The Rebel and the Baby Doctor (11 page)

‘I could do that…I think,’ he murmured, spoiling the effect by looking doubtful. ‘Well, occasionally, at any rate. Like at the barbecue this evening. I guarantee to show you a good time. All the kebabs you can eat, crisp, sparkling wine, plenty of that, and pleasant surroundings…They say the Quayside Pub is the place to be of a summer’s evening.’

She laughed. ‘Well, considering that I organised the whole venture, I’d say that’s rich. And as to showing me a good time, I dare say you promise that to all the girls.’

His brows shot up. ‘Which girls?’

‘Lisa, for instance…from A and E? Don’t imagine we don’t all know about you helping her to move into her new place.’ It still bothered her that he had gone to Lisa’s new house and hadn’t come home at all that night. She tried not to think about it, but it slid through the cracks in her armour and pierced her flesh.

‘Ah,’ he said on a gloomy note, ‘I’d forgotten about the chitter-chatter that goes on around here.’ Then he brightened a little. ‘Anyway, there’s nothing to say that I can’t help you move house, is there?’ A gleam came into his eyes. ‘I was planning on getting a place of my own at some point. How about if you were to move in with me?’

Phoebe shook her head, a smile touching her mouth. ‘You’re impossible,’ she said. ‘How can I ever take you seriously? You flit from one bright light to another like a demented moth. Go and see to your patient. He needs you.’

‘And so will you, one of these days.’ He swooped to kiss her firmly on the mouth, and while Phoebe stared at him in tingling shock, he straightened and started to move away. ‘Mark my words, you’ll wonder why you ever resisted.’

He walked back towards the treatment bay and disappeared into the room. Phoebe watched him in stunned surprise, her mouth still bearing the imprint of that devilish kiss, while her body was fizzing out of control.

How did he manage to do this to her? She tried her best not to let him get to her, and then he crashed through all the barriers she had put up, demolishing them as though they were nothing more than a house of cards.

Why did she react to him this way? Had he crept into her heart little by little, and taken it over, so that now
all she could think of was him? Was this love that she felt for him? Why did it hurt so much?

She tried to pull herself together and turned her attention to the work in hand, bringing up the baby’s echocardiograph on screen. Mr Kirk would want to look at this before deciding what treatment to pursue.

‘Phoebe, my dear, there you are. Katie said I would find you here.’ Mr Kirk came into the annexe, a tall man, distinguished looking, with hair that was showing streaks of grey at the temples. His blue eyes were lit with warmth as he walked towards her.

‘You were looking for me?’ Phoebe was flustered for a moment. ‘Has something happened with the baby?’ She checked her pager. ‘No one called me.’

‘No, no…the baby is stable at the moment. We’ll admit her to Neonatology and I’ll keep an eye on her from there.’ He looked at the echocardiograph on screen, checking the working of the baby’s heart.

‘See, there’s the problem,’ he murmured, pointing a finger at the image on the monitor. ‘I’m going to schedule her for a catheterisation just as soon as we have the optimum time…within the month, I would imagine. I’m actually on my way to do a ward round, and I thought I would let you know that I’m very pleased with the way you handled things and managed to soothe the parents. It can be very unsettling when these tiny infants come into hospital in acute distress, but you coped very well. Just as you did with the baby boy who was suffering from congestive heart failure some time ago. You brought him along nicely, so that he’s doing well now. You and Jessica both seem to share that light touch. Well done.’

‘Thank you for that.’ She smiled at him, her eyes widening a little. Praise from the consultant was like nectar to a bee, and she was happy to drink it up.

She was in a cheerful mood when she went back to check on the baby once more. ‘I’ve sorted out all the paperwork,’ she told Katie, ‘so we can go ahead and transfer her over to Neonatology right away. Do the parents know that they can stay with her?’

‘They do. It’s all arranged.’

‘That’s good. I’ll see her settled in on the ward and then I can go off duty in a good frame of mind.’ She frowned. ‘Somehow, it seems to have been a long day.’

‘A lot of emotional trauma, maybe?’ Katie said, sending her an assessing glance.

‘Yes, you could be right there.’ Phoebe acknowledged what Katie was saying but, then, the nurse was talking about the baby, wasn’t she? She herself, on the other hand, thought her problems had more to do with a certain A and E doctor whose grey gaze had the power to send a thrill of response rippling through her nervous system from head to toe.

How was she going to cope with being near him at the barbecue this evening? He only had to look at her and she melted, and that would not do at all.

Still, it was all arranged and, since she was the chief instigator of the event, she didn’t really have a choice but to go along.

The pub was crowded with people when she arrived there that evening, but the majority of them were congregated outside by the quayside on the river estuary.

Phoebe went to sample the food that was on offer and
found that Jessica was looking at the various tables that had been set up in the open air.

‘Wow. There are some seriously good raffle prizes here, Phoebe.’ Jessica’s eyes widened as she surveyed the table that had been laid out with various gift packages in the courtyard of the Quayside Pub. ‘How did you manage to come up with all these? I mean, a flat-panel TV, a luxury hamper filled with goodies, a case of wine—I have my eye on that—and a weekend away for two at a country hotel. They’re fabulous.’

Phoebe smiled. ‘They are pretty good, aren’t they? I approached various companies and asked if they would help out with the neonatal fund. I said we were hoping to collect enough money for an extra bay in the unit, so that we could treat more babies. We have the space available, just not the equipment and so on.’

‘And they obliged?’

Phoebe nodded. ‘They were happy to do whatever they could. Of course, it helped that Connor’s friend, John, was doing a piece for the local paper. That way, they were able to advertise their products alongside the article.’

‘The whole thing’s been a success from start to finish, hasn’t it?’ Jessica moved over to the grill, where food was being prepared. The appetising smell of burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks filled the air. ‘Have you tried those kebabs?’ she murmured. ‘They’re yummy…full of mushrooms and peppers and spicy meat.’

Phoebe laughed. ‘Something tells me you’re hungry again. How come you never put on an ounce of weight?’ She helped herself to chicken and kebabs, and then added savoury rice and salad to her plate.

‘We’re all hungry,’ Connor said, coming to join them by the table. His plate was already loaded with food, but he eyed up the breadsticks and added one to the feast. His gaze roamed over Phoebe, gliding over the soft cotton top that outlined her curves and shifting to travel over the jeans that faithfully moulded her legs. Phoebe felt a rush of warmth flow through her.

‘She’s not part of the feast,’ Jessica said in a light-hearted tone, and Connor grinned.

‘Shame.’ He started to munch on a pizza slice, savouring it and then swallowing slowly as though he was tasting a small slice of heaven. ‘You’ve done really well, Phoebe,’ he said. ‘You must be well on the way to reaching your target for the fund.’

‘We are. I’m really pleased with the way things have gone but, then again, everyone has been so helpful, and we’ve had a really good turnout, both for the jog and for the barbecue.’

‘That’s because there’s nothing people like better than to get together for food and a glass of something or other,’ Katie put in, coming over to the grill. ‘The pub is heaving at the seams. As for the raffle, like Jessica said, there are some really good prizes.’

‘I’ll second that.’ Connor was looking at Phoebe, and now he indicated a table a few yards away by the water’s edge. ‘Shall we go and sit down?’

Phoebe finished adding food to her plate and went with him. Jessica and Katie stayed by the buffet table, chatting about the new neonatal bay that they were hoping to bring into being.

‘I thought the weekend away sounded like fun,’
Connor murmured, waiting while Phoebe seated herself before coming to sit opposite her. ‘Do you fancy a few days in a country hotel?’

‘With you?’ she asked. Unbidden, her heartbeat slipped into a hectic, jerky rhythm. He was in a playful, good-natured mood, and she knew better than to take him seriously, but her nervous system was taking a while to catch on.

‘Of course with me,’ he said, his brows lifting in astonishment. ‘Who else would you be thinking of taking along? Don’t tell me you had Alex in mind…he’s really not right for you, you know.’

It was Phoebe’s turn to raise her brows. He was joking, of course, but she would go along with him for a while. ‘Are you sure about that? I thought he had pretty much everything going for him…he’s calm, unflappable, always easygoing. He thinks the world of me.’

‘Me, too. I think the world of you.’ He looked as though she had injured his sensibilities in some way.

‘Really? The thing is, Alex doesn’t stir things up or make waves in any way, whereas you tend to do it on a regular basis.’

‘No, honestly, I’m a reformed character. I’m done with trouble. I’m even thinking about putting down roots.’

‘Are you?’ Suddenly, this didn’t seem like a game any longer, and she was curious enough to want to know if he was actually serious. ‘I thought you said that you hadn’t decided what specialty you wanted to study yet, and that you might be moving away at some point? Has that changed?’

‘Well, it occurred to me that I could specialise just as well in this area, the South West. My family all live around here, and I have the feeling that it would be good to come back to my birthplace. I was thinking of buying a house locally…of course, a lot would depend on which hospital I eventually settle in.’

‘So you weren’t really joking this morning when you talked about moving house?’ Her mind did a small somersault at the thought. Hadn’t he invited her to move in with him?

‘No, I wasn’t really joking.’ His grey gaze rested on her. ‘It crossed my mind that I’d like a place of my own.’

‘Are you tired of sharing?’ She didn’t want to read too much into what he was saying. He confused her, made her mind jump in all directions, and she wanted to be clear about what he was really thinking. ‘I suppose it can be a problem sometimes, living with friends. You never really have your own space, and there’s always someone else using the kitchen, or else you have to think twice about playing music in the living room when other people want to be quiet.’

He filled his glass with punch from a jug on the table and then took a long swallow. ‘That wouldn’t necessarily bother me, especially if it was you who was sharing with me. I wasn’t being entirely flippant this morning.’ A smile touched his mouth.

Her eyes grew wide, and this time her heart didn’t mess about with funny little dance rhythms, but instead went into full-scale gallop. It took her a moment or two before she could get her breath back enough to answer him.

‘I never quite know whether or not you’re teasing me,’ she murmured.

‘But you do know how I feel about you, don’t you?’ His grey eyes were warm and enticing, inviting her to agree with him. ‘You brighten up my day whenever you’re around, and if I run into you at work it’s as though the sun has come out.’

Funny, but that was just how she had been feeling. She gazed at him in wonder, uncertain whether she could take that leap in the dark and let him know just how much she felt for him in return. Would it be too much of a risk to tell him that she wished the two of them could share something, too?

‘Hey, babe, I’ve been looking for you.’ Alex appeared by her side without warning, and looked down at her, a wide smile on his mouth. ‘I wanted to tell you about the presentation. It went really well, and my boss was stunned. He said he hadn’t expected such a clear, concise reading of the nature of the patient’s problem, and I obviously had a grasp of all the intricacies of the case.’ He beamed at her. ‘It’s all down to you, Phoebe, for helping me get a handle on things. I love you, babe.’

Phoebe was still trying to cope with all the emotions Connor had stirred up in her, and it took all she had to drag her mind over to Alex. She knew that this meant an awful lot to him, though, and she did her best to share his enthusiasm.

‘I’m really pleased for you, Alex,’ she murmured. ‘You’ve worked hard. You deserve it.’

‘But I couldn’t have done it without you.’ He leaned down towards her and planted a kiss directly on her
mouth, a thorough, purposeful and passionate kiss that said ‘Thank you’ and ‘I’m grateful’ and ‘You’re the best’.

Then he straightened up, and Phoebe looked at him with an expression of bemusement on her face. He smiled, and turned to Connor, starting to tell him all about the presentation.

Phoebe wasn’t sure exactly what she felt right then. She was in something of a state of shock, because this was Alex who had kissed her…Alex, who she had worshipped from afar for so many years. She had even entertained the thought that she might be in love with him, and yet his kiss, coming out of the blue like that, meant absolutely nothing to her.

It was a revelation to her after all this time, that she felt nothing in response, no spark, no feeling of wonderment, no desperate need to have him do that again.

And yet with Connor, there were all of those things and more. She just wanted to be with Connor, to have him near, to have him talk to her, to feel the touch of his hand on her arm.

And it all should have been so perfect, because Connor was telling her that he wanted to have her by his side, to share his life, to share his house…Wasn’t that everything that she wanted to hear?

And yet that was precisely where the trouble lay, because in all that there had been no mention at all of any kind of commitment. He was proposing that they would live together, but Phoebe knew that it was nowhere near enough. She needed much more than that from him.