Six Sexy Doctors Part 2 (Mills & Boon e-Book Collections): Posh Doc Claims His Bride / Surgeon Boss, Surprise Dad / Children's Doctor, Society Bride / ... His Bride / The Rebel Surgeon's Proposal

by Anne Fraser

  ‘How patronising is that? Where are your wife and family?’

  He smiled as he conceded the hit. He stared down at her, moving in on her, so that there was scarcely any distance between them and she could feel the warmth emanating from his long body. Then he reached out to her, his hand making a slow sweep of her body from her ribcage to the soft swell of her hip and lingering there, so that a rush of heat filled her veins and raced around her body in a torrent of guilt-ridden desire.

  ‘I’m not the one who has a problem,’ he murmured.

  ‘You’re wrong,’ she said, her voice ragged as she pulled in a shaky breath. ‘You’re a man, and because of that you’re reducing everything to the lowest common denominator, confusing sex with a desire for job satisfaction and the reward of knowing that lives are being saved.’ Her green eyes sparked. ‘I might have known I couldn’t reason with you. You don’t know the meaning of the word.’

  ‘Really? Are you sure about that?’ His hand lifted, coming to rest momentarily on the curve of her cheek before trailing slowly along the line of her jaw. A glimmer started in the depths of his eyes and she held her breath, her body warring with her mind in the struggle to absorb the sensations he was invoking in her.

  ‘I’m very sure,’ she said, but her voice was husky and there was a betraying flicker in her throat as the pulse there began to beat to a hot, heavy rhythm.

  He laughed softly, releasing her as suddenly as he had swooped, and she watched him, her eyes wide, her mind whirling as though she had stepped onto a spinning dais.

  The lift doors opened and he walked out, stepping into the main thoroughfare without a backward glance, humming a tune to himself as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Louise stayed where she was, staring after him until her heartbeat settled down to something resembling normality once more.

  He was the devil in a smart grey suit and just then she resented him with all her might. How could he do that to her? How could he make her blood tingle and her skin prickle and every nerve ending in her body burn with sheer unadulterated excitement and then simply walk away as though nothing had happened? He was a fiend.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘THERE’S a little girl sitting in the waiting-room with her mother,’ Alice said, handing Louise a chart. ‘Her name’s Nicola Soulsby. She’s five years old and I’m pretty sure she must be James’s niece, but he isn’t around just now. Do you want to take a look at her?’

  Louise sent her a startled look. ‘They’re here? What’s wrong with her? Has she had an accident?’

  ‘A fall, from the sound of things, on to her arm. She’s quite tearful so I guess it must be hurting her quite a bit, and of course her mother’s worried. She didn’t mention that she’s James’s sister, but I recognised her from the odd time she’s dropped by to see James.’

  ‘I’ll take them through to the treatment room. Do we know where James is right now?’

  ‘He’s at a management meeting at the Royal Forest, as far as I know.’ Alice made a face. ‘They’re talking through proposals to make the Royal Forest Hospital a “centre of excellence” from what I gather.’ On a mischievous note, she tacked on, ‘Shall I give him a ring and disturb him?’

  Louise smiled ruefully. ‘I think we’d better let him know that Nicola has hurt herself. He’d want to be told if his family is here.’

  She was actually relieved that James was not around today. After the close encounter with him that day in the lift it had taken some time for her nerves to settle down. Every time he was anywhere near her, her senses went into overdrive and she was finding that working with him was far more difficult than she might have imagined. He was charming, easygoing and extremely good at his job, but having him nearby day after day was altogether too disconcerting for comfort.

  She glanced at the chart and then went out to the waiting-room to greet Gemma and her daughter. ‘I’m so sorry that you’ve had to come here, but I must say it’s lovely to see you again.’

  ‘And it’s good to see you.’ Gemma greeted her with a quick smile, but her expression was strained. ‘I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances. I’m afraid Nicola has hurt herself—there’s some swelling around her elbow, so I thought we should come here and have it checked out. She was at a friend’s party—they were holding the event at a roller skating rink and she fell awkwardly.’

  Louise looked at the child. ‘Well, I’m sorry that your party was cut short, Nicola. What a shame you had to come away.’

  Nicola made a pout. ‘Anne-Marie’s still there.’

  ‘Is she? Perhaps she’ll bring you a goodie bag when she comes away.’

  Nicola brightened a fraction at the thought.

  ‘We’d better go through to the treatment room,’ Louise suggested, ‘so that I can take a look at your arm.’ She led the way, adding, ‘I think you’ll like it in this room. I’ve put up the picture of the little puppy peeping out from the shrubs. Do you remember the picture from your mother’s art gallery?’

  Nicola nodded, and Louise said, ‘He looks right at home in there with all the walls painted to look like a garden. Perhaps you’d like to look around and see if you can find all the animals that are hiding behind the trees and flowers.’

  Nicola’s eyes widened as they entered the room, and her tears seemed to have dried up for now. She gazed about her. ‘There’s a rabbit,’ she said, pointing with her uninjured arm to where a fluffy creature was hidden behind tufts of meadow grass, looking longingly at a mouth-watering bed of carrots.

  ‘So there is.’ Louise smiled. ‘Do you think you could climb up onto the bed here for me, poppet? Use these steps.’

  Gemma helped her daughter to climb up, and Nicola continued to look around. She giggled. ‘I can see a kitten over there. She’s hiding in a plant pot.’

  ‘She is.’ Louise had already made a visual check of the child’s arm, and now she said softly, ‘I just need to see if you can wiggle your fingers and bend your arm for me.’

  This was obviously uncomfortable for the child, and Louise said, ‘All right, Nicola, you can rest now. What we need to do is to get some pictures of the bones inside your arm—it won’t hurt at all to do that, but it will help us because we’ll be able to see if everything is as it should be. Is that all right with you?’

  Nicola nodded, and Louise turned her attention to Gemma. ‘I don’t think there’s a fracture, but to make sure we’ll take some X-ray pictures of the area around the elbow. It might be that there’s a slight displacement of the joint, but that won’t necessarily show up on the X-ray films. To be safe, we’ll probably do an ultrasound scan afterwards, and that should tell us what we need to know.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Gemma said. ‘Shall we go and get those done now?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll write out the forms for you to hand to the radiologist. Come back here when you’ve had them done, and I’ll talk to you again.’

  Mother and daughter went off together, and Louise went in search of her next patient.

  Gemma was still in the radiology department when James arrived at the hospital a short time later.

  ‘How’s Nicola?’ he asked, catching up with Louise in the central area as she arranged for another small patient to be taken over to the observation ward. ‘Is she still here?’

  ‘She’s still with radiology. She’s okay. I gave her a painkiller.’

  He relaxed a fraction. ‘That’s good. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Is Gemma bearing up okay?’

  ‘She’s fine. Your sister seems to be a very levelheaded young woman.’

  ‘Yes, she always has been.’ He followed her over to the desk. ‘I see the protest marchers are out in force again at the front of the hospital. I’m beginning to think you arrange for them to be here specifically for when I’m coming into the department.’

  ‘Of course I do,’ she agreed, treating the comment with the sarcasm it deserved. She finished writing up her notes and dropped the patient’s chart back into the tray. ‘I made
sure that they had a complete rundown of your timetable, along with that of the chief executive. How else am I to have any fun around here? We both know I don’t have any family commitments to take up my time, don’t we?’

  ‘Yeah, right.’ A hint of amusement played over his mouth. ‘Not only are you keeping up the pressure, but you’ve brought the local Member of Parliament on board, haven’t you? Hewas outside, talking to the press. I can’t help wondering how exactly you managed to do that.’

  ‘He’s always been very sympathetic to our cause.’

  ‘Oh, yes? Is there any particular reason for that?’

  Her shoulders lifted. ‘It might be something to do with the fact that we treated his daughter here, after she had an accident. He was very impressed with us, apparently.’

  His mouth made a wry shape. ‘I can imagine.’ He studied her briefly, his glance moving over the gentle curves of her figure, outlined by the smoothly fitting skirt and stretch cotton top that she was wearing beneath her cream-coloured jacket. ‘I’m also impressed by you for a number of reasons—for your dedication, and for the calm way you handle everything around here. Not to mention the fact that you brighten the place up.’

  She sent him a vaguely dismissive stare. ‘Were you born a flirt or did you just turn out that way?’

  He laughed. ‘I guess it comes naturally.’ Glancing around the department, he sobered quickly enough. ‘So Nicola’s down in radiology—do you know what the damage is?’

  ‘It wasn’t clear from the X-ray films. I put a call through to the department, to find out, and they tell me her arm isn’t fractured. They’re doing an ultrasound scan for me, though, because I suspect the medial epicondyle is displaced.’

  ‘Poor little scrap. Is she bearing up okay?’

  ‘I think so. I put her arm in a temporary sling, but as soon as she comes back here I’ll see to it that we help her to feel better.’

  ‘Thanks, Louise. I’m glad you were able to look after her. Grandad will be pleased, too. He rang me to say that Gemma had to dash off to the skating rink to collect Nicola, and he wanted to know what was happening. As soon as I told him that you were taking care of her, he began to relax.’

  ‘That’s good to know. How is he?’

  James’s mouth made a downward curve. ‘Not good, I’m afraid, but at least he still has all his mental faculties, even though his body is letting him down. He asked me to invite you to tea at the weekend. I think it’s his way of thanking you for being there for the girls.’

  ‘I’m just doing my job.’

  ‘Yes, but it’s the way you do it that pleases Grandad. Will you come to tea? We’d all like to see you there.’

  She wondered if he truly meant that. Wasn’t she a thorn in his side, causing him to explain his policies at every turn? And did she really fit in amongst his powerful titled family, when their priorities were totally opposite to hers?

  Still, although she had only known him for a short time, she did have a great fondness for his grandfather, and if he was the one issuing the invitation it would be churlish of her to refuse, wouldn’t it?

  ‘I’d like that, thank you.’

  ‘That’s great.’ He leaned negligently against the desk, his long legs thrust out, one foot casually crossed over the other.

  She looked away. He looked heart-meltingly good and she wished that her treacherous hormones would stop recognising that fact.

  He said softly, ‘After seeing the way you work here, I think it will do you a world of good to get away and relax for a while.’

  She decided to cut him off at the pass. ‘If you think it might make me more amenable to your plans, then I’m afraid you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’ His gaze narrowed on her, so that he was watching her through dark, secretive eyes that smouldered with promise. ‘At least it will give me time to work on you.’

  She bent her head to one side, studying him thoughtfully. He was up to something, and she couldn’t for the moment figure out what it was. Nor did she have time to quiz him because Gemma came back just then, bringing Nicola over to the desk to meet up with James.

  ‘Gemma, it’s good to see you,’ he said. Then, glancing down at Nicola, he added, ‘How are you, angel? I heard that you fell on your arm.’

  Nicola nodded. ‘I was trying to skate round and round, but somebody banged into me and I fell over.’

  ‘Oh, dear. Could I have a look at your arm, to see what you’ve done?’

  ‘Yes, but don’t pull it’cos it hurts.’

  ‘I won’t, I promise.’

  ‘Let’s go through to the treatment room and I’ll take a look at the films,’ Louise suggested. ‘You might want to glance at them too,’ she suggested to James, ‘and then you can let me know if you come to the same conclusion as me.’

  A few minutes later, James finished studying the ultrasound scans and gave his verdict. ‘I agree with you, there’s a slight displacement of the medial epicondyle.’ He glanced at Louise. ‘What do you propose to do?’

  ‘We’ll treat it initially with an elbow splint.’ She explained the process to Gemma. ‘She’ll wear the splint for about five days, and then we’ll replace it with a sling. If she’s making a good enough recovery by then, she might start to use the elbow as she feels able. It will probably be about four weeks before the injury is properly healed, and in the meantime I’ll give her anti-inflammatory pain medication. We’ll do a follow-up X-ray to make sure everything’s as it should be.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Gemma said. ‘You’ve been really good with her. It’s a relief to know that nothing is fractured.’

  Louise put the splint in place, and checked to make sure that the child was comfortable and relatively free from pain.

  ‘It feels all right,’ Nicola said. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome, poppet.’

  Gemma stood up, preparing to leave. ‘We’d better go and fetch Anne-Marie,’ she told Nicola. ‘She’ll be wondering what’s happening.’ Glancing at Louise, she said, ‘James tells me that we’ll be seeing you up at the house on Saturday. I’m glad about that. If you like, I’ll show you around the studio where I do my painting from time to time.’

  Louise gave her a smile. ‘I’d enjoy that very much, thanks.’

  James readied himself to leave with his sister and Nicola. ‘I have to go back to my meeting,’ he told Louise as they all moved out into the corridor. ‘The committee is preparing for a public meeting where all the issues around the proposed closure can be aired.’

  Her mouth made a straight line. ‘I’d hoped that if you worked with us for a while you would soon begin to see where you were going wrong on that score.’

  She watched as Gemma continued to make her way towards the main exit. ‘I suppose, deep down, I was hoping that you would put your weight behind our arguments and try to sway the board in our favour. Some of those children who were involved in the traffic accident the other day might not have survived if the decision had been made to take them to the Royal Forest Hospital initially. Can’t you see how important it is that we stay open?’

  He lifted his arms to her, cupping her shoulders lightly with his palms and drawing her near to him. ‘I’m sorry, Louise. I know how much this means to you, but we have to think of the wider picture. Your patients were fortunate in that they had a paramedic with them from the outset and that you were skilful enough and had the expertise to bring them back from the brink. I doubt they would have survived if a less skilled doctor had been in charge.’

  ‘You don’t know that.’

  ‘I do. I’ve seen enough to know that you’re the best there is, and to realise that we need you on our team at the Royal Forest Hospital. Would you think about it?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, I can’t. This is where I need to be. I know that what you’re planning to do is wrong, and that because of it patients will die. How can I persuade you to listen to me and take on board what I’m saying?’
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  Slowly, he drew her even closer to him, and in the next moment she heard him sigh and thought she felt the soft brush of his lips on her forehead. ‘I am listening to you,’ he said evenly. ‘I’m not the enemy, Louise. I wish you would realise that. I just happen to think that you are blinded to everything by your love of this place.’

  Then, as quickly as it had started, he let her go, and she began to wonder if she had imagined that kiss. She felt the imprint of it on her brow, as though he had seared her with his touch, but now he was walking away from her, heading towards the car park where his sister was waiting for him.

  Louise stayed where she was for a while, struggling to get herself back together again. Why did she feel this way, torn between what she knew was right, and the gentle tug of her senses that told her she wanted to be with him, folded in his arms so that the rest of the world would retreat and dissolve into nothingness? That would surely be folly.

  Saturday was a glorious reminder of what summer was all about. The sun was a bright golden orb in a spectacularly blue sky, and all around nature was burgeoning with fresh colour. Louise drank it all in as she drove to Ashleigh Manor, and tried to tell herself that this afternoon’s gathering would be a time for her to unwind and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of a country manor.

  There was no question of her not fitting in, was there? After all, she had an invitation, straight from James’s own mouth, which had been followed up by the arrival on her doormat of a genteel gold-edged card, signed by Joseph.

  So why was she feeling so unsure of herself?

  James met her at the front of the house. ‘I’m glad you came,’ he said, looking her over as though to make sure she was truly here. Had he sensed her doubts?

  ‘You look lovely,’ he murmured in a husky tone, and she responded by absently smoothing down the folds of her dress. She had chosen to wear this particular one because the softly draping material flowed easily around her limbs as she walked, and the delicate flower pattern made her feel cheerful.