‘Do you know what it is?’ Serena asked, her tired feet forgotten as curiosity got the better of her.
‘Have you got a rich boyfriend?’ Jo demanded as she attacked the tape on the second parcel with the handle of a teaspoon. ‘And if so, has he got an even richer brother? I never get spectacular presents like this.’
‘No boyfriend. No presents. This is a special delivery to the department, for the department.’ Ella folded back the flaps on the first box with a flourish to reveal all the Christmas glitter and glitz anyone could have wished for.
‘Wow! What’s all this?’ Serena demanded, as wide-eyed as any child. ‘Where did it all come from?’
Suddenly they all had their hands in the boxes, gingerly lifting out the carefully packed layers.
‘If you separate everything out into the different colours…perhaps we could stack them on chairs to keep them apart…’ Ella might as well have saved her breath. They were all far too busy oohing and aahing.
‘So they’ve arrived, then,’ said that dark brown velvet voice and Ella’s heart performed a triple somersault before she could catch her breath. After Seth’s hasty departure last night she hadn’t been certain how she would face him today.
‘Do you need any help putting them up?’ he offered, shrugging out of his suit jacket and draping it casually over the back of a chair before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. ‘I’ve got half an hour free if someone will be kind enough to dose me up on intravenous coffee.’
Ella was still standing there admiring the leanly muscled physique so lovingly delineated by the fine fabric of his shirt when Jo leapt to put the kettle on.
‘Has Ella told you what we’d planned to do with this lot?’ he continued, apparently oblivious to the speculative glance the other staff exchanged. Ella noticed and felt the guilty heat surging up into her cheeks.
Not that she had anything to feel guilty about, unless you counted the way her hormones behaved every time he came into a room, and that wasn’t something she had any control over.
‘You and Ella organised all this?’ Serena enquired sweetly, then demanded, ‘When? She only started work here yesterday.’
‘And yesterday was when Carol dumped that old cardboard box full of the ghosts of Christmas Past on me and told me to decorate the department,’ Ella explained swiftly, her brain finally consenting to work. ‘Unfortunately, the first person to come within range as I moaned and whinged about it was Mr Gifford.’
‘And?’ Jo was determined to have her pound of flesh.
‘I took one look and suggested that it looked as if the department was long overdue for some new decorations,’ Seth butted in, much to her relief. ‘Apparently it’s the job that’s foisted onto the newest members of staff each year and as that’s the two of us, we decided to get on with it. Of course, you can help us put them up if you like.’
Everyone seemed to speak at once for a moment, but the general consensus seemed to be that all of them were willing to join in with the decorating detail when there was a brand spanking new selection to play with.
The decorating frenzy went on for most of the afternoon, in between the more urgent job of running a busy hospital department. Everyone seemed to have given a hand at some point, even the patients, and word was spreading to the other neighbouring departments so that they’d had to contend with a growing stream of envious spectators from other wards.
By the time Ella reached the end of her shift she was exhausted but filled with a real sense of satisfaction. Where patients on enforced bed rest had been depressed at the prospect of missing out on the celebrations at home, now the atmosphere in Obs and Gyn was as electric as if it were Christmas Eve already.
There was a marked change in the staff, too. Almost as soon as the first swag was draped over a doorway there had been a new spring in their steps and an almost instant surge of festive camaraderie.
As far as Ella was concerned, it had certainly been the best thing that could have happened at the start of a new job. Not only had she had the chance to meet and work with everyone on duty throughout the whole department, but her introduction had been connected with something that had caused a great deal of pleasure.
At least they all know who I am now, she mused as she donned her scarf and gloves before venturing out into the chilly night. And, in amongst all that, I delivered a perfect set of twins without any need for surgical intervention. A very good day’s work if I do say so myself!
‘You’re looking pleased with yourself!’ said a voice in the darkness as she stepped out of the maternity unit door.
‘Ooh! You made me jump!’ She whirled to face Seth with a shriek. She pressed her hands over her pounding heart, not certain whether it was his unexpected appearance that had caused it to beat so heavily or the sight of his wind-tousled hair and the dark shadow of his emerging beard.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said with a grimace. ‘I’ve just come out of an interminable meeting and was on my way to my car. When I saw you coming out of the door I realised that I hadn’t had a chance to give you a pat on the back for that delivery this afternoon. I was impressed, especially knowing how low the statistics are on a perfectly normal delivery of twins. You managed it beautifully.’
‘Thank you,’ she said breathlessly, suddenly glowing all over in spite of the vicious little wind whipping round the corner. She hadn’t even realised that he’d known about the delivery, let alone that he’d watched it.
Still, she had been rather busy at the time, especially as the second child had been an abnormal presentation that had needed some nifty manoeuvring on her part to facilitate the delivery.
‘That was the sort of situation where your neat little hands are much better for the job than mine,’ he said generously.
‘You mean, all those jokes about gynaecologists being able to decorate their hallway through the front letterbox aren’t true?’ she teased.
Seth groaned and rolled his eyes. ‘You’re making me wish I hadn’t bothered to stop. If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard that joke, or one depressingly like it…’
He glanced at his watch and suddenly straightened up as though surprised by what he saw. ‘I don’t understand where the time goes,’ he muttered with a shake of his head. ‘I’m going to be late again.’
His farewells were almost absent-minded as he hurried off towards his car and Ella was left with an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu.
‘Is he the male version of Cinderella? Will his car turn into a pumpkin if he doesn’t lock it in his garage by a certain time?’ she muttered as she shivered at the bus stop.
At this time of night she’d deemed it far safer to wait where there was plenty of lighting and within running distance of plenty of help. Walking home through unfamiliar streets was strictly for daylight hours.
‘Or perhaps he’s a vampire?’ she continued under her breath, allowing free rein to her flights of fantasy. ‘No. That’s wrong. Vampires are supposed to come out at night and sleep by day. Oh, whatever! I just wish I knew where it is that he dashes off to each evening.’
She suddenly noticed that she was getting some very nervous glances from the other people waiting with her at the bus stop and ducked her head to hide behind her upturned collar.
Thinking that habits like talking to herself could get her an extended stay in a room with padded walls if she wasn’t careful made her want to giggle, but that probably wasn’t a good idea either.
The wretched man was obviously going to send her round the bend at this rate, but it had been nice of him to take the trouble to praise her. Not many consultants would have bothered to go out of their way like that—well, they never had before—and it had left her feeling very good about herself and her job.
Now, if only she could get her hormones under control, everything would be perfect. Actually, perfect would be Seth Gifford asking her out for the evening without dashing off somewhere mysterious in the middle of it, but now she was entering the realms of fantasy.
‘That dress is perfect,’ Carol enthused when she caught sight of Ella at the staff Christmas Ball.
It was one of the hospital’s main fundraising functions for the year, and this year the major part of the proceeds were promised to the obs and gyn department for some very high-tech foetal-monitoring gadgetry.
That was probably one of the reasons why so many of the department’s staff were attending; that and the fact that Seth had been cornered into promising to dance with all the female members if they paid an appropriate fine into the coffers.
It had started as a joke in the staff lounge, when Donald Crossman had commented wryly that he was glad he and his wife had managed to find a babysitter for the night of the ball.
‘Otherwise she’d have made me come by myself to support the cause,’ he’d continued. ‘And then I’d probably have to spend the entire evening talking to myself—unless I was prepared to make a donation for each woman who was brave enough to dance with me.’
‘What a good idea! It sounds as if it would be a very good way of raking in extra donations to boost the funds,’ Seth had commented, much to Ella’s surprise. He usually spent his time in the staff lounge going over paperwork or catching up on journals rather than joining in with the banter that went on around him. Even now he’d merely lifted his head up long enough to speak and was already turning back to the open file on top of a precarious pile of work he’d brought in with him.
‘Wouldn’t work in your case, Seth,’ Carol pointed out with a suspicious twinkle in her eye, and Ella just knew that she was going to come out with something outrageous. ‘We’d have to pay you just to get a place on your list!’
That brought his head up with a jerk.
‘Oh, but I wasn’t intending…’ His voice faded when he saw all the expectant faces looking at him and Ella was sure that she saw him swallow before he continued. ‘I suppose I ought to show my face at some stage of the evening.’
‘Too right!’ agreed a bouncy young Australian nurse who had recently joined the department. ‘Wouldn’t be fair for one of the best-looking single guys not to turn up to take care of all us women wanting to give our money away. I’d put a chunk into the kitty to have a dance.’
In the chorus of agreement and teasing laughter that followed, Ella felt as if she was the only one who had seen Seth wince or noticed the way the colour deepened over the lean planes of his face.
‘I very rarely go to functions like this,’ he protested weakly, probably already realising that they weren’t going to let him win. ‘And even when I do, I just do the round of “duty” dances. You know what I mean. Professors’ wives and so on. And as I won’t be able to be there before nine at the earliest, that wouldn’t leave any time for—’
‘Poppycock,’ Trish retorted brashly as she reached for her purse. ‘I’m ready to put my money where my mouth is. How much does everyone think will be a fair amount to contribute to the kitty?’
Seth’s eyes were flicking around the room as though he were a cornered animal, and when they met Ella’s for just a couple of fraught seconds she almost felt as though he was begging her for help.
What a ridiculous thought. As if someone as good-looking as Seth Gifford would need help in dealing with nubile young women eager to dance with him. As if he would ask her for help.
Still the feeling persisted and on an impulse she reached out for the telephone and, under the cover of noisily debating voices, asked for Mr Gifford to be paged, urgently.
She put the phone down and silently started counting. It took seventeen seconds for his pager to shrill its imperative summons and she had to hide her grin when she saw the relief in his eyes as he leapt to his feet and headed across the room to the phone.
She was watching him out of the corner of her eye when he realised what had just happened. The voice on the other end of the phone must have told him that he was ringing from the number that had just paged him because his eyes turned to meet hers as though he knew she was waiting for the connection.
There was a swift flare of surprise in his eyes when he realised what she had done for him and then he put the phone down.
‘Sorry. I’ve got to go,’ he said to the room at large without giving any details then glanced back at her. ‘Ella, you might be interested in this,’ he added vaguely as he turned for the door.
Startled, she leapt to her feet and set off after him, having to scamper to catch up with him.
‘Seth?’ she called softly, wondering, when he didn’t immediately stop to speak to her, whether she’d been wrong about the page. Had it been a genuine call he’d taken instead of hers?
Suddenly he whirled to face her and she nearly cannoned into him.
His eyes were very dark when she looked up into them, their usual silvery grey darkened almost to charcoal and all the more intense for it.
‘I don’t know why you did it—or even how you knew I needed it—but I just wanted to say thank you for rescuing me,’ he said quietly. His voice sounded unusually husky and sent a shiver the whole length of her spine.
Suddenly she was aware of the fact that the two of them were standing in the corridor with their heads together as if they were sharing some kind of illicit rendezvous and the frivolous thought almost made her miss his next words.
‘If I can return the favour some time, you only have to ask, Ella.’
She didn’t know where the impulse came from…perhaps it was the sincerity in his voice or the fact that she was still fighting her attraction for the man.
Whatever it was, she heard herself saying, ‘You could promise me a free dance.’
CHAPTER FOUR
THE ball was being held in one of the larger hotels in the town and the room was already filled with people intent on enjoying themselves.
Sophia would probably have willingly invited her to join the group of staff from the cardiac unit where she worked but Ella had been determined that she was going to mix and mingle with the best of them. This was one of the major social events of the hospital’s year and her best chance for meeting members of staff from different departments.
Unfortunately, just the thought of dancing with Seth had been enough to jeopardise all the progress she’d made over the last ten days and she was back to waiting like a giddy teenager for the man to arrive.
She’d actually been able to work side by side with him without a single blush or stammer as long as she didn’t think about the promised dance. She’d never admit to a soul that the prospect of being held in his arms had sent her out in search of the perfect dress.
‘I love that green,’ Jo chimed in, her own sapphire velvet making her long blonde hair look stunning. ‘Your eyes look almost the colour of emeralds, and as for that material…it’s fabulous.’
Ella had certainly been pleased when she’d seen what the slightly twenties style had done for her. Luckily, at five feet seven inches she was tall enough and slim enough for it to work.
Now all she had to do was wait for her turn to dance with a certain tall, dark handsome man who was entirely too mysterious for her peace of mind.
‘Is everyone here?’ she asked diffidently, hoping no one could see through her to know what she really wanted to know.
‘Apparently, the professor can’t make it because one of the twins has come down with chickenpox.’
‘Oh, Lord. Can you imagine it?’ Trish exclaimed in horror, her dress proudly displaying swirls of the green and gold of her national flag. ‘If one of them’s got it, it’ll spread round all six of them. Nightmare!’
‘Is Donald Crossman here yet?’ Ella prompted, trying to get the conversation back on her chosen track.
‘He certainly is!’ Carol exclaimed eagerly. ‘He and his wife arrived about ten minutes ago and stopped to say hello. Girls, if you want to see conclusive evidence of exactly how flattering evening dress is, keep an eye out for him. He actually looks quite a bit like Sean Connery playing James Bond.’
‘There’s no sign of Sexy Seth yet,
’ Trish announced glumly. ‘I’ve been keeping a special eye out for him to see if I can nab him before he starts wheeling the old chooks around the floor.’
‘He did say that he was going to have to arrive late,’ Jo reminded her, still chuckling at their Australian colleague’s explanation that ‘chooks’ was Oz for ‘chickens’. ‘And the ball does go on until midnight, so there’s still plenty of time.’
And just you remember it, Ella repeated to herself as she accepted an invitation from one of the paediatric registrars to take to the floor.
Although he was a depressing four years her junior, Martin was a good dancer and an entertaining character with whom she found she had a great deal in common. It wasn’t his fault that she felt as if she was just marking time with him until Seth finally arrived to claim her for her promised dance.
Throughout a hectic hour she was on the floor more often than she was off it and had lost count of how many men she’d danced with, but all the while her eyes were straying towards the arched entrance through which Seth would appear.
He still wasn’t there when everyone snaked their way past tables groaning with festive fare, and the band was already warming up for the second half of the entertainment when she saw him making his way across the floor.
He looked gorgeous, a fact that Trish had no qualms about announcing to all and sundry, much to the group’s hilarity.
If evening dress looked good on middle-aged Donald Crossman, Ella now knew it was positively stunning on Seth. The stark contrast of the black of his suit and hand-tied bow tie against the pure white of his shirt was good enough, but set against the freshly shaved symmetry of an uncompromisingly masculine face it was unforgettable.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t making his way towards her, and she had to watch him bow elegantly beside a table of the higher echelon of hospital management.
From a distance Ella thought he was inviting the slightly matronly wife of the chief of surgery to dance and smiled when she saw the woman’s startled delight.
Mistletoe Mother (Medical Romance) Page 5