The Consultant's Adopted Son

by Jennifer Taylor

  The thought of the damage she might cause was too much to deal with. Owen knew that he had to put some distance between himself and Rose Tremayne, otherwise he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. Spinning round on his heel, he strode out of the room, ignoring the startled looks from his staff as they watched him leave. He needed a couple of minutes on his own to think things through. If Rose did have a plan, he intended to be one step ahead of her!

  Rose bit her lip as she watched the doors swing shut after Owen Gallagher had left. She knew he was furious about her being there but it wasn’t her fault. She’d had no idea that he worked at St Anne’s when she’d accepted this job, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken it. Now she couldn’t decide what to do. Should she go after him and explain that she hadn’t intended to make life difficult for him by turning up in his department? Or would it be better if she left well alone?

  ‘I wonder what’s up with His Highness today.’

  Rose summoned a smile when Rob Lomax came over to her. Instinct told her that it would be a mistake to let anyone know about her link to Owen Gallagher so she feigned ignorance. ‘Do you mean Dr Gallagher?’

  ‘Uh-huh. He’s like a cat on a hot tin roof today and it isn’t like him. That guy is the epitome of cool normally. Isn’t that right, Suzie?’

  ‘Isn’t what right? And don’t call me Suzie. You know I don’t like it.’

  ‘I know how you feel.’ Rose smiled as the other registrar joined them. ‘I hate it when people call me Rosie.’

  Suzanne grimaced. ‘Then my advice to you is to make sure that certain members of this staff are fully acquainted with your views.’ She shot a speaking look at Rob, who tried to look hurt.

  ‘Do you mean me?’

  ‘If the cap fits…’ Suzanne sniffed loftily and walked away.

  Rose chuckled. ‘That put you in your place, didn’t it?’

  ‘She loves me really,’ Rob assured her, grinning. ‘So, I know that your name is Rose but I don’t know much else. How about filling me in over a cup of coffee after we finish up here?’

  ‘Sorry, but I think I’d better stick to what I’m getting paid for.’

  Rose smiled to take the sting out of her refusal, but nowadays she made a point of not getting involved with the male members of staff wherever she was sent to work. The few times she’d been out with a man in the past it had usually ended badly—her date had expected more from her than she’d been prepared to give. But she had made up her mind after Daniel had been adopted that she would never put herself in the position of being hurt like that again. It was much easier if she kept things on a strictly friendly footing.

  ‘That makes a change,’ Rob declared, unfazed by her refusal. ‘Most of the agency staff seem to think they’re here to socialise. Angie—that’s the charge nurse—keeps threatening to padlock the staffroom door. Usually they spend more time in there drinking coffee than doing any work!’

  ‘You must have been using the wrong agency,’ she said lightly, not wanting to be drawn into a discussion about the merits—or pitfalls—of employing agency nurses. There was enough ill feeling as it was, without her encouraging people to think badly of all agency staff.

  The porters arrived just then, to take the motorcyclist up to Theatre. Rose checked that his notes were up to date and handed him over, then went to help with the patient who’d been brought in. It was Michelle Robinson, the daughter of the woman who had suffered the heart attack, and she was in a very bad way.

  Owen reappeared, and he and the team did all they could for her, but it was a losing battle from the outset. The young woman’s injuries were just too extensive and she died thirty minutes later. Rose nodded when Angie asked her to remove all the leads and tubes before her family came to identify her. It would be distressing enough for them without them having to see all the unpleasant details.

  Another couple of patients were brought into Resus, but Rose was asked to work the cubicles and didn’t deal with them. She was glad of the change because dealing with the most severely injured was always harrowing. As she went to report to the triage nurse, she found herself remembering what Rob had said about Owen Gallagher’s mood that day and sighed.

  It didn’t take a genius to work out why he was out of sorts. Seeing her there must have been as big a shock for him as it had been for her. All she could hope was that it wouldn’t make a difficult situation any worse. No matter what he believed, she only had Daniel’s best interests at heart, and if getting in touch with her would help Daniel then she most certainly wasn’t going to refuse to see him.

  The day wore on, the usual mix of high drama and the mundane. Overcrowded GP surgeries meant that a lot of people who came to the department didn’t actually need to be treated there. Rose dealt with half a dozen minor injuries ranging from a deeply embedded splinter to a sore throat then, at Angie’s behest, went for a break.

  There were a couple of other nurses in the staffroom when she went in and she tried not to take it personally when they ignored her. She never stayed in one place long enough to make friends, so she was used to being ignored. She made herself a cup of coffee and had just sat down to drink it when the door opened and Owen Gallagher appeared.

  She had managed to keep out of his way since she’d left Resus. With her working the cubicles, it hadn’t been that difficult to avoid him and she’d been glad of the respite. Knowing that she was an object of loathing in his eyes wasn’t the most pleasant experience she’d ever had. Now she stiffened as his gaze skimmed over the other nurses and landed on her. Even from that distance she could see the chill in his grey eyes. He strode towards her and his face was like thunder when he stopped in front of her.

  ‘There is a waiting-room full of people out there. I suggest you attend to what you’re being paid for, Ms Tremayne. And, to my knowledge, that doesn’t include sitting here, drinking coffee.’

  His tone was icy with contempt and Rose flushed. She didn’t say a word as she got up, took her mug to the sink and emptied the coffee down the drain. Nobody said anything as she left the staffroom but she could feel the other nurses watching her and it was galling to know what they must be thinking.

  They probably thought she wasn’t pulling her weight after what Owen Gallagher had said, and the unfairness of being labelled as lazy was very hard to take. She did a good job wherever she worked and put one hundred per cent effort into it, too. That was why she’d been offered so many permanent posts—every hospital she’d worked at had asked her if she would like to join their staff, but she’d had to refuse.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea of working in one place, because she would have loved to do so. It was the fact that she wouldn’t earn her current salary that stopped her. As her father had sunk deeper into the grip of Alzheimer’s disease she’d had to move him into a nursing-home, and the fees were extortionate. Agency work paid far more than she could earn by working for the NHS, plus she could top up her income by working nights if the nursing-home’s fees increased. Maybe she should have explained all that to Owen—only what would have been the point? He wasn’t interested in her problems, he was only interested in keeping her away from Daniel.

  Rose went back to the unit and took a fresh file out of the tray, determined that she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to accuse her of wasting time again. The waiting-room was packed and she had to shout to make herself heard above the din.

  ‘Vicky Smith.’

  A girl in her twenties stood up, clutching her left hand. Rose grimaced when she saw the state of her ring finger. ‘That looks very nasty,’ she said, leading the young woman to a cubicle. ‘How did it happen?’

  ‘I was bringing my horse in from the field when he tried to bolt. The lead rope must have got wrapped around my finger somehow because I heard it make this horrible popping sound.’ Vicky sat down on the bed, looking very pale as she studied her swollen hand. ‘Do you think it’s broken?’

  ‘It could be, but I’ll have to get one of the doc
tors to take a look at it before we can be sure.’ Rose smiled at her. ‘It will probably need X-raying so there’ll be a bit of wait. Did you come here on your own or did someone bring you?’

  ‘I came on my own.’ Vicky looked close to tears. ‘I was going to phone my boyfriend but Oliver—that’s my horse—trampled on my mobile phone and broke it.’

  ‘I can phone him for you,’ Rose assured her. She jotted down the boyfriend’s phone number then went to find Suzanne and asked her to take a look at the girl’s hand. As she had predicted, Suzanne wanted X-rays to be done so Rose ushered the young woman to the radiology unit and left her there while she made the telephone call. Angie was using the phone on the desk, so rather than waste time waiting until it was free Rose found some change in her pocket and used the public phone in the foyer. She was just hanging up after telling Vicky’s boyfriend what had happened when Owen Gallagher came out of the department and he stopped dead when he saw her.

  ‘I’ve warned you once today about getting on with your work, Ms Tremayne, and I don’t intend to warn you again about flagrantly wasting time. You’re paid to work, not to organise your social life.’

  ‘Do you always speak to staff this way or have you singled me out for special treatment because of Daniel?’ Rose was incensed. She had never been spoken to in such a fashion before and she refused to stand there and meekly accept it.

  ‘This has nothing to do with my son!’ Gallagher glared at her. ‘I will not tolerate incompetence in any way, shape or form.’

  ‘Of course it has to do with your son!’ Rose spat the accusation back at him. ‘You’ve got it into your head that I am a threat to Daniel’s well-being and that’s why you are behaving this way.’

  ‘And can you blame me?’ He took a step towards her so that, instinctively, she tried to retreat. However, with the wall at her back there was nowhere to go. Her heart began to pound as he bent and stared into her eyes. She had never seen such dislike on anyone’s face before. It was all she could do to stand there as he continued in the same relentless tone when what she wanted to do was to run away and hide.

  ‘I don’t know what kind of a game you’re playing, Ms Tremayne, but one thing I do know: it won’t work. I won’t let you ruin Daniel’s life.’

  ‘I have no intention of ruining his life,’ she protested.

  ‘No? Then what are you doing here? What exactly do you hope to achieve by harassing me?’

  ‘I didn’t know that you worked here! I was just as shocked as you were when I saw you this morning.’

  ‘And you really expect me to believe that?’ He laughed shortly, his deep voice devoid of humour. ‘I’m sorry but I don’t believe in coincidences, so you’ll have to come up with a better story than that.’

  ‘It’s the truth! I’m here because the agency I work for sent me here. That’s it. There’s no other reason.’

  Just for a moment a flicker of uncertainty showed in his eyes before he shook his head. ‘No, it’s just too convenient. You turn up in my department and expect me to believe that you didn’t plan this—’

  ‘Plan what? What possible good could it do me to come here?’

  ‘I don’t know. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? I have no idea what you’re up to. You, Ms Tremayne, are an unknown quantity. And until I find out what you want, I am not going to be foolish enough to believe a single word you say.’

  With that, he walked away. Rose took a shaky breath but her heart was hammering after the bitter attack. What made it worse was that she could sympathise with his fears. He didn’t know her, so he had no idea what kind of person she was. Oh, she could tell him that she meant Daniel no harm but why should he believe her? She was a threat in Owen Gallagher’s eyes and he was going to do everything in his power to keep her out of Daniel’s life.

  The thought was more painful than it should have been in view of the fact that she’d had over a week to get used to the idea. Rose wasn’t sure why it upset her so much. Obviously, if there was a chance that she could get to know Daniel then she wouldn’t allow anything to stop her, yet it hurt to know that Owen would hate her all the more if she flouted his wishes. She couldn’t help wishing they could put aside their differences for Daniel’s sake, but the likelihood of that happening was nil.

  The one thing Owen Gallagher didn’t want from her was friendship!

  CHAPTER THREE

  IT WAS the longest day of Owen’s life, and he couldn’t wait for it to end. Although he tried to avoid any further contact with Rose, it wasn’t possible to escape from her completely. Several times he found himself working alongside her, and each time it was all he could do to hide his animosity.

  The sooner she left his department, the better, he thought grimly as he went into the office to check the rosters and see who was on duty the following day. They were carrying three vacancies at the present time—two nurses and a senior registrar—so they had been relying on agency staff to fill in the gaps. As he skimmed his finger down the chart, he felt his stomach sink. Angie had pencilled in Agency’ in the nursing column for the following three weeks and he could only hope that it wouldn’t be Rose who was working for them. After all the hassle she’d caused him that day, he could do without having to spend the next three weeks working with her.

  ‘Checking what cover we’ve got?’

  Owen glanced round when Angie came into the office. ‘Yes. I see you’ve hired agency staff for the next three weeks.’

  ‘I had to.’ Angie sighed as she glanced at the roster. ‘Now that Maggie’s gone on maternity leave we’re really struggling for cover. I know it’s costly to use agency staff, but I haven’t any choice. And at least the agency came up trumps this time. Rose is great, isn’t she? It’s wonderful to have someone who actually knows what she’s doing for a change.’

  ‘I wasn’t all that impressed with her,’ he said curtly, hanging the chart back on its hook. ‘Not only did I catch her in the staffroom drinking coffee, but she was also using the payphone in the foyer to organise her social life.’

  ‘Actually, I insisted she took a break.’ Angie shrugged when he looked at her in surprise. ‘I know what you’re thinking—I’m usually the one banging on about the amount of work agency staff do, but Rose isn’t like that. She’s a really hard worker.’

  ‘And the phone call?’ Owen said cynically, not convinced.

  ‘She could have been making the call for one of the patients. The girl who’d broken her finger asked me to thank Rose for getting in touch with her boyfriend,’ Angie explained. ‘I heard Rose say something about using the payphone when I was using the one in Reception, so that probably explains what she was doing.’

  ‘I see.’ Owen’s mouth compressed. Maybe it was unfair of him to have assumed the worst, but Rose only had herself to blame. If she hadn’t wheedled herself a place in his department, he wouldn’t be a bag of nerves from wondering what she was up to.

  The thought of what Ms Tremayne might be plotting was more than he could cope with at the end of such a stressful day so Owen said his goodbyes and left. It was a thirty-minute drive to his home in Richmond on a good day, but the traffic was horrendous that night. It was almost seven by the time he let himself into the house, to be greeted by the thunderous delights of rock music pounding through the ceiling.

  He sighed as he hung his coat in the cloakroom and made his way upstairs. The last thing he wanted was another confrontation with Daniel about the amount of time he wasted when he should be studying. He didn’t want to play the heavy-handed father all the time, but what else could he do? He couldn’t take the easy route and allow his son to ruin his whole future.

  Owen rapped on the bedroom door and went in. Daniel was lying on his bed, playing air guitar. There was a pile of books on his desk but there was no sign that the boy had attempted to do any work. Walking over to the socket, Owen pulled out the plug, sighing in relief when the music immediately stopped.

  ‘Dad!’ Daniel leapt to his feet, looking pained as he hur
ried to the stereo to check if one of his precious vinyls had been damaged.

  ‘I thought we agreed that you’d cut down the amount of time you spend listening to music,’ Owen said quietly, deciding it would be less stressful if he adopted a reasonable approach. He really didn’t feel like getting into another argument. He’d had his fill after that last confrontation with Rose Tremayne.

  The memory of what had happened still had the power to anger him but he battened down his emotions. ‘Have you done that geography essay yet? It has to be handed in by the end of this week.’

  ‘I was going to do it after dinner,’ Daniel explained mutinously, taking the record off the deck and carefully stowing it away in its cardboard sleeve.

  ‘Dinner will be a good half-hour yet, so why not make a start on it?’ he suggested mildly. There was no point ordering Daniel to get it done—experience had shown that the boy would make a mess of it on purpose if he did so. Daniel reacted badly to people ordering him about—just like his mother did.

  The thought sent a rush of emotions scudding through him. Owen spun round on his heel, not wanting Daniel to see how upset he was. The fact that he had automatically linked Rose to his son made him feel all sorts of things, from guilt to a mind-numbing fear. He couldn’t afford to start noticing similarities in their behaviour—it was too dangerous. Rose was a stranger, and just because she had a problem with authority it didn’t mean that Daniel had inherited it from her.

  ‘I’ll give you a shout when dinner is ready,’ he said, going to the door.

  Daniel muttered something in reply, but for once Owen wasn’t listening to what his son was saying. He was too busy trying to fight his own inner demons. He went downstairs and made them a meal. And the whole time he was grilling and chopping his mind was spinning in ever-decreasing circles.