When they’d been together as far, far more than professional colleagues. Was that what Layla was really referring to here? Maybe he didn’t want to find out. He backed down.
‘I’ve just never seen you hanging around Recovery before,’ he muttered. ‘That’s all.’
She knew, dammit. She knew exactly how uncomfortable he was with her presence in what had previously been a sacrosanct area for him.
We’re colleagues. Her raised eyebrows managed to convey even more to the message. We work in the same hospital. We are mature, professional people who are passionate about our careers. Deal with it.
Fine. Alex would deal with it. He tilted his head towards the tiny patient in the bed.
‘What was the procedure?’
‘Just an ASD closure. But it was a big one and little Josh here is a real cutie. One of triplets.’
Triplets? Good grief … Why was nothing about Layla … ordinary?
Even this unusual visit was vaguely disturbing.
Any other doctor would be looking at the monitors or reading the recovery notes. Or at least quizzing the nurse. But not Layla. She was leaning over the tiny, unconscious boy. Finding a patch of skin that wasn’t covered by an electrode for monitoring or tape that was holding an intravenous line in place. Stroking that skin with such a gentle touch that Alex couldn’t look away.
‘Hear what that nurse told me, honey?’ he heard her murmur. ‘You’re doing just fine. You keep it up now. Your momma and daddy aren’t far away and they can’t wait to see you.’
Alex forced his attention back to the monitors attached to his own patient but he couldn’t ignore the knot in his gut. It tightened when he glanced back in time to see Layla on the point of leaving. She had two fingertips against her pursed lips and, having turned her head to check that the nurse wasn’t watching, she took that tiny kiss and transferred it to the forehead of the unconscious toddler.
A tiny moment in time. A very personal moment. If Layla hadn’t turned in his direction again as she’d straightened, she would never have known that she had been observed. Alex was busted. He wasn’t going to pretend he hadn’t been staring so he held her gaze steadily and it was gratifying to see the flush of colour that painted Layla’s cheeks.
But she didn’t look away. Her chin came up and the spark in her eyes was one of defiance.
So I get emotionally involved with my patients, the spark said. Deal with that, too. I happen to think it makes me a better doctor.
‘See you later, Alex.’
‘Yeah … I’m sure you will.’
The high heels of Layla’s shoes beat a sharp tattoo as she exited the recovery room and, despite himself, Alex knew he was watching her leave with the same kind of expression that every male in the cafeteria had had the day before.
You had to hand it to her. Layla Woods had very decided opinions and more courage than you could shake a stick at to defend them. And that feistiness, wrapped up in such an attractive package, was the kind of challenge any red-blooded man would get drawn to.
Look at him. He knew the deadly consequences of rising to that challenge and he was still finding it difficult not to get sucked in all over again.
Alex looked down at his small patient. He had done the best he could for her with the surgery to correct the spinal malformation and he was confident that it had been a success. This little girl would soon be able to sit up and walk and catch up with the developmental milestones she had missed. Her parents were going to be thrilled and he would take a great deal of pleasure in following up on her progress.
He cared about her. A lot. But he wasn’t going to start cuddling and kissing his patients. He’d learned long ago how dangerous emotional entanglements could be. Probably even before his mother had died.
Alex hadn’t needed the gut-wrenching confirmation of that lesson represented by the disastrous notion that Layla might have been different enough to deserve his trust. And he wasn’t going to lay himself open to the kind of heartache that came with losing a small patient that you’d got too attached to. He knew how to keep just the right amount of distance to make sure he stayed at the top of his game.
He just had to apply the same wisdom to his professional relationship with Layla, never mind how many times he found himself close to her. Or how many personal things he happened to notice.
Personal things like the kind of shoes she wore or shampoo she used were superficial and easily ignored. The personal detail he discovered about Layla a few days later nearly did his head in.
Plan B seemed to be going slightly astray.
The idea had been to show Alex that the past was well and truly behind them. That they could enjoy a professional relationship and put any lingering attraction behind them as well. Tuck it away, along with the malpractice suit and the way both their lives had been derailed.
But it seemed to be taking on a life of its own now.
Alex didn’t like it that she was invading his space. Layla could feel the ‘Oh, God, not again’ vibe whenever she just happened to be in the same place at the same time. Like the cafeteria or Recovery or the intensive care unit or one of the wards. She was getting so good at this she didn’t need to check his electronic calendar to guess where he might be next. Often her instinct put her in the right place. Or maybe fate was helping because her path seemed to be crossing with that of Alex far more often as she fulfilled her own professional duties.
Well, Alex had only himself to blame. The effect of her subtle campaign was magnified considerably by how successful Alex had been in trying to avoid her in the run-up to that meeting he’d stupidly decided to miss. This could have all blown over by now. She would have given Alex his moment in the limelight, taken the opportunity to say thank you in a heartfelt manner and they could have agreed that this was a fresh start for both of them.
Bygones could have been bygones.
But no … Alex had taken a stand and presented a challenge and she knew perfectly well that he would have been expecting her to front up and tear a strip or two off him because everybody knew that she didn’t hang back from necessary confrontation. The perfect opportunity had presented itself the very next day, in fact, in the staff cafeteria, with the bonus of a built-in audience.
What a stroke of brilliance it had been, doing the complete opposite of what they had all been expecting. Her ultra-friendly smile and the way she had simply ignored the whole issue had thrown Alex off guard completely. He was still suspicious of her motives and she couldn’t blame him for not liking what was happening. She was in control here.
The problem was that she was enjoying herself. A bit too much perhaps. She was quite confident of how aware of her Alex was. She could sense the way he watched her, like that time in Recovery. She could feel the intensity of that gaze like a touch on her skin.
No. The real problem was the flip side of that particular coin.
She was equally aware of him.
Just how unhelpful this awareness was became strikingly obvious a few days later after Layla had been called to the emergency department to consult on a ‘blue baby’ case that had been rushed in by ambulance. The mother had had almost no prenatal care so the baby’s cardiac abnormalities had not been picked up prior to birth and, to complicate matters, the young mother had gone into labour and had given birth at home. With the baby safely intubated and stabilised and now under the care of the neonatal surgeons, Layla was free to leave the department to carry on with the rest of her duties when she spotted Alex.
He was standing just outside one of the resuscitation rooms where the more serious cases were assessed and stabilised. Right next door to the one she had been in. That small thrill of excitement and the way her heart rate picked up was due purely to the stroke of luck crossing his path in such an unexpected place. Neither of them had much to do with the emergency department so what were the odds of them both being here at the same time? That this would annoy Alex no end might be a kind of a bonus.
Except that he di
dn’t even seem to be aware of her standing so close by. His attention was focussed on the woman he was with. White-faced and sobbing, she looked barely more than a teenager. She had long, dark, wildly curly hair and she was talking fast and loudly. In Spanish.
Alex was looking stunned. As though he had no idea how to handle the situation.
Layla had never seen him look like this.
She’d seen him in charge of emergency situations in Theatre. Running a resuscitation scenario in the intensive care unit. Dealing with distraught parents. But never once had she seen him look as if he wasn’t in complete control.
Looking … vulnerable?
Well … she had once. When things had gone so disastrously wrong at the end of Jamie Kirkpatrick’s surgery. She’d had to stand back and watch helplessly then. She didn’t have to now.
Layla moved swiftly towards them. ‘Can I help you?’ she said to the young woman. ‘Te puedo ayudar? Digame lo que pasa …’
Her Spanish was fluent. The woman grabbed her arm in relief and sobbed out her story. Alex looked, if anything, even more stunned when Layla turned back to him.
‘Ramona says you’re treating her baby. Felix?’
His nod was terse. ‘He’s got a skull fracture. I was hoping to get to the bottom of the story but the language barrier’s suddenly got a lot worse.’
Layla asked Ramona a question and then translated the response. ‘His brother hit him with a toy brick.’
She could see the total disbelief in Alex’s face. ‘I’m talking about a fracture here. A broken skull. An unconscious child.’ His voice was so tense it cracked.
Layla’s brain sent out the kind of alert signal that any Chief of Paediatrics would be wise to pay attention to. It had been known to happen, hadn’t it? She’d read of more than one case where parents had had children taken away from them by social services and had been prosecuted for child abuse.
One sprang to mind immediately, of an eight-month-old boy whose sibling had hit him with a toy aeroplane and caused a fracture. And what about the Tommy Jenner case a few months ago when the child-abuse screen had been started and then they’d found that Tommy had actually been injuring himself because of the seizures caused by his brain lesion?
Alex needed to be careful of what he was saying here but Layla found that she was thinking of something else entirely as she stared at him. Had she really not noticed before how those glimmers of grey had crept into his jet-black hair? The way those lines at the corners of his eyes had deepened over the years they hadn’t seen each other? Had she really forgotten the way those chocolate-brown eyes could darken when something emotionally intense was going on, like anger or … physical passion?
Heavens … they looked positively black at the moment.
Ramona had picked up the tone of Alex’s voice. Looking terrified, she made a huge effort to pull herself together and change languages.
‘No … don’t say those words. No person hurt my baby. I … I love him.’
The anguish in her eyes and broken words was heart-breaking. Alex put his hand on the young woman’s shoulder.
‘Try and calm down, Ramona. I won’t ask any more questions now. We’ve got Felix stabilised and we’ll be taking him up to surgery in a few minutes.’
‘Què? I … no understand …’
Layla translated but she couldn’t look away from where Alex’s hand was still resting on Ramona’s shoulder. She could feel that hand herself.
‘Ask her if her husband’s on the way,’ Alex ordered.
But Ramona understood that.
‘Not husband. Boy … friend. I was …’ With an impatient head shake and hand movements she reverted to rapid Spanish and Layla had to relay the information.
‘She was already pregnant with Felix when she met him. He’s bringing in her older son. She’s scared that you’re going to call the police and she doesn’t want to get into trouble.’ It was quite possible there was an issue concerning illegal immigration here. Layla bit her lip, wondering if this was another alert signal her new position meant she should be worrying about.
The hand had dropped now. Layla watched as Alex’s fingers curled into a fist but that was the only sign that something was disturbing him very deeply. That and the sense of raw power he was exuding. Right now that power was all about anger on behalf of a defenceless small child. Did he know for sure that his little patient’s head injury had not been accidental? Layla wouldn’t want to be standing in his way if he was planning to do something about such a conviction.
When he looked at Layla, she knew he was barely aware of her.
‘Tell her that my only concern is treating her son.’
Alex left the impression of power in his wake and it stayed with Layla long after leaving Ramona with one of the nurses. She was left with a whole kaleidoscope of impressions whirling around her head, in fact.
The tension in Alex’s face. The image of his hand on Ramona’s shoulder. The way those dark, dark eyes had seemed to look right through her.
Memories … That first time they’d made love in the wake of her being so wound up after a blazing row with Luke. The urgency and the mind-blowing heat of that encounter. The unbelievable bliss in which it had culminated …
The feel of his lips against hers, which she’d experienced again not very long ago. The sheer wanting that it could conjure up every single time …
Oh, yes. It was just as well Alex was nowhere near where he might be able to see what was whizzing through her head because any control Layla felt she’d had in following this fool plan of hers had just gone out the window.
Concentrating on what she had to do for the rest of her day was quite a tall order. Layla was still feeling out of kilter by the time she got to the end of her list, long after most staff members had finished their days and gone home for dinner. She always liked to pop into all the intensive care units before she went home, to make sure she was in touch with how all Angel’s most seriously unwell children were doing.
Her little ‘blue’ baby was in the cardiac unit, having had surgery to correct the abnormality she had been born with. All was well in NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit. PICU was her last stop. Maybe because she was a little nervous at crossing paths again with Alex today?
A little nervous? Judging by the way she actually jumped when she heard the sound of his voice even before she saw him, she was as jumpy as spit on a hot skillet.
‘For God’s sake … a skull fracture with acute subdural and epidural bleeding. You can’t tell me a two-year-old kid can throw a wooden brick hard enough to cause that kind of an injury.’
‘Are there any other potential signs of abuse?’
Another male voice. And they were both talking quietly, probably confident that their intense conversation was private. Had they left the unit for precisely that reason?
Layla stopped in her tracks, unsure of whether to round the corner where she’d have to walk past them to get to the locked door of the intensive care unit. The indecisiveness was an alien sensation and she didn’t like it at all. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, fingering her security badge, which would allow her access through that locked door.
‘I don’t know.’ Alex’s voice was a growl. ‘I haven’t had a chance to check him over properly yet. I’ve been too busy trying to save the poor little tyke’s life. My suspicions are more than enough to base a report on and it needs to be filed within thirty-six hours of admission.’
‘You need to be careful. Do you remember the first time I went to the monthly report meeting? Who was that kid you presented the case on? The one who’s been on chemo for months and you’re going to think about operating on soon?’
‘Tommy Jenner.’ Alex sounded impatient now. He didn’t want to change the subject.
‘You presented that case as a warning, didn’t you? Not to make assumptions that just might be wrong. The last thing you need is another malpractice suit on your hands.’
‘Are you telling
me to stand back and say nothing? You, of all people, should know better than that, Cade. We both know the kind of damage that can do, don’t we?’
‘Yeah, yeah … point taken. But that’s exactly why you need to tread carefully, man. You’re too wired to see the worst-case scenario. You know too much.’
Layla was standing very still now, her eyes wide. What on earth was all that supposed to mean?
‘You’re following protocol,’ Cade continued. ‘Treating the child is number one. You can order a child-abuse screen and do the other tests you need, like X-rays to look for old fractures. The kid’s safe and you’ve got some time up your sleeve. You need to cool down.’
Having Layla appear around the corner probably wouldn’t help Alex to cool down. She found herself backing away. Turning, ready to leave, only to find herself face to face with a man who had a small boy with him. The child was about two or three years old and he was a reluctant companion. The man had a grip above the boy’s elbow and was half pulling, half shoving him along. With long, greasy-looking hair and the skin of his arms beneath his T-shirt barely visible between tattoos, the man looked distinctly menacing.
‘Get a move on,’ he snarled down at the child, ignoring Layla. ‘We’re going to find your mother and then I’m outta here. I’m done with babysitting someone else’s snivelling brat.’
He swept past Layla and around the corner. He practically banged into Alex and Cade.
Layla was hot on the man’s heels. She didn’t need the strong whiff of alcohol that reached her nostrils to know that a very volatile situation was forming.
‘Whoa …’ It was Cade who held up a hand to ward off a collision. ‘Take it easy.’
‘I’m in a hurry,’ the man responded. He ignored Alex and walked past Cade. ‘What … is that door locked? What kind of a joint is this? I thought it was a hospital, not a bloody prison.’
Layla was watching Alex. She could see he had assessed what was going on with the speed and intelligence she had learned to expect from him long ago. He was also putting two and two together as fast as she had. A young man arriving at the intensive care unit with a small boy. His patient’s mother was inside the unit with her son. The baby had an older brother who had, supposedly, caused his severe head injury.
NYC Angels: An Explosive Reunion Page 3
