An Unexpected Proposal

by Amy Andrews

  ‘I’ll follow in my car,’ said Marcus.

  She turned to face him and took an abrupt step back, not realising how close behind her he was.

  ‘There’s no need,’ she said, trying not to sound ungrateful. After all, she couldn’t have done it without him. Now the immediate emergency was over, the ebb of the adrenaline that had surged through her system was making her nauseous. Combined with her jet lag, she was shaking badly.

  He put his hands gently on her shoulders and frowned at their trembling. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked, applying slight pressure to her shoulders.

  She looked into his face and then wished she hadn’t. She felt absurdly close to tears. She didn’t want this man to be kind to her. She wanted him and the unsettling feelings she felt when she was near him to go away.

  ‘I’m fine.’ She shrugged her shoulders and his hands fell away.

  Marcus lifted his hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, which had loosened from the tight knot at the nape of her neck. Madeline pulled back as the urge to lay her head against his chest took hold.

  ‘Dr Harrington,’ one of the paramedics called. ‘Coming,’ she replied, and stepped away from Marcus on shaky legs.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MADELINE was sitting in the family waiting area with Brett when Marcus finally tracked her down. On their arrival the hospital staff had efficiently taken over. After briefing them, Madeline had left to call Mr Sanders. She hated that part the most. Talking to shocked families in grave situations always made her feel helpless.

  She was feeling really weary now, staring blankly at the opposite wall, her eyes gritty again. Marcus pushed a steaming cup of coffee towards her face. She blinked, staring at him, unseeing at first until her body pulsed betrayingly and recognition dawned. Overwhelming tiredness made her irritable.

  ‘I told you there was no need to come,’ she said, ignoring the coffee. Didn’t he have a child to get back to?

  ‘Take it, Maddy,’ he ordered in a soft voice which nonetheless brooked no argument. The pungent aroma of coffee hit her and her stomach growled. Madeline realised she hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the plane. She took the polystyrene cup.

  He handed Brett a cold can of soft drink and sat down beside her. They drank in silence, Madeline desperately trying to quell the frisson of awareness just sitting next to Marcus was causing. Their arms occasionally brushed and she was awake again. Fully, completely awake.

  Pull yourself together, she lectured herself. He is unavailable. So are you, or you will be again soon anyway. And you’re going to squash this man like an ant on Monday—you don’t want to be lusting after him as you’re giving him his marching orders. The thought kept her focussed and a smile curved across her full mouth and glittered in the emerald depths of her eyes.

  She imagined the look on his face as she handed him the notice of eviction. The fantasy was marred by a sudden pang of guilt. They may not see eye to eye on treatment methodologies but he was an actual doctor and obviously very skilled, and had helped her tonight without question, despite her previous hostile threats.

  ‘Plotting my demise, Maddy?’

  His low growl in her ear caused a riot of sensations to surge through her. Startled that he could so accurately read her thoughts, she turned to face him, composing her features to disguise her inner turmoil. ‘How did you guess?’ she parried lightly.

  ‘Maddy, Maddy.’ He laughed and stroked the dark stubble on his jaw. ‘Don’t ever play poker.’

  Madeline followed the caress intently, sidetracked by sudden wanton thoughts of his stubble brushing against her skin. Her nipples hardened and as she watched him his eyes widened and his hand stilled at her blatant arousal.

  She stared for an age, caught in his intense blue gaze. The bustle of hospital life continued around them, oblivious to the sexual energy arcing between them.

  ‘Dr Harrington.’

  A young nurse interrupted. Madeline blinked and looked at her in a slightly disorientated fashion. ‘Y-yes?’

  ‘Mrs Sanders has just gone up to Intensive Care.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Madeline, pulling herself together, ‘Thanks, I’ll go right up.’

  The nurse’s attention, however, had strayed to Marcus. She was smiling at him, an invitation in her eyes. Marcus winked at her and Madeline rolled her eyes. Thank goodness she’d never been a slave to her hormones. How did people get things done? Stay focussed? Function?

  She left him to it, taking Brett up to see his mother and waiting with him until his father arrived, leaving shortly after. She was surprised to see Marcus lounging at the nurses’desk, waiting for her, but was unsurprised to hear the tinkle of laughter as two more nurses fell under the skater boy’s charm.

  ‘I’ll give you a lift home,’ he said, straightening as she approached.

  ‘I’ll catch a taxi,’ she threw over her shoulder as she walked past him.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Maddy,’ he said, in a voice that made her feel like a disobedient child. ‘You look exhausted. Do you know how long it’s going to take to get a taxi on a Saturday evening?’

  She stopped walking and sighed. He was right and she was tired, so very tired. What could it hurt? She nodded her assent. He raised his eyebrows at her, obviously not having expected such easy capitulation, but she was just too exhausted to care.

  A few minutes later Madeline eyed the fire-engine red MG convertible doubtfully. ‘This is yours?’

  ‘Yes,’ he smiled lazily.

  ‘Hocus-pocus pays, huh?’ she gibed.

  ‘What did you expect me to drive?’

  She looked him up and down. He was still in the same clothes—buttoned this time. She could see the paint in his hair and remembered him flying up off the concrete wall, his skate-board attached to his feet. ‘Something old and beat up,’ she said.

  He threw back his head and laughed—a rich, throaty noise that weakened her knees. ‘You are a shrew,’ he stated. ‘Get in, Maddy.’

  She obeyed meekly, fearing that her knees wouldn’t support her for much longer. She sank into the well-worn soft leather of the bucket seat.

  ‘Not much room for a child seat in here, Dr Hunt.’

  He laughed again. ‘The name is Marcus.’

  ‘Maybe…but I’m going to call you Dr Hunt,’ she mimicked his earlier words and he laughed again.

  ‘Touché, Maddy. Touché.’

  They rode with the top down and, apart from Madeline giving him the directions to her house, they drove in silence. The steady purr of the engine and the caress of the warm night air against her skin lulled Madeline to sleep.

  Marcus took the opportunity to study her and felt a stupid little flutter somewhere in the vicinity of his heart. She was utterly gorgeous. Completely intriguing. The diamond on her finger mocked him and he almost sighed out loud. Pity. He lived by a strict code—no attached women, no matter how much his body insisted.

  He pulled the car up outside her apartment block in the valley and switched off the engine. He didn’t want to wake her but felt compelled to touch her at the same time.

  ‘Maddy,’ he said quietly, lightly stroking her cheek. She wiggled and murmured something unintelligible.

  ‘Maddy,’he said, louder this time, and watched with regret as she opened her eyes. She sat up abruptly and Marcus’s hand fell away.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, embarrassed. ‘I didn’t mean to fall asleep.’

  He shrugged. ‘You were tired.’

  They were quite close in the car and even in the dim light Madeline knew that something was happening inside her that had never happened with Simon. Marcus dominated the small space—his blatant sexuality too big for such close confines. This wouldn’t do at all.

  Oh, God! She was so confused. She needed a sleep! She was losing control of the situation completely. He rode a skateboard. He had a child. OK, that didn’t mean he was married but he had responsibilities.

  She cleared her throat. ‘Anyway…thank you…for before. Af
ter the way I carried on I’m surprised you came.’

  He shrugged. ‘I would never ignore a medical emergency. Some things are bigger than petty differences.’

  ‘Still, I think I owe you an apology.’ ‘Accepted,’ he said, half bowing in the small space. ‘Does this mean my imminent eviction is not on the cards?’

  ‘It means seeing that you are a real doctor and you came to my aid and gave me a lift home, I guess I can tolerate you. But I’m a sceptic through and through, Dr Hunt. It’ll take more than good CPR technique to convince me.’

  He laughed. ‘Ah, a challenge. I do so like a challenge.’ She shivered at the intimate promise in his words. This was crazy—he had a child and she was still wearing her engagement ring. She needed to put this conversation back onto even ground. ‘I’d better go, I’m keeping you from your family.’

  ‘Well, that would be difficult given I don’t have any.’ Her heart did a crazy leap. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I saw you earlier today in the skate park with a little boy. I thought…’

  She had seen him earlier? Interesting… ‘He was my child? No. He’s my nephew. My sister lives here in Brisbane and Connor’s a mad keen skater. I promised I’d take him to the park on the weekend. Not married. Not in a relationship. No kids.’

  He smiled at her and she thought, Free agent. No wife or girlfriend. And no child. ‘I’m sorry. You seemed really close, I just automatically assumed…’

  ‘Yeah, I guess we’re pretty close. He’s a great kid.’

  ‘How old is he?’

  ‘Six. When Nell, my sister, moved to Brisbane for her work I decided to follow. Connor’s father took off when he was a baby and I know what it’s like to grow up without a father.’

  ‘What happened to your dad?’ she asked, curious despite telling herself not to be.

  ‘He and my mum divorced when I was five. He was kind of absent really. He married again and sort of forgot about us for large periods of time.’

  ‘So now you’re Connor’s father figure?’

  He laughed. ‘Let’s just say stable male role model.’

  She wrinkled her nose. ‘Ah, a man afraid of the F word. How unusual.’

  He grinned. ‘I’m not afraid. I just prefer being an uncle. I like being fun Uncle Marcus. But he’s pretty full on. I’m glad when I can hand him back. I like my life a little too much to tie myself down to something like that permanently.’

  ‘You make it sound like a death sentence,’ she chided.

  ‘Let’s just say—once bitten, twice shy.’

  So there was something in his past. ‘Ouch,’ she joked. ‘Sounds painful.’

  He shuddered, thinking about it. ‘It was.’

  Madeline yawned despite her interest being piqued. The weariness had returned with gusto. ‘I’d better go. Thanks for the ride.’

  He captured her gaze and the wrong kind of ride came to mind. Trying desperately to evict it from his brain, he cleared his throat. ‘Any time,’ he said.

  Her hand stilled on the handle. Had she imagined the innuendo? She opened the door, exited the car and turned to face him. ‘Goodbye, Dr Hunt,’ she said, emphatically shutting the door.

  His laughter followed her as she walked away on wobbly legs.

  Madeline arrived at the hospital the next day just before lunch. She entered the main foyer, past the line of die hard smokers braving the midday sun, and into the blast of cool air. Madeline inhaled deeply, re-familiarising herself with the sterile smell found in hospitals the world over. She loved that smell and felt a pang of regret that she was no longer a part of the hospital system.

  She made her way to the ICU only to discover her patient had stabilised and been moved to the coronary care unit. She spoke briefly to the registrar who had been caring for Mrs Sanders, and was told she had suffered a large inferior wall MI, evidenced not only on her ECG but by a massive rise in her cardiac enzymes.

  Fortunately, with the swift administration of a thrombolytic agent they had managed to halt any further damage. Mrs Sanders’s condition had stabilised overnight, with fewer and fewer ectopic beats, and they had been able to extubate her in the early hours of the morning.

  Madeline was relieved as she made her way next door to the coronary care unit. Mrs Sanders had five kids who needed her. Hopefully now she would start following medical advice and do something abut her diet and exercise. It was a drastic wake-up call but unfortunately her patient had been a heart attack waiting to happen for a long time—overweight, hypertensive, high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease.

  Madeline smiled at Mrs Sanders, who was looking much better. She took her patient’s hand as her eyes sought the cardiac monitor. A regular sinus rhythm blipped on the screen. The last blood pressure taken had been good and the oxygen saturation also displayed was excellent. No doubt this was helped by the prongs sitting inside Mrs Sanders’s nose, blowing a steady supply of oxygen.

  Mrs Sanders greeted Madeline warmly, thanking her profusely for saving her life.

  ‘Nonsense,’ Madeline said dismissively, blushing at the praise. ‘I just did what anyone who had that knowledge would have done. Besides, I didn’t do it all by myself.’

  ‘Yes, Brett said that a nice male doctor helped, too.’

  Madeline grimaced. That wasn’t exactly how she would have described Marcus Hunt. Smug, yes. Sexy, yes. But nice…?

  ‘Did I hear my name?’ Marcus’s deep voice behind her made Madeline jump.

  ‘Maddy,’ he said to her suddenly erect back as he entered the room.

  Madeline, perched on her patient’s bed, sat very still, awareness of Marcus stiffening her spine. He sauntered around the front of Madeline and sprawled himself in the low chair beside the bed. He offered Mrs Sanders the bunch of flowers he had.

  Marcus introduced himself and proceeded to charm the socks off the middle-aged woman. Madeline sat rooted to the spot, unable to move and only vaguely aware of their conversation. Her eyes were irresistibly drawn to his powerful denim-clad legs. He was wearing one of those trendy T-shirts that looked like a toddler had scribbled on it and it clung to his biceps and chest wall perfectly. He laughed and it drew her gaze higher, to his mouth.

  Marcus chose that moment to look at her with his strong, direct gaze. It broke her trance-like state and she looked away hastily, heat suffusing her face. I have to get out of here, she thought. I can’t think straight around this damned man.

  ‘Well, I think I’ll be off now.’ Madeline broke into the conversation with an unsteady voice and made a great show of gathering her things.

  Mrs Sanders protested but Madeline could see how even the short visit had taken it out of her patient.

  ‘Yes,’ said Marcus, rising. ‘I’d better be off, too.’

  ‘Oh, please,’ said Madeline, panicking slightly, not wanting to spend any longer in his company than she had to. ‘Don’t leave on my account, you’ve only just arrived. Stay. I’m sure Mrs Sanders would love the company.’

  ‘No, no,’ Marcus assured her. ‘I don’t think we should tire her out.’

  ‘Yes, I am a little weary.’ Mrs Sanders finally admitted the truth.

  ‘Righto, we’ll be off, then,’ said Marcus, covering the older woman’s hands with his own. ‘If there is ever anything I can do for you, Mrs Sanders, please, don’t hesitate.’ He pulled a business card out of his back pocket and placed it on her bedside table.

  Madeline stared at him, gobsmacked! She fumed silently as she stalked out of the unit. OK, she’d made up her mind to tolerate him but how dared he try and poach her patient? Once they had pushed through the swinging doors and were out in the corridor, Madeline let fly.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ she demanded.

  ‘Shh, Maddy…it’s a hospital.’ He wagged his finger at her playfully.

  He looked so fresh and vital and she still felt tired and irritable. She wasn’t in the mood for his teasing. ‘I don’t give a damn,’ she snarled.

  ‘Maddy!’ He feigned a shocked expr
ession.

  ‘How dare you try and steal one of my patients? How…how…unethical! You’re not doing a very good job of convincing me of your professionalism,’ she snapped, striding off.

  He contemplated just ambling along behind her, because her annoyed strut in her snug three-quarter cargoes was very cute, but thought better of it. He caught her up.

  ‘Conventional medicine doesn’t seem to have done her much good.’

  Madeline halted and whipped around, cheeks flushed and eyes glittering. ‘Don’t you dare preach to me, Doctor. You know nothing about this case. It just so happens that conventional methods only work if you follow your doctor’s advice! Mrs Sanders is notoriously uncompliant.’

  Madeline’s chest heaved, a fact not missed by Marcus. But unfortunately she didn’t give him that long to appreciate it before she stormed ahead again.

  Madeline was dismayed to find that some idiot had parked her in. Her dismay grew to anger when she realised it was Marcus’s MG. She gritted her teeth. She was going to need thousands of dollars’ worth of dental work done in the not too distant future if this kept up!

  She kicked one of his car’s tyres out of pure pique and leant impatiently against her boot, foot tapping. She watched his lazy swagger as he approached. Even his strut was sexy.

  ‘I hope you’re better at your hocus-pocus than you are at parking.’

  He laughed and she shivered despite the thirty-degree day. ‘Someone got out of bed on the wrong side. Look I’m sorry, OK? I think we got off on the wrong foot this morning.’

  ‘Just shift your car, Dr Hunt. I have no desire to speak with you.’ She just wanted to go. Get out of his radius. His presence was too unsettling.

  ‘Maddy,’ he said, coming nearer, ‘I thought we’d called a truce last night? I’m really a great guy when you get to know me.’

  He was too close for her sanity. She found it hard to remember to breathe around this man. He made her inexplicably want to throw caution to the wind and hop on the back of his skateboard and roll off into the sunset.