by Sarah Morgan
‘Thanks, Belinda,’ Georgie said, then looked down at the readout on the treadmill. ‘Gosh, I’ve been running for thirty minutes. It’s so much more fun when you’ve got someone to talk to. An MP3 player isn’t the same at all.’
‘I saw you talking to a guy last night,’ Belinda said. ‘I was in the pilates room upstairs. I’ve seen him in here before. He’s totally hot. I wouldn’t mind washing his sweaty gym socks, I can tell you.’
Georgie knew she was blushing but hoped Belinda would assume it was from the speed she had selected on the treadmill. ‘He’s actually my boss,’ she confessed.
‘Gosh, you lucky thing, you. You should see my boss. He’s fat, bald as a crystal ball and smokes like a chimney.’
Georgie laughed and reached for her water bottle. ‘You could always ask for a transfer,’ she said. ‘You might get lucky next time.’
Belinda snorted and slowed down the treadmill. ‘I’ll give you a call when I have some information for you. Have a good night, Georgie.’
Georgie lifted her hand in a wave. ‘You, too.’
‘What is the meaning of this?’ Graham Manning, the CEO, stormed as he thrust a letter in Ben’s face on Friday morning. ‘If the press gets wind of this we’ll never live it down. I want that registrar of yours taken off the training scheme immediately. I don’t care whose daughter she is. She’s causing an absolute furore, practically accusing Jonathon Tander of attempted murder. He’s a high court judge, for God’s sake!’
Ben frowned as he scanned the letter from one of Sydney’s leading barristers. He hadn’t spoken to Georgie since they’d had coffee on Wednesday but it appeared she had made some accusations against the husband of Marianne Tander that the police were now investigating. The husband was threatening to sue and as supervisor of surgical training, Ben was ultimately responsible for certifying his registrar’s progress and suitability for training.
He looked back at the puce-faced CEO. ‘Registrars get taken off training schemes because of their unsuitability for training, Graham,’ he said. ‘Georgiana Willoughby is one of the best first-year trainees I’ve seen. I certainly will not suspend her training because of some as yet unsubstantiated claim that actually has nothing to do with her capacity for training. I’ll discuss this letter with her and get her comments.’
Graham pushed a hand through his thinning hair. ‘This could blow up in our faces, Ben. It could be a disaster for the hospital, and my position here. We ‘re trying to maintain a reputation as a cutting-edge training hospital. With the budget restraints that have been handed out I’m having to cut services left, right and centre. This could bring litigation on us that could come to millions and we’re self-indemnified, which means any payout or legal costs come out of our budget, meaning less money for patient services.’
‘I know all that, Graham,’ Ben said calmly. ‘But this sort of situation is going be increasingly frequent. Mr Tander, QC is obviously upset, and rightly so. His wife is still in a coma and is likely to have significant brain damage if or when she wakes up. Emotions are running pretty high at the moment. I’ll have a word with him when I next see him.’
‘What’s this girl like?’ Graham asked. ‘I’ve been told she looks more like a catwalk model than a neurosurgeon.’
‘She’s just like any other first-year registrar, Graham,’ he said. ‘A little nervous and lacking experience, but I’m sure in time she’ll make a very fine neurosurgeon.’
‘I’m not giving any favours to her just because of who her father is,’ the CEO insisted. ‘She has to prove herself on her own merit, not stand on the shoulders of her old man. And I’m telling you, if this thing blows up in her face, her old man won’t be able to save her.’
‘This is her first week, for God’s sake,’ Ben said, struggling to hold back his frustration. ‘Besides, she’s not the only one who was suspicious about the injuries Mrs Tander sustained. I discussed my own concerns with her when we viewed the CT scans.’
‘Oh, ah, I see. So you’re the one behind this outrageous accusation?’ he blustered. With narrowed eyes he went on, ‘Or are you taking the rap for her because you’re sleeping with her, like everyone around here is already suggesting?’
Ben rose to his feet, his whole body tightening with anger. ‘My relationship with Dr Willoughby is not relevant to this discussion. But as it happens, I am not sleeping with her.’
Although I’m seriously tempted, he added silently as he held the CEO’s look with steely purpose. ‘As far as I’m concerned, she is my current registrar and that’s all.’
‘Better keep it that way,’ Graham said as he stepped towards the door. ‘I have a feeling that girl is going to be nothing but trouble.’
Tell me something I don’t already know, Ben thought as he sank back to his chair and shoved a hand through his hair.
‘Georgie, Mr Blackwood wants to see you in his office—immediately,’ Jennifer Patterson informed her once she had finished examining a neck injury from a football game. ‘He said he tried your mobile but you didn’t answer.’
Georgie grimaced as she looked down at it clipped on the waistband of her skirt. ‘Damn,’ she said. ‘Battery’s flat. I was just about to charge it when I was called down here.’
‘He sounded pretty uptight,’ Jennifer warned her. ‘What’s going on between you two?’
Georgie stripped off her gloves and carefully avoided Jennifer’s gaze. ‘Nothing’s going on.’
‘Are you aware that people around here are speculating on whether or not you’re dating him?’ Jennifer asked.
Georgie stared at her in wide-eyed alarm. ‘Has someone been spying on me or something?’
Jennifer’s neat brows lifted. ‘So it’s true, then. One of the cleaning staff works part time at a gym in Bondi. She said she saw you working out together, looking pretty chummy. She even said you left together.’
‘That doesn’t mean a thing,’ Georgie said. ‘We happen to be members of the same gym and work at the same hospital and we live in the same suburb. End of story.’
‘He was pretty cut up over his last girlfriend,’ Jennifer said. ‘She was a hospital physiotherapist. She used to work for the group practice responsible for Ben’s post-operative patients. I don’t think he’s dated anyone since.’
‘I’m sorry to hear he had his heart broken but, really, it’s nothing to do with me,’ Georgie insisted.
Jennifer looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘You’d better get down and see what he wants. In the whole time I’ve worked with him I’ve never heard him so impatient to see someone.’ Her eyes twinkled as she added, ‘Maybe he’s falling for you, Georgie.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Georgie said, although her stomach felt like a thousand tiny wings were flapping inside her as she made her way to his office.
Ben’s office door burst open before she could even raise her hand to knock on it. ‘You have a heck of a lot of explaining to do, young lady,’ he growled as he practically dragged her into his office and slammed the door behind her. ‘I’ve had the CEO breathing down my neck all morning about Jonathon Tander’s threats to sue you, me and the entire hospital. What have you done?’
Georgie blinked at him in shock. ‘I—I didn’t do anything.’
He scooped a letter off his desk and thrust it into her hands. ‘Have a look at this. Maybe this will jog your memory.’
She read the wordy legal document, her stomach folding over in alarm, her throat drying up completely as she returned her worried gaze to his furious one. ‘I mentioned what we discussed to a police officer friend of mine. I thought that would be OK as it wasn’t like I was talking to just anyone. She said she’d look into the accident report. I had no idea it would go this far. I haven’t even heard from her about it. The case must have been handed on to someone else.’
His frown was so heavy his eyebrows were almost touching. ‘I told you not to speak to anyone about this. If you wanted to mention it to this cop friend of yours, you should have discussed tha
t with me first. You had no right to talk casually to a friend about a patient under my care. It’s totally unprofessional for a start, not to mention the damage it could do to a high-profile man’s reputation. He’s a high court judge, for pity’s sake! He is clearly devoted to his wife. He has barely left her bedside. What do have to say for yourself?’
Georgie could feel herself shrinking under the blaze of his anger. She struggled to keep the tears back, her chin wobbling dangerously and her teeth digging into her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. ‘I’m sorry …’ she gulped. ‘I didn’t mean this to happen. I thought it would be all right. I had no idea it would come to this.’
‘The CEO has asked me to remove you from the training scheme.’
She brushed at her eyes and swallowed back a sob. ‘I’m so sorry … but I understand you have to do what you have to do.’
His gaze meshed with hers. ‘Well, I’m not going to do it,’ he said after a small silence.
She blinked up at him again. ‘Y-you’re not?’
He scraped a hand through his hair before stuffing both of his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘No, because I had the very same concerns about Marianne Tander myself. It hardly seems fair to dismiss you for what could well turn out to be a real case of attempted murder.’
‘But you said the husband is devoted to her,’ she said, quickly disguising a little watery sniff.
‘I know. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t all be an act.’
‘I don’t know what to say …’ She twisted her hands in front of her. ‘I feel so stupid. Belinda is a friend from the gym. She was at the accident with little Jasmine, you know … the baby with the heart defect? I trusted her to be discreet in her enquiries. I didn’t for a moment think it would go any further than a covert look at the record of the accident. The investigating officer must have mentioned my name in the report …’
Ben let out a sigh and, taking his hands out of his pockets, touched her on the shoulder with one of his hands. ‘It’s all right, Georgie,’ he said reassuringly. ‘We’ll no doubt have to weather a storm for the next few days, but I’m not going to remove you from the training scheme for at least three reasons. Firstly, I couldn’t bear the fallout from your father, secondly, you’re proving to be a darn good trainee.’
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, her eyes still locked on the dark blue depths of his. ‘You mentioned three things,’ she said in a scratchy whisper.
Ben looked down at her mouth, the slight tremble of her glistening lips making his groin instantly swell with desire. He longed to taste her, to see if she was as soft and sweet as she looked. What would it hurt? he wondered. One kiss was hardly an affair. Besides, it had been months since he’d felt a woman’s mouth on his. It was surely time to get back into the water, even if it turned out he was swimming with a shark. She certainly didn’t look like it with her big brown eyes. She looked tiny and feminine and adorably trusting and vulnerable, as if he held her future in his hands, which to some degree he did.
He felt his upper body tilting towards her, slowly, as if under some invisible entity was pushing him from behind. His mouth was within a breath of hers, her soft breath wafted over his lips, and then the tip of her tongue peeked out again and he was totally lost.
He crushed her mouth beneath his in a kiss that was both hard but tender at the same time, the softness of her lips a perfect bed for the insistent pressure of his. He drove his tongue through her softly parted lips and his lower body leapt in response as her tongue began to dance and play with his. Heat coursed through him, the burning lava-hot need filling him to bursting point as he held her closer to deepen the kiss. She tasted of strawberries and desire, each stroke and glide of his tongue against hers making him realise how in tune their bodies were. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. He had the normal needs of any full-blooded male and had had his share of fulfilling sexual relationships, but somehow he suspected that with Georgie everything he had experienced in the past was going to pale into insignificance.
One of his hands cupped her face while the other went to the gentle curve of her breast, his palm feeling the tight bud of her nipple pressing into it. Her tongue flicked against his, her soft mouth hot and sweet and her body pressing against his with increasing need.
He sucked and nibbled on her fuller lower lip, the one she had stuck out at him numerous times in a pout, and his skin lifted all over at the thought of driving into her silky warmth. She was unbelievably responsive. Her body seemed to come alive under the brush and stroke of his hands and mouth and it made him wonder if she had experienced desire at this level before.
Her small white teeth nibbled back at his bottom lip, the tugging sensation sending his senses into overdrive. He was going to explode if he didn’t call a halt soon. He felt like a teenager who hadn’t yet learnt how to control the trigger on his release. He wanted her so badly he could feel his body preparing for it, the ache unbearable as she brushed against him in increasing urgency.
‘OK …’ he said, finally managing to drag his mouth off hers, his breathing ragged as he put her from him. ‘This might be a good time to stop.’
Georgie looked up at him in a combination of bewilderment and shame. ‘I’m sorry … I don’t know how that happened.’
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ he said, his body still pulsing with need. ‘I shouldn’t have touched you on the shoulder.’ He dragged a hand through his hair again, making it stand on end. ‘I guess it’s been too long since I touched a woman other than a patient. My mother and sister are right. I need to get out more.’
‘It’s all right,’ she said, trying to breathe evenly while her heart was still jumping all over the place. ‘I understand.’
He put the desk between them and sat down heavily. ‘I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea,’ he said. ‘That was a momentary lapse and it won’t be repeated.’
‘I understand,’ she said again. Shifting from foot to foot in a nervous schoolgirl manner, she asked, ‘Um … do you want to discuss my research project now or shall I come back some other time?’
Ben ran a hand over the rough shadow peppering his jaw. He wasn’t sure he had the self-control necessary to get through an hour of planning out a research proposal with her, locked away in his office. The only thing he wanted to research was her body, and the only thing he wanted to propose was a redhot affair. ‘I’ll organise another time early next week,’ he said. ‘I have some paperwork to see to that’s urgent.’
She shifted her feet again. ‘Can I go now?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning, if you haven’t changed your mind about helping me with Hannah.’
Her tongue came out and did a nervous little flick over her lips. ‘I haven’t changed my mind.’
‘Right, then,’ he said, pulling his eyes away from her mouth. ‘If you have any problems with the press, call me. Don’t say a thing to anyone other than me. OK?’
‘Yes.’
He held her gaze for a fraction longer than necessary. ‘It could have happened to anyone, Georgie,’ he said. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’
Georgie wasn’t sure what he was referring to, the kiss or the letter from Jonathon Tander’s barrister. She didn’t stop to find out. She gave him a wobbly smile and left before she was tempted to reach over the desk and pull his mouth back to hers.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BELINDA BRONSON was coming out of the gym on Friday evening as Georgie was going in. ‘Just the person I wanted to see,’ she said, pulling Georgie to one side away from the cluster of members near the front door.
‘I was going to say the very same thing to you,’ Georgie said with a little frown. ‘I got into heaps of trouble over talking to you about the Tanders’ accident.’
Belinda’s expression turned cynical. ‘That kind of figures,’ she said. ‘I spoke to a mate of mine in Traffic—he must have pressed a few too many sensitive buttons. He told me Mr Tander is a legal eagle. Law
yers always think they’re above suspicion and that the legal system they represent and defend so volubly in court doesn’t apply to them outside it.’
‘Yeah, well, he’s not just any old legal eagle,’ Georgie said. ‘He’s a high court judge. If he’s serious about going ahead with this, my career is over.’
Belinda tapped her top lip for a moment. ‘You know, it might be worth having a deeper look into this,’ she said. ‘Off the record, if you know what I mean.’
‘I don’t want any more trouble,’ Georgie insisted. ‘My boss bawled me out this afternoon over it.’ He also kissed me senseless, and I still can’t think straight as a result. ‘It’s hard enough handling him without this sort of complication to make things worse.’
‘As far as I recall from what Ewan McGuire in Traffic told me, Mr Tander was driving a Mercedes. I can’t think of the model number offhand, but I do know it had air bags and they were activated on both the driver and front passenger sides.’
Georgie’s eyes went wide. ‘Really?’
‘Yes, but apparently Mrs Tander wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The tree had a branch right at the point of impact, the windscreen was smashed and the air bag got punctured as well.’
‘I guess that more or less accounts for the severity of the injury, then,’ Georgie said with a musing frown.
Belinda nodded. ‘Also, Mr Tander was all clear as far as drinks and drugs are concerned,’ she said. ‘In fact, he’s got a squeaky-clean driving record, not bad for nearly forty years of driving.’
‘What was the cause of the accident?’ Georgie asked. ‘Did your friend find out?’
‘Mr Tander said a car swerved to his side of the road and he took evasive action and by doing so lost control of his own car and hit the tree,’ Belinda said. ‘Of course, there were no witnesses and he couldn’t recall the make or model of the other car so it’s not going to be easy to prove him wrong if he is, in fact, lying. The accident investigation guys are checking out tyre marks on the road—you know, to see if there are any skid marks to verify what Mr Tander said happened—although, if it was wet, which apparently it was in that suburb the morning of the accident, there won’t be any skid marks. It could be a few days before the results come in.’
