Emergency In Maternity

‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘I’m looking for the shift co-ordinator.’ Noah smiled his charming smile but the warrior maiden wasn’t like the receptionist and didn’t budge. He resisted the almost irresistible temptation to move another step forward to see what she’d do.

She raised her chin, almost as if she’d read his mind, and Noah had to bite back a smile. He returned her appraisal and gained the impression that the mind behind her really quite beautiful blue eyes was as sharp as the creases ironed into her short-sleeved shirt.

Thick lashes came down and hid her thoughts. ‘I’m the shift co-ordinator but I’ll be busy for the next half-hour. Are you connected with the hospital?’

His mouth curved a little more. She was interrogating him. He nodded and held out his hand. ‘Noah Masters, regional CEO, and you are…?’

Cate had known it! The enemy! ‘Cate Forrest, the morning shift co-ordinator.’ The suit he was wearing had warned her. But that was the only part of his appearance that tied in with her mental image. She’d known he was coming, she’d just expected a weasel with accountant’s glasses.

Unfortunately, he was nothing like she’d imagined. He had a smooth, masculine presence that radiated command and Cate had to tilt her head slightly to look up at him. She didn’t like the necessity. There weren’t that many men taller than Cate and she wasn’t used to it. His hand was out in front of her, waiting, and reluctantly Cate took it.

When his fingers closed around hers in a firm clasp, she returned the shake, frowned and then pulled free as soon as possible.

Her fingers still thrummed. She certainly couldn’t say his handshake was as furtive as his visit. The man vibrated with energy! She couldn’t stand a man with a limp handshake but that buzz between them was ridiculous. Surreptitiously she wiped her hand on the side of her skirt to remove the tingle.

They stood there and eyed each other like opposing generals, and the silence lengthened. Cate had a suspicion it was amusement she could see in his eyes and it stirred her temper, as a breeze lifted a tiny pile of leaves. Yes, he rattled her, she admitted grudgingly. She was usually the one in control. One minute in his company and she could tell he wouldn’t be as co-operative as Mr Beamish was to her plans.

She steered Noah Masters around and back out through the plastic doors to the corridor. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have the time for a formal tour today. Perhaps you can arrange something later with Mr Beamish?’

Noah’s smile was winning but it bounced off Cate. ‘This isn’t a formal visit, Sister Forrest. I’m not inspecting Riverbank, I’m just gaining a feel for the place.’

Cate raised her eyebrows delicately. ‘How interesting.’ You can get a feel just by poking around, can you buster? She only just kept the words from her lips. The pager clipped on her belt emitted an insistent beep and she glanced down to see the phone extension displayed on the mini-screen. It was the accident and emergency main desk. ‘Excuse me. I must answer this call. The cafeteria is on this floor if you would like some lunch.’

Noah inclined his head. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you on my travels later?’

You’d better believe it. ‘We’re a small hospital. I imagine you might,’ Cate said dryly, and walked away to answer the page.

Noah watched her stride away, her straight back not apologising for her exceptional height and the gentle sway of her hips more provocative, he guessed with a grin, than she intended. She wasn’t a dainty, helpless female like Donna had been—totally the opposite, in fact—but she was arresting.

His lips twitched. She actually looked like she wanted to arrest him!

Noah turned back towards the cafeteria with the smile still tugging on his lips. This visit to Riverbank could be more interesting than he’d anticipated.

Cate’s head was high. Big city sleaze. He was a big man all over, most of it muscle. Broad-shouldered and deep-chested, and she wouldn’t like to meet him in a dark alley. Cate realised it could be a problem to keep her antipathy towards him under control. There was something about him that made her bristle, apart from his obvious threat to Riverbank. But it was a worry what the snoopy Noah Masters was really doing, and how much of a disadvantage to Riverbank it could be to leave him unsupervised. She looked at her watch and sped her footsteps. Hopefully he’d linger over his lunch and she’d be able to find someone to keep an eye on him.

As Cate entered the emergency department, the activity was centred on an elderly gentleman and her footsteps quickened in concern. Mr Beamish, the present CEO of the hospital, was lying on a trolley, obviously in a lot of pain. Judging by the splint still attached to his leg, the problem would affect the man she’d just left. Hell. When it rained it poured.

Casualty Sister Moore turned to Cate with her usual calm. ‘Well, that saves me answering the phone. Thanks for coming. Mr Beamish has just come in. He has severe hypothermia and a probable fractured femur.’

Cate nodded and smiled gently at the older man’s pale face as he almost blended in with the white pillowcase. ‘Hello, Mr Beamish. You’ve come to the right place for some tender loving care. We’ll get you fixed up as soon as we can.’ She didn’t mention Noah Masters—it was the last thing the poor man needed to know!

Stella Moore followed her out to the nurses’ station. ‘The ambulance officers just brought him in. He slipped over on his cattle-grid this morning and his wife didn’t realise he was in trouble for at least a couple of hours. Mr Beamish had to lie in the rain until she found him, and he’s pretty shocked.’

Cate’s face clouded for a moment before she said, ‘It must have been horrific. Hopefully he won’t get pneumonia.’ She picked up the phone and glanced out of the window. Water streamed off the pane as she waited for her call to be answered. ‘My dad says we’re in for a flood and I wouldn’t be surprised.’

Stella winced. ‘Don’t say that. We’ve just recarpeted our house.’ Cate nodded sympathetically. She thought of her parents’ farm and the cattle that would have to be moved if the river rose too far, then shelved that problem for after her shift. The telephone just kept ringing so she dialled the nurse manager’s number again and finally Cate’s immediate superior answered.

Cate left the notification of Mr Beamish’s accident with her, along with the news of Noah Masters’s appearance.

Miss Glover’s voice was hurried. ‘I’m in a meeting. Show Mr Masters around if you have time, Cate, please.’

Cate screwed her nose up at the phone and reluctantly agreed.

Her pager beeped and she glanced at the number on the screen. She looked at Stella. ‘Anything else you need for the moment, apart from Mr Beamish’s old medical records?’

‘No. But a lunch-break wouldn’t go amiss when you get a minute.’ Stella rubbed her hollow stomach and Cate grinned back at her.

‘No problem. I’ll get the old records, dash over to Maternity to answer this call and come back as soon as I finish there.’

By the time Cate had procured some out-of-stock drugs for Maternity and relieved emergency staff for their lunch, she was in dire need of sustenance herself.

When she entered the cafeteria Noah Masters was the only person left in the room. On the point of leaving, he hesitated, then walked towards her to refill his cup.

Some people took extended lunch-breaks. Cate chewed her lip. She wished he’d left, which was strange considering her previous decision that someone needed to keep an eye on him and she was supposed to show him around.

‘The coffee must be good if it’s kept you here this long.’ Cate snapped her mouth shut on the you-don’t-have-anything-better-to-do implication, but it was clear to both of them what she meant.

He raised his eyebrows at her comment and his smile, devastating as it was, was all on the surface. ‘The company was good. Your staff are very friendly.’ The inference was clear.

She supposed she deserved that but she didn’t trust him or his smile. She mentally shrugged. She’d never been good at dissembling so most people knew pretty quickly how she felt.

Obviously her staff hadn’t realised this man was a wolf casing the flock. She bristled. ‘The nurses who work here are wonderful and it always amazes me how they keep their spirits and standard of care up, considering such low funding and the workload expected of them.’ By number-crunchers like you, she almost said.

He accompanied her back to the table and on the surface he still didn’t seem particularly ruffled. ‘Hmm, maintaining a budget is always going to be difficult in a small establishment.’

As if here at Riverbank they didn’t try! Cate narrowed her eyes as she set her cup and plate carefully on the table. ‘But less important than actually continuing the service.’ She paused to let her words sink in. ‘Personally, I don’t give a hoot for your budget. My concern is maintaining the standard of care the people of this valley deserve—without having to leave the area to get it—and the sooner money is put in its proper perspective, the better.’

His face remained expressionless and she marked another point against him. The guy probably didn’t have emotions—just numbers running around inside his computer brain. And she knew he’d been a doctor before he’d taken up administration, which didn’t make any sense to her.

He waited until Cate was seated and then sat down. At least he had manners, she grudgingly acknowledged.

Noah set his cup down. ‘Unfortunately budgets are a fact of life.’

‘Or you’d be out of a job,’ she muttered. He turned his head to look at her fully and his eyes flared briefly at her comment. She became sidetracked by the realisation that his chocolate brown eyes could freeze to almost coal black when he was annoyed. The air temperature dropped about ten degrees. She blinked. ‘I’m sorry. You were saying?’

For a moment he looked to be inclined to follow up her previous comment but then, with only a brief cryogenic glare, decided against it and reverted to business mode. ‘I was saying that budgets are a fact of life and while it’s your job to maintain patient services, it’s my job to streamline the process cost effectively. The money should go where the needs are greatest. Perhaps we could agree to the necessity for the other person’s job.’

The deep timbre of his voice sent an unwelcome shiver across Cate’s shoulders. He could be persuasive and she could just see him at a boardroom table, smiling winningly at weaker individuals. She wasn’t fooled, though.

In fact, she wasn’t temperamentally suited to this conversation. She was more of an action person. Let the official party chat with him. There was no way she could carry on a rational conversation with this guy and not get indigestion. Cate pushed aside the second half of her sandwich and took a last sip of her coffee.

There were still the orders to show him around. ‘Is there any area in particular you’d like to see while I have a spare moment, Dr Masters?’

A tiny crease appeared above his right eyebrow at the title. ‘If you’ve finished…’ He glanced down at the meagre lunch left on her plate and then away. ‘I’d like to see the maternity ward.’

Grimly Cate rose and carried her crockery back to the dish trolley. ‘Do you have a special interest in Maternity, Dr Masters?’

Noah winced again at her calling him ‘Doctor’. He wished she wouldn’t do that. He was never going back to practising medicine. Then he considered the question. Despite the fact that it was the least offensive thing she’d said to him, he knew the question was loaded. He couldn’t believe this woman. He’d met people who’d disliked him before, not often, but none as aggressively against him as she was. And she did aggression well. He’d had to struggle with his temper twice already and he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. He’d been controlled like a machine since Donna had died.