Outback Surgeon

by Leah Martyn

  'She's gorgeous.' Abbey's look was soft. 'How old is she?'

  'Four months.' Natalie swallowed unevenly. 'We're...um, new in town. Ryan, my husband, has just been appointed manager for the organic growers co-operative.'

  Abbey nodded. 'So, how can I help you?'

  'I— That is, we wanted some advice, really.' She hesitated. 'About immunisation for Chloe. Are there any natural alternatives?'

  Abbey took her time answering. Whether or not to immunise their children was every parent's choice, of course. But in her paediatric rotation Abbey had seen the needless pain and suffering little ones had been put through as a result of not being properly immunised against what amounted to killer diseases.

  'Natalie, I have to say, the short answer is no.' Abbey looked levelly at her patient. 'Is there a reason why you don't want your baby immunised?'

  The young mother nibbled on her bottom lip. 'It's just you hear of such terrible things happening afterwards—like brain damage...'

  'Those cases are extremely rare,' Abbey discounted. 'In fact, I've never seen one in all the years I've been practising medicine.'

  A smile nipped Natalie's mouth. 'That can't have been so long. You don't look very old.'

  'Sometimes I feel about a hundred.' Abbey gave a low, husky laugh, warming to the other's light humour. 'But there's no problem with Chloe, is there? She's in good health?'

  'Oh, yes,' Natalie was quick to answer. 'And I'm breastfeeding her.'

  Abbey's gaze grew wistful. The little one did seem utterly content. 'You know, Natalie, on the whole, most vaccines cause minimum side effects. And it's a sad fact that some of the crippling diseases that were around in our grandparents' time are making a comeback.'

  'And that's because parents are not having their children immunised, isn't it?' Nevertheless, the young mother still looked doubtful.

  'Look...' Abbey swung to her feet and went across to her filing cabinet. 'Why don't I give you some relevant stuff to read, the latest statistics and so on, and you and your husband can make up your minds? I certainly wouldn't want to pressure you. In the end the decision has to be yours. If you decide you want Chloe done, pop her back in and we'll take care of it, OK?'

  'Thanks so much, Dr Jones.' Natalie took the printed matter and tucked it into her big shoulder-bag. She stood to her feet, carefully cradling her daughter in the crook of her arm. 'You've been really laid-back about all this.'

  'You sound surprised.' Abbey held the door open for her.

  Natalie's mouth turned down comically. 'I really thought I'd be in for a lecture,' she admitted wryly.

  'No lectures here,' Abbey said with a smile. 'I can guarantee it.' She touched a finger to Chloe's plump little cheek. 'Take care, now.'

  Abbey's afternoon surgery kept her busy with a trail of small emergencies, one of which was the situation of two lads from the high school who needed stitches after clashing heads during a game of rugby.

  'How on earth can they call it a game?' Meri shook her head in bewilderment, watching the two walking wounded leave the surgery in the care of their teacher.

  'Rugby depends on skill,' Abbey said knowledge- ably, recalling her own brother's brilliance at the game when he'd been at university. 'The more skill you have, the better you can keep out of trouble on the field.'

  Meri sniffed. 'I'm just glad I have daughters. At least they can't get into too much strife with their ballet.'

  Abbey pulled across a couple of letters that were waiting for her signature. 'Except ballet dancers quite often suffer horrendous problems with their feet,' she pointed out evenly.

  'Do they?' Meri looked appalled.

  'Well, some of the professional ones appear to. It's all that stuff on points they have to do.'

  Meri lifted a shoulder. 'Oh, well, Cassie and Georgia haven't advanced to that stage yet. And by then perhaps they'll be into something sensible like tennis,' she said hopefully.

  Abbey chuckled. 'Or kick-boxing?'

  'Don't!' Meri pretended to shudder and then smiled a bit grimly. 'When you have kids, there's such a minefield of decision-making involved, isn't there?'

  Thinking of her earlier discussion with Natalie Wilson, Abbey could only silently agree. But as yet I don't have to concern myself with that kind of responsibility, she thought broodingly. And until the right man came along, the subject of having children was hardly up for discussion...

  'Oh— Wolf phoned earlier.' Meri deftly creased the letters into neat folds and slipped them into the waiting envelopes. 'Did you want him to do a late ward round? If not, he's off gallivanting somewhere.'

  'I'll give him a call and let him off the hook.' Abbey blocked a yawn, edging off the tall stool behind Reception and standing to her feet. She glanced at her watch. Almost five o'clock. 'It won't take me long to pop over to the hospital and do a round. Then, barring further emergencies, I'm off home.'

  'You must be out on your feet after that long drive,' Meri commiserated. 'And you haven't stopped all day. Who'd be a rural GP, eh?' She turned aside to answer the ringing telephone. Several seconds later she was holding out the receiver towards Abbey. 'For you. It's Dr Tonnelli.'

  Abbey felt her heart slam against her ribs. 'I'll take it in my room, thanks, Meri,' she instructed quickly. 'And you pop off home to the girls now. I'll lock up and set the alarm.'

  'If you're sure?'

  'Go.'

  "Night, then.' Meri waggled her fingers, her look faintly curious as she watched Abbey almost skip towards her consulting room.

  Abbey entered her office, her heart pounding sickeningly. Then, blowing out a long, calming breath, she reached out and picked up the cordless receiver.

  'Nick, hello!'

  Tonnelli curled a low laugh. 'Hello, yourself, Dr Jones. How are things?'

  Personally—crazy, mixed up, scary. Take your pick. 'Fine. And with you?'

  'Oh, can't complain.' A heavy beat of silence. 'I thought of you the moment I woke this morning, Abbey. Did you think of me?'

  He'd spoken quietly, his voice so deep it made her shiver. Not only had she thought of him, she'd still had the smell of him on her clothes, the taste of him on her mouth. 'Nick...'

  'I'm here.'

  Another silence.

  'Do you want me as much as I want you, Abbey?'

  Her eyes closed. 'Nick—this is all a bit unreal.'

  'What part of it? Our kisses seemed pretty real to me,' he said with a wicked chuckle.

  'That's not what I meant.' Sounding strangled, she tried to block out the memory, the sweet shock when their mouths had met for the first time. When he'd leaned forward and teased her lips apart—and had kissed her as she had never been kissed in all of her thirty-one years.

  'Not very experienced, are you, Abbey?' he asked gently.

  Not with men of his calibre, certainly. With the phone still clamped to her ear, she swung up from her chair and went to the window, as if fighting against the sensual cocoon he'd begun weaving around her. 'Where are you?' she asked, desperate to normalise the conversation.

  'Not where I want to be, that's for sure.'

  Abbey's heart raced, thudded, missed a beat. 'Please, could we not talk about this?'

  'We have to talk about this—us,' he went on doggedly. 'Surely it was more than just a momentary... attraction!'

  'Perhaps it was,' she agreed tightly. 'But, Nick, we're hundreds of miles apart. Our lives are hundreds of miles apart!'

  'So you're baling out without even giving us a shot? Turning your feelings off like a tap? You disappoint me, Abbey. I took you to be a far more gutsy lady than that.'

  Abbey's fingers tightened on the phone. She wouldn't let him get to her. 'This kind of conversation is pointless, Nick, and if that's all you called for—'

  'It isn't,' he emphasised almost roughly. 'I've seen Todd.'

  Immediately, Abbey felt on safer ground. She swallowed. 'And?'

  'I think the Dennison can help him. I've already begun liaising with Anna Charles and lined up an amb
ulance. Todd should be installed by next Monday. I'll have my secretary fax my findings to you.'

  'Oh, Nick, that's brilliant.' Hardly aware of what she was doing, Abbey turned from the window and began to pace her room. 'And what about Todd's parents? It could be a bit sticky.'

  'I've already spoken to them. They'll be in Sydney on Monday to help him settle in.'

  So he had everyone eating out of his hand. Abbey felt the ground sliding out from under her. She gave a brittle laugh. 'When you decide to move, you really move, don't you?'

  'There's no point in procrastinating, Abbey—about anything.'

  Abbey's throat tightened. 'Don't go on as though we have some kind of future together, Nick. Tell me more about Todd's situation,' she sidetracked quickly. If she could keep him to medical matters, maybe she could cope—just. 'What about the fees?'

  'It's sorted.' He sounded irritated. 'And to make Todd feel really at home, his OT is going to continue working with him.'

  'Amanda? She's going to Sydney with him?' Abbey could hardly contain her disbelief. 'Just like that?'

  'No, Abbey, not just like that.'

  'What did you do,' she cut in harshly, 'bribe her?'

  'Don't be extreme. At Anna's request, of course, I offered her an increase in salary. It's rather more expensive to live in Sydney than in Hopeton.'

  It sounded like they were all closing ranks around her patient and leaving her out. Big-time specialists pulling professional strings, as though they were controlling puppets. 'Well, isn't that just typical?' she snapped, fighting against a sick kind of resentment.

  'What?'

  'Do you enjoy stripping expertise from rural health, Dr Tonnelli? Amanda Steele is one of the best occupational therapists Sunningdale has had in years. Her methods are nothing short of inspirational to the residents—'

  'Abbey, you're putting the wrong spin on this.'

  'The hell I am...' Abbey felt her throat close. 'I was right about you from the beginning, Nick. You just steamroller over everything to get your own way. Well, you've shot all your ducks now, so I hope you're happy!'

  'Abbey, listen—'

  'No, Nick, you listen. You said you were disappointed in me,' she went on, her words echoing with hurt and disillusionment. 'Well, I'm disappointed in you—more than I can say. I'll expect your fax!' She ended the call abruptly and promptly burst into tears. Her heart was shattering, destroyed just like the trust she'd foolishly built around him.

  Nick felt as though his insides were tied in a thousand knots. And it wasn't a condition he was used to, he admitted uncomfortably. For the most part he had always been in control of his life. Now his thoughts were jumbled, too incoherent to organise rationally.

  Thanks to Abbey Jones.

  In an abrupt movement, he threw himself out of his armchair and prowled across the room to stare through the big picture window, his gaze reaching beyond the canopy of trees. Early evening mist hung across the mountains and already the sharpness of winter was in the air.

  He stifled a sigh, turning and retracing his steps to the fireplace. Hunkering down, he carefully placed a new log on the fire and then eased the fireguard back into place.

  'You have problems, Nikkolo?'

  Claudia Tonnelli's snow-white head was lowered intently over her needlework but Nick knew his grandmother in her wisdom had missed nothing of his agitation. For an instant he was tempted to blurt everything out, as he'd done when he'd been much younger, and wait for her advice. Because she'd be bound to offer it, he thought dryly, uncurling to his feet.

  'Nothing you need worry about, Nonna.'

  'Come.' The elderly lady patted the space beside her on the sofa. 'Talk to me.'

  Nick pushed his hands roughly through his hair. !Not just now, Nonna. In fact, I think I'll go for a long run.'

  During the days following her phone conversation with Nick, Abbey pushed all thoughts of him to the back of her mind. It was the only way she could cope.

  His fax had arrived, together with a penned footnote from Nick himself telling her that Todd had been persuaded to let his wife visit and at least they'd begun to talk. Which is more than we are doing, Abbey thought bitterly, adding the faxed information to Todd's already thick file.

  Nevertheless, every time the phone rang, she'd foolishly hope it would be Nick but, of course, it never was. Well, who could blame him? The pain in her heart welled up again, and again she beat it back. Why would he bother to call, when she'd told him off in no uncertain manner?

  Had she been too hasty in judging his actions over Todd? Abbey shook her head. I just would have liked to have been consulted, she rationalised for the umpteenth time. Surely that hadn't been too much to ask?

  Heavens, she'd have to stop this!

  Resolutely, she made a notation on the file in front of her and placed it aside. Spinning off her chair, she moved to the window, absorbing the stillness, her gaze going to the distant low hills and then drawing back to the tangle of vivid bougainvillea that wound itself in glorious abandon across the roof of the pergola in the surgery's back garden.

  'With such a beautiful view from my window, why on earth am I wishing I was somewhere else?' she whispered to the late afternoon air, almost absently glancing at her watch and realising it was Friday again.

  And remembering it was two weeks and two days since Nick had kissed her. And held her as though he'd never wanted to let her go. She sighed, her thoughts becoming so bleak it seemed almost a relief to let the anguish engulf her momentarily.

  Closing her eyes, she began to relive it all, losing herself in hopeless longing.

  Reality came back with a snap when her door opened and was softly closed again.

  Abbey spun round, coming to a shocked halt, her eyes snapping wide in disbelief. 'Nick...' His name came hoarsely from her throat.

  'Your secretary said it was all right to come in.' He raised an eyebrow in query and waited.

  Abbey's wits deserted her. She didn't know what to do. But all her instincts were screaming at her to bolt. To pretend he wasn't there. But that wouldn't work, he was blocking her exit. And not looking entirely friendly.

  In fact he looked...intense, for want of a better word. Almost as if she'd never seen him before, she stared at the imposingly broad-shouldered physique, delineated by the close-fitting black ribbed jumper, his jaw jutting almost arrogantly over its poloneck. Blinking, she met the brunt of his gaze with its sea- green luminosity...

  Her heart skittered. 'What—what are you doing here?'

  'I've taken a month's leave.' He stood very still, the fingers of his left hand hooked into the collar of a leather jacket he'd slung over one shoulder. 'Do you •think we can pick up where we left off, Abbey?'

  Nick watched her eyes cloud and cursed himself for the ambiguity of his question. He allowed himself a small smile. 'Not from where you put the phone down on me, obviously,' he clarified.

  Abbey winced at the memory, crossing her arms over her chest, her fingers kneading her upper arms. 'I don't believe any of this—that you've come all this way...' Breaking off, she stilled and gave a little frown. 'What am I going to do with you for a month?'

  Green eyes regarded her levelly. 'Put me to work.' With a smile Abbey wasn't sure she trusted, he continued smoothly, 'You could do with some help, couldn't you?'

  Well, of course she could. Abbey felt almost sick with vulnerability, and tried telling herself she wasn't feeling what she thought she was feeling, that her insides hadn't turned to mush, that his closeness wasn't making her nerves zing like the strings of a violin gone mad. She shook her head, asking throatily, 'Why, Nick?'

  'You must know why, Abbey.' There was a slight edge to his voice and suddenly he seemed to come to a decision. Moving purposefully towards her desk, he unfurled the leather jacket from his shoulder and hooked it over the back of a chair.

  As though he was staking some kind of claim. Abbey bristled. 'Being an MO here is light years away from your brand of high-tech medicine,' she pointed
out, fighting to regain her poise.

  'I'll adapt.'

  Her heart skipped a beat. It could never work. Could it...? She looked at him warily.

  'What, no comeback, Dr Jones?' Nick's mouth tightened fractionally. He moved a few paces to park himself on the edge of her desk and gazed at her broodingly. 'I scare the daylights out of you, don't I?'

  Snapping her chin up, she huffed forcefully, 'Of course not!'

  His mouth folded in on a smile. 'Then that has to be a start.' In one easy movement, he straightened from his perch, taking the two steps necessary to gather her into his arms.

  'Nick...' Her voice sounded breathy. 'You're taking a lot for granted.'

  'Really, Abbey?' He brought her a few centimetres closer. 'Then let's make it worthwhile...'

  His lips ravished her, seduced her then teased her lightly, exquisitely until she shivered and arched against him.

  She sighed against his mouth, her hands seeking out the solidness of him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, moving to shape the muscles at the base of his neck, going higher to run through the silky tufts of hair at his nape.

  And then slowly he lifted his head.

  Breathing hard, he tilted her face, one hand sliding among the strands of her hair. Scooping them up gently, he let them fall away in a cascade of gold and light. 'I could eat you, Abbey.'

  Her insides heaved crazily. Locking her hands around his neck, she mustered a shaky smile. 'How would you explain that to my patients?'

  His chuckle was warm, as rich as cream on apple pie. 'You're lovely,' he murmured deeply, his hand gliding to her breast and cupping it through her silk shirt.

  'Nick...' She melted back into his arms.

  And then abruptly pulled away.

  'What is it?' A frown touched his forehead.

  'Meri could walk in at any minute.' Quickly, Abbey finger-combed her hair into place. 'And speaking of Meri, if you're going to be working here, you'd better come out to Reception and meet her properly. And who knows? She'll probably find you the occasional chocolate biscuit if you bat that sexy smile at her now and again.'