Christmas-Day Fiancée (St Gregory's Hospital)

by Lucy Clark

  ‘I’m having trouble keeping my hands off you, Nat.’

  His words ignited her body and she immediately felt breathless and light-headed. ‘Marty!’ Nat closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘Don’t say things like that.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because…we’re friends.’

  ‘You are attracted to me, aren’t you?’ He brushed her hair back from her face. ‘You do feel this…this thing between us?’ His hand brushed her neck and she gasped, unable to break eye contact.

  ‘Marty.’ His name was a tortured whisper and she was desperately losing control. ‘I do want to, but—’

  Marty shook his head impatiently and within an instant had covered the distance between them, pulling her into his arms and pressing his mouth to hers in one swift motion.

  Dear Reader

  Christmas is one of my absolute favourite times of year, which is why I wanted to write a book set around that time. From the early morning wake-up and opening of presents, to the rich food and eventual contentedness of the day, it’s certainly one for sharing with people you love.

  In Christmas-Day Fiancée, Marty and Natalie go through a lot—wearing Santa hats, hanging dusty Christmas decorations, poor Natalie ruining more than one outfit—to finally get their happily-ever-after Christmas.

  I hope you enjoy getting to know them and have a wonderful Christmas.

  Warmest regards

  Lucy Clark

  Recent titles by the same author:

  DR CUSACK’S SECRET SON

  CRISIS AT KATOOMBA HOSPITAL*

  COMING HOME TO KATOOMBA*

  CHRISTMAS-DAY FIANCÉE

  BY

  LUCY CLARK

  For the people I went to school with. We grow, we change, we eventually find ourselves, but a part of us will always remember those days in the old school yard!

  Phil 4:19

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘I’VE changed Alysha’s medication to an immunosuppressant as the corticosteroids didn’t seem to be working too well,’ Natalie Fox said to the nurse looking after Alysha. ‘Monitor her closely and let me know how she is in a couple of hours.’

  ‘Will do, Natalie.’

  ‘I’ll do a serum electrolyte count then.’ She finished writing the notes for her six-year-old patient before picking up her stethoscope from the desk. When her pager beeped, she groaned. ‘What now?’ She checked the number, her Santa hat almost falling off her head. She pushed it back on impatiently.

  ‘Who is it?’ Cassie, the ward clerk, asked.

  ‘Radiology. Hopefully, they have those films I’ve been bugging them for all morning.’

  ‘Impatient as ever, I see,’ a male voice drawled behind her, and Natalie turned, her glare already fixed in place to scare off her annoying colleague, Andrew…but it wasn’t Andrew who’d spoken. Her eyebrows lifted in stunned surprise.

  ‘Marty?’ Natalie gaped at him.

  ‘One and the same.’

  The smile that lit her face was sincere as she leaned forward to hug him. Although the contact was brief, his body felt firm where she touched him and the fresh aftershave he wore was natural but very nice. Not like Richard’s expensive brand, which always seemed to give her headaches. She pushed the thought away and quickly stepped back from the embrace. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘In Sydney?’

  ‘Well, yes, and here at St Gregory’s. Visiting a patient?’

  ‘Nope. I’m your new ward round buddy and, by the looks of things, another of Santa’s little helpers. I love the hat. It suits you.’ Marty’s grin was wide and gorgeous and causing a strange reaction deep down inside her. She shifted, trying to keep her thoughts on track.

  ‘You’re working here?’

  He held up the stethoscope in his hand. ‘Certainly am. Lucky you, eh.’ He waggled his eyebrows up and down and Natalie laughed, as did Cassie.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ Natalie said. ‘Marty Williams, meet Cassie Adams—ward clerk extraordinaire. Marty and I went to high school together.’

  ‘Wow.’ Cassie held out her hand and Natalie didn’t miss the hungry look the other woman gave the new doctor. It had been nine years since she’d last seen Marty when they’d met quite by accident in Fiji, but even since then he’d changed. His hair had been longer and unruly whereas now the dark brown cut was short but not too short. Not army short like Richard’s. It suited him, especially as his face was creased with laughter lines and a touch of afternoon stubble.

  His eyes, though, were what she recognised the most. The laughter was still there, the joker he’d always been, but as she watched him making small talk with Cassie, Natalie also saw a hint of reserve.

  ‘So that’s settled, then,’ Cassie was saying. ‘Meet us there when you’ve finished your shift and we’ll take it from there.’

  Natalie frowned. ‘Where are you going?’

  Marty smiled and the reserve she’d witnessed disappeared. ‘Still a daydreamer, eh?’

  ‘Impatient and a daydreamer.’ Natalie shook her head, her smile instantly matching his. ‘Are those the only things you remember about me?’

  He raised his eyebrows teasingly. ‘Well, there is a memory of you streaking through the school naked.’

  ‘I was not naked,’ she retorted indignantly.

  ‘You did what?’ Cassie demanded. ‘We’ve been friends for over five years and you’ve never told me about that.’

  Natalie groaned. ‘I was wearing a skin-coloured body suit, which had bright feathers sewn on it,’ she explained to Cassie, but her gaze never left Marty’s. ‘I was in the school play and I’d changed into my costume at one end of the school and the rehearsal was at the other end of the school so I—’

  ‘So she ran through the school, looking just like a streaker.’

  ‘With feathers.’

  ‘Yes.’ Marty’s teasing was now in full swing. ‘All the guys loved it. The costume was very…form fitting,’ he said in an undertone to Cassie. ‘And my darling Nat was what we called an early developer.’

  Natalie’s jaw dropped open for the second time in ten minutes, although this time it was from embarrassment rather than shock. ‘Martin!’

  ‘Ooh. See, now I’m in trouble because she called me Martin. She only ever uses my full name when I’m in trouble.’

  ‘When was the last time you two saw each other?’ Cassie asked.

  Marty frowned a little. ‘Must be about nine years ago.’

  Natalie nodded in confirmation.

  ‘We caught up with each other in Fiji but that was a real quick visit. Before that, it would have been about six or seven years earlier,’ Martin said, his gaze meshing with Natalie’s again. ‘My parents moved to Darwin to live at the end of grade nine. We kept in loose contact for a while and have been exchanging Christmas cards since Fiji.’

  ‘Do I get a Christmas card this year?’ Natalie asked. ‘Or do you want to leave that out as we’ll probably be working together on Christmas Day?’

  He grinned, his smile making her feel special. ‘You never know your luck, Nat.’ Their gazes met for a moment and the smile slowly slid from his lips, his eyes becoming serious. Natalie had only seen that expression on him once before and it had been when he’d said goodbye to her on the last day of school. He’d given her a Christmas pres
ent, stared at her for a few minutes then hugged her and left, his hands in his pockets as he’d walked to catch his bus home from their last day of school.

  The following year hadn’t been the same without Marty around.

  Natalie’s pager beeped again and she broke eye contact, startled that she’d just been standing there, staring at him. The phone on the desk rang and Cassie went to answer it, giving them a few moments together.

  ‘Radiology again?’ he asked.

  ‘No. It’s…Richard.’

  ‘Richard?’

  ‘Orthopaedic surgeon. I need to discuss the X-rays with him.’

  ‘There’s more to it than that, Nat. Is he blond?’

  ‘What?’ She stared at him in disbelief, then relented a little. ‘How can you possibly know that?’

  Marty shrugged. ‘Is Richard your boyfriend? I’m presuming you’re not married as you’re not wearing a wedding ring.’

  ‘No.’ Natalie looked down at the floor and shuffled her feet. ‘I’m not married and Richard is…’ She shrugged. ‘Well, we’ve been dating for a while.’

  ‘You don’t sound too enthusiastic about him.’

  Natalie shrugged again. ‘Aren’t all relationships complicated?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘What about you? Taken any more chances with matrimony?’

  ‘No. Once bitten, twice shy. I’m footloose and fancy-free and intend to stay that way, thank you very much.’

  ‘Same as the old Marty from high school. From one girl to the next.’

  He grinned. ‘You can talk. How many guys did you date in year nine?’

  Natalie frowned but Marty continued.

  ‘Tell me, is Richard a better kisser than Neville O’Grady?’

  Natalie gave a shout of laughter. ‘Oh my gosh. I’d forgotten about him.’ She shook her head in bemusement as the memory returned, her Santa hat falling off. ‘Nev O’Grady.’

  Marty stooped to pick up the hat and placed it gently back onto her head, the scent of him whirling around her once more. Natalie sucked in a breath, ignoring the frisson of awareness she felt between them. He stepped back, thankfully putting more distance between them. ‘Nev O’Grady. Alias the licker.’

  She laughed again, glad the previous moment had disappeared. ‘I still can’t believe I told you about that. You teased me the entire time I went out with him.’

  ‘From what I recall, you got me back twice as bad when I dated Missy the Hissy.’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Natalie laughed again, the feeling of life in a simpler time returning to wash over her. ‘Ah, nostalgia.’

  ‘It’s good for the soul.’ They shared another meaningful look before returning to reality. ‘I’ll let you get to Radiology while I sign my life away on three thousand different forms—all in triplicate, mind you—to keep the pencil-pushers happy.’

  ‘When do you officially start?’

  Marty checked his watch. ‘In about twenty minutes, if I can write that fast.’ He grimaced.

  ‘You’re doing clinic this afternoon?’

  ‘That’s the current plan.’

  ‘Excellent. Someone to help with the workload.’ Natalie pointed to the forms. ‘Write fast, my friend, and I’ll see you in clinic.’

  ‘See you there, Nat.’

  She started walking out the ward but turned to face him. ‘Oh, and don’t forget to get a Santa hat from Cassie.’

  ‘Will do.’

  Natalie headed out of the general paediatrics ward and down the stairs to Radiology, unable to believe she was going to be working with Marty. ‘It’s a small world,’ she whispered. She went directly to the radiologist’s office and was glad to find her friend there.

  ‘Here you are, Natalie.’ Lisa handed over a packet of films. ‘All reported on and ready to go.’

  ‘Thanks, Lise. I appreciate the rush.’

  ‘Ah, you’ll pay. So tell me all about your old schoolfriend.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘From what Cassie says, he’s gorgeous and single.’

  ‘How did you know?’ Natalie raised her eyebrows, surprised at the speed of the hospital grapevine.

  ‘I called the ward just a few minutes ago and spoke to Cassie. She said you were just about to leave but were chatting to a gorgeous hunk you went to school with.’

  ‘Marty? A hunk?’ Natalie thought for a moment. He hadn’t been back then…but now? ‘Yeah, I guess he is.’

  ‘You sound surprised. Can’t you see it?’

  She shrugged. ‘I guess I still see him as he was in school.’

  ‘Definitely not hunky?’

  Natalie smiled and shook her head. ‘Nerdy yet cute and very funny is how I’d have described him.’

  ‘Well apparently he is now hot.’

  ‘I guess we’ve all changed since high school.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Enough yammering. I have to meet Richard. Thanks for these.’ She took the X-rays and headed towards the orthopaedic department. She was stopped along the way by Jim, the orderly.

  ‘You’re looking very happy and bright today, Dr Natalie.’

  ‘Am I? Maybe it’s the hat.’

  ‘Could be, but there’s a spring in your step and a smile on your face. It’s good to see.’ He paused and then snapped his fingers. ‘I know, have you broken it off with that brisk orthopaedic doctor?’

  ‘Jim. You know his name is Richard and, no, we haven’t broken up.’

  ‘Pity. He’s no good for you.’

  ‘Jim. Let’s not go there.’

  ‘No. You’re right. Not when you’re looking so happy. I’d just like to meet the man who’s put that smile on your face and shake his hand.’

  ‘How do you know it’s a man? Perhaps one of my patients is better and has gone home?’

  ‘No.’ Jim shook his head emphatically. ‘You have a different look when that happens—a look of pleasure and relief. This one…’ he waggled his finger at her ‘…is one of unabashed joy.’ He gripped the empty wheelchair he was pushing. ‘I need to get this to Maternity. Stay happy, Dr Natalie.’

  ‘I’ll try, Jim.’ Natalie continued on her way to meet Richard, mulling over Jim’s words. She did feel happy and it was because she’d seen Marty. She sighed and hugged the X-rays to her chest. It was always nice to share a positive memory from the past and Marty had provided plenty of those.

  She walked through the orthopaedic department, smiling at the secretaries who guarded the surgeons’ privacy. ‘Hello. Is Richard in?’

  ‘Yes. He’s expecting you, Natalie.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She knocked once and waited for Richard’s reply before going in. Richard didn’t like too much familiarity from her at work. He liked keeping their professional and private lives separate, which meant he usually ignored her if they were in a meeting together. He’d not long graduated as an orthopaedic surgeon and where Natalie had thought the pressure would lift once his exams were over, it had become even more intense than before. Richard had territory to mark out—at least, that’s what he’d told her.

  ‘Come in.’

  Returning to the present, Natalie went in and Richard instantly stood up and held out his hand for the films.

  ‘Do you really have to wear that hat, Natalie?’

  ‘Yes, Dr Scrooge, I do. You could do with a bit of Christmas cheer in here. Shall I ask your secretary to put some tinsel up?’

  Richard gave her a withering look.

  ‘Anyway, you’re forgetting I work in Paediatrics and the children expect more Christmas cheer than on other wards.’

  ‘I suppose so, but it looks ridiculous.’

  Natalie ignored his comments, deciding she liked Marty’s reaction better, and focused her attention on the X-rays Richard had hooked onto the viewing box.

  ‘Quite a clean break, but she’ll still need plates and screws.’

  ‘What about an external fixator?’ Natalie asked.

  Richard frowned and pondered the thought. ‘Hmm. I don’t think so in this instance. How old is she?�
��

  ‘Almost twelve.’

  ‘I think inserting the metal will be the best way to go.’

  ‘You’re the surgeon. Shall I have your secretary book Laura onto your operating list?’

  Richard pulled down the films and gave them back to Natalie who put them in the packet. ‘I’ll do her tomorrow afternoon. I’ll probably finish late in Theatre but it can’t be helped.’ He sat behind his desk and picked up a pen. He glanced down at a piece of paper before scribbling his signature on it.

  ‘I guess that means we won’t be having dinner—again,’ she muttered.

  ‘No. Sorry, Natalie. You’ll have had a busy day and I don’t want to make you wait in case you get low blood sugar, so it’s easier to cancel. Besides, you know how things can go in surgery. One minute every thing’s fine, the next I’m stuck there for a few extra hours, fixing a complication.’

  ‘But you’ve missed the last three Friday nights. Our scheduled weekly date is the only time I really get to spend with you, Richard.’ Natalie’s tone was firm and she once more realised that her relationship with Richard was becoming too hard to work at. When that had happened in her previous relationships, she’d take it as a sign to break it off.

  ‘I know but work comes first. I told you things would be different once I graduated. We’ll have dinner next Friday.’

  ‘I have a Christmas party to go to, unless you’ve changed your mind about coming with me.’

  He paused and gave her a thoughtful look. ‘I’d forgotten about that. Do you have to go?’

  ‘Yes. It’s fundraising for my unit, Richard, not to mention the department’s annual Christmas dinner.’

  ‘So it is.’ He came around and placed a hand on her shoulder. The gesture was benign and would have been impersonal if she hadn’t seen the sincerity in his eyes. ‘We’ll find time. I promise.’

  ‘OK.’

  He dropped his hand and headed back behind his desk. ‘The offer is still open to move in with me, Natalie. That way you’ll be able to see me all the time.’

  Natalie smiled, not taking him seriously at all. ‘We’ve already discussed this, Richard, and my answer hasn’t changed since last time.’