‘He’s slipping.’ Andrea, the hospital charge sister, took Martin’s blood-pressure for the twentieth time and looked grimly to where Nikki was adjusting the flow of plasma. ‘Isn’t there anything we can do?’
‘The plane’s on its way from Cairns,’ Nikki told her. ‘It’ll be here in an hour. They’ll transport him back there.’
‘But he’s slipping fast.’
‘I know.’ Nikki looked helplessly down at the boy’s pallid face. She suspected what was happening from the X-rays. There was pressure building up in the intracranial cavity. She was faced with an invidious choice-to operate here with her limited skill, or put the boy on the plane, knowing that by the time the plane landed in Cairns he’d probably be dead. ‘I can’t operate,’ she whispered. ‘I haven’t the skills…’
There was so much to this job. She would never be skilful enough to cope with the demands on her. Nikki had done obstetrics, basic surgery and anaesthetics but now-now she wanted a competent neurosurgeon right here and now. And because she hadn’t done the training this boy would die.
‘I can.’ The voice sounded behind her and Nikki spun around. Luke Marriott had quietly entered the theatre and was standing watching her.
He looked more disreputable than he had when she’d first seen him. The travel stains and the marks from catching prawns for two nights had been augmented by an hour trying to free the injured girl. His shirt was ripped and blood-stained. Even his fair hair was filthy, matted with dirt and blood. ‘Intracranial bleed?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve stabilised Lisa,’ he said briefly. ‘She’ll make it. She has two broken legs but they’ll wait for surgery in Cairns. She’s out to it now. If you prep, Dr Russell, I’ll throw myself through the shower, scrub and operate here.’ He turned to the junior nurse. ‘Show me where to go. Fast.’
‘But you can’t,’ Nikki said blankly.
‘Why not?’ The fair-haired man turned back to her and his eyes seemed suddenly older than Nikki had thought. Despite the dirt, he looked hard, professional and totally in control. ‘You’re wasting time, Dr Russell. Prep, please, and fast.’
‘But you’re not-’
‘I’m a surgeon,’ he snapped. ‘And I’ve done enough neurology to get me through. Now move!’
Nikki moved.
The burr hole was the work of an expert. Nikki could only watch and marvel, in the few fleeting moments she could spare from her concentration on the anaesthetic. Luke Marriott’s fingers were skilled and sure. It was Martin’s good fairy that had sent him here tonight.
What on earth was such a man doing as a relieving locum in a place like Eurong? Luke Marriott’s skills belonged in a large city teaching hospital. For him to be volunteering to work for the meagre wage of a locum for three weeks…
There was little time for her to question his motives. All Nikki’s energy had to focus on the job she was doing. Skilled surgery such as Luke Marriot was performing took every ounce of her anaesthetic skill, and she knew that the nurses too were being pushed to their limits. At one stage she raised her eyes to meet the eyes of her charge nurse. Andrea pursed her lips in a silent whistle of wonder, and Nikki agreed with her totally.
And then, finally, this strange surgeon was done. He dressed the site with care and signalled for Nikki to reverse the anaesthetic.
‘We’ve done all we can,’ he said grimly. ‘Now it’s up to Martin.’
‘His parents are outside.’ Nikki was still fiercely concentrating. She wasn’t going to slip now, when Luke’s part had been so expertly played.
‘I’ll take over the anaesthetic,’ Luke Marriot told her, his voice gentling. This was the job all medicos hated-to face parents when they couldn’t totally reassure. ‘You know them, Nikki?’
Nikki nodded numbly. She stayed where she was until Luke reached her and his fingers took the intubation tube. As they did, their hands touched and Nikki felt a flash of warmth that jolted her. That, and the gentleness of his eyes…He understood what she was facing, and that, on its own, made her job easier.
‘I’ll go,’ she whispered, and left him with his patient.
The few moments with the two sets of parents were as bad as they could be. Nikki tried her best to reassure them. This sort of thing hadn’t been so bad before she had Amy, she reflected sadly, but now…How would she feel if someone were telling her these things about her lovely daughter?
‘We’re taking them both down to Cairns,’ she told them gently. ‘We can take you on the plane but you must be back here in twenty minutes with what you need. Overnight gear for yourselves and a few things Martin and Lisa will want. The hospital will provide the necessities but a few personal belongings make a difference.’ She hesitated. ‘Maybe a few of Martin’s favourite tapes. He may…he may be in a coma for a while. Sound is important.’
Martin’s dad’s eyes filled with tears. ‘A coma…for a while…How the hell long?’ he demanded roughly.
‘I don’t know,’ Nikki said honestly. ‘Dr Marriott has lifted the pressure but there may have been damage done before that. We can only wait.’
Luke was waiting for her as she returned to Theatre. ‘Bad?’ he said softly, and Nikki looked up at him. For some stupid reason she felt like weeping. This wasn’t Nikki Russell-professional-untouchable.
‘Terrific,’ she said sarcastically, and her tone was harder than she intended. ‘What do you think?’
His face tightened and he turned to the sink. ‘Sorry I asked.’
Nikki bit her lip. She followed him across and mechanically started to wash.
‘You’ll fly to Cairns with them?’ she asked tentatively. Normally it would be her making the long flight, and she hated the flights with emergency patients. It left Eurong with no doctor within thirty miles. Still, both Lisa and Martin needed a doctor on the trip, and now there was Luke Marriott ready to go.
Or maybe not. Luke shook his head. ‘Your job, Dr Russell.’
Nikki stared at him. ‘But if something goes wrong…It’s you who has the neurology skills, Dr Marriott.’
‘And a fat lot of good they’ll do me at ten thousand feet. You can take blood-pressure and fix a drip just as well as I can, Dr Russell.’ They were being abruptly formal and all of a sudden it sounded absurd. The trough where they were washing was meant for one doctor. They were confined in too small a space and the night was too hot for comfort. The nurses had turned on the air-conditioning but it was still making a half-hearted effort to cool.
‘But…’ Nikki tried again. ‘But I’ve a little girl at home.’
‘You’ve a daughter?’ His brows rose as if the news shocked him. Nikki winced, wishing for the thousandth time she looked her age.
‘I have,’ she told him. ‘Amy’s four and she worries.’
‘But your housekeeper is there.’
‘Yes. But-’
‘And I’ll be there too.’ He smiled, and his smile held a trace of self-mockery. ‘I’m held to be good with children.’
‘But-’
He shook his head and his hands came up suddenly to grip her shoulders. ‘Dr Russell, do you know what I’m wearing at this particular moment?’
Nikki stared. His deep eyes were challenging her, and behind the challenge was the hint of laughter.
‘I don’t know…’ Nikki looked down, writhing in the unaccustomed hold. She didn’t enjoy being so close. Then she gasped. Luke Marriott was wearing a theatre gown. Nothing else. Below the gown hard, muscled legs emerged-naked. Even his feet were bare.
‘I’m in my birthday suit,’ he grinned. ‘Without my theatre gown I’m really something.’ His smile deepened, and he released her to turn his back, so that the ties behind him faced her. ‘Want to untie me and check it out?’
‘No!’ Nikki stepped back in horror. He turned back and smiled.
‘Well, I’m sure as hell not wearing an operating gown all the way to Cairns. My stuff was caked with dirt. I couldn’t wear it in Theatre. And these gowns are mean
t to fit someone about six inches shorter than I am. Sister’s already told me you keep a change of clothes here, Dr Russell. On the grounds that you’d look better in your change of clothes than I would, you’re going to Cairns.’
‘But-’
He sighed, leaned back and folded his arms. ‘What’s the matter, Dr Russell? Aren’t you happy leaving Eurong and your daughter to my tender mercies? Don’t you trust me?’
Nikki stared up at him. The deep blue eyes mocked her with their trace of laughter.
For the life of her, she couldn’t answer.
CHAPTER TWO
MARTIN recovered consciousness before the plane touched down at Cairns.
For Nikki it was a weird journey. She felt as if she had been snatched from her nice, safe existence, and only part of that feeling was due to flying to Cairns. She watched over her patients while she tried hard to avoid thinking of Luke Marriott.
‘He’s nice, isn’t he?’ Lisa whispered as she stirred from her drugged sleep and found the strength to speak.
‘Who?’ Nikki asked. She knew already whom Lisa was talking about.
‘The new doctor. He…he saved my life.’
Nikki shook her head, but part of her acknowledged the truth of Lisa’s words. His presence might not have saved Lisa’s life but it had probably spared her legs, and as for the boy she was with…
Nikki checked Martin for the hundredth time and noticed with satisfaction the lessening of his unconsciousness. He stirred just as they touched down, his eyes flickering open and gazing upwards in dazed confusion.
‘You’re safe,’ Nikki told him gently. ‘You and Lisa crashed the car. Lisa’s here with you. She’s OK. We’re taking you both to hospital.’
It was all he could cope with hearing. His eyelids lowered and he slept.
At Cairns Nikki was suddenly redundant. Forewarned, there were ambulances and doctors waiting as their flight landed. Martin’s condition was less serious now than they had feared, so Nikki could slip into the background. She was content to do so. By now the cumulative effects of two sleepless nights were showing. It was five in the morning and she was close to exhaustion.
Someone showed her to a sparsely furnished room at the hospital. All Nikki saw was the bed. Somehow she shed her clothes, slipped between cool sheets, and seconds later was asleep.
Nikki woke to heat. There was a big ceiling fan in the bedroom but she’d been too tired to think of turning it on. Now the temperature in the room had risen to the point of discomfort. Nikki opened her eyes, looked automatically at the wristwatch on her arm and sat up with a start. Midday.
Midday! It couldn’t be. She stared again and shook her wrist. The daily flight up to Cooktown-her only means of getting home-left at eleven a.m. Now… now she was stuck here for another twenty-four hours whether she liked it or not.
She flung back her sheet in distress. Someone should have woken her. They knew the routine. The staff here knew she had a flight to catch. Then a knock on the door made her dive back for the modesty of her bedclothes. The door opened and a smiling face appeared. It was Miss Charlotte Cain, a young surgeon whose friendship with Nikki dated from medical school.
‘Hi, Nikki,’ Charlotte smiled. ‘Welcome to the day.’ The white-coated young doctor looked down at her watch and her smile widened. ‘I can’t say good morning any more, that’s for sure.’
‘Charlie, what on earth were you doing letting me sleep?’ Nikki demanded angrily. ‘You knew I had a plane to catch.’
‘I’m only following orders,’ Charlotte grinned. ‘I hardly dared do anything else.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just that Luke Marriott rang from Eurong early this morning,’ she told the bemused Nikki. ‘He rang to find out how his patients were-his patients, mind-I think you’ve suffered an insurrection in your absence. When we reassured him as to Martin and Lisa’s condition, he turned his attention to you. He said you weren’t to be woken. He told us he didn’t expect you back in Eurong until tomorrow. We are to pass on instructions to you to get some rest. Go shopping, the man said. I am informed everything is under control at Eurong and you are not required. An autocratic male, is our Mr Marriott. Not a man to deny, I’d say.’ Charlotte sat down on the bed, raised her eyebrows at her friend and grinned. She had the look of someone who was enjoying herself hugely.
‘Mr Marriott…’ Nikki stared up at Charlotte in confusion. ‘So the man really is a surgeon?’
‘One of the best,’ Charlotte said simply. ‘As your young Martin can testify. He’s fully conscious and showing no signs of permanent damage.’ Charlotte shook her head. ‘I wish I could operate like that.’
‘I don’t understand.’ Nikki folded her sheet more closely about her and stared up at her friend.
‘What don’t you understand?’
‘Anything,’ Nikki wailed. ‘But especially I don’t understand why someone with Luke Marriott’s skill and training accepts the job as my locum. It doesn’t make sense.’ She looked desperately at her friend. ‘Make sense of it for me, Charlie?’
Charlotte shook her dark hair. ‘I can’t,’ she admitted. ‘We were all amazed when you contacted us last night and told us who was operating. Luke Marriott resigned from this place two years ago. We thought he’d gone overseas but no one heard. And then he springs up with you in Eurong-in the nick of time, as far as I can gather.’
In the nick of time…It had certainly been that. But why?
‘Did anything happen?’ Nikki asked slowly… ‘I mean, why did he leave here to do locum work?’
‘Who knows?’
‘There must be something,’ Nikki frowned. ‘Did something dreadful happen? Was there a lawsuit or medical mistake that would make him give up surgery?’
‘Didn’t you ask for details of his past when you employed him?’ Charlotte asked, amused. ‘Surely an outstanding lawsuit would have to appear on his curriculum vitae?’
‘I didn’t ask for his curriculum vitae,’ Nikki snapped, and then at the look on her friend’s face she changed her tone. ‘I checked he was currently registered and left it at that. Honestly, Charlotte, I was just so tired I thought anyone would do, as long as they were qualified and registered. I mean, I wasn’t going to leave the town.’
‘You mean you were going to do your usual trick of employing a locum and then doing the work yourself,’ Charlotte said drily. ‘For heaven’s sake, Nikki-’
‘Leave it, Charlie,’ Nikki said brusquely. She looked up, saw the fleeting look of hurt in her friend’s eyes and immediately regretted her words. ‘Look, Charlie, it’s just that…’
‘It’s just that if you stop working then you have time to think,’ her friend retorted. And then a sudden smile flashed over her face. ‘Well, you and Luke Marriott should get on famously. Two workaholics and only enough work for one. Dear, oh, dear…’
‘So tell me about him,’ Nikki demanded, anxious to get the conversation away from herself. ‘Why on earth is he acting as a locum if he’s so darned clever and conscientious? He looks like…’ She thought back to Luke Marriott’s disreputable appearance, and the sudden memory of naked legs appearing from under his scanty hospital gown made her almost gasp. ‘He looks like a bum to me,’ she said unsteadily.
‘Well, he’s not a bum.’ Charlotte shook her head vehemently, frowning. ‘I suppose we’re talking of the same Luke Marriott? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man without imported, tailored suits and amazingly expensive silk ties.’ She looked at Nikki. ‘What’s your Luke Marriott like?’
How to describe naked legs and laughing blue eyes…? Nikki couldn’t. She opened her mouth and tried but the words stuck. And then Charlotte laughed.
‘OK,’ she smiled. ‘That’s our Luke you’re thinking of. I know Luke Marriott. There’s not many men who could make you look like that, Nikki Russell, but Luke Marriott has to be a good bet. He hasn’t changed, then.’
‘Hasn’t changed…?’
‘Luke Marriott was the most gor
geous male within jet-plane distance of this hospital,’ Charlotte said firmly. ‘He had every junior nurse, some senior ones, and a few female doctors besides, making fools of themselves every time he walked past. He’s broken more hearts than I care to name.’ She peered at Nikki. ‘Not yours yet, sweetie?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Nikki snapped, and to her annoyance found herself flushing.
‘No.’ Charlotte stood up abruptly. ‘I’m not being ridiculous. Nikki, it’s five years since Scott-’
‘I don’t want to talk about Scott.’
‘I know,’ her friend said grimly. ‘You don’t want to remember Scott. Well, that’s never going to happen if you don’t ease up on work and start enjoying yourself a bit more,’ Charlotte said bluntly. She looked at her watch. ‘Hey, your new locum ordered you to shop,’ she smiled. ‘And I have the afternoon off. When was the last time you went clothes shopping, Dr Russell?’
‘I don’t need clothes,’ Nikki snapped. ‘I can use this afternoon at the library. I need to study, Charlie.’
‘The medical library is closed on Wednesday afternoons,’ her friend grinned. ‘Now isn’t that a shame? And you haven’t a text with you-and I’m damned if I’ll lend you a single one of mine.’
‘Charlie-’
‘Nikki Russell, you must have more money than you know what to do with. Your parents left you that fabulous house, and you have a perfectly sound income from a too busy medical practice. And I don’t see a single sign of frivolous spending. Those jeans you were wearing last night were years old. Now either you come shopping with me or I’ll personally ring the airport and cancel your flight home tomorrow.’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘Coming, Dr Russell?’
Nikki sighed. Well, maybe she could do with some new jeans…‘If you’re not doing anything…’ she said reluctantly.
‘I’m doing something all right,’ her friend grinned. ‘I’m spending the afternoon with my closest friend to spend someone else’s money. There’s nothing I could enjoy more.’
‘I have to telephone Amy.’
‘There’s a telephone beside your bed,’ her friend told her. ‘You have fifteen minutes, Dr Russell. And then you’re coming shopping, whether you like it or not.’
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