‘I need to get home,’ Joe insisted, struggling to move.
‘In a little while,’ Alexandra promised. ‘You took a nasty tumble. Just let Dr Sinclair check you over, and then we’ll help you inside and get you comfortable.’
Knowing how curmudgeonly and uncooperative Joe could be, Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise as the old man relaxed and submitted to Alexandra’s advice and ministrations. ‘Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous?’ he asked now, trying to retake control of the situation.
‘Bit dizzy.’ The admission was grudging.
‘Did you feel that way before your fall?’
‘No, I was fine. Until I found that there broken stone.’
Kyle looked at the offending piece of pavement and planned to telephone the council. ‘Aside from your head, can you tell me where else you are hurting, Joe?’
‘My shoulder. It’s excruciating,’ he admitted, face tight with pain.
‘We’ll get you comfortable as soon as we can,’ Kyle promised. ‘Let us do the work, but shout out if something hurts or you need a rest.’
Reassuring himself that there appeared to be no other damage, Kyle accepted Alexandra’s silent assistance in helping move Joe into a sitting position, pausing a moment for the man to take a few breaths and get his bearings before trying to help him stand. Practice manager Lisa Sharpe and nurse Sheena Ellis joined them, but Kyle dispatched them back to the surgery to make a place ready for Joe while he and Alexandra slowly walked the pensioner across the road and forecourt before entering the building. Once inside, Joe muttered about the fuss as he was settled in one of the treatment rooms, but he was clearly in considerable discomfort. Alexandra held his hand, talking to him as Sheena set to work cleaning the nasty cut on his head, which would need stitches, and the graze on his other hand, while Kyle focused on assessing the injury to shoulder and arm.
‘I’m sorry, Joe, but you’re going to need a trip to town to the hospital for an X-ray.’ Kyle nodded to Lisa Sharpe who went to the phone to call an ambulance, ignoring Joe’s protest. ‘There’s nothing for it. You’ve damaged your shoulder, and more than likely there’s a break to your collarbone. You’ve also had a nasty bang to your head, and you need to have that investigated.’
‘Can’t you fix it here?’ Joe pleaded.
Kyle opened his mouth to explain, only to snap it closed again as Alexandra beat him to it. Disgruntled, he folded his arms across his chest and listened to the cadence of her voice, softly accented and gentle as she eased the old man’s fears and expertly cajoled him into agreeing to what needed to be done. Sheena, he noted, was clearly impressed and Lisa—Sharpe by name and sharp by nature—had a rare satisfied smile on her face as she studied Alexandra. Meeting his gaze, Lisa gave a determined nod of approval and Kyle’s frown deepened.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Joe had been made as comfortable as possible, his head-wound dressed and his arm strapped carefully for the journey to the county town. ‘A lot of nonsense,’ he grumbled as the paramedics assisted him into the chair and wheeled him out to the waiting vehicle.
Lisa returned to the room with a couple of towels, handing one to Alexandra and one to Kyle so they could dry off. ‘I’ll make some tea, you must be cold.’ Tutting, she bustled away again.
‘And I have a spare tunic that should fit you, Alex,’ Sheena offered. ‘You need to get out of those wet things.’
‘Thanks.’
Kyle watched as Alexandra cast a rueful glance over her ruined outfit. Aside from being wet, she had grubby marks on her trousers where she had been kneeling on the pavement, her jacket was creased, dirty and bloodied, and her shirt…He swallowed, closing his eyes and focusing on toweling dry his hair. But the displacement activity did nothing to remove the image of the sheer silvery-grey fabric plastered to Alexandra’s torso, revealing the outline of a lacy scrap of black bra encasing her lush breasts. His temper rising, cross with her and himself, Kyle stalked away and returned to the sanctuary of his consulting room, tossing the towel aside and stripping off his wet jacket and shirt, before pulling on a bulky Aran jumper he kept with a change of clothes in one cupboard.
He didn’t know why he was so unsettled. He’d been unfocused and on edge since he had met Alexandra Patterson and been closeted with her in the meeting room for the pre-interview discussion. His friends Hannah and Nic, GPs from nearby Lochanrig, had persuaded him to talk to his partners about giving Alexandra the opportunity to fill the dual nursing vacancies they had, vouching for her caring nature and her professional abilities. He knew she had returned to Scotland over a year ago to care for her sick father, dedicating herself to his needs until his recent passing. Now she was ready to return to work. What his friends hadn’t said was anything much about Alexandra as a woman. She wasn’t what he had expected. Not at all.
At twenty-nine, Alexandra was younger than he had anticipated, and she was distractingly attractive. Her hair, darkly golden like well-ripened corn, was short and thick with a natural wave, and was swept back from a face that while not classically beautiful was instantly arresting. Smoky grey, slightly slanting eyes were framed by impossibly long, sooty lashes under gently arching eyebrows. Then there was the neat nose, the golden, peachy-soft skin and a well-defined jaw that looked as if it could be stubborn if she set her mind on something. But it was her mouth that kept drawing his attention. Kyle closed his eyes at the memory of it, his body tightening in a most unwanted and worrying way. Tempting, irresistible…Her mouth, with its full lower lip and shapely top one, that formed into a kissable pout, was enough to set a fire in his stomach and bring an ache of need he’d not felt in a long time.
He wished he’d never agreed to give Alexandra this interview. She had proved herself skilful and caring with her reactions to old Joe, putting the man’s welfare before her own needs in the middle of her appeal for the job. There was little question that his partners would approve of her and she would be offered the dual position at Glenside. Little question that Alexandra would accept. He slumped in his chair, a frown creasing his brow. The last thing he wanted was to see her again, much less have to work with her.
‘All right, Kyle?’
Glancing up as the words interrupted his reverie, Kyle nodded at Robert MacKenzie, one of his practice partners. ‘Fine.’
‘I heard about the excitement.’ Warm brown eyes twinkled below the thatch of greying hair. Married to Lindsay, a local teacher, and with two grown children, Robert was approaching sixty. He was already cutting back his work hours and planning his retirement, and discussion was ongoing about appointing a new junior doctor next spring. ‘We’re waiting in the meeting room to finalise the details of Alex’s employment. Join us when you’re ready.’
Three hours later, his temper far from improved, Kyle let himself into his soulless house not far from the surgery, dumped his belongings and stalked through to the kitchen, smothering a groan as the telephone rang.
‘Sinclair,’ he barked into the receiver.
‘How did it go?’
Hannah. He should have guessed.
‘How did what go?’ Kyle prevaricated, wedging the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he surveyed the meagre, unappetising contents of his fridge.
‘The interview with Alex.’
Kyle’s scowl intensified. The last thing he wanted was to think any more about Alexandra Patterson. ‘It was eventful. But she got the job.’
‘That’s great!’ Hannah’s smile was evident from her voice. ‘Whatever happened, though?’
He thought back to the moment when Alexandra had shot out of her chair, leaving him staring after her in shocked silence. Feeling grumpy, he related the incident to Hannah, pulling a bottle of beer out of the fridge before slamming the door shut.
‘I told you Alex was a good nurse,’ Hannah chuckled.
‘If nothing else it demonstrated her competence,’ he allowed reluctantly, unable to banish his deep-seated unease. ‘Robert and Elizabeth were impressed and insisted we take her
on.’
A moment of silence followed his statement. ‘Didn’t you want to give Alex the job?’
‘I’m not sure combining both roles is a good idea.’
That wasn’t the problem, but he wasn’t discussing his reservations, his confused feelings, with Hannah. Alexandra unsettled his world, disturbed the very air around him, had done from the second he’d met her. He didn’t like it. He didn’t want it. They needed her at the surgery but he wasn’t going to like working with her, and he planned to avoid her as much as possible.
‘And what about you? What did you think about Alex?’ Hannah pressed.
‘She’s well qualified and keen to take on the dual responsibilities.’
‘I meant as a person!’
‘I’ve no idea,’ he lied, closing his mind to unwanted images of the wretched woman, images that lingered to torment him despite all his efforts to deny them. ‘I didn’t notice.’
‘Oh, Kyle.’
He tensed at the sadness and exasperation in Hannah’s voice, his suspicions increasing about why she had set this up and had sent Alexandra to him for the job. Was she just doing a favour for a friend who needed work, or had there been some ulterior motive for pushing Alexandra under his nose? No, Hannah wouldn’t do that. Would she? His friends knew how he felt, knew what he’d been through, knew he wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship again.
Grateful to hang up the phone a short while later, he opened his beer and carried it through to the living room, where he sat in the dark and brooded on his thoughts. Thoughts that, to his fury, were dominated by Alexandra Patterson. Who did she think she was, coming here, invading his territory, unsettling his peace of mind? He wanted nothing to do with women. They were a menace as a species and, on a personal level, they were off limits for good. Women were trouble. They caused hurt and loss and betrayal. He was having none of it. Not any more. The last eighteen months had been the worst of his life. All due to a woman. His wife.
Ex-wife.
The bitter sting of pain and grief lanced through him. No way was he ever going there again.
Alexandra Patterson could take her smoky grey eyes, pouting lips and curvy body and get the hell out of his head.
CHAPTER TWO
ALEX picked up the receiver, silently cursing the way her fingers trembled as they hovered over the button before pressing it. This was ridiculous. She shouldn’t feel as nervous as a breathless teenager with a crush. It wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t anything. She was just new at Glenside Surgery and finding her way around, anxious to settle into a new routine. Drs Robert MacKenzie and Elizabeth Ross had taken matters out of the hands of a silent, frowning Kyle Sinclair and, impressed with her aiding Joe Harmon—when surely anyone would have done the same having seen the elderly man’s crashing fall—had offered her the job. Both jobs. Which Alex had accepted, thankful and determined, only now to find herself as jittery as a novice. Because she wanted to prove herself, that was all. Reassured by her silent pep talk, she cast hesitation aside and stabbed the extension key on the phone with more force than necessary, waiting for the connection to be made.
‘Sinclair.’
Of course proving herself professionally was all it was, an irritating voice mocked in her head. That’s why you’ve gone all fluttery and unnecessary, just having the man bark his surname in your ear. She struggled to keep all emotion and anxiety from her own tone. ‘Dr Sinclair, it’s Nurse Patterson. I have Mrs Parkin with me in Treatment Room One. There’s a note on her file asking that you be informed of her visit. Do you wish to make an examination before I re-dress her wound?’
‘Yes, I do. Thanks. I’ll be there in a moment.’
Her hand was not trembling when she set down the receiver following his abrupt and impersonal reply. She was perfectly fine. And she would behave in a perfectly calm and efficient way when Kyle arrived, just as she had been doing all through her first week in her new split-role job. He only made her nervous because he was so brooding and intimidating. It had nothing at all to do with the fact that he was the most mysterious, gorgeous, sinfully sexy man she had ever encountered, and that every time she saw him or heard his deeply rough voice he took her breath away. Nothing whatever. Pulling herself together, she returned to the treatment table and took Cathy Parkin’s warm, plump hand in hers, knowing how nervous the lady was.
‘Dr Sinclair will be here shortly,’ she informed her, relieved that her voice sounded calm and collected, betraying none of the turmoil roiling inside her.
‘I’m glad it’s him, dear.’ The rotund, middle-aged woman managed a tremulous smile. ‘He’s always kind. I probably shouldn’t say this, but Dr Ross doesn’t have the same bedside manner.’
Unwilling to discuss the three GP partners, Alex smiled her reassurance and chatted to ex-librarian Cathy about books, putting her at ease while they waited for Kyle. Her own thoughts strayed, however. For all his reserve and brooding intensity, she had discovered Kyle was infinitely calm and genuinely caring with his patients. Robert MacKenzie was like everyone’s benevolent if slightly absent-minded grandfather, but it was true she had found Elizabeth Ross—a brisk, fiercely efficient woman in her forties—to be clinically excellent but somewhat lacking in people skills. However, she had not been at the practice a full week yet and was loathe to make hasty judgements about her new colleagues, much less discuss them with patients.
Everyone had been welcoming and had gone out of their way to help her fit in. With the exception of Penny Collins, one of the district nurses. The few times their paths had crossed, the woman had been viciously unpleasant. Not that Penny had spoken a word. She didn’t have to. The venomous looks she flung at her at every opportunity spoke volumes, but Alex had yet to discover what she had done to cause such a reaction from someone she had never met before.
Kyle was the only other person whose welcome had been far from warm, she admitted, her brow furrowing at the thought. He had been polite, professional but distant, which given her unwarranted and unwelcome reaction to his presence was probably a good thing—even though his cautious, wary manner brought a pang of regret she had no business feeling. It was ironic that after over a year of hibernation and abstinence the first man she should find attractive and be unable to stop thinking about was out of bounds, far too complex to understand, and not the least bit interested in her. Which didn’t prevent her heart leaping in her chest when a knock at the door preceded his arrival and the man in question stepped into the room, making it seem smaller, and sucking most of the available oxygen out of the atmosphere. This was crazy.
For a moment their gazes locked and Alex fought her reaction, deliberately returning her attention to Cathy Parkin, and moving to the other side of the treatment table to allow Kyle room to assess the woman’s ulcerated leg.
‘Hello, Cathy, good to see you again.’ Kyle took the hand Alex had so recently been holding, his bedside manner exemplary. ‘How have you been?’
‘Not too bad, doctor. I don’t mind telling you, though, that I’m a tad fed up with this wretched leg,’ she muttered, her worried brown gaze fixed on Kyle’s face.
With a final squeeze of her hand, Kyle nodded. ‘I’m sure you are. Let’s take a look, shall we? It certainly seems less red, hot and tender than before, even if the surface area of the ulcer hasn’t shrunk as swiftly as I would have liked,’ he allowed, concentrating on his task.
As she listened to him talk, Alex watched him, noting how the smile for his patient failed to strip the aloneness and inner hurt from his eyes. He devoted all his attention to Cathy, his mouth a sensual pout, and Alex couldn’t help but wonder what those lips would feel like on hers, how he would taste. A couple of errant curls flopped onto his forehead, and her fingers itched to brush them back, to sink into the thickness of his rakish dark hair. No doubt about it, Kyle was stunning to look at, but all that smouldering sexuality and latent masculinity had never appealed to her before. Why now? No matter how much she told herself that Kyle was not her type, that she
wasn’t interested—and neither was he—she couldn’t put him out of her mind. Nor could she ignore the frisson of awareness that prickled along her spine when she was with him. She wished she understood why he was so reserved and distant, what had put those painful shadows in his eyes, but although she had only known him a very short time she guessed he wasn’t a man given to sharing confidences. Hannah had hinted at some trouble in Kyle’s life, but Alex had yet to discover what precisely had happened to him. For now, she struggled to ignore his presence and concentrate on what was being discussed about Mrs Parkin.
‘How are Cathy’s arterial pulses?’ Kyle asked, and Alex snapped back into professional mode, setting her concerns about him aside…at least temporarily.
‘The ankle brachial pressures are fine, as is capillary return, and the foot is warm.’
Kyle nodded, checking the notes. ‘The most recent swab showed no sign of abnormal bacteria or infection, so I’m not going to prescribe any more antibiotics. Have you been keeping your leg elevated as much as possible, Cathy? What about the smoking?’
‘I’ve not had a cigarette for over two months,’ the woman confirmed with a shy but proud smile.
‘Well done! And are you sticking to the low-fat diet?’
‘I am.’ A faint tinge of colour stained her plump cheeks. ‘Most of the time. I confess to one or two small lapses.’
Smiling again, Kyle squeezed her fingers. ‘Do the best you can. We’ll give you all the support you need.’
Alex knew that smoking was one of several factors which could affect chronic venous insufficiency, and Cathy being on the heavy side didn’t help either. At least there was no sign of diabetes, she acknowledged, before Kyle reclaimed her attention with his instructions.
‘We’ll continue with the four-layer compression bandaging, please, Alexandra.’
‘Of course, doctor,’ she agreed politely, noting the way he insisted on using her full name, as if it were more formal, keeping a distance between them.
His Very Special Nurse Page 2
