‘Where did you get all that delicious food, by the way? The shops must have been shut by the time you left work.’
‘They were in Dalverston but there’s a supermarket with a wonderful deli counter on the way to Lancaster that’s open all night, so I drove over there.’
‘You went all that way?’ She couldn’t hide her surprise, and he grinned.
‘It was worth it, wasn’t it? Come on, Maggie, tell the truth—have you ever eaten anything that tasted so good before?’
His enthusiasm was infectious and she laughed. ‘No! It was fabulous. I love picnics, although I have to confess that I’ve never been on one at night before.’
‘Neither have I so it’s a double first. And I can’t think of anyone I would rather have shared the occasion with.’ He raised his glass once more and smiled at her. ‘Thanks for coming with me, Maggie.’
‘You’re welcome,’ she replied then took a hasty swallow of her wine while she willed her heart to calm down. That smile had been just too potent and her heart was beating away as though it was trying to set a new world record.
She stared towards the river again while she struggled to get herself back on an even keel, or at least one that didn’t feel quite so shaky. It had been fine while they’d been eating but now that the meal was finished she was suddenly conscious of how quiet it was on the riverbank. It made her even more aware of Luke sitting beside her.
‘It’s really beautiful here at night, isn’t it? So peaceful. It’s hard to believe there are busy streets just a stone’s throw away.’
She started nervously when he spoke, feeling small tremors of awareness spreading through her body. ‘It is. Wh-what is it like where you live?’ she asked, deeming it wiser to keep the conversational ball rolling. If she focused on what Luke was saying it would distract her from how she was feeling, she reasoned.
‘Busy. Boston is a wonderful city, always on the go, day and night. Oh, there are quiet spots, like the park close to the apartment block where I live. I go there sometimes after I’ve finished work, especially if it’s late and it’s been a particularly busy day. I just like to sit on a bench and catch my breath, if you know what I mean.’
He turned to smile at her, the moonlight playing softly over his face so that he looked even more handsome than usual. ‘Do you ever feel the need to do that, Maggie—take a step back and let the world whizz past for a few minutes?’
‘Uh-huh.’ She had to swallow the sudden knot in her throat. Concentrate on what he’s saying, Maggie, she reminded herself sternly, not on how he looks! ‘I expect it’s the job we do that makes us feel that we need to take a breather occasionally. So often we’re dealing with life-and-death situations and the pressure gets to you at times, doesn’t it?’
‘It does. But it’s all part and parcel of the job. And maybe it isn’t a bad thing at that,’ Luke mused, frowning a little. ‘I’d hate to think that I would ever reach a point where the pressure didn’t get to me because I’d become indifferent to people’s suffering.’
‘I can’t see that ever happening,’ she said immediately, then shrugged when he looked at her in surprise. ‘It’s obvious how much you care about the people you treat, Luke. It isn’t just a job to you and I don’t think it ever will be. That’s why you are so good at what you do—because you care and want to do the very best you can.’
‘Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that, Maggie.’ He reached over and squeezed her hand. Maybe it was the simple spontaneity of the gesture that made her less cautious than she might otherwise have been.
‘Does it?’
As soon as the words were out she wished she hadn’t said them, or at least not that way. She felt a little thrill of apprehension run down her spine when she saw his eyes darken. He must have guessed from her tone how much she wanted him to have been telling the truth, and it scared her because it seemed to push against the boundaries of their relationship.
‘Yes, it really does.’ He took a deep breath and his eyes seemed to blaze as he looked at her. ‘I value your opinion, Maggie. It means more to me than I can tell you.’
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. Nothing seemed quite right. She couldn’t pass off the moment with a joke because that was the last thing she felt like doing, joking about something so precious, so important. She was searching for the right words when something suddenly flew out of the darkness and brushed the top of her head.
‘Oh!’ she gasped, scrambling to her feet. ‘What was that?’
‘A bat, I think. Yes, look there it is, and there’s another.’ Luke stood up and pointed to a spot above the river. Maggie shuddered as she saw the tiny creatures whirling about.
‘Oh, no. I had no idea there were bats living around here,’ she exclaimed in dismay, swatting at her hair.
‘Hey, there’s nothing to be scared of. They won’t hurt you.’ He turned to her with a reassuring smile. His eyes darkened in concern when he saw that she really was frightened. ‘Maggie, they’re more scared of you than you are of them!’
‘Want to bet?’ she muttered shakily. She ran a hand over her hair again and shuddered. ‘They’re supposed to get tangled in your hair and that one definitely touched my hair as it passed!’
‘Only because it was trying to find out who and what you were, I expect.’ His tone was soothing as he looped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Here we are slap-bang in the middle of their territory so it’s only natural that they should want to check us out. Look, they aren’t at all interested in us now. They’re more concerned with hunting for their dinner.’
He turned her firmly towards the river. ‘It’s hard to tell from this distance what kind of bat they are, but they’re probably Daubenton’s bats. They’re very common in the British Isles, I believe, and they tend to live in woodland close to rivers.’
‘How do you know so much about them?’ she asked, relaxing a little as curiosity took the edge off her fear.
‘I was a boy scout, I’ll have you know. I spent a lot of time camping out in woods when I was younger, learning about the animals and plants. I even have my woodcraft badge to prove that I know what I’m talking about!’
‘So I’m speaking to a real expert, am I?’ She looked up at him and laughed. ‘A genuine bat man, in fact!’
‘Oh, that was awful! How anyone could come out with a pun like that, I’ll never know!’ he groaned, making her laugh all the more.
‘There’s plenty more where that came from,’ she assured him.
‘I don’t doubt it!’ He looked down at her with eyes full of laughter. Maggie smiled back, thinking how wonderful it was to be able to joke with him like that…
She wasn’t sure what happened then. One moment they were laughing together and the next the mood had shifted with a speed that left her breathless. She felt the blood begin to pound in her head when she saw the way Luke was looking at her with such hunger.
He reached up slowly, so slowly that it felt as though it were happening in a dream, and laid his palm flat against her cheek. ‘Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you look in the moonlight, Maggie?’
‘No.’
‘Then it’s another first that I can share with you.’
His voice was as gentle as the murmur of the water as it flowed past at their feet. Maggie shivered as every nerve in her body responded to the caressing note it held. All around them the gentle sounds of the night continued yet her ears seemed to be deaf to everything except the sounds Luke made: the soft rasp of his breathing; the rustle of cloth as he drew her into his arms; the heavy, steady beat of his heart which was simply an echo of her own…
His lips were warm and tender yet so full of need that she gave a murmur almost of pain. To know that he wanted her this much was almost more than she could bear, and definitely more than she could resist.
She returned the kiss, not attempting to disguise her own hunger. She couldn’t pretend. She couldn’t feign indifference when her body was crying out how much it wanted his!
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He drew back at last, resting his forehead against hers as he took a deep breath. ‘I shouldn’t have done that but I’m not sorry, Maggie.’
‘Neither am I,’ she whispered, unable to lie.
She felt rather than saw him smile, heard the laughter and tenderness in his voice. ‘Good. That’s something else we have in common, isn’t it? But the list just seems to be getting longer by the day.’
He ran his hands up her arms and sighed when he felt her tremble. ‘The more I learn about you, Maggie Carr, the more I find to like.’
She laughed softly, her heart overflowing at the admission. ‘Me, too…about you, I mean. Crazy, isn’t it, when you think back to how we felt a couple of weeks ago? We could barely exchange a civil word then.’
‘It is.’ He took another deep breath then slowly let her go. In the pale glow of moonlight his face looked sombre all of a sudden, so sombre that she felt a chill race through her.
‘Crazy and dangerous.’ Luke brushed her cheek with his knuckles then sighed. ‘I don’t want you getting hurt, Maggie. Nor do I want to run the risk of getting hurt myself. At the end of the day, nothing has changed. We are still the same two people we have always been, with the same priorities.’
She knew what he was saying, that he might be attracted to her but that he would never let that attraction sway him from the course he’d chosen. Luke’s work was his main priority in life and everything else came a poor second to it.
It was on the tip of her tongue to assure him that she didn’t care, that she would be happy to accept whatever he could spare her and for however long, only some shred of common sense surfaced at the last moment.
‘I’m sure you’re right.’ It took all her courage to smile when what she felt like doing was weeping, but she wouldn’t embarrass him or herself by breaking down. ‘Neither of us is in the market for a relationship at present.’
She looked up at the sky and blinked back her tears. ‘Let’s just put it down to an overdose of moonlight and leave it at that.’
He laughed but there was a hollow ring to the sound that told her he was struggling with his own emotions. Luke might have felt it necessary to call a halt but that didn’t mean he was immune to what had happened and it was a bitter-sweet torment to know that.
‘Sounds like a good idea to me. Anyway, I think it’s time we went home, don’t you? It’s been a great evening, Maggie. Thank you for coming.’
They didn’t say anything else as they cleared away the remains of their picnic then walked back to her flat. Once there, Maggie didn’t linger after she’d bade him goodnight. They’d said everything that needed to be said…
Hadn’t they?
She let herself into the flat and went straight to the window. Luke hadn’t bothered with his car, probably because he’d known he would be drinking. She watched him crossing the street, his tall figure momentarily spotlighted by one of the streetlamps. She knew that it was an image she would always remember because it was the moment when she finally admitted to herself how she felt.
She loved him.
Three simple words that could never be said out loud. There really wasn’t anything left to say.
As Maggie had suspected, she saw little of Luke once she returned to work. With her working nights and him working days the occasions when they bumped into one another were few and far between. In a way she was glad because it gave her time to come to terms with how she felt about him, although that didn’t mean it changed anything. She was in love with him but the best thing she could do in the circumstances was to keep it to herself.
It was almost midnight on her third night on duty when Angela came rushing to the office to find her. Maggie’s heart sank when she saw the stricken expression on the young nurse’s face.
‘What’s happened?’ she demanded, getting up from the desk.
‘It’s Mrs Bradshaw. She wanted to go to the bathroom…’ Angela gulped. ‘I only left her for a moment, Maggie…honest!’
Maggie was out of the door in a flash. She ran to the bathroom, dreading what she would find. Alice was lying on the floor beside the lavatory and it was obvious that she was in a great deal of pain.
‘Alice, can you hear me?’ she asked, crouching beside her.
‘It’s my hip. I… I think… I’ve broken it again…’
Maggie ran a practised hand over the old lady’s upper thigh but it was impossible to tell just by feeling it whether or not the joint was damaged. She turned to Angela, who was standing in the doorway looking very shocked.
‘Go and phone Cheryl. Tell her that we need her down here straight away. And tell Tracy that we’re going to need her help to lift Alice onto a trolley.’
‘She will be all right, won’t she? I don’t know how it happened. I told her to call me…’
‘We’ll worry about how it happened later,’ Maggie said firmly. ‘Go and phone Cheryl.’
Angela pressed a hand to her mouth as she hurried away. It was obvious that she was on the verge of tears and Maggie sympathised. However, at that moment she was more concerned about getting Alice attended to as quickly as possible. A fall like this was the last thing the old lady needed.
‘It wasn’t her fault. She told me to ring the bell when I’d finished using the toilet, but I wanted to do everything myself and now look at the mess I’m in.’ Alice groaned as she tried to sit up. Maggie laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
‘Stay still! I’m more interested in getting you back into bed than worrying about whose fault it was. Dr Rothwell will be here in a few minutes and she can check you over.’
Tracy arrived just then so Maggie sent her off to fetch a blanket. She also asked her to ring for a porter. Although Alice was slightly built, it would be difficult to lift her up from the floor, and it would help to have an extra pair of hands.
Cheryl arrived at a run a few minutes later and made a hasty examination. She drew Maggie aside while Tracy covered the old lady with a blanket. ‘It’s impossible to say if her hip is broken but we’ll have to assume that it is. I’ll give her something for the pain then we can get her to X-ray.’
‘Is there anyone on duty tonight? I heard someone say that the radiology department has had to be closed at night this week because of staffing problems.’
‘Really? Oh, that’s just what we need, isn’t it?’ Cheryl exclaimed in dismay. ‘We need an X-ray and it can’t wait till the morning. If Mrs Bradshaw’s hip is broken then there could be no end of complications if it’s left.’
‘How about getting onto A and E?’ Maggie suggested. ‘They have a portable X-ray machine so maybe we could send Alice down to them.’
‘Brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of it?’ Cheryl sounded relieved. She hadn’t worked on the surgical team very long and Maggie suspected that she was worried about doing the wrong thing. She decided that it might be better for everyone if Cheryl had some help and was relieved when the young doctor came to the same conclusion without her having to suggest it.
‘I’m going to phone Luke and get him to come and look at Mrs Bradshaw,’ Cheryl announced. ‘He’s on call tonight and I’m sure he’d want to know what’s happened because he operated on her.’
‘I think it’s a good idea,’ Maggie agreed, trying to quell the noisy clamouring her heart was making at the thought of seeing Luke that night.
‘Do you? Oh, good. Then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll give Mrs Bradshaw that injection first, then we can get her onto a trolley and go from there,’ Cheryl declared, sounding happier now that she’d decided on a course of action.
The porter arrived just then and between them they managed to lift Alice onto a trolley and sent her down to A and E for an X-ray. Cheryl went with her, leaving Maggie free to have a word with Angela, who was still very upset about what had happened.
In the end, she sent the girl to the canteen for her break, hoping that she would feel better after a cup of tea. With there being only the three of them on duty, she was going to need Angela to p
ull her weight, although hopefully the rest of the night would pass peacefully. It was a vain hope as it turned out because Angela had been gone only a few minutes when Tracy came rushing over to tell her that she thought there was a problem with Alan Cole.
Maggie rolled her eyes. ‘It never rains but it pours, doesn’t it? What’s wrong with him?’
‘He’s having trouble breathing. I don’t like the look of him at all, Maggie.’
The urgency in the third-year nurse’s voice spurred Maggie on. She hurried down the darkened ward to Alan’s bed and saw straight away that Tracy hadn’t been exaggerating. The poor man was gasping for breath and clutching his chest in obvious pain.
‘How long has he been like this?’ she demanded, stripping away the pillows so that she could lay him flat. She was alarmed to see how quickly he was deteriorating as his lips began turning blue.
‘Just a few minutes. I spoke to him shortly after we’d got Mrs Bradshaw sorted out,’ Tracy explained anxiously. ‘He’s had trouble sleeping tonight so I’ve checked on him several times. He said that he felt all right, just a bit restless, so I didn’t think it worth mentioning.’
‘Obviously, it was more than that—’ Maggie broke off as Alan groaned then promptly lapsed into unconsciousness. ‘Right, he’s stopped breathing. Call for the crash team, Tracy—now!’
She switched to automatic pilot after that, using skills that she’d learned over the years. Maintaining breathing and circulation were the main priorities in a situation like this and that was what she concentrated on. Tracy helped once she’d summoned the crash team, a team of specially trained doctors and nurses from the A and E department who were skilled in emergency life-saving techniques.
Maggie was relieved to hand Alan over to them a short time later. The specialist in charge of the team had diagnosed a possible pulmonary embolism as the cause of Alan’s rapid deterioration and she suspected that he was right. Pulmonary embolisms were caused by fragments breaking off a blood clot and travelling to the lungs where they caused a blockage. There was always a chance of that happening in a case like this.
The Italian Doctor Page 14