Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret (6 page)

She could feel her self-control slipping.

She moved her fingers within the prison of his, her fingernails scraping him in her panic to be free. ‘L-let me go,’ she said, but to her shame her voice sounded weak and breathless, nothing like the strident, determined tone she had aimed for.

His eyes held hers in a sensual tussle that made her spine tingle. It seemed like endless seconds passed with them locked together, hand to hand, eye to eye. But then his fingers momentarily tightened before he finally released her.

She stepped back, almost falling over her own feet, flustered and flushing to the roots of her hair. ‘How dare you touch me?’ she said, rubbing at her hand as if he had tainted her. ‘You have no right.’

His eyes glinted smoulderingly. ‘I hate to quibble over inconsequential details but you touched me first.’

‘I did not!’

He pointed to his chest. ‘Right here,’ he said. ‘I can still feel the imprint of your fingernail.’

Lexi swallowed as his eyes challenged hers. Her heartbeat sounded in her ears, loud and erratic, her breathing even more so. ‘You’re exaggerating,’ she said. ‘I barely touched you.’

‘One way to find out.’

Her eyes widened as his hand went to the hem of his scrub top. ‘What are you doing?’ she said hoarsely.

The door behind Lexi opened and a middle-aged woman came sailing in. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. ‘Am I interrupting something?’

‘No!’ Lexi said.

‘Not at all, Susanne,’ Sam said with an urbane smile. ‘Miss Lockheart was just leaving.’

‘I don’t think I’ve met you properly before,’ Susanne said, offering a hand to Lexi. ‘I’m Sam’s practice manager, Susanne Healey.’

Lexi put on a polite smile but her voice sounded wooden when she spoke. ‘Nice to meet you, Susanne.’

‘How are the plans going for the masked ball?’ Susanne asked.

Lexi crumpled Sam’s shirt into a ball against her chest. ‘Fine … Thank you …’

Susanne swung her gaze to Sam. ‘I suppose you’ve offered your yacht to Lexi for the silent auction, have you?’

‘Er … no, I—’ Sam began.

Susanne swung her gaze back to Lexi. ‘You should get him to donate a cruise around the harbour in it,’ she said. ‘It’d be so popular. Everyone loves a harbour cruise
and his yacht is gorgeous. I saw it down at Neutral Bay marina with my husband on the weekend. You could have a champagne lunch. You’ll get heaps of bids. Think of the money it’d raise. I’ll even put my name down right now. What do you think should be the opening bid?’

Lexi faltered over her reply. ‘I—I don’t know … two hundred dollars per couple?’

‘How does that sound, Sam?’ Susanne asked.

Sam spoke through lips that barely moved. ‘Fine.’

‘You’ll have to buy tickets for the ball now, Sam,’ Susanne prattled on. ‘You can’t miss the hospital’s most important event of the year. But you must bring a partner. We can’t have you dancing all by yourself, can we, Lexi?’

Lexi met Sam’s gaze with a flinty look. ‘I’m sure Mr Bailey will have no shortage of dance partners,’ she said, ‘even if he has to borrow someone else’s.’

‘I wouldn’t steal anyone who wasn’t already on the make,’ he said with an indolent smile.

Lexi felt her cheeks go red-hot but she refused to be the first to look away. She put all the hatred she could into her glare. Her whole body seemed to be trembling with it as it poured out of her like flames leaping from the top of a volcano.

Luckily Susanne had been distracted by the ringing of the phone. She was now sitting behind the reception desk, scrolling through the diary on the computer screen as she spoke to the person on the other end of line. ‘No, that should be fine,’ she said. ‘Mr Bailey is consulting in his rooms that day … Do you have a current referral from your GP? Good. Yes, I’ll squeeze you in at five-fifteen.’

Sam raised a dark brow at Lexi. ‘You want to continue
this out here or take it somewhere a little more private?’

Lexi’s eyes flared and her chest heaved with impotent fury. ‘Do you really think I would come running back to you at the crook of your little finger?’ she snarled at him in an undertone. ‘I’m engaged. I’m getting married in less than three months’ time.’

His eyes pulsed mockingly as they held hers. ‘Is that little reminder for you or for me?’ he asked.

‘For you, of course,’ Lexi said, and swung away, her head high, her cheeks hot, her heart thumping and her stomach an ant’s nest of unease, for somehow, even though he hadn’t answered, she suspected he’d had the last word.

CHAPTER FOUR

S
AM
was still sitting at his desk, absently rolling his pen between his fingers, when Susanne announced on the intercom the arrival of Finn Kennedy, the head of department. ‘Send him in,’ he said.

The door of his office opened and a tall, imposing figure strode in. Even if he hadn’t already been aware of Finn’s history Sam was sure he would still have been able to tell he had served in the military from the imperious bearing the man exhibited. There was something about the harsh landscape of his face, the commanding air, the take-no-prisoners demeanour and the piercing but soulless blue eyes that spoke of a long career spent issuing orders and expecting them to be obeyed without question.

Brusque at the best of times and reputedly intimidating to many of the junior staff, Finn was a no-nonsense, show-no-emotion type. But Sam had often wondered if Finn’s aloofness had less to do with his personality and more to do with the fact that he had lost his brother while they had both been serving overseas. Finn never spoke of it. If he felt pain or grief or even guilt, he never showed any sign of it.

With a solid background in trauma surgery Finn had retrained to become a highly skilled cardiac surgeon.
His formidable manner didn’t win him many friends amongst the staff at SHH but his reputation as a dedicated cardiac surgeon was legendary. Unlike most of his colleagues, Finn usually managed to distance his private life from the gossip network. But in the week Sam had been at SHH he had heard rumours of something going on between Finn and Evie Lockheart, Lexi’s oldest sister, who was an A and E doctor. But if the rumours were true and Finn was having an affair with Evie, judging from his crusty demeanour, it wasn’t going particularly well.

Sam rose from the behind the desk to offer him a hand but Finn waved him back down. ‘How are you settling in?’ he asked as he sat down in the chair opposite.

‘Fine, thanks,’ Sam said. ‘Everyone’s been very welcoming.’

‘Accommodation all right?’

‘Yes. Thanks for that contact,’ Sam said. ‘I’m using the same real estate firm to track down a property for me to buy.’

‘The press will want an interview,’ Finn said. ‘You OK with that?’

‘Sure,’ Sam said. ‘I’ve already spoken to a couple of journalists who’ve called. They want a photo opportunity but I’m not sure the patient I have lined up is suitable. Bella Lockheart doesn’t strike me as the outgoing type.’

Finn grunted. ‘Might be her last chance for the spotlight.’

‘I hope it’s not,’ Sam said. ‘I’d like to bring her forward on the waiting list but she’s got a chest infection. It’s a wait and see, I’m afraid.’

Nothing had showed on Finn’s face at the mention of the Lockheart name. ‘What are her chances?’ he asked.

‘She needs a transplant within in the next couple of months,’ Sam said. He left the rest of the ominous words hanging in the silence.

Still no flicker of emotion on Finn’s face.

‘We do what we can, when we can, if we can,’ Finn said. He rubbed at his arm and then, noticing Sam’s gaze, dropped his hand back down to rest along his bent thigh. ‘That rumour true about you and the other sister?’ he asked.

Sam stiffened. ‘What rumour is that?’

Finn’s penetrating gaze met his. ‘Word has it you and Lexi Lockheart had a thing going five years ago.’

Sam unlocked his shoulder to give a careless shrug. ‘We spent a bit of time together, nothing serious.’

Finn gave him a measured look. ‘Did her old man have anything to do with you switching to the US training programme?’

Sam frowned. ‘What makes you ask that?’

‘Just joining the dots,’ Finn said. ‘You and young Lexi got it on and then a couple of weeks later you were gone. Makes sense that someone had a gun to your head.’

‘The truth is I had thought of studying overseas,’ Sam said. ‘I just wasn’t planning to do it right there and then.’

Finn gave a chuckle. ‘I’d like to have seen Richard Lockheart’s face when he found out you were sleeping with his youngest daughter.’

‘It wasn’t a great moment in my life, that’s for sure,’ Sam said wryly.

‘I’m surprised he approved of her fiancé,’ Finn said. ‘I thought no one was ever going to be good enough for his baby girl.’

Sam swung his ergonomic chair back and forth in a casual manner. ‘You know much about her fiancé?’

‘Met him at a couple of hospital functions,’ Finn said. ‘Nice enough chap. Comes from bucketloads of money but he’s currently doing a stint with Volunteers Abroad. You see the rock on her finger? He made a big donation to the hospital the day the engagement was announced.’ He gave a grunt of amusement. ‘Hopefully he’ll double it once they’re married.’

Sam felt his chest tighten but he forced a smile to his lips. ‘Let’s hope so.’

‘There’s a drinks thing organised for Wednesday night at Pete’s Bar across the road for you to get to know some of the other departmental staff,’ Finn said. ‘Just another excuse for the staff to get hammered if you ask me, but you might as well put in an appearance. Half-price Wednesdays are a bit of an institution with the registrars.’

‘I got the email about it the other day,’ Sam said. ‘I’ll definitely pop my head in the door.’

Finn stood. ‘Right, then,’ he said. ‘I’m off home. It’s been a long day and tomorrow’s probably going to be no better.’

Sam stood looking out of the window once Finn had gone. The sun was sinking in the west, casting the city in a golden glow. He had missed that iconic view in the years he had been away. Just knowing it would be there waiting for him to come back had helped quell any momentary feelings of homesickness. But the view had changed, or perhaps his memory of it had.

It just wasn’t the same.

On Wednesday evening Sam had been caught up with a particularly tragic case and had spent the extra time explaining
the sad prognosis to the patient and his young family.

When he came out to the reception area after dictating the letter to the patient’s GP, Susanne drew his attention to a wrapped parcel sitting on the counter. ‘That came for you a little while ago.’

‘What is it?’

‘A shirt,’ Susanne said, eyes twinkling. ‘From Lexi Lockheart.’

Sam took the package, keeping his expression blank. ‘Thank you.’

‘She said the stain didn’t come out so she bought you a new one,’ Susanne said.

Sam frowned at his receptionist’s intrigued expression. ‘She spilt coffee on it when she bumped into me,’ he explained. ‘She offered to launder it for me.’

‘A little bird told me you and Lexi dated a few years back,’ Susanne said, leaning her chin on her steepled fingers.

‘Your little bird is wrong because we never actually went out on an official date,’ he said, leafing through a pile of correspondence. ‘Our entire affair was conducted in private.’

Susanne’s pencilled eyebrows lifted. ‘I sense some angst between you,’ she said. ‘That little scene I came in on the other day …’

‘Susanne,’ Sam said sternly as he put the letters down on the desk, ‘I need you to type my letters and schedule my theatre lists and organise my diary for me. I do not need you to speculate on my private life. That is totally off-limits, understood?’

Susanne nodded obediently. ‘Understood.’

He was almost out of the door when he stopped
and turned to look at her. ‘Who was the little bird?’ he asked.

Susanne made a buttoning up motion with her fingers against her mouth. ‘I promised not to tell. Guide’s honour.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ Sam muttered and left.

The bar was full and loud with the buzz of conversation and thumping music when Sam finally arrived. He wove his way through the knot of people, saying hello to those he recognised from previous introductions and stopping to greet those who introduced themselves.

Evie Lockheart was one person he remembered from his training years. But as she had been a couple of years behind him in med school they hadn’t really socialised. She moved through the crowd and offered a slim hand to him with a polite but contained smile. ‘Welcome back to SHH,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure if you remember me. I’m Evie Lockheart from A and E. You came to a trainee doctor dinner thing my father held a few years ago.’

Sam took her hand as he returned her smile. Did she also remember he’d only had eyes for her knock-’em-out-gorgeous youngest sister that night as well? And had she been a witness to the fallout Lexi had alluded to? ‘Of course I remember you,’ he said. ‘Nice to see you again.’

‘I believe you’re doing a great job of looking after my sister,’ Evie said.

‘Um … pardon?’

Evie smiled to put him at ease. ‘I understand patient confidentiality, Sam, but under the circumstances, given we’re colleagues, I think it’s OK for you to discuss Bella’s treatment with me.’

Oh, that sister
, Sam thought. ‘We’re working on getting her well enough to receive a donor lung,’ he said. ‘She’s getting better but finding a match is the next hurdle.’

‘We’ve heard very good things about you,’ Evie said. ‘Mind you, my father wouldn’t have approved your appointment unless he thought you were the best.’ She gave him a hard little look. ‘Not after what happened between you and Lexi. Talk about World War Three. I thought Dad was going to disown her. I’ve never seen him so furious with her. I was very worried about her. She took it very hard.’

Sam kept his expression impassive but inside he was reeling. ‘Lexi seems very settled now,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ Evie said. ‘It’s a good match. Matthew is lovely. He’s just what Lexi needs. He comes from a very stable family.’

‘A very rich family, or so I’ve been told,’ Sam said.

‘Mega-rich,’ Evie said taking a sip of her drink. ‘But unlike some of the silver-spoon set, they’re good with it. They support a lot of charities. I think that’s why Matthew and Lexi hit it off so well. They have a lot in common.’