‘Well, that didn’t seem so difficult, Dr Seymour. I wonder whether we should put your problem down to a lack of assertiveness. Or perhaps you weren’t in a hurry.’

Beth found his unremitting and unjust criticism more than she could handle. She paused for a moment before replying. She wanted to gather the last shreds of composure she possessed. Australia was supposed to be different. A new start, where she would be valued as a doctor, and also as a person. She had to make that clear now.

Finally, with a calm that belied her still shaky confidence, she challenged her aggressor. ‘You’re wrong with both suggestions, Dr Harrison. It appears that Australian men are not astute enough to get the message when it’s delivered politely. But don’t worry. I’m sure I can alter my delivery to suit the occasion. I learn quickly.’

She watched as the corners of his mouth curved slightly. Not a full smile, but Beth was relieved to see that at least it wasn’t the face of a man about to end her medical career. In fact, to her surprise, she found herself thinking it was a very handsome, almost roguish face. The blue eyes that had threatened her only minutes before now seemed to sparkle as they lingered on hers. She felt her pulse quicken and blood flow into her cheeks.

Conscious of her blushing, she abruptly turned her gaze from him, trying to concentrate on her case notes, but still she felt strangely distracted by his presence so close to her.

Matthew liked her spirit. She had just stood up to him, and not many people could do that. They cowered to his seniority and his reputation. But Beth didn’t flinch when she gave back as good as she got.

‘OD in Priority One,’ called a nurse as she raced past them.

Beth felt a firm hand on her arm.

‘Well, Dr Seymour, let’s see just how fast you learn!’

Dear Reader

I am so excited to introduce Beth and Matthew in my very first book, UNLOCKING THE DOCTOR’S HEART. I feel so privileged to be able to bring these characters to you and tell their very special love story.

The fact that I am able to do this as a Mills & Boon® Medical Romance™ author is a very special story too. An incurable romantic, and an avid reader of Mills & Boon books, I have wanted to write for this publisher for the longest time. I started writing romance a few years ago and, although I did occasionally dare to dream of one day using the title ‘Mills & Boon Author’ I wasn’t totally convinced that it would actually happen. But, just like falling in love, it happens when you least expect it.

I continued writing because I can’t imagine not doing it. And, having a medical background, I wanted to write a romance set in a busy hospital. So that is just what I did—and I added the element of travelling around the world to find love. Beth is a young Englishwoman with a feisty spirit and a desire to find her own identity and fall in love, and she travels to Australia in search of both. Matthew is a man who needs love but has locked away his heart after being badly hurt. They are two wonderful people who have never found ‘the one’. When I felt sure that this story was finally ‘the one’ I sent it off. And then it happened. I received the call from Mills & Boon with the exciting offer of a book contract.

I am thrilled that my first book is set in my hometown of Adelaide, in a fictitious hospital, the Eastern Memorial. It is loosely based on a large city teaching hospital and the story includes local landmarks, including my favourite shopping destination of Rundle Street. I hope you enjoy the rollercoaster ride that takes these two wonderful, dedicated doctors from colleagues to lovers and manages to mend a broken heart along the way.

Warmest wishes

Susanne

Married to the man she met at eighteen, SUSANNE HAMPTON is the mother of two adult daughters—one a musician and the other an artist.

The family also extends to a slightly irritable Maltese shih-tzu, a neurotic poodle, three elderly ducks and four hens that only very occasionally bother to lay eggs. Susanne loves everything romantic and pretty, so her home is brimming with romance novels, movies and shoes.

With an interest in all things medical, her career has been in the dental field and the medical world in different roles, and now Susanne has taken that love into writing Mills & Boon® Medical Romance™.

UNLOCKING THE DOCTOR’S HEART is Susanne Hampton’s debut title!

Unlocking the Doctor’s Heart
Susanne Hampton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Peter, Ori, Tina and all of my wonderful family and friends who supported this dream of mine for so long: Sylva, Yvette and Sandra, my very first homegrown editors; The South Australian Romance Authors and Romance Writers of Australia for all of their encouragement; Flo Nicoll for her amazing patience, guidance and advice.

And finally to my brother Rod—always a hero in my eyes

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

‘DO I LOOK like a mop?’

Beth wondered if this was a trick question, considering the young man asking was quite tall and wiry, not unlike a stick in stature, with a head of loose brown curls. She resisted the temptation to acknowledge an odd similarity.

‘Pardon me?’ she asked.

‘I’m sick and tired of Harrison cleaning the damned floor with me. I tell you, he treats residents like they’re not fit to be in his god-like presence.’

Beth watched from the corner of her eye as the stranger paced the lift. Adding an exaggerated depth and hint of sarcasm to his voice, he continued, ‘And short of lying comatose in ICU, there’s no excuse for arriving late at work while I’m in charge!’

Beth turned around to fully face the figure sharing her lift. ‘Please tell me you’re not talking about Dr Harrison, the senior A and E consultant?’

‘Afraid I am.’

‘I was hoping—’

‘Well, you’re out of luck,’ he cut in. ‘The other consultants are saints compared to our Hannibal Harrison.’

The lift stopped on the third floor, the doors opened to an empty lobby and after a prolonged wait slowly closed again.

‘Why do people push the button for every lift on the floor?’ the lanky man growled, before giving in to a lopsided smile. ‘Better watch my temper, I’m starting to sound like Harrison!’

Beth breathed a heavy sigh. This man had just confirmed the rumours she had overheard when she’d visited the human resource department only minutes before. She had tried to dismiss it as idle gossip.

‘That’s just wonderful,’ she said. ‘I start work with him this morning.’

‘So you’re the newest victim.’ He smiled sardonically, rubbing his hands, then offered one in friendship. ‘Just joking, it’s a bad habit of mine that you’ll have to get used to. I’m Dan Berketta, and you must be our RMO exchange from London. Let me be the first from Cas to welcome you to the Eastern Memorial.’

Beth met his handshake. ‘Beth Seymour.’

The lift stopped again, this time on the first floor.

‘This is where I get off,’ Dan explained. ‘I’ve been sent on an errand by the man himself. I’ll catch up with you later.’

The doors closed, leaving Beth and her thoughts alone as she travelled down to the ground floor. Somehow she had to make the best of it, despite Dan’s bleak report and terrible impersonation. She had no choice, she mused as the lift came to a stop. In vain she tried to tuck back a wisp of hair that escaped from her chestnut plait. She sighed when another frizzy strand fell across her eye. The humid Australian summer weather was playing havoc with her curls and that was just what she didn’t need. She feared frizzy curls around her face made her look even younger and she wanted desperately to appear every bit of her twenty-eight years today.

After a few moments struggling with the rebellious wisp, she conceded defeat and stepped from the elevator into the commotion of the A and E department. It was only eight o’clock on a Monday morning, but the tone of the day ahead was evident.

The hallway was lined with chairs and each one was taken. The cries of a colicky baby were almost drowned by the abusive yelling of an elderly drunk, who was being escorted to the exit door by two well-built orderlies. A barouche, attended by three hospital staff and clearly heading for Emergency Theatre, rushed past, forcing Beth to take two steps back.

‘Chin up, Beth Seymour,’ she muttered to herself. ‘No matter what, this is definitely where you want to be.’

Beth had worked too hard and waited too long for this day—travelling halfway around the world in the process—to let anything dampen her enthusiasm. Not even an A and E consultant with a supposed foul temper.

No one could be that bad, she decided. Or could they, she wondered, as she spied a man drumming his fingers impatiently on the reception desk. She checked her watch, even though she knew she wasn’t late, then berated herself silently for letting him intimidate her before they had even met. She had made a pledge to herself to appear the consummate second-year resident, confident and totally professional.

She had recognised Dr Harrison from the description given by the girl in Personnel. Tall, late thirties, wavy dark hair and deep blue eyes. He fitted the description, although she wouldn’t have called him exceptionally tall. Height was such a personal thing, she decided as she drew closer. She couldn’t help but notice his white coat was a little worse for wear as she breathed a sigh and stretched out her hand.

‘You must be Dr Harrison. They told me I’d find you here. I’m Elizabeth Seymour, the new exchange resident. Everyone calls me Beth. I’ve been assigned to A and E.’

The man didn’t meet her handshake. He stared blankly as he rubbed his chin. ‘Listen, lady, I’m no doctor, I’m a dental technician. I work down the road at the dental hospital and I’ve been waiting for an hour for someone to take a look at my rash. I have a truckload of dentures and crowns I gotta get back to, so can you cop a squiz and give me somethin’ for the itch?’

Beth dropped her hand. She was stunned into an embarrassed silence.

‘Well, you heard the man,’ came a voice from behind her. ‘Bay four is empty, so show the gentleman in there and check out his rash, Dr Seymour.’

Beth spun around, and was forced to raise not only her eyes but her face, in order to meet the deep blue pools belonging to the voice.

It was painfully clear—in fact, Beth thought she could almost bet her future medical career on it—that this voice and these very deep blue eyes belonged to the real A and E consultant. A quick glance down at his ID tag confirmed her nightmare. The name Matthew Harrison was glaring back at her in bold print from beneath his photograph.

‘Is this a hearing problem or an attitude problem, Dr Seymour?’ he asked dismissively, as he sifted through some case notes on the desk. ‘I said you can take this patient into bay four and begin the examination, unless of course there’s some quaint English tradition that prevents you working before ten in the morning.’ His eyes lifted from the case notes before him and he met Beth’s stunned gaze.

‘And if that’s the case, Dr Seymour, you’d better see me in my office, because I don’t need a second-year resident working for me but abiding by her own set of rules.’

With that he turned away, gathered an armful of files and proceeded down the hall and out of sight.

Beth bit the inside of her cheek as she looked around. The waiting room was full. People without seats were leaning against the walls. Then there was the queue she had passed moments before in the corridor. And all of them, she felt certain, had heard the dressing down she had just received.

‘Here are his notes, Dr Seymour. I’ve just completed them now,’ said a nurse, who Beth couldn’t have recognised five minutes later in a line-up if her life had depended on it. Her normally clear reasoning had deserted her the moment Matthew Harrison had attacked.

Somehow she managed to hear the end of the instructions ‘...and the bay Dr Harrison suggested is second on the left.’

‘Fine,’ Beth replied, as she took the file and tried to focus on the name. ‘Well, then, Mr Somers, if you’ll follow me, I’ll see what I can do.’

With a bowlegged gait, he followed her. ‘I sure hope you can give me something to stop the itching. It’s been driving me mad for near on four days.’

With her back to the patient as she led him into the bay, Beth rolled her eyes and gave a little sigh. This was not how it was supposed to happen. The fantasies of her first day on the job in Adelaide had been very different.

She put down the notes, closed the curtains and crossed to the washbasin. Quickly but thoroughly she washed her hands and slipped on some latex gloves. Then she turned back to catch her patient drop his pants to the floor and bend over the examination table. She swallowed hard as she approached the splayed figure.

‘Where exactly is the problem, Mr...? Mr...?’ Oh, God, she couldn’t believe she’d forgotten his name. Her eyes were levelled at a man’s naked backside and she had no recollection of his name. Whether it was the sight before her or the run-in with Dr Harrison that had blanked her mind, she wasn’t sure.

‘Somers,’ he called over his shoulder, ‘Barry Somers. But my friends call me Bazza.’

‘Yes, of course. Mr Somers,’ she repeated, but had no need to ask where the problem was, as she watched him raise his hand to the afflicted area.

‘It’s just here. I was out shooting with me mates when I got nature’s call and ducked behind some bushes. Well, seems like I backed into some prickly pear. I was a bit embarrassed to come in, I thought maybe it’d go away but it hasn’t.’

Beth proceeded with the delicate examination. Upon completion she removed her gloves and wrote out a script.

‘You can have this filled down the corridor at Pharmacy,’ she explained. ‘Apply the cream to the irritated area three times a day and you should be fine in a few days.’

He stared at her without answering.

‘Mr Somers, did you understand me?’

‘Yep,’ he said. Dismissing everything else she had previously told him, he continued, ‘You know, Doc, you sure are pretty. Has anyone told you that you have beautiful brown eyes?’

‘Mr Somers, please get dressed.’

‘Are you single?’

Beth chose to ignore the question. ‘I don’t mean to hurry you up but we’re very busy so if you could please put on your trousers and make your way to Pharmacy.’

‘Can’t blame a man for asking,’ he said, as he tucked in his shirt and finished dressing. ‘You’re from the UK, right? Been out here long?’

‘Yes, I’m English and, no, I’ve only just arrived.’ Beth answered the less personal questions. ‘Now, unless there’s anything related to your treatment, I think you can go.’

‘Me and me mates, we’ve got a shack on the Murray River... Have you ever been water-skiing?’

‘I’m not a watersports kind of person,’ Beth replied, as she filled in the last of the case notes and closed the file. She moved to the curtain, pulling it open. ‘Now, I really do have a lot of patients to see.’

‘What about coffee in town one night, maybe a movie?’

As she opened her mouth to refuse his offer and to call for an orderly, a deep voice echoed behind her.

‘Dr Seymour, I think I can safely speak on behalf of the rest of the hospital staff, including management and the board, in telling you that we would be eternally grateful if you would arrange your private life in your own time. There’s a roomful of people waiting for treatment, if you haven’t noticed, and if you stop to chat with all the male patients who flatter your ego, I’m afraid we could risk some of the others up and dying on us!’

He turned to walk away, then paused in mid-step. ‘Quite frankly, Dr Seymour, I wasn’t keen about this RMO exchange. It’s an irritating disruption to a busy department and from what I’ve seen this morning, I doubt I’ll be convinced otherwise.’

‘I... I...’ Beth fell over her own words with nerves. ‘I was just trying to explain to Mr...’ It had happened again. Her mind went inexplicably blank. It never happened to her. She was always in control, remembering names had never been an issue. What was happening? Her composure had suddenly taken a leave of absence.

‘Mr Somers,’ the A and E consultant added snidely, looking at the case notes under Beth’s arm. ‘And, Dr Seymour, try to remember names. It’s a professional touch we encourage Down Under.’

‘As I was saying,’ she returned quickly, ‘I was just explaining to Mr Somers that he needed to go to Pharmacy.’

‘Well, the message wasn’t getting through, was it?’ he replied curtly. Then with his dark brows knitted and his arms folded across his ample chest, he stared in silence at the patient. Beth wasn’t sure whether it was his towering stature or threatening demeanour, but something made Mr Somers move quickly through the gap in the curtains and out of sight.

‘Well, that didn’t seem so difficult, Dr Seymour. I wonder whether we should put your problem down to a lack of assertiveness. Or perhaps you weren’t in a hurry.’

Beth found his unremitting and unjust criticism more than she could handle. She paused for a moment before replying. She wanted to gather the last shreds of composure she possessed. Australia was supposed to be different. A new start where she would be valued as a doctor and also as a person. She had to make that clear now.

Finally, with a calm that belied her still shaky confidence, she challenged her aggressor. ‘You’re wrong with both suggestions, Dr Harrison. It appears that Australian men are not astute enough to get the message when it’s delivered politely. But don’t worry, I’m sure I can alter my delivery to suit the occasion. I learn quickly.’

She watched as the corners of his mouth curved slightly. Not a full smile, but Beth was relieved to see it at least wasn’t the face of a man about to end her medical career. In fact, to her surprise, she found herself thinking it was a very handsome, almost roguish face. The blue eyes that had threatened her only minutes before now seemed to sparkle as they lingered on hers. She felt her pulse quicken and blood flow into her cheeks. Conscious of her blushing, she abruptly turned her gaze from him, trying to concentrate on her case notes, but still she felt strangely distracted by his presence so close to her.

* * *

Matthew liked her spirit. She had just stood up to him, and not many people could do that. They cowered to his seniority and his reputation, but Beth hadn’t flinched when she’d given back as good as she’d got.

‘OD in Priority One,’ called a nurse as she raced past them.

Beth felt a firm hand on her arm. ‘Well, Dr Seymour, let’s see just how fast you learn!’ He directed her into the corridor and with hasty steps they followed the nurse.

‘I can learn while running. I hope that’s fast enough.’

Matthew gave a wry smile, which she took as affirmation. Without further debate she followed him into a room filled with nursing staff and an attending doctor already working on stabilising the patient. Beth recognised the young doctor from the lift. It was Dan Berketta.

The young male patient he was attending lay on the barouche looking deathly pale. An intravenous line had already been inserted into his forearm and as the patient was unconscious Dan inserted a Guedal airway to prevent the patient’s tongue from obstructing his airway. One nurse took over the bag resuscitation while another cut down the length of his shirt. With the patient’s bare torso exposed, Dan immediately began cardiac compression.

‘Suspected scenario, Dr Berketta?’ asked Matthew Harrison as he put on latex gloves and threw a pair across to Beth.

‘Heroin overdose, the girlfriend told us,’ Dan replied, his voice gritting with the force he exerted on the patient’s chest. ‘The paramedics administered oxygen and Narcan en route. He was here five minutes when he ripped the IV out and attempted to leave. He made it about three feet before he arrested on the floor.’

‘Still no pulse,’ said a nurse.

Beth moved closer to offer assistance as Dan continued with the compressions.

‘No improvement,’ came the nurse’s update.

Immediately Dan reached for the defibrillator paddles, his eyes constantly returning to the heart monitor.

‘Everyone stand back,’ instructed Dr Harrison.

The nurse already had the paddles smeared with conducting paste.

‘Now!’ Dan held the paddles to the man’s chest. The young man’s back arched with the surge they generated.

Eyes turned to the heart monitor. Still no beat registered. ‘Increase to three hundred.’

‘Three hundred,’ the nurse confirmed.

‘Clear again,’ Dan called as he threw his weight behind the pads once more. The man’s body convulsed with the force.

‘We have a trace,’ the nurse called.

‘Competent work, Dr Berketta,’ Beth heard Dr Harrison say, as he reached for the patient’s chart. ‘But let’s not be overly confident yet. Get someone from Cardiology down here to see him. I want five-minute obs, full biochem and haematology work-up and a drug screen, and one of the nurses should let the girlfriend know we’ll be holding onto lover boy for at least twenty-four hours. Let’s just hope he used a clean needle.’

‘Bit late for that,’ said Dan, slipping off his disposable gloves and untying his surgical gown. ‘The blood results from his last OD are in his file. He’s hep C positive. Not that he knows yet. According to his notes, he’s been out of the country and they haven’t been able to make contact.’

‘I’ll leave it in your hands, Dr Berketta, but arrange for a counsellor to be present when you inform the patient of his condition,’ the consultant cautioned.

Beth closed her eyes for a moment and clenched her trembling hands. She didn’t even know the man on the barouche but an incredible anger swept over her. She couldn’t help but notice his expensive clothing and conservative haircut. He wasn’t a street junkie. Everything about him was in conflict with the popular image she’d once had of a heroin addict.

As she watched him lying there with an oxygen mask covering his pallid face, Beth controlled her impetus to shake him to his senses. To ask him why he was throwing away his life. To find out what drove him to do it. What void was he filling with drugs? Beth found it so sad and so frustrating.

She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and turned her eyes to see Dr Harrison’s face lowered to her level as he spoke. ‘Had any contact with ODs during your training, Dr Seymour?’

‘Too much, I’d say.’ She had seen so many young lives destroyed by drugs. It seemed to be almost an epidemic during her training in London—including one of her fellow medical students, who had been a close friend all through school.

‘It’s a sad fact of life in the city.’

‘And that means it’s acceptable?’ she retorted loudly, a little too loudly, she quickly realised.

‘No, but it means there’s nothing you or I can do except patch them up and let them get back on the street to score their next hit. Although,’ he paused ‘...by the look of the manicure and haircut on this one, he’s a corporate user. A yuppie with a habit.’

Beth felt her body stiffen. His words cut deeply as she thought back to her friend who’d been three weeks away from graduating when he’d overdosed. ‘It’s a stupid waste of a life and we get to clean up the mess they leave behind.’

Matthew observed his new medical colleague as she stood deep in thought. She obviously had strong views about what she had witnessed and she wasn’t afraid to come out with what she thought. Despite her small stature, she was neither a walkover nor a wallflower. She was forthright and almost commanding. It was a refreshing change.

He also noticed she was pretty, a fresh, natural beauty. He hoped despite her somewhat innocent looks she would be equipped to handle the rigours of A and E. First appearances would lead him to believe she would do just fine but perhaps treating her harshly while she might be suffering from jet lag had not been entirely fair. Despite her almost palpable anger at the situation, she looked truly shaken.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder and words she hadn’t expected. ‘Dr Seymour, maybe I was a bit hard on you earlier.’

Beth stared in silence.

‘I’m offering an apology for my previous behaviour. Make the most of it because, believe me, it’s not something I do very often.’

She couldn’t believe her ears—this seemed totally out of character, given everything she had heard about the man and the callous way he had treated her earlier.

‘Look, the truth of the matter is I’ve had a lousy morning. What with one resident off sick and a fourth-year medical student tagging behind me like Casper, I guess I took it out on you.’

‘There’s no need—’ Beth began.

‘No, it’s your first day here, I could have shown some empathy. Let’s face it, you shouldn’t think of me as an absolute son of a—’ He stopped in mid-sentence. For some strange reason, and against his better judgement, he actually cared what Beth thought of him. ‘Well, let’s say you shouldn’t completely despise me, like the rest of them do, until at least your second week here.’

CHAPTER TWO

IT WAS ABOUT seven o’clock in the evening when Beth headed for the doctors’ lounge. Vivian, an attractive ashen-haired nurse who had arrived for the afternoon shift, convinced her of the need to take a tea break.

Beth had managed to slip away in the afternoon for half an hour for lunch and that had doubled as time to put her feet up. But that had been almost six hours ago and she could feel the hunger in her stomach starting to stir. The thought of waiting for the lift or walking up three flights of stairs to the staff cafeteria after ten hours on her legs had her slip some coins into the slot of a vending machine and retrieve two chocolate bars for her late supper.

‘You’re not setting a good example to the patients. What happened to the three well-balanced meals a day?’

Beth was stopped in her tracks by the same dogmatic voice that had started her day.

‘You’d be better off with some fruit or at least a protein bar,’ Dr Harrison continued before she had the chance to reply.

Trying hard to keep her heavy legs from collapsing, she turned to him. Then she wished she hadn’t. He stood before her in a dark grey suit and crisp white cotton shirt, which contrasted starkly against his tanned skin and black wavy hair, which he wore slicked back. This further emphasised his softly chiselled features. A red silk tie and highly polished leather shoes completed his outfit.

Beth drew a steadying breath. He looked gorgeous and she felt like nothing on earth. She glanced down at her creased slacks and shapeless consulting coat with iodine splatters and wanted to disappear into an invisible black hole in the tiled floor. She had long since given up on her hair and had just let the curly wisps take on a direction of their own. How unfair was nature to let him bounce back and look so good after a full day’s work? The musky scent of his cologne stirred senses she had thought were asleep.

‘A night on the town?’ she enquired as she tried to stifle a yawn.

‘A celebration of sorts, actually.’

‘Well, I hope you have a nice time,’ she answered softly.

‘I will if my date turns up on time.’

Beth thought better of staying around chatting to the handsome consultant. If he was anything to set standards by, his date would be ravishing, and after the long day she had put in she’d rather not be introduced. She would only feel like the third, and definitely shabby, wheel.

‘Well, if you’ll excuse me,’ she began, ‘I’ll be going. I’ve only got a few minutes’ break and I really need to sit down.’

‘Certainly,’ he said, giving her a sideways glance. ‘You look like you could do with the rest.’

Beth just smiled and headed for the doctors’ lounge. You look like you could do with the rest, she repeated in her mind. Why hadn’t he just said, ‘God, you look awful’ and be done with it?

As she made her way down the corridor, she heard the seductive tone of his voice, then a soft female laugh. Unable to hide her curiosity, Beth turned her head and watched as a tall blonde, wrapped in a strapless red evening gown, slipped her arm through Dr Harrison’s. Beth felt a stab of envy. She wasn’t sure whether it was the woman’s disgustingly expensive designer dress and jewelled shoes or the man with her that really appealed. Then she laughed to herself at how terrible she would look with either after such a long day, and she headed into the lounge for a much-needed half-hour rest.

To her dismay, the vision in the dinner suit filled her mind. Looking that good, she decided, should be a crime. Then she thought back to their meeting that morning, and despite his arrogant attitude Beth couldn’t deny her unexpected and unwanted attraction to her boss. He was handsome and inherently sexy, that was undeniable... But there was something else. She wasn’t sure what intrigued her about the man but as she felt her eyes slowly closing, she shook her weary head and climbed to her feet. Now was not the time to drift off to some pleasant reverie about her picture-perfect boss. The last thing she needed was to be found sleeping on the job.

Beth stretched her aching muscles and made her way back to A and E. She had not quite reached the swing doors when her beeper went off. The sound of hurrying footsteps in the opposite direction signalled an emergency arrival. Beth rushed through the doors and fell in step with the paramedics and the barouche. A nurse hurriedly attached a stand to the drip that one paramedic held.

‘What do we have?’

‘Female, hit and run, ten years of age. Vital signs okay, BP ninety over fifty, suspected fractures both legs. No other signs of injury. We’ve administered pethidine, IV, for pain relief.’

‘Bay five,’ Vivian called.

Beth nodded, then turned her attention back to the paramedic. ‘Parents?’

‘No, she was alone at home. A neighbour saw the accident and called us. Apparently she was looking for her cat and ran onto the road. Her name is Tania Grant.’

Beth smiled down at the young girl. ‘Well, then, Tania, apart from your legs, does it hurt anywhere?’

The child’s eyes glistened with tears as she shook her head.

‘Okay, I don’t want you to worry about anything. I’m going to have a look and make sure there’s nothing else wrong while nurse Vivian tries to contact your parents.’ Beth gloved up while the paramedics parked the barouche in the bay.

‘Now, Tania,’ she began softly, ‘do you know where your parents are tonight?’

‘Yes, they always go to the same place to eat on special occasions.’

‘Do they often leave you alone when they go out at night?’ Beth asked as she reached for her stethoscope.

‘No, never... That’s cold!’ she protested when the metal touched her chest.

‘Sorry, sweetie, but I need to listen to your heart for a minute. While I do, could you tell the nurse where she can contact your parents?’

The tall, ashen-haired nurse reached into her pocket for a notebook and pencil and jotted down the name of the restaurant. ‘I’ll go and call them.’

Satisfied with the child’s vital signs, Beth turned her attention back to the injured legs. ‘Now, Tania, I’m going to need an X-ray of both of your legs to see what damage you have and a couple of other pictures while we’re there. I’d like to wait for Mummy’s and Daddy’s—’

‘He’s my stepdad,’ the girl cut in.

‘Fine, your mummy’s and your stepdad’s permission, but I don’t think they’d mind under the circumstances, so as soon as nurse Vivian gets back, she’ll take you around to the X-ray department and I’ll see you back here in just a little while.’

Tania nodded. Beth smiled as she brushed a stray wisp of blonde fringe from the little girl’s forehead. ‘So you’re not left alone often?’

‘No, this is the first time. My stepbrother, Tom, was supposed to be home with me, but his friend who lives next door called and asked him over to watch videos. I didn’t want to act like a baby and make him stay with me. If Mittens hadn’t sneaked out when Tom left, I wouldn’t be in this trouble.’ She started to cry.

‘Shh,’ Beth said gently. ‘You’re not in trouble, but I suspect Tom might be.’ She reached for Tania’s file, noted her vital signs and wrote a request for X-rays. ‘Vivian shouldn’t be much longer, I’m sure, then you’ll go straight around to Radiology.’

‘But I want my mummy with me.’

‘Well, let’s hope she can make it here in time.’

No sooner had she finished than Vivian walked into the room and over to Tania. She patted the little girl’s hand. ‘Your parents are on their way. They said they’d be here as fast as they could, but the restaurant is in the foothills so it could take twenty minutes.’ Then she turned her attention to Beth. ‘Dr Seymour, her parents gave consent for any diagnostic tests and treatment that you feel are necessary, so I called Radiology and they’re waiting for Tania. Oh, and Dr Huddy told me to let you know your shift is finished. He’ll take over in here.’

‘I’m sorry, Tania, we can’t really wait for Mummy,’ Beth replied as she gently put another pillow under the child’s arm to support the IV. ‘But Vivian will take really good care of you and a lovely doctor called Simon will be treating you when you get back.’

The girl burst into tears. ‘I don’t want to see someone else,’ she sobbed, and tried to tug at her wrist where the intravenous line had been inserted and taped. ‘I want you to take this thing out of my hand. It’s hurting me and I want my mummy.’

Beth encircled the little girl’s hands in her own. ‘I know it’s uncomfortable, sweetie, but the medicine in the bag up there is helping to stop the pain in your legs.’ She wiped the tears from Tania’s cheeks with a tissue. ‘Mummy will be here very soon, and then you’ll feel much better.’

Beth glanced down at her watch. She was almost past exhaustion but she was loath to leave the girl so distraught.

‘How about I take you around for that X-ray, then we can wait together for your parents and you can tell me about Mittens. You know, I had a cat when I was your age but about the worst she did to me was give me a bad scratch. She certainly never put me into hospital!’

Tania gave a little smile and agreed to go with Beth for the X-ray.

It was almost two hours before Beth was able to finally leave the hospital. Tania’s parents had arrived while she’d been in Radiology and Beth thought she had been so long with the little girl, she may as well stay a little longer while the orthopaedic registrar viewed the X-rays and made his decision. Beth admitted to herself that on a level somewhere between incredibly tired and flat-out exhaustion it felt good to be needed. She was making a difference just by being there, and that was a wonderful feeling. It had been such a long time since she had felt that she was important or needed by anyone.

She explained the situation to Mr and Mrs Grant and thought she would leave quietly, until she noticed how worried Tania was about the casts.

Beth remained with the family for the procedure, then accompanied them to the paediatric ward. Finally it was time to go home. Intending to catch a cab in front of the hospital, she grabbed her things and rushed through the front door of A and E—straight into Dr Harrison.

‘Don’t you think you’re carrying dedication to the extreme?’

‘It was a special case,’ Beth answered, ‘but I must go, I’m really past being tired. Damn!’ she moaned as she saw the last cab on the rank pull away. Now she had to call another one and hope there wasn’t a long wait. She opened her purse, searching for her phone. The air was still warm and although Beth hadn’t been outside all day she knew it must have been a hot day to still be this warm so late in the evening.

‘Did I miss something here?’

‘No, but I did. The last cab,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I’ll have to wait for another to be dispatched.’

‘No problem. I’ll take you home,’ Dr Harrison said, taking her arm and heading towards the car park. ‘I could do with a drive to clear my head. The restaurant was a little stuffy.’

‘That’s very kind of you but I couldn’t—’

‘I insist,’ he cut in. ‘It’s the least I can do to show my appreciation for your marathon first day on the job. Besides, there’s really no point arguing, I always win. So where are you staying?’

After a quiet smile, she realised she was too tired to argue so gave him her address. His charm was indisputable and the ease with which he made Beth’s pulse race gave her no reason to doubt he would always win. She looked down at his strong masculine hand holding her arm and the warmth of his skin made her spine tingle. She felt so good, so protected...and so close to exhaustion. Her tired eyes slowly climbed his body, daring to rest for a moment on his chiselled jaw and soft lips. At this close proximity, Beth guessed his body could be as commanding as his mind.

‘Best be on our way,’ he said with a voice more brotherly than seductive. She came down to earth with a crash. Dr Harrison was simply offering friendship to a new arrival in his city. And why would it be any different, she thought. She had seen his beautiful escort earlier in the evening. Still, being friends was more than she had expected from him this morning and it was infinitely better than being adversaries. Besides, she really didn’t need a distraction or any complication and a man like Matthew would never fancy a woman like her, she decided. He would be looking for a worldly, gorgeous model type, definitely not a dishevelled, overtired resident clearly in need of a hot bath and a good sleep.

‘Sounds fine to me,’ she said, as they headed towards a dark-coloured BMW convertible. He opened her car door first and waited for her to get in before walking around to the driver’s side and climbing in. Within minutes, Beth found that Dr Harrison hadn’t bought the car for appearance alone.

After confirming the address of the one-bedroom maisonette the hospital exchange programme had found for Beth only fifteen minutes from the hospital, he took the car out on the main road and put his foot down hard on the accelerator. Beth’s hand gripped the door handle tightly as her eyes found the speedometer. With the warm wind rushing by, she was glad her hair was still tied back in a plait, albeit wispy after almost fifteen hours on the job.

‘Don’t you worry we might be picked up for speeding?’ she managed to say.

‘I’m within the speed limit...maybe it just seems faster because you’re tired,’ he said, using one free hand to loosen his tie and undo the top button of his shirt.

Beth unsuccessfully fought the urge not to stare at his appealing profile as she felt her heart start to pound. Everything in her mind was warning her not to look for trouble. He was so attractive and she felt sure he knew it. Somehow she had to keep her thoughts purely professional but he was making it difficult without a lot of effort.

His broad shoulders were relaxed against the leather seat, tanned skin revealed beneath his open shirt where his tie had been. How she wished the tie was back in place and the buttons were not open. She wondered how in her almost catatonic state she was mesmerised by his sensuality. This was ridiculous. It was like having a crush on a teacher. Totally inappropriate, she berated herself silently.

She mustered her thoughts. ‘I was wondering why you were heading back to the hospital so late at night?’

‘Some paperwork,’ he answered flatly. Matthew had no intention of admitting that going home alone after dropping his sister back at her place was worse than the distraction of undertaking a few hours’ paperwork at one in the morning. A good night’s sleep had eluded him for years. Five years, to be exact.

Five long, lonely years since the accident. The nights would turn into morning with just enough sleep to allow him to function. Anger, resentment and a lot of disappointment had taken his life and turned it into mere existence. He felt robbed of the happiness he had once enjoyed and had thought was to be his forever. He was nothing more than a shell of a man. An angry one at best, and at worst just empty and alone. But tonight this English woman, for some reason that he could not understand, was making him feel a little less angry and a little less empty.

‘So what makes a young woman travel halfway around the world to do exactly what she could do in a London hospital?’

Beth thought better of blurting out her family issues and decided to go the pleasant route. ‘I felt like a break from the cold English winters. Thought I’d swap wellies for sandals for a year or so.’

Matthew smiled. ‘It does get cold here. You might need some socks to accompany your sandals around June and July.’

Beth smiled back at his response. She was very tired but enjoying the banter. Matthew was not just easy on the eye. He was amusing and put her at ease.

‘I heard it doesn’t snow here in Adelaide—is that right?’

‘Yes, and to let you into a little-known secret...’ Matthew looked away from the road and into Beth’s eyes for a split second ‘...I’ve never seen snow.’

Beth was amused by his confession. But it was the nanosecond of his piercing blue eyes staring into hers that took her breath away. She had thought she was about to collapse from exhaustion when suddenly her body had come to life. She swallowed nervously. Matthew was making her feel alive in ways that even fully awake she hadn’t felt before. She had to snap out of it. He was her boss and he was playing cab driver. That’s all, she reminded herself. You are not his type.

‘Really, you’ve never, ever seen snow?’

‘No, never,’ he conceded with a grin. ‘My travel destinations are always the tropics up north. No chance of snow up there and there’s none to speak of in Adelaide except maybe some muddy, icy fluff on the top of Mount Lofty, but you’d need a hunting party with magnifying glasses to find it.’

‘Mount Lofty?’

‘It’s up that way.’ He signalled with his hand to the foothills in the east. ‘In a national park. Scenic enough, but there’s definitely no ski resort up there.’

‘Well, then, I did pack properly,’ she announced. ‘I left the wellies back home.’

Matthew suspected there was more to Beth’s medical exchange than a desire to swap her footwear but since she was obviously close to exhaustion he decided not to ask more questions. He didn’t need to know too much. He had to admit to himself that he found her cute, and feisty and a little mysterious. It was an intriguing package but it was also worrying. Matthew didn’t want to be interested in Beth in any capacity other than as an exchange resident in his care. She would be there for twelve months and then she would be gone. Never to be seen again.

He put his foot down again as the lights changed to green, sending Beth’s head back against the headrest. She was surprised to find they were nearing her street. It wasn’t so much the conversation that had been riveting and had made fifteen minutes seem like five but the distracting speaker.

Beth released her seat belt and reached for the door handle. ‘It’s the next one on the left, number seven.’

‘Do you roll out shoulder first from moving cars, or is it more of a hunched kind of a jump?’ he asked with a smirk. Without waiting for her reply, he continued, ‘Don’t be in such a hurry to get out of the car, Dr Seymour.’

Indignant that she may have betrayed her desire to move away from him rather than the car, Beth was at least grateful the dim streetlights hid the heat she felt in her cheeks. From the corner of her eye she watched his mouth curve in the moonlight.

With impeccable manners, he jumped from the car, whisked around to Beth’s side and opened her door. Quickly she climbed out and crossed the pavement to her gate. She didn’t know what he was thinking and she prayed he didn’t know what was on her mind. And the sooner she put distance between them, the better.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr Seymour,’ he said, as he ran back to his side of the car.

‘Thanks so much for the lift.’ Feeling more relaxed with thirty feet between them, she added as she opened her front door, ‘And please call me Beth when we’re off duty.’

‘You’re welcome, Beth.’ His voice was drowned by the noise of the engine as he took off down the street and into the night.

As Beth lay in bed that night she thought about the extraordinary day she’d had and more particularly the extraordinary Dr Harrison. He was nowhere near as bad as she had expected in some ways, and in other ways he was worse. He was an enigmatic man and working with him was going to be either hell or heaven, she could see it now. But for some strange, unfathomable reason she was looking forward to it. She had always enjoyed a challenge.

Tentatively she reached for the photograph of her family that stood on her bedside table. It had been taken in happy times. She smiled at the image of herself as a toddler, standing with her father, George, and mother, Grace. George, a surgeon, she knew would be impressed by the skill and dedication of a man such as Dr Harrison, and her mother, if she was still alive, would simply succumb to his charm.

She thought of the new additions to her family, those she left behind when she’d accepted her exchange to Australia, or, more accurately, those she had wanted to leave. There was no photograph. How she wished her life had been different.

When she’d been ten, and less than a year after her mother had passed away, her father had remarried and she’d gained a stepmother, Hattie, and a stepsister, Charlotte. Hattie was as warm as a refrigerated sardine and Charlotte, well, that had been an unhealthy competition from day one.

Beth rolled her sleepy eyes as the thought of Charlotte trying her best to pip her at every available opportunity to get George’s attention. Unfortunately, with Hattie’s assistance it had worked. After graduating from high school, Charlotte had decided against university and chosen to become a fitness instructor. Beth remembered the loud conversation that had occurred that night.

‘Fitness instructor?’ her father had questioned Hattie.

‘And what may I ask is wrong with that?’ she’d said with her eyes widening and, in Beth’s opinion, becoming scarier by the minute.

‘Nothing, absolutely nothing,’ he’d replied, wishing he had never opened his mouth, but having done so he continued, ‘It’s a perfectly good career, but she’s never shown an interest before. In fact, Charlotte has never had a gym membership to my knowledge. It seems a little out of the blue and I wonder if it isn’t just a phase?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, George,’ Hattie had retorted. ‘Charlotte has always wanted to be a personal trainer.’

The second storey of their home was immediately filled with every known piece of gym equipment but Charlotte failed to finish the course and dust began to settle on the large, expensive purchases. Pride wouldn’t allow Hattie to admit George was right, so she climbed on the elliptical every second week for ten minutes and now and then lifted a two-pound weight and told everyone how marvellous she felt after her workout.

Charlotte decided to move into the retail sector, and with her perfect skin and stunning face she found employment with Dior in Harrods. After three weeks, and with enough skin-care purchases to open her own salon, she decided that standing all day was not her cup of tea, so she travelled abroad for two years, all paid for by her generous stepfather. George didn’t question why she needed to travel first class and stay in five-star accommodation in order to ‘find herself.’ It wasn’t worth the argument and days of silence that would follow. Hattie had set Charlotte’s standards very high and George had grown accustomed to covering it all.

Finally, Charlotte returned from Paris and announced she was launching a career as an event planner. Beth felt enormously sorry for any poor brides who used her services for the entire planning process would no doubt centre around Charlotte and the brides would come in a poor second. Beth certainly knew how that felt.

Beth had tolerated Hattie and Charlotte but she was a little tired of hearing about Charlotte’s accomplishments when her own top marks at school and later in medical school seemed to go unnoticed. When Beth graduated, she enjoyed a nice lunch with her father but that was it. There was no family celebration. She knew that Hattie was demanding and her father was trying his best to keep her happy by doing everything he could for his stepdaughter, but it hurt to be ignored.

She wanted a life where she wasn’t last in line for pretty much everything. She didn’t want expensive trips overseas, neither did she expect to be the child favoured by her father, but equal now and then would have been nice. It became unbearable the year after graduation. Charlotte was never happy, Hattie was always complaining and George was always busy trying desperately to appease them both. Beth had endured enough so she applied for a medical exchange to Australia.

In her heart, she knew her father had been proud of her over the years, and although he never said a lot around his new wife he often smiled and gave Beth an encouraging pat on her shoulder. The warm hugs she’d received him when she’d been a small child had disappeared when the ice queen had moved in. Beth had learnt to be her own best friend, and not expect any praise for her efforts, but it made her miss her mother even more.

Tucking the quilt up to her face, she snuggled in the warmth of her bed. She was happy to have a much-needed break from her step-family. Maybe the incorrigible Dr Harrison would be both a challenge and a distraction, she reflected. And maybe, given time, her father might even miss her.

Beth thought back to the timing of Matthew’s apology. When she’d reacted badly to the addict, he could have berated her for allowing her emotions to come into play at work, reminding her of the need to remain detached, but he had chosen not to. Instead, he’d offered compassion and an apology. Beth suspected that hidden within the aloof Dr Harrison was a kind heart. He was obviously complicated, but that didn’t faze Beth. He was also a complex man but so handsome and charismatic. In fact, lying in the warmth of her bed, Beth admitted to herself she was a little infatuated with him.

Then her practical nature reminded her starry-eyed side that it was a little too soon to think about him in a romantic way. She still had a career to get on track and a relationship wasn’t really in her plans. It hadn’t ever been. The endless study hours she had put in to make the grade in medical school had ruined any chance of long-term romance. She had dated a fellow medical student in her second year but with the heavy study load and part-time jobs they’d both had, it had fizzled out after a few months. The times they had slept together had been awkward and the earth had never moved for Beth.

It hadn’t been a heartbreaking decision to end it, as there had been no passion or real love. It had been a friendship that had crossed the line, and in hindsight they’d both admitted they were better as friends.

Beth had returned to her books, focused on being a doctor, and put love on hold. And now here she was, alone in the darkness of her room, entertaining the crazy idea of romance with a man as complicated as Dr Harrison. With his charisma and confidence she doubted there would be anything awkward about his bedside manner.

Beth smiled wickedly at that thought then plumped up her pillow and turned over once again. She drifted off to sleep wondering what punishment awaited Tom for leaving his little sister alone. It definitely wouldn’t be pleasant when his parents finally caught up with him.

Morning came too quickly, bringing with it the shrill sound of the alarm. Wearily Beth climbed from bed, showered and prepared for her second day at the Memorial.

It wasn’t by chance she chose to wear a slim navy skirt and soft wrap blouse of pale blue. She draped a soft cotton cardigan over her shoulders as the weather seemed slightly cooler than yesterday. Beth tried to convince herself that the extra attention to details had nothing to do with a certain A and E consultant. After all, she was very serious about her job and definitely not wanting to flirt.

Up until now she had always had an aversion to unpredictable men and equally she had never experienced any thrill in speed. But during her drive home last night, she’d found herself warming to both. And this morning she was surprised by the excitement she felt at the prospect of seeing Dr Harrison again. It was crazy and she knew it but there was something about the man that gave her butterflies. He had gone out of his way to take her home, and she wondered if there might have been more to it than just being polite. She liked the way he made her feel. He had asked her questions on the drive home and he had listened. She doubted it had been paying lip service, he’d seemed genuinely interested. But he was so handsome and she had seen his date.

As she sat in her sunroom enjoying her breakfast, reason was fighting her romantic thoughts when she suddenly spied the focus of her daydreams. Through the lace-draped window she watched Matthew striding purposefully up the garden path of her maisonette. Even more astonishing was the enormous bouquet of flowers in his arms.

She wiped her mouth with a napkin as her mind ran the gamut of emotions. Control yourself, Beth, she thought folding the napkin with shaking hands. You’re a grown woman, so show some degree of reserve. You have to play hard to get, her pride reminded her, but all the while her heart raced as she thought anxiously about the possibility of Matthew Harrison having feelings for her. She had never thought it was possible to feel this way about a man so soon after meeting him. Beaming, she crossed to open the door just as he knocked.

‘Good morning,’ she greeted him.

‘Lovely morning, isn’t it?’

‘Perfect,’ she replied, trying to keep her eyes from blatantly admiring the gorgeous blooms.

‘These are for you.’

‘They’re beautiful, but you shouldn’t have,’ she said as she took the flowers.

‘I didn’t,’ he said, stepping back with a frown knitting his brow. ‘The parents of the hit-and-run girl sent them to my office for you and I decided to bring them over. There’s really no room for them in A and E,’ he announced casually.

Beth was overcome with embarrassment. She wanted to fall between the cracks of the floorboards. She couldn’t believe what she had said. Quickly she tried to cover her complete and utter humiliation. ‘I meant you shouldn’t have gone out of your way to bring them round. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better get ready for work.’

Beth couldn’t believe for a split second she had actually thought that the head of A and E would bring her flowers. She had bought into her own daydreams. How stupid could she be? She had only started at the hospital the day before and after one kind gesture of driving her home she’d gone and stupidly thought her boss was interested. Really, Beth, she berated herself, you have just made a complete fool of yourself.

Realising Matthew must have seen through her pitiful cover-up, she turned away. She had to hide the mortification she knew would be written all over her face. She reached for the handle to close the door, but Matthew’s leather-clad foot stopped her.

* * *

To be honest, Matthew didn’t know why he had gone out of his way to deliver the flowers. There would have been somewhere to store them but something about this woman made him want to see her outside work. He hadn’t felt this way in years and now he was close to her he was struggling with his feelings. It was unnerving and he decided quickly that he shouldn’t be there. He couldn’t afford to be there. He was relieved when his head took control over his heart and forced him to be brutal. He had been shut down emotionally for years and he had no intention of ever opening up.

‘Listen, Beth, I think we should get something straight right here and now. I’m still not convinced about this whole exchange programme. If I have anything to do with it, you will be the last. There is nothing personal in this decision but if I had been successful with the board you would not have made it out here. I stopped the exchange programme at the Western Hills Hospital in Sydney a few years back and I intend to do the same here at Eastern.’

Beth opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the not-too-distant noise of screeching brakes, followed by the unmistakable and sickening sound of metal buckling and glass splintering.

‘Looks like we’ve started work early this morning,’ he said, heading down the path and looking in the direction of the accident. ‘We can finish this talk later if I haven’t made myself clear enough.’

Pushing her humiliation aside, Beth hurriedly reached for her keys and locked the front door while Matthew grabbed his mobile phone from the car. Together they ran down to the end of the street to where two cars had collided. It was a mess, with debris strewn all over the intersection and no sign of movement from within the compacted sedans. Beth feared the worst. Even though she had trained in A and E in London, and she had requested the same when she’d transferred, she still hadn’t quite learnt to handle the feeling of dread in her stomach at times like this.

‘I’ll check the silver car. You do the blue,’ he said as he raced to the car wedged between a lamp post and a large eucalyptus gum tree.

Beth looked both ways, and crossed the road to the blue hatchback. She peered inside to find the single occupant lying back against the driver’s seat.

‘What have you got over there, Beth?’ she heard Matthew call out.

‘Single female occupant, unconscious.’

‘Ditto,’ he called back. ‘I’ll call for two ambulances.’

Beth tugged at the driver’s door in vain. In desperation she ran to the passenger side, to find it locked also. She tore off her cardigan and looked around on the ground for something hard. Half a discarded brick from a house under construction lay nearby. Reaching for it, Beth covered the window with the knitted top then smashed the glass. Thankfully it was an older model car with manual door locks so she reached inside carefully and unlocked the door.

The woman, who Beth guessed to be in her early twenties, was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head wound. There was no time to be lost.

Sweeping away the broken glass from the seat with her cardigan, Beth struggled with the restrictions of her tight skirt as she climbed across to find a pulse. Albeit faint, to her relief it was present and, as far as she could ascertain, regular. Untucking her own blouse, Beth used the hem to put pressure on the gash across the woman’s forehead and continued at intervals to check her vital signs until the sirens of the ambulances became audible.

She wondered what Matthew had met with in the other car. As the paramedics neared the car she reached over and unlocked the driver’s side door and undid the woman’s seat belt.

‘Suspected neck or spinal injures so we need a neck brace in place before the victim can be moved,’ Beth informed the men. One paramedic retrieved a brace from the ambulance while the other released the woman’s feet from the twisted pedals.

‘Head injuries only?’ he asked.

‘As far as I can make out... Hell!’ she cursed as she noticed the woman’s skin become clammy and her pulse begin to race. She felt down to the woman’s abdomen. It was now rigid.

‘What’s wrong?’ the paramedic demanded.

‘Where’s the brace?’ she called out, but it was already on hand. Carefully she slipped it around the victim’s neck. ‘We may not have a lot of time. I suspect internal bleeding.’

Expeditiously the patient was lifted from the mangled vehicle and placed on the raised stretcher. Beth climbed from the car and raced over to the ambulance.

‘I want her on oxygen, and saline IV.’

‘I can travel with her to the Eastern,’ came a low voice from behind them.

Beth turned around to see her solemn-faced consultant.

‘Mine was not so lucky. She didn’t make it.’ He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and took a deep breath. ‘I’ve seen my share of death but it never gets any easier.’

‘It makes you realise how precious life is. You should grab it with both hands,’ Beth said solemnly.

Matthew looked at the woman standing before him. She could be forthright in her opinion, yet still vulnerable and caring. She was getting under his skin very quickly and that was causing him grief. But he didn’t want to care about what she thought or felt. He just didn’t want to care.

‘We have one alive, so let’s act on that,’ he said hurriedly as he climbed into the ambulance. ‘What’s the call here?’

‘At best shock, head abrasions and possible neck injury. At worst, add internal bleeding.’

‘Right, let’s go. I’ll take blood now for a cross-match and we can have her typed in half an hour. Call ahead and let them know I want O-neg ready in case of emergency,’ he directed the paramedics, then reached into his pocket, pulled out his car keys and turned his attention back to Beth. ‘Would you mind taking my car to the hospital?’

‘No, but I haven’t driven a manual shift for a long time,’ she said as she watched him insert the IV line.

‘Like riding a bike,’ he said. ‘But considering what I paid for that little imported job, please don’t forget to change your clothes before you do.’ Beth glanced down at her blood-stained blouse and skirt. It was going to be another day in slacks and a sensible cotton shirt, she mused.

In a wail of sirens the two ambulances took off into the traffic, leaving Beth with a prayer for the woman inside and the keys to a midnight-blue BMW that she hoped was well insured.

CHAPTER THREE

‘YOU DID IT!’ Beth congratulated herself as she pulled the car into the Eastern Memorial car park.

Despite thinking more than once that she had left the entire gearbox on the road during the shift from first to second, Beth managed to drive the expensive vehicle without a single incident. With a sigh of relief, she pulled the key from the ignition and took a deep breath.

Her mind raced back to the embarrassing start to the day. She hoped that Matthew would forget her ridiculous assumption that the flowers were from him. She also hoped the passenger had survived the trip to the hospital. It was touch and go with the woman’s internal injuries but Beth was confident that a doctor as skilled as Matthew would give her the best chance of survival.

He was a complex man and, while respected and revered, he was definitely not loved by his staff. She wasn’t sure why she was so attracted to him. Normally arrogant men left her cold, but there was something about Matthew that made her think that underneath his suit of armour was a different man. She felt in her heart that there was more to Matthew Harrison than met the eye, although that alone was pretty damned good. Her delicious thoughts were abruptly broken by the arrival of a mud-encrusted Range Rover in the parking bay opposite her. The huge grille in her line of vision was filled with splattered insect bodies. Goodbye, daydreams.

But what was she thinking anyway? Dr Harrison was dating a beautiful woman and had made it perfectly clear that morning that he didn’t even want her at the hospital. Well, not her precisely but an exchange resident was definitely not on his wish list. Yet his body language the night before had stirred unexpected feelings in her. She smiled sheepishly at the driver of the Range Rover as she silently cringed at her irrational thoughts. She had never dated anyone like Matthew and doubted she would. She had already seen his standard, and a gorgeous blonde bombshell she definitely was not. Enough with the daydreaming, she thought as she grabbed her bag from the back seat and climbed out of the car.

Perhaps she should put the blame on jet-lag and a long first day at work. She wasn’t herself at all. Both pathetic excuses, Beth Seymour, she chided herself.

The man was irrevocably under her skin, but since he made it painfully clear that he didn’t feel the same way, she had to keep it to herself. He certainly shouldn’t be held responsible for her romantic musing, so Beth decided quickly to curb her imagination by making sure she only saw Dr Harrison within the hospital grounds in future. No more lifts after work. She was far from home and feeling a little vulnerable, and now the poor unsuspecting Matthew Harrison was the focus of her attention. She had to keep everything in perspective. He was her boss. She was there to learn. Nothing more.

Hurriedly she locked the door, and feeling rather pleased that she had brought the car back safely she raced across the parking lot to the hospital entrance. She had changed into sensible beige slacks and a white cotton shirt and put her blood-stained clothes in her laundry tub to soak before she’d left home for the second time that day. As she made her way into A and E, she looked around for Matthew, hopeful of hearing good news about the car-accident victim. They had worked well together during the crisis that morning, and that was something she couldn’t deny. But she mustn’t make more of it than that.

She was still early, so she stopped to chat to Yvette in Reception for about five minutes, getting an update on the previous day’s patients. Then she made a quick call to Paediatrics to check on Tania. She intended to visit her young patient as soon as she had a spare minute, to thank her personally for the beautiful flowers.

With no sign of Dr Harrison on the floor, she walked past his office and saw it was empty. Closing his door, she headed down to the doctors’ lounge to see if he was there. She had to put her handbag in her locker anyway, she told herself. It wasn’t as if she was going out of her way to find him.

‘Morning, Beth,’ came a cheerful voice from across the room.

‘Good morning, Dan. You’re in a very good mood. Any reason?’ Beth asked as she adjusted her white consulting coat and took the hairbrush from her locker, all the while hiding her disappointment that it wasn’t her consultant.

‘Sir Harrison, the Almighty One, was civil to me this morning. It was the first time he’s greeted me with a “Good morning, Dan” in the six months I’ve been here.’

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