'You!' she breathed, stepping back so that he had to release her chin. And then, although she was already sickeningly aware of the answer. 'What are you doing here?'
'Oh, I work here,' he said lightly. 'I've been waiting with some impatience to welcome you to Chad's, Staff Nurse Tremaine. You'll be a delightful recruit for us, competent and decorative. But I owe you an apology, which I couldn't offer you when last we met,' he went on, his eyes twinkling reprehensibly at the recollection of that meeting. 'I'll take you to dinner tonight and make amends properly.'
Before Fleur could reply, but whether she intended to refuse indignantly or berate him for his former behaviour, she could not afterwards recall, he had left her. He joined the others at the bed of a new patient, and she retreated further into the linen cupboard to hide her burning cheeks and angrily flashing eyes.
*
Chapter 3
She contrived to keep out of the students' way and after they had gone concentrated on monitoring the progress of a patient newly returned from theatre. It was a busy day and Fleur forgot her tiredness, only realising it again when she and one of the other staff nurses went off for a meal late in the afternoon.
Jenny was small, plump, dark and placid. She had taken her first job at Chad's, still lived in the hostel, and had been especially helpful to Fleur during her first few days.
They shared a table with Sue and Angie from orthopaedics, both bright eyed with excitement.
'Have you heard?' Angie demanded and Jenny shook her head.
'Heard what? We're too busy to gossip, unlike you taking rest cures in orthopaedics,' she said teasingly.
Angie laughed. 'Russell Delaney is engaged at last,' she announced in an awed tone.
Jenny stared at her. 'I don't believe it! He's not the type to settle down, not the glamorous Russell.'
'Have you met him yet?' Sue asked Fleur.
'I've heard he's the hospital heartbreaker,' she replied.
'And how!' Sue said in a grim tone. 'Be warned, stay away from him. He pays every pretty new nurse extravagant attentions, wining and dining her until she's dizzy, and then drops her flat, no explanation, nothing, always perfectly charming when they meet but never a hint of another date!'
'Was that what happened to you?' Jenny asked sympathetically, 'Diane Meadows almost had a breakdown last year, and eventually left, she couldn't stand seeing him about all the time. But who on earth has snared him?'
'Mr Havelock's new secretary. Her name is Rowena Kingsley.'
Jenny whistled soundlessly. 'Related to the Monarch?'
'His daughter,' Sue nodded, and turned to Fleur. 'Mr Havelock's our most eminent brain surgeon, and Mr Kingsley, nicknamed the Monarch, the equally distinguished transplant man. Between them they practically run Chad's, and no senior appointments are made without their blessing.'
'And Russell is very ambitious,' Angie said dryly. 'How useful for him to have a friend in both courts, as it were!'
'She's very beautiful too,' Sue said consideringly. 'Tall, blonde, cool and elegant, just the sort of girl Russell prefers, and looking far too remote ever to have to be concerned with the mere task of earning a living.'
'Does she work for Mr Havelock in his Harley Street clinic?' Jenny asked, and Sue shook her head.
'No, just his two days here. Though she'd fit in with the decor there far better than at Chad's,' she added, looking round critically at the shabby pale green walls which badly needed repainting, and the ancient but sturdy canteen furniture.
'Come on, Angie, back to the grind, we haven't got all day to sit over our three course luncheon like some! See you.'
Jenny eyed her orange juice, salad and apple consideringly. She was trying to lose weight before all the Christmas festivities, she had told Fleur.
'I wonder if I could pretend it's caviar and pheasant and stilton?' she asked. 'How exciting. But avoid him, he's dangerous,' she added, quartering her tomato exactly.
'The notorious Russell Delaney? But surely, if he's engaged now he won't be flirting with other girls,' Fleur replied.
'No engagement will stop that man,' Jenny scoffed. 'And if it's all true she'll only be here a couple of days a week to keep an eye on him. Hello,' she added, as another nurse joined them, and promptly repeated the news.
This is how gossip spreads, Fleur thought despondently, imagining the staff at St John's repeating the rumours about herself and that dreadful man. He was actually a doctor at Chad's, she reminded herself, and shivered. She could not avoid him for ever, she would have to work with him, and be constantly reminded of what she so desperately wanted to forget. Russell Delaney couldn't be half as dangerous as he was, she thought, wishing that Jenny could talk of something else.
*
At last they left the canteen. As the time for finishing drew near, Fleur grew anxious. After issuing his surprising invitation – no, command, she corrected angrily – he had simply walked away. He had not waited for her to accept, or suggested a time. She hoped he wasn't serious, but nonetheless kept a wary eye open as, having handed over to the night staff, she went to change into her outdoor clothes.
Today she had a green and white checked skirt, white shirt and vee-necked green sweater, with the same boots and jacket. Pulling the jacket collar high about her face she went quickly to the main entrance, nearest the bus stop she used.
She had thought about leaving the hospital by one of the other entrances, but it would have been inconvenient, cold and tiring to walk further than necessary to the next bus stop or the tube station. It would be silly to take precautions against nothing more than a casual remark.
Besides, she told herself firmly, even if the arrogant man did waylay her he couldn't force her to accept his invitation. He could scarcely abduct her in full view of the porter's lodge and all the people around.
He had been joking, she thought, when a quick glance round the entrance lobby failed to reveal him. She went hastily across to the huge old doorway. There were cars parked either side of the short drive, which was well lit, and she could see no one waiting in any of them. She began to run as she saw her bus approaching along the road.
She was level with the last car when a man in a dark suit stepped from behind it and grasped her elbow, causing her to fall against him as her dash was abruptly halted.
'Good evening, Staff Nurse Tremaine,' a deep, somewhat mocking voice greeted her. 'You appear to be in a great hurry?'
Aware out of the corner of her eye that her bus was cruising blithely past the stop, Fleur ground her teeth in fury. She glared up into his handsome face, the features strongly defined, the blue eyes smiling down into hers.
'Now see what you've done!' she groaned. 'It's an hour before the next, even if it's on time, and it's freezing!'
He glanced at the now receding bus. 'But you don't need a bus. You're having dinner with me, or had you forgotten?'
'I am not!' Fleur retorted furiously. 'If you think I'm ready to drop everything and provide entertainment for you just because you order it, instead of asking me, you're very much mistaken. And let go of my arm, you're hurting me!'
He eyed her calmly, but dropped his hand obediently.
'I see, you're annoyed because I didn't wait for an answer,' he said, aggravatingly cool. 'I looked for you when we'd finished and you'd vanished. You could have refused me then.'
'I wish I had,' Fleur muttered, 'though you're quite capable of making a scene there if you think you're being thwarted!'
'How do you know so much about me?' he asked, a gleam of amusement in his eyes.
'I don't even know your name, and I don't want to!' Fleur shot back at him. 'I do know you're an arrogant, selfish brute, who caused a lot of trouble for me before and – '
'I want to apologise for that,' he interrupted swiftly. 'That's why I asked you out. Won't you permit me to make amends? And I'll drive you home now as I've caused you to miss your bus.'
'Never is convenient,' Fleur snapped. 'And I'm quite capable of making my o
wn way home, thanks. Taxi!'
She turned to hail a taxi which had deposited a passenger at the hospital entrance and scrambled in, waiting until the door was firmly shut before giving her address to the driver.
She was still shaking when she reached home, but Anne was out and she had no one to tell of her fury and indignation.
Suddenly exhausted, she forced herself to heat up some soup, then went to bed, to toss restlessly, and dream of the wretched man when she finally dropped into an uneasy sleep.
*
The next day, fortunately, she was off duty, so was able to sleep late. When she found herself unable to concentrate on anything in the flat, her thoughts too preoccupied with her encounters with this man, whose name she still did not know, she determined to go shopping in an attempt to distract herself.
For warmth she wore a snug, close fitting dress made from a woollen mixture, cream flecked with brown, but when the biting wind whipped round her legs as she walked to the tube she promised herself she would look for a long coat, since her jacket was not going to be warm enough this winter.
She explored the huge Oxford Street stores, lunched, and bought Christmas presents for her schoolboy brother and her parents. Then she turned her attention to clothes. With winter threatening she bought a heavy sweater, bright with a red and green pattern on a white background, cord jeans, and a long, woollen coat in a warm golden shade.
Laden with parcels, she let herself into the flat. As she was trying on the coat again, she heard Anne come in, and came out of her bedroom to greet her friend.
'I've been shopping,' she announced.
Anne looked briefly at the coat, smiled crookedly, then turned to hang up her own.
Fleur frowned. It was so unlike Anne not to be interested in clothes, her own or anyone else's.
'What is it? Are you ill? What's happened?' she demanded.
Anne sighed, and looked helplessly at Fleur.
'Let's eat first. Have we anything in the fridge?'
'The rest of that casserole is in the oven, and there's salad and cheese. Just a minute while I get rid of this, and it should be ready.'
She hung up her coat while in the kitchen Anne took the casserole out of the oven and helped herself to some, urging Fleur to do the same. Then she sat staring at it. Fleur, by now seriously alarmed, sat down opposite her.
'For Pete's sake tell me,' she begged. 'Is it David?'
Anne shook her head, sighed deeply, lifted a forkful of food to her mouth, looked at it as though she did not know what it was, and lowered it back onto her plate.
'I hate having to tell you, but it's better that you're warned,' she said at last, slowly.
'Warned? What of?' Fleur demanded.
'It's all over the hospital that you got the sack for flirting with the patients,' she said baldly. 'The details are to do with that man, and they're pretty accurate.'
'But I didn't get the sack!' Fleur said, aghast.
'Things get distorted. You could have done, if you hadn't already been leaving.'
'It's him!' Fleur said slowly. 'I haven't had the chance to tell you yet, Anne, but he's a doctor, a surgeon, I think, at Chad's. That's why I saw him in the Crown.'
'Who? You don't mean – oh, no!'
'Yes. He was with some students yesterday morning, and recognised me. He told me – not asked – that he'd take me out to dinner last night, then walked away.'
'What happened?' Anne demanded.
'I was leaving last night, with no intention of going out with him. He stopped me just outside and we had a row. I missed the bus and grabbed a taxi. He must have spread the story about to get his revenge. Oh, I could wring his neck!'
*
She was still furiously angry the next day, and the knowing looks from the other nurses did little to improve her mood. Deciding to tackle the problem directly, Fleur went for lunch with Jenny and demanded to be told what was being said. Jenny reluctantly confirmed it was much as Anne had reported.
'But it's so stupid!' Fleur exclaimed. 'I'd never have been able to come to Chad's if that had been on my record, would I?'
'Then how did the rumour start?' she asked quietly.
'One of the sisters did report me, once. For being too friendly with male patients,' she added, and Jenny nodded.
'You're a very friendly person, Fleur, but no one thinks anything of it on a woman's ward. They might if the patients were men, especially if someone was jealous of you.'
'She couldn't prove anything, and I didn't get a formal warning, but people believe there's no smoke without fire, so when – ' she halted suddenly, then realised she must tell the embarrassing truth to scotch the rumours. 'It was my last few days,' she went on. 'I was sent to a new patient, with suspected concussion, in a side ward. He was out of bed, trying to find his clothes, and when I tried to get him back into bed he pulled me down on top of him and kissed me.'
She shivered at the recollection, and Jenny exclaimed in sympathy and put her hand briefly on Fleur's.
'And someone made the wrong interpretation?'
Fleur nodded, then leaned closer across the table and spoke in as low a voice as she could.
'It's worse than that. Yes, Sister came in and found us struggling – I'd just slapped his face – and she sent me off duty. I thought I'd be hauled up to the Manager, but for some reason no more was said. I suppose she thought it wasn't worth the hassle as I was leaving the next day but I was surprised. Both she and the other nurse who was there loathed my guts. I'd have expected them to take any opportunity to harm me.'
'Then that's not too bad,' Jenny said comfortingly. 'People will soon forget, when there's another piece of gossip which amuses them, and there's nothing on record.'
'But that's not all. The man, I never did find out his name, works here. He's a surgeon, I think. He was doing the rounds the other day, and afterwards we had another row. He must have spread this story out of sheer vindictiveness, to get some kind of revenge. I'll never be allowed to forget it while he's here. I'll have to leave Chad's, and I was enjoying it so much!'
Jenny was staring at her in astonishment.
'What a dreadful coincidence. No wonder you're upset. Though perhaps not,' she said suddenly. 'A coincidence, I mean. I don't notice the Sports and Social Club much, but I heard one of the rugger team had been kept in for observation overnight after a match with one of the other hospitals. I forget where, but that could explain what he was doing at St John's. Anyway, surely we can turn this to your advantage. If we let people know it was because you rejected him, and he's being spiteful because of that and spreading distorted stories about you, they'll laugh at him. They'll soon work out you couldn't have got the sack, so although it'll be embarrassing for a while, he'll come out of it looking much more foolish.'
'I wish I could believe that,' Fleur said tensely.
'Of course you will,' Jenny said bracingly. 'First we must find out his name. Was he there today?'
'No, and I don't know the consultant he was with.'
'Well, describe him and I'll probably recognise him,' Jenny said soothingly. 'We suspect he plays rugger, and can check who's in the team. How old is he? Tall or short, dark or fair?'
'There's no need to,' Fleur said in a hollow voice. 'He's just come in, at the back of the queue, in a dark suit.'
Jenny turned round eagerly, then looked back at Fleur, her smile gone.
'It's no earthly use,' she said slowly. 'We can't say that, Fleur. No one would ever believe you rejected him. No one has ever been known to, you see. That's Russell Delaney.'
*
Chapter 4
Fleur found it increasingly difficult to endure the whispers and speculative glances of the other staff. Some were amused at the story, others seemed sympathetic, and a few girls who cherished dreams of Russell Delaney directed their jealousy equally at Fleur and Rowena Kingsley. The rumours of the latter's engagement to the handsome surgeon added spice to what was a favourite topic of conversation for days.
'They'll throw a big party to celebrate,' Jenny said one day. 'Have you seen her ring? She was wearing it yesterday.'
'A huge emerald, isn't it?' Anne asked. 'She was flashing it around yesterday when she was here. I must say I thought it a bit ostentatious. I'd prefer a more discreet one.'
'I don't suppose anyone else here could afford one like it,' Angie put in. 'Russell's family own some enormous business, a building firm, I think, he's always had pots of money. My cousin trained with him and even as a student, he had a Porsche.'
The four girls were in the bar of an West End theatre during the interval. As often happened, spare tickets were sent to the hospitals, and they had been able to get some. The play was dreary, although billed as one of the greatest comedies of all time, and events at Chad's were of far greater interest than the fortunes of the rather insipid characters on stage.
Fleur, though, wished they could talk of something else. She had seen Rowena's ring when the secretary had come to the ward with a message from Mr Havelock. Sister had been off duty and Fleur had been in charge. It was obvious from the somewhat sharp glance Rowena had given her when Fleur's name had been mentioned that she had heard all about the episode at St John's, and equally obvious she did not like having to be polite.
'She's haughty and supercilious, gives orders, doesn't say thank you. I felt she was bursting to tear me apart,' Fleur said later to Anne. 'Her fingers were clenched, as if she could barely keep them off me. How she types with those talons, I don't know,' she added, with a critical look at her own short, neatly filed nails.
'Have you seen him again?' Anne asked.
'I've kept out of his way when he comes round the ward,' Fleur replied. 'And next week, thank goodness, I'm on nights, so I won't have to keep my eyes peeled for him. He doesn't use the canteen much, I've only seen him there once.'
Her first night on duty was uneventful, no emergencies, just the usual round of post operative observations and a couple of wakeful, talkative patients. She could relax from the fear of meeting Russell Delaney for the first time in a week or more, and felt unusually energetic, even at the end of her long hours.
Hospital Heartbreaker Page 3
