‘I don’t think…’ He stopped. For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single sensible thing to say.
‘You don’t like,’ she said sadly. She put both feet up before her and wiggled all ten bare toes. ‘I do. They cheer me up. It took me ages to do them.’
‘I can imagine,’ he said faintly.
She grinned and shook her head, her magnificent hair flying.
‘You know, I’d almost be willing to bet my boot-laces that you can’t imagine.’ She chuckled. ‘One of my patients taught me how to do it.’ Her face clouded a little. ‘She was a sixteen-year-old with cancer. This is my legacy from a brave kid. Star toes.’ Then she brightened again. ‘Want to let me paint yours? Then you’ll really see how long it takes.’
He shoved his safely booted feet further under the table and managed a smile. Hell, this girl took his breath away.
‘No. Thank you very much, but no.’
‘Politely said. Cowardly but polite. Where’s your dog?’
‘Asleep.’
‘Where you should be,’ she said wisely. ‘Grandpa says you’re offering me a job.’
He sucked in his breath. If his breathing got any harder here, it’d stop entirely.
‘Keep eating your eggs,’ she told him. ‘Don’t let me interrupt. I just woke so I popped in to see Grandpa. He’s nearly asleep but he told me you were job-offering. Louise says it’s true and she told me to find you here and take you up on it before you have the chance to change your mind.’
‘That was big of Louise.’ He took a mouthful of bacon and glowered.
‘She’s a lovely girl. Repressed, though,’ Tess said thoughtfully. ‘Did you know she’s an only child and her mother has an asthma attack every time any boy asks Louise out? It’s ruining her love life. Louise is thirty-two and if her mom doesn’t shuffle off this mortal coil soon, she’ll dwindle into reluctant spinsterhood.’
‘How the hell do you know that?’
‘She told me.’
‘Why?’
‘I asked,’ Tess said kindly. ‘I can see I’m needed around here, Dr Llewellyn, if only to do something about Mrs Havelock’s asthma.’
‘Mrs Havelock’s asthma is fine.’
‘It’s all in her head?’
‘No. But she uses it-’
‘As a tool. I guessed that. But what have you done about it?’
‘Nothing,’ he said more sharply than he’d intended. ‘It’s none of my business.’
‘Yes, it is. Louise is depressed and I’ll bet Louise is your patient, too.’
‘Yes, but-’
‘You don’t have time to look after the psychological well-being of all your patients.’ Tess nodded sympathetically and studied her toes. ‘You know, I think Louise could do with gold stars. I think I’ll suggest it. And tomorrow…’
‘Tomorrow?’ He was listening in trepidation. What next?
‘Harvey Begg has asked Louise to go to the shire ball with him tomorrow night. Is Harvey an eligible young man?’
Mike blinked. Harvey… Conversation with Tessa was like holding onto an octopus, he thought, confused. You never knew which hand would grab you next. Or where you’d be led. Harvey Begg…
‘I guess you could say Harvey Begg’s eligible.’ He managed a smile. ‘Harvey’s our local accountant. He’s very solid, in every sense of the word. Balding. Mid-thirties. Drives a Volvo and plays cribbage.’
‘Ugh.’ Tessa’s nose wrinkled. ‘Not my cup of tea. Still…’ She smiled. ‘Louise seems smitten. Each to his own, I say, and maybe there’s passion in cribbage that I haven’t seen before. And the back seats of Volvos are huge!’
‘Tess!’
She chuckled. ‘Oh, well, maybe not. But Louise is getting her chance to find out tomorrow. I’ve arranged to mom-sit.’
‘You…’
‘Grandpa will be still in hospital.’ Her face grew serious for a moment. ‘I can’t keep staying here, taking up a hospital room. I know that. So tomorrow night I’ll stay at Louise’s place-Louise’s mom can think it’s because Louise is doing me a favour, offering me accommodation-but it’ll let Louise go to her ball. And after that…’
‘After that?’ Mike was eating but he was eating on automatic pilot. He felt as if he were being pushed along by a tidal wave.
‘After that I’ll go back out to the farm and stay there until Grandpa comes home.’
‘You really are serious about staying?’
‘I really am.’
Mike hesitated, not sure where to take it from here.
‘And…you seriously would like a job?’ he asked slowly.
Her face brightened.
‘Absolutely.’ Her eyes met his and there was determination behind her gaze. ‘Mike, I do want to stay, but Grandpa’s going to feel too guilty if I stay just to look after him. It would be much better if I could combine my medicine with his care.’
‘For how long?’
‘For however long it takes.’
‘Tess, we could be talking years here. There’s no guarantees Henry will be fit enough to look after the farm on his own again. Ever.’
‘I know that.’
‘So what will you do, then?’
‘If you’re agreeable, I’ll take him back to his farm and keep him as happy as I can for the rest of his life,’ she said simply. ‘If I can practise medicine here, then everything falls into place. If Grandpa needs extra help, I’ll be able to afford it.’ She hesitated and her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips. It was a gesture of uncertainty-her first. ‘If…if you’ll have me.’
If he’d have her… He stared across the table at this extraordinary woman while he tried to figure out what to say. She’d burst into his life like a flash of flame and he’d felt breathless ever since. As if his world were being turned upside down.
He didn’t want this girl. He didn’t. In less than two days she’d destroyed the even tempo of his existence. For Mike Llewellyn, life was work. Life was medicine and dedication and caring. Life had nothing to do with painting gold stars on your toenails.
But…
But the valley was grossly medically understaffed. Maureen had been right when she’d said he was overworked. There had been times of late when Mike had been forced to cut corners-to not question as closely as he should during an examination, or to make do with changing a dressing three times a week rather than daily. And a vaccination programme should be started in earnest, and a health programme for the elderly and…
And the town needed another doctor. But not this…flibbertigibbet.
‘Why don’t you want me?’ she asked curiously, watching his face. ‘Louise tells me you need a doctor. Every nurse in this hospital- Every person I’ve met says the valley needs an extra doctor. Is it because I’m US-trained?’
‘No.’
‘Is it because I’m a woman, then?’
‘No!’
‘Look, I’m serious about working here,’ she said firmly, her smile fading. She put her hands flat on the table and met his look. ‘Mike, I’m a good doctor,’ she told him. ‘I know I’m trained in city medicine and there’s a heap here I need to learn, but I’m willing and I want to try.’
‘But…why do you want to leave the States?’
‘I don’t,’ she said flatly. ‘But, well, Mom and I have always felt dreadful about Grandpa. We felt bad that Dad wouldn’t come home. Mom’s always brought me up to think I was half-Australian. And this way…’
She sighed, her voice now serious. ‘Mike, I’ve told you I’m interested in family medicine,’ she said. ‘That’s not a lie. But in the States, well, more and more, medicine’s being taken over by the specialists. As an internist I won’t get to see kids or trauma or heart attacks or surgery. Family doctors can’t do anything hands-on without getting sued.
‘Here…here I can deliver babies and help with road trauma and counsel Louise about her love life and help old men with prostate problems. I won’t just be sitting behind a desk, handing out pills and refe
rrals.’
‘But-’
‘And Mom’s behind me on this,’ she said solidly. ‘A hundred per cent. She was an only child and her parents are dead. She’s always felt like Grandpa was our family and we shouldn’t be so far apart. It’s my guess that if I stay then she’ll be over here in a flash, and that’s a worry because she’s bossier than me. But I do want to stay. I do. So employ me.’
‘Tess…’
‘Now-tomorrow morning,’ she said softly, brooking no interruption. ‘Louise says you have Saturday morning clinic. How about if I run it-with you watching?’ Then, as he opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hands to silence him.
‘No. Don’t refuse. I know I won’t be able to do heaps of things. I haven’t a clue as to Australian rules and regulations. But I’m a fast learner, and if we give each patient the choice when they come in as to whether I can practise on them… We’ll tell them my registration isn’t through yet, so anything I say has to be backed up by you…’
‘You have it all worked out, then.’
‘Yes.’ She tilted her chin, a trace of defiance colouring her voice. ‘I do. Anything wrong with that?’
What could be wrong?
If someone had asked him a month ago-or even a week ago-whether he’d like a partner, he’d have jumped at the chance like a shot. He was tired past the point of exhaustion.
But a partner had always seemed an impossibility. No doctor in their right mind would practise here. The doctor who’d been here when Mike’s mother died had been an alcoholic and that’s why he’d ended up in such a remote place. Nowhere decent would have him.
To work here meant practising medicine at its most basic. There was no specialist back-up available. At worst, a helicopter could come in and evacuate but there was no landing strip for a light plane and in rough weather even a helicopter had trouble.
Doctors today wanted back-up and nights off and private schools for their kids. There were few opportunities in the valley for the things most doctors and their families had come to expect, and Mike knew that to attract anyone here would take a miracle.
And here was a miracle. A slim, fiery, bossy, determined miracle-with blue toes and golden stars.
So grab her and hold…
That was just what he wanted to do, he thought suddenly. That was the problem. She was sitting beside him at the big kitchen table, made to seat a staff of twelve or more. Her feet were propped up before her. Her bathrobe was vast and warm and she looked like a gift package in crimson.
She was sitting so that her gown just brushed his shoulder.
He pulled back, suddenly acutely aware of the touch, and she grinned.
‘Hey, I’m not proposing to seduce you here, Dr Llewellyn,’ she said mildly. ‘Only work with you.’ And then she furrowed her brow. ‘Anyway, why so touchy? You’re not gay, are you?’
‘No!’
‘Hmm.’
‘Hmm, what?’ She was watching him as if she were looking at a frog on a dissecting table, and Mike found the sensation unnerving.
‘There’s a problem here, but I don’t know what.’ She brightened. ‘I’ll bet you have a past.’
‘A past…’
‘A deep and mysterious love life of which we know not.’ She grinned again. ‘A skeleton in the closet. Am I right?’
‘Dr Westcott…’
‘Oh, I am right.’ Her smile widened. ‘How about I do a bit of matchmaking? If the Volvo and cribbage doesn’t do the trick, how about Louise?’
‘Tessa!’ His voice was an explosion but for the life of him he couldn’t stop a chuckle. This girl was incorrigible. And now she was smiling straight back at him.
‘That’s better,’ she said approvingly. ‘You look ever so nice when you smile.’ She swung her crazy feet off the table and stood up. ‘How about it, Doctor? As of tomorrow, can I be on probation, please, sir? If you think I’ll make a good doctor, can I stay?’
‘Tessa…’
‘Just say yes,’ she begged. ‘Then you can go to bed, which is just where you look like you ought to be.’
He stared at her, baffled. She stared right back.
‘I’ll be a good little doctor,’ she said meekly. ‘I won’t cause any trouble, please, sir. And I’ll even take your most difficult patients.’
‘Tess…’
‘Just say yes.’
There was no choice. He stared at her for a long, long moment, but he was too tired-too confused-too just plain baffled-to make his mind think of anything but how gorgeous she looked. How he’d like to touch that magnificent flaming hair. How he’d like to-
‘Yes,’ he said quickly, before his traitorous mind took him one step further. ‘Fine. Starting tomorrow morning, Dr Westcott, you’re on probation.’
CHAPTER FIVE
TESSA’S probation started fifteen minutes later. Mike had barely put his head on his pillow when the phone rang. It was Louise, ringing from Reception.
‘Doctor, there’s a fire at the hotel. Rachel from the fire brigade just rang. She needs you.’
‘How bad?’ Mike was suddenly wide awake, all trace of weariness gone. At the sound of his voice Strop lifted his head from his basket, cast him a reproachful glare and went straight back to sleep.
‘Rachel says there are people trapped,’ Louise said, her normally placid voice unsteady. ‘I’ll call in all staff. If you go ahead with the ambulance, I’ll organise things here.’
Hell!
It took Mike all of ten seconds to haul on pants, sweater and shoes. Leaving Strop to his beauty sleep, he emerged from his apartment at the rear of the hospital in time to see the valley’s second fire engine screaming past.
The ambulance officers were already backing the ambulance up to the casualty entrance.
‘What’ll we take, Doc?’ one of them called, as they saw his shadowy figure running toward them. ‘Any extras?’
‘Shove in as much saline as we have in the emergency room, and soak some blankets before we go. Leave them on the floor of the van, sopping wet.’
Mike was barely awake but his mind was working lightning fast. This was his nightmare-an accident with multiple casualties where there was no medical back-up. ‘Do we know what’s happening?’ he demanded.
‘I don’t think they know down there yet,’ Owen, the senior ambulance officer, told him. ‘But Rachel sounded sick and you know Rachel. If she’s worried then it’s bad.’
‘Right. Let’s get down there and see.’
‘I’m coming too.’
It was Tessa, slipping out of the casualty entrance to join them. She’d replaced her crimson bathrobe with black jogging pants and a crimson sweater, her hair had been hauled back in a knot and she was shoving her feet into sneakers as she ran. ‘I was talking to Louise when the call came. Louise told me what’s happening, and you might need me.’
Before Mike could say a word, she heaved herself up into the rear of the ambulance. She took the bags of saline from Owen and shoved them behind her, as if she’d been working with the man for years. Then she looked down into Mike’s astonished face. ‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ she demanded.
There was no way Mike could argue. Argument took time, and if there were multiple casualties…well, he’d be grateful to have Tessa. He’d be grateful to have any medical body, he thought, Bill’s words about Doris the pig echoing once more in his mind.
But suddenly, especially, he was grateful for Tess. Why did the thought of her alongside him make the thought of what lay ahead less fearful?
Tess moved aside to make room for him, and he climbed in to join her without a word. It seemed his medical partnership was about to start.
Mike was silent on the three-minute ride down to the town. The boys had the siren screaming and lights flashing so to speak would have been impossible anyway, but mentally Mike was gearing himself for what lay ahead.
It was midnight. By this time of night the pub should be closed for casual drinkers so there shouldn’t be scores of trappe
d victims. There’d only be the guests.
The valley’s hotel had seen better times as an accommodation house. Trendy bed-and-breakfast accommodation had taken over the once lucrative tourist trade. The hotel’s guest rooms had become run-down and little used.
There were always one or two people using them, though. The guests now were usually men who had little choice-men who paid a few dollars for minimal accommodation and didn’t expect much.
Mike was aware of Tessa’s eyes on him, watching. It was as if she were reading his mind, he thought. She just watched…
No. It was as if she could see into his mind and didn’t need to read. It was as if she just knew… She sat calmly on the stretcher opposite him, her hands clasped loosely in her lap as she waited for the ambulance to reach its destination.
For a fireball, she was a restful woman, Mike thought suddenly. She was making no demands on him now, and Mike sensed that she’d support him all the way here. She was acting like a true professional, and Mike felt an overwhelming surge of gratitude that she’d come.
And then the ambulance screamed around the last corner, and every other consideration but immediate need was washed away.
The hotel was well alight. The old, two-storied building hadn’t been painted for years. This year’s summer had been long and hot. The cooler weather of approaching winter was here now, but there’d been little rain. The building was therefore tinder-dry. Whatever had happened here-whether it had been a small spark or a larger explosive force setting things off-the flames had caught and held, and one look was enough to tell Mike that there was no way the local firefighters could save this.
And who was inside? Could anyone help them?
May there be nobody, please, God…
The whole top floor was alight and, as the ambulance screamed around the corner of the main street and the occupants of the ambulance stared in horror, the top left-hand side of the hotel roof started caving in on itself.
Dear God.
Then the ambulance was pulling in behind the fire units, careful to leave space for men and hoses between, and Mike was striding down into the noise and heat to see what he could do in all this.
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