Dr. White's Baby Wish

by Sue MacKay

  Didn’t do so well, buddy. He huffed a sigh. ‘I’m sorry. I mean, thank you, Harper, I’d appreciate your help. But you have to promise me one thing.’

  She turned wary eyes on him. ‘Yes?’

  ‘That you won’t set me up. Pick purple or magenta just because you can get away with it.’

  Merriment flooded those beautiful eyes that he hadn’t been able to forget for days. ‘Tell me how you even know what magenta is. Or what purple might look like on your walls.’

  ‘I don’t.’ He stood absolutely still, his gaze locked on those eyes that sucked him in and made him feel like he was drowning. Silently he willed her to keep laughing. He loved the sound of her laughter, the sight of it in her face and on her mouth; in the honest way she stood in front of him. She was a sexy package, but add laughter and she became something else. Adorable. Lovable. Lovable? Gulp. Where were they? Colours. Right. ‘But it won’t take long for someone to tell me I’ve screwed up.’

  What was he doing here? Why was he inviting her into his home? He should be doing all in his power to walk away because she’d never want to take their friendship to the next level, even if he decided to take a risk. He should even be grateful that she wouldn’t. But right this moment he wanted to enjoy the glow, feel her warmth, be with her.

  Her smile widened with mischief. ‘I guess you’ll just have to wait for the verdict, then.’

  ‘You’re having fun at my expense.’ He tried growling the words but his voice only came out light and happy.

  ‘You bet.’ Then she tugged a pager from her pocket and her smile faded. ‘We’re on. A stat one’s coming through the door.’

  As they rushed to the department Harper continued giving him the brief details. ‘A multiple car pile-up on the Hutt Motorway. Five patients expected in the next ten minutes.’

  ‘All hands on deck.’ That would keep him busy and make the afternoon fly by. Fingers crossed there were no fatalities, before or during the patients’ time in the ED.

  ‘When’s a good time to come look at your room and those paint charts?’ Harper asked as they reached the staff room. ‘Tonight?’

  He shook his head. ‘Not tonight.’ Nor tomorrow, nor any time until he decided how far he was going with this—this need building up muscle by muscle inside him. ‘I’ll be out.’ He’d agreed she could help because he’d felt bad about walking out on her in the café, but he couldn’t have her in his home. That would be getting too cosy. ‘I’ll let you know when I’ve got a free night.’

  ‘Your social life’s that busy?’ Her grin was a little sick looking, making him go from feeling bad to worse.

  It just seemed he couldn’t get it right with this woman. ‘I’m always busy, not often socially.’ That was a cryptic answer, and at the screwing up of her face he decided to put her out of her misery a little. ‘I visit my mother often, and tonight I’m busy catching up with old mates from when I went to school here.’ One, anyway. He was having dinner with Trent and his wife.

  ‘Don’t think you can get out of me choosing a shade of purple that’ll knock your socks off.’ Harper tapped him on the forearm. ‘We have a date.’ She blinked and gasped as what she’d just said must’ve sunk in. ‘I mean, um, we’ll sort out your decorating some time.’

  ‘Let’s go sort out accident victims first.’ He held the door wide for her, and grinned at the tight back view she presented as she stalked down the corridor, obviously embarrassed with her choice of phrase.

  If she hadn’t touched a need within him he could’ve laughed. But she had, and he couldn’t. ‘Harper? What colour are your eyes?’

  He knew when heat touched a face that the shade colouring the cheeks was pink. In this case, bright pink.

  She told him in a low voice that sent shivers up his spine and tightened muscles that didn’t need tightening right at that moment. ‘Brown, with flecks of yellow and green.’ She gave him a rueful smile. ‘Just so you know.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  SO MUCH FOR keeping Cody at a safe distance. That question about her eyes was over the top, and warmed her right down to her toes. Her fingers tensed. And she’d gone and invited herself to his home—make that demanded an invitation—all because she’d been adamant about helping him decide on the colour for his bedroom. Bedroom. Not the bathroom, or kitchen, or dining room. The bedroom. Cody’s bedroom.

  Yeah, she got it. She’d made a monumental blunder and now had to work out how to backtrack without getting further into deep water. Though he had been reluctant to fix a day or time for her to visit, so that was in her favour if she was serious about changing her mind about helping.

  What did it matter to her if he messed up and painted it orange or teal? Or purple? Her mood softened. So the man was colour-blind. He had a fault. A tiny, almost insignificant one, unless he’d wanted to be the captain on one of those fishing trawlers he’d worked on, but it was there. She liked him even more. Damn it.

  This time a week ago she’d barely known Cody existed. Now all her spare time was taken up just thinking about him. He filled her skull with questions and nonsense and excitement. She’d even passed the donuts in the break room today without taking one, and she’d made a hair appointment for some highlights and to get the ends tidied. It was an appointment that was long overdue but which hadn’t bothered her until—Cody. He was bringing out a side of her she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

  ‘You and Cody take Lisa Lang, thirty-one, compound fractures to right leg, possible fractured pelvis. Trauma injury to head. Unconscious.’ George stood at the desk organising everyone. ‘Resus Two.’

  Phew. Not that she’d have time to relive Friday with the patient they were expecting, but so far today she and Cody had managed to avoid Resus One, thanks to George. ‘How far out?’

  ‘Next ambulance to arrive. Approximately five minutes.’ George called out the names of other nurses to work with them. Then, ‘Karin, you take the one after that. I’ll be working with you.’

  Harper blanked out the rest of George’s instructions and concentrated on her patient’s requirements. The first of which required a phone call to the on-duty orthopaedic surgeon.

  As she did that the bell buzzed, announcing the arrival of their patient, and she saw Cody stride out to the ambulance bay in his fast but seemingly unhurried way.

  Then Lisa Lang was wheeled into the room and that was the end of the brief quiet spell.

  ‘GCS and BP?’ Harper asked.

  ‘Two and sixty over forty-five.’

  ‘Way too low, even allowing for the fractures and head injury.’ Harper issued instructions. ‘Cody, IV lines and attach her to the heart monitor. Jess, ABCs. Cath, cut what’s left of her clothes away from her chest and that leg for an X-ray. I’m going to intubate.’

  Everyone worked fast and efficiently, but it took two attempts for Harper to get the endotracheal tube in place. Finally she was satisfied and straightened up. ‘BP?’

  ‘Still sixty over forty-five.’

  No change was better than getting worse, but only just. She needed the BP to go up. ‘IV?’

  ‘Lines in place, open and running,’ Cody told her.

  ‘Right, I need X-rays of the right leg, pelvis and the neck. And a CT scan of that head injury.’

  The orthopaedic surgeon walked in as the first image came up on the screen. He tapped the shattered fibula on the screen. ‘Now, there’s a mess. The tib’s looking a little better.’

  ‘BP’s seventy over fifty-five,’ someone called.

  ‘It’s coming up slowly.’ Harper answered the surgeon’s raised eyebrow and kept working with Lisa until she was taken to pre-op.

  But there was no time to catch their breath, as Cody wheeled another patient in from the same vehicular accident. ‘Janice Leigh, forty-one, soft head trauma, fractured ribs, possible punctured lung.’

  ‘GCS and BP?’ Harper asked. Here we go again.

  Time flew by and the end of shift seemed to rush at them. By then the last of the victims had
been brought in and four of them sent on to Theatre for surgery.

  ‘You’ve got a chock-full waiting room to deal with.’ Harper smiled tiredly at her replacement. ‘I’m going home for a long shower, followed by dinner.’ A lettuce leaf and tomato. Ah, to hell with it. If her hips were a little heavy, then today she didn’t care. Her stomach was crying with need for food, and her energy levels required some input. This was only Monday.

  ‘Some shift that turned out to be,’ Cody muttered as he joined her on the walk out of the hospital.

  How come he still looked so fresh? Fresh and fit and in very good shape.

  Dash. Back to lettuce and tomato. Her determination got a much-needed boost as she observed Cody roaring out of the car park on his motorbike.

  What a bod. What a man. What a dilemma.

  She could never ask him to give up his need for a family. It wasn’t fair. She had to learn to see him as a colleague and nothing more. Had to give up this unexpected need to get closer to him, to get to know him better.

  She had to learn not to open her mouth and volunteer dumb things like helping with his home decorating.

  Though it would be interesting to see where he lived, and what his taste in housing was. It’s none of your business, Harper!

  Maybe she should buy that board and paddle, head out to sea and never come back, because all she was doing right now was setting herself up for heartbreak. Concentrate on your work, Harper; that’s what’s real.

  The rest of the week flew by without any major incidents, which for Harper now meant someone holding a loaded gun to her head or the department being swarmed with armed police. The drama of an accident paled in significance, which didn’t mean she felt any less concern or worry for her patients. No, they still got to her, had her heart aching for them, as they battled a cardiac arrest, a bleed out or broken bones.

  But she felt able to take everything in her stride again—except for walking into Resus One, even when the room was empty; or a curtain being flicked open suddenly; or someone appearing behind her without having made any noise. Those things made her jittery, had her laughing loudly at inopportune moments or dropping a utensil unexpectedly. She’d noticed the same reactions in Jess and Matilda, and had talked to George about getting the young nurses counselling if they wanted it, while turning it down for herself.

  The only time she felt completely safe was when Cody was working beside her, his calm demeanour soothing the stress tensing her body.

  Now she turned from staring into Resus One to find Cody watching, and said, ‘You seem to be coping with the aftermath. How do you do it?’

  His smile was soft, contemplative. ‘Who says I’m coping?’

  ‘If you’re not then you’re putting on a good show.’

  ‘That’s a relief. I’d hate for everyone to see I’m really just a scaredy-cat.’

  As if that would ever happen. The man was fierce in his gaze, in his determination not to be taken down, in his quiet but thorough way of dealing with anything that cropped up. ‘Do you wake up during the night in a sweat with your heart pounding? Or leap out of your skin when someone comes into a cubicle far too quietly?’

  She hadn’t meant to reveal any of that, but around this man her mouth took on a life of its own. She hadn’t decided if that was because he was so hot, or so caring, or helpful and understanding. All those attributes and more added to his sexiness, making him one hell of a package that had any cognizant female drooling and acting totally out of character. She was no more immune than any of them. It might be an idea to remember that and accept her feelings for Cody were probably being repeated everywhere.

  He said, ‘All of that, and other things, like looking for short men with cold blue eyes in crowds.’ It was unbelievable how much understanding filtered through his voice.

  Her head tipped back and she stared up at him. It wasn’t only in his voice, but it was darkening his eyes and softening his expression. No, they had an affinity for each other. She knew it—couldn’t deny it any more. What she did about it was up for speculation. She told him, ‘I haven’t done that.’

  ‘Good. Because once you start looking, there seems to be more creeps out there than you’d ever imagined.’ Cody smiled softly, taking the sharpness away from his words. ‘But I think I’m getting over it a little. I’m not as edgy as I was on Monday.’ So why did his voice hold a hint of tension? Why was it husky and low, goose-bump lifting and spine-tingling raw?

  Nothing to do with gangsters.

  Harper coughed against her hand, trying to remove the sudden dry tickle at the back of her throat. Think about the verbal conversation, not the hidden one. Think practical stuff, not hot bodies and sublime release. ‘I’m hoping the weekend off will help, starting at three o’clock this afternoon.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘In two hours and six minutes, but I’m not counting.’

  ‘Something to be said for Friday nights and weekends,’ he agreed in that voice that was still doing strange things to her insides. Hell, and her outsides—her skin was tightening at the thought of his hands touching her. Huh? When was that likely to happen? Not at all, if she had any common sense left, and that was debatable at this moment.

  Thank goodness for the two whole days and some hours to do absolutely whatever she chose. Unfortunately she couldn’t think of anything exciting or distracting that didn’t involve Cody. ‘What have you got planned for the weekend?’ Shut up. Ridiculous, how disengaged her brain had become.

  Cody’s eyes widened slightly and he studied her as though looking for an answer to a question she had no idea about. Then he shrugged oh-so-nonchalantly and picked up a file. ‘Not sure.’

  ‘Not painting?’ She still hadn’t been to his place. Her impatience as she waited for the invitation she knew wouldn’t come was getting to her.

  ‘Probably not.’ He deliberately glanced down at the paperwork in his hand. ‘I’ll go and get our next patient.’

  Ouch. ‘Cubicle Four,’ she snapped, not happy at being put in her place. It seemed Cody wasn’t having any problems keeping her at a distance after all. She must’ve imagined those intense looks, or misinterpreted them.

  By the time he returned with a man holding a heavily bandaged hand against his chest, Harper had managed to pull on her professional face. ‘I’m Dr White. What have you been doing to yourself?’ she asked the patient as he settled onto the bed with help from Cody.

  ‘I was replacing a pane of glass in my glasshouse and it slipped through my fingers.’ The man winced as he held his hand towards Cody so he could unwrap metres of gauze. ‘Silly old coot. My wife always tells me to be careful.’

  A quick glance at the patient notes. Sixty-nine…nothing in his medical history to be concerned about. ‘I’m sure you were careful, Henry, but accidents do happen. You weren’t feeling lightheaded or dizzy when this occurred?’

  ‘Not at all.’ He was staring at his hand where all four fingers were sliced on the inside.

  As his face turned pale, Cody gently pushed him onto the pillows. ‘Lie back and let Dr White take care of you.’ Glancing across to her, he added, ‘I’ll get the suture kit.’

  The curtain flicked behind him as he strode out. His face had been inscrutable, not an expression she was used to seeing when it came to Cody. Looking at her watch, she sighed. One hour and fifty-eight minutes of cold shoulder to get through. His sudden mood change annoyed her. What was so damn wrong with asking about his weekend plans?

  ‘How bad is it?’ Henry asked as she gently prised his fingers open again and studied the wounds.

  ‘The cuts don’t appear to have gone too deep but I’m going to put stitches in each finger. You won’t be using this hand for a few days.’

  Henry didn’t look too unhappy. ‘Will you give me something for the pain, doc?’

  Her head shot up and she glared around the cubicle. Doc. He was here. The gunman had returned.

  A large, gentle hand settled between her shoulder blades. ‘Easy, Doctor White. Harper.’
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  Cody’s calm tone instantly returned her to normal and brought her back into the cubicle with a man dressed in his gardening clothes, requiring sutures, waiting patiently on the bed, unaware of the shock he’d given her. Her breath sighed over her bottom lip. ‘Thanks.’

  Cody’s mouth softened, and the corners lifted enough to show that everything was all right between them. His voice was low and husky as he told her, ‘I’ve got your back, Harper.’

  There really was no escaping the fact they were more than colleagues, not when he looked and spoke like that. Suddenly she let it all go, gave up trying to pretend she had to keep him at arm’s length. Her heart lifted, expanded and warmth trickled throughout her body. Her eyes also got in on the act, getting a bit wet, and she hurriedly had to wipe her forearm over them. ‘I know.’ She did too. Even while feeling that resurging fear she’d known Cody would be there for her.

  ‘Do I need antibiotics?’ her patient asked, bringing her back to reality.

  No, that wasn’t true. She was already there. Whatever was going on between her and Cody, it was real. She found a smile for Henry. ‘Yes, and a painkiller.’

  She got on with stitching the injured fingers: the only sewing she found interesting and actually ever finished, she acknowledged with wry amusement. That pile on her table at home was destined for the bin, or to go to someone who’d actually enjoy working with the fabrics.

  Cody returned to the cubicle after showing Henry out, flicking the curtain closed. ‘At the risk of being turned down again, I’m going to extend the same invitation as I did last Friday. Want to go for a drink with all the crew when we’re done here?’

  ‘I’d love to.’

  Surprise registered in those green eyes, lightening them to her favourite shade—spring grass. ‘Good,’ he muttered, his gaze firmly fixed on her.

  So firmly she felt as though he was boring into her, seeing behind all the nonsense she put out there to try and keep him at a distance. The longer and harder he watched her, the softer and warmer she felt. Her mouth formed one word. ‘Cody.’