THE SURGEON'S SPECIAL GIFT
Fiona McArthur
Two fantastic surgeons. One tender night together - is that all it can be?
Dr. Ailee Green knows she can’t start a relationship with Dr. Fergus McVicker - she is about to undergo surgery that will save her brother and put her own life at risk…
When she sees the handsome single father and his young daughter, Ailee knows she can give him one special gift before she leaves - she can help them become the family they deserve. But Fergus won’t let her run out of his life, and he offers her something she cannot refuse; the most precious gift of all - his unconditional love.
CHAPTER ONE
Fergus McVicker noticed the woman as he waited to board his flight and a primitive and unexpected recognition slapped him in the chest as if some navigation- deficient land bird had just collided with him.
Usually he just hyperventilated as he watched the planes take off the runway.
Hell! He did not have the mental energy for lust at first sight in his crowded life. And that was apart from his irrational fear of flying. Fergus dragged his eyes away from the goddess.
'Dr Ailee Green? Would you please come to Flight Reception?' The disembodied voice of the flight-desk attendant echoed around the departure lounge.
The woman Fergus had noticed gathered her bag and coat, and stood up. Yep. She was the one. All six feet of her.
Lord, she was tall.
He'd always had a thing for women who came up to his eye level at least. His stomach clenched but this time not from the thought of the plane waiting outside the window for him to board.
Ailee Green's magnetism distracted him as she swayed calmly towards the uniformed hostess and presented her boarding pass for identification. So...she was a doctor.
She wasn't classically beautiful but something about this woman resonated with him and the way she moved made him breathless.
He shifted position so he could see the expressions on her face. Big smile, gorgeous lips and not afraid to look people in the eye and smile at them. There was something wholesome about Ailee Green that slid under the barbed- wire perimeter fence he kept locked around his heart.
The colours she'd chosen to travel in were striking among the fashionable black of the Londoners—maybe that helped. Her sleeveless emerald shirt outlined her femininity as much as the soft rusty orange trousers emphasised her height and slimness.
Dr Green made him think of Sydney on a sunny day, lunch on the pier near Luna Park, rides on the ferry across to Manly. She was a far cry from the last fortnight at St Edna's, trying to find the key to promotion of organ donation for Australia.
St Edna's had the highest rate of donation in the world and his passion was to unlock that potential at home and be able to change the lives of so many people trapped by their failed organs.
Fergus sighed and turned away. She had quietened his nerves for a few moments at least and he wondered if he'd catch a glimpse of her again. One thing about travelling first class—it was antisocial and he couldn't follow up on the crazy urge to wander over and chat her up!
The announcement to board tightened his nerves and he turned away.
When she sat down next to him for the next thirteen hours to Singapore Fergus almost forgot the plane was ready to launch itself into the sky.
Ailee Green's eyes widened as they exchanged polite glances and Fergus grimly acknowledged that she was aware of him, too. He fancied the air between them vibrated, though perhaps it was just the one hundred per cent—he had been assured—perfect engines as they prepared for take-off.
Ailee felt the heat race up her cheeks. 'Do I know you?' Her voice came out more husky than she'd intended. Damn. Her neighbour had those black eyes she'd read about but had never believed existed...and shoulders to die for. And his legs looked longer than hers. Double, triple damn.
Complications she did not need right now or for the next few months because she'd be no good for any type of liaison.
He smiled at her, black-eyed and beguiling, and Ailee melted into the seat. This guy was very practised and she steeled herself against the waves of attraction that were beating like bats against her defences.
Face it, she told herself, it was unlikely her seat companion was on the lookout for a meaningful relationship. Ailee swallowed a bubble of semi-hysterical laughter.
There was always the mile-high club—sex in the clouds—while she was well enough to do it.
Her wicked thought supported his black, bedroom eyes, and not her common sense. Ailee blushed again.
She'd never had a promiscuous episode in her life and she'd bet this guy had had plenty.
'I'm Fergus.' The gravelly tones in his voice, apparently invisibly attached to her nerve endings, raised the flesh on her arms and tightened her throat.
She licked dry lips and incredibly his eyes darkened even more. She hoped he wasn't thinking she was vamping. Lord, she was in a pickle, and she glanced around for the hostess to save her.
An angel appeared. 'Is everything all right, Dr Green?'
Ailee knew there were no free seats in the next cabin as she'd been bumped up from business class for that reason. Her hospital had paid for the other seat but would never pay her way up here in the stratosphere. There didn't look like any alternative seats here either. She'd have to stay next to this gorgeous guy and sweat it out.
'May I have an iced water, please?' Maybe that would put out the fire.
The pretty hostess smiled, as if Ailee were the most important person in the world, and then her eyes widened as she noticed Ailee's seat mate.
Tell me about it, Ailee wordlessly sympathised with the woman.
'Not fair, is it?' Ailee said softly, and the hostess met her eyes as she handed the drink across. Both women smiled in perfect understanding. Just too much a man. Yes?
At least Ailee felt she had an ally. The drink was frosty as it slid down her throat and she relaxed back in the seat and closed her eyes. She'd just pretend he wasn't there.
The engines roared. Fergus had planned to avoid conversation with the goddess but the runway was streaming past the window and this was the moment he really hated.
'Are you from Sydney?' The aircraft left the ground and his stomach clenched.
He'd broken the first-class code. Fergus never spoke to a seat mate unless eye contact gave permission, but he couldn't help himself.
Her green eyes opened and at first he thought he saw panic beneath the lashes but he must have been mistaken. Her voice was level when she spoke.
'Balmoral. In Sydney.'
She didn't ask about him but Fergus saw the clouds stream past his window, testament to how high they were off the ground already, and he told her anyway. He knew he was babbling. 'I'm from Mosman. Not that far, as the crow flies.'
'Hmm.' She smiled vaguely and closed her eyes again.
So he wasn't irresistible, Fergus mocked himself, but it was better this way. The hard part was over. The plane hadn't crashed and he could just deep-breathe himself through the rest of it until the seat-belt sign switched off.
Then she sighed and opened her eyes and he felt the warmth of her perusal.
'I'm sorry. That was rude of me.' She held out her hand and any residual flight-induced tremors quietened as he curled his grip around hers. She had thin, elegant fingers and clear nail polish that made her short nails shiny. He couldn't help a quick squeeze of her hand.
Now that he had her attention he became loath for her to lose interest. 'I don't usually harass women, but I wondered if you would mind talking just for a few more minutes.' He mocked himself. 'Embarrassing as it is, I'm terrified of flying.'
It was the last thing Ailee had expected to hear. He didn't look like he was
terrified of anything. In fact, she would have bet he'd do a great stand-in for Tarzan wrestling a couple of lions.
She eased her fingers out of his death grip and looked at him properly.
Clinically.
There was a faint sheen of sweat on his upper lip and a tiny flickering tic under his left eye. She slid her fingers around his wrist. His pulse was racing. He really was nervous.
Just as the thought triggered her professional interest they hit a patch of turbulence and his face paled even more. She squeezed his wrist in sympathy and then let his arm go as he gripped the armrests.
'Sure,' she said easily. 'Flying is really not that bad, you know. I went for a spin over Edinburgh in a motorised hang glider last week and the view was breathtaking.'
He looked green at the thought and she chuckled.
He shook his head. 'Nice laugh. That makes me feel better than the story. Let's talk about something else. What's your name?'
'I'm Ailee,' she obliged, and steered the conversation away from flying. 'So, have you been to Singapore before?'
The plane dipped and righted itself. He clutched the armrests tighter and she slid her hand across again to comfort him. She saw him breathe out consciously, like a woman in labour, and she squeezed his fingers over the side of the seat.
There was a pause until the plane settled. 'Singapore? Once. On the way over.' He spoke slowly, as if enunciation was a problem.
Poor guy. Ailee cast round in her mind for distracting conversation. She thought of the grand hotel left over from the colonial occupation of the English. 'Did you go to Raffles Hotel?'
He shook is head. 'I rarely leave my room on stopovers.'
Rain rattled against the window but she ignored it. 'You must visit. Raffles is a tradition. You should at least drop in and have a gin sling and crack some peanuts.'
'Peanuts?' His hand had loosened to just tight beneath hers.
'You'll see,' Ailee said. 'You could always go the whole way and book for high tea. Though I hear reservations take three days before you can get in.'
Then she smiled at him and Fergus felt as if he'd just opened an unexpected gift. 'You have a beautiful smile,' he said.
She smiled again and then they both just settled back without her removing her hand.
The plane levelled out and the 'Fasten Seat Belt' sign flickered and then went out. Perhaps she wouldn't notice his need had gone and still leave her hand over his. The fear had seeped away and Fergus had a feeling his phobia wouldn't be a problem again. All he'd have to do was imagine Ailee Green's hand on his and he would be at peace.
The end of that thought had a convoluted tail, like a Singapore dragon, and he shied away from it. Right now it felt as if his fingers belonged to her and he didn't want her to let them go.
When the hostess came she startled them both and Ailee quickly pulled her hand away. Fergus sighed.
'Dr Green.' The hostess was flustered. 'We have an elderly gentleman in the other cabin. He appears very unwell—can you come?'
Ailee unbuckled her seat belt immediately. 'Of course.'
Fergus admired her lack of hesitation. This was no time to remain incognito. 'If you need help, let me know. I'm a surgeon but I do know my first aid.'
Ailee, which was how he thought of her now, bestowed another slightly distracted smile and thanked him before she moved off with the flight attendant.
Fergus almost hoped she'd call him to help because he missed her company already. He pulled up his video screen and flicked through the channels.
Wonderful. Now he knew they were thirty-seven thousand feet above sea level and travelling at six hundred and fifty miles an hour. If a window blew out they would all freeze because it was minus sixty-five degrees outside.
Two minutes later the hostess was back.
'Dr Green asked if you could assist, Mr McVicker.'
When Fergus arrived he was in time to see the patient, an elderly man in tight clothes, roll his eyes back and clutch his chest.
'Cardiac arrest,' he heard Ailee mutter, and Fergus agreed silently as he knelt down and loosened the collar around the man's neck to feel for his carotid pulse.
'Pulseless,' Fergus agreed.
Right, then. This was it with a vengeance. Time for a med school refresher.
Surprisingly, considering how long it had been since he'd involved himself in an acute, non-surgical situation, he felt confident as the basic life support all came back to him.
The resuscitation went smoothly, largely because Ailee was so quietly efficient and Fergus understood her minimal instructions perfectly.
The hostess produced a resuscitation bag and oxygen cylinder while Fergus easily lifted the frail man into the galley where there was more room and privacy to work.
Ailee tilted his chin and fitted the mask over the gentleman's nose and mouth and began to inflate the man's lungs with rhythmic inflations of the bag. Fergus synchronised his chest compressions with the fall of the patient's chest to stimulate some cardiac output but there was no response from their patient.
'What about drugs and defibrillation?' Fergus said quietly.
'That's the good news.' Ailee was watching the man's chest closely, to ensure his lungs inflated as she worked, and she didn't move her head as she spoke.
'They have a defibrillator in the bolted box and emergency drugs in a sealed kit that can only be opened by a doctor. They're both on their way.'
The defibrillator arrived and after two shocks the man's heart settled into a steady if weak rhythm.
Ailee looked across at Fergus with a slight smile. 'I always wondered if defibrillation would cause the cabin lights to flicker.'
Fergus arched his brows. 'Obviously not. That probably means the navigation equipment is still working, too.'
Ailee broke open the drug box and a few minutes later they both sat back and watched the man as his breathing settled and his colour improved.
'Well done, Doctor.' Fergus spoke quietly and Ailee looked up.
She gave him a crooked grin. 'Bet that made you forget you were flying.'
'I'd already forgotten.' Their eyes met and Ailee blushed. She looked gorgeous when she did that.
'How long until landing?' Fergus tore his eyes away to look up at the senior steward.
'The captain said we'll be on the ground in fifteen minutes. We've diverted to Paris and an ambulance will meet us.'
When the plane took off again, Fergus barely noticed the ascent.
He knew he couldn't get involved with this woman because she was wonderful and genuine and there wasn't enough emotional depth left in him to offer any woman.
His daughter needed any reserves he had and he'd promised himself he'd never marry again and expose himself to that type of loss for a second time.
But Ailee was captivating.
Back in their seats, conversation during the flight was safe and noncommittal, and he steered away from the subject of work. To his delight, Ailee was an intriguing companion.
She'd travelled widely and had anecdotes from almost every continent, and she followed his lead and never once mentioned her role in medicine.
Fergus was careful to keep the topics general but he still found out that she lived with her younger brother and mother in a huge rambling house in Balmoral, drove a thirty-year-old Mercedes that used to belong to her father, and loved heavy metal rock as well as vintage country music.
Dinner came and went and they discussed how both had a parent who'd immigrated from Scotland, discussed cosmopolitan London and the sheer age of the Roman ruins in the Tower Of London, which surprisingly they'd both visited on this trip.
Other times they kept their own thoughts and he found her incredibly restful in the silences.
Eventually the cabin lights dimmed and everyone settled to rest for the few hours before breakfast, but despite the comfort of his sleeping pod Fergus found he couldn't sleep.
Ailee stirred emotions that had lain dormant since Stella had died. This was storm
y weather, worse than turbulence in flight, and he needed to be careful, but would it be so dangerous to spend more time with Ailee—at least until after Singapore?
Maybe he could have twenty-four hours of a dream in Singapore, time out from the real world with Ailee, and recharge his faith in the good times that were out there, as long as they both obeyed the rules. His mouth compressed. As long as he obeyed the rules!
The plane flew on and finally breakfast arrived as the blinds were raised. A pale sunrise pinked the sky outside the windows and a few minutes later Ailee began to stir beside him.
'Good morning, sleepyhead.' He smiled at her tousled hair. This was how she looked in the mornings— good enough to eat. The thought stoked the fire in his belly that had simmered all night and he had to look away because if he didn't he'd lean over and kiss her properly awake.
When he had himself back under control he returned her smile. When she had woken properly and smiled at him he asked her the question that he'd deliberated on all night.
'If I secure a reservation, will you share high tea at Raffles with me?'
Ailee didn't answer immediately and he forced himself not to hold his breath.
She hesitated. 'I'm in Singapore for less than a day before I fly on to Sydney.'
He shrugged. 'It's just afternoon tea. Let me see what I can do while you at least think about it. Which hotel are you staying at?'
'Singapore Dragon.' There was that tail again. He thought he detected some reluctance in divulging the information and he reminded himself that she had every right to be wary of him.
He couldn't help being delighted at her answer, though. He smiled openly at this good luck and she did that blush thing again with her cheeks that he particularly enjoyed.
'What a coincidence. I'll let you know, then.'
CHAPTER TWO
What was she doing?
Ailee argued with herself as she dragged her overnight case past the empty luggage carousel. She'd learnt long ago it was better to pack a few interchangeable clothes and avoid the whole luggage hassle.
Fergus McVicker just wanted a fling. She been trained long ago not to talk to strangers, especially heart- tugging handsome ones, but it had been fun.
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