The Doctor's Surprise Bride

‘You know better, Carla.’ Jack Dancer was cross, there was no doubt about that, Eliza thought, and her heart pumped as if she were a ten-year-old again caught crossing a forbidden field.

‘You’re such a sourpuss, Dr Jack,’ Carla said as she drifted languidly to the shallow water.

‘It would serve you right if you got bitten by a bullrout. Smithy was stung here yesterday and you wouldn’t be so relaxed if you’d seen his face as I filled him up with morphine. But you shouldn’t have put Eliza at risk—she’d from the city and probably doesn’t know what a bullrout is.’

‘I know what a bullrout is,’ Eliza said quietly. The camouflaged fresh-water fish could look like a rock and wore three venom pouches on its spines. Its sting was excruciating. She glanced warily at the reeds as she followed Carla out of the water. The spot was lovely but not worth those kinds of stings. Eliza wrapped her arms around her blatant nipples. Well, the water had been cold, for crikey’s sake. Now she had to get out of here, wet, bathers glued to her too-generous curves, and all under the gaze of that man. The day just kept getting better and better. Eliza compressed her lips.

Finally both women stood at the edge of the innocent-looking water wrapped in towels. They both glared across at the man on the opposite bank.

Carla tossed her hair and turned her back on Jack. ‘You can go home happy, now, you grump. You’ve spoiled our swim so you can relax.’

Jack didn’t say anything or seem perturbed by Carla’s rudeness, and Eliza stood indecisively. She resisted her own impulse to emulate Carla but had the maturity to realise it was a response to being caught in the wrong. Even worse, she hated being caught in her bathers. It was too late to worry now. She half waved to a still waiting Jack and followed Carla up the bank.

When they got to the top, Eliza was almost as hot as when she’d started and not all of it from the sun. She should have gone with her instincts and avoided the local knowledge.

‘Sorry about that.’ Carla held up her hands in an I-didn’t-mean-for-that-to-happen gesture. ‘No one’s been stung there for two years. I didn’t know about Smithy. It’s such a top spot if Dr Jack doesn’t catch you.’

‘So Jack polices the waterholes as well as does the doctoring?’ Eliza could see the amusing part of being caught by Jack—just.

‘He owns the land on both sides of the river,’ Carla said as she headed back to the pub. She glanced over her shoulder to Eliza. ‘But nobody owns the river.’

The next day every person Eliza met in the hospital mentioned her being caught by Jack down at the rout waterhole. She knew there was a reason she’d avoided returning to the country.

Apparently Carla’s friend Rob from the pub thought it a hilarious story and had mentioned it to everyone who’d come into the hotel. They’d passed it on to anyone they’d seen in the next twelve hours and by the time Eliza came to work the story had been embellished to include her and Carla topless with a few men from the pub watching.

‘Spare me.’ Eliza closed her eyes and shook her head. Janice tried to stifle her giggle so as not to wake her baby but she was having a hard time of it.

‘The topless bit was from old Pat, and nobody really believes him, but it seems you’ve made a name for yourself as a good sport already.’

‘Well, I hope nobody believes “Old Pat”. If I meet that delightful old gentleman for a tetanus shot, he’s in for a larger-than-normal-gauge needle.’

Janice dissolved into giggles again and Eliza had to smile at her, but the smile disappeared when Jack Dancer walked into the room.

The memory of him watching her as she’d left the water yesterday warmed her cheeks and she fought the sudden urge to fold her arms again. She was too darned aware of this guy and survival meant he wasn’t to know.

‘All well in here, ladies?’ Jack’s face was expressionless but Eliza suspected a twinkle behind those pseudo black eyes of his. The swine.

‘Eliza was just saying how hot it was yesterday,’ Janice said cheekily, but Jack wasn’t playing.

‘Yes, it was. How’s Newman this morning, Janice?’

Eliza tried to let her relieved breath out unobtrusively as Jack concentrated on his patient.

Janice went on. ‘Fine. We’re both fine. My mum arrives from Melbourne today so he’s going to meet his nana when she comes in to visit.’

‘Say hello to your mum for me if I don’t see her.’ He stepped back from the cot. ‘I’ve a lot on this morning so I’ll leave you in Matron’s capable hands.’

Eliza followed him out of the room. She hoped he didn’t think she’d been discussing yesterday. ‘I didn’t tell her. Apparently it’s all over town that you chased us out of the river.’

Jack glanced up from the notes he carried. ‘Bellbrook is a small town. People find out and embellish all the time.’ He looked at her fully and she saw the wicked twinkle in his eyes. ‘I particularly enjoyed the naked version, with me throwing you a towel.’

Eliza rested her hand over her mouth as she felt the heat rise again in her face. Then she surprised herself with a tiny gurgle of laughter as the funny side of the situation tickled her again.

Just when he thought he had her on the back foot she surprised him again. Jack had spent most of the night trying to rid himself of delightful memories of Eliza, tiny but perfectly packaged, as she’d stepped from the water.

Intriguingly, her breasts had been stunningly full and globular beneath the wet one-piece costume as she’d bent to pick up the towel. Even now that day-old snapshot in his mind made his mouth dry.

Her breasts hadn’t jumped out at him yesterday morning, he mused, and then his own sense of humour caught up with him. Impossible fantasy. He pulled himself back under control and tried to quieten the sudden increase in his heart rate. Now she was giving him palpitations. What on earth was the matter with him?

‘Most people from the city would have a problem with being the object of small-town gossip,’ Jack said without looking at her.

‘I’m not “most people”,’ she replied calmly, and began to talk about Keith, but he didn’t believe her. Her cheeks were just a little too rosy.

By the end of the round Jack was again impressed with Eliza’s ability to manage situations. She’d steered him back onto the job, calmed Keith despite the older man being bitterly disappointed he’d be laid up for probably another week, managed the most painless removal of Joe’s dressing they’d had yet, and was obviously a favourite with the seniors on the wing.

‘You’re doing a great job, Matron. It feels like you’ve been here for much longer than a day and a half.’

‘It feels like that to me, too,’ Eliza said dryly.

Jack wondered at her parting comment as he walked around the side of the hospital to his surgery. The woman intrigued him far too much and he didn’t think she was immune to him either.

CHAPTER THREE

THE next day Jack had meetings in Armidale after the morning round and wouldn’t be back until late. The day was uneventful for Eliza and she felt unsettled after the shift had finished. So much so that she decided to go for a drive.

Eliza glanced down at the directions Mary had pressed on her and judged she was nearly there. The powerful vehicle purred along the dirt road and hugged the uneven surface with ease.

The Mustang was almost forty years old and a classic. With the top down she could blow all her worries into tomorrow. She loved this car. It had been her father’s pride and joy and she’d taken it to Sydney with her when she’d moved there.

She refused to think about Jack Dancer because she’d spent the last hour beating herself up over wondering if he’d make it for the last round after all. He had.

She wasn’t sure if visiting Mary was the most sensible thing to do if she wanted to stay immune to involvement in this town. Though Mary seemed to be one of the few people who wasn’t related to Dr Jack. And Eliza had promised an update of her first few days.

The Mustang pulled up outside the McGuiness property and Mary was at the door before Eliza could walk halfway to the front steps.

Mary’s smile was almost as big as her pregnant tummy. ‘How are you? Is everything going smoothly? How are you coping with Jack?’

Eliza stood there, felt her face freeze and wished she hadn’t come. And the worst thing was, Mary picked it up immediately. Her grin faltered. ‘I’m sorry, Eliza. Come in and I promise I won’t ask about anything else. I was just so excited about getting a visitor.’

Eliza had to smile. ‘So you’ve had thirty-six hours of maternity leave and already you’re feeling socially isolated?’

‘Pathetic isn’t it?’ Mary led them into a sunny room that faced west. There was a long purple mountain range in the distance and Mary’s house perched on a rise overlooking a huge dam. Most of the sprawling garden comprised hardy native plants and birds darted in and out of the low foliage.

‘It’s beautiful here.’

‘Yes, it is. But now that I’m having a baby I wish we were closer to town.’ Mary showed her to a rose-patterned lounge suite and they both sat down.

Eliza sank into the cushions and sighed as she felt the tension from Jack’s latest hospital round ease away into the soft upholstery.