Second Chance With Lord Branscombe

‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’ He glanced at Charlie, snoozing in the corner of the kitchen. ‘Thanks for taking him out for me every day. It’s good of you and I do appreciate what you do for me—I know how hard you work.’

She smiled at him and stood up to clear away the breakfast dishes. ‘I like to keep an eye on you. I was worried when you had that chest infection, but you look so much better now.’ She finished tidying up and then glanced at her watch. ‘I must go,’ she said. ‘I have a date first thing with those gorgeous little babies in the Neonatal Unit.’

‘Ah...that’s the bit you like best of all about your job, isn’t it? Looking after the tiny infants.’

‘It is.’ She gave him a quick kiss and a hug, patted a sleepy Charlie on the head and headed out of the door.

She drove to work, following the coast road for a while, uplifted as always by the sight of the wide, sweeping bay and the rugged landscape of cliffs and inlets. After a mile or two she turned inland, driving along a country road until gradually it gave way to suburbia and eventually the local town came into view. She parked the car at the hospital and made her way inside the building.

There was one baby in particular she was eager to see this morning. Alfie had been born prematurely at twenty-seven weeks and had been looked after in Intensive Care for the last couple of months. She’d followed his progress day by day. Now that he was a little stronger and in a better stage of development, Sophie had been able to withdraw his nasogastric feeding tube and she was keen to see how he and his mum were coping with him taking milk from a bottle. They’d had a few attempts at feeding him over the last couple of days, but so far it hadn’t been going too well.

‘Hi there, Mandy,’ Sophie greeted the young woman who was sitting by the baby’s cot, holding the infant in her arms. She looked down at the tiny baby, his little fingers clenched, his pink mouth pouting, seeking nourishment. ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’

Mandy smiled agreement, though at the moment the baby was squirming, crying intermittently and obviously hungry. The nurse on duty brought a bottle of milk and handed it to Mandy, who gently placed the teat in her baby’s mouth.

Alfie sucked greedily, gulped, swallowed and forgot to breathe, causing him to choke on the milk, and Mandy looked anxious. ‘He keeps doing that,’ she said worriedly.

‘It’s all right, Mandy,’ Sophie said softly. ‘It’s something they have to learn, to remember to breathe while they’re feeding. Sometimes they stop breathing for a few seconds because the heart rate is a little slow—as in Alfie’s case—but we’ve added a shot of caffeine to his milk to give him a little boost. There’s supplemental iron in there too, because being born prematurely means his iron stores are a bit low.’

‘Will he always have this low heart rate?’ The young mother was full of concern for her baby.

‘No, no. Things will get better as he matures. In the meantime, the caffeine will help. You can relax. He’s doing really well.’ Sophie lightly stroked the baby’s hand. ‘Look, he’s sucking better already.’

She left the unit a few minutes later, after checking up on a couple of other babies, and then went along to the Children’s Unit. An eleven-year-old girl had been admitted a couple of days ago, suffering from septicaemia, and she wanted to see how she was doing.

‘Sophie—I was hoping I might catch up with you at some point today.’ A familiar deep male voice greeted her and stopped her in her tracks. An odd tingling sensation ran through her.

She’d been lost in thought, but now she looked up to see Nate standing by the nurses’ station, tall and incredibly good-looking, dressed in dark trousers that moulded his long legs and a pristine shirt with the sleeves folded back to the elbows.

She stared at him, her blue eyes wide with shock, her heart beginning to thump heavily. ‘Nate—what are you doing here?’ She was startled to see him standing there, and more than a little alarmed to have her sanctuary invaded. This was one place where she’d always thought she was safe.

‘I’ve started a new job here as a locum consultant,’ he explained. ‘It’s a temporary post for the next few months until they appoint a new person for the job. They tell me I’ll be in the running for that too.’

She pulled in a steadying breath. ‘I’d no idea you were looking for work over here. I suppose you must be pleased that you found something so soon...and so close to home.’ Why did it have to be here, in her department? How on earth was she going to cope, having him around?

‘I am; I’m very pleased. The opportunity came up and I decided to go for it. This will give me time to decide what I want to do—and of course it means I’ll be on hand to visit my father in the Coronary Care Unit here, which is an advantage.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She looked at him in concern. ‘I hope he’s doing all right.’

He nodded. ‘They went ahead and put a stent in the artery to prevent another blockage there. He’s a lot better than he was.’

‘That’s good.’ Her mind was reeling. It was difficult enough, knowing that Nate was back in the village...but to have him here, working alongside her...that was something she’d not contemplated. How was her father going to react to that news? But she didn’t confide any of that to Nate. Instead she did her best to keep things on an even keel. ‘I hope you enjoy your time here—I think you’ll find it’s a very friendly, supportive place to work.’

‘I’m sure I will.’ His green eyes glinted as he looked at her. ‘Knowing that you’re here too makes it even better.’ His glance moved over her, flicking appreciatively over her curves, outlined by the close-fitting lavender-coloured top and dove-grey pencil-line skirt she was wearing. ‘I’m more than glad to know that I’ll be working alongside you.’

‘I—uh...’ She cleared her throat. ‘Yes...well... I think I should make a start on seeing my patients. I was just about to do a ward round.’

He inclined his head briefly. ‘I’ll come with you and try to get acquainted with everyone. I’ve already met some of the doctors and the nursing staff...like Tracey and Hannah over there...’ His mouth made a crooked shape and he gestured towards a couple of the nurses who had been watching him from a distance but who now felt dismayed at being discovered and quickly seemed to find a reason to be going about their work.

She acknowledged their reaction with a faint grimace. Nothing had changed, had it? No doubt the nurses and female doctors had been falling over themselves to get to know him. He seemed to have that effect on women. They simply couldn’t get enough of him. And he probably liked things that way.

‘Okay. I thought I’d start by looking in on Emma.’ She began to walk towards one of the wards, a four-bed bay close to the nursing station.

He seemed to be searching his memory. ‘That would be the child with sepsis?’

She looked at him in surprise. ‘You’ve looked through the notes already?’

He nodded. ‘I like to know who and what I’m going to be dealing with, if at all possible. There isn’t always time but I was in early today, so I was able to take a quick glance at the notes on computer. They only give the bare essentials, of course.’

She had to admire his thoroughness. ‘Well, she and her friend apparently gave each other body piercings—they wanted to wear belly bars but Emma’s mother wouldn’t allow it, so they did it in secret. Emma’s wound became infected and the little girl was too worried about what her parents would say to tell them what was happening. It was only when she started to feel ill that she finally admitted what she’d done. Her parents brought her to A&E but by then the infection was in her bloodstream.’

He winced. ‘You have her on strong antibiotics?’

‘We do. We had the results of tests back from the lab—it’s an aggressive infection, so we’ve put her on a specific treatment now. Of course she needs support to compensate for failing internal organs while her body’s under attack.’

That was the reason the little girl was on a ventilator to help with her breathing and was receiving vital fluids through an intravenous line. Her parents were sitting by her bedside, taking turns to hold her hand. They were pale and distraught, and Sophie did her best to reassure them.

‘Her temperature’s down,’ she said, glancing at the monitor, ‘and her blood oxygen levels are improving, so it looks as though the antibiotics are beginning to have an effect. It will take time, but there’s a definite improvement.’

‘Thank you.’ Emma’s mother was still sick with worry. ‘I just blame myself. I should have known.’

‘I doubt anyone would know if a child made up her mind to keep something to herself,’ Nate said, his voice sympathetic. ‘It’s all the rage to get these piercings, but I expect she’ll be wanting to give them a miss for the time being, at least.’ He smiled and the woman’s mouth curved a fraction.

‘Let’s hope you’re right about that.’

Sophie went on with the ward rounds, conscious all the time of Nate by her side. He talked to the young patients, getting a smile from those who were able and bringing comfort to those who needed it. He was a dream of a children’s doctor. It was a role that could have been made especially for him.

‘Shall we go and get some lunch in the hospital restaurant?’ he suggested a couple of hours later, when she had seen all her patients and finished writing up her notes.

‘Yes, I’d like that. I’m starving.’

He grinned. ‘I thought you might be. You always burned up energy like a racing engine. From what I’ve heard, the food’s pretty good here.’

‘It’s not bad at all,’ she agreed. ‘That’s mostly down to Jake’s intervention, I think. Soon after he was appointed as a manager, he brought in new caterers and the whole place was reorganised. It’s only been up and running for a few weeks. They do hot and cold food and there are sections where you can help yourself and get served quickly.’

He pushed open the door and slipped an arm around her waist as he guided her into the large open-plan area. She felt the warmth of his palm on the curve of her back through the thin material of her top and a sensation of heat spread out along her spine. Try as she might to ignore it, she couldn’t get away from the fact that she liked the feel of his hand on her body...so much so that she was almost disappointed when he let go of her and led the way to the service counters.

There were several of them, each offering a variety of food—salads, sandwiches, cold meats, and then there were the hot food counters, serving things like jacket potatoes, chilli con carne and tomato-and-basil quiche.

Nate studied the menu board. ‘Looks like today’s specials are lasagne or shepherd’s pie,’ he said.

She pulled herself together and tried to concentrate. ‘I think I’ll have the lasagne,’ she said, and added a rhubarb crumble to her tray. Nate opted for shepherd’s pie and runner beans but didn’t bother with a dessert. He added a pot of tea and two cups to his tray.

‘No pudding... Now I see how you keep that lean and hungry look,’ she commented.

‘Oh, I prefer savoury food above all else.’ His gaze travelled over her. ‘But the puddings don’t seem to have done you any harm at all. You’re as slim as ever—with curves in all the right places.’ He smiled as a swift tide of heat swept over her cheeks. ‘It must be all the exercise you get, working here and helping your father. Charlotte mentioned to me that you walk the dog and do your father’s grocery shopping and so on.’

‘I do what I can.’ They chose a table by the window and sat down to eat.