A Surgeon Worth Waiting For

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  She was on the floor, still fiddling with the buttons, when Jack came bursting into the room, his face contorted with fury.

  ‘What is it with you?’ he growled, coming over to scoop the radio out of her hands and snapping it off.

  Becky got up off the floor and straightened the T-shirt over her curves. ‘I didn’t mean to knock it off the table.’

  He glared at her. ‘And I don’t suppose you meant to use the bed like a trampoline either?’

  ‘I was checking the mattress,’ she lied.

  He gave her a disgusted look. ‘And I bet you’ve tested a few of those in your time.’

  Her mouth dropped open in outrage. ‘You sexist pig! I bet you’ve dented a few as well!’

  His jaw tightened. ‘That’s none of your business. Now, get in that bed and go to sleep before I—’

  ‘Before you what, Jack?’ she cut in before he could finish. ‘Kiss me again? I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes.’

  Jack held her taunting look for as long as he dared. He should never have kissed her. What the hell was Ben thinking? This was never going to work.

  ‘You’re imagining it,’ he said, stepping away from her. ‘I want nothing to do with you.’

  He strode over to the door and slammed it shut behind him, the noise of wood and lock connecting making her flinch.

  ‘Fine,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘I don’t want anything to do with you either.’

  She flopped back down on the bed and shut her eyes but, exhausted as she was, it took ages before she could relax enough to sleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JACK put down his cup of coffee as soon as Becky entered the kitchen the next morning. ‘I was thinking about doing a quick ward round,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you come with me for the ride?’

  Becky gave him a quelling look as she picked up the coffeepot. ‘I can think of a hundred things I’d rather be doing than following you around the hospital while you check and double-check every patient’s file, as if the only person who knows what they’re doing in the whole hospital is you.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I’m the one they sue if anything goes wrong,’ he reminded her with undisguised bitterness.

  ‘Don’t you ever take a day off?’ she asked, leaning back against the counter with her coffee cradled in her hands. ‘You know, kick back and relax and forget all about being a surgeon for a while?’

  Jack shifted his gaze from her scrutiny. ‘I have time off.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Tomorrow.’

  ‘Well, bully for you, a day off,’ she said with a curl of her lip. ‘I wonder how you’ll manage to fill in a whole twenty-four hours.’

  Jack silently ground his teeth. This wasn’t going to plan. He didn’t want to leave Becky alone but neither did he want her trailing after him at the hospital, making her snide remarks on his working habits for all and sundry to hear. Ben had said to keep her with him at all times outside work but Jack knew she would be highly suspicious if he pressed her to join him on a ward round that he could just as easily get out of the way within minutes if he left now. If he waited for her to have a shower and do her hair, half the day would be over.

  ‘I won’t be at the hospital any longer than an hour,’ he said. ‘Don’t answer the door.’

  ‘I won’t,’ Becky promised. Because I won’t even be here, she added mentally, smiling sweetly at him as he picked up his keys.

  Once she was sure he was gone she went back upstairs to have a quick shower before throwing on her clothes. She gathered her few things together in a carry bag, turned off her mobile and made her way outside to wait for the taxi she’d called earlier. She asked the driver to drop her off in the city and went into the first reasonably priced hotel she came to.

  ‘How many nights would you like to check in for?’ the young woman at Reception asked.

  ‘Um…the weekend to start with.’ Becky did a quick mental tally of her credit-card account and crossed her fingers behind her back.

  ‘Will anyone else be joining you?’ The young woman handed her the registration forms to fill in.

  Becky hated this part. It never failed to make her feel spinsterish and left on the shelf.

  She gave the woman a little smile. ‘I’m not sure, but who knows? A girl can get lucky in a big city.’

  The receptionist smiled politely but it didn’t reach her carefully made-up eyes. ‘I hope you enjoy your stay with us. If there is anything we can do to make your time more comfortable, please let us know.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I’ll get the porter to take your luggage to your room.’

  ‘I don’t have any luggage just yet,’ Becky said. ‘I’m going shopping right now to get some.’

  The receptionist’s eyebrows went up just a fraction but to her credit she didn’t respond. Becky pocketed the swipe card key and left.

  The shops were clogged with Christmas shoppers, which made the task of replenishing her wardrobe all the more time-consuming. The queues were interminably long, the staff considerably stressed and the spirit of Christmas nowhere to be found in the sticky heat that infiltrated the stores in spite of air-conditioning.

  By midmorning Becky only had a couple of changes of clothes, some overpriced-but-to-die-for underwear and a pink and white bikini she couldn’t resist buying on impulse. She stopped to have a manicure because of the free offer of hand lotion and lip gloss, and as she walked past the cosmetics counter she agreed to have a mini-facial in order to get the special deal on moisturiser.

  At two p.m. she had a double caramel lattè and a slice of raspberry cheesecake in a café and turned on her phone to check for messages. The first three were from Jack but the other number she didn’t recognise. She pressed the replay buttons and listened to each message in turn.

  ‘Rebec‥ Becky, where the hell are you?’ Jack’s tone was clipped with anger. ‘Call me immediately.’

  She deleted it and pressed for the next message to play.

  ‘So help me, God, if you don’t tell me where you are, Rebecca Baxter, I won’t be answerable for the consequences. Call me now!’

  She deleted it with considerable relish and pressed the next one.

  ‘Right.’ Jack’s tone was now livid. ‘I don’t know what game you are playing at, young lady, but when I find you I’m going to make you regret it big time. If you don’t call me in the next hour I’m going to hire a bloody private investigator to find you. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Loud and clear.’ Becky grinned as she pressed the ‘delete’ button.

  The fourth message was from the police officer who had attended her call about the burglary.

  ‘Hello, Dr Baxter, this is Constable Matthew Daniels. I was wondering if you could give me a call at your convenience. There are a few questions I’d like to ask you about the robbery investigation. My mobile number is as follows…’

  Becky saved the message and pressed ‘recall’. It answered on the second ring.

  ‘Constable Daniels.’

  ‘Hi, this is Becky Baxter here. You called me earlier?’

  ‘Hello, Dr Baxter,’ he greeted her warmly. ‘Thanks for getting back to me.’

  ‘No trouble,’ she said pleasantly. ‘What can I do for you? You said you had some questions for me about the investigation.’

  ‘Yes. I was wondering if I could meet you later this evening to go over them with you, what, say, about seven? Would that be convenient?’

  ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘I’ve got nothing planned.’

  ‘I’ll pick you up,’ he offered politely. ‘What’s your current address?’

  ‘I’m staying at a hotel in the city,’ she told him. ‘The Principal On The Park. Room 1205.’

  ‘That was good thinking on your part,’ he said. ‘Twenty-four hour security.’

  ‘Yes…’ She gnawed her bottom lip for a moment. ‘Have you got any leads on the case, Constable Daniels?’

  ‘Please, call me Matt.’

  ‘Only if
you’ll call me Becky,’ she said. ‘Everyone else does.’ Well, almost everyone.

  ‘Becky, then,’ he said. ‘As to the case, I’d rather discuss that with you in person.’ There was a small pause before he added, ‘Off the record, so to speak.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Will I meet you in the bar or in your room?’ he asked.

  ‘The bar will be fine.’ She had a sudden thought and added, ‘Unless you’ll be in uniform? Maybe you’d prefer…’

  ‘I won’t be in uniform and the bar is fine,’ he said. ‘See you at seven.’

  Becky had her finger poised over the turn-off switch when her phone began to ring. Jack’s number flashed on the screen and her finger hovered for a moment in indecision. Several people looked up from their tables to glare at her and she turned her back and answered it, knowing she was probably going to regret it.

  ‘Could you hold for a moment?’ she said, hastily clutching the phone to her breast to smother Jack’s cursing protest.

  She scooped up her things and quickly left the café, leaving some money for her snack on the counter on the way past.

  She stood to one side of the busy pavement and held the phone up to her ear. ‘Hello, Becky here.’

  ‘Where the freaking hell are you?’

  ‘Shopping.’

  ‘Shopping?’

  ‘Yes, you know that activity that women love and men hate? The one where lots of money changes hands in exchange for the latest fashion and accessories?’

  ‘If you had any idea of how furious I am with you right now you wouldn’t be able to stand upright for the quaking of your legs,’ he ground out.

  ‘Ooh! I am so scared,’ she goaded him.

  His one sharp swear word made her eyebrows lift momentarily and a funny sensation flickered between her thighs, making her legs feel a little unstable all of a sudden.

  ‘I’ve been out of my mind for the past six hours!’ he went on heatedly. ‘You didn’t even leave a note. I had no idea what had happened to you.’

  ‘Why should you care?’ she said. ‘It’s not as if you really want me staying at your house. You’ve made it more than clear I’m just a total nuisance.’

  ‘You’re not a nuisance, you’re a bloody nightmare,’ he muttered darkly.

  ‘Well, lucky for you I have somewhere else to stay now, so you can keep your pathetic attempt at hospitality and shove it down your—’

  ‘Where are you staying?’ he barked at her.

  ‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ she tossed back.

  ‘Tell me where you’re staying,’ he demanded, his voice rising.

  ‘Stop shouting at me.’

  ‘I am not shouting at you!’ he shouted. ‘Tell me where you are, for pity’s sake!’

  ‘I’m staying at a hotel.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘I’m not telling you.’

  Jack gritted his teeth in frustration as he tried to calm down. No one, but no one, made him as angry as Becky. His blood virtually pumped with it, making him as tense as a tightly stretched wire. He could barely think straight when she was around, and when she wasn’t…well, he couldn’t think at all.

  He’d promised Ben that he’d look after her but he was doing a poor job of it so far. She’d slipped out of his sight, totally unaware of the extreme danger she was in. He’d thought of warning her about it on one of his messages but decided Ben was probably right. It would only frighten her and she’d already had two terrifying episodes to deal with as it was.

  ‘Look…’ He tried another tack. ‘Can we have dinner tonight?’

  ‘Dinner?’ Her tone was incredulous.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said dryly. ‘That activity that couples do from time to time, where large amounts of money are exchanged for a meal you could have cooked for a fraction of the price at home.’

  ‘We are not a couple,’ she said. ‘And, besides, I’m already busy tonight.’

  He frowned. ‘Doing what?’

  ‘I’m going on a date.’

  ‘With whom?’

  ‘A man.’

  ‘What man?’

  ‘No one you know.’

  Jack’s stomach gave a disturbing clench.

  ‘Is it someone from the hospital?’ he asked after a short silence.

  ‘No.’

  ‘How well do you know this guy?’

  ‘What is this?’ she asked disdainfully. ‘Twenty Questions?’

  ‘Who the hell are you going out with?’ His voice rose once more.

  ‘He’s a cop.’

  ‘A cop?’ he choked.

  Becky rolled her eyes and stepped out of the way of a determined shopper. ‘What’s the matter with you, Jack? He’s one of the good guys.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ she said in exasperation. ‘I already have a father and a big brother so quit it with the protective male relative routine, OK?’

  ‘I can’t help feeling responsible for you.’

  ‘I can’t imagine why.’

  ‘Well, for a start, you’re a walking, breathing disaster,’ he said. ‘Apart from when you’re at work, where you are surprisingly highly competent and professional, but for some reason once you leave the premises you turn into an airhead.’

  ‘Has anyone told you lately how much of a pain in the butt you are?’ she snapped.

  ‘I think you were the last person to do so.’

  ‘I’m hanging up,’ she said.

  ‘If you hang up, I swear to God I’ll—’

  Becky hung up and switched off her phone, stuffing it in her bag with a determined shove of her hand.

  She strode off into the nearest boutique and bought an outfit that cost a fortune, and didn’t even blink an eye when the transaction was processed. With the rest of her purchases in each hand she went back to her hotel, ordered a hot snack from room service and ate it while she lay in the spa, using a host of free samples she’d been given at the cosmetics counter.

  ‘I hate him,’ she addressed the fragrant bubbles in front of her. ‘He’s a complete and utter Neanderthal.’ She popped another French fry into her mouth and chewed it savagely. ‘I hate him for being such a control freak. I hate him for being so…’ She choked back a tiny sob. ‘I hate him for being so…so damn un-hatable.’

  Jack had a gut feeling she was in the city. Although there was a huge shopping complex at Bondi Junction, he thought he’d heard the distinctive whirr of the city’s monorail among the sounds of carol singers and the general hustle and bustle of the busy crowds as he’d been talking to her on the phone.

  The only problem was, the city was full of hotels. It would take him hours to call each one and even then privacy protocol was such that they might not tell him her room number.

  He decided to think like a cop. Ben would be good at this, he thought as he walked the length of the city. He would narrow it down to the area he thought she would be most interested in shopping in. Not only that, city hotels were not cheap and she was a staff anaesthetist after all. She wouldn’t be throwing money away unnecessarily, particularly as she had just been robbed and needed to replace what she could, and it could take weeks before the insurance claim was processed.

  He decided she would most probably choose a hotel a couple of blocks from town, maybe somewhere up the far end of Hyde Park. The lush green of the trees along the Walk of Remembrance would appeal to her sense of sentimentality, not to mention the Pool of Reflection near the War Memorial. He decided she probably wouldn’t go for harbour views as it would push the price up too much, although one could never be too sure with Becky. As far as impulsiveness went, she more or less took the cake.

  At the first three hotels he drew a blank. But he got lucky on the fourth.

  Becky gave her freshly dried hair a last quick pat and reapplied her new strawberry lip gloss. She sprayed herself liberally with her new perfume, which had been on sale with a bonus gift of a make-up travel kit. She ran her hands down her slinky hot-pink dress with the
diamanteé shoestring straps, her heels giving her some of the height Ben had selfishly stolen from her at the Baxter genetic door.

  Matt Daniels rose from his seat in the piano bar as she approached, a smile spreading over his face as she slipped her hand into his.

  ‘You look completely different without your uniform,’ she said.

  His warm brown eyes swept over her in undisguised male appraisal. ‘You’re looking pretty good yourself.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  He held out a chair for her in a quiet corner. ‘What would you like to drink?’

  Becky really had no head for alcohol and as a general rule avoided it, but somehow tonight she felt a little bit more daring than usual. Although she had absolutely no idea what it contained, she asked for the first cocktail she saw on the list above the bar.

  ‘I’ll have an Abracadabra,’ she said.

  The drinks waiter took Matt’s order for a light beer and discreetly moved away.

  ‘So.’ Matt leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees. ‘How are you holding up?’

  Becky gave him a wavering smile. ‘I’m doing OK.’

  ‘No panic attacks or sleepless nights?’

  Her expression instantly became rueful. ‘My bank manager would probably prefer it if I did, but, no, my number-one coping mechanism is to shop. It works every time.’

  He smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. ‘I have a sister just like you.’

  ‘You do?’

  He nodded and leaned back as their drinks arrived. He paid for them and waited until the waiter had left before continuing, ‘My sister Penny has a black belt in shopping.’

  Becky grinned and reached for her drink. ‘Yeah? Well, I’m working my way up to a PhD in purchasing. After today I figure I’m almost there.’

  He gave her an amused smile and took a sip of his beer. ‘Do you have any family?’

  ‘My parents are overseas just now,’ she said, twirling her straw. ‘They’re celebrating being married for thirty-five years with a six-week cruise and a white Christmas in Europe.’

  ‘Wow, that’s some innings for a marriage these days.’

  ‘Yes.’ She gave him another little smile. ‘I have a brother, too.’

  ‘What does he do?’