‘OK. I’ll come along and see her now.’
Alexandra’s spontaneous smile sucked all the air from his lungs. ‘Thanks, Kyle.’
He hit the send key to despatch his email to Conor and then followed Alexandra along the corridors to Treatment Room Two, his gaze on her back. Her short hair left the nape of her neck exposed, and it cost him big time to resist the overwhelming temptation to lean in, set his mouth to her and taste the smooth golden skin exposed above the collar of her uniform. Hell, his professionalism was shot to pieces around this woman. Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to get himself back under control as they entered the room.
‘Hello Judy,’ he greeted, ruthlessly trying to set all else from his mind as he concentrated on their patient. ‘I’m sorry you’ve had to wait.’
‘That’s all right, although Alex being worried about the mole has made me nervous. Do you really think it might be a problem?’ the slim brunette asked with evident concern.
‘Let’s take a look and see, shall we?’
Judy nodded her agreement, her smile was anxious. ‘Whatever you think is best.’
Following Alexandra’s directions, he examined the pigmented mole on the back of Judy’s left calf. ‘I understand you’ve found it a bit itchy?’ Kyle asked, frowning as he looked over the site and saw what had alerted Alexandra.
‘Yes, it has been recently, but I never thought anything of it.’
Kyle nodded, suspicious about the irregular edge to the mole and the raised surface. ‘Has it changed in shape at all or in colour?’
‘Sited where it is, I don’t tend to look at it often. It is definitely bigger than it used to be and it does seem darker,’ Judy confirmed, twisting her body for a better view. ‘Is that bad?’
Kyle glanced up and met Alexandra’s solemn gaze, noting the way she stepped nearer to Judy to offer support if it was needed. ‘It does make me concerned, Judy, yes, and I think the safest thing is to get it checked out straight away.’
‘It’s just a bit of a surprise.’ She pressed a hand to her chest, brown eyes moist. ‘Goodness, to think I never would have given it a notion if Alex hadn’t mentioned it.’
‘I’ll write a letter of referral for you, and you’ll get an appointment from the specialist at the county hospital who will do an assessment. He’ll likely remove it, take a biopsy and decide what, if anything, needs to be done. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions and you can get back in touch with us if you need to,’ he invited, giving her a reassuring smile.
Looking shell-shocked, Judy straightened her clothes, took an information booklet Alexandra handed to her, and prepared to leave. ‘Thank you both very much.’
‘No problem.’ Kyle offered another smile, moving to open the door for her.
‘Ring if you want to talk,’ Alexandra added. ‘Or come in any time.’
After Judy had gone, Kyle closed the door again and lingered, watching as Alexandra efficiently tidied the room. She never failed to impress him, both with her clinical knowledge and her caring manner with the patients. The ultimate professional, she always put others before herself and she had excellent instincts.
‘That was a great call, Alexandra,’ he praised her, noting the warm pleasure darken her eyes as she turned to face him. ‘You did brilliantly there.’
‘Thanks. I hope Judy will be all right.’
Kyle rested his hip against the treatment table and sank his hands into his trouser pockets to stop himself reaching for her. ‘So do I. Hopefully it’s been caught early—thanks to you. How are things going? Any more problems with the call schedules?’ he asked, eager to remain in her company even while an inner voice told him he was a fool.
‘No.’ A frown replaced her earlier smile. ‘Lisa wasn’t able to find out what went wrong, but thankfully there haven’t been any more problems. Not with house calls.’
‘But with something else?’ he probed, picking up the underlying edge to her voice.
‘I’m not sure. There have been more people failing to show up for appointments at my clinics in the last week.’ He watched as she finished her tasks and then sat down. ‘I’ve mentioned it to Lisa and she agrees it is a higher percentage of no-shows than normal…And it only seems to be happening to me.’
The news made Kyle frown too. That did sound peculiar. They had their fair share of missed appointments but on the whole their patients were conscientious and either called to cancel or re-book. He made a mental note to look into the matter and see which patients were failing to turn up. Apart from anything else, he didn’t want anyone becoming ill because they were ignoring their symptoms or failing to manage their treatment.
‘Lisa is monitoring the situation, and I was going to have a word with you, Robert and Elizabeth so you were aware of any possible issues,’ Alexandra continued.
‘Thanks. Let me know if you have any other problems.’
‘I will.’ A pause lengthened and their gazes locked. His gut tightened as Alexandra licked her lips and drew in a deep breath. ‘Um, have you heard from Conor and Kate?’
Surprised, Kyle nodded, distracted by her mouth and the memory of how it had felt and tasted under his. ‘I had an email from Conor today. We’re probably meeting up this weekend, and they’re having a celebratory dinner the following Saturday.’
‘Yes, I know. I had an invite from Kate.’
‘Right.’ His own breath seared in his lungs. He hadn’t anticipated this eventuality. ‘I see.’
‘Would you rather I turned it down?’
Her voice was so soft, her expression so wary, that he barely suppressed a groan. ‘Of course not! Do you want to go?’
‘I’d like to, yes.’
‘Then you must.’ Alexandra understood him on some deeper level that both calmed and yet scared him, and he was surprised how much he suddenly wanted her to be there when he faced the world again. It wasn’t that he needed anyone to hold his hand but, although he’d be amongst friends, he’d not been to any functions in over eighteen months, and as uncomfortable as it was to admit the truth was he had been hiding away. ‘Are you going to drive to the hotel?’
Dark blonde waves shimmered as she shook her head. ‘No. I planned to ask Hannah and Nic for a lift.’
‘You don’t have to do that. I’ll take you.’ The offer was out before he realised what he was doing. Panic set in, yet he couldn’t bring himself to retract.
‘Are you sure?’ Grey eyes widened with surprise and something else he couldn’t identify but which brought a burn to his gut. ‘You don’t have to.’
‘I know, but I want to,’ he assured her, the nervous excitement curling inside him evidence of how true that was, how tense he was feeling as he waited for her acceptance. He had to remember she wanted nothing more than friendship, no matter how he was coming to feel about her, but he wanted them to spend the time together, even if this wouldn’t be a proper date. ‘If that’s all right with you.’
A flush pinkened her cheeks. ‘Yes. Thank you.’
‘I’ll pick you up about 6.30 p.m. We can sort out the details nearer the time.’
‘OK,’ she agreed, her voice huskier and less steady than usual.
Feeling relieved, yet edgy and off-balance, he straightened and headed to the door. ‘Best get on. Well done again about Judy. See you, Lexie.’
Alex stared at the empty doorway in amazement. She was bemused enough about the turn the conversation had taken, the knowledge that Kyle had actually asked her to go with him to the dinner. Well, not go with him exactly, not as a date. But it was far more than she would have expected from him, and the prospect of being with him in any capacity at all fired her blood and fried her brain. It must have done, because she imagined Kyle had just called her ‘Lexie’. He hadn’t, had he?
She shook her head trying to get a clearer recall of what had happened. Yes, she realised, replaying the last few moments; Kyle had said Lexie. No one but her father had ever called her that. But what shocked her most was that Kyle, who h
ad insisted on using her full name ever since they had met weeks ago, had suddenly done the unexpected and used his own shortened version of her name almost like an endearment, his voice deeper, huskier and more compelling than ever. A shiver of awareness rippled through her and her insides clenched with want and longing.
That he should call her Lexie now, after they had barely spoken to each other all week since the kiss, and Kyle appeared to have been actively avoiding her since Monday night, was even more confusing. Had he just offered to drive her to the dinner out of politeness? Or was there some other reason for his invitation? She had a week to ponder on his motivations, to worry whether she would find someone else in the car come Saturday night, evidence that Kyle had his own date. Penny? She suppressed a shudder at the thought. The last thing she wanted was to find herself playing gooseberry.
But if he arrived alone did that mean they were going together…or was he just being kind? Alex knew what she wanted the answer to be, knew that her mind was going to torment her with questions and possibilities for the whole week. Knew, too, that as each day passed and Saturday drew closer the excitement she could already feel unfurling inside her would grow and tighten, and, however much she told herself not to become carried away with impossible fantasies, she wanted more than anything to be with Kyle and for it to mean something. For it to mean as much to him as it did to her.
Come Saturday maybe she would find out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘I’M SO glad you came tonight,’ Hannah enthused as Alex accompanied her and Kate to the hotel cloakroom. ‘And with Kyle!’
‘He just gave me a lift here, we’re not together,’ Alex corrected automatically, not entirely sure what they were.
It had been a hellish week at work. Aside from several more unexplained missed appointments, which she and Lisa were going to investigate in-depth in the coming days, there had also been a couple more incidents when patients had raised their concerns about treatment they had received from Penny. “I wish it was always you who visited me. I dread Nurse Collins coming, she is so rude and rough,” one patient had confided when Alex had been to her home. Another elderly lady, in no fit state to be out, had changed her home visit to a surgery appointment because she had been so worried that Penny would be the one to call on her. The woman had arrived in the treatment room in pain and near to tears with distress.
Alex had seen and heard enough. She had started making a report, with the permission of the patients involved, detailing incidents of lack of care, rudeness and actual fear and, regardless of how close Penny was to Kyle, Alex was determined to present her report to the three doctors and damn the consequences. All that mattered was the care of the patients, and she couldn’t stand back and allow Penny to get away with it, even if that meant upsetting Kyle by exposing Penny. It was all so complicated.
As if those problems had not been enough, she had also been asked to cover the extra Saturday shift because someone—Penny, she had since discovered—had called in sick at the last moment. Right—like she believed it was anything other than part of Penny’s game plan to make her life more difficult and attempt to sabotage her attendance at Conor and Kate’s celebratory dinner. The last thing she had needed was the call in to work, which meant she had arrived home late with little time to rush through her chores and get ready before Kyle had arrived…thankfully alone…to collect her.
The drive to the hotel had been completed with nothing more than stilted conversation between them. Alex had felt her tension increasing with every passing mile, and it had been impossible to ignore the electricity zinging back and forth which had made her more aware, more nervous, more excited, and more awkward by the second. Gone, it appeared, was the man who had so briefly appeared the week before, the man who had called her Lexie in that intensely sexual way.
‘Aren’t you going to take your coat off?’ Kate teased, jolting her from her reverie.
Unconsciously, Alex wrapped her arms around her waist and shook her head. ‘I think I’ll keep it on all evening.’
‘The hell you will,’ Hannah laughed.
‘Come on,’ Kate giggled. ‘I’ve been dying to see this knockout dress Hannah’s been sighing over.’
Alex groaned, recalling the trip she had made with Hannah to Moira Montgomery’s select dress-shop the previous weekend. ‘I can’t believe I allowed you to persuade me to buy this dress, much less that I’m actually wearing it,’ she muttered, reluctantly slipping off her coat and handing it over the counter, tucking the ticket in her bag.
‘Wow!’ Kate let out a low whistle. ‘That’ll open Kyle’s eyes for sure!’
‘He’s not interested in me that way,’ Alex protested with a hint of desperation, knowing it was useless arguing with the pair of them when they had their minds set on something.
Hannah waved the comment aside. ‘Fiddlesticks.’
‘This dress is far more suited to someone like Penny, who has the figure for it,’ she added, scared to turn round and look at herself in the full-length mirror.
‘Nonsense,’ Hannah dismissed. ‘Poison Penny hasn’t even got a shape. She’s too stick-thin. Look at your gorgeous curves, for goodness’ sake.’
Alex wasn’t going there. All this time on, Mitchell’s frequent hints that she could lose some weight still affected her view of herself. Not that she wanted to think of him, now or ever. She’d had no social life at all since she had left Mitchell and had given up the only stable, long-term relationship she had ever had to return home to care for her father. Mitchell’s behaviour on learning of her father’s illness had proved how wrong he was for her and how poor her judgement had been. She had shut that side of herself down, and it was only now that she was realising how much she missed male company and the physical side of a relationship. It was her feelings for Kyle that had reawakened her, and yet he was also the wrong man in many ways. Not that it stopped her wanting him with a desperation she had never experienced before, or stopped her caring about him and thinking of him every moment. Her body reacted instinctively whenever she saw him or heard him or accidentally touched him. What she had felt for Mitchell was a pale imitation compared to the feelings she already had for Kyle. It was scary because she knew what a risk she was taking, that she was opening herself up to heartache.
‘You look amazing, Hannah,’ she praised her now, eager to move the conversation away from herself. ‘Has Nic seen your new dress yet?’
A sparkle of wicked anticipation lit the green eyes. ‘Nope. I decided to keep it a surprise. I hardly ever wear a dress, much to Nic’s disappointment, and, although my green one always blew his socks off, I thought I’d raise the temperature a little…although it will probably get me in trouble!’
The look on her face left Alex in little doubt about what kind of “trouble” she meant, and that Hannah enjoyed every moment of it. Although she couldn’t help joining in with Kate’s laughter, she experienced a pang of envy. Both Hannah and Kate were so lucky to have found such wonderful, loving, sexy husbands.
‘Be thankful you can both wear such deliciously revealing dresses,’ Kate sighed, one palm resting on the gentle swell of her tummy. ‘I’m starting to show, now I’m into my second trimester. We had to have this dinner now so I can enjoy the dancing while I can still see my feet!’
‘You look beautiful,’ Alex told Kate sincerely, seeing the glow of her skin, the gloss of her long dark hair, and her brown eyes alive with love and happiness.
Hannah nodded in agreement. ‘You’re positively blooming.’
‘Thanks.’ Grinning, Kate linked her arms with theirs. ‘Come on, girls, let’s get moving and show our guys what we’re made of.’
Our guys. Alex sighed, wishing that were true in her case. But she mustn’t get carried away on dreams and fantasies. She had never been any kind of femme fatale, had never been confident of her looks, was too self-conscious of her generous curves. Nor had she ever owned such a daring dress before in her life, and she flushed with embarrassment at the tho
ught of wearing it in front of Kyle, no matter what Hannah and Kate said. What would Kyle think when he saw it? Would he even notice her?
Kyle was thankful to join up with Nic and Conor in the hotel foyer, hoping that having other people around would stop him doing anything dumb…Like forgetting all about the dinner they were here for and dragging Alexandra off to the nearest available bed to satisfy his ever-growing hunger for her. Yeah, right, like that was going to happen, he mocked himself, recalling their awkward, near-silent journey to the hotel.
He had collected her at the agreed time but she had appeared flustered and harassed—unsurprising, when she had unwillingly admitted she had been called in unexpectedly to work all day and had been rushing around to finish her chores at home and get ready in time. The extra shifts were happening far too often, and he had made a mental note to check into the rosters next week and find out what was going on and why Alexandra was being overly burdened. He feared someone was taking advantage of her dedication and generous nature.
Gauche as a teenager on a first date, he had felt foolishly tongue-tied, and the electric tension had built and built until he had been on the point of explosion. In the dim light inside the car he had only been able to catch glimpses of Alexandra’s appealing profile, but the teasing strains of her natural, wildflower scent had slowly seeped into him, increasing his awareness and tightening the fist of need inside him. No matter how much he told himself that they were nothing more than unofficial partners this evening, friends, that Alexandra had stated she wasn’t interested in him, the growing attraction and the sexual charge between them had been impossible to ignore. For him, at least. Now she had gone off to the cloakroom with Hannah and Kate, which gave him a few moments to try and get his wayward control back in some kind of order before she returned and he could see what she was wearing for the first time.
‘You’re wound up tighter than ever,’ Conor commented with a wry smile. ‘You OK?’
His Very Special Nurse Page 11
