Andrew wanted to stop her but there was nothing to do here in a crowded pub. He just had to watch her weave her way through the crowd and thoroughly dislike himself because he was grateful that although he had hurt her, at least she hadn’t caused a public scene.
Three hours later, Andrew stumbled his way out of a taxi door. He had left the driver with a fifty-dollar tip, on top of the fare, because three drinks had turned into ten and he had barely been able to slur his own address. However, it wasn’t like he had Kate to go home to and he had needed something more to get through a night where it seemed she had slipped further out of his life.
As if to make the reality of her decision even more real, Andrew had to stop himself from going to open her front door. Instead, he had to go to his own. His own door, his own lonely bed, his own choices that left him with no Kate. As Andrew dropped his key for the third time, he slammed his fist into the door. The pain didn’t even begin to register, but he had torn apart his knuckles, his bloody precious surgeon’s hands.
Chapter Nineteen
Kate nursed a glass of champagne on the night of Andrew’s going away party. Of course, tonight she had actually pretended a major migraine and so was regretfully toasting his departure from the comfort of her own living room. Six weeks since they last had any intimate contact and she already missed him dreadfully, even though they worked together most days.
It was somewhere in that haze of emotional pain that she had actually realized she did love him. She knew questions would be asked about why she wasn’t attending his party tonight. However, the chance of breaking down while wishing him a cheery goodbye was too big a risk to her sense of self.
‘Hey, darling.’ Lucy’s call from her front door was not one that could be ignored no matter how much she might crave her solitude.
‘Is everyone abandoning the party tonight?’ Kate asked. ‘Aren’t you supervising the hosting?’
‘Best friend’s rights, and it’s a pit stop,’ said Lucy, as she breezed in. ‘I gather by the sweats you are definitely not planning a late appearance.’
‘Ex-shag’s rights.’ Kate took another bolt of champagne. ‘Though we are still sticking with the story of a sudden illness.’
Lucy pulled an envelope out of her purse. ‘Seeing as the person in question has a one way ticket to London tomorrow, I’ve been debating the ethics of giving you this. But you’re a grown up, so you get the memento.’
Her tentative handling of the envelope had Kate grabbing for it.
Lucy kept on explaining while Kate opened it. ‘We had a professional photographer on the grounds a few months ago. He was mainly taking photos of the facilities, but I did find this frame in the files he sent through to me.’
There it was. A glossy shiny reminder of what she had lost, of what she had barely realized had existed. In the photo, Kate was lying on a daybed next to the pool asleep with her head in Andrew’s lap. But it was his expression that tore at her; he looked at her with such tenderness, such care, as he stroked back the hair from her face.
‘Some memento,’ she said. No longer able to stand, Kate stumbled to the dining room table.
‘You are a facts girl,’ said Lucy, only half sympathetically, as she kissed her friend on the way out. ‘There are definitely some facts to be explored in that image.’
Kate sat there for almost an hour before she decided on a plan of action. There was nothing she could do for another two hours, the party wouldn’t suit her needs in talking to him, and she was still too emotional to pull it off. No, she was going to have to wait for him here.
A horrible thought occurred to her. What if he brought someone home with him tonight? It hadn’t happened before that she knew, but he was a handsome doctor and sex would literally fall into his lap. Kate vigorously shook her head, as if she could remove the image by sheer force. If that happened, she would stay in her room, pretend she had never needed to talk to him, and definitely cry herself to sleep.
While she waited, Kate had enough pride to get changed out of her sweats. If this was going to be Andrew’s last image of her, she would prefer it to be an attractive one. She wore her hair brushed down around her shoulders, a maxi skirt, and a paper thin soft cotton top that hugged her curves. She kept her novel in front of her but had long since given up the pretence of reading.
Light crunching on the gravel outside confirmed he was coming home. A quick check through the window — thank God, he was also home alone.
‘Hey,’ she called, from the doorway.
‘Hey,’ he echoed. From his stance and the way that his hands were curled into his pockets, Kate could see he had barely consumed any alcohol. She hadn’t wanted a conversation with a drunk but she had wanted the truth. Now she was worried that with his defences up, the truth was going to be denied.
‘Headache gone?’ he asked, only the slightest traces of sarcasm detectable.
‘Yes,’ Kate replied firmly. ‘Would you please come in? I have something that I’d like to talk to you about.’
There was nothing she could do to make her words less ominous but at least Andrew followed her request without complaining. It was only when he was sitting on the leather chair opposite hers that the nerves really did set in.
He was so handsome, refined, sitting there in his suit, perfectly fitted and grey. An English suit if she had ever seen one, as if that foot out the door was already transforming him completely back into the man he had been before.
Kate slid the photo across the table to him. ‘Either you are a great actor or you have a serious problem.’
The effect of the photo seemed solely in her imagination as he rubbed a weary hand across his forehead. ‘What problem would that be?’
Kate took a deep breath, as if oxygen could magically produce bravery. ‘You are in love with me and you are leaving me tomorrow. I would think that constitutes a major problem for you.’
A tightened worried mouth might not have been the answer she was hoping for. ‘My job is in London and you won’t come with me. You told me before those facts won’t change and I came to realize you were right.’
Now Kate wished she didn’t have the daredevil gene. Couldn’t she have been happy just to wallow in self-pity without signing up for another round of rejection? The man did love her, just not enough, and now they both had to live with that knowledge.
Regret and worry lines bracketed his mouth and Kate got a look into his future without her. Ambition could be a lonely place and she worried Andrew was going to find it so. Caught in that thought, she reached out and embraced him.
Their bodies fit together and comfort very quickly wasn’t the only factor. A hardening erection against her belly only made Kate want to press deeper. There was an aching tension of touch between them; hands and skin itched in anticipation of each making contact with their mate.
Andrew lowered his mouth and Kate allowed a moment of lip-to-lip contact before she pulled her body completely away and ignored its resulting protest.
‘That is definitely not on the tables tonight.’
His question was almost a whisper. ‘You never said. Do you love me too?’
‘If I don’t say it, it might make it not true.’ Kate’s voice was equally low, almost like a private vow.
He traced the pad of his thumb across the outline of her lips and she almost broke down and begged him to forget about everything and stay the night. However, she wanted to keep those tears to herself.
‘The boys are already talking about visiting me in London, maybe you will too,’ he said.
Kate nodded, like she hadn’t already decided that was one international destination she would be avoiding.
This time when he bent to kiss her on her left cheek, she accepted the caress with stoicism.
‘Goodbye sweetheart,’ he said.
Kate pushed, pulled and bullied her body’s way through her first shift without Andrew. She had only gotten a few hours’ sleep last night. Unfortunately or fortunately, one of those had bee
n while Andrew had left to go to catch his early international flight. She hadn’t had the chance to watch him walk up that path one last time.
Everyone had been gentle with her today. She hoped that they put down her red eyes and general listlessness to the aftermath of her reported migraine rather than the reality of the hour she had spent sobbing in her bath.
‘We can say we had the head of cardiothoracic surgery for King George Hospital working with us,’ said Joe.
‘And he was almost up to our exacting standards,’ Kate replied.
The replacement doctor, who had just arrived from Sydney, laughed nervously but the truth was the skinny boy wasn’t half bad. Just not Andrew, not professionally or personally.
Two hospital transfers and an aborted search and rescue at least kept Kate from having to discuss anything deep and meaningful. Just as the shift ended and she was about to take her duffle bag and run, a call came from the hospital.
‘No luck Kate, they need you at Cairns Base Hospital. Some paperwork must have been missed in the shuffle today,’ said Margo.
Kate didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed with an administrative mistake; she climbed into her car and just drove on automatic pilot.
Arriving at the hospital foyer, the message was to go up to the hospital’s third floor, the specialists’ offices, room three hundred and twelve. The carpet up here was a little threadbare and at five most of the admin staff had gone home. She wondered at this; surely if there were any specific questions about the condition of the patient they had transferred today, wouldn’t they be best served through asking the base’s new doctor?
Opening the door, she started at the sight of a familiar silhouette.
‘Did your plane get cancelled and Qantas make a new deal with the hospital for waiting rooms?’ she forced herself to ask coldly.
‘I got to the airport this morning and just couldn’t get on the plane,’ Andrew answered.
He walked to where she stood rooted to the spot. He stood close and the heat of his body radiated out to her. She wanted to be in his arms but she forced herself to concentrate on what he was saying.
‘I couldn’t get on the plane,’ he repeated. ‘So I thought that a cardiothoracic surgeon who wasn’t going to be working back in England probably needed a job in an Australian hospital, and it turns out that Cairns has been trying to recruit such a specialist for the last six months.’
A smile was beginning to bloom across Kate’s mouth. ‘You are staying?’
‘I am staying, so you better bloody love me as much as I love you.’
Kate jumped into Andrew’s arms and let out a squeal that was frighteningly girly. ‘I love you, I love you, I thousand times love you.’
The kisses she was raining on his face turned into more serious intent as he backed her, hard, up against the door.
‘Also, I seem to recall a talent you had for fundraising,’ Andrew said, between kisses. ‘And this hospital is in need of a matrix array ultrasound probe and some contrast echocardiography equipment. Wives make the best fundraising partners so you should probably better marry me to be safe.’
Kate was trying to decide if they were really going to have sex against the door of Andrew’s new office when she realized that the man had just made her a marriage proposal.
‘Yes, really truly, yes.’ She pushed away to see his face. ‘You are serious, aren’t you?’
‘I really like it here in Cairns, but I wouldn’t walk away from the life I had planned for anything less than real love and commitment.’
Andrew took away his hands that had been encircling her waist and stepped first away and then down on one knee. ‘I’ve done this totally wrong. Hell, you had to tell me that I loved you, but you are the bravest, strongest woman I know and I do want a life with you.’
Kate could barely get any words out; this incredible man was kneeling at her feet, professing his love. How did she get this lucky?
‘I want to marry you,’ she said. ‘I want to get you a matrix array ultrasound probe and watch you be a great doctor in our community and a fantastic partner to me.’
Cupping his face in her hands, she kissed him with the upmost gentleness. There was a joy singing in her blood that she had never felt before and this man was responsible.
Love was the gift and the reward.
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ISBN: 9780857991416
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br /> Title: Rescue Nights
Copyright © 2014 by Nina Hamilton
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