Scandal In Sydney: Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lily's Scandal

‘Tom …’

‘Tom’s fine,’ he said, and he didn’t release her hand by a fraction. ‘Judy Nerolin, our senior vascular surgeon, has decreed his leg will be okay and no one argues with Judy. He’s out of Theatre. He’s still in Intensive Care but all the signs are that he’ll make it and even make it with his leg intact. Thanks to the team from the Harbour—and one amazing nurse. One nurse called Lily.’

‘Hey, I didn’t do anything,’ she said sleepily. ‘Except put my fist in a hole. Like the boy with his thumb in the dyke in Holland. Highly skilled stuff.’

‘You fainted,’ he said ruefully.

‘But not until Judy took over,’ she said with pride. ‘I told myself I couldn’t and I didn’t.’

‘You mean you knew you were going to faint.’

‘By the time they rolled us into Theatre I was feeling a bit light-headed,’ she admitted. ‘But then Dr Lockheart brought me up to this cool bedroom.’

It was indeed a cool bedroom. This suite was for the Harbour’s wealthiest, most influential patients. It was more a suite of rooms than a bedroom.

Dr Evie Lockheart’s family were principal benefactors of this hospital. They were Sydney’s answer to royalty and what royalty decreed, royalty received.

Royalty had obviously decreed Lily deserved this bedroom and Luke wasn’t arguing.

He should pull his hand away. He didn’t.

He’d been sitting here for the last ten minutes, watching her sleep. Her curls were sprawled over the pillows. She was stained and battered.

She’d fought and she’d won. For Tom.

He wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Had Tom taught him nothing?

He remembered the first time Tom had come to collect him from boarding school. It had been his first week there, aged all of ten, and to say it had been ghastly was an understatement.

‘You teach yourself you don’t need anyone,’ Tom had growled. ‘You grow up tough and you stay tough.’

That’s what his father had said when he refused to pay for the removal of the birthmark. ‘It’ll make you tough.’

He’d sent him away, though. Tom had been raised with the same philosophy, had learned the hard way how it worked, but he’d bent the rules.

He’d cared for Luke.

Luke now cared for Tom in a way he hadn’t realised. He’d thought the only person he’d ever fallen in love with was Hannah. It wasn’t true, though. Seeing Tom’s life hang so precariously, he knew he was exposed to pain all over again. And now this slip of a girl, who’d hung on for over an hour, knowing if she moved a sliver of an inch they’d lose …

It was her bravery that moved him, he told himself, not the woman herself, but he knew it was much more.

He thought of her suddenly on Glenfiddich, and the dread surfaced. He thought of Tom and the chainsaw.

When Luke had been fifteen Tom had been bitten by a snake. He’d recovered but Luke remembered thinking, If he dies I have no one.

‘Don’t watch me if you’re worried,’ Tom had snapped, and Luke had been trying not to watch ever since.

It wasn’t working.

‘I’m sorry I overreacted about Glenfiddich,’ he said. ‘Give me another six months to train him and you can ride him all you like.’

‘All by myself?’ she demanded, mock-awed. ‘Will you buy me a stepladder to climb up with?’

‘Lily …’

‘No, it’s a very generous offer,’ she whispered. ‘Sorry. I should have asked before I rode him.’

‘And I should have stayed home with you.’

‘Watching me in case I did anything dangerous?’ she asked, her eyes clouding. ‘Is that the problem? Is that why you can’t stay with Tom—because you can’t bear that he does dangerous things whether you’re watching or not?’

‘That’s deep,’ he said, and tried a smile. ‘Have you been talking to John Allen?’

‘I don’t need a psychologist to figure out something’s wrong. Luke, go away.’

But her hand didn’t disengage from his.

‘You want me to leave?’

‘I need to take a shower. I’m fine. Fainting was just a reaction. Even the strongest woman might have been tempted to faint, so a wuss like me …’

She was laughing again! After all she’d been through …

She was enchanting.

Love …

Whoa. Step away now, he told himself.

Don’t watch.

He could no sooner not watch than fly.

‘I could help you shower.’

‘In your dreams, Dr Williams.’ She grinned. ‘Since when do plastic surgeons shower patients?’

‘Three nights ago a very bossy nurse said I should do just that.’

Her lips twitched. ‘That was some cheek.’

‘I think you’re wonderful.’

The laughter in her eyes faded. She met his look square on. ‘Luke, don’t.’

‘Don’t?’

‘You want me to share your apartment for a month. That’s not going to work if you make me feel …’