It was just that something last night had touched her. One bloodied, bedraggled girl whose medical history said she’d been to death’s door and back.
That, and knowing Cade Coleman was on her patch.
She hadn’t even met the guy but his reputation had preceded him. His stepbrother, Alex, had rung her and asked if there was a vacancy.
‘He’s a fine neonatal physician, Callie. The best. He’s looking for a complete break, so he wants to move from the States. Queensland would be prefect. If you have room on your team...’
She had. And Cade’s qualifications were impressive, to say the least.
There’d been one caveat. Women.
The man was running, Alex had told her. Personal stuff. Problems. Callie hadn’t pushed and Alex hadn’t offered more, except to say they were ‘worse than mine’. For Alex, that was really saying something. The time between Alex and her...
Yeah, well, block that out. She put it aside deliberately now, and thought of the good stuff. Cade’s qualifications outweighed any potential womanising.
But he’d arrived yesterday and already there was a ripple doing the rounds about how good-looking he was.
Forget it, she told herself harshly. On Monday she’d meet him and see just how good a doctor he was. Meanwhile...
Yeah, warning Zoe had seemed over the top, but Ros had seen Cade talking to her and had reported it with excitement.
‘Our new nurse has just found our new physician. Ooh, I do love a good bit of intrigue. Bring it on.’
So she’d overreacted. Cade was probably harmless, she conceded, and as for warning Zoe over one chance meeting...
Ridiculous.
She took a deep breath, turned toward the lift—and Cade Coleman was right in front of her.
He was standing by the lifts, his hand on the buttons as if he’d pushed more than once and was getting irritated. As well he might, Callie conceded. The lifts in this building were notoriously slow.
How long had he been standing there?
‘Hi,’ she managed, and put out a hand in welcome. ‘I’m Callie Richards.’
‘Yeah, the woman who hired me.’ He was tall, over six feet or so, tanned, lean and ripped. He’d just flown halfway round the world but if he was suffering from jet lag he certainly didn’t show it.
What he was suffering from, though, was anger. She could feel it coming from him in waves.
‘I didn’t hire you,’ she managed evenly. ‘I just recommended you to the powers that be.’
‘Because Alex recommended me to you.’
‘I know Alex,’ she said evenly. ‘We’ve worked together. His word—that you’re the best—was good enough for me.’
‘So good that you need to put out a warning to the nursing staff?’
He had heard.
‘I’m so sorry.’ There was no getting out of this one. She felt like turning and running but his anger kept her locked in. ‘I thought...shift change is over. There’s never anyone around.’
‘We all have apartments on this floor, it seems,’ he said, icy cold. ‘I came up in the lift with Zoe—all the way, without seducing her once. The key Admin gave me for my apartment worked when I first arrived but it doesn’t work now. Neither does this elevator.’
As if on cue, the lift arrived. The doors slid open.
Callie wanted to get in, but Cade was blocking her way.
‘So why am I so dangerous?’ he demanded, tossing his useless key in the air and catching it again. He seemed dangerous, Callie thought. Lean, mean and dangerous to know.
‘You’re not. It’s just...Zoe’s been unwell.’
‘A renal transplant. I heard. And she doesn’t want it known but your carrying voice took it all the way to here.’
‘You shouldn’t have been listening.’
‘You want me to block my ears in my own apartment building?’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said again.
‘Not good enough. Tell me why the warning.’ It was almost a growl.
She took a deep breath. Wow, Alex had really landed her in it with this one. She’d greeted his call querying work for his brother with pleasure and she hadn’t expected to land in it up to her neck.
This was Alex’s call, she decided. Not hers.
‘Alex told me you were the best neonatal physician he knew,’ she said. ‘I respect that. He also said you’d had trouble with women.’
‘Did he just?’ He practically snarled. ‘Generous of him. Well, you needn’t worry. Your sick little nurse is safe from me.’
‘Zoe’s not sick—and I’ve said I’m sorry. If you have any argument, take it up with your brother, not me. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get back to the wards. Only I’m taking the stairs.’
And she turned on her heel and stalked to the fire exit, thinking four floors of stairs was a small price to pay.
* * *
Sam had two patients to see and then he was free for the day. Or almost. He emerged from his consulting rooms to find Cade Coleman waiting for him. Looking furious.
For a moment Sam thought about his ridiculous reaction as he’d seen Cole in the entrance with Zoe. His response had been almost primeval—wanting to go and claim this woman as his. It had been dumb and irrelevant, and nothing to do with his new colleague. But why was Cole looking at him so angrily?
‘Not guilty?’ he tried. This guy had only been here since yesterday. The hospital bigwigs had been delighted to hire him, and for good reason. Sam had been the one elected to meet him at the airport and he’d spoken to him a couple of times since. Already they were planning research projects. This guy was seriously smart.
This guy looked like he was about to punch a hole in the wall and then get on a plane back to the States.
‘Dr Richards,’ he said through gritted teeth.
‘Callie?’ Sam tried for a smile. ‘What’s she done to upset you? The lady’s one classy doctor.’
‘Who’s warning the female staff that I eat them for breakfast.’
‘What’s she doing that for?’
‘She saw me talking to your nurse.’
‘My nurse?’ God, this hospital grapevine. ‘You mean Zoe?’
‘Apparently it’s a wonder I didn’t grope her in the elevator.’
‘What the hell has got into Callie?’
‘She might,’ Cade admitted, ‘have been warned by my brother.’
‘Right,’ Sam said, steering for safe ground but not quite knowing in what direction it was. ‘So your brother warned Callie that you grope nurses in lifts?’
He met Cade’s angry gaze head on, his own expression noncommittal, doctor calmly asking colleague whether he ate nurses for breakfast. Cade’s glare faded in the face of calm enquiry, and he shrugged, and in the end even managed a rueful smile.
‘I guess you never know with Americans,’ he said.
‘There was a phrase the Aussie guys used for the Yanks when you lot were out here during the war,’ Sam said mildly. ‘Overpaid, oversexed and over here. Maybe Callie has a residual phobia.’ He sighed. ‘Look, Zoe’s new here—’
‘And I know about the renal transplant.’
‘How the hell did that get around the hospital?’
‘Your Dr Richards,’ Cade said, his anger surfacing again. Then, as he saw Sam’s face and maybe saw the anger beginning to surface there as well, he shook his head. ‘It’s okay. I know your lady wants to keep it private. You’ll note I made sure there’s no one in earshot now.’
‘She’s not my lady.’
‘She’s not mine either,’ Cade said. ‘I didn’t touch her and I don’t intend to touch her, so if you could tell Dr Richards to keep out of my face...’
‘I’ll talk to her.’ This conversation was weird. What was going
on with Callie?
‘Excellent,’ Cade said, calming down. ‘See to it. I’m here to do a job. I don’t care what bee Dr Richards has in her bonnet, but I’m not a woman-eater. Nurse Zoe is all yours.’
And he turned and stalked away, leaving Sam staring after him.
Nurse Zoe is all yours...
Not in a million years, he thought.
Except he had to teach her to surf.
Why was it worrying him so much? Why did he feel this was a huge mistake?
It was the way she made him feel, he thought, and he had to do something about that. Once upon a time he’d been engaged to be married and if that was where his judgement took him...never again.
Teach the lady to surf and move on.
CHAPTER FOUR
SAM WORKED MOST of Saturday. It was supposed to be his time off, but medical imperatives didn’t necessarily fit around weekends. When a baby was admitted with a major heart abnormality early on Saturday morning there was no choice but to abandon his plan to spend the day with Bonnie, and instead concentrate on saving Joshua Bennet’s life.
Operating on a baby as frail as Joshua was fraught, the odds seemed stacked against them, but Sam’s team was seriously good. Luck played out on their side and by the time he walked out of Theatre at six o’clock he felt like Joshua had every chance of making it to a ripe old age.
He also felt seriously wiped.
Callie found him at the sinks. She was a mate, a real friend, and she walked straight up and gave him a hug.
He wouldn’t accept a hug from anyone else, but Callie Richards wasn’t one to hold back. She’d known him since training. She’d been there when Emily had died and the armour he’d put up around himself didn’t stop her pushing the boundaries.
‘That was magnificent, Sam,’ she told him. ‘I’ve just seen Josh’s mum. She can’t stop crying, and for good reason. She knew the odds.’
‘This is a great team,’ he said gruffly, extricating himself, fighting back emotion and finding a safe retreat. ‘Um...Callie, what’s the deal with the new guy? Cade?’
‘Yeah, I may have stuffed that up,’ Callie said. ‘A bit of overreaction. I went into protection mode with your Zoe.’
There it was again. Your Zoe.
‘She’s not,’ he said pleasantly, but with a hint of steel behind the words, ‘my Zoe.’
‘Of course not,’ Callie said, and had the temerity to chuckle. ‘But you have to admit she’s cute. And you gave her a car and now you’re giving her surfing lessons. For lone wolf Sam to get that involved...’
‘It’s just a thank-you gesture,’ he said stiffly. ‘A couple of hours’ surfing every Sunday and nothing more.’
‘Yeah, well, good luck with that. I’ve known her for all of a week and already I’m seeing she’s special. She’s brilliant on the wards—skilled but also incredibly empathetic with the kids and their parents. She seems to make people relax, taking the fear out of this place. And if she can make sick kids relax...beware, Sam.’
‘Callie...’
‘Yeah, it’s not my business,’ she said, and grinned and backed off. ‘Just saying. Two hours’ surfing every Sunday? Hmm. This hospital’s a fish bowl, Sam Webster. You spend two hours with her and then try and avoid her for the rest of the time...well, there’s not far you can go, working here. You’ll hit the walls and bounce right back. Zoe’s a solid part of our paediatric team. She’s already proved she’s your friend and from where I’m standing I’d like her to have a chance of being even more than that to one of my favourite colleagues.’
* * *
This hospital!
It drove him nuts, Sam thought as he headed for the vet’s to see Bonnie. Gossip, matchmaking, innuendo...
He’d moved here from Perth after Emily had died, wanting a clean break, wanting to work in an environment where no one knew his story and he could retire into his seclusion of work and surfing. But, of course, Australia may be geographically big but in terms of population it was a small country, and the medical community was even smaller. He’d walked into the wards on the first day and met Callie, a doctor he’d trained with. The chief theatre nurse had spent time in Perth and knew Emily and her story. The janitor, a kite-surfing nut, had been a volunteer lifeguard on the Perth beach the day Emily had died.
So much for anonymity. But until now he’d kept his distance. Callie had fretted at the edges but he didn’t want her concern. He didn’t want anyone’s concern. He just wanted to get on with life on his terms. Medicine, surfing—and Bonnie.
He felt his pulse rate rise a bit as he pulled into the vet’s parking lot. He’d been in touch all day but still it’d be good to see his dog for himself.
She was twelve years old. He had to lose her one day, but not yet. Please, not yet. He should have been here sooner, he told himself harshly, but there’d been no time. He’d organised Zoe’s car in brief intervals between work commitments, but his tiny patient Joshua couldn’t have been set aside so he could be with his dog.
Still, the thought that she was here, in the recovery room at the vet’s, probably alone, had eaten at him, and his stride became a run as he headed up the steps to the entrance. The receptionist smiled at him and motioned him to go through into the recovery area.
He swung through the door. ‘Bonnie’s in the end cage,’ the receptionist had said, and his eyes went straight to the end of the room—and saw Zoe Payne crouched in front of the floor-level cage. The cage door was open and Bonnie was half in, half out of the cage.
Her great soft head was lying on Zoe’s lap.
Girl and dog.
Neither girl nor dog had heard the doors swing open. Bonnie seemed asleep. Zoe was turned away from him. She was simply dressed in jeans and soft cotton shirt, with her hair loosely caught back in a bouncy ponytail. He could just see the profile of her face.
She was talking to Bonnie.
‘He’s agreed to teach me to surf, and I need you to help. I’m a bit scared of the big boards. It’s always seemed magic—you must love it too, watching it night after night. But do you know what I’ve done? I found a discount store today and they sell all sorts of flags. They’re actually Tibetan prayer flags, so I’m thinking they’ll give you even more safety—almost a blessing as you watch us surf. They’re attached to long poles and I’m going to stick them in the sand right where you lie so people can see for miles that someone very special is snoozing in the sand. That would be you. You get that leg better and we’ll make the beach safe so you can live happily ever after.’
What was it with this girl? Sam thought numbly. What was it that made his heart clench?
He didn’t want this feeling. He didn’t want to feel like he wanted to walk forward, crouch down and hug the pair of them.
How could he stop wanting?
‘How long does it take to learn to surf?’ Zoe was asking Bonnie now. ‘How long does it take before I’ll be brave enough to catch one of those gorgeous, curling waves that loop right over? I want that so much.’
She wanted the big waves—and that was enough to make things right themselves. Any thought of hugging went right out the window. This woman wanted what had killed Emily.
He knew it wasn’t the same, yet it was enough for him to haul himself together, remind himself that this was a professional colleague and their only personal connection would be a two-hour surfing lesson each Sunday. He pinned a smile on his face and walked forward, allowing his feet to make a sound on the tiled floor so she heard him and looked up.
She smiled a greeting and that was enough to set him back again.
Professional. Colleagues.
She had his dog’s head on her knee.
‘Hey,’ she said softly. ‘I hope you don’t mind. I just popped in to check, and Doug said it’d be okay.’
‘I don’
t mind at all,’ he said, crouching beside her, and there was another jolt. What was it with this woman—the way she made him feel? He did not want this. ‘Thank you for caring.’
‘I love dogs,’ she said. ‘I’ve always wanted one. My parents said they had germs.’
‘Maybe I can buy you a puppy instead of a car.’
‘No way,’ she said, fondling the sleeping Bonnie’s ears in a way that made him feel...odd. Needful? Weird. ‘The deal is surfing lessons. I’m living in a hospital apartment, working long shifts. That’s no life for a puppy—even if I did get permission to keep a dog. I don’t know how you managed it.’
‘Deal breaker,’ he said. ‘Gold Coast offered me a job. I said it’s me and Bonnie or neither of us. We come as a package deal and they accepted.’
‘I would have thought a little house with a back yard might be better for her.’
‘Believe it or not, the apartment’s better. I couldn’t get a house within five minutes’ drive of the hospital so Bonnie would be left alone all day. As it is, I can take her out to the foreshore three or four times a day instead of taking coffee breaks, and she’s even found herself a job in the wards.’
‘As a companion dog,’ Zoe said, her hands still doing that gentle stroking. ‘Callie says she’s great.’
Bonnie hadn’t moved. The painkillers would still have her heavily sedated, but even so...why would she move when she was lying on Zoe’s knee? Why would anyone move?
It was strange, sitting on the floor of the vet’s recovery room, with this woman and his dog. A cat was snoozing down the far end of the room, and above them a fat snake was lazing in a heated tank. The snake had some type of dressing round its rear end. Weird, Sam thought, and wondered idly how a vet would treat the heart of a snake.
‘How would you go about putting an aortic stent into that?’ Zoe asked, following his gaze.
How did she do that? It was like she could read his thoughts.
Nonsense—it was coincidence and nothing else.
‘I reckon if I had a snake with heart disease I might buy another snake,’ he told her.
Gold Coast Angels: A Doctor's Redemption Page 6
