer to me because you were worried about a gunman lurking out there somewhere, but if you’re brave enough to take on a couple of armed desperados, then I guess you were cuddling up to me because you like me.’

He touched her lightly on the head, lifting one of her curls and twirling it around his finger.

Dangerous territory, finger twirls in hair that felt very … comforting?

Kate took a deep breath, sorted her thoughts into order, shifted out of hair-twirling distance and tried to explain.

‘I do like you, what little I know of you, but I meant what I said about immunity, Hamish. Coming to Crocodile Creek is the first stage in getting on with my life. My birth mother came from here and I want to find out more about her—and who my father was. At the moment, I’m lost. Everything I believed in—the very foundations of my life, even love—proved to be a lie and right now I need to find some truths. Something to rebuild on. Can you understand that?’

He nodded, then stared out into the gorge for a few minutes before saying, ‘I could help you, Kate. Everyone at the hospital would help you. Some of the staff have lived in Crocodile Creek all their lives.’

‘No!’

The word came out far more strongly—and more loudly—than she’d intended, and she turned automatically to see if she’d disturbed Jack. He was still sleeping peacefully, so she repeated the word more quietly this time.

‘No, Hamish. I know you mean well, but this is something I have to do myself.’

She’d edged further away from him and Hamish knew she was withdrawing behind whatever feeble defences she’d been able to build up since her callous brother and unfaithful rat of a fiancé had delivered their separate but equally devastating blows. He could understand her reluctance to accept help because accepting help meant getting close to the helper, and right now, with everything she’d ever trusted in stripped away from her, getting close to someone wasn’t an option.

‘OK,’ he conceded. ‘But just remember, if ever you need anything at all, a little help, a hug—especially a hug—I’ll be there for you.’

‘Thanks,’ she said, but Hamish knew there was no way she’d be coming to him for a hug. She’d felt the same chemistry he had between them and hugs plus chemistry equalled trouble for a woman who claimed to be immune to love and who was fresh out of trust.

‘I’ll check our patient, then we should try to get some sleep,’ he said, standing up and moving back into the cave. ‘There are a couple more of those space blankets in the pack. It could get cold towards morning.’

Grateful to have something to do, Kate also stood. She’d noticed a couple more packs of the flimsy silver sheets they called space blankets when she’d pulled one out to cover Jack. She was aware they prevented heat loss from the body but was dubious about how warm they’d be if the night grew cold. Still, it was something to do and having something to do was important because it stopped her thinking about the mess her life was in. She’d talked bravely to Hamish of having to do this on her own, but it was the aloneness of her situation—the total stripping away of all she’d believed to be true—that frightened her the most. Far more than a man with a gun somewhere out there in the darkness of the gorge.

Hamish was attaching a new bag of fluid to one of Jack’s IV lines. He nodded towards the blood-stained bandage.

‘I’m just hoping it’s not running out faster than it runs in.’

‘Should we give him a clotting agent of some kind—or don’t the packs carry such things?’

‘They contain Thrombostat, which is topical thrombin. I put some on when I was dressing the wound. Because of Lucky, everyone at the hospital knows a lot more about von Willebrand’s disease than most non-specialist physicians would but I don’t know as much as I’d like to know. I know some coagulants work for some haemophilic patients and not others, depending on the missing blood factor in their particular disease. I wouldn’t like to try anything on him without checking a pharmacology text for contraindications or complications …’

He paused and sighed, but Kate understood his dilemma.

‘You don’t want to take the risk,’ she finished for him. ‘Well, hopefully the thrombin will work well enough to stop some of the bleeding.’

‘Externally!’ Hamish reminded her, hanging the second fresh bag of fluid. ‘Internally we haven’t a clue what’s happening. Damn that Digger for not leaving Jack’s gear with him. He’d have some kind of coagulation drug in it for sure, probably an inhalant.’

‘Unless he didn’t know he had von Willebrand’s. Some people don’t, do they?’

Hamish nodded. He was counting respirations. Their patient would make it through the night, he was sure of that. And providing they could stem the infection, he would recover from this wound. What he wasn’t sure about was what would happen after that. Lucky was the hospital’s miracle baby, but his mother, Megan, and her family had been going through a rough time for years, and now, right when it looked as if things might be coming good for them, Lucky’s father could end up in jail.

Hamish looked out into the darkness. Kate’s idea of finding the cattle duffers and bringing them to justice was suddenly very appealing.

And very stupid, he admitted to himself, but he turned to study the spunky woman who’d suggested it. She was unfolding a space blanket, her head bent as she concentrated on spreading it out, neat white teeth biting the corner of her lower lip. He saw her again as he’d first seen her, and heard her voice saying ‘piffle’ in a no-nonsense way to Jack.

You don’t fall in love because of a sunbeam turning brown curls golden, or because a husky voice says ‘piffle.’ But if he wasn’t in love then he must be sickening for something. Elevated heart rate, shallow respiration, a slightly nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if something disagreeable was lurking there—and all this without taking into consideration the stirring in his groin whenever he looked at the woman.

She’s not interested, he reminded himself. And who could blame her, after what she’s been through? Even if she was interested, she’s here on a mission and you’re going home in three weeks. Home to a position you’ve waited two years to secure, home to specialise in paediatrics—your life-long dream-come-true scenario. You cannot fall in love with Kate Winship.

‘Here’s your blanket. Do you want another of those dreadful biscuits from the provision pack?’

‘Those dreadful biscuits are proven to be life-sustaining. They probably contain more nutrition than your regular three meals a day.’

It would be nice to eat three meals a day with Kate …

‘But they taste terrible,’ Kate reminded him with a smile.

And have her smiling at him all the time …

‘Should we take turns to watch him?’ She nodded towards their patient.

‘I’ll doze beside him. I’ll need to change the fluid bags during the night, and probably see to fluid output as well. I think he’d prefer I tended him.’

Kate nodded, knowing this was an indication she should move a little further away to give Jack and Hamish privacy, but there was someone out there who might not want Jack rescued.

‘Bring the backpack to cushion the rock, and sleep on the other side of me,’ Hamish suggested, apparently reading her thoughts with ease. ‘I’m big enough to block Jack’s view of you, and to shade you from the lamplight. Come on. We’ll be warmer if we’re all close together.’

Not too close, Kate warned herself, but she lifted the pack and carried it around to Hamish’s side of the patient, opening it in the light first so he could get out what he’d need during the night, then pushing it into place against the rock wall.

‘I’m not sure that a backpack full of medical supplies makes the perfect pillow,’ she said, as she tried to shift box-shaped lumps around inside it.

‘Try sleeping against a folded aluminium stretcher,’ Hamish countered, but he leaned over and removed some of the boxes from her pack, stacking them neatly on the ledge. ‘Better?’

His face was shadowed but she knew he was smiling, because she could hear the amusement in his voice. He was a nice man, she decided—the kind of man a girl would be lucky to meet should she be on the lookout for nice in a man.

Or anything in a man.

Or a man …

Was it a sound that had woken her? Hamish must have turned off the lamp, for the cave was dark. Kate lay still, knowing any movement would rustle the silver blanket tucked around her body. Someone—or something—was moving out there.

‘Shh!’

She didn’t need the barely breathed warning but it was comforting to know Hamish was awake—comforting to feel his hand find her shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze.

He’d be a nice man to hug.

Good thing he couldn’t see the eye-roll that was her reaction to the stupid thought. She had to get a grip. What she needed was a big rock to hide behind, not a hug. What use were hugs if whatever was out there was a man with a gun?

‘Look!’

The soft word made her turn, and there, exposed in the moonlight, was a family of wallabies.

‘Rock wallabies,’ Hamish whispered, as the biggest of the three lifted his delicately shaped head and looked around, scenting some alien presence in his domain. The middle one was also curious, but anxious about the youngster, who was braver in his exploration of the world. Kate sighed at the wonder of it.

‘I didn’t know they were nocturnal,’ she murmured, fascinated by the threesome who had paused, as if posed for photographs, right in front of her.

‘It’s nearly dawn. They’ll feed now until the sun gets too hot then rest in the shade for the remainder of the day.’

A shot rang out, then echoed frighteningly back at them again and again. Two of the wallabies had disappeared, but the third lay still in front of them, the long back legs twitching one or twice.

‘That’s Todd! He’s out there. It’s a warning.’

Jack’s voice quivered with fear, and Hamish’s ‘Get back here’ was far louder, but Kate was already bending over the injured wallaby, trying to turn the body to see the wound. Then she was lifted from the ground and carried back into the cave.

‘You stupid woman! He had a clear shot at the ‘roo from wherever he was and you go out there and make a bigger target for him. Are you insane?’

‘It might not be dead.’

Kate couldn’t believe the dampness on her cheeks could possibly be tears. She hadn’t cried when Bill had told her she’d been fostered. She hadn’t cried when she’d found out about Daniel and Lindy. She hadn’t even cried when she’d discovered she’d missed meeting her birth mother by one lousy week—so why was she crying over a dead animal?

‘We’ll check later.’ Hamish was still holding her, but more gently now, brushing his hand over her head and repeating the words as if he knew she needed the reassurance. ‘We’ll check when we hear the chopper overhead. If it’s only injured we can take it out with us, but experienced ‘roo shooters shoot to kill, Kate.’

‘He’ll shoot us all.’ Jack’s panic reminded Kate she had a patient to tend. She pushed away from Hamish, swiped her hands across her face and knelt beside the young man, who was frantically trying to free himself from tubes and bags of fluid.

‘He’s just trying to scare us,’ Hamish said, but his Scottish accent didn’t make the words any less ridiculous.

‘Well, he’s succeeded in that part of his plan. What’s next?’ Kate muttered, holding tightly to Jack’s hand—finding as much comfort as she was giving.

‘I doubt he wants three bodies on his hands. It’s not as if he has the luxury of time to get rid of any trace of us. Having heard the chopper yesterday, he’ll know it will be coming back for us at first light. I’d say the gunshot was a warning to Jack not to talk about what’s been going on.’

‘As if I would!’ Jack muttered, and though Kate wanted to argue with him he was still feverish and they had a difficult time ahead of them, getting him safely out of the gorge.

Which reminded her.

‘Did you find an open space we can use to winch Jack up?’ she asked Hamish, though the thought of how vulnerable they’d be when they left the cave, she and Hamish carrying the stretcher, Jack strapped to it between them, made her shiver.

‘I did, and not too far away. It’s getting lighter by the minute, so Rex will be on his way. Once he’s overhead we’ll have radio contact with him and I’ll let him know there’s some unfriendly person out there. He’ll buzz around and hover over us when we move, but I’m sure this Todd person fired his shot to frighten Jack, then took off.’

‘I should have died. You should have let me die!’ Jack said, and Kate rounded on him.

‘If you moan like that once more I swear I’ll finish you off myself. Think of it as a big adventure in your path to adulthood. As a great story you can tell your kids in the future. How many young men your age have been shot at and had to huddle in a cave in a gorge in the middle of nowhere, and been rescued by …’ She turned to Hamish. ‘Could we be Batman and Robin, do you think? Swooping out of the sky in our Bat Helicopter?’

She looked up at Hamish. ‘Bags I be Batman!’

Hamish was kneeling on the floor of the cave, fitting the long sides of the stretcher together. He turned towards her and smiled.

‘And that would make me Robin?’

‘Or Jack could be Robin and you could be the butler guy who answered the phone at the mansion.’

‘That’s not very fair,’ Hamish protested, moving the now-assembled stretcher over to their patient. ‘I flew in too so I have to be Robin.’

‘I don’t need that. I can walk—or hop—if the two of you support me,’ Jack protested. He sat up to prove his point, and as the colour faded from his cheeks Kate caught him and rested him gently back against the pillow.

‘Not just yet,’ she said, helping Hamish position the stretcher where they needed it. ‘It’s far easier to carry you if you’re lying down, and much safer winching you up in a stretcher harness. I imagine Hamish will go first so he can get you safely inside, then you, then I’ll follow.’

She glanced up to see Hamish frowning at her.

‘It’s the only practical way to do it,’ she pointed out, though she knew he’d know it. It was the knight errantry thing again—he didn’t want her down here on her own. ‘I’ll be fine—I’m Batman, remember.’

Her reward was a brief smile, flashing across his tired, unshaven face, but the smile was almost immediately replaced by a new frown.

‘Just remember Batman wasn’t indestructible,’ he warned, then he turned his attention to Jack, explaining how they would move him onto the stretcher.

‘When it’s time to move, we’ll take you off the oxygen and stop the IV fluid until you’re on board. The fewer tubes you have around you, the less likely it is we’ll foul the winch ropes.’

‘Boy, that’s a comforting thing to be telling a patient,’ Kate remarked, fitting a strap across Jack’s chest. ‘Less likely to foul the winch ropes! And just how often does this service have trouble with winch ropes?’

‘Never in my time,’ Hamish reassured Jack, then he smiled again at Kate. ‘But I believe when it does happen, it’s usually on the third lift.’

‘Great! Might have known!’ she said, poking Jack’s arm with her finger. ‘Told you my life was worse than yours.’

Hamish studied her for a moment, and saw the small even teeth once again nibbling at the corner of her lower lip as she fastened the straps on the stretcher. She must be scared stiff, but she was dealing with it her way—with teasing humour. He wasn’t exactly unconcerned himself. Dangling on the end of a winch rope, all three of them in turn would make perfect targets for a man with a rifle.

Hamish could tell himself any shooting at this stage would bring the full might of the Queensland police into the gorge, so the man called Todd would be stupid to take aim at any of them.

But believing it was harder.

How badly did Todd want to protect his secret?

How far would he go?

CHAPTER THREE

IN THE END, the airlift was completed safely, though delayed for several hours, Rex insisting the three on the ground remain in their cave until the rescue helicopter from Townsville arrived with armed police. Two of this contingent, carrying serious ‘don’t mess with us’ rifles, were lowered to the ground to escort Jack, Hamish and Kate to the retrieval area. The second helicopter then flew surveillance while Hamish, the patient and finally Kate were winched aboard the Crocodile Creek chopper.

‘Now everyone in the whole world knows I’m in trouble,’ Jack muttered to Kate an hour later, as he was lifted from the helicopter at Crocodile Creek, TV news cameras capturing the scene.

‘I doubt the whole world will know,’ Kate retorted. ‘North Queensland maybe, if it’s a slow news day, but this kind of footage never makes the national news. They’re taking it for a local station.’

‘Big deal,’ Jack grumbled. ‘Both my mother’s brothers are locals.’

He closed his eyes as he had done back in the cave, and Kate, tired as she was, felt a wave of sympathy for him. She took his hand. ‘It will be OK,’ she promised. ‘We’ll work it out. You’re not on your own, you know. Even if your family is upset with you, Hamish and I will stick by you.’

Having made this promise on Hamish’s behalf, she glanced around. The man in question had spoken briefly to the two orderlies who’d met the chopper, then walked away. Ah, there he was—over on the edge of the gathered crowd, squatting down so he could speak in confidence to a man in a wheelchair.

Still holding Jack’s hand, she was moving further and further away from the pair, and as they approached the hospital she felt a sense of … Surely it wasn’t loss? No way. She hardly knew the man, so why should he stick around? Escort her into the hospital? Introduce her around?

Because he seemed so nice, that’s why.

You don’t need nice, she reminded herself, dredging up a smile for a good-looking man with burnt red curls who was coming towards them now.

‘You must be Kate!’ the man said, holding out his hand towards her, though she knew most of his attention was on Jack. ‘I’m Cal Jamieson, the surgeon who’ll be digging the bullet out of your patient’s leg.’

He introduced himself to Jack and gave directions for the orderlies to take him into the emergency department first. The men wheeled their charge onto a wide veranda, turning right and entering through a door into a long, bright room, with curtains hanging from ceiling racks to divide off cubicles.

Kate undid the straps and the orderlies lifted Jack onto an examination table.

‘We’ll take a good look at it here,’ Cal explained to Jack, then he looked across at Kate. ‘You can stay if you want—meet some of the staff—but I imagine a shower and a sleep might be more of a priority.’

‘Is that a tactful way of telling me I’m on the nose?’ Kate lifted her arm and sniffed at her T-shirt. Not too bad, considering.

Cal laughed.

‘Definitely not. I just know how those overnighters can be.’

‘Stay with me, Kate.’ Jack decided for her. ‘You promised.’

‘I didn’t promise to stay with you for ever and ever,’ she told him firmly. ‘But just for now, I will. Until Dr Jamieson puts you under for the op. Then I’ll go home and shower and be back when you wake up. That’s if I’m not rostered on duty.’

‘I think they’ll let you have the rest of today to yourself,’ Cal said. ‘And here’s someone who can confirm that. Jill Shaw, Director of Nursing, meet Kate Winship, new nurse and local heroine.’

‘I’m not a heroine!’

Kate’s protest cut across Jill’s quiet, ‘How do you do, and a belated welcome to Crocodile Creek.’

Jill held out her hand, and as Kate shook it she sensed a quiet strength in the older woman. Here was someone, she knew immediately, who would stand firm in crises, and who would be there for her staff should they ever need her.

‘We were giving you today to settle in,’ she said, confirming Cal’s words. ‘And tomorrow we thought you might like to go on the clinic run to Wygera, so you can see a bit of the countryside and meet some of the people out there.’

Kate opened her mouth to ask about this place, but Jill was already bent over Jack, talking quietly to him. Did she know him?

‘Uncle Charles’ll kill me!’ Jack protested, and Kate realised Hamish’s surmises had been correct.

‘Don’t overdo the drama,’ Jill said, but she was smiling fondly at the young man. ‘Besides, his job is to save people from death, not cause it. You’re in trouble, yes, but Charles and Philip will both stand by you. You should know that.’