by Sarah Morgan
Kat glanced across the garden to Mac, who was talking to his brother with one eye on his wife.
‘He adores you.’
‘I know.’ Louisa gave him a loving smile then turned her attention back to Kat. ‘And what about you?’
Kat didn’t pretend to misunderstand her. ‘I have Archie.’
‘And he’s great. But you should share him with someone.’ Louisa chuckled as Archie rolled on the rug with the dog. ‘It’s selfish of you to keep a gorgeous boy like that to yourself.’
‘Unfortunately, real life isn’t that straightforward.’ Kat couldn’t keep the sadness out of her tone. ‘I haven’t yet met a man capable of living up to the responsibility of his own child, let alone someone else’s. And I wouldn’t ever take a risk on Archie’s happiness.’
‘Life is all about taking risk,’ Louisa said thoughtfully. ‘It’s just important to take the right risk at the right time, and you’d need a special man to make you do it, I can see that.’
‘I’m not looking for a man,’ Kat said hastily, wondering if Louisa had intercepted the chemistry sizzling between her and Josh. ‘Although sometimes I think Archie needs more of a male influence in his life. He’s such a boy boy, if you know what I mean.’
Louisa licked barbecue sauce from her fingers and smiled. ‘I can see that about him. He’s very rough and tumble.’
‘And he loves things like football—’ Kat broke off and brushed her hair out of her eyes with a rueful smile. ‘I’m not much of a footballer but I do my best.’
‘Josh is a great footballer. He’d kick a ball around with Archie.’
Kat shot her a suspicious look but Louisa’s expression was totally innocent as she put her plate down on the table.
‘Hey, Archie!’ She called across, laughter in her eyes. ‘That dog of mine is getting fat and lazy. Fancy playing football with him?’
‘Really? He can play football?’ Archie scrambled to his feet and Hopeful bounded around him, tail wagging.
‘He’s brilliant in goal.’ Louisa rubbed her back and winced. ‘There’s a ball here somewhere.’ She glanced over at Mac. ‘Where’s the football? I know I saw it the other day.’
He grinned and dropped his eyes to her stomach. ‘You look as though you might very possibly have swallowed it, my sweetheart.’
‘Oh, ha, ha, very funny.’ Louisa walked awkwardly across the lawn towards him but her eyes were dancing. ‘The jokes are on me now, but pretty soon the tables will be turned, Dr Sullivan. This particular football is going to be keeping you awake at nights.’
‘Don’t remind me,’ Mac groaned, but there was no missing the love in his eyes as he looked at his wife.
Josh placed a hand on Louisa’s abdomen. ‘It’s so enormous. I know I keep asking you this, but doesn’t it hurt?’
‘Only when he kicks me hard. Like now.’ Louisa winced. ‘How are you two at delivering babies?’
‘Don’t even joke about it.’ Josh gave a shudder and backed away, hands raised in a gesture of male helplessness. ‘I’m an A and E doctor. I don’t deliver babies.’
‘A and E doctors are supposed to be able do everything,’ Louisa reminded him mildly, and Josh shook his head, but there was laughter in his eyes.
‘Not babies! I’ll do anything except babies. Fall over and break all your bones and I’m definitely your man, but babies…’ He shivered dramatically. ‘Kat did obstetrics last, she can deliver it.’
They all laughed and Kat tried to join in, but she felt strangely heavy inside. They were a wonderful family and spending the day with them reminded her of how lonely her life was.
Kat gave herself a shake and watched as the two men chased around the garden, kicking the football to her little boy, who whooped and sprinted after it.
He was in boy heaven.
‘Hopeful goes in goal,’ Louisa yelled, gesturing to two ancient apple trees laden with fruit. ‘Goal is between those two trees. But don’t slip on the apples.’
They played for the rest of the afternoon until Archie tripped over the ball and started to cry.
‘He’s tired,’ Kat said quickly, scooping him up into her arms and giving him a cuddle. She checked her watch and gave a gasp. ‘I didn’t realise it was so late! I need to get him home to bed. Thank you so much for a wonderful day.’
‘It was wonderful having you.’ Louisa beamed at her. ‘Josh will walk you home.’
‘What?’ Josh looked as though she’d suggested he walk naked down the high street. ‘Walk her home?’
‘Yes.’ Louisa’s tone was patient as she cleared the last of the plates. ‘Just in case she gets mugged.’
‘Mugged?’ Kat blinked. ‘But it’s still light and I only live over there.’
‘Two girls were mugged on the beach just last week,’ Louisa said, looking at Josh with a stern look in her eyes. ‘You live right next door to her so it makes absolute sense for you to walk home together.’
Josh frowned, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. ‘Louisa…’
‘I won’t get mugged.’ Kat took one look at the dangerous look in Josh’s eyes and felt a cloud descend on her. It was so obvious that he didn’t relish the idea of walking home with her, and who could blame him? He obviously had other plans for his evening. Undoubtedly something much more exciting than acting as a bodyguard for a woman and her child.
And he hadn’t so much as glanced in her direction since that episode in the sea.
She quickly gathered up their things that were scattered across the lawn and said her farewells to Mac.
Josh was standing by the gate. Holding tightly to Archie’s hand, she swung the bag over her shoulder and gave him a cool look.
‘You don’t have to take me home.’
He didn’t quite meet her eyes. ‘Louisa’s right. It makes sense,’ he muttered, reaching for her bag.
She held onto it. ‘I can carry my own bag,’ she snapped, and he blinked at her.
‘I thought it might be heavy.’
‘Well, I could carry it even if it was heavy.’ She shot him a look of intense irritation. ‘Since the day Archie was born I’ve been lugging pushchairs and car seats and one increasingly heavy child. I can carry a beach bag.’
This time he did look at her and there was a question mixed with the wariness. ‘All right.’ There was a gleam in his eyes. ‘If you’re Miss Muscle, you can carry my bag.’ He handed her an overstuffed sports bag and despite her best efforts a giggle escaped. He had a way of making her laugh even when she was determined to be angry with him.
‘Weedy, that’s your problem.’ He had muscles that drew the female eye and weedy was about the one thing he most certainly was not. ‘You don’t need to walk me home, Josh.’
She had too much pride to allow him to do it.
She was too independent.
‘Indulge me.’ He glanced over her shoulder. ‘I’m scared of my sister-in-law. If anything untoward were to happen to you, I’d never hear the last of it.’
‘We both know I’m not going to get mugged.’
‘No, but I will if I don’t escort you.’ His tone was dry. ‘Have you ever tried arguing with Louisa? Trust me, it doesn’t work. Especially when she’s interfering.’
‘How is she interfering?’ It seemed to Kat that she was just being caring, but she didn’t have time to explore that further with Josh because Archie was whining and tugging at her hand impatiently, not understanding the delay.
‘When are we going? I’m bored. I want to go home.’
He wasn’t really bored, of course, he was tired and he needed to go to bed.
She made her decision. ‘Come on, then.’ It was quicker than arguing and it wasn’t as if it was far, she reasoned. And it wasn’t as if she was making Josh go out of his way. He lived right next door.
Archie took all her attention on the way home. First he wanted to walk. Then he wanted to be carried. And he whined and moaned and generally made a fuss.
Josh frowned as she scooped him into her a
rms for the second time. ‘He’s too heavy for you.’
‘I’m used to carrying him if he gets tired. I always carry him.’
‘Well, you shouldn’t.’ He looked at Archie. ‘Aren’t you big enough to walk?’
Archie buried his head in Kat’s shoulder. ‘I’m tired.’
‘Too much running around. Fancy a ride on my shoulders?’ He angled his head. ‘The view is probably better higher up.’
Archie’s face lit up and he stretched out his arms, making it impossible for Kat to refuse.
‘There.’ Josh lifted him easily and hitched him onto his shoulders, holding firmly onto the little boy’s legs. ‘How’s that?’
‘Cool.’ Archie gazed upwards. ‘I’m quite close to the moon. Did you know Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon?’
Josh looked at Kat, astonishment in his eyes. ‘Do kids his age know things like that?’
‘Of course we do,’ Archie said scathingly. ‘We’re learning about it in summer camp. The planets. Mars, Jupiter, Pluto…’ He curled his fingers into Josh’s hair to keep his balance, and Josh winced.
Kat struggled not to laugh. ‘Don’t grab his hair, Arch,’ she said quickly, reaching on tiptoe to unclasp her son’s hands. ‘He’s got your legs, you’re quite safe. Just hold his head gently—that’s it.’
They arrived outside her door and Josh reached up and lifted Archie down from his shoulders with effortless ease while Kat watched. Something twisted inside her. She couldn’t put Archie on her shoulders, he was too heavy. And she’d never be able to lift him like that.
‘OK—well, here we are.’ She smiled at Archie. ‘Say bye to Josh.’
‘Bye, Josh, and thanks for the ride.’ Archie shot up to the front door, suddenly eager to see his toys, and Kat was left alone with Josh.
For some reason she suddenly felt hideously shy. ‘Right then…’ She gave him an awkward smile. ‘This is me, so…’ she waved a hand, ‘…I’ll say goodnight.’
He hesitated and glanced towards the door, and for a wild moment she thought he was going to suggest that he come in for coffee.
But then he gave a brief smile and a nod, shifted his sports bag on his shoulder and made off down the road without a backward glance.
Kat walked up the path to her cottage and unlocked the door.
Sunday night.
She’d bath Archie, read him a story and then settle down with her A and E textbook. And if that was a slightly sad way for a twenty-seven-year-old to spend a Sunday evening, she wasn’t going to think about it.
And she wasn’t—she definitely wasn’t—going to think about Josh Sullivan.
CHAPTER SIX
THE following week was a nightmare.
Kat hadn’t thought it possible to be so distracted by a man. Since her disastrous relationship with Archie’s father, she’d had no trouble at all in keeping men at a distance. She barely noticed them as anything other than friends and colleagues.
But it would have been impossible not to notice Josh. Everything about him was designed to be noticed. The glossy dark hair, the laughing blue eyes that teased and hinted at no end of wicked thoughts, the bold pirate’s smile designed to turn a woman inside out. And then there was his body, of course. Kat clutched the notes she was holding to her chest and tried valiantly to blot out the image. Maybe if she’d met him in the winter things would have been different. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been half-undressed all the time and she wouldn’t have had such a clear image of strong male shoulders and lean muscular legs.
She shook herself.
This was ridiculous.
She was behaving like a teenager with a stupid crush and she needed to snap out of it. And if her wretched body had suddenly woken up—she lifted her chin in a determined gesture—well, it could just go straight back to sleep again.
‘Who can just go straight back to sleep again?’ Josh strolled up to her and lifted an eyebrow.
Kat gaped at him. Had she spoken aloud? ‘I—I—must have been thinking aloud.’
‘Right. Archie having problems sleeping?’
Not Archie.
Kat dropped the notes she was holding and inevitably they scattered over the floor. With a soft curse she dropped to her knees and gathered the various papers together with shaking hands. ‘Did you want something?’ Thoroughly flustered, she stuffed the pages back in the folder and scrambled to her feet. ‘You were obviously looking for me.’
‘Yes.’ His eyes dropped to her mouth. ‘I was.’
She really, really wished he wouldn’t look at her like that.
She licked her lips and clutched the notes tightly. It was that or drop them again. ‘So, what did you want?’
‘You.’ His gaze lifted and he gave a slow, sexy smile. ‘I wanted you, Kat.’
Her knees shook, her heart raced and she desperately wanted to look away from that smile. But she couldn’t. Her gaze was fastened to his and she watched his smile fade. Watched a very different emotion flicker into his eyes.
And then the doors to Resus crashed open behind them.
‘You’re both hiding in here.’ Hannah hurried across the room, looking harassed. ‘That’s good. The paramedics are bringing in a collapsed teenager who was on holiday with some friends.’
Kat dragged her gaze away from Josh and felt the burn in her cheeks. ‘Another drug incident, do you think?’ Her tone was calm and professional and she busied herself at the intubation tray, hoping that Hannah wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
‘No idea.’ Hannah quickly checked the necessary equipment. ‘So far no real clues. Could be something as simple as food poisoning from the description. Maybe she ate some dodgy seafood on the beach.’
The paramedics arrived moments later, with the teenager groaning and clutching her stomach.
‘She’s been sick all the way in the ambulance and complaining of pains in her stomach,’ the paramedic said, giving a full brief to Josh as they transferred the girl across from the stretcher to the trolley.
‘Acute abdomen?’ Kat glanced at Josh and he narrowed his eyes.
‘Possibly.’
Which meant he thought it was something different. Kat loved watching him work. He was like a detective, searching for clues and missing nothing.
‘I’m so thirsty…’ The girl gave a groan and wretched again while Hannah handed her a clean bowl and made sympathetic noises.
‘You’re thirsty because you’re sick,’ she said soothingly, and Josh frowned.
‘Or maybe not.’ His tone was thoughtful. ‘Maybe she’s thirsty for an entirely different reason. Let’s get a blood pressure and pulse reading.’ He drew closer to the girl, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out heavily. ‘Dr O’Brien, what do you know about Küssmaul respiration?’
Kat racked her brains, mentally leafing through the various chapters of her A and E textbook. Then something clicked into place. ‘My first medical house job.’ She looked at him. ‘We had a diabetic man on the ward and he—’ She broke off and looked at the girl. ‘You think that’s what’s wrong here?’
‘Her breath smells of ketones.’ He shrugged. ‘Could be.’
‘And the GI symptoms?’
‘They’re common in a hyperglycaemic crisis and they’re often misdiagnosed.’
But not in his department, Kat thought, filled with silent admiration for his skills. He didn’t miss anything and he always looked beyond the obvious.
‘Check her BMG and her urine for glucose and ketones,’ he instructed, and one of the other nurses did as he requested while Hannah checked the girl’s blood pressure and pulse.
Josh scanned the machine with a nod. ‘Hypotensive and tachycardic. I’m pretty sure that we’re looking at a case of diabetic ketoacidosis. It would fit her signs and symptoms.’ He tried talking to the girl but her answers were incoherent and gave them no clues at all. Josh gave up. ‘Hannah…’ He glanced up, his expression urgent. ‘Can you get someone to talk to the friends? We need som
e history here. Is she an uncontrolled diabetic? There are no marks on her skin so it doesn’t look as though she’s been injecting. I need everything they have on her medical history.’
‘I’ll get some details from them.’ Hannah vanished from the room and Josh looked at Kat.
‘Let’s get an IV in and an infusion of saline started. If that hypotension persists then we might need to increase the rate and switch to colloids.’
Moments later Hannah was back in the room. ‘They say that she isn’t a diabetic but she’s been behaving oddly for the past couple of days. They thought she had a bug.’
‘Diabetic ketoacidosis can develop over several days in younger, undiagnosed diabetics.’
Kat slid a venflon into the vein. ‘What blood tests do you want?’
Josh’s eyes flashed a challenge. ‘What do you think, Dr Sullivan?’
‘Blood glucose obviously.’ Quickly she selected the right bottle. ‘U&Es, creatinine, osmolality…’ She listed the others and Josh gave a nod.
‘And a full blood count and arterial blood gases. Let’s send off blood cultures and get an ECG done. And call the radiologists. I want a chest X-ray.’
Kat finished taking the blood and labelled the bottles. ‘Do you think she has an infection?’
‘I think it’s possible. We’ll send a sample of her urine for microscopy and culture and do a throat swab.’ Josh checked her plasma glucose level. ‘All right, folks, let’s give her 20 units of insulin to start with, and then we need to monitor that level every hour. Has someone called the medical reg? Obviously she’s going to need to be admitted.’
Hannah nodded. ‘He’s on his way. He’s already in the department actually, so he’ll be along in a minute.’
They worked until the girl was stable and then handed her over to the medical team. ‘I’ll take her up to the ward and then I’ll come back and sort this place out,’ Hannah said, glancing around Resus with a rueful expression on her face. ‘What a mess.’
With the help of a porter, she guided the trolley through the doors and they swung shut behind her.
Silence descended on the room.
Kat swallowed. Suddenly it was just the two of them again. ‘That was a really interesting case.’ She kept her voice bright and professional. ‘I love the way you always think laterally. You see abdominal pain but you don’t automatically think acute surgical abdomen. You always manage to—’