A Consultant's Special Care

And now here she was, several months later, wondering whether even now it was still not finished with.

‘Do you think you could go and dream about your love life in your own time?’ Jordan’s voice cut tersely across her thoughts. ‘We’re running an emergency department here, not a sweethearts’ convention.’

‘I wasn’t…I mean…I was just called to the phone, that’s all. I wasn’t letting it interfere with my work.’

‘Weren’t you? While you were lost in fantasyland, patients have been lining up to be seen. If you can’t keep your mind on the job, you shouldn’t be here at all.’

‘I’m allowed to take a break,’ she said, her green eyes flashing him a cool challenge. ‘Just because I choose to take it in a phone booth instead of the doctors’ lounge doesn’t make it any less valid, and I’m still around and ready if a major emergency comes in.’

‘If you say so,’ he threw back drily. ‘Looking at you, some might have doubted that.’ He thrust a chart into her hand. ‘The woman in cubicle two has a possible migraine. She, at least, has a reasonable excuse for having a muzzy head.’

Abby took the chart without another word and went to examine the woman. Insufferable man. What was his problem? Did he think it was his life’s work to provoke his colleagues, or was it just her that he had it in for? She had only met him the previous day and already she was having to bite her tongue for fear of landing herself out of a job.

Whatever had made her think being part of his team was a rung up the professional ladder? She might as well have tried cosying up to a snarling tiger.

CHAPTER THREE

JESSICA was still not feeling too well when Abby returned home that evening.

‘Did you go and see the doctor?’ Abby asked, going into the kitchen of the house next door. Jessica nodded. She still had very little colour and looked as though she was on the verge of collapse.

‘He said it was probably a virus of some sort, but he gave me something to settle my stomach and told me to rest.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘That’ll be the day—who can rest with a four-year-old running around? Actually, though, I don’t feel as sick as I did this morning. Just this awful tiredness.’

‘I can watch Chloe for you for an hour or two if you want to go and lie down,’ Abby offered. ‘You look as though you could do with a break.’ She filled a kettle with water and set about making her neighbour a hot drink. ‘If you’ve not eaten much today, perhaps you could try a little soup. I’ll make some for you, shall I?’

‘You’re an angel. Thanks, though I’m not really hungry.’ Jessica ran a hand wearily through her dark hair. ‘You and Mrs Matthews have been so good to me today. Corinne took Chloe to nursery school and brought her home for me. I feel really bad about putting on you both like this.’

‘Nonsense. I’m sure we both want to do what we can for you. It’s not easy when you’re feeling ill and you’ve a child to care for. As soon as you’ve eaten something, you should go and rest for a while. Doctor’s orders!’

‘Bless you,’ Jessica said, closing her eyes for a moment as though her eyelids were weighted down. ‘If you’re adamant about it, I think I will. Chloe certainly seems to have taken to you.’

‘She’ll be fine with me. Don’t you worry. I’ll bring her back later and help get her ready for bed, if you like.’

‘Thanks.’

Abby waited while Jessica managed some of the soup, and then settled her into bed.

Chloe was perfectly happy to come and make pink play dough in Abby’s kitchen, and she used biscuit cutters to make shapes out of it while Abby got on with tackling a few chores.

‘Dan’el writed a letter to my mummy,’ Chloe volunteered, holding up a squidgy heart shape for Abby to admire. ‘There was kisses on it.’

‘That must have been nice for her,’ Abby commented with a smile. There had been a letter from him among her own post when she had arrived home.

‘Mmm. I think she liked it,’ the child agreed. ‘But Mummy’s eyes was wet. She said she had a cold.’

Poor Jessica. Abby could imagine how wretched she must be feeling right now, both physically and mentally, with her family keeping their distance and the man she had come to rely on half the world away. And that was without trouble from her ex-husband to give her grief.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Abby had problems of her own to contend with at the hospital, and she was on edge a lot of the time, trying to steer a steady course through the minefield of working with Jordan.

If he thought she was the slightest bit hesitant, he would query her decisions and make her account for every test that she ordered. So far, she had managed to keep on top of things, but it hadn’t been easy.

Late one afternoon, she stopped by the desk to sign some forms for the laboratory and found herself stifling a yawn. She had been run off her feet for most of the day, and the thought of going home and soaking in a relaxing bath was uppermost in her mind.

Unhappily for her, Jordan chose that moment to sweep by, and pounced with deadly accuracy. ‘Are we keeping you up, Abby?’ he enquired in a low drawl.

She gazed up at him blankly for a moment.

His blue-grey eyes slanted down over her slender figure, noting the slight tilt of her shoulders and the negligent way she stood, one leg pressed up against the wooden front of the desk, the other foot eased out of her shoe while she rubbed her aching ankle against the calf of her other leg. She was suddenly aware of the narrow fit of her skirt, and the way her cotton top drifted upwards over her rib cage as she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

Too late, she tried to change the yawn into a cough, and his mouth twisted sardonically.

‘Nice try,’ he muttered drily, ‘but totally unconvincing. Maybe you should tell your boyfriend to go home earlier so that you can get some sleep.’

The unfairness of it made her open her mouth in protest, but he had already moved on, striding towards the light box where he stopped to view a set of X-rays and offered an opinion to the registrar who was frowning at them in worried indecision.

It wasn’t as though there was a scrap of truth in his accusation, Abby thought resentfully. She had stayed on last night after her shift should have ended to follow up on a patient that she had been admitting, and as a consequence she had only managed a couple of hours’ sleep before coming into work this morning.

Why was it that she always seemed to get the sharp end of his tongue, while the rest of her colleagues escaped with samples of his dry wit?

It was so unfair, but she wasn’t going to demean herself by explaining what had really happened, especially when he was deep in conversation with his registrar.

He crossed her path again when she was about to get in her car to drive home a couple of hours later.

‘Finished for the day?’ he enquired softly.

‘I have,’ she said, flicking a frosty glance in his direction. ‘Any objections?’

She regretted the words as soon as she had said them. Junior doctors simply didn’t talk to consultants like that—not if they wanted to get on. But it was out now, and he was giving her a brooding stare through thick, dark lashes, his eyes half-closed.

‘None at all. Enjoy your evening,’ he said.

It wasn’t what she had expected and it threw her off balance. She sent him a wary glance. ‘I will.’

She drove home and tried to shake the image of his sculpted features from her mind. He was there to vex and challenge her throughout her working day and she refused to let him disturb her off-duty time as well.

It wasn’t so easy to dismiss him from her thoughts, though, and she tried to forget about him by spending the evening with Jessica and Corinne Matthews in Jessica’s garden. They sat out on the patio and talked quietly, sipping at glasses of chilled wine until it began to get dark. Then they decided to turn in for the night and each went back to her own home.

Abby was tired, and when she finally lay down in bed, she fell asleep straight away.

She didn’t know what it was that woke her. One minute she was deep in slumber, the next she was sitting up in bed and staring around at the night shadows in confusion. The clock on her bedside table read a quarter to four, and she thought she caught a faint beam of light arcing through her bedroom curtains.

It was probably just moonlight, but for some reason her heart was pounding heavily. Then she heard a sound, like the click of a gate, and she suddenly felt fearful for Jessica and Chloe next door. Was Jessica’s ex-husband on the prowl?

She slid her feet into soft mules and pulled her fleecy wrap around herself, while she tried to decide what she should do. Jessica might need some help, and Abby was determined to protect her and Chloe from any untoward happenings.

She crept down the stairs, thankful that the dim glow from the lamp she had left on in the hall lit her way. Going out through the back door of the house, she headed for Jessica’s kitchen door. It was locked, but as she looked up, Abbey could see that the bathroom window was open.