Hot-Shot Doc, Christmas Bride
Joanna Neil

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Table of Contents

Cover page

Title Page

About The Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Copyright

When Joanna Neil discovered Mills & Boon®, her lifelong addiction to reading crystallised into an exciting new career writing Medical™ Romance. Her characters are probably the outcome of her varied lifestyle, which includes working as a clerk, typist, nurse and infant teacher. She enjoys dressmaking and cooking at her Leicestershire home. Her family includes a husband, son and daughter, an exuberant yellow Labrador and two slightly crazed cockatiels. She currently works with a team of tutors at her local education centre, to provide creative writing workshops for people interested in exploring their own writing ambitions.

Chapter One

‘THANKS for the lift, Tom. You’re an absolute lifesaver.’ Alison gave her neighbour a friendly wave and watched him drive away before hotfooting it into the hospital’s A&E department.

What a way to start the day. She’d had nothing but trouble with the car for the last week, and then today, when she’d tried to start the engine, it had simply spluttered and died. It had been plain from that point that she was going to be late for her shift. Only by a few minutes, but of all the days to break her perfect record it had to be this one—when the new boss was due to put in an appearance.

No one seemed to know very much about him—except that he’d been brought in at the last minute after one of the consultants had been taken ill—and from what she had heard he was only going to be here for two days a week. What kind of job was that? And what did he do for the rest of the time? The only other thing she knew about him was that he was a friend of one of the managers.

The doors of the unit swished open and she hurried along the corridor, bypassing Reception and heading towards the doctors’ restroom. If she could just slip off her jacket and sling her stethoscope around her neck before she made an appearance in the unit, perhaps he would be none the wiser.

‘Whoa…steady on there. Where’s the fire?’

She skidded to a halt and narrowly missed running headlong into the man who suddenly appeared in her path. As it was, her palms grappled with his chest as she sought to stop the collision, and at the same time a pair of large male hands reached out as though to steady her, circling her upper arms in a light but firm grip. The holdall that she carried over her shoulder swung forward with the momentum, and the man let out a soft ‘oomph’ as the weight of it slammed into his midriff.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she managed, sucking air into her lungs. Her fingers scrambled against fine-quality worsted material, and she realised that he was wearing a suit—dark grey and beautifully tailored. That was not a good sign, given that most of the male doctors of her acquaintance went around in rolled up shirtsleeves and trousers.

‘I didn’t see you,’ she said, lifting her gaze. ‘You seemed to come out of nowhere.’ The faint note of accusation hung on the air as she tried to work out whether he had emerged from the side corridor or the supplies cupboard. What on earth would this man be doing in either place? Only staff had access to these areas.

Then she looked at him properly for the first time, and his features came into sharp focus—all clean, angular lines, and crisp black hair, with grey eyes that appeared to look deep down into her soul. The breath seemed to leave her all over again. He was altogether striking. The kind of man who, once seen, was never forgotten.

‘Ah…’ he murmured. ‘That would be me in my ghostly guise—stalking the corridors of the hospital in wait for the unwary. It seems I struck lucky this time.’

She laughed. ‘Maybe. Though from the looks of you, you’re anything but ethereal. Anyway, coming into contact with all that hard muscle and bone was a dead giveaway.’ She studied him once again, her long, honey-blonde hair swirling about her shoulders with the upward tilt of her head. ‘It’s all right for you to let go of me now,’ she hastily reassured him. ‘I’m not running from a fire, but I am anxious to go on duty before anyone realises that I should have been here five minutes ago.’ She frowned. ‘I do hope you’re not my new boss in A&E. I really wanted to show him my best side.’

He gave a wry smile, looking her over, his gaze taking in her softly curving figure outlined by the cashmere top and gently flowing skirt that she was wearing. ‘I think you may have already done that,’ he murmured, a soft gleam in his eyes causing warm colour to rush into her cheeks.

Her mouth dropped open a fraction. Had she heard that right? She decided to ignore the remark. Thinking about it would have made her far too hot and bothered.

‘Oh, dear. That has to mean that you’re the new man,’ she ventured after a moment or two, her brow knotting. ‘What are you doing out here in the corridor? Shouldn’t you be in A&E, tending to the sick and injured?’

Slowly he released her, letting his hands fall to his sides. ‘I dare say I could ask the same of you,’ he countered. ‘But in the interests of good working relationships I think we’ll let that go for the moment. I’m sure you must have good reason for flying in here like a bullet from a gun.’

He looked her over, as though he was making sure she was still all in one piece.

‘As for myself,’ he added, ‘yes, I’m the new locum. And as to what I’m doing here in the corridor…I thought it would be a good idea to acquaint myself with the lie of the land and get to know the people that I’ll be working with. I must say I wasn’t expecting it to happen quite this way, but here in A&E we have to be ready for any eventuality, don’t we?’

‘I suppose we do.’ A wave of heat flowed along her cheeks. Had she really just asked her new boss what he was doing outside A&E? ‘So, you’ll be working here with us while Dr Meadows recovers from his heart attack?’

‘That’s right. I’m Josh Bentley. And you are…?’

‘Alison Randall, senior house officer.’ She winced, absorbing the fact that her worst fears had come to fruition. It seemed there was no end to what could go wrong today. How was she going to extract herself from this awkward situation? ‘We were all shocked when Steven was taken ill,’ she said. ‘He’s a lovely man…exceptional…irreplaceable…no one could possibly match up to him. He worked so hard, and he was so good with the patients.’

‘I can see that I have a lot to live up to,’ Josh said in a faintly whimsical tone. ‘I promise you I’ll do my best to fill his shoes.’

She groaned inwardly. Having her foot in her mouth was getting to be a habit. ‘I didn’t mean to imply that you wouldn’t be able to do that.’ She straightened her shoulders. ‘And about my being late—you have to understand I’m not usually tardy. My car wouldn’t start this morning. I had to beg a lift off my neighbour.’

He nodded, as though he had no problem with that, and then he turned his gaze to her holdall. ‘What’s all this, then? Are you planning on going away somewhere after work? Judging from the weight of it, you’ve packed for the long-term.’

She smiled as she shook her head. ‘No, nothing like that. I brought in some goodies for the cheque presentation ceremony later…just a few nibbles for people to snack on. I wasn’t sure whether anybody would have thought to make an occasion of it, and it occurred to me that we should do something to make it special. I expect you’ll be making a short speech, won’t you?’

He frowned. ‘I’m afraid you’ve lost me there. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, dear.’ She floundered for a moment. ‘I was sure Management would have filled you in. They usually arrange for the press to be on hand—all in aid of good relations with the public and so on.’ She ran a hand through her silky hair in a distracted fashion, conscious of time running away with her. ‘I ought to drop off this holdall in the doctors’ restroom and let it be known that I’m on duty.’

He nodded, and walked with her along the corridor. ‘Perhaps you should tell me about this presentation? There’s nothing in the diary, and my secretary doesn’t come in until this afternoon. What’s it all about?’

‘Fund-raising. A group of people do their best to collect funds for the hospital—in particular the A&E unit. Of course most of the money they raise goes towards buying equipment for the hospital. Every year in December they drop by to present us with a cheque. Partly so that we can start arranging Christmas festivities for the patients. They bring presents for the children who will be staying in hospital over Christmas, either on the paediatric wards or in A&E, or on the observation ward next to A&E. Of course we don’t give them out until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.’

He was still frowning. ‘Isn’t it a bit early for this kind of thing?’

She looked at him askance. ‘Hardly. It takes time to organise things around Christmas…decorations, presents, food. And sometimes we arrange a short entertainment or radio show. We can’t throw it all together in a couple of days, you know, and if we have a pantomime group coming to do a brief production we need to pay them an advance.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t see why everyone has to make such a fuss around the occasion. The world seems to go crazy at this time of year. It amazes me that the shops are full of Christmas stuff from as early as the end of September. Why we have to suffer three months or more of hype is beyond me.’

‘Hype?’ She sent him a doubtful look. Where was his sense of Christmas cheer? Was he one of those dour people who were averse to celebrations? ‘Well, that’s the way it is. Personally, I appreciate having plenty of time to make preparations—and I love the atmosphere in town at this time of year, with everyone crowding out the stores, looking for gifts for their loved ones.’

His expression was sceptical. ‘You’re a sentimentalist.’

‘So what if I am?’ She lifted a finely arched brow. ‘I see nothing wrong with that, and I’m certainly not alone in feeling that way.’ She straightened her shoulders and moved on towards the doctors’ room. If he had a problem with the festive season that was his loss, and she wasn’t going to argue the point.

‘Christmas is my favourite time of year, when all the family gets together.’ She smiled, thinking about it. ‘My grandparents live about fifty miles away from here, but they’re coming over to the Pennines to spend the holiday with us, and my brother will be home from university.’

‘Really? It sounds as though you have a good time to look forward to. I can’t say I’m that enthusiastic about the season for myself.’ He frowned. ‘So, what’s the plan for this cheque presentation?’

She studied him for a moment or two. How could anyone not enjoy this special time of year? Was there something more to his indifference than a simple aversion to hype?

‘Well, Dr Meadows…Steve…always said a few words on these occasions. And since you’re the one in charge here today, I imagine they’ll expect you to be on hand if it’s at all possible.’ She added a warning note. ‘We do try to show how much we appreciate all their hard work. They take on all sorts of fund-raising activities for us throughout the year, and they bring a lot of good feeling into the hospital.’

He pushed open the door of the doctors’ lounge and sent her a thoughtful glance. ‘I’m glad you told me about this. What time are they likely to arrive?’

‘Around lunchtime, I would imagine…perhaps twelve-thirty. I expect one of the managers will deal with the actual proceedings.’ She began to empty the contents of her holdall on to the table, and a variety of plastic containers filled with pastries spilled out. ‘Perhaps I’d better ask one of the desk clerks if she can find time to put the food out in Reception.’ She glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘I hope no one in A&E is desperately in need of attention from me right now.’

‘Only a youth with a badly gashed hand. One of the nurses will tend to him in the first instance, but as soon as she’s cleaned the wound it will need suturing. After that there are half a dozen walking wounded who could do with your help.’

‘Oh, right.’ She stacked the containers neatly on the table and then said, ‘Again, I’m sorry about being late. My neighbour’s going to have a look at the car for me to see if he can figure out what’s gone wrong with it. He said it sounded as though there was a problem with the fuel pump.’ She shrugged out of her jacket and hung it up on a hook at the side of the room, before going in search of her stethoscope. She found it in her locker, along with other bits and pieces that she pushed into the deep pocket of her skirt.

‘Is your neighbour a mechanic, then?’ Josh asked.

Alison shook her head, sending her hair into a flurry of activity. His gaze followed the ripple of silk before settling on her features once more.

‘No,’ she said, ‘but he can turn his hand to most things. He fixed the plumbing when it went wrong, and then he looked at the washing machine when it refused to work. If we waited for the landlord to sort things out we’d still be waiting now.’

‘We?’

‘My flatmate and I…Katie. She’s a senior house officer, too, working with me in A&E.’

‘I see.’ He nodded. ‘I take it she made her own arrangements for coming in here today?’

‘That’s right. She had an early case conference to attend, so she was gone before I realised I had a problem.’

‘Hmm.’ He absorbed that. ‘Wouldn’t it have been better to have a garage mechanic look over your car? What if your neighbour can’t fix it for you?’

She started towards the door. ‘Well, then I suppose I’ll have to do that.’ She guessed he was trying to make sure that her lateness wasn’t going to be a frequent occurrence. ‘It would be unfortunate, though, because it will probably cost me an arm and a leg if I have to go to a garage, whereas this way I can give Tom a realistic amount of money for his time and trouble—that will give him a boost and help him to get back on his feet, and I’ll benefit at the same time.’

‘Does he need a boost?’ They walked together towards A&E. ‘Is your neighbour in trouble of some sort?’ Josh’s brows had come together in a dark line. Clearly he was having a problem coming to terms with her lifestyle.

‘I’d say so. He’s an engineer, but he found himself out of work when the company he worked for folded, and then he’s had difficulty getting another job…which in turn means that he can’t afford to pay the mortgage, and now the building society is beginning to make nasty rumbling noises about repossession. None of that bodes very well for a happy Christmas, does it?’

‘It doesn’t bode very well at any time of the year,’ he commented.

They had only just set foot inside the A&E unit when his bleeper went off. He glanced briefly at the displayed message. ‘That doesn’t sound like good news,’ he murmured. ‘There’s been an accident on the motorway. I guess things are going to become hectic around here very soon. Alison—I want you to stay with me.’

He moved away then, and went to organise the rest of the staff, directing who was to do what before striding towards the ambulance bay. Alison quickly followed him.

‘Twenty-five-year-old male,’ the paramedic reported, wheeling a casualty towards the resuscitation room. ‘Had to be extricated from his car. His blood pressure’s low and he has a broken leg and arm. He also has chest and abdominal pain.’

‘Thanks.’ Josh took control as the patient’s condition deteriorated even further. He began to insert a tube into the patient’s throat, connecting it to the oxygen delivery system. ‘Okay, let’s get an intravenous line in and hook him up to the monitors.’ He made a hasty but thorough examination of the patient, and then ordered a chest X-ray, skeletal survey and a CT scan of the head, thorax and abdomen.

‘We’ve multiple injuries here,’ he said, showing Alison the results a short time later. ‘Apart from the chest injury he has fractures to his right arm and leg and a liver laceration. The broken bones have been splinted, so we’ll concentrate on checking for abdominal injury.’

‘His abdomen is slowly enlarging,’ Alison pointed out. ‘That means there must be some internal bleeding. We need to get him up to Theatre.’

He nodded. ‘Make the arrangements. I’ll do an emergency laparotomy to see what’s going on in there.’

Just a few minutes later, after they had both scrubbed in, Josh began to operate on the patient. Alison assisted by retracting the edges of the incision he made into the patient’s abdomen. ‘He’s bleeding from the hepatic vein,’ she said urgently.

Josh was already tending to it. ‘I’ll do a resection of the liver, but I’m afraid I’ll have to remove the gall bladder.’ All the time he was speaking he was cauterising the tissues that were bleeding and checking for other damage. Alison was in awe of the way he worked. Every action was careful, precise, and no time was wasted. After a while, though, he let out a deep breath and said, ‘That’s it, I believe. We can close him up now. Would you do that for me, Alison?’

She nodded and prepared to suture the wound. This man had opened her eyes to what a skilled surgeon was capable of. ‘What are we going to do about his chest injury?’

‘Nothing for the moment. We’ll keep an eye on things, but let’s make sure his condition is stabilised before we do anything else.’ He thanked the team who had assisted him and pulled off his surgical gloves, dropping them into a bin. ‘I’ll go and see how the other casualties are doing.’

It was some time later, after the mayhem finally subsided in A&E, that she was able to go along to the minor injuries treatment room to see the teenager who had hurt his hand.

He was a pale-looking youth, around sixteen years of age, she guessed, and even though he was lying on a bed, leaning back against the pillows, she could see that he was tall and lanky, with a shock of dark hair and strangely haunted, unhappy grey eyes. There was a bruise beginning to form around the lower edge of his jaw, as though he had been punched.

‘Rees, I’m so sorry you’ve had to wait for such a long time,’ she told him. ‘We’ve been busy looking after some people who were injured in a road traffic accident.’

‘That’s all right,’ the youngster said. ‘The nurse let me know what was happening. I didn’t mind waiting.’

‘That’s good.’ She smiled at him. ‘There aren’t many people around here who say that.’ She glanced around the empty room. ‘Are your parents waiting for you somewhere?’

‘No.’ He looked anxious for a moment, and then started to cough—a deep, chesty cough that racked his whole body for a second or two. ‘Someone who was passing by brought me in. I said I’d be all right, but she insisted on bringing me here. She said she wanted to wait with me, but she had to go to work.’

‘Would you like me to get in touch with your parents?’

‘No…thanks. They don’t need to know I’m here.’ The words came out abruptly, in a staccato manner, causing Alison to wonder why he was so anxious at the mention of them. She sat down beside his bed and began to carefully inspect his hand. There was a ragged, deep gash across his palm. ‘So how did this happen?’

‘I stumbled over some rough ground. I was a bit dizzy and I wasn’t really looking where I was going. I started to fall and put out a hand to protect myself, but there was broken glass on the verge and that’s how I cut myself.’

She nodded, not quite sure whether or not she believed him. The edges of the wound were deep, as though his hand had been rammed by a broken bottle. According to his notes, the woman who had brought him in had said she’d found him wandering in the street, looking dazed. ‘It looks nasty, doesn’t it? Have you any idea what caused the dizziness?’

He shrugged. ‘No, not really.’ He coughed again.

‘Everything all right in here?’ Josh put his head around the door, and Alison wondered if he had come to check up on her. Perhaps he was looking in on all the A&E staff?

‘We’re fine,’ she said.

Josh nodded, and looked as though he intended to hang around for a while. She would have preferred he didn’t do that. How was Rees going to open up to her with Josh watching over them?

‘Your trauma patient is still in recovery,’ she told him. ‘Last I heard, he wasn’t doing too well.’

‘I know. I’m going to do an aortogram. I suspect there’s something wrong with the heart vessel.’

Perhaps he realised that she didn’t want him around. His glance went from her to Rees, and then he nodded towards the boy and said, ‘You’re in good hands.’

Josh left, and Alison let out a slow, soft breath. She went back to checking Rees’s neurological reflexes.

‘Everything seems to be okay on that score,’ she said quietly, ‘although your blood pressure is a bit low. Did you have anything to eat before you went out this morning?’

He shook his head, and was overcome once more by a bout of chesty coughing that left him exhausted. No wonder he hadn’t complained about being kept waiting. She guessed he was probably glad of the chance to sit and rest somewhere warm and comfortable for a few hours.

Something about him brought out all her tender instincts, and she wasn’t exactly sure why. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he looked a lot like her brother had at that age. Anyway, she felt there was more to his story than met the eye.

‘This is a pretty deep cut,’ she said, examining the wound. ‘I don’t think I can follow the usual procedure and leave it open while we wait to see if there is any infection brewing. It will need several stitches—but I’ll give you an injection of anaesthetic first, of course. We’d better make sure that you have an up-to-date tetanus jab as well.’

‘Okay.’

‘Did this happen on the way to school?’ she asked conversationally as she set about preparing the anaesthetic.

‘No. I left school in the summer.’

‘On the way to work, then?’ she murmured.

He shook his head. ‘I don’t have a job yet. I’ve been trying to find one.’

It was becoming clear that she wasn’t going to make any headway on that score, so she contented herself with explaining the procedure to him. ‘I’m going to inject anaesthetic into the wound,’ she said softly. ‘I’m afraid it will sting a little to begin with, but then gradually the area should become numb. When it’s completely anaesthetised I’ll start to put in the sutures.’

He didn’t say anything, but kept up a stoic expression throughout the procedure, and she wondered what might have happened to him in his young life that made him appear so withdrawn and world-weary.

‘There—that’s the worst bit over with,’ she said a short time later. ‘We’ll wait a moment longer for it to take effect.’

She studied his brooding features for a second or two. He had refused to give an address to the desk clerk, and that worried her. What was he trying to hide?

‘That’s a nasty bruise to your jaw,’ she murmured.

‘It’s nothing,’ he said, his voice gruff.

It was the kind of response she was beginning to expect. Coupled with the lack of information about his home or his parents, she couldn’t help wondering if he was a runaway. Of course at sixteen he wasn’t legally any concern of the authorities, but it worried her that he was here alone and injured, apparently with no relative for them to contact.

‘I’ll make a start on the stitches now,’ she murmured. ‘Can you feel anything when I press here—or there?’

‘No, it’s okay.’

She concentrated on her work for the next few minutes. ‘I’ve noticed that you have a nasty cough,’ she said after a while. ‘When I’ve finished here, I think it would be a good idea if I run the stethoscope over your chest, to see what’s going on in your lungs. I’ll take your temperature as well—if that’s all right with you?’

He frowned. ‘What will you do if you find out there’s something wrong?’

‘It depends on what I find. If there’s an infection you might need to take a course of antibiotics. I can give you a prescription for those, and our pharmacy will dispense them for you.’

He nodded. ‘All right.’

She finished suturing his hand and began to clear away the equipment she had used. While she was doing that a commotion started up, somewhere outside the treatment room, and a hum of deep male voices reverberated through the department.

Rees was looking anxious again, and she told him, ‘That’ll be members of the bikers’ club, come to present the hospital with a cheque from their fund-raising efforts. They’ve done that ever since we treated some of their friends here a few years back. As soon as I’ve examined your chest, I’d better go and make sure they’re being looked after.’

There were a lot of crackles and signs of infection coming from his lungs, she discovered. ‘It sounds as though you have bronchitis,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll ask the nurse to take you along to X-ray as soon as she’s put a dressing on your hand. That way we’ll know for certain what’s going on in your lungs.’ She studied him closely. ‘I’ll be back to see you in a while, when I have the results. All you need to do is sit back and take it easy. Are you happy to go along with that?’

He seemed to relax. ‘Yes, that’s okay.’

She studied his pale, tired features. What had happened to this boy? Had he been living rough on the streets? It was cold outside at this time of year and he only had a thin jacket. He looked clean enough, though, and it was possible he had been staying with a friend. Perhaps she was letting her imagination run away with her?

Still, her instincts were urging her to do what she could to help him out. ‘I brought some food in with me, to serve to the people who are here for the ceremony…Would you like something to eat after your X-ray? I’ll see if we can rustle up a cup of tea for you, too, while we’re about it.’

His face brightened for the first time since she had gone to see him. ‘Yes, please…if that would be all right?’

‘Of course it will. I’ll find someone to bring a tray over to you.’

She hurried away. No doubt Josh was still tending to his patients, and she knew that the specialist registrar was busy in theatre, so unless someone from Management had put in an appearance at the presentation, the bikers were being left to their own devices—and that wouldn’t do at all.

As things turned out, though, she needn’t have worried. The chief administrator was there in Reception, and all due ceremony was being given to the burly bikers who had turned up en masse. A few bemused patients looked on from the waiting room, curious to know what was going on. And a man from the local newspaper was there, taking photos as the manager accepted a cheque from the leader of the bikers’ group—a huge fellow, clad in leather biker’s gear and sporting a tangle of wild black hair.

Alison asked one of the ward assistants if she would take a tray of food and a cup of tea to Rees in the treatment room, and then went to watch the proceedings.

Josh, against all the odds, put in an appearance a short time later, stepping up to the front of Reception in order to address the gathering of people. He began by thanking the bikers for their generous donation, and assured them that it would be put to good use.

The hospital managers, he said, would be exhilarated to know that a good portion of this money would be available for new diagnostic equipment, and when Christmas came around any children unfortunate enough to be in hospital at that time would surely find to their joy that Santa, after searching their homes in vain, had after all managed to discover their whereabouts. He brought chuckles from the crowd, and Alison couldn’t help thinking that his impromptu speech was better than anything she had imagined it might be.

Bringing his speech to a close, he smiled, an action that lit up his features in a way that made Alison go unexpectedly weak at the knees. Standing next to her, Katie, her flatmate, said in a low voice, ‘Oh, wow. That man is way too good-looking. How can any of us be expected to work at our best with him around? It’s very difficult to concentrate when you’re running a fever.’

Alison giggled softly. ‘I’m with you on that one. Of course you could always plead that you need his personal attention…the touch of his cool hand on your brow.’

‘Oh, don’t…don’t say that.’ Katie’s green eyes sparkled, and she wafted a hand by her face as though to fan cool air over her hot cheeks. ‘A hand on my brow would hardly do it. Now you have me imagining all sorts of things—long, sensual sponge baths and the like. Oh, my…what am I going to do? I’ll be fit for nothing for the rest of the day, and I have patients waiting to be seen.’

By now they were both chuckling, and Alison was doing her best to sober up when she became aware of Josh coming towards them.

‘Something amusing, ladies?’ he enquired. ‘Anything that you would care to share with me?’

Katie made a strange gulping sound and covered her mouth with her hand, lowering her head so that the curtain of her chestnut-coloured hair hid her features. Alison aimed a discreet tap of her foot against Katie’s leg to encourage her to restrain herself.

How on earth was she supposed to answer him? She felt as though she had been well and truly left in the lurch.

Chapter Two

ALISON shook her head and made an effort to pull herself together. ‘Take no notice of us,’ she murmured, throwing a bland gaze in Josh’s direction. ‘It’s just that having all these macho-looking bikers about the place has gone to our heads. Far too much testosterone for us to handle.’

‘Really?’ Josh’s grey eyes held a quizzical glint. ‘I noticed they seemed very taken with both of you. I overheard some mutterings about the possibility of coming over to ask for a date.’

Alison’s mouth made a wry slant. ‘Yes, well…Unfortunately for them Katie’s already been down that route, and she decided that tearing along the road at high speed on the back of a bike doesn’t do it for her—not to mention the mess it makes of her hair, being flattened under a crash helmet.’

Katie had recovered her composure by now, and chose that moment to dig her in the ribs. Alison clamped her lips shut in the vestige of a smile.

‘Alison has had first-hand experience of that, too,’ her friend interjected. ‘She seemed to find it quite exciting for a time. For myself, I’ve decided that I’d far sooner feel the wind in my hair from the passenger seat of a convertible.’ She sent him a look that would charm the birds out of the trees.

Josh grinned. ‘Spoken like a true connoisseur. You look like a girl who was born to the high life.’

A flush of colour ran along Katie’s cheekbones, adding to the shimmering intensity of her green gaze. Alison observed the interplay between her and Josh with a cautious eye. Were they taken with one another? Or was he simply the kind of man who charmed every woman in sight?

‘I thought your speech was perfect,’ Katie murmured. ‘You said everything that needed to be said, and you kept it short, too. I’d almost go as far as to say that you must have done this sort of thing before. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to come up with anything anywhere near as good as that on the spur of the moment.’

‘Well, thanks.’ He sent her a mock suspicious look. ‘You aren’t trying to haggle for a rise, are you? Because maybe I should tell you I’m not the one who gives them out.’

‘Oh, shame. What a waste.’ Katie frowned. ‘And there I was, hoping that you’d be thoroughly mellow after all the food that Alison brought in…As if that wouldn’t be guaranteed to melt the hardest heart.’

‘Yes, I noticed the wonderful spread.’ He cast a glance towards the far side of the room, where the impromptu buffet had been laid out on a couple of trolleys. ‘It all looks very impressive—and most of it home-made, too, from the looks of things.’

Katie nodded. ‘You should have seen our kitchen last night. There was flour everywhere, and lovely smells coming from the oven.’ She paused, thinking about it. ‘I can’t imagine what came over her. In fact, with all that home baking going on I began to wonder if she was getting broody.’

‘No way,’ Alison put in, pretending to be affronted. ‘Anyway, you know perfectly well that I’m off men—ever since Rob led me a merry dance.’ She stopped, suddenly becoming aware that Josh was listening with interest. He didn’t need to know about her unhappy foray into so-called love, did he? ‘Well, anyway, never mind that…Let’s just say it was an experience to take to heart, and one that’s all in the past.’

She was on her guard now where men were concerned. Rob was history—a sad lesson that she shouldn’t lose her heart to any man with a wandering eye. And maybe that should include steering clear of those like the one not too far away, who managed to ooze charisma as though it was a new aftershave.

She pulled in a quick breath and started again. ‘As to the baking session—it was all because of the Christmas cake, you see,’ she said, as though that explained everything. ‘I felt I had to make a start on it.’

‘In fact, she started the day before,’ Katie put in. ‘I saw her hugging the brandy bottle and wondered what on earth was going on. Of course she said she wasn’t actually thinking of drinking it, but I didn’t really believe her until I found her mixing currants, raisins and sultanas together with candied peel, and adding a generous slosh of brandy every now and again. Apparently you have to let the fruit soak overnight.’

There was a puzzled look on Josh’s face, and Alison hurried to explain. ‘My gran has this wonderful recipe that she gave to me. Since she’s coming over to my parents’ house for Christmas I thought I would bake her cake and surprise her with it.’

‘And you have to start all that several weeks beforehand?’ He was frowning.

She nodded. ‘So I’m told. I popped the mix in the oven last night, and while I was about it I thought I’d bake a few treats for today. Then Katie started to help, and between us we seem to have been a little bit carried away.’

‘I don’t know about that—it’s just as well we made stacks of stuff,’ Katie said. ‘It’s a wonder there was anything left to bring after Taylor and Sam from the flat upstairs caught wind of what was going on. And then Tom’s children from next door came in, wanting to sample everything, and pleading to be allowed to lick the bowl after she’d emptied the cake mix into the baking tin. They ate so much I was surprised they weren’t sick.’

Alison grinned. ‘It was lovely to see them happy, though, wasn’t it? Things haven’t been so cheerful in their house of late.’

‘No, that’s true enough.’ Katie frowned. ‘Imagine having the threat of being turned out of your own house hanging over you. Tom and Martha must be beside themselves with worry.’ She glanced around. ‘Anyway, I’d better get back to work. My lunch break is nearly over, and I still have a list of patients as long as my arm. I’ll go and grab a bite to eat first, though.’

Alison nodded agreement. ‘Me, too. And then I must go back to my own patients.’ She sighed. ‘There’s no rest for the wicked, is there? Though it has been good to take time out.’

Josh went with them, glancing around the reception area. People had been busy putting up tinsel garlands over the last couple of days, and there were one or two sparkling bells adorned with red and silver ribbon. He didn’t look impressed, thought Alison. In fact she couldn’t be certain of his reaction…More resigned than anything else, probably.

He moved on, and soon started making his own inroads on the buffet, sampling a mince pie and adding a fruit turnover to his plate. ‘I need sustenance,’ he said. ‘I have to operate in a while. It looks as though our motor crash victim is going to need a repair to his heart’s main blood vessel.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Alison sent him a fleeting glance. ‘That’s bad news, isn’t it? For the patient, I mean. Obviously you must have done the aortogram?’

He nodded. ‘It showed a pseudoaneurysm. I believe there’s a small tear in the vessel, so the nurses are preparing him for surgery now.’

‘I hope it goes well.’ It meant that the patient’s heart would be linked to a bypass machine for a short time, while Josh inserted a repair graft in the leaking artery.

She lingered for a minute or two to chat, before heading back to Rees in the treatment room. Katie and Josh were deep in conversation when she left, and she doubted they would have noticed her departure.

The boy set aside his tray while she put up the X-ray film in the light box and carefully studied it. ‘There’s definitely an infection there,’ she told him after a while, ‘and you have a raised temperature. I think we’ll start you off on antibiotics and keep you here for a few hours in our observation ward. Are you okay with that?’

He nodded. She guessed he was in no hurry to go back out into the cold, and perhaps he had nowhere to go. That was a worrying thought. Strictly speaking she had no real reason to keep him here under observation, or admit him to hospital overnight—which was what she would have preferred to do. That would give her more of a chance to talk to him, and hopefully encourage him to tell her more about the circumstances that brought him here. She wanted to help him in any way possible.

‘All right, then,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll arrange for a nurse to take you to the observation ward next door and get you settled.’

‘Will it be all right if I take the food with me?’

She chuckled. ‘Yes, of course. We’ll make sure that goes along with you. I think, since your blood sugar was low, it’s important to feed you. We also need to bring down your temperature and generally look after you.’ She sent him a quick glance. ‘I don’t want to send you away from here while you’re clearly unwell, and you haven’t given us an address. I’m worried that there’s no family around to take care of you.’ She hesitated. ‘Are you living at home?’

He didn’t answer, but after a moment or two he shook his head.

‘Have you been living out on the streets?’

He hunched his shoulders, and Alison wondered if she should take that as a yes.

‘If you feel that you need to talk to someone about anything that’s bothering you I’m here to listen, you know. Nothing you say will go any further unless you want it to.’

He returned her gaze, not quite meeting her eyes. He appeared to be deep in thought, and for a second or two she was hopeful that he might be about to confide in her. But then he slumped back against his pillows without saying anything, and the moment was lost.

She left him in the care of a nurse, and went to tend to her other patients. With any luck Rees would pluck up the courage to open up to her later on. She just needed to win his trust.

For the next few hours she concentrated all her efforts on looking after the sick and injured. She hoped Josh’s patient was doing well in the operating theatre. Still, she had seen Josh at work in the resuscitation room, and it was plain to see how effective he was in a crisis situation. No wonder he had been chosen to replace Dr Meadows. He was immensely skilled. There was no hesitation, no doubt, not a single moment when he wasn’t in complete control.

That didn’t change when he came back down to A&E some time later. He simply turned his attention to overseeing the work of his subordinates, and that was when Alison felt the first stirrings of unease. He began to leaf through all the patients’ charts.

She went to check through the test results at the desk.

‘Would you care to explain this to me?’ he said, coming over to her a few minutes later. He was frowning as he held out a folder. ‘I don’t see any major problem with this patient, and yet young Rees is still here. By all accounts he could have been discharged some time ago. You’ve examined him and given him the appropriate treatment. Why haven’t you sent him on his way?’

Alison’s spirits plummeted. Was Josh Bentley one of the new breed of ‘time is money; patch them up and move them out’ doctors? How she hated that emphasis on efficiency at all costs. Somehow she had believed he would have better judgement than that.

Alison remained silent for a moment, glancing through the glass door of the observation ward. Rees was dozing peacefully, his face bleached of colour against the stark white of his pillows, and she couldn’t help feeling that he was exhausted, worn out by a combination of factors. The boy’s hair was an unruly tangle of black silky strands, crying out for the tender hand of a mother figure to smooth it into place. Surely Josh wasn’t expecting her to wake him up and turf him out into the cold, soulless streets to fend for himself? What kind of man was he?

His dark brows rose in expectation.

‘The boy’s running a temperature,’ she said, ‘and he has a chest infection. Also, he’s looking gaunt, and I don’t think he’s been eating properly. I prefer to wait for the results of tests, query pneumonia, before I decide what to do. It occurred to me that it might be wise to keep him in overnight.’

Josh gave her a long, thoughtful look. ‘We both know he isn’t that ill. I’ve seen the X-ray film. Besides, I heard he went walkabout for a while and a nurse had to go looking for him. What’s going on here, Alison?’

‘Walkabout?’ She frowned. ‘Where did he go?’

‘The nurse wasn’t sure. She found him in the corridor heading back to the ward. He must have slipped out through the security door when a visitor left.’

‘Did he say where he’d been?’

‘Only some vague comment about trying to find a washroom.’ From his expression it was clear that he was unconvinced by that explanation. ‘The nurse said he appeared to be on edge. She decided he must be feverish and led him back to bed.’

‘Perhaps that’s the truth of it.’ Alison sighed. ‘He’s definitely unwell. I wanted to keep him here so I have a little more time to see if I can get him to open up to me. We don’t know anything about his background, or what will happen to him once he leaves here. He won’t say anything about his parents, and he’s refused to give an address.’

‘Hmm. I can see why you’re concerned, but that isn’t really our problem, is it? Besides, he might be on the run from the law. As to staying here, I already have Management on my back, emphasising the necessity to stick to targets and maximise throughput. Rees isn’t seriously ill, and we’re not obliged to notify the authorities about our worries since he insists he’s sixteen. We haven’t been asked to look out for anyone answering his description.’

‘I know, but I’m pretty sure he’s run away from home, and if he’s living rough there’s a strong possibility his condition will quickly nosedive. I don’t want that on my conscience.’ She frowned. ‘There’s a vulnerability about him that makes me want to do everything I can to help him—and surely we have to pay some heed to the welfare of the people who cross our path? You wouldn’t send an elderly person out onto the streets if you feared for his well-being, would you?’

‘Soft as putty, aren’t you?’ His smile was gently mocking. ‘If you feel so strongly about him, why haven’t you taken steps to contact the police or Social Services?’

‘I don’t want to betray his trust…and I want to give him the chance to confide in me.’

He shook his head. ‘We’re an accident and emergency department,’ he chided softly. ‘Not a holding centre for waifs and strays.’

She glowered at him, her blue eyes sparking. Okay, ultimately he was in charge, but she wasn’t going to allow her decisions to be overridden without a fight. She trusted her instincts and they had never let her down. ‘We have spare beds and we’re not overstretched right now. I don’t see any reason for sending him away just yet.’

‘Maybe not, but you know as well as I do that the situation could change at any moment if we have a sudden influx.’

‘I prefer to base my judgements on the situation as it is at present. He’s unwell, and I know of no responsible adult who will take over his care. It’s my professional opinion that he should stay here.’

Josh was silent for a moment or two, his features taut, his mouth pursed in contemplation, and she began to wonder if perhaps she had gone too far. He was new here, and she didn’t yet have the measure of the man. For all she knew he could take offence at her arguments and have her taken off his team.

‘You may be right,’ he said eventually. ‘I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and go along with you on this one—if only because he complained of dizziness before his fall. That being the case, you’d better go ahead and admit him overnight on the grounds of suspected pneumonia and the possibility of wound infection. But if the situation changes, and we’re overrun with trauma cases and the like, we’ll have to do some creative thinking about where to place him.’

‘That’s great.’ She stared at him, wide eyed, her face lighting up. ‘I take it all back—every bad thing I was thinking about you. You’ve shot up ten times in my estimation. In fact, I could hug you.’

‘Really? I thought you were finished with men?’

‘Ah…well, yes, that’s perfectly true. But then again, I wasn’t planning on a relationship.’ A ripple of warmth ran through her. What was the matter with her? Why couldn’t she glue her lips together and stay out of trouble?

He studied her, a glint of humour flickering in his eyes. ‘So you were thinking bad things about me, were you? That isn’t good, is it? Given first impressions and all that.’

‘Um, well, no,’ she faltered. ‘But then you did manage to redeem yourself after all, didn’t you?’ She studied him guardedly.

He chuckled. ‘Think of it as a thank-you for warning me about the presentation…and for the fruit turnovers. Let’s not forget them.’ He rolled his eyes heavenward. ‘They were out of this world.’

Her features softened in appreciation. ‘I’m glad you think so. If Management complain about Rees being here, perhaps you should offer a few to them, too.’

He sucked in a quick breath. ‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.’

She blinked. ‘You can’t? Why…? Is it because it would reek of bribery and corruption?’

He shook his head. ‘No, not that—though it’s certainly a consideration. It’s because they’ve all gone.’ His mouth turned down at the corners. ‘There’s absolutely nothing left…only crumbs.’

She laughed. ‘Oh, dear. Still, now I know I have the perfect bribe to use whenever I want something to go my way. I didn’t realise how much influence I could bring to bear. Let’s make the most of it. We’re talking turnover power!’

He was smiling when Alison left him after a moment or two to go and get on with her work.

The rest of the day passed in a flash as she was kept busy dealing with new emergencies, but she managed to find time to look in on Rees in the observation ward before the end of her shift.

He still looked weary, and she noted that despite the antibiotics his temperature was a notch higher than normal.

‘I think it would be for the best if we were to admit you overnight,’ she told him. ‘That way we can keep an eye on you while the antibiotics begin to do their stuff, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring your temperature down. We can also keep an eye on the injury to your hand at the same time. How do you feel about that?’

‘Yeah, that’s all right.’ He ran the back of his good hand over his forehead. ‘The nurse said you might want to keep me in. She said she’d find some crossword books and a couple of videos for me to watch when I’m feeling a bit better.’

‘That’s good. You should try to get some rest.’ She gave him a soft smile. ‘I expect they’ll be bringing your tea round before too long, and you’ll need some energy to tackle that.’

His eyes brightened a fraction. ‘That’s great. I’m starving.’

She laughed. ‘I don’t know where you manage to put it all. Still, you could do with building up.’ She smiled at him. ‘I’m going off duty in a while, but the nurse will take care of you. If you have any problems at all, just let her know. She’ll do whatever she can to sort things out. I’ll drop by and see you in the morning.’

He nodded, and she left the bay, going in search of the nurse. She found her checking schedules on the computer, and spent a few minutes bringing her up to date on the situation.

‘I’ll do everything I can to encourage him to confide in me,’ Jenny said. ‘So far he hasn’t said anything that’s of much help. He’s a bit of an enigma, but I’m fairly sure that he’s worried about something. Whatever it is, he’s not letting on.’

‘Thanks, Jenny. I’m sure he’s in good hands in the meantime.’ Alison left her and went to retrieve her jacket from the doctors’ restroom.

As she walked back towards Reception a short time later, she saw that Josh was there, deep in thought as he pored over the contents of a folder.

‘Ah, you’re just the person I wanted to see,’ he said, looking up, his tone brisk. ‘I take it you’re going off duty now?’

‘That’s right. Is there a problem?’

He shook his head. ‘Not at all.’ He waved a hand towards the corridor. ‘You have some visitors…your neighbour and his children. I sent them to the relatives’ waiting room.’

‘Oh, that’s good. Thanks for letting me know. Tom said he would come and pick me up. I just hope he managed to sort out whatever was wrong with my car.’

She would have gone to find them straight away, but she paused long enough to study Josh for a moment or two. There was something about his demeanour that put her on alert. ‘Is everything all right? You look as though you have something on your mind. Has your first day here not gone as well as you might have expected? I know you’ve hardly had a minute to yourself all day. It’s like that sometimes.’

She hesitated before adding, ‘The work in itself can be challenging, can’t it? We have to deal with things that you might come across only once in a blue moon, and there aren’t always simple answers. But generally we’re a supportive bunch of people, and we aim to rub along well together. Of course it’s different when you’re in charge, I suppose. You have a lot more to contend with, and you probably look at everything from a different perspective to the rest of us.’

‘Well, that’s certainly true. I wasn’t expecting to see hordes of bikers about the place this lunchtime. Nor was I expecting to have to make a speech almost as soon as I arrived.’ He frowned. ‘As to this latest request…’ He scowled at the folder he had been studying, tossing the file down on the desktop in a peremptory fashion. ‘I can’t imagine why I’m being asked to take part in a hospital radio show. Since I’m only going to be here for two days a week, I’m sure there are far more pressing demands on my time.’

Alison cast a quick glance over the file. ‘Oh, I see. It’s the outline for the Christmas radio programme. It goes out on air to all the patients, and they schedule it in advance. I don’t imagine the radio committee meant to cause trouble for you. It’s just that…’

‘I know. You don’t need to tell me…’ He put up a hand to stop her. ‘Steve Meadows always had a slot on the show. I’ve been hearing an awful lot about your former boss and his various good deeds. Apparently he was a member of the drama club and gave impromptu entertainment for the children on the wards, and he did charity runs and organised medical care for homeless people.’ His lips compressed. ‘He must rank among the saints, giving his time to every needy cause going. No wonder he suffered a heart attack. Was there anything that man didn’t do?’

‘Um…he did work tremendously hard, and he thought it was important to try to keep the patients happy—especially at Christmas time. It is the Christmas programme they’re asking you to look at, isn’t it?’

His jaw clenched. ‘That’s right…But they—the radio committee—had better think again. I’m a doctor, not a presenter, and at the moment I have more worthy matters to consider. Such as how to take care of the man I operated on this afternoon. If he manages to pull through after losing several pints of blood and having his heart put on bypass I shall count my blessings.’

He pushed the folder into the wastepaper basket with a broad sweep of his arm and then began to stride across the room. ‘I shall be in the resuscitation room if anyone needs me.’

Alison nodded, watching him go. ‘I’ll be sure to let the desk clerk know.’

Clearly he was worried about his patient and not in the best of moods right now. Maybe it was bad timing for the radio committee to lay their request on him on his very first day in the job.

She scribbled a message for the clerk, who was temporarily away from the desk. As an afterthought, she pulled the folder out of the wastebin and laid it to one side in a wire tray. Some decisions would have to be made regarding the programme before too long—but they could surely wait for the moment? The new boss obviously needed more time to settle in.

She hurried along to the waiting room. ‘Tom,’ she greeted her neighbour, ‘thanks for coming to fetch me. I’m sorry I’ve kept you waiting. I hope I’ve not put you out too much?’

‘Not at all.’ He was a tall man, with dark hair and features that were carved out of life’s experiences—crinkled lines about his blue eyes and a firm jawline that hinted at a rock-steady character. Alison had taken to him from the instant she met him.

He came towards her now, his arms enclosing her in a brief hug. ‘I had to come into town anyway. I ordered a replacement petrol pump for your car, and the spare parts place promised me they would have it in stock by this evening. Of course Jason and Rachel wanted to come with me. They both needed new trousers, so my wife gave me instructions on what to look out for in the local store.’ He frowned. ‘I can’t keep up with them. They’re forever wearing them out at the knees or snagging them on something or other. Nobody ever told me about the downside of having a family. I’ve become a walking money tree, and I feel as though my roots are beginning to wither.’

She gave him a wry smile. ‘It almost makes me glad I’m not a parent.’ She glanced around the room. ‘Where are they, by the way?’

‘They went out to fetch cold drinks from the machine in the main waiting room. I thought I’d better wait here, in case you wondered where I was, but perhaps we’d better go and see what they’re up to. They should have been back by now, and I daren’t imagine what they might get up to left to their own devices for too long.’

‘Good idea,’ she agreed, nodding. The children were eight and nine years old, and full of the joys of life. ‘Knowing Jason and his love of drawing, they could be trying out designs for a new mural by now.’

‘Oh, heaven forbid! Don’t say that, please. I can feel an ulcer starting already.’

She laughed, and they hurried away towards the main waiting room in search of the children. Unfortunately they were nowhere to be seen.

Alison gazed around her in dismay. ‘We’d have seen them if they were heading back to you in the waiting room, wouldn’t we?’

Tom nodded, an anxious look spreading over his face.

‘Can I help in any way?’ Josh came out of the resuscitation room and strode briskly towards them, delivering the words in an equally vigorous, no-nonsense fashion. ‘Are you looking for the children?’

Alison nodded, her heart sinking rapidly. He didn’t look at all content with the way his day was going, and his questions didn’t have the tiniest note of pleasant enquiry about them. Something was definitely wrong. ‘They came in here to fetch cold drinks,’ she said. ‘Do you know where they are?’

‘The last I saw of them they were playing in the courtyard outside the waiting room.’ He looked directly at Tom. ‘There’s still a lot of snow around, and they were trying to slide down the grass verge. Unfortunately Jason slipped on the ice and cut his knee. He’s okay, but I asked one of the nurses to clean it up and put a dressing on it before she brought the pair of them back to you. You’ll find them in Treatment Room Two, over there.’ He waved a hand in the direction of the room, and Tom thanked him and immediately rushed away.

Alison gave Josh a brief, apologetic look. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s probably my fault the children went exploring. I arranged to meet Tom at the end of my shift, but I was a little late.’

‘So I gathered,’ he said. ‘Still, I dare say there’s no harm done. If today’s anything to go by, nothing in this place follows a normal pattern, does it?’

He walked away from her, heading over to the desk, where he began rifling through lab test results.

Alison sighed. He was right. This day had been singularly odd—and not just because of the biker invasion, or her car breaking down and Tom and the children coming into the hospital. She had come face to face with her new boss, and she still didn’t have any idea of what kind of man he was. He was full of contradictions, a man of hidden depths. She had no real idea of how she was going to work with him on a day-to-day basis.

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