by Joanna Neil
Only he didn’t let her go once she was upright. He held her, his arm sliding around her waist, and for a moment he simply stood, looking down at her, drawing her up against his taut masculine frame, so that every part of her began to tingle in heated awareness.
His grey gaze wandered over her face, as though he was drinking in her features, and slid down to follow the creamy line of her throat, lingering on the soft swell of her breasts. He bent his head towards her, as though he would rest his head against hers, but at the last moment he turned, his glance lingering on the full curve of her mouth. She was sure he was going to kiss her, and for a heady moment she wondered if she should allow herself the taste of forbidden fruit.
He was everything she should avoid. All her instincts told her that she should turn away from him, but he was pure temptation, tantalising her with everything about him that was ultra-masculine, thrilling and made her weak at the knees.
He remained completely still, his whole body poised, as though he was waiting for her to give the slightest hint that this was what she wanted, but as she hovered on the edge of acquiescence, the sound of voices in the distance floated on the air.
She took a step backwards. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘We’ve stayed here longer than I expected, and the others will be waiting for us. Alex said he would save us a table.’
‘Ah, yes…Alex,’ Connor murmured. ‘I’d almost forgotten about him.’ He held her for a moment longer, and then reluctantly released her. ‘That wouldn’t do at all, would it?’
CHAPTER NINE
‘THEY want us down in A and E,’ Katie said, replacing the phone on its base. ‘A baby is coming in by ambulance—her GP called to say that she’s concerned because she detected a heart murmur.’
‘Do we know whether there was a congenital defect at birth?’ Phoebe was checking lab forms, but now she looked up.
Katie nodded. ‘She was born prematurely, and initially she was diagnosed with a heart defect—patent ductus arteriosus.’ She frowned. ‘I’ve come across that before—it’s a blood vessel that allows blood to bypass the lungs while the baby is in the womb, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is. Usually it closes within the first hours of life after the baby takes its first breath and the lungs became active.’
‘Hmm. Well, that didn’t happen in this instance,’ Katie said. ‘Apparently she was given medication to help it along, but it seems that it wasn’t effective. The consultant believed that the defect would resolve itself as the baby grew, and the decision was made to discharge her from hospital after a few weeks. Of course they arranged to follow up on her progress at regular intervals.’
‘That’s the usual procedure,’ Phoebe commented as she put her lab forms to one side, ‘but obviously things have gone wrong with this baby.’
Katie frowned. ‘So, if the ductus arteriosus stays open, oxygen-rich blood is returned from the heart to the lungs instead of being circulated around the body, and this causes increased pressure in the lungs’ main artery.’
‘That’s right,’ Phoebe murmured. ‘And in turn this might bring about a build-up of fluid in the lungs, putting a strain on the heart.’ She glanced at Katie. ‘What symptoms does she have?’
‘Her heart rate is very fast. The parents reported that she looks unwell—she’s short of breath, breathing fast, and she’s very pale. There’s also some wheezing in the chest.’
‘That doesn’t sound too good, does it? It could be the beginnings of congestive heart failure, or there again it could be a respiratory infection causing the trouble—or both.’ She frowned. ‘Okay, I’ll ask the senior house officer to take over here.’ Phoebe mentally readied herself to go and tackle this new emergency. ‘How long before they get here?’
‘Around fifteen minutes.’
‘All right.’ Phoebe was already on her way to the door. ‘We’ll set up a twelve-lead ECG as soon as she arrives, and we’ll need to organise an echocardiograph to see what’s going on with the heart.’
Katie hurried along beside her to the lift. ‘Okay, I can see to all that.’
Once they were down in A and E, Phoebe hurried to Reception. ‘Has the baby arrived yet?’ she asked the clerk. ‘I’m looking for Rachel Morgan.’
The girl shook her head. ‘Not yet. She should be here any moment now.’
‘I’ll go and wait for her, then, at the ambulance bay,’ Phoebe murmured, glancing at Katie.
Katie nodded. ‘I’ll shoot off to Resus.’
Over in the ambulance bay, Phoebe discovered that Connor was waiting by the emergency entrance doors. He was talking to his friend John, the man who had gone along with them on the sponsored jog.
‘Hi, Phoebe,’ Connor said, throwing her a quick smile. ‘We don’t see you down here all that much, do we? Not as often as I’d like, anyway. Are you waiting for a patient or have you come especially to see me?’ He came to slide an arm around her waist, putting on a blatantly hopeful expression, and despite the tension that had been mounting in her since the call about the baby, Phoebe’s mouth softened.
‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ she murmured, her lips curving. ‘I’m here for a patient…a baby girl.’
He wrinkled his nose in mock disappointment, letting his hand fall from her waist. ‘Me, too…only mine’s a male adult.’
Phoebe missed that arm around her. It was as though she came to life when he held her, as though he poured new energy into her veins and revitalised her whole body, and now she was left with a sense of loss.
He gestured towards his friend and then said, ‘You remember John, from the other day, don’t you?’
Phoebe nodded towards the young man. ‘You were hoping to interview people from the hospital, weren’t you? Didn’t you say you were planning some sort of TV programme?’
‘That’s right.’ John nodded enthusiastically. ‘The hospital chiefs have agreed that I can do a kind of troubleshooting documentary. They’re proud of their record here, so they have nothing to worry about, but the idea behind the programme is that we outline the way the health service can be improved—by choosing to concentrate on one particular hospital, we can show how things work at the moment, and how they might be made to work better.’ He shot a quick glance at Connor. ‘It’s all his idea, of course, but my bosses were all for it.’
‘I can imagine that they were.’ She wasn’t so sure that all of the consultants would be happy to entertain the idea, but Connor was obviously determined to make his mark, one way or another. She didn’t know whether to admire him or succumb to exasperation for the way he persisted in setting the cat among the pigeons.
An ambulance siren sounded in the distance, and Phoebe immediately stiffened, getting ready to receive her young patient.
‘Are you okay?’ Connor asked, noting Phoebe’s sudden pallor. ‘Are you worried about the baby that’s coming in?’
She frowned. ‘It’s not that I’m worried…I mean, of course I am, in a way…but I have to psych myself up every time I treat these little people. I’m always on edge because they’re so tiny and vulnerable and just starting out on life and so much depends on what we do here. I can’t seem to get used to it. It never gets any easier. I must have used up more of my reserves of adrenaline since I’ve been in the neonatal unit than I have in any other department in the hospital.’
Connor smiled wryly. ‘That’s because it means so much to you…but it doesn’t do to live on your nerves. There comes a time when you reach breaking point, unless you do something to change things beforehand.’
‘You’re probably right.’ It occurred to her that John was listening in, and now she looked at him and said quickly, ‘I hope you’re not going to write this down or record it in any way. This is just peculiar to me, and it’s not something that I want to share with everyone and his neighbour.’
John lifted a hand in denial. ‘I don’t work that way,’ he said. ‘I’ll always ask your permission first. Anyway, I can understand how you feel. I’m like that with any kind of medi
cine—that’s why I stick to journalism and the media.’ He grinned.
‘The trouble is,’ Connor murmured, letting his glance drift over her, ‘you care too much. It colours your judgement and tends to make you apprehensive because you think that so much depends on you and how you act. In fact, without you and all the people on your team, the babies in your care would probably not have much of a chance at all. You’re the reason they survive and go on to thrive. Those that don’t make it are usually the ones that are born too many weeks premature, and their chances as a whole weren’t very great to begin with.’
She thought about that for a moment. A lot of what he said made sense to her. It was this feeling that everything depended on her actions that had always made her doubtful about working with these babies. It was an awesome responsibility.
The ambulance pulled into the bay, and now Connor was on the alert and looking to see if this was his patient who had arrived. It wasn’t, though, and Phoebe moved forward to assess the infant that the paramedics wheeled out of the vehicle.
She saw that there was a faint blue tinge to the baby’s lips, but she was already being given oxygen, and so she quickly checked the monitors. ‘We’ll take her straight to Resus,’ she said, guiding the paramedics to the paediatric bay. She gave a quick, backward glance at Connor, but he was already moving to meet his own patient. The bond was cut, and she was feeling the loss already.
The paramedics completed the handover and went back to their vehicle to take their next call. Phoebe began to examine the baby.
‘The doctor’s right about the heart murmur,’ she told Katie a short time later. ‘We’ll do an echocardiogram and we need to call for a consultation with Mr Kirk.’
‘Okay. I’ll set things up. Will it be all right if the parents come in here when they arrive? They should be along shortly, and I expect they’ll want to be with her.’
Phoebe was checking the ECG readout, and realised with a feeling of apprehension that the baby’s condition was worsening rapidly. ‘Yes, that will be fine.’ She frowned. ‘They need to know what’s going on…But you should warn them that when they see her she’ll be on a ventilator to support her lungs. I’m going to put the tube in her throat now, and connect her to the machine. Perhaps you could sit with them, give them a cup of tea and talk to them about what’s happened to her before you bring them in here?’
‘I will.’ Katie was sad, looking at the infant. ‘It’s not looking promising, is it? I expect Mr Kirk will want to operate.’
Phoebe nodded. ‘Judging by her collapse, I think you’re right.’
By the time the baby’s parents came into the room some time later, and stood, waiting anxiously just a few feet away, Phoebe had completed the procedure and the baby’s echocardiograph had been done.
She was conscious of them watching her every move, and she glanced towards them, saying, ‘Rachel was having trouble with her breathing because of fluid collecting in her lungs. I’m giving her medication to help relieve the congestion, and the machine is supporting her breathing. I think you’ll find she’ll be much more comfortable soon.’
The baby’s mother was watching the monitors, and she said, ‘Our family doctor said that there might be a problem with her heart. What will happen to her? We knew things weren’t quite right when she was born, but we thought she would grow out of it, and yet now it looks as though everything’s gone badly wrong.’
‘It’s possible that she has a chest infection that has put her body under stress and made things worse,’ Phoebe said. ‘The lab will test for that, but I’m giving her antibiotics to try to clear it up, just in case.’
She gave the parents a reassuring smile. ‘It’s worrying for you to see your baby like this, I know, but these complications do happen from time to time, and there is surgery she can have that will correct it if necessary. Mr Kirk, the consultant, is coming to take a look at her, and he’ll be able to advise you more about what can be done.’
‘Surgery? What kind of surgery?’ the baby’s father asked. ‘We were hoping that it wouldn’t be necessary.’
‘It’s quite possible that it won’t…but usually, when the ductus arteriosus doesn’t close on its own, and the baby becomes ill because of it, it’s better if things are corrected surgically. It doesn’t mean that she’ll need open-heart surgery, or anything like that. There is a procedure that is much less invasive, where the surgeon can close up the defect, by inserting a catheter into the blood vessel and putting a plug in place.’
Rachel’s mother was clearly anxious, but she was watching her baby closely and she said, ‘She looks quite peaceful, doesn’t she? Much better than she was earlier.’
‘Yes, she does. It looks as though the medicine’s beginning to take effect.’
The baby moved then, her arms lifting, trembling slightly with the exertion, before gliding back into place. ‘I think she was having a bit of a stretch,’ Phoebe said, smiling. ‘I know it’s hard, but try not to worry. Mr Kirk is very skilled, and he’ll know what’s best.’
‘Thank you.’
Phoebe left them to sit with the baby for a while. ‘I’ll go and take another look at the results of the echocardiograph,’ she told Katie. ‘Bleep me if there are any problems, will you?’
Katie nodded, and Phoebe went along to the doctors’ workstation, set up in a small bay where the computers were available for them to check results. She typed in the heading that would bring up the file she wanted, and while she was waiting for it to load, she swivelled around on her seat, peering out into the central area.
Connor was emerging from one of the resuscitation bays, and her heart gave a little flip in her chest at the sight of him, before it struck her that he seemed preoccupied, his features taut and his whole demeanour tense.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
He looked across the central space towards her, and his face relaxed. ‘Of course,’ he said, coming over to her. ‘I’m just concerned about my patient. He’s only forty years old, with a young family, and he’s had a major heart attack…the second in a year…and things are not working out well for him. I’ve performed all the interventions I’m able to at the moment, and now I’m waiting to see if I can get him on the list for emergency surgery.’
‘No wonder you look as though all the hounds are after you. It’s never easy, with a backlog of patients, trying to sort out who has the highest priority.’ She sent him a quick, concerned look. ‘You’re not doing battle with Mr Kirk over this, are you? I don’t believe he’s operating today.’
Connor shook his head. ‘No, but my patient is on his waiting list…has been for nearly a year. He won’t survive another heart attack—he may not even come through this one.’
‘I’m sorry.’ She reached out and touched his arm. ‘You tell me that I should be confident and not worry, but you go through the wringer just the same as I do, don’t you?’
‘It’s not quite the same.’ He gave a brief smile. ‘I know it’s not my fault if anything bad happens. I do everything I can to put things right, but sometimes the system seems to work against me, and that can be frustrating, to say the least.’
She studied him thoughtfully for a moment or two. Somehow, she couldn’t help but respect him for the energy and drive that made him what he was. ‘You’ll never sit back and simply accept the way things are, will you?’
‘Probably not,’ he said, looking into her eyes as though he would see into her soul. ‘And that goes for you and the way you try to steer clear of my radar as well,’ he murmured. ‘You know I have you in my sights, don’t you? I think you’re gorgeous and everything that’s perfect all rolled up into one. I don’t know why you keep backing away from me.’
She gave a rueful smile. ‘Maybe it has something to do with the way you constantly stir things up all around you. I need peace and quiet in my life…someone calm, to smooth my path and make me feel good about things.’
‘I could do that…I think,’ he murmured, spoiling the effect by loo
king doubtful. ‘Well, occasionally, at any rate. Like at the barbecue this evening. I guarantee to show you a good time. All the kebabs you can eat, crisp, sparkling wine, plenty of that, and pleasant surroundings…They say the Quayside Pub is the place to be of a summer’s evening.’
She laughed. ‘Well, considering that I organised the whole venture, I’d say that’s rich. And as to showing me a good time, I dare say you promise that to all the girls.’
His brows shot up. ‘Which girls?’
‘Lisa, for instance…from A and E? Don’t imagine we don’t all know about you helping her to move into her new place.’ It still bothered her that he had gone to Lisa’s new house and hadn’t come home at all that night. She tried not to think about it, but it slid through the cracks in her armour and pierced her flesh.
‘Ah,’ he said on a gloomy note, ‘I’d forgotten about the chitter-chatter that goes on around here.’ Then he brightened a little. ‘Anyway, there’s nothing to say that I can’t help you move house, is there?’ A gleam came into his eyes. ‘I was planning on getting a place of my own at some point. How about if you were to move in with me?’
Phoebe shook her head, a smile touching her mouth. ‘You’re impossible,’ she said. ‘How can I ever take you seriously? You flit from one bright light to another like a demented moth. Go and see to your patient. He needs you.’
‘And so will you, one of these days.’ He swooped to kiss her firmly on the mouth, and while Phoebe stared at him in tingling shock, he straightened and started to move away. ‘Mark my words, you’ll wonder why you ever resisted.’
He walked back towards the treatment bay and disappeared into the room. Phoebe watched him in stunned surprise, her mouth still bearing the imprint of that devilish kiss, while her body was fizzing out of control.
How did he manage to do this to her? She tried her best not to let him get to her, and then he crashed through all the barriers she had put up, demolishing them as though they were nothing more than a house of cards.