Top-Notch Surgeon, Pregnant Nurse

Beth shook off the intensity of his gaze as she took the students to the recovery unit next, explaining the set-up and routine post-op monitoring. She didn’t get too detailed. There would be more for them to see and learn next week and she could tell they had already overdosed on information. Before sending them on their way, she handed out their workbooks and briefly explained the competencies they’d be expected to achieve while here.

It was nearly five o’clock when Beth sat back down at her desk. All the lists except for Theatre Three’s had finished for the day and Recovery was emptying. She should have gone home an hour ago but she was due at John and Penny’s place for the regular weekly Winters family meal and decided she’d work on the roster for an hour and go straight from work to tea.

The roster was the worst part of her job. With ten theatres to staff and eighty nurses to appease, someone was bound to miss out on their requests. She always tried to be fair with the weekend and on-call shifts but invariably she managed to alienate some of her staff.

There was a knock on her door. ‘Come in,’ she called, not bothering to look up from the spreadsheet on her computer screen.

‘Have you got a moment?’

Beth’s head snapped up. She hadn’t expected it to be Gabe. How was it that the man even made a pair of plain cotton theatre scrubs look good? ‘Certainly, Dr Fallon.’

Gabe’s brow wrinkled. ‘Really, Beth, is it necessary to continue with such formality when we’re alone? I have seen you naked, remember?’

Beth gasped. ‘Do you mind?’ She got up from her desk and shut the door as images of a naked Gabe filled her mind. ‘Yes, it is necessary, Dr Fallon. At work, it’s imperative.’

The truth was, Beth was scared stiff that if she called him Gabe, everyone would know they’d slept together. That there would be a betraying catch in her voice that would give her away. ‘Gabe’had been what she’d called him when he’d been inside her. ‘Gabe’ had far too many intimate connotations for her to bandy it around with any ease.

‘And I would appreciate it if you didn’t use “naked” in any sentence when talking to me.’

Gabe sighed as he lowered himself into a chair opposite her desk. Beth’s office smelled of her. The same fragrance that had stayed with him since they’d first met. Like cinnamon doughnuts and a citrus orchard. Whatever it was, it overrode the pervasive antiseptic smell that invaded the operating suites.

‘OK then, Sister Rogers…no “n” word. Whatever. I was wondering if you’d given any thought to rostering the nursing team for the big day.’

Beth was relieved he’d dropped the subject and had gone straight to talking shop. Her heart was still galloping madly as she tried to follow his train of thought. ‘I was going to look at that on Saturday. I know who we need, it’ll be a matter of who’s available when the date’s chosen.’

Gabe nodded. ‘I’m thinking we should set a tentative date. That will help with staffing in all departments.’

‘Even if we can narrow it down to an approximate week. If we’re looking at four months from now, that’s May,’ Beth scrolled through to her annual leave spreadsheet. ‘I’ll have to rearrange some things. A couple of my most experienced staff are down to take leave during that time.’

‘Yes, OK. I’ll look at trying to set an estimated date. Will that help?’

Beth nodded briskly, trying to be businesslike when that chair had never been filled so well in all its life. ‘I take it you’ll want to do this on a weekend? We’ll be needing so many staff we won’t be able to run other theatres as well. It would leave them too short.’

‘Yes, logistically it’s the only way to do it,’ Gabe agreed. ‘Of course, that’s in a perfect world. If we need to go to an emergency separation, that could happen on any day.’

Beth nodded. ‘We may have to cancel some cases if that happens. Is it likely?’

Gabe rubbed his jaw. ‘Bridie is definitely the weaker twin. She’s not thriving like her sister. They’re both in good health at the moment but if Bridie picks up a bug and can’t fight it off, she could jeopardise Brooke’s health too. It’s a possibility.’ He gave her a smile that was half-grimace. ‘I guess we have to cross that bridge if we get to it.’

Beth saw a flash of vulnerability in his green gaze and realised the enormity of the job that had landed in Gabe’s lap. Sure, the surgery would require a team effort, but he was the leader, the ‘expert’. The outcome, good or bad, would be on his head.

She felt a rush of tenderness welling inside her as she remembered the carefree man she’d slept with. How different was the man before her? Dr Gabriel Fallon was an entirely different animal to Gabe, her Friday-night man.

She remembered the first day she’d scrubbed for him, Dr Gabriel Fallon, eminent neurosurgeon. She’d been worried how it would work so closely on the heels of their one-night stand, but she needn’t have been. He’d all but ignored her, demanding perfection from her and everyone in the theatre. Treating her with the utmost in professional courtesy. As if their fling had never happened.

So different from the Gabe of their first meeting. Gabe, the lover. Sure, she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something hadn’t been quite right with him that night either, and he’d all but confirmed that when he’d admitted to his spontaneous behaviour, but he’d still been relaxed and laid back.

And if the whispers she’d heard since about his reputation were anything to go by, that Gabe enjoyed a party and a flirt and the company of women who knew the score.

Beth supposed the pressures of his work almost demanded this type of split personality. His job was highly stressful so it seemed only sensible to release the pressure through playing jack the lad in his downtime.

She opened her mouth to say, It’ll be all right, Gabe, then caught herself in time. She pressed her lips firmly together. She didn’t want to be part of his downtime. Best not to give him any encouragement.

‘Fingers crossed, we won’t.’ Beth stood. ‘Was there anything else, Dr Fallon?’ she asked primly.

Gabe contemplated saying something shocking just to rattle her. Beth was one single-minded woman. ‘No, Sister Rogers.’ He stood also. ‘I’ll consider myself dismissed.’

Beth watched him go wishing it was just as easy to dismiss him from her thoughts.

* * *

The sun was setting as Beth pulled up at the Bullimba house she’d called home since she’d been fifteen. Her gaze took in its rambling whitewashed exterior. It had been a palace compared to some of the dives she’d lived in on the streets and she’d loved it the second she’d clapped eyes on it.

She was running a little late. She’d done battle with the roster for another hour and then given it up as a bad joke. Gabe’s scent, sweet like shortbread, had invaded every corner of her office, making a mockery of her concentration. She’d stopped at the nearby shopping centre and picked up a bunch of flowers for Penny.

Beth walked up the path and was raising her hand to insert her key in the lock when she heard a car door slam behind her and a sexy voice say, ‘Wait…’

Beth’s heart crashed against her ribs as she turned towards the voice. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she demanded.

Gabe laughed. ‘That’s no way to speak to a dinner guest.’

He was wearing the clothes he’d worn to work this morning. Chocolate-brown trousers and a purple pinstriped shirt. The tie had been removed, the top buttons undone.

‘I hope your family are drinkers,’ Gabe said as he drew level with her, holding up a bottle of wine.

His crinkly caramel hair was still a little flat from his theatre cap and despite her absolute horror when she realised she would be sharing the table with him, she suppressed the urge to ruffle it. ‘You’re having dinner with us?’ Great. She’d drink the entire bottle all by herself!

Gabe nodded. ‘I ran into your father on my way out of the hospital.’

Damn John. ‘No,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘You can’t have dinner with us.’

Gabe chuckled. ‘Yes, I can. John asked. I accepted.’

‘But…Dr Fallon—’

‘Beth,’ Gabe said sternly, ‘I swear to God, if you call me Dr Fallon all evening…’

‘Sorry Dr…er…Gabe.’ Beth tried not to stumble over the word but she did anyway. ‘Look, you don’t understand. It would make me feel very uncomfortable.’

Gabe frowned. ‘Why?’

She stared at him for a few moments, wondering whether he’d lost his mind. ‘Because we slept together,’ she said, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. ‘Or have you forgotten that already?’

He grinned at her, remembering in vivid detail. ‘So?’

So? So! So she couldn’t exchange polite pleasantries with him in front of her family and not give herself away. ‘Rilla and Hailey are very shrewd. They’ll guess. And I don’t need them on my case. They’ll try to matchmake and it was a one-off G-Gabe. A one-off. Not to mention that my father is your boss. You want to be sitting across the table from him when he realises just how well you know me?’

Gabe could see the pink in her cheeks as her straight blonde hair brushed her shoulders. He sighed. ‘How old are you Beth?’