by Sarah Morgan
‘Have you got enough room?’ Hannah asked.
‘Um … yes …’ Georgie answered, trying to ignore the rock-hard thigh brushing against hers. She sucked in a breath to keep her upper body away from his but it was almost impossible as Hannah seemed to be leaning against her, she could only assume deliberately.
‘Is Thai food all right with you?’ Ben asked into the little silence.
‘Of course,’ Georgie answered. ‘I love Thai food.’
‘There’s a fabulous Thai restaurant in The Rocks,’ he said. ‘It’s right next to Cadman’s cottage.’
‘I know the one,’ Georgie said. ‘It’s won numerous awards.’
A short time later they were seated in the busy restaurant, with drinks in front of them, while Hannah monopolised the conversation.
‘So when are you going to bring Georgie home to meet Mum and Dad?’ she asked her brother. Before waiting for an answer, she tacked on, ‘How about next weekend?’
‘I really don’t think—’ Ben and Georgie spoke in unison.
‘Why not?’ Hannah asked. ‘Georgie would love it, wouldn’t you, Georgie?’
‘Um … I …’
‘I bet you’d love to have a ride on one of our horses,’ Hannah said. ‘And Ben could show you around some of the vineyards in the area.’
‘It sounds lovely but—’
‘It’s not like it’s a date or anything,’ Hannah said. ‘Anyway, it’s me inviting you, not Ben, so how about it?’
‘It’s a lovely offer, Hannah,’ Georgie said, ‘but I think I’m on call next weekend.’
‘What about the one after that?’ Hannah asked hopefully.
‘I’m sure Georgie has a hectic social life in the city. No doubt a weekend in the country would be far too boring for her,’ Ben put in as he examined the menu.
‘On the contrary, I can think of nothing better than a weekend in the country,’ Georgie said, sending a reproachful look in his direction.
‘Well, that’s settled, then,’ Hannah said dusting her hands as if a particularly difficult mission had just been accomplished. ‘The weekend after next it is.’
‘Thank you for dinner,’ Georgie said later that evening as Ben walked her to the entrance to her apartment while Hannah waited in the car, busily texting a friend on her mobile phone. ‘I had a wonderful time.’
He gave her a wry smile. ‘Thank you for putting up with my sister’s not-too-subtle attempts to find me a wife. I hope you weren’t too embarrassed.’
‘Not at all,’ she said, feeling her cheeks grow warm as his dark blue gaze rested on her face.
The silence began to stretch, second by second, the air starting to crackle with tension as Georgie found her eyes slowly but inexorably drifting towards his mouth. His lips were so tempting she wanted to stand on tiptoe and press her mouth against them, to stroke the tip of her tongue across the seam of his mouth, to push in and find the sexy rasp of his. She felt her heels start to come up off the floor, her body tilting towards him, her eyelashes starting to come down.
The first brush of her mouth against his sent shooting sparks of heat right through Ben’s body. He felt it in every limb, vein and artery. His groin leapt to attention, his heart ramming against his chest as his tongue met hers as he took over the kiss.
He had kissed a lot of women in his time but never had he kissed a woman with as much passion as Georgie. She didn’t just kiss with her mouth—she kissed with her whole body. He could feel it pressed up against him, her breasts crushed to his chest, her legs between the brace of his, her arms flung around his neck to keep his mouth on hers, her hot, dancing little tongue duelling with his. He relished the taste and feel of her, the energy of her body awakening the sleeping dragon of need he had suppressed for so long. Hot tongues of flame licked through him, scorching him inside and out, making him so hard he couldn’t think about anything but getting her to the nearest flat surface so he could drive himself into her honeyed warmth.
‘I shouldn’t be doing this,’ he groaned as he pulled his mouth off hers to nibble on the soft skin of her neck.
‘Neither should I,’ she whispered back huskily as she gently nipped at his bottom lip, her tongue flicking where her teeth had caught him. ‘I’m not supposed to dating.’
‘This wasn’t a date,’ he said returning to her mouth to press a series of kisses to its cushioned surface. ‘We just went out to dinner with my kid sister as chaperone.’
Georgie kissed his lips once, twice, three times. ‘Maybe we should stop now.’
‘Yeah,’ he said, and, smothering a groan, crushed her mouth beneath his again.
‘Ahem.’ The sound of someone clearing their throat came from the front door of the apartment block.
Georgie sprang out of Ben’s arms, her cheeks going pink when she saw Rhiannon looking at her with her arms folded reprovingly.
‘It’s not what you think,’ Georgie began.
Rhiannon ignored her to introduce herself to the tall, silent figure standing to one side. ‘Hi, I’m Georgie’s flatmate, Rhiannon Taylor.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Rhiannon,’ he said politely, offering her a hand. ‘Ben Blackwood.’
‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ Rhiannon said with a cryptic smile.
‘I hope it wasn’t all bad,’ Ben said with a little glance in Georgie’s direction.
‘On the contrary, it was all good,’ Rhiannon said. ‘Jules Littlemore, your intern, is a friend of mine, and Georgie’s, too, actually. Jules has told me how much he enjoys working with you.’
‘It was kind of him to say so,’ Ben answered. ‘He’s a hard worker.’ He pushed a hand through his hair and added, ‘I’d better be going. Hannah’s probably run out of friends to text by now. Nice to meet you, Rhiannon.’
He turned to Georgie. ‘I’ll see you in Theatre tomorrow at eight-thirty. Goodnight.’ ‘Goodnight …’
Rhiannon waited until Ben’s car had driven away before turning to face Georgie with a victorious look on her face. ‘I knew it! I just knew you couldn’t do it. You’re hopeless when it comes to handsome men.’
‘I told you before, it wasn’t really a date,’ Georgie growled as she stomped towards the lift.
‘Yeah, and I bet you’re going to say that wasn’t really a kiss either,’ Rhiannon said with a teasing grin. ‘Come on, pay up, Georgie. You owe me one thousand dollars.’
The lift doors opened and they stepped in together.
‘I don’t mind paying you the money but I’m not officially involved with Ben Blackwood,’ Georgie insisted. ‘Besides, he’s not over his last girlfriend.’
‘He didn’t look like he was missing her too much back there when he was kissing you,’ Rhiannon pointed out wryly.
Georgie rolled her eyes. ‘You know what men are like,’ she said. ‘Look at what Andrew was getting up to with me while he was supposedly getting over his ex.’
‘Good point,’ Rhiannon said, chewing at her lip for a moment. ‘What say we wait and see what happens before you pay me?’
Georgie whooshed out a despondent breath as the lift doors opened on their floor. ‘Nothing’s going to happen,’ she said.
Rhiannon just smiled.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GEORGIE didn’t leave anything to chance the next morning and left extra early so she could turn up on time in Theatre for Emma Stanley’s case. She had found it hard to sleep the previous night, thinking about the young girl who had so much at stake, not to mention Ben, who as Emma’s neurosurgeon had so much pressure on him to perform a miracle when the chance of one was not very likely.
Linda greeted her as she came into the change room. ‘Tough morning this one,’ she said. ‘Ben’s really feeling it. He hides it pretty well but I’ve worked with him long enough to know the signs.’
‘He told me about the case yesterday,’ Georgie said as she put her bag into one of the lockers. ‘It’s hard, what life tosses up, isn’t it?’
‘Sure is,’ Linda agreed. ‘The pare
nts are such lovely people who would move heaven and earth to get their daughter back to full health. I only hope Ben can pull this one off. Mind you, if anyone can, he can. He’s got that steely determination to succeed where others would have given up long ago. I have a feeling your father saw that quality in him right from the start.’
Georgie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Linda hung up her blouse before turning to face her. ‘Your father would never have failed someone unless he thought they weren’t quite ready to face the responsibility of being the one to make life-and-death decisions, as neurosurgeons sometimes have to do. I reckon your father thought Ben needed that extra six months of study to further develop his patience and skill.’
‘I wish Ben could see it that way,’ Georgie said as she reached for a coat hanger.
Linda gave her a confident smile. ‘He will eventually,’ she said. ‘Especially now.’
Georgie could feel Ben’s tension as soon as she walked into Theatre. His eyes looked tired as if he hadn’t slept well and he kept cracking his knuckles as he waited for David Lucas, the anaesthetist, to finish preparing Emma for surgery.
Georgie met Ben’s gaze, holding it for a beat or two, hoping he could feel her support coming from deep within her.
The young girl was finally anaesthetised, catheterised and placed in the prone position on the operating table, supported by padded rests and sandbags. Needle electrodes were placed into the major muscles of each leg and attached to an EMG monitor.
‘I will be using a nerve stimulator during the surgery to assist with identifying and preserving the spinal nerve roots as they are dissected free of the tumour,’ Ben explained in a calm, even tone.
Georgie stood by his side and watched with bated breath as he prepped Emma’s back with alcohol and chlorhexidine and draped the area, leaving the lumbar region exposed and placing a steridrape on the operative area. He made a midline incision over the L2 to L5 regions and carried it down with diathermy to the spinous processes of the lumbar spine, inserting two self-retraining retractors.
‘On each side I’m cutting through the spinal pedicles,’ he said, removing the spinous processes of L3 and L4 to reveal the bulge in the dura caused by the tumour.
Georgie could see the tangle of nerve roots and tumour and felt her heart sink again at how tough a call this was going to be for both Emma and Ben.
She thought again about her conversation with Linda in the change rooms. Ben certainly had an edge when it came to gritty determination. He had worked long and hard to get through medical school and his specialist training. Obstacles had been put in his way right from the word go but he had soldiered on regardless.
He was doing it now, she realised as she saw the way his hands worked with meticulous precision, his concentration fierce, but his manner professionally calm and controlled.
Three and a half hours later, using a combination of painstaking dissection, wearing magnifying loops and using the nerve stimulator, Ben peeled away the tumour from each nerve root, eventually freeing the whole mass. The motor function to the lower limbs seemed intact, according to the positive spikes on the EMG monitor, but Georgie knew that there was no way of effectively monitoring nerves to the bowels, bladder or sensation. Only in the post-operative period would it become clear if Emma had suffered any neurological deficit. Not only that, it could take a year or more to be certain whether any deficit was temporary or permanent.
Ben put on two titanium plates and screws, one on each side of the remaining pedicles, to replace the strength lost when the laminae and spinous processes were removed, and he then assisted Georgie in placing a small closed suction drain into the wound before closing it.
The relief when it was all over was palpable.
Georgie met his eyes over his mask and shield, the flicker of doubt and hope fighting it out in those dark blue depths making her heart suddenly contract.
‘You did a good job assisting,’ he said as Emma was wheeled out to Recovery.
‘Thanks,’ she said softly. ‘You were amazingly patient. I couldn’t believe how difficult it would be to preserve every nerve root.’
He stripped off his mask and gave her a tired smile. ‘I had a good teacher,’ he said. ‘My father, you mean?’ ‘You sound surprised.’
‘I am, considering what you’ve said about him being difficult to work with,’ she admitted.
‘He was a nightmare to work with at times but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a fine neurosurgeon,’ he said, tossing his gloves in the bin. ‘He may have thrown a few instruments in his time but as far as patience with a patient went, he was hard to beat. I’ve seen him stand in one spot for ten hours to remove a spinal tumour.’
‘Emma’s parents are waiting to speak to you,’ Linda informed him from the door.
‘Right,’ he said, and left Georgie standing there with her mouth open.
She met Jules coming out of the lift as she was heading up to the high-dependency unit to check on Emma, who had been transferred there from Recovery.
‘I hear you’ve lost the bet,’ he said with a grin, ‘and with the boss, no less. Way to go, girl.’
She gave him a withering look. ‘I am not dating Ben,’ she said with cutting emphasis.
‘Better announce it on the hospital loudspeaker, then,’ he advised. ‘It was the hot topic in the doctors’ room this morning. Everyone seems to think you are.’
‘Oh, no!’ she groaned.
‘Madeleine Brothers wasn’t too happy about it,’ he went on. ‘She thinks it’s going to cause more trouble with Mr Tander.’
‘How is Mrs Tander?’ Georgie asked. ‘Mr Blackwood advised me to stay out of ICU until things settle down a bit.’
‘She’s not doing too well,’ Jules said. ‘Mr Blackwood ordered a whole-body CT scan but she’s too unstable to take down to X-Ray. The police have been in to talk to Mr Tander once or twice. He’s pretty annoyed about it so you’d better do as the boss says and keep your head down.’
‘Does Ben … er … I mean Mr Blackwood think there’s something else wrong with Mrs Tander?’ Georgie asked. ‘Something we might have missed in the initial assessment?’
‘I guess he must if he wants a full scan done,’ he said. Glancing at his watch, he added, ‘I’ve got to dash. See you around some time.’
‘Yeah.’ Georgie answered absently. ‘See you.’
‘Dr Willoughby!’ an irate male voice thundered from down the corridor. ‘Just the person I want to see. How dare you insinuate that I tried to kill my wife?’
Georgie felt her stomach go hollow. Jonathon Tander was livid, his whole body pulsating as he cornered her.
‘The police have been on my back all morning, thanks to you,’ he railed. ‘I’m going to sue you. Do you hear me? I am going to have you dismissed from this hospital for the specious rumours you’ve circulated about me. You will never work again in any hospital.’
‘Mr Tander, I—’
‘I love my wife,’ he cut her off, tears suddenly brimming in his bloodshot eyes. ‘She’s everything to me. I love her. I would never allow her to suffer …’
Georgie felt as if her heart was being squeezed as the man’s broken sobs sounded from deep within his chest. His whole body shook with the force of them, his legs trembling so much she was sure he was going to fall in a heap on the floor.
‘Mr Tander,’ she said, putting a gentle hand on his arm in order to lead him to a chair, ‘please, sit down and let me try to explain.’
He wrenched his arm away from her and glared at her through his tears. ‘Don’t try and butter me up. You’re making things so much worse, don’t you realise that? So much worse! She’s suffered enough. I can’t take any more. Oh, God, I can’t take any more.’
‘It’s all right, Georgie.’ Ben’s deep voice spoke from behind her. ‘Wait for me in my office. I’ll deal with this.’
Georgie backed away, her emotions see-sawing as she heard him deal gently with the older man.
�
�Come on, Mr Tander,’ he said. ‘Let’s get you a hot cup of tea and some time to yourself in one of the lounges.’
‘I love her,’ Mr Tander said as he walked with Ben back towards the lifts, his voice a wobbly whisper. ‘I would do anything for her …. anything …’
‘I know you would,’ Ben answered softly as he pushed the lift call button. ‘That’s what life is all about—loving people. And it hurts at times.’
Georgie was on her way to Ben’s office when she was intercepted by Richard DeBurgh.
‘Ah, Georgie, my dear,’ he said, ‘I’ve been meaning to have a little chat with you about something. Have you got a minute?’
‘Sure,’ she said, ‘but I haven’t got much time. I have to meet Mr Blackwood in a few minutes.’
Richard opened his office door and waved her through. ‘Come in and make yourself comfortable. Ben won’t mind waiting.’
Georgie took the chair opposite his desk but, instead of sitting in his own chair, he perched on the edge of his desk. She tried to edge away but the chair’s legs wouldn’t slide on the thick carpet.
‘Word is circulating that you and Ben are an item,’ he said, running his gaze over her. ‘Is it true?’
She moistened her suddenly dry lips. ‘Not really …’
He arched one brow. ‘Define what you mean by “not really”,’ he said.
‘I’d rather not discuss my personal life as it’s—’
He gave a chuckle that somehow wasn’t reflected in his eyes. ‘None of my business, right?’
Georgie couldn’t even crack a smile in return. ‘That’s right,’ she said a little stiffly.