The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride

‘Morphine dreaming?’ She smiled.

James had never had anything stronger than paracetamol in his life before so he supposed that was exactly what he’d been doing. ‘Strong stuff.’ He grimaced.

The floating sensation had been pleasant and the relief from the constant feeling that his leg was in a vice was most welcome, but the sense of not being fully in control of his body was disconcerting and he wasn’t entirely sure he liked it. He was always in control. He’d spent too many childhood years feeling helpless to be remotely comfortable with this drug-induced vulnerability.

‘I hear you copped a lucky break.’

James grinned at her joke despite the odd feeling of being outside his body. ‘Yes, simple fracture of the tibia, not displaced. Long leg cast for six weeks.’

‘You got off very easy.’

‘Indeed.’ James remembered the worst-case scenarios that had careened through his mind as he had been hurled into the bush and knew that he could just as easily be dead or very seriously injured. ‘How’s my bike?’

She rolled her eyes. Of course, he would be worrying about the machine. ‘Alf’s recovering it now.’

‘You don’t approve?’

She shrugged. She was a nurse. Orthopaedic wards were full of motorbike victims. ‘Mighty thin doors. No seat belts.’

He regarded her seriously, her no-nonsense ponytail swishing slightly as she spoke. Not a single hair had managed to escape. He grinned. ‘You need to live a little. Nothing like the wind on your face, whipping through your hair.’

Helen sucked in a quick breath as his smile made his impossibly handsome face even more so. It made him look every inch the freedom-loving highway gypsy he so obviously was. She understood the pull of the wind in your face—she’d often ridden on the back of her father’s bike over the years. But a life of chronic instability had left her with feet firmly planted on the ground.

‘I have to get to work. I’ll check back in on my lunch-break. Can I bring you anything?’

James shut his eyes as the room started to spin again. ‘Food. I’m starving.’

She laughed. ‘They do feed you here, you know.’

‘Hospital food,’ he groaned. ‘I want proper stuff.’

‘Like?’

James thought hard as the foggy feeling started to take control again. He allowed it to dictate his stomach’s needs. He rubbed his hand absently over his hungry belly. ‘Pie. Chips with gravy. And a beer.’

Helen laughed again and tried not to be distracted by the slipping of the sheet as his hand absently stroked his stomach. Pies were her favourite bakery item. ‘A pie and chips I can do. Don’t think morphine and beer are a good mix, though.’

James opened one eye. ‘Sister Helen Franklin, you are a spoilsport.’

‘Yeah, well, I also sign your cheques so be nice.’

He chuckled and, despite his efforts to fight it, a wave of fog drifted him back into the floating abyss. Being nice to Helen conjured up some very delectable images and with his last skerrick of good sense he hoped it was just the morphine. The feel of her hair in his face and her pink lace was already too interesting fodder for his narcotic-induced fantasies.

If he wasn’t careful she might become way more fascinating than was good for him. Helen Franklin looked like she was the kind of woman men stayed with. And James didn’t stay. He didn’t know how.

CHAPTER TWO

AT SIX o’clock Helen walked into the hospital to find James entertaining three nurses. It had been a shocker of a day. From Elsie and her cows, to finding James, to the news that another locum would be difficult to find. She wasn’t feeling particularly jovial.

‘Feeling better, I see,’ she said dryly.

Her colleagues greeted her warmly and then fluttered their hands at James, promising to catch him later. She frowned at the very married nurses and felt strangely irritated.

‘Thank God you’re here. Break me out, will you?’

He was sitting propped up in his bed, a black T-shirt thankfully covering his chest, his leg supported on a pillow. She shook her head. Did he think he could just snap his fingers and she’d jump to attention? ‘The med super wants to keep you overnight.’

James snorted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I broke my leg, that’s all.’

‘Jonathon’s just being cautious.’

‘I’m going stir crazy in here and this bed is frankly the worst thing I’ve ever lain on. The ground in the bush last night was softer than this.’

Helen laughed despite her irritation because it was true. The mattresses left a lot to be desired. ‘How’s the cast?’ she asked, moving to the end of the bed. ‘Wriggle your toes.’

James sighed and wriggled his toes for the hundredth time since he’d had the damn thing put on that morning.

Helen touched them lightly to assess their colour and warmth. ‘Do they—?’

‘No,’ he interrupted. ‘They don’t tingle. I don’t have pins and needles,’ he said testily. ‘They have perfectly normal sensation.’

Helen quirked an eyebrow. Good, now he was irritated, too. ‘So this is the doctors-make-the-worst-patients demonstration?’

‘I’d like a decent night’s sleep in a comfortable bed before starting work in the morning if it’s all the same to you.’

Helen’s hand stilled on his toes. ‘Work?’

‘Yes, work. You know, the reason why I’m in Skye in the first place?’

Helen became aware of her heart beating. She hardly dared to hope. ‘Oh…you still want to…take up the contract, then?’

James frowned. ‘Of course? Why? Are you withdrawing the offer?’

‘No, no, of course not,’ she said, absently stroking his toes peeking out from the end of the cast. ‘I just assumed…I mean I thought…you’d want to rest up until your leg was out of the cast.’

He snorted and tried not to be distracted by the light touch of her fingers on his toes and how strangely intimate it was. ‘It’s just a broken leg. I may not be as mobile as I’d like but I’m still capable of sitting in a chair and seeing patients. You do still require a doctor, don’t you?’

Helen couldn’t believe her luck. Her dark mood lightened. She smiled. ‘We most certainly do.’

‘Excellent. I’m your guy. Now,’ James said as he swung his leg down off the bed and reached for his crutches, ‘if you know where my luggage is, perhaps you could get me some clothes and the appropriate paperwork so I can get the hell out of here. I’d like to check on my bike.’

Helen watched him fit the crutches into his armpits, her hand now lying on the empty pillow.

‘It’s fine. I went and checked. Alf has it at the garage. He’s shut now. You can go visit tomorrow.’

‘It’ll be safe there?’

She smiled. ‘Of course. This is Skye.’ Although she did understand his reticence, his classic Harley must be worth a fortune.