by Sarah Morgan
‘Interventional angio is the best way to stop the bleeding.’ Cool and unflustered, Christian checked a set of blood results and shook his head. ‘Give her FFP and cryoprecipitate. Let’s take a look at that X-ray, Maria.’
‘I have it here.’
He studied the screen. ‘Well, that’s fairly obvious, isn’t it? Penny? Take a look at this X-ray.’
Lara recorded the patient’s observations again and glanced towards the screen, hoping that Penny would spot whatever it was she was supposed to spot.
The girl needed a boost to her confidence.
‘She has an antero-posterior compression fracture.’ Penny leaned closer to the screen and touched it with her finger. ‘It’s causing separation of the pubic symphysis and widening of both sacroiliac joints.’
Lara breathed a sigh of relief and slipped her pen back into her pocket.
‘Well done.’ Christian nodded. ‘Also known as an “open-book” fracture. Significant opening of the sacroiliac joints is associated with tearing of the major blood vessels that overlie the joint. So what we’re looking at here is potential for serious vascular damage.’
‘And major blood loss.’ Lara grimaced as she looked at the blood-pressure reading. ‘Christian?’
‘I’ve seen it.’
Penny frowned. ‘But the X-ray doesn’t look that bad.’
Lara handed Christian a set of results. ‘With every pelvic fracture it’s important to think about the mechanism of injury because the damage on the X-ray may not actually reflect the degree to which the bones were separated during the actual injury. So you need to be alert for major soft-tissue damage.’
Christian scanned the results. ‘I want to take her straight to angio. Everything else can wait.’
Derek adjusted the oxygen. ‘You don’t want to examine her back?’
‘That can wait, too. I don’t want to risk dislodging the clot in her pelvis.’
Lara watched him, envying the ease and confidence with which he tackled every case that came his way. In two months, working alongside him in the ED, she’d never seen him remotely rattled and she loved working with him.
‘Penny, what do you know about interventional radiology?’
‘Very little,’ the junior doctor admitted frankly, and he gave a nod.
‘Perhaps you should go along and observe.’
‘Oh, yes, please.’ She nodded immediately and then fell silent as one of the nurses drew his attention to the monitor.
‘Her blood pressure is dropping into her boots.’
They worked swiftly, using the rapid infuser to push blood into the critically ill patient.
‘Her pressure is coming up a little.’ Christian looked at Lara. ‘Let’s do another FAST test, just in case things have changed.’
He performed the test, satisfied himself that interventional angiography offered the best chance for the patient and the team transferred her to the angio suite.
Left alone in Resus, Lara started clearing up and restocking, ready for the next patient.
She worked methodically, following the agreed protocol, and she had just started on the intubation tray when Christian came back into the room. She glanced at him expectantly. ‘How’s our patient doing?’
‘Well, she didn’t die in the corridor, if that’s what you’re asking me.’ His eyes were tired. ‘It’s too soon to say. Can I ask you a question?’
‘Of course.’ She picked up a laryngoscope and snapped it open, checking the bulb. ‘Ask away.’
‘Why didn’t you do medicine? You’re easily the brightest nurse I’ve ever worked with.’
‘You think nursing is a career for those too thick to become doctors?’ Lara’s eyes twinkled. ‘Be careful where you voice that opinion, Dr Blake. You might just find yourself with a compound orbital fracture.’
‘You’re threatening to black my eye?’He strolled into the room. ‘I never would have suspected that you have such a violent nature. For the record, that wasn’t what I was suggesting. Obviously nursing is a distinct career choice. The reason I wondered about you is because you’re so obviously interested in the diagnostic side of things.’
‘I’m not sure that I am.’ Lara wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. ‘I think I probably just have a naturally interfering nature. And a big mouth. If I think I know what’s going on, I have to speak up.’
‘Did you consider becoming a doctor?’
‘No, not really. I suppose I’m more interested in the person than the disease.’ She smiled. ‘And I’m not serious enough to be a doctor. I’d crack a joke at the wrong moment.’
‘You’re serious enough when you need to be.’
She found his gaze distinctly unsettling. ‘I don’t have the necessary cool to do the job you do. When you’re with a patient, you’re very emotionally detached.’
‘My job is to deal with the immediate physical trauma.’
‘And you do it brilliantly. You’re a clever man, Dr Blake.’ She put the laryngoscope back on the tray, trying to understand the sudden tension in the atmosphere. They were just colleagues—nothing more. ‘So you should be relieved that you didn’t try and see Father Christmas in his grotto yesterday, because the queues were enough to make a grown man sob. How are your girls?’
He hesitated, as if he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the topic of conversation. ‘Excited about Christmas. We have a new nanny installed in our house so hopefully a few of those boxes might get unpacked soon.’
His oblique reference to Aggie’s impulsive confession in the grotto made her wonder if he was concerned about his privacy.
‘Listen, Christian, I hope you don’t feel awkward about last week. A little girl’s chat with Father Christmas should always be kept private. Just in case you’re worrying, I never repeat anything I hear in the grotto.’
He watched her. ‘I’m not worrying. It’s hard to keep anything private with Aggie around, as you’ve probably gathered.’
‘She’s adorable. You’re so lucky.’ Faint colour touched her cheeks. ‘Sorry. I mean, it’s obviously a very difficult time for you and—’
‘I know I’m lucky, Lara,’ he said softly. ‘I love my girls.’
‘Yes, that’s obvious.’ She gave a wistful sigh and then smiled at him. ‘It must be hard, moving house just before Christmas.’
‘We moved three months ago, just before I started this job. But with the demands of a new job and the endless nightmare of nannies, I haven’t had time to finish unpacking the boxes.’ He gave a self-deprecating smile. ‘But clearly it has to be a priority now that emptying boxes is on Aggie’s Christmas list.’
‘And what’s on your Christmas list, Dr Blake?’
‘Top of my list is a decent nanny. The current one has turned up to work five days in succession so that’s a start. If she turns out to be Mary Poppins then I’m going to have a happy Christmas.’
‘That doesn’t seem like a very exciting Christmas present for you.’
He studied her face for a long moment. ‘I don’t need exciting. What I need is to not worry about my children when I’m working.’
‘Yes. I can see that must be a worry. In fact, the whole thing must be a worry. ‘Do you know what you need, Christian?’
‘What’s that?’
‘Fun.’ She tilted her head and looked at him with laughter in her eyes. ‘You look like a man who is taking life much too seriously at the moment. What you need is fun.’
CHAPTER FOUR
FUN?
Why was everyone suddenly so obsessed with him having fun?
First Chloe, now Lara. Only, coming from Lara, the word fun took on an entirely different meaning.
When Chloe had used the word, he’d immediately thought of rowdy games of catch in the park, sledging in the snow on Hampstead Heath, playing Monopoly in front of the fire, with Aggie cheating. When Lara had used it, entirely different images had filled his brain.
Dangerous images.
He remembered her legs in the fairy cos
tume, long and slim, her body slender but with curves in all the right places.
She was getting under his skin, Christian thought grimly, struggling against the hot burn of lust that threatened to devour him.
It wasn’t going to happen.
His girls had been through hell and they’d only just started to show signs of settling down. There was no way he was going to do anything that might threaten their new-found security. They needed life to be stable and predictable. They didn’t need their father involved with another woman.
Christian strode back to the comparative sanctuary of his office, wondering what was happening to him. He’d never had any trouble focusing on his work and since the divorce he’d had no trouble in not noticing women. But that had changed when he’d moved hospitals and met Lara King.
No man could fail to notice Lara.
She had a vibrant, energetic personality and her sense of humour infected the whole department. And as for the way she looked—well, her appearance matched her personality. Her hair flicked cheekily up at the edges, she wore an almost permanent smile on her face and her deep blue eyes always seemed to be twinkling with humour.
But despite her obvious attractions, he’d managed to think of her only as a talented colleague.
Until a week ago.
Meeting her in the Christmas grotto had changed everything.
His life was no longer neatly and securely divided into work and home. She’d bridged the two and in doing so had forced a hole through the defences he’d built around himself. And it was nothing to do with the fact that Aggie had so innocently broadcast the details of his personal life and everything to do with his awareness of Lara as a woman.
With a soft curse, Christian sprawled in the chair behind his desk, ignoring the fact that his computer was telling him that he had seventy-two new messages in his inbox.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
She was all energy and laughter but his attempts to dampen his libido by dismissing her as vacuous and lightweight were continually thwarted by the fact that she was, without doubt, the brightest nurse he’d ever worked with. She was always one step ahead of him and her experience in the ED smoothed every clinical situation.
She was vivacious, full of life and almost impossibly sexy and, if she’d come into his life at a different time…
But she hadn’t, he reminded himself grimly, gritting his teeth and hitting a key on his computer so that he could view his emails.
And it didn’t matter how bright she was or how attractive. It didn’t matter how strongly his body reacted to her.
He didn’t want any sort of relationship with a woman. It was far too soon.
The girls weren’t ready.
And he wasn’t ready, either.
* * *
The following day Lara was strapping a patient’s ankle in the treatment room when Jane put her head round the door.
‘Have you seen Christian?’
‘Not since lunchtime.’ Lara looked up. ‘Why?’
‘Because his daughter is in Reception, asking to see him.’
‘Which one?’
Jane stared at her. ‘How many does he have? How do you suddenly know so much about his children?’
‘He must have mentioned it,’ Lara said casually. ‘I’ll go and see to the daughter while you find Christian. I’ve finished here, anyway.’ She handed the patient an information sheet. ‘Keep the leg up when you’re sitting down. You can take some ibuprofen or paracetamol for the pain.’
She washed her hands thoroughly, wondering why one of Christian’s girls had suddenly arrived in the emergency department. ‘Is she on her own?’
‘As far as I could see. I wonder if he’s gone down to the chief exec’s office or something?’ Jane slid out of the room to continue her hunt for Christian and Lara hurried through to Reception.
Aggie sat there, looking forlorn. Her arm was bandaged and her face was covered in spots.
‘Oh, my goodness, what’s happened to you?!’ Lara swiftly entered the code that unlocked the door through to Reception and hurried over to the little girl. ‘Aggie. Do you remember me?’
‘You look like that fairy. But without the wings.’Aggie gave a faltering smile and Lara saw the remains of tears on her cheeks.
‘That’s me. The fairy. My name’s Lara. What’s happened? Are you ill? How long have you had spots?’ She peered a little closer at Aggie’s face and realised that, close up, the spots looked like nothing she’d ever seen before. ‘Er…Aggie, about these spots…’
‘I need to see Daddy.’ Her voice was a soft whisper and Lara nodded.
‘Of course you do. But tell me what happened. Why is your wrist bandaged?’ She looked at the loose, saggy bandage and knew immediately who had done the bandaging. ‘Did you fall?’
Aggie swung her legs. ‘Not exactly.’
‘And those spots…’ Lara reached out a finger and rubbed at the spots. ‘Aggie, why have you been painting spots on yourself?’
‘Because I need to look ill,’ Aggie blurted out. ‘Daddy said we weren’t to bother him at the hospital unless one of us was ill, but I really, really need to talk to him. It’s totally urgent and important.’
Lara stood up and held out her hand. ‘Come on. Come through and see our toys and I’ll find your daddy. Where’s Chloe?’
‘She’s playing with a friend. I was at home with Nanny Bottle. But she was very thirsty so she drank and drank and then her eyes went all funny and her voice sounded jumpy. And then she couldn’t make my tea.’
‘Nanny Bottle?’ Lara tapped in the code and opened the door. ‘Is she your new nanny?’
‘Yes. She’s worse than Nanny TV,’ Aggie confided gloomily. ‘At least Nanny TV was awake—when she wasn’t asleep.’
‘Your new nanny is asleep?’
‘I expect she was tired from all that drinking. She sort of drank and drank and then swayed like this and hiccoughed a lot.’ Aggie demonstrated. ‘And then her eyes went funny and her voice went jumpy. And she fell asleep.’
Drunk?
Lara glanced at her in horror as she led her through to Christian’s office. ‘Don’t worry about that now. You’ll be safe here. This is your dad’s office.’
‘I know. He brought me once so that I can imagine where he is if I miss him during the day.’ Aggie settled confidently into the chair just as the door opened again and Christian strode in.
‘Aggie?’
‘Daddy.’ There was a hitch in her voice and she shrank back slightly in the chair. ‘Promise you’re not angry.’
‘What are you doing at the hospital? And what’s happened to your arm?’ He looked at the bandages and his eyes narrowed as he studied the spots. ‘Aggie—’
‘I tried to make them look real but the colour is wrong and I didn’t know what to do,’Aggie burst out. ‘You told us not to bother you unless one of us was ill so I thought if I bandaged myself you wouldn’t be angry because you’d think I was hurt.’
Christian took a deep breath and dropped onto his haunches, his eyes level with his daughter’s. ‘I’m not angry with you, sweetheart. But I do want to know what you’re doing here. Where’s Mrs Birkin? She’s supposed to be looking after you.’
Aggie curled her legs under her, rubbing her little shoes on Christian’s chair. ‘She was thirsty. And now she’s lying on the floor.’
‘Thirsty?’ Christian stared at her for a moment and then his mouth hardened. ‘You mean she was drinking? What was she drinking?’
‘Something from a dark bottle. She must have liked it because she drank loads. Then she started talking funny and lay down on the floor. I couldn’t get her to talk and I was worried. I thought she’d had an accident.’
‘Drinking from a bottle?’ His eyes burning with anger, Christian rose to his feet and looked at Lara. ‘I need to go home.’
‘Of course you do. I’m due to finish in five minutes. Why don’t I come with you?’ She didn’t know what had prompted her to s
uggest it, and she braced herself for rejection.
He hesitated and then gave a swift nod. ‘That would be helpful. You can stay with the children while I sort out the nanny, if that’s all right with you.’
‘Of course.’
At that moment Chloe came flying through the door. ‘Dad! Aggie’s not at home and Mrs Birkin is—’ Her face cleared as she saw her sister nestled into the chair. ‘Oh. Thank goodness. I got home from my friend’s and there was no sign of them and Nanny Birkin was asleep.’ She looked at Aggie. ‘How did you get to the hospital?’
‘I called that taxi number that’s stuck to the board in the kitchen and told him it was urgent.’
Chloe blinked. ‘And where did you find money?’
Aggie shrank back in her chair, her eyes huge. ‘Your money-box?’
‘Quick thinking,’ Christian said smoothly, grabbing his coat and lifting Aggie into his arms. ‘We’re going home now. Lara is going to come with us.’
‘Will she wear her fairy costume? Can we play dressing-up?’
Lara noticed the grim set of Christian’s mouth and knew how upset he was. ‘Dressing-up is my favourite game,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Will you do my make-up?’
* * *
Christian leaned against the kitchen door with his eyes closed, willing his problems to magically disappear.
In the past two hours he’d sobered up the nanny, fired her and lodged a formal complaint with the agency. Now he just had to work out how to reorganise his life so that he could work and look after his daughters.
‘Christian?’
He opened his eyes to find Lara standing in front of him. She’d done such a good job of occupying the children, he’d forgotten that he wasn’t alone in the house. ‘Thank you for keeping them out of the way while I dealt with that.’ His eyes slid over her. She was wearing a tiara and there were two large scarlet streaks on her cheeks. ‘What happened to you?’
She grinned. ‘Aggie happened to me. We’re playing princesses. Which involves lots of makeup. If you think this is bad, you should see what she did to Chloe. I’ll say this for her, your elder daughter is very long-suffering.’
He eyed the red streaks on her face. ‘You look as though you need a maxillary facial surgeon.’