Hawaiian Sunset, Dream Proposal

by Joanna Neil

  She frowned at him. ‘I know exactly what she would say to you right now…“Nature, time and patience…three great physicians. Let them do their work.”’

  ‘Hmm.’ Martyn studied her curiously as she put away the monitor. ‘That’s quite an unusual saying, isn’t it?’

  ‘Is it?’ Amber raised a brow. ‘My mother says it all the time.’ Perhaps they didn’t use that phrase where he came from.

  His gaze trailed over her features. ‘Does she look at all like you? Your hair colour and all those natural curls are something quite out of the ordinary, aren’t they? Perhaps you’ve inherited them from her?’

  ‘Well, from the pictures I’ve seen of her as a young woman, we’re very much alike. Some people have commented that we could have been mistaken for twins if all you had to go on were the photographs.’ She frowned as she reached for his chart. ‘I’m going to add another lot of tablets to your regimen,’ she said. ‘We need to get that blood pressure down.’

  ‘Is your mother a medical professional, the same as you?’ He was looking at her thoughtfully, and she guessed his interest was caught because he liked to know about people in general. Perhaps that was what gave him an edge in the business world—that, and a tendency to overwork.

  ‘No. My father is a GP, as it happens, and I suppose it was being around him and seeing how much he helped people that made me want to go into medicine. My mother is a graphic artist. She’s very talented—she studied in London initially, and then she found work with an advertising company. They used to have their premises quite close to where your offices are situated now, come to think of it…only, that was years ago, before I was born. Your place wasn’t built back then, was it?’

  He shook his head. ‘We moved into the Docklands building a few years ago. We were always based locally, though.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think my mother really liked working in the city, and eventually she decided to move to Henley-on-Thames. In fact, it was when she moved there that she met my father. They had a whirlwind courtship by all accounts, and were married within a very short time, a matter of a few weeks, I heard.’

  ‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’

  ‘No.’ She was pensive for a moment or two. ‘I’ve always thought it would be nice to be part of a big family, but it didn’t happen. I think my mother had problems when she gave birth to me, and perhaps that’s why she didn’t have any more children. I was born prematurely, and I think both my parents were a little shocked that they had a child within that first year of marriage. My father said it seemed like no sooner were they married than they had to set about preparing a nursery. At least they don’t seem to hold it against me.’ She gave him a quick grin, and in return his features relaxed and his eyes took on a glimmer of amusement.

  ‘And look at you now…totally in command and still ruling the roost. You’re not going to give in and let me have my technology back any time soon, are you? I could really do with having my mobile phone.’

  She shook her head. ‘Definitely not for a while. I want you to get well again, and there’s no point in you blustering,’ she said. ‘Ethan and Caitlin warned me that you’d be too much to handle, but I don’t believe it for a minute. You might growl and snarl a little, but you’re a pussycat really, aren’t you?’

  He smiled. ‘You’ve seen through me,’ he said. Then he reached out and grasped her hand when she would have moved away from the chair. ‘Sit down on the bed near to me and talk to me for a while, will you, if you have time? It’s very boring in here, you know, and you’re such a sweet girl, an angel to look at, and you brighten my day like nothing else. Tell me about your family life…where you lived, where you grew up.’

  She smiled back at him and obligingly sat down. Sarah would page her if any problems cropped up and nothing urgent was happening right this minute, as far as she could tell. ‘I grew up in Henley-on-Thames,’ she said. ‘It was all very peaceful, and my mother managed to do some of her work from home, which was great. Then my father started his own medical practice and we lived on the premises. Over the years the practice grew and he took on partners.’

  ‘It sounds idyllic. Your father must be very proud of you, having achieved so much. I know you’re a very good doctor. I’ve seen it for myself, and everyone says so.’ He didn’t let go of her hand, but stroked it gently as though reassuring himself that she was real, flesh and blood.

  ‘Am I interrupting something?’ Ethan’s voice cracked like a pistol shot across the room.

  Amber gave a faint gasp and swivelled around to glower at the screen. ‘So you’re back again,’ she murmured. ‘I thought you had gone off to work. How is your uncle supposed to get any rest when you keep popping up every few minutes?’

  Ethan’s eyes narrowed on her. ‘So I am interrupting.’ He nodded, as though confirming an inner thought. ‘That’s interesting. You seem inordinately put out by me being around, in virtual form if not in the flesh.’

  ‘Perhaps I am,’ she answered tautly. ‘It’s very offputting to have you appear out of nowhere like that every so often and, besides, all that, as I’ve explained to you in detail, Martyn needs to rest.’

  Okay, so Ethan was a relative, and visiting hours in the hospital were fairly lax, but there had to be a limit as to how much her nerves were to be put through their paces, surely? Who else would stand for it? Not Professor Halloran, that was for sure, though he would never be around long enough to put it to the test.

  ‘He isn’t likely to get much rest with you holding his hand that way, is he?’ Ethan’s gaze was full of censure, and Amber felt a surge of guilt sweep over her. What was he implying? She wasn’t doing anything wrong and in, fact, it was Martyn who was holding her hand, but perhaps from where Ethan was standing it looked suspicious. ‘His blood pressure’s already high, according to the nurse,’ Ethan added, ‘and any time now it’s likely to be off the charts.’

  Amber glanced at Martyn, expecting him to rush to her defence, but he was chuckling softly. ‘Children,’ he said in a droll tone, looking from one to the other, ‘let’s not have any bickering, please. It isn’t good for the patient to be caught in the middle, now, is it?’

  ‘Oh, you’re impossible. You’re both as bad as one another.’ Amber withdrew her hand from Martyn’s grasp and got to her feet. ‘He’d probably recover much faster if he was left in peace for a while,’ she informed Ethan curtly, ‘without you coming on line to constantly remind him of all the work issues that are floating around. I suggest you limit your video meetings to prearranged times.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’ Ethan’s brows rose.

  ‘Then I might just arrange for the video link to be cut from this end,’ she said. ‘I doubt either of you would want that.’

  Martyn glanced at Ethan, a glimmer lighting his eyes. ‘Feisty, isn’t she? Beware the woman who doesn’t embrace technology,’ he warned.

  Ethan gave a short laugh. ‘I’ve battled with worse opponents,’ he countered. ‘Besides, I’m the one who has Professor Halloran’s loyalty and support, so I’m not likely to worry about empty threats, am I?’ He placed his hands palms flat against the back of his hips and proceeded to lightly stretch his spine, looking every inch the cock of the walk, much to Amber’s annoyance.

  ‘Anyway,’ he added, ‘I just came back to say I’ve spoken with the manager at the plantation, and he says they’re on the ball with the seed development programme, so you needn’t have any worries on that score. And the technicians will be along to service the new equipment this morning.’

  ‘So now—’ he broke off to direct his remarks towards Amber ‘—I shall go off and begin my stint at the hospital. I shall come back on line first thing in the morning…your morning, my evening. I doubt I’ll be in any mood to do battle by then, but don’t count on it.’

  Amber’s green eyes flashed, shooting sparks at the screen, but Ethan cut the link, leaving her to vent her frustration inwardly. She turned back to Martyn. ‘Obviously the “I’m in charge” gen
e is fully functional in your family, or is it just the males that possess it?’ Caitlin obviously didn’t, from what Amber could glean, because she was soft and vulnerable, the kind of woman who wanted to know that there was a man around to take care of her.

  Martyn laughed softly. ‘Ethan’s all right, once you get to know him. He tends to be a bit guarded about women having designs on the family fortune, but that’s only because both he and I have experienced the unfortunate side of opposite-sex relationships. For my part, women seemed to want to comfort me after my wife died, but I could see perfectly well through those that had an ulterior motive, and to be honest, no one could ever replace my beloved Grace.’

  He was thoughtful for a moment. ‘As to Ethan, women tend to be a little more subtle in their approach. If his mother was alive, I dare say she would set him straight on their various whiles, but unfortunately both his parents were killed in a boating accident when he was in his teens. I think it’s made him tougher, in a way. He’s found his own path in life, and he hasn’t done too badly for it.’

  ‘Caitlin said that you took care of him. I expect that means he’s more like a brother to her than a cousin.’

  ‘Yes, that’s true. That’s why he looks out for her all the time. Of course, it wasn’t just me who took care of him. Grace was like a second mother to him. Unfortunately, we lost her a few years back, when she had a bad asthma attack. I’m pretty sure that’s why Ethan took up medicine…he watched Grace battle with asthma and he wanted to learn how to make a difference in people’s lives.’

  ‘I’m sorry. You must miss her dearly.’ Amber’s words were heartfelt. He looked and spoke like a man who had cared deeply for his wife.

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  The nurse came to bring him his medication just then, and Amber decided it was time to take her leave. ‘I need to go and look in on my other patients,’ she said. ‘Behave yourself, and don’t think you can wheedle the nurses into giving you your computer back. It isn’t going to happen.’ She gave the nurse a meaningful look, and the girl nodded.

  ‘You can rely on me,’ she said. ‘Sarah’s been telling me all about his workaholic ways. She said we should put a note in his file to warn everyone.’

  ‘What a great idea,’ Amber agreed. ‘I’ll go and do it right now.’ She grinned in Martyn’s direction, and as she left the room she heard him complaining to the nurse about people who took it on themselves to dictate his life.

  Martyn was a good man, but he needed someone to be firm with him and ensure that he lived to fight another day. Ethan was doing his best for him, trying to put his mind at ease, but there was only so much he could do from a distance. She had been wrong to condemn him for coming back and forth on line, but the man made her jumpy, putting her on edge every time he came into view, and she had no idea why she should feel that way.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  OVER the next few days, Martyn’s condition improved steadily. He would never be the active man he once was, but there was more colour in his cheeks now, and his breathing was much easier as the medication helped ease the congestion in his lungs.

  ‘When is he going to be able to leave hospital?’ Ethan asked one day, when Martyn had been taken to the X-ray unit for follow-up checks, and Amber was sitting by his bed, writing up his medical notes.

  ‘I would say that he should stay here for at least another week,’ Amber told him, ‘and then he would be better off having a couple of weeks in rehab. He’s quite shaky on his feet and he needs physiotherapy to help him regain his strength.’

  ‘But you won’t have anything to do with what goes on in the rehabilitation unit, will you?’ Ethan said, giving her a quick look.

  It seemed an odd question for him to ask. ‘I’ll be able to check up on his progress from time to time,’ Amber replied, ‘but you’re right, there will be other doctors in charge over there.’ She studied him. ‘Why do you ask? Are you still concerned about my involvement in his care?’ She had thought he had grown used to her being around, and that he had finally accepted that she was the one making the day-to-day decisions in consultation with Professor Halloran.

  ‘You’ve looked after him very well. I’ve no complaints on that score. What concerns me is that you and he seem to be growing closer by the day,’ Ethan murmured. ‘I’m not sure what to make of that. Video links have their limitations after all, but I do know that my uncle is taking a very special interest in you.’

  ‘I don’t know why you should think that way, and I’m sorry you feel it’s a problem,’ she said. ‘I like your uncle. He’s a thoughtful and considerate man, and he always thinks of others, even when he’s struggling to manage things for himself.’

  ‘He certainly thinks about you a lot.’ He studied her fleetingly, as though trying to work something out in his head. ‘He seems concerned that you have no job to go to when you finish your contract here. I don’t see why that should be his problem, do you?’ His gaze seemed to home in on her very much as though he had a target in his sights.

  Amber was taken aback by his comments. ‘It isn’t anything that he should be worried about, obviously,’ she answered on a cautious note. ‘Anyway, I don’t believe he thinks about me all the time, any more than he does about other people.’

  ‘He’s very curious about you. In between bombarding me with questions about the business, and making suggestions for ways we can advertise our products, all he wants is to sing your praises to me. I’ve not seen him this animated in quite a while.’

  Amber gave that some thought. ‘He’s certainly been using his phone a good deal lately, so much so that I’ve had to threaten to confiscate it again. He may have been trying to contact advertising agencies, now I come to think of it, but I don’t believe his fever of activity is all to do with business. I know he’s been talking to friends.’

  In fact, she thought he had on occasion been talking to an investigative agency of some sort…She had overheard the odd snatch of conversation from time to time when she had walked into his room, though he usually finished the call when she approached. Perhaps he was checking into the background of a prospective employee. ‘I just have the feeling that he is a very compassionate man who cares about everyone and everything.’

  ‘That’s true.’ Ethan nodded. ‘He’s always been that way. Grace used to say he had a heart big enough to embrace the world, and sometimes she worried that people would take advantage of him.’

  Amber could see how that might happen. ‘Perhaps he can’t help himself,’ she murmured. ‘He asks me about my other patients, and he’s even been wandering down the corridor to visit one of them whenever he feels up to it—a man who went down with a parasitic infection. I’ve been able to follow up on the man more closely because I was the one who initially liaised with the tropical diseases unit.’

  She frowned. ‘Martyn seemed quite worried about how Jack was doing, and I wondered if it was something that he had ever suffered from, though I can’t find anything in his notes to that effect.’

  ‘I have the feeling it was more that he was impressed by your ability to diagnose the condition in the first place, given that you’re a fairly junior doctor. He told me all about it. He seems to think that other people might have missed the diagnosis, but, then again, he isn’t a medical man. I guess he’s interested in Jack because he’s done lots of interesting things on his travels. Oh, and he said he was curious to know if you had studied tropical medicine.’

  ‘He has been asking a lot of questions, hasn’t he?’ Amber smiled up at the screen. ‘I did think about it at one time, as another string to my bow, you might say. I thought it might come in useful if I ever travelled the world, but other things got in the way. I decided that I was really interested in accident and emergency work, and I pinned my hopes on specialising in that. Then the job fell through, as you know.’

  ‘So you still don’t know what you’ll be doing when you finish there?’

  She shook her head, causing a ripple of curls to quiver and dance in
chaotic disorder. ‘I don’t have a clue. I asked my father if he had any vacancies at the surgery, but things seem to be running very smoothly there and they can’t afford to take on anyone else.’

  Sarah came into the room just then, and Amber finished making the notes in the file before standing up.

  ‘Is there a problem, Sarah?’

  ‘Not really. It’s just that Jack’s ultrasound results have come back and I think you need to take a look at them. His liver and spleen are enlarged, so it looks as though the treatment’s not working as effectively as you hoped.’

  ‘All right. I’ll come and see what’s to be done. There is another treatment, but I would have preferred not to use it unless it was really necessary. There are some toxic side-effects that can affect the kidneys, so I need to be very careful how I administer the drug, and he’ll need to be monitored very closely.’

  She glanced towards the computer screen, taking in Ethan’s brooding stare. ‘I expect I’ll talk to you again later,’ she said. She was getting a little more used to him constantly being around, and there were even times she found herself looking forward to seeing him. It was only when he questioned her motives, albeit in a roundabout way, that she began to feel aggrieved.

  He nodded. ‘Later.’

  Jack was still very unwell, and it was a worry knowing that his liver and spleen were affected. Amber explained to him about the new medication, and with his permission she began to set it up. It would take time before it worked its magic, and Amber waited anxiously for results.

  Another week passed by, and very gradually she began to see a change in the young man. ‘It looks as though we’ve cracked it at last,’ she told him as she checked through the latest batch of blood test results.

  Jack smiled. He looked much better than he had previously, and Amber was pleased to see a sparkle back in his eyes.

  ‘Your girlfriend is going to be so thrilled when she comes to see you at visiting time,’ she said. ‘It’ll take a few more weeks of treatment until you’re properly clear, but you’re definitely on the way.’