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Drew put his arm around her shoulders. ‘It’s a bad time for you. If there is anything I can do to help, you only have to ask.’
She looked up at him, warmed by his touch, tempted by his nearness. But in that moment she saw that her brother had come through the swing doors and was walking towards her. She was alarmed in case he had witnessed their brief embrace. She couldn't help herself. Her instant reaction was to stiffen and draw back from Drew.
It was hard working with Drew, getting to know him all over again and feeling the tug of her emotions pull her in all directions. How could she allow herself to lean on him and accept his support when her family was so antagonistic towards him…?
When Joanna Neil discovered Mills & Boon®, her lifelong addiction to reading crystallised into an exciting new career writing Medical Romance™. Her characters are probably the outcome of her varied lifestyle, which includes working as a clerk, typist, nurse and infant teacher. She enjoys dressmaking and cooking at her Leicestershire home. Her family includes a husband, son and daughter, an exuberant yellow Labrador and two slightly crazed cockatiels. She currently works with a team of tutors at her local education centre to provide creative writing workshops for people interested in exploring their own writing ambitions.
Recent titles by the same author:
THE CONSULTANT’S SECRET SON
HER CONSULTANT KNIGHT
CHALLENGING DR CARLISLE
THE DOCTOR’S FAMILY SECRET
A CONSULTANT’S SPECIAL CARE
Joanna Neil
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
CHAPTER ONE
‘SOMETHING must be really wrong. Do you see that van driver? What’s he doing?’
Oblivious to everything around her, Katie had been sipping her coffee in a peaceful corner of the café, but now, hearing a quiet buzz of conversation, she looked up and glanced around. Who had said that? She couldn’t be sure, but she was conscious of a slight disturbance starting up around her, of a faint hum of distracted chatter passing through the room.
Her mind had been somewhere else—sitting here was the perfect chance to enjoy a few moments of relaxation after her afternoon shopping trip. Would Reece like the wooden train set she had bought for him? Thinking about her brother’s little boy, she smiled. He would be four years old next week, and he loved to play with anything that had wheels, so with luck he would appreciate her birthday gift.
‘Oh, no. Look at him—he’s all over the place.’
Katie was startled into attentiveness once more. Lost in her own thoughts, she had missed what was going on. Now, though, she realised that people were getting up from their tables and going over to the window.
‘What’s he doing? He’s lost control—oh, those poor people.’
Katie put her cup down on its saucer and turned towards the window to see what everyone was looking at, and a nightmare image met her eyes. Across the street, a van was mounting the pavement, and people who had been in its path were scattering in sheer panic. Then the vehicle smashed into a wall and came to an abrupt halt.
Katie didn’t stop to think any longer. She was on her feet in an instant and running out of the café towards the wreck of the van and the devastation of shattered brickwork and damaged people who simply hadn’t managed to escape in time.
Assessing the full horror of what had happened, she pulled in a deep breath and her mind flipped smoothly into professional mode. Her phone was in her handbag, and she reached for it now and called for an ambulance.
As she spoke, her gaze flicked along the street and she saw that a passing car was slowing down. She guessed that the driver was about to pull in at the side of the road. Other drivers seemed to be following suit, and a small crowd was beginning to gather.
As far as Katie could see, there were four casualties—the van driver, who was slumped across his steering-wheel, a man who was sitting crumpled on the pavement and next to him a woman who was crying out in shock and despair. Finally, there was a small child who was lying on the ground to one side of the front of the van.
‘Help us, please,’ the woman said, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘My little boy—he’s not moving. I don’t know what to do.’ Her voice cracked. ‘How could this be happening to us?’ Her blonde hair was damp and streaked with blood, and she was shaking, her face white with anguish.
‘I’m a doctor,’ Katie said, gently. ‘I’ll do what I can. Try to stay calm while I check everyone out.’
She could see that the woman was bleeding from a head wound and that her arm was grazed, but at least she was breathing and talking, and Katie wasn’t worried about her for the moment. The man was nursing his abdomen, but he, too, was conscious, and Katie turned her attention to the child.
He was about six years old, and he was lying very still, but his eyes were open, and she said softly, ‘Hello. I’m Katie. Can you tell me your name?’
‘Matthew.’ He forced the word out between his lips.
‘Can you tell me where it hurts, Matthew?’
‘It’s my leg.’ His eyes blazed in sudden warning. ‘Don’t you touch it.’
‘All right, Matthew. I’ll be very careful, I promise.’ She examined him briefly, and then said, ‘I’m going to leave you for a moment while I go and take a look at the other people who are hurt. I’ll be back very soon. Your mum will sit with you, and you’re going to be all right, so don’t worry.’
She glanced up at his mother, who was by his side, and the woman reached for his hand and clasped it to her chest. ‘My husband,’ she said in a thready voice. ‘He’s in terrible pain.’
‘I know. I’ll go and look at him now.’
She discovered that the woman’s husband had some broken ribs and an abdominal injury. ‘I’ll come back to you in just a moment,’ she told him. ‘I have to go and see who else is injured.’ Her priority was to treat the person with the most serious injuries first, and she hoped he understood that. He nodded almost imperceptibly.
‘Take care of my little boy. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him.’
‘I will. I’ll see to him as soon as possible.’
She climbed up into the cab of the van, accessing it from the side that was still intact. The driver made a mumbled, incoherent response when Katie spoke to him, and when she checked him over she discovered that his reflexes were poor and that his limbs were weak on one side. He was in a very bad way and she was concerned about his condition, but she was worried about the others, too. All of these people needed help urgently, but she was only one person, and she had to deal with the most seriously injured first.
As she twisted around in the cab of the van, she saw that a man was approaching. Was he going to be able to help her? From her position, peering downwards, all she could see was a pair of long legs encased in crisp chinos. His stride was brisk and pur poseful, and as she glanced up she saw that he was wearing a dark blue shirt made of good-quality linen.
He said briskly, ‘Can I do anything to help?’ His voice was deep and firm, easy on the senses.
‘I hope so.’ Katie looked at him properly then, and her mouth dropped open a little in sudden recognition. He had night-black hair, cut short in an attractive, stylish manner, and his features were strong and bone-meltingly familiar. His blue-grey eyes met hers steadily, and after a moment she realised that she was staring. She recovered herself quickly, clamping her lips together in an attempt at control.
‘Drew?’
What was he doing here? How many years had it been since she had last seen him? She didn’t stop to voice her thoughts, though. This was no time to start asking questions, and instead she made an effort to pull herself together and concentrate her attention on her patients.
‘Katie. It’s not the best circumstance for us to meet up again, is it?’ His mouth made an odd, rueful shape. ‘I was driving through town and I saw what happened. Have you checked everyone?’
She nodded. ‘I think the driver must have had a stroke of some kind. The ambulance is on its way. He needs oxygen and we need to get him to hospital fast.’
She noticed that Drew had his medical bag with him. He saw her glance and said evenly, ‘I keep it in the car for emergencies, along with other things that I might need. I can grab whatever else we might want from the boot. I’ll start by giving him oxygen and I’ll set up an IV line.’
‘Good. I’ll go and see to the others. I think the little boy has a fractured femur. He’s probably bleeding internally and he’ll need fluids and something for the pain. I’ll secure the leg with tape and padding to make sure there’s no further damage.’
‘Help yourself to whatever you need. What about the man on the pavement? Have you examined him?’
‘Only very briefly. He has an abdominal injury, broken ribs and possibly a ruptured spleen, so I’ll give him replacement fluids, too. We’ll need to notify the surgeon to be prepared. The woman was lucky. She seems to have escaped with cuts and bruises.’
‘Shout if you need me.’ Drew was already turning away to minister to the van driver.
‘I will.’ She hurried away to tend to the child and his father. She was still overwhelmed by the shock of seeing Drew here, out of the blue, and as if the suddenness of the accident hadn’t been enough to make her adrenaline surge, the mere fact of his presence had sent her pulse into overdrive.
She was confused and edgy because of his unexpected arrival, but she was glad that he was by her side in this. He was resourceful and skilled, and the perfect man to have around in a crisis. She just couldn’t get used to the idea that he was here in Devon at all. The last she had heard of him was that he had taken the job of A and E consultant in the north of the country.
The sound of an ambulance siren came to her as she was taping the IV line in place on the little boy. She had covered him with her jacket to keep him warm, and the painkilling injection she had given him was beginning to do its work.
‘Who’s in charge here?’ the paramedic asked, looking from Katie to Drew.
‘I am,’ she answered, and filled him in on details of the condition of each patient. ‘The man on the pavement and the boy will need to be taken to A and E. I think the van driver has suffered a stroke, so the stroke unit should be contacted as soon as possible. As for the woman, she’s in shock, and has a head wound, so she also needs to be looked at more closely. But I believe all but the stroke victim are stable for the moment. Shall I come with you to the hospital?’
He shook his head. ‘You don’t need to do that. It looks as though you’ve done everything possible for them, and we’ll manage the rest. It’s only a few minutes’ drive from here after all. Thanks for your help.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Katie stood back and watched as the patients were transferred to the ambulance. Drew came and positioned himself next to her, his arm accidentally brushing hers, and her body reacted like quicksilver, as though he had lit a fuse in her.
Nothing had changed. She had always responded to him this way, and it seemed as though the intervening years had done nothing to extinguish the instant flame that seared her flesh and made her heart pound whenever he was close.
She had hoped that time would change the way she felt about him, but now she accepted that was a vain hope. All those feelings had come rushing back in full force, along with the memory of how their relationship had abruptly ended. There could never be any going back.
She shifted away from him, just a fraction, so that there was no possibility of him touching her any more, and she tried hard to control her breathing, until it was a little more calm and even and no longer coming in quick spurts.
She remembered the last time she had seen him, when he had been moving on to begin his specialist training. How long ago had that been...seven, eight years? That had been when she had been just eighteen and she had been getting ready to go to medical school to prepare for her own career. It hadn’t been a happy time for her back then. Harsh words had been said on both sides when they had parted, and she knew that things could never be the same between them.
‘You must have qualified as a doctor, then? Are you specialising in A and E?’ he asked, his glance flicking over her.
She nodded.
‘I imagine you would have done very well,’ he murmured, ‘because I thought you handled the situation here with great skill and expertise. It would have been daunting for anyone, but you were exceptionally cool and organised. It was impressive.’
Her smile was strained. ‘I can’t say that I felt that way. I didn’t have time to stop and think or I might have been even less sure of myself. I was worried about the little boy. He looked so helpless lying there, so young and vulnerable, but I knew I had to attend to the driver first. His condition was the worst.’
‘They’re all safe now, thanks to you.’
She made a face. ‘Thanks to your medical equipment, more like. I think I shall have to start carrying emergency supplies with me, just in case.’
‘It helps to be prepared for anything.’ He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Are you working locally?’
‘Yes. I’ve just finished my senior house officer year, and now I’m working in A and E at the Royal. It’s a bit daunting, because there have been some staff changes lately, with promotions and people moving on, but I’m glad to be able to work in a place that I’m familiar with.’
She sent him a quick glance. ‘I hadn’t expected to see you again. What are you doing in this neck of the woods? I heard on the grapevine that you were working as a consultant up north.’
‘That’s true. I’ve been running my own department for a couple of years now.’
‘That was what you always wanted, wasn’t it?’ Her mouth moved in an odd shape. ‘I thought you would do well for yourself. You worked hard and you were very determined.’
She had never known him to fail at anything. ‘You still haven’t told me what you’re doing down here. You’re a long way from home.’
‘Not really. My family still live hereabouts. In fact, I was passing through on my way to a meeting.’ He grimaced and glanced at his watch, and as he lifted his arm she saw that his wrist was faintly bronzed by the sun and was covered by a smattering of dark hairs. His hands were strong and capable, and now her breath caught in her throat as she remembered the way those hands had once gently caressed her.
She looked away. That was all over now, finished. ‘Will you be too late for your meeting now?’
‘Maybe not. I’ll be a bit late, but that can’t be helped.’ He studied her features. ‘You haven’t changed a bit.’
‘Haven’t I? I feel as though I’m a lot older and wiser.’
He smiled. ‘Maybe, but you still look the same. Your hair is still glorious and untamed and glowing like fire. I always thought there was such a contrast between that fiery auburn and the calmness of your eyes. They’re such a soft, peaceful green.’
‘They don’t necessarily reflect how I feel.’ She watched the ambulance pull away and hoped that the people inside would be all right. There was nothing more that she could do for them.
‘I should go now,’ she said. His words had unsettled her, made her think of things that could not be. He was just passing through, and even if that hadn’t been the case she couldn’t have stayed with him and chatted as though all was well. Things would always be fraught between them. ‘Time’s getting on and there are some things I need to do.’
‘Is your car nearby?’
She nodded, and he said, ‘I’ll walk with you to it.’
‘If you like.’ She was feeling a little shaky after the events of the afternoon, and for all her conflicting emotions it wouldn’t do any harm to have him accompany her for a bit longer, would it? She turned and began to head towards the parking bay.
‘Do you still live with your family in the old farmhouse?’ he asked.
She shook her head. His question troubled her. Didn’t he know that they had been forced to sell the house? ‘I decided that I needed a place of my own. The farm cottage came up for sale a couple of years ago, and it seemed just about the right size for me, so I snapped it up when I had the chance.’
‘The one near to your family home?’
She nodded. ‘That’s right. It isn’t the family home any longer, though. My parents moved away and bought a smaller place near the sea.’
He frowned. ‘I hadn’t realised that. I thought the house had been in your family for some generations. It was a beautiful old place and they loved it, didn’t they? I didn’t think they would ever want to move.’
‘They decided to go for something more manageable.’ It hurt to remember that the family home had been sold. No one had wanted to see it go, and even though it had been put on the market again recently by its new owners, there was no chance that they would be able to buy it back. It would cost far more than they could afford.
There wasn’t any point in telling Drew what had really happened, that they had been left with no choice but to sell. It would only serve to rake up old wounds and it was highly unlikely that she would be seeing see him again after today.
‘How is your father these days?’ he said. ‘I was worried about him. His health was never good, was it? And I know he took a turn for the worse just before I left.’
Her mouth made a bitter line. ‘What did you expect? As you said, he was ill to begin with and what happened came as a complete shock to him. He built his business up from nothing, and then your father came along and took it from him and everything he’d worked for was destroyed. It was bound to make him ill.’
‘I don’t think that’s fair. It wasn’t my father’s fault. By the time he came along your father had already opened his company up to shareholders. They were the ones who made the decision to sell out.’
‘It was your father’s board of directors that voted him out after the new company took over. My dad hadn’t been prepared for that to happen. It was a hos tile take-over from start to finish. He founded the business and in the end he was left with nothing. Everything he’d worked for his whole life was taken from him.’
‘He was well compensated. He didn’t walk away with empty hands.’
She glared at him, her green eyes flashing contempt. ‘Do you think money is all that matters? His health was so bad afterwards that for a long time he couldn’t work. He was a broken man, and it took him a long time to recover, and when he was well enough he had to start again from nothing.’
Drew stopped walking and reached for her, grasping her shoulders in a gentle but firm embrace. He made her look at him and she was so taken aback that she forgot to struggle, and the warmth of his palms seeped through her thin cotton top and heated her flesh and took her breath away.
‘Katie, I’m sure my father didn’t mean for any of that to happen. He acted in the best interests of his company, as any businessman would. He didn’t intend to hurt anyone.’
‘Didn’t he? My father wasn’t the only one to suffer, was he? The workers were laid off, too. They weren’t prepared for the new owners to simply asset-strip and then move on.’
She shrugged off his hands and moved towards her car. Drew could still see nothing wrong in what happened. All those years ago, people had said to her that he was like his father, ruthless and ambitious, but she hadn’t wanted to believe them. Was it true after all? Why couldn’t he see the way her father had been hurt?
He watched her unlock her car door. ‘Katie,’ he said quietly, ‘all of this happened a long time ago, and it was a dispute between our parents, not the two of us. There’s no reason why you and I can’t still be friends, is there?’
‘I have to be loyal to my family,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised that you can’t see that.’
‘Of course I see it. It doesn’t stop me from believing that we can at least try to put all the bad feelings behind us.’
‘I don’t think my family see it that way. Even after all this time they’re still suffering the effects. For us, it doesn’t stop.’
‘I’m sorry. I know it must be difficult for you, but I thought that as we had met up again we could at least spend some time together. I’ll be in the area for a day or two and I wondered if we might have dinner together, or maybe just a coffee.’
‘I don’t think that’s going to be possible. You have your meeting to go to, and I have to work over the next few days.’ She sent him a quick, troubled glance. ‘I am glad that we met up again, though,’ she said in a mollified tone, ‘and I really appreciate all your help this afternoon. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there.’
He made a wry smile. ‘I’m sure you would have managed very well.’
She pulled open her car door and he rested his hand on the rim of it. ‘Are you sure that I can’t persuade you to change your mind?’
‘I’m sure. I can’t,’ she said, and she was conscious of a tremor in her voice. She hoped he hadn’t noticed it, too. ‘I must go. I have to get to the pharmacy before it closes. I promised that I would collect my father’s prescription since I’m in town.’
‘All right. I’ll let you go.’ He made a rueful smile. ‘Perhaps we’ll meet up again soon.’
‘Perhaps,’ she said, but she knew that they wouldn’t. She put her key in the ignition, and as soon as he had released the door she pulled it shut and started the engine. As she drove away, she glanced in her rear-view mirror and saw that he was still standing there, watching her go.
She completed her errands and then drove to her parents’ home. Letting herself in through the kitchen door, she saw that her brother was there.
‘Katie...you’re here at last. Thank heaven for that. I was beginning to worry.’
Katie looked at her brother and frowned. She hadn’t expected to be pounced on the moment she walked into the room.
‘Why? What’s wrong? I’m not all that late.’ She slipped her jacket over the back of a chair and laid her handbag down on the pine table. ‘I’ve been to the pharmacy for Dad’s medication. Mum asked me to collect it on my way home.’
Luke looked faintly dishevelled, his black hair awry, as though he had been running his fingers through it, and his grey eyes were troubled. She asked quietly, ‘Is something wrong with Dad?’
‘He’s not too well. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to phone for the doctor, but Mum said she was expecting you.’
Katie was anxious all at once. ‘Why didn’t you ring me—you know my mobile number, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but Mum thought you would be driving, and she stopped me.’
‘Where is he?’
‘In the living room. He had a funny turn and couldn’t get his breath.’
Katie was already heading that way. ‘Do you know what started it? What was he doing before he started to be ill?’
‘He wasn’t doing anything. We were talking about the business and I was telling him that I’ve been trying to get some new contracts.’ He sent her a guilty look. ‘I’m probably to blame. I shouldn’t have gone on about things, but it hasn’t been easy lately, trying to keep everything running smoothly, and I think he feels that he should be doing more to help out. He can’t, of course, and that makes him frustrated. That last bout of bronchitis must have taken more out of him than he realised.’