Proposing to the Children's Doctor

He nodded. His smoke grey glance travelled over her, sliding over the creamy slope of her bare shoulders and moving down to linger on the soft swell of her hips. ‘I can see occasions when that might be an inviting prospect,’ he said in a husky, amused drawl.

Rebecca pulled in a quick breath. She felt a rush of warm colour run along her cheekbones. Was he actually propositioning her? The way he was looking at her could hardly be misinterpreted, could it? And yet just a short time ago he had been treating her almost as though she was someone he would only have dealings with if he couldn’t avoid it.

‘Dream on,’ she murmured, her mouth making a taut line. ‘I may have been enjoying the party but I haven’t had that much to drink.’

He laughed, a low rumbling sound that started in the back of his throat. ‘Perhaps that’s just as well,’ he said. ‘Your friend tells me you have to be at work early in the morning. Perhaps we’d both do best to keep a clear head.’

‘You’re probably right.’ Rebecca pushed herself away from the wall. ‘I’d better go and give Angie a hand with the clearing-up.’ She sent him a quick glance. ‘I should thank you for helping us out. We would have struggled without you.’

‘I was glad to be able to do something.’ He returned her gaze with a look that she couldn’t quite interpret. Perhaps it was a mix between a threat and a promise because he added in a soft tone, ‘Maybe I’ll drop by in the morning and see if you’re doing all right. You seem to have had a pretty traumatic day, one way and another.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ she told him as she started towards the living room. ‘I’ll see you out. I expect you have things of your own that you need to be doing.’

He wasn’t likely to find her at home by the time he surfaced, judging from his efforts this morning. She would be up and away first thing, ready to make the move to her Scottish island home. As far as she was concerned it couldn’t come a minute too soon.

CHAPTER TWO

‘I’LL miss you so much, Rebecca.’ Angie put aside her coffee-cup and came across the kitchen to give her a hug. ‘You have to promise me that you’ll phone and let me know how you’re getting on. You will, won’t you? And maybe we could meet up again from time to time?’

‘On high days and holidays? Of course…I’m not going to be all that far away—at least, not as the crow flies.’ Rebecca smiled. After a few snatched hours of sleep, she was on much better form today. ‘And I’ll phone you as soon as I’m settled back in Scotland.’

‘That’s good. You’ll have to let me know how you’re getting on.’ Angie’s expression was wistful. ‘I’ll be thinking of you when you’re on your island, looking out over the sea or walking along the beach. You’re so lucky, being offered the chance to work there.’

‘It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Of course, the job isn’t cut and dried yet, so I might have to look around for something temporary to tide me over. It all depends on whether the doctor at the centre changes her mind and decides that she might want to go back to work after her maternity leave—or whether I’ll find it’s not really what I’m looking for. At the moment, though, the prospect of working with mothers and babies in an island community seems ideal.’

‘Just as long as it doesn’t make you feel broody.’ Angie grinned. ‘All those babies would be bound to set me off… It’s just a question of finding the right man…’

Rebecca wrinkled her nose. ‘You’ll manage that all right, but I don’t think that’s going to happen for me any time soon. I’ve already had my fingers burned and I’m not looking to get involved with anyone.’

‘Ah, but Ben was a mistake. He seemed perfect for you to begin with, until he revealed his true colours, the ratfink. But there’ll be someone out there, waiting for you, I’m sure of it.’

‘Not if I see him first.’ The words came out with a little more vehemence than Rebecca had intended, but she wasn’t going to back down. ‘I’m a long way from trusting any man ever again.’

Even her parents had managed to mess up their relationship, with consequences that had been devastating for Rebecca and her sister, Alison. Neither of them was going to recover easily from the distress of living through the break-up of their parents’marriage and the trauma of coming to terms with the chaos and uncertainty of a broken home.

She didn’t have any faith that there was someone out there with whom she could find lasting happiness. No, she would definitely be better off keeping clear of the opposite sex while she licked her wounds.

‘You’re out of your mind.’ Angie laughed. ‘Everybody needs someone.’ She rinsed her cup under the tap. ‘I have to go. I have to review patients with the consultant before he does his ward round, and he’s always there bright and early before the patients have even had their early morning cuppa.’

‘That’s because he likes to take breakfast with Sister Hennessy first thing. She keeps a stack of pancakes in the fridge and he’s very partial to a toasted pancake with a drizzle of honey on it.’

‘Really?’ Angie’s eyes widened. ‘So that’s why I see him coming out of her office most mornings. And there was me thinking they were sitting together having a case conference. Well, you live and learn, don’t you?’

‘You certainly do.’ Rebecca gave her a hug and saw her out of the flat a few minutes later, waving as Angie turned at the door. ‘I’ll call you,’ she said.

Once Angie had gone, Rebecca zipped up her suitcases and then walked desultorily around the flat, checking each of the rooms for any belongings that she might have missed. Just a few minutes from now she would be on her way, too.

The doorbell rang, and she went out into the lobby to answer it, wheeling her cases along with her. It would be the carrier, arriving to take her luggage to the depot, ready to be sent along to her new home.

‘Are you off on a journey of some sort?’ Craig Braemar was walking across the hallway as she headed for the door, and now he stopped and frowned, his gaze tracking her movements.

She stood very still. So he was still around, up and about early in the day, exactly as he had said he would be. Somehow she had expected him to be lying around, easing himself into the day. ‘Just the cases, for the moment,’ she said. ‘I’ll be following on later.’

He raised a dark brow. ‘That sounds intriguing.’

‘Maybe.’ She saw that he had his overnight bag with him, and it prompted her to ask, ‘And while we’re on the subject, what about you? Are you leaving already? I’ve heard of people doing a moonlight flit, but the rent isn’t that steep, is it?’

He appeared to be thinking about that. ‘I wouldn’t know,’ he murmured. ‘I haven’t paid any.’

Rebecca gave him a long look. Why was it she could never tell whether he was joking or being serious?

So far, he wasn’t turning out to be at all what he’d seemed, and it bothered her that she couldn’t work him out. She decided to give up the attempt and concentrate her attention instead on the man who had come to collect her luggage.

She signed his paperwork, and checked that the destination was written clearly on his sheet. ‘It’s to go to Islay… you know that, right? I’d hate to get there and find everything has been mislaid.’

‘Islay, madam. Yes, that’s definitely what it says.’

‘Hmm.’ She looked at him and wondered whether she ought to hand him a tip. Perhaps to be on the safe side…

The man acknowledged her offering and retreated to his van.

Turning back into the hallway, she saw that Craig was watching her thoughtfully. ‘Does this mean that you’re off to see your aunt—the lady who was feeling unwell?’

‘That’s right. I rang her this morning and she said that she was fine and that everyone is making a fuss over nothing, but that’s my Aunt Heather all over. She’s always been an independent soul. I’ve been reluctant to interfere, but it will be just as well for me to go and keep an eye on her for a while.’

‘I think that’s a good idea. Down here, you’re a long way from being able to do anything to help. That’s the trouble with old folk, isn’t it? They say they’re all right because they’re afraid of being a burden, but sometimes you have to read between the lines, don’t you?’

A small spark of irritation flared in her eyes. Was he implying that she hadn’t been able to do that? What was it to do with him, anyway?

‘My aunt isn’t all that old. At least, she doesn’t seem to be. She’s always been active and energetic.’ Why was he so intent on wrongfooting her? She loved her aunt dearly, but he didn’t seem to be taking that on board.

She had to admit that he’d hit a sore spot, though. Right from the start she’d had misgivings about leaving her home to go and work in Northumberland with her boyfriend. It had only been Ben’s enthusiasm and gentle insistence that had convinced her it had been the thing to do.

‘It’ll be wonderful,’ he had said. ‘You’ll be able to work in paediatrics, and I’ll take on the research fellowship. We could buy a house close to the hospital, and it’ll be great for both of us.’

The doubts had stayed with her, firstly because she had been worried about leaving Aunt Heather behind, despite the fact that her sister was going to be staying around to watch over her for some of the time, and secondly because she had been uncertain about moving in with Ben.

She’d thought he had been the one for her, but after all was said and done, he hadn’t offered her total commitment, had he? Just an arrangement that had been convenient. And so she had resisted the temptation to move in with him, and that had proved to be a wise decision, hadn’t it, given the way things had turned out?

‘I’ve kept in touch with my aunt while I’ve been away,’ she said now. ‘And I’ve been home to see her a few times. It’s not as though she’s been abandoned.’

Craig studied her, a flicker of scepticism in his expression. ‘You don’t have to convince me,’ he said. ‘She’s not my aunt, so it hardly matters to me. I just happened to remark that it looks as though you must have decided to go back to her.’

‘Yes, well, that’s true, I have.’ She frowned. ‘There are actually lots of things that I need to do, and I ought to leave right now,’ she told him. ‘I’m due at the hospital in twenty minutes.’

He nodded. ‘Me, too. We could walk there together, if you like.’

She frowned, taken aback by what he had just said. He’d only stayed here for two nights, and now he was off to the hospital with his overnight bag. Was it possible that she had added two and two together and come up with the wrong answer? Was he ill? Had she completely misjudged him?

She looked again at the bag he was holding. ‘Are you going to be staying at the hospital?’ she asked. He looked as though he was in perfect health, in the prime of his life, in fact, a thirtysomething example of vigorous masculinity, but that didn’t necessarily have to mean that he didn’t need treatment of some kind, did it? A warm flood of guilt raced through her from head to toe.

‘No,’ he answered slowly. ‘I wouldn’t have thought I would be there for too long. Just the time it takes to sort things out.’

‘I’m sorry—of course it’s none of my business.’ It was dreadful to think that she might have been imagining him as some kind of drifter when all the time he was ill and preparing for a stay in hospital.

He looked at her in a slightly perplexed fashion for a moment or two and then opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but she swivelled around and headed for the door of her flat, saying hurriedly, ‘I’ll just go and check that everything’s in order before I lock the place up. Then I’ll be ready to walk with you.’

She was back by his side within a moment or two, and they left the building together.

The block of flats was a ten-minute walk away from the hospital where she had worked for the last couple of years, and now, as she shut the main door behind her for the last time, she looked back with a feeling of sadness mingled with expectation. The island home of her youth beckoned her, but at the same time she was leaving behind friends and colleagues, and that was a painful experience.

‘How is it that you have to go in to work if you’re all set to leave here?’ he asked as they set out along the street. ‘Presumably you’re travelling later today? I dare say there aren’t many people who would be able to cope without their luggage for very long.’

‘I have to transport an eight-year-old patient back home to Scotland. He was brought down here to Northumberland for specialist treatment after he was badly injured in a road accident, but now he’s well enough to be transferred back to his local hospital. He was supposed to have gone yesterday by ambulance, but we were concerned about his condition and so we delayed things for a while.’

‘So it wasn’t necessary for you to wait to go with him? You could have left it to someone else to escort him?’

She made a face. ‘I suppose that’s true, but I’ve been looking after him for a while now, overseeing his care, and he wanted me to stay with him. It’s been a difficult time for Connor, because his parents were injured in the crash as well and they had to stay behind in Scotland. I think that’s why he took to depending on me, because he was so vulnerable. The poor child had no one and he was lost and alone.’

‘Then I expect you must feel that you made the right choice.’ He sent her an oblique glance. ‘So, what do you do at the hospital? Are you a nurse, or a doctor perhaps?’

‘A doctor. I specialised in paediatrics, and mostly I work with seriously ill children on the surgical ward.’

‘That must be rewarding.’ His blue-grey gaze moved over her fleetingly.

‘It can be. There are times when it’s difficult to handle, though, like when the child has a serious heart condition or worse. You want so much to help them, but sometimes there’s a limit to what you can do. I find that heartbreaking.’

He nodded. ‘I can see how that might affect you. For myself, I tend to think that children are resilient for the most part. They cope with problems in a way that puts adults to shame.’

Rebecca smiled. ‘Yes, they do.’ She sent him a thoughtful glance. She knew next to nothing about this man, and yet he already had the lowdown on her lifestyle, her work and her plans for the future. Well, maybe not all of them, but a good part. How had he managed to glean so much about her in such a short space of time?

‘Here we are already,’ he said as the glass doors to the main entrance of the hospital swished open before them. ‘That was quick. You certainly landed a prime position, with your flat being just a hop and a skip away from here.’

‘I suppose I did.’ Rebecca hesitated, and then started to move away from him in the direction of the stairs. ‘I have to go to the surgical ward to collect my patient,’ she told him. ‘Do you know your way about, or do you need directions?’

‘I’ll manage,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll take the lift.’

‘OK.’

He inclined his head towards her and she returned the gesture with a brief ‘Goodbye,’ before going on her way.

She didn’t turn back to watch him take the lift. She wouldn’t be seeing him again and that was perhaps just as well, because he seemed to have a very strange effect on her. In the few hours she had known him, he had managed somehow to put her on the defensive and caused her to examine her reasons for doing things, and she was tired of all that uncertainty.

What she needed now was a fresh start, a chance to go home to her island roots and find peace within herself once again.

Pushing all thoughts of him out of her mind, she tapped in the security code at the door of the children’s ward and then made her way over to the nurses’ station.

‘How’s everybody doing?’ she asked, looking at the women who had been her colleagues over the last couple of years. ‘Has everything been peaceful overnight?’

‘More peaceful than your going-away party.’ Connie laughed. ‘Have you heard any news about James?’

Rebecca nodded. ‘I checked up on him by phone before I came here. He’s doing all right… He had several deep cuts that needed stitching, but he’s recovering well, and they’re thinking of sending him home later today.’

‘That’s a relief.’ Connie smiled. ‘As to your little patient, he’s just about ready for the journey home. He’s a bit pale and anxious-looking, but his temperature is OK and his heart rate and oxygen levels are satisfactory, so he should be clear to travel.’

‘That’s good news. I’ll go and have a word with him and get him ready for the journey. Do we have any idea what time the ambulance will be arriving?’

Connie glanced at the nurse who was standing by the phone. ‘Do we?’

‘I’m not sure. I think we have to check with the transport services. There was a query over what was happening, and I was told to ring again in a few minutes to check.’

‘That’s all right. I’ll go and talk to Connor while you do that.’

Eight-year-old Connor was overjoyed to see her. ‘Becca, you came back!’ Her young patient’s face lit up. ‘I know you said you were going to stay with me, but they told me you weren’t going to work at the hospital any more. I didn’t think I would see you again.’

‘Well, there you are, you see,’ she said on a cheerful note. ‘I’m here, and I’m going with you all the way back to Scotland. I shan’t leave you until I hand you over, safe and sound, to your mum and dad.’

He gave her a blissful smile. ‘I can’t wait to see them again.’ He sank back against his pillows as though the effort of talking had taken a lot out of him. Even so, he shot her a troubled glance. ‘Do you think they’re all right? Are they still in hospital?’

She nodded. ‘They’re both still in hospital, but they’re getting better every day.’ His mother had leg and arm injuries, and his father was suffering from whiplash and a dislocated knee, but Connor was the one who had come close to death because of internal injuries.

She looked at him now, noting the dark shadows beneath his eyes, made all the more noticeable by his pale features and the contrasting colour of his brown hair. He had lost a lot of blood in the car accident, and had almost died from injuries to his chest and abdomen. It was only because of the skill of the surgeons who had operated on him within the golden hour, from the time of the accident to admission to hospital, that he stood a good chance of recovery without suffering too many after-effects. In fact, all going well, he would probably be released from hospital in a few days.

‘We need to concentrate on you right now,’ she murmured. ‘We have to make sure that you’re well enough to manage the journey, and that you stay on good form. That means you need to get some rest and allow your body to heal. We still need to keep an eye on you to make sure that everything gets back to normal.’

‘I’m better than I was yesterday.’ Connor gave her a wide-eyed glance. ‘And I ate all my breakfast, even the yucky porridge the nurse gave me.’

Rebecca laughed. ‘That’s good. It’s a start, at any rate.’ She surreptitiously checked the readings on the monitors by his bedside. ‘I’ll have a quick listen to your chest, and then perhaps we can get ready to go on our way.’

She gently laid her stethoscope over his rib cage and listened to the sounds coming from his lungs. There was a slight wheeziness, but all in all things appeared to be good. Since the drainage tubes had been removed from his chest a couple of days ago with no ill-effects, it looked as though she could give the all-clear for the transport to go ahead.

‘You’re doing all right,’ she told him with a smile, ‘so I’ll go and have a word with the nurse and see if we can be on our way.’

‘Yeah!’ Connor whooped, and then coughed, clutching his chest as his body responded to the exertion. ‘Ouch!’ he said. ‘That hurt.’

Rebecca made a wry face. ‘I guess we’d better top up your painkillers before we go.’ She reached into her pocket and pulled out an electronic computer game. ‘Here, you can amuse yourself with this for a while, if you think you’re up to it.’

‘Oh, wow.’ His eyes shone as he looked up at her. ‘Where did you get this from?’

‘I borrowed it from the play leader. She didn’t want you to be bored on the journey.’

He was already thumbing the buttons on the device, absorbed in checking out the game she had slotted in place. ‘This is great.’

Rebecca grinned, and went off to talk to the nurse. ‘How are things coming along with the transport?’ she asked.

‘You’re all set to go,’ the nurse told her. ‘Only there won’t be a paramedic travelling along with you this time. There will be another doctor on board.’

‘That’s unusual, isn’t it?’ Rebecca murmured. ‘How did that come about?’

‘I think it was because—Oh, hang on, here he is now…’ The nurse broke off and looked towards the door. ‘He’ll be able to fill you in on the details himself.’ She shielded her face with her hand in a covert fashion as she turned back to Rebecca. ‘Lucky you! I wish I were the one who was going along with him. He’s gorgeous.’

Rebecca’s stare flicked across the room and she gazed in open-mouthed wonder at the man who was walking towards them. She blinked in disbelief. Surely there was some mistake? What was Craig doing there? How was it possible that the nurse was pointing him out as though he was the doctor who was to accompany her on the journey?

Craig’s dark brows lifted. ‘Are you all right?’ He came to join them at the nurses’station, sending Rebecca a swift, assessing glance. ‘You look as though you’re in shock.’

‘I think that’s because I am.’ Rebecca floundered. ‘I mean, I had no idea that you were anything other than a stranger passing through. How was I to know that you were a doctor? You didn’t tell me.’

His gaze was steady. ‘You didn’t ask.’

‘Yes, but even so…’ Rebecca shook her head. All her preconceived ideas about him had dissolved in an instant. To think that she had even been feeling some degree of sympathy towards him…and now it turned out that she had everything wrong and she felt utterly foolish.

‘I had no idea that you would be going back with me to Scotland,’ she said. ‘You must have known all along, but you said nothing at all.’

‘That’s because I didn’t know for certain,’ he murmured. ‘I had a shrewd idea, I’ll grant you, but I knew nothing for sure until I checked with the transport services a few minutes ago.’

He looked across at the nurse. ‘So we’re cleared to go, I take it? Where is the little fellow?’

‘Bay three.’ The nurse pointed in the direction of the side ward, an amused smile playing around her lips. ‘I have his paperwork here, all ready for Dr McIntyre. I hope you both have a good journey.’

Rebecca drew in a swift breath and put out a hand for the paperwork. She would at least put up a semblance of normality and pretend that none of this was happening. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ll make sure it’s handed over to the receiving hospital. It’s been good working with you, Libby.’

‘And you.’

Rebecca started towards the bay where Connor was waiting. ‘I’ll show you to our patient,’ she told Craig. Perhaps the best thing she could do was to relate to him in a purely professional capacity. That way, she would be able to stay calm and do her job. ‘He’s doing all right,’ she said. ‘It’s just a question of waiting for him to heal and for him to build up his strength once more. All this has taken a lot out of him.’

‘I can imagine.’

He was still carrying the overnight bag with him, and she said briskly as they approached Connor’s trolley bed, ‘Perhaps you should slide that onto the rack underneath. It’ll be out of the way as we wheel him out to the ambulance bay.’

‘Sure thing.’ He deposited the bag and sent a cheery smile towards Connor, who was looking at him with a guarded expression. ‘Hello, young man,’ Craig said. ‘I’m Dr Braemar. I’ll be going along with you on the journey home.’

Connor sent him a suspicious look. ‘I want Becca to go with me.’

‘Yes, she’ll be coming along, too.’

‘Really?’ Connor lay back and tried to absorb that. ‘So I get to have two doctors? Why?’