Australian Affairs: Seduced

When?

CHAPTER NINE

THERE WEREN’T JUST cracks appearing, there were gaping holes in the roster and a couple of nights Marnie was close to putting the department on bypass again. Harry’s sister had taken the children for the rest of the week and he was covering the department as best he could but, of course, he couldn’t work twenty-four hours a day. He told Admim that he would work till the funeral on Thursday but, after that, it was up to them to find a replacement.

Sheldon was looking boot-faced when he came on duty on the morning of the funeral to work alongside yet another locum and one he didn’t particularly like.

‘Harry’s hardly going to miss the funeral,’ Marnie pointed out. ‘But cover’s been arranged for the weekend. Helen Cummings is covering the night shifts and she’s really good. I worked with her a lot at the Royal…’

‘What about next week?’ Sheldon said, but Marnie had no answer.

‘Who’s in charge this morning?’ Lillian asked.

Marnie explained what had been arranged. ‘Miriam’s working till ten then going to the funeral. I’m going to have a couple of hours’ sleep in the on-call room and then we’re running a skeleton staff till two p.m. and the place will be on bypass.’

Marnie watched Lillian’s lips disappear. Putting the department on bypass cost the hospital a lot in fines, but Marnie almost dared Lillian to question the decision on the day of Dr Vermont’s funeral. It was going to be huge—several surgical lists had been rescheduled so that colleagues could pay their respects, a huge entourage would be leaving from the hospital, then there would be drinks and refreshments for those who wanted them after the official wake. Whoever had said no one was indispensable had never met Dr Vermont.

‘We’re all trying our best,’ Marnie said. ‘I called Dr Cooper but he can’t start any sooner as he’s working his notice till the last day. I think I might have to call Juan…’

‘He’s on his honeymoon.’ Even the hard-nosed Lillian was reluctant to go that far, or perhaps she knew Juan too well. He was one of the rare few who had worked to get balance in his life and knew his priorities. Terminating his honeymoon wouldn’t be an option. ‘I doubt he’s going to fly back from Argentina,’ Lillian said, but Marnie just shrugged.

‘Well, he is a consultant, perhaps he’d want to know that the place is collapsing.’

‘Rather you than me,’ Lillian said.

Marnie checked the local time in Argentina on the computer and, seeing it was early evening, decided to give it a try, but even the switchboard operator was reluctant to give her an outside line.

‘Yes, it’s a mobile I’m trying to call!’ Marnie rolled her eyes at Miriam, who had just come on. ‘Well, I don’t know his landline number in Argentina, he could be anywhere. I just want to be put through to his mobile…’ She was halted from continuing as the receiver was taken from her hand. Marnie turned to the delicious sight of Harry in a black suit and tie and, though it was expertly knotted, it was just a tiny bit off centre and his collar needed arranging, but thankfully she managed to resist, focusing instead on the gorgeous waft of cologne.

‘Our mistake,’ Harry said to the switchboard operator. He hung up the phone and then looked down at Marnie. ‘You’d really do it, wouldn’t you?’

‘Watch me!’ Marnie said, trying to get at the phone, but Harry blocked her.

‘You cannot call a man on his honeymoon to fly back to work.’ Harry hadn’t done a lot of smiling this week and he was trying not to now as he looked down in disbelief at Marnie. ‘We’re trying to prevent the next consultant dropping dead from a heart attack, Marnie.’

‘Well, I’d want to know.’

‘Really?’ Harry checked. ‘Lying by the pool on your honeymoon, next to the man of your dreams, you’d really want a phone call telling you to get back here.’

‘Ha,’ Marnie said. ‘I hate sunbathing and there’ll be no ring on this finger…’ She held up that perfect finger in an almost inappropriate gesture. ‘Anyway, Harry, you’ve no right to be stopping me. Soon this place won’t be your problem any more.’

‘Well, for this morning it still is and you are not ringing Juan.’

‘Fine,’ Marnie said, and turned to Miriam. ‘I’m going to the doctors’ on-call room to have a sleep. Wake me when you want to start getting ready for the funeral.’ She looked back to Harry. ‘Good luck today. Are you speaking?’

‘I am.’ Harry grimaced. ‘I’m just going to go and get my car washed and then—’

‘You should have washed it on your way home last night.’

‘I was tired.’

‘Bet you wish you’d done it last night this morning!’

‘No,’ Harry lied. ‘Actually, I’m going round to my office now to read through the speech and then go and sort out the car…’

‘Keep it short.’

‘Sorry?’ She was telling him how to speak at a funeral!

‘Short’s better,’ Marnie said.

‘This from a woman who never stops talking? So you’re an expert in funerals now, are you?’

‘Actually, now you mention it…’ She gave him a smile but then it turned to a more sympathetic one. ‘I hope it goes as well as it can.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Harry.’ She looked up at him, those blue eyes blazing, her lips worrying. ‘I’m sorry, I just can’t stop myself. It is a funeral you’re going to after all…’ Two very cold but terribly beautiful hands were at his neck, fixing his collar and tie.

‘I can dress myself.’

‘I know,’ Marnie said, ‘but you were right, Kelly.’ She briefly glanced at Kelly, whose cheeks turned to ruby as she found out first hand that Marnie knew exactly what was being said about her. ‘I think I do have a touch of OCD and I just cannot let you go without fixing your collar, Harry.’ Oh, it was perfect now, collar down, knot in the centre. ‘After all, you’re representing the department!’

It wasn’t intimate in the least, Harry told himself, and that was confirmed two minutes later when he saw her in the corridor, dusting down Eric’s shoulders with a lint brush she just happened to keep in her office.

No, it wasn’t intimate, but why could he still feel her fingers on his neck?

Why, when he saw from his office Marnie disappearing into the on-call room, did he sit there, wondering if she’d undress for bed?

Oh, help, Harry thought as she came out shoeless in stockinged feet with her hair down and returned a moment later with a pair of scrubs in her hand to change from that navy dress into pyjamas.

No, the little finger gesture hadn’t been inappropriate—what was inappropriate was his thoughts on the morning of Dr Vermont’s funeral.

He got up and closed the door, so as not to think of her.

It didn’t work.

She’d drive you crazy, Harry told himself.

And as for bed, Harry attempted to alleviate the ache in his groin with the thought of Marnie moaning that she’d just changed the sheets, or maybe putting little towels down in case he dared to so much as spill a drop.

‘Filthy business!’ He could almost hear her saying it and, yes, that thought almost worked, except he remembered only too well their kiss and two minutes later Harry gave up focusing on the speech and headed out to get the car washed.

Anything for the distraction.

Marnie, his mind had decided, would be deliciously filthy.

‘Marnie!’

Marnie peeled her eyes open as she heard Miriam’s voice at the door. ‘Marnie.’

‘I’m up,’ Marnie called, and on autopilot headed to the sink and brushed her teeth. There was nothing worse than a two-hour sleep after a night shift.

Well, there was a whole lot worse, Marnie told herself as she washed her face, but the point she was making to herself was that getting up from a short sleep, when you really needed a long one, was one of the reasons she had always loathed nights.

Marnie stood shivering in scrubs and a cardigan in the kitchen, pouring herself a very strong coffee as Harry breezed in with a load of glasses that were on loan to the department. He did a double-take when he saw the usually very groomed Marnie a good inch shorter without her low heels and as pale as the milk she was pouring into her coffee.

‘I know.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It should be me they’re burying today.’

She dealt with death and all the horrible stuff with a black, wry humour that would offend some, but never him. Somehow, on not quite Harry’s worst day, but it was certainly there in the rankings, she made him smile.

It felt strange as everyone started to leave. The department was on bypass and quiet, but all morning it had been a hub of activity, a meeting centre. Abby’s tears had already started as everyone filed out to get into the cars and Harry put his arm around Abby and then patted his pockets.

‘Here,’ Marnie said, handing him a box of tissues from the bench, and then they were gone.

The department was eerily quiet. The locum was calm and efficient with the few patients they had but there was an immense sadness that simply wouldn’t abate. Every time Marnie looked at the clock or paused a moment she thought about that last conversation with Dr Vermont or wondered how Marjorie was faring.

Harry too.

For that morning, at least, the focus wasn’t on rosters or filling in shifts, it was on the huge loss—the tremendous gap that a wonderful man had left.

Staff started to arrive early in the afternoon and the staffroom filled with hospital personnel—those who had been to the funeral and those who hadn’t been able to get away for it.

‘How was it?’ Marnie asked Harry. He seemed beyond exhausted, but had that grim-faced look of just pushing through.

‘Awful.’ Harry wasn’t stopping. ‘I just came in to drop some supplies off. Marjorie asked me to take some of the food from the wake for everyone here. I told her it had all been catered but she wanted to contribute to it too. Can you help me get some stuff out of the car?’

‘Sure.’

‘Where are the twins today?’ Marnie asked, as they walked out into the sunshine on what would normally feel a glorious day.

‘At Cathy’s till this evening.’ There were mountains of food, tray after tray of sandwiches and boxes of drinks, and they ended up loading one of the gurneys and covering it with a sheet before pushing it through the department and round to the staffroom.

‘So, this is your last day?’ Marnie asked.

‘It has to be,’ Harry said, as they unloaded the food and set up. ‘Cathy’s had to take this week off work.’ He didn’t want to think about it now—for the most part, they had Friday and the weekend covered.

‘You go home, Marnie.’ Miriam, back from the funeral, her eyes red rimmed, took over unloading the boxes. ‘You must be exhausted. I hope you’re not driving.’

‘No.’ Marnie shook her head. ‘I’m taking a taxi.’

‘I’ll drive you,’ Harry said.

‘Shouldn’t you stay for a bit…?’ Marnie started, and then stopped. After all, it was the story of Harry’s life at the moment and the reason he had no option but to quit his job.

‘They’re talking about building an extension in his name,’ Harry said. As they walked to his car, Marnie was shivering again. ‘The Vermont Wing.’

‘That would be nice.’

‘Well, there won’t be a Worthington Wing.’

‘Just as well,’ Marnie said as they climbed into his car. ‘Try getting your lips around that after a night shift.’

Harry actually laughed. ‘Beach Road?’ he said, because he remembered everything she had ever told him.

‘The dodgy end.’ Marnie smiled.

‘I can’t believe he won’t get to retire,’ Harry said as they drove out of the hospital. His phone was bleeping away but he just ignored it. ‘Though he’d have hated retirement—even Marjorie said as much—he loved that place.’

‘You do too.’

Emotional blackmail wasn’t going to work on Harry. He never took his eyes off the road. ‘I love my kids. I need to put them first. Charlotte’s becoming more precocious by the minute, Adam…’ He liked it that she didn’t push things, just waited as he voiced a potential problem that he hadn’t discussed with anyone. ‘I think he’s got a speech delay.’ His knuckles were white on the wheel. ‘I’ve been thinking it for months and I haven’t even had time to do a thing about it.’

‘Looks like I’ll be ringing Juan to come back from his honeymoon, then.’

‘You really aren’t romantic?’

‘Not at all,’ Marnie said. ‘Men always have to complicate things.’ She watched as Harry’s tense mouth curved into a smile—his problem was the same, but with women, of course. ‘They say they want an independent woman,’ Marnie continued. ‘They insist they do but then they get all misty-eyed and start to ask strange things like could I possibly iron a shirt? Or they think that just because you had sex last night it means you’re going to be overtaken by this sudden urge to cook for them…’

Harry laughed, really laughed, for the first time since he’d taken the call about Dr Vermont. It wasn’t the safest conversation to be having right now. He turned and glanced at her. There was a smile on her lips as she looked out of the window, a smile that told him she knew she was flirting. His phone bleeped again. Harry went to get it, but seeing cyclists up ahead knew better than to risk it, but he was worried that it might be work. ‘Can you get it out my pocket?’

She most certainly could.

Harry was used to making strange requests such as that one, used to concentrating on stitching, or something similar, as someone found his phone and held it for him to speak into. He could feel her bony fingers against his chest as her hand slipped inside his jacket and Marnie could feel the heat from his skin through his shirt.

‘Mind on the road, Harry,’ Marnie said, and he smiled. The air was almost crackling between them. ‘You’ve a text from Cathy.’

‘Which means Charlotte,’ Harry translated. ‘At least it isn’t work.’

‘What you need,’ Marnie said, ‘is a wife.’

‘I’ve got one,’ Harry said, and in a gesture that certainly wasn’t insolent—in fact, for Marnie it was the nicest thing he could have done—Harry held up his ring finger.

‘I know,’ Marnie said, because she did know. She had a son. It didn’t go away because time had passed.

He pulled up at her house and opened up the message.

‘So that’s that, then,’ Harry said as he read it.

‘Sorry?’

‘I wasn’t going to say anything but I was hoping that I might be able to juggle things next week—the incubation period is just about up and there was this tiny window of possibility that the twins could go back to day care on Monday…’ He gave a wry laugh as he read out the text. ‘Charlotte has spots—don’t worry, right now she’s delighted.’

‘Poor Atlas,’ Marnie said as she watched the load he was carrying drop just a touch heavier on his shoulders. She looked at his profile and knew she’d miss him.

A lot.

‘Do you need to get back?’

‘I’ll call her,’ Harry said. ‘And see how she is.’ Except his phone battery was almost flat. ‘Can I use yours?’

‘Sure.’ She went to go in her bag to get it but changed her mind. ‘Use the landline.’

‘Marnie…’ Harry started, and then changed his mind. ‘Sure, a coffee would be great.’ It was a long drive to his sister’s after all.

But Marnie was over playing games.

‘Harry, you know we’re going to sleep together. So we can make this all awkward and have a coffee that neither of us wants and then a quick fumble at the door…’ She loved it when he smiled.

‘Won’t it complicate things?’

‘There’s nothing complicated about sex.’ Marnie smiled. ‘And we don’t work together any more.’

‘I think—’

But she halted him. ‘You’ve done enough thinking for the day.’

She was possibly the perfect woman for Harry right now, he decided as he tasted her moist, full lips.

And there was nothing nicer than the warmth of his kiss when you were freezing, Marnie told herself as his arms slid around hers. And could there be anyone better than Harry to get your second wind with? Because suddenly Marnie wasn’t remotely tired.

‘Come on,’ Marnie said. ‘Let’s get you to bed!

But first he called Charlotte and congratulated her on her spots.

‘I’ll stop and get some more supplies before I come and get you,’ Harry said. ‘Yep. Don’t worry, I won’t get there till dinner.’ Marnie was taking off her cardigan as Cathy must have come on the phone. ‘She’s worried I’m going to pick her up before she gets to eat your pizza.’ He looked at Marnie as he talked on about how today had gone well. Well, as well as funeral could go. ‘Thanks for this week,’ Harry said. ‘No, Cathy, I get it. I know you can’t take another week off…’ He hesitated. ‘No.’ Harry’s response was firm. ‘Mum and Dad are okay for the odd night, but it’s not fair to ask for a week.’

They just stared for a very long moment and there was something lovely about no longer working together, something really nice about being two people who were quite comfortable keeping their sex lives separate from the rest of their lives.

They both knew the other’s rules.

They’d both wanted the other on sight.

‘Come here,’ Harry said, and it took just two words. Marnie stepped into his space and Harry looked down, lingering a moment safe in the knowledge there was no need for holding back now.

‘You drove me crazy this morning.’

‘I know.’

‘You always do.’

‘I know.’ Marnie smiled.

She felt his mouth on hers, felt her tongue slide in and, yes, it was nice not to think.

Marnie, though she would never admit it to herself let alone Harry, was taken slightly aback by her own reaction to his mouth. She’d missed it, had been thinking about their kiss far more than she perhaps ought, and now he was back, his mouth sinking into hers, its demand building. She opened her eyes and saw Harry’s were closed and it was an incredible turn-on to see him simply indulge. So lovely to feel his hands stop fighting their need for contact and roam free, down her waist, then to her bottom, and despite his height they were an incredible fit, Marnie thought, so incredible that it would be terribly easy to forget about bed.

Harry lifted her top, slid it over her head and moaned as his hands felt the bare skin he had craved. His fingers unhooked her bra and his mouth was enough to make her sink to her knees with Harry joining her.

‘Harry…’ She pulled back and he opened his eyes, waited for the inevitable excuses and the reasons that this was a terrible idea, but he still didn’t know Marnie.

‘I need to have a shower,’ Marnie said, and he laughed for the second time in a very short space of time and, no, he didn’t mind the delay in proceedings, especially with what she said next. ‘I’d like to be clean before we get dirty.’

Marnie headed into her bedroom and picked up the alarm. ‘What time do you need to leave?’ she asked.

‘Six.’

‘I’ll set it for five, then.’ She was almost clinical in her approach yet for Harry it was sexy. He liked independence; heaven knew, there were so many people dependent on him. He liked the rarity of Marnie and her utter ease, combined with the delicious trepidation that he felt as she headed for the shower.

He heard the taps turn on as he closed the curtains of her bay window and undressed. It was an adult reprieve that had been building and with someone who fascinated him more and more. Someone with whom he could be himself, or rather he could go back to the man he had once been.

Naked, he walked into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain, stood watching her washing her hair, and she opened her eyes and smiled.

‘You didn’t come empty-handed, I hope.’

‘No.’

‘Come in, then.’

He picked up the soap and put the little silver wrapper in the holder, and there was nothing to stop them now.

‘I hate showers,’ Marnie said, looking down as his large hands lathered the soap and then slid over her breasts. ‘Or maybe I don’t.’ He was as slow and as deliciously thorough as she had thought he would be. Marnie watched as he soaped her breasts, her nipples stretching and puckering, and then she took the soap from him, lathered her hands and then dropped it.

It was Harry who paused, stared down as her hands stroked the length of him, over and over. He stood, staring as if in some delicious hypnotic trance that they’d be jolted out of any second. Marnie knew it too, she felt the swell and the lift of the balls she cupped in her hand and she was so turned on watching Harry that she wouldn’t have cared if his hand hadn’t halted her.

He was struggling to hold back, and he kissed her till he was back from the edge. The shiver that went through her had nothing to with exhaustion or cold as Harry lowered his head to her breast.

Her breasts had been on his mind for so long, that long glimpse of them nestled in her lacy bra had been dancing in his mind’s eyes since the kiss in her office. The taste of her wet, warm flesh in his mouth was more than worth the wait.

Marnie watched his tongue taking its time, building her urgency, and before she even begged she watched as her nipple disappeared into to the soft vacuum of his mouth. She felt his hand slide up her thigh and she just about folded over, holding onto his head for support.

Maybe she did like showers after all, she thought as Harry tended to the other breast for a while, ensuring she was flushed and dizzy from his generous tastings before his mouth moved down.

‘Harry…’

He ignored her, knelt down and parted her legs. He retrieved the soap and washed her intimately, teasing out her clitoris till it was as erect as he’d left her nipples and then burying his face in her sex as his fingers slid deep inside.

Marnie usually took for ever to come but not this afternoon. She was pressing Harry’s head in, watching him feast, buckling her legs to him, then accidentally blasting them with cold water as she grabbed a tap for support as she gave in to his mouth.

Harry loved the icy blast to his shoulders as he felt her heat in his mouth; he loved hearing the very controlled Marnie losing it to his tongue then shivering in his arms.

‘More hot I think…’ Harry said.

It was steamy, it was lovely and Harry had but a few minutes’ patience left in him. He stood and watched as she tore the wrapper and both looked down as she gave him a little stroke and a tease.

‘Sometimes I look down and just smile,’ Marnie said at the sight of her hands tenderly wrapping her present as she slid the condom down.

‘We’ll slip,’ Marnie warned as he picked her up, and she slid down on his length and Harry did his best to hold her, hot and slippery in his hands; but there was just a little too much energy between them, the sex they wanted a touch too vigorous to assure safety. ‘We’re going to end up in Emergency,’ Marnie warned as he tried to get back to her breasts and she wrapped her legs tighter around him.

‘They might have to send the flying squad out to us,’ Harry said, giving up on the pleasure of her wet breast. She put her arms around his neck and still they kissed, but it was terribly difficult in her tiny shower and Harry wanted to see more of her.

He turned the taps off and carried her to the bed, letting her back till her shoulders rested and Marnie looked up to the stunning sight of him, dripping wet and devouring her with his eyes.

Her ankles were wrapped around his hips and he had one hand under her buttocks, the other stroking her as he thrust into her, but she pushed his hand away and gave full invitation.

She’d thought Harry sexy but she knew now just how sexy he was. Felt the grip of his hands on her hips and the delicious sight of him for once concentrating on himself. It was bliss to be moved by him, to be taken. The slap of wet skin and the feel of Harry unleashed deep inside, so potent even the soles of Marnie’s feet seemed to contract as she started to writhe beneath him, not that Harry let her go anywhere.

He held her hips so tight as he shot into her that Marnie fought to arch, the suppression forcing the channels of energy back to where Harry delivered his final thrusts deep inside her. It tipped Marnie into the deepest orgasm of her life—her thighs shaking, her bottom lifting, grateful for the hands that held her firm as she rode the deep waves that coursed through her.