“Well, come in.” He stood back to allow her past him into the office.

The momentum of the moment carried Cate through the door and dumped her in the middle of the room. She turned to face him and realized it was a very crowded room and most of it seemed to be filled with Noah Masters.

Exasperated and half-naked, Noah glowered at her, and Cate moistened her suddenly dry lips. “The night emergency team have been involved in an accident and we need to find replacement staff for this shift…” Cate’s voice trailed off as Noah shrugged his way into his shirt.There was something disturbingly intimate in the way he was steadily arranging his clothes in front of her.

“And you want me to do what?” His words were very soft.

“Find me a doctor.”

Dear Reader,

Emergency in Maternity is set in Australia, in the Macleay Valley, in rural northern New South Wales. A beautiful river divides the valley, but in flood, the river becomes the fastest-flowing torrent in the Southern Hemisphere and all is carried before it.

This is the story of Noah and Cate, and the havoc the flood causes in their lives. Both are more accustomed to giving orders—not taking them—and the love that grows between the two is one more haven that is threatened.

Noah, the interloper, is a threat to Cate’s hometown hospital as well as to her heart, and she is fiercely protective of both. And Noah is used to winning!

I hope you enjoy Emergency in Maternity, and I’ve dedicated it to volunteers everywhere, not just those in flood time, who selflessly give their time and effort when the need arises.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book, or perhaps you’d like to drop me a line to say hi. You can find me at my Web site: fionamcarthur.com.

Warm regards,

Fiona McArthur

Emergency in Maternity

Fiona McArthur

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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CONTENTS

Cover

Dear Reader

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

Tuesday 6 March

NOAH MASTERS pushed open the door to Riverbank Hospital and the unmistakable buzz of the internal cardiac arrest alarm sent a bolus of unwanted adrenaline through his body.

He’d sworn he would never work as a doctor in Emergency again, and he hated that staccato buzz. Finally it stopped, and Noah felt the tension ease in his neck as he approached the main office. He could see that the receptionists had returned to whatever had occupied them before the sudden rush of urgent phone calls and he didn’t have to wait for their attention.

‘My name is Noah Masters, regional CEO. I’m looking for Mr Beamish.’ He smiled at the receptionist and the woman blushed and stared up at him. Noah was used to people looking twice at his height but sometimes it irritated him.

She cleared her throat and apologised. ‘You’re the new chief executive officer? I’m sorry, Mr Masters. Mr Beamish isn’t in on Tuesdays, and Miss Glover, the nurse manager, is in a meeting. Perhaps the shift co-ordinator could help you?’

Served him right for not ringing before he came. Noah mentally shrugged and smiled at the woman again. ‘If he or she isn’t too busy, that would be fine.’

‘I’ll page her. She shouldn’t be long.’ The woman seemed to be all fingers and thumbs, so Noah turned away to survey his surroundings. A Gordon Rossiter riverscape painting took pride of place on the wall and unwillingly his eyes widened in appreciation. The foyer was furnished with a cedar china cabinet and matching chairs. He couldn’t resist a stroke of the polished wood and it passed like silk beneath his fingers—hand-turned, he guessed. You had to admit it all made the entrance foyer more warm and homey than he was used to.

Probably all donated, he thought cynically, like most of the equipment in these small country hospitals, but his irritation had eased. Community hospitals had their place, but that didn’t change the fact that the big money needed to be spent where the greater population was. He glanced at his watch and the receptionist obviously picked up his impatience.

‘Sister hasn’t answered her page, but if you’d like to continue around to the emergency department, Mr Masters, I’m sure you’ll catch her. If she rings back, I’ll tell her you’re coming.’

Noah couldn’t exactly tell the woman he hated Emergency, so he just nodded and followed the direction of her pointed arm. Just his luck.

When he pushed open the sheet-plastic doors the smells and sounds of a typical morning in Casualty crowded his senses. Before he could orientate himself, a militant Valkyrie with spiky blonde hair stopped in front of Noah and barred his way.

‘Can I help you?’ she said, but it was more of an accusation than an offer of assistance.

Suddenly the sights and sounds of Emergency receded and Noah eyed her quizzically. She must have been outside recently, because rain beaded in her hair and the corridor seemed to vibrate around her like the electricity that flashed across the heavens outside the window.

‘This is a restricted area.’ She used her well-modulated voice with authority and Noah cynically admired her technique. Perhaps because he did it all the time himself.

She squared her shoulders at him. He outweighed her in muscle by a good twenty kilos, so he wasn’t quite sure what she thought she could do if he decided to proceed past. There was something about her that made his day brighten and a smile hovered on the edge of his lips. There could be no mistake she was a hostile native! A magnificent hostile native but definitely hostile.

‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘I’m looking for the shift co-ordinator.’ Noah smiled his charming smile but the warrior maiden wasn’t like the receptionist and didn’t budge. He resisted the almost irresistible temptation to move another step forward to see what she’d do.

She raised her chin, almost as if she’d read his mind, and Noah had to bite back a smile. He returned her appraisal and gained the impression that the mind behind her really quite beautiful blue eyes was as sharp as the creases ironed into her short-sleeved shirt.

Thick lashes came down and hid her thoughts. ‘I’m the shift co-ordinator but I’ll be busy for the next half-hour. Are you connected with the hospital?’

His mouth curved a little more. She was interrogating him. He nodded and held out his hand. ‘Noah Masters, regional CEO, and you are…?’

Cate had known it! The enemy! ‘Cate Forrest, the morning shift co-ordinator.’ The suit he was wearing had warned her. But that was the only part of his appearance that tied in with her mental image. She’d known he was coming, she’d just expected a weasel with accountant’s glasses.

Unfortunately, he was nothing like she’d imagined. He had a smooth, masculine presence that radiated command and Cate had to tilt her head slightly to look up at him. She didn’t like the necessity. There weren’t that many men taller than Cate and she wasn’t used to it. His hand was out in front of her, waiting, and reluctantly Cate took it.

When his fingers closed around hers in a firm clasp, she returned the shake, frowned and then pulled free as soon as possible.

Her fingers still thrummed. She certainly couldn’t say his handshake was as furtive as his visit. The man vibrated with energy! She couldn’t stand a man with a limp handshake but that buzz between them was ridiculous. Surreptitiously she wiped her hand on the side of her skirt to remove the tingle.

They stood there and eyed each other like opposing generals, and the silence lengthened. Cate had a suspicion it was amusement she could see in his eyes and it stirred her temper, as a breeze lifted a tiny pile of leaves. Yes, he rattled her, she admitted grudgingly. She was usually the one in control. One minute in his company and she could tell he wouldn’t be as co-operative as Mr Beamish was to her plans.

She steered Noah Masters around and back out through the plastic doors to the corridor. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have the time for a formal tour today. Perhaps you can arrange something later with Mr Beamish?’

Noah’s smile was winning but it bounced off Cate. ‘This isn’t a formal visit, Sister Forrest. I’m not inspecting Riverbank, I’m just gaining a feel for the place.’

Cate raised her eyebrows delicately. ‘How interesting.’ You can get a feel just by poking around, can you buster? She only just kept the words from her lips. The pager clipped on her belt emitted an insistent beep and she glanced down to see the phone extension displayed on the mini-screen. It was the accident and emergency main desk. ‘Excuse me. I must answer this call. The cafeteria is on this floor if you would like some lunch.’

Noah inclined his head. ‘Perhaps I’ll see you on my travels later?’

You’d better believe it. ‘We’re a small hospital. I imagine you might,’ Cate said dryly, and walked away to answer the page.

Noah watched her stride away, her straight back not apologising for her exceptional height and the gentle sway of her hips more provocative, he guessed with a grin, than she intended. She wasn’t a dainty, helpless female like Donna had been—totally the opposite, in fact—but she was arresting.

His lips twitched. She actually looked like she wanted to arrest him!

Noah turned back towards the cafeteria with the smile still tugging on his lips. This visit to Riverbank could be more interesting than he’d anticipated.

Cate’s head was high. Big city sleaze. He was a big man all over, most of it muscle. Broad-shouldered and deep-chested, and she wouldn’t like to meet him in a dark alley. Cate realised it could be a problem to keep her antipathy towards him under control. There was something about him that made her bristle, apart from his obvious threat to Riverbank. But it was a worry what the snoopy Noah Masters was really doing, and how much of a disadvantage to Riverbank it could be to leave him unsupervised. She looked at her watch and sped her footsteps. Hopefully he’d linger over his lunch and she’d be able to find someone to keep an eye on him.

As Cate entered the emergency department, the activity was centred on an elderly gentleman and her footsteps quickened in concern. Mr Beamish, the present CEO of the hospital, was lying on a trolley, obviously in a lot of pain. Judging by the splint still attached to his leg, the problem would affect the man she’d just left. Hell. When it rained it poured.

Casualty Sister Moore turned to Cate with her usual calm. ‘Well, that saves me answering the phone. Thanks for coming. Mr Beamish has just come in. He has severe hypothermia and a probable fractured femur.’

Cate nodded and smiled gently at the older man’s pale face as he almost blended in with the white pillowcase. ‘Hello, Mr Beamish. You’ve come to the right place for some tender loving care. We’ll get you fixed up as soon as we can.’ She didn’t mention Noah Masters—it was the last thing the poor man needed to know!

Stella Moore followed her out to the nurses’ station. ‘The ambulance officers just brought him in. He slipped over on his cattle-grid this morning and his wife didn’t realise he was in trouble for at least a couple of hours. Mr Beamish had to lie in the rain until she found him, and he’s pretty shocked.’

Cate’s face clouded for a moment before she said, ‘It must have been horrific. Hopefully he won’t get pneumonia.’ She picked up the phone and glanced out of the window. Water streamed off the pane as she waited for her call to be answered. ‘My dad says we’re in for a flood and I wouldn’t be surprised.’

Stella winced. ‘Don’t say that. We’ve just recarpeted our house.’ Cate nodded sympathetically. She thought of her parents’ farm and the cattle that would have to be moved if the river rose too far, then shelved that problem for after her shift. The telephone just kept ringing so she dialled the nurse manager’s number again and finally Cate’s immediate superior answered.

Cate left the notification of Mr Beamish’s accident with her, along with the news of Noah Masters’s appearance.

Miss Glover’s voice was hurried. ‘I’m in a meeting. Show Mr Masters around if you have time, Cate, please.’

Cate screwed her nose up at the phone and reluctantly agreed.

Her pager beeped and she glanced at the number on the screen. She looked at Stella. ‘Anything else you need for the moment, apart from Mr Beamish’s old medical records?’

‘No. But a lunch-break wouldn’t go amiss when you get a minute.’ Stella rubbed her hollow stomach and Cate grinned back at her.

‘No problem. I’ll get the old records, dash over to Maternity to answer this call and come back as soon as I finish there.’

By the time Cate had procured some out-of-stock drugs for Maternity and relieved emergency staff for their lunch, she was in dire need of sustenance herself.

When she entered the cafeteria Noah Masters was the only person left in the room. On the point of leaving, he hesitated, then walked towards her to refill his cup.

Some people took extended lunch-breaks. Cate chewed her lip. She wished he’d left, which was strange considering her previous decision that someone needed to keep an eye on him and she was supposed to show him around.

‘The coffee must be good if it’s kept you here this long.’ Cate snapped her mouth shut on the you-don’t-have-anything-better-to-do implication, but it was clear to both of them what she meant.

He raised his eyebrows at her comment and his smile, devastating as it was, was all on the surface. ‘The company was good. Your staff are very friendly.’ The inference was clear.

She supposed she deserved that but she didn’t trust him or his smile. She mentally shrugged. She’d never been good at dissembling so most people knew pretty quickly how she felt.

Obviously her staff hadn’t realised this man was a wolf casing the flock. She bristled. ‘The nurses who work here are wonderful and it always amazes me how they keep their spirits and standard of care up, considering such low funding and the workload expected of them.’ By number-crunchers like you, she almost said.

He accompanied her back to the table and on the surface he still didn’t seem particularly ruffled. ‘Hmm, maintaining a budget is always going to be difficult in a small establishment.’

As if here at Riverbank they didn’t try! Cate narrowed her eyes as she set her cup and plate carefully on the table. ‘But less important than actually continuing the service.’ She paused to let her words sink in. ‘Personally, I don’t give a hoot for your budget. My concern is maintaining the standard of care the people of this valley deserve—without having to leave the area to get it—and the sooner money is put in its proper perspective, the better.’

His face remained expressionless and she marked another point against him. The guy probably didn’t have emotions—just numbers running around inside his computer brain. And she knew he’d been a doctor before he’d taken up administration, which didn’t make any sense to her.

He waited until Cate was seated and then sat down. At least he had manners, she grudgingly acknowledged.

Noah set his cup down. ‘Unfortunately budgets are a fact of life.’

‘Or you’d be out of a job,’ she muttered. He turned his head to look at her fully and his eyes flared briefly at her comment. She became sidetracked by the realisation that his chocolate brown eyes could freeze to almost coal black when he was annoyed. The air temperature dropped about ten degrees. She blinked. ‘I’m sorry. You were saying?’

For a moment he looked to be inclined to follow up her previous comment but then, with only a brief cryogenic glare, decided against it and reverted to business mode. ‘I was saying that budgets are a fact of life and while it’s your job to maintain patient services, it’s my job to streamline the process cost effectively. The money should go where the needs are greatest. Perhaps we could agree to the necessity for the other person’s job.’

The deep timbre of his voice sent an unwelcome shiver across Cate’s shoulders. He could be persuasive and she could just see him at a boardroom table, smiling winningly at weaker individuals. She wasn’t fooled, though.

In fact, she wasn’t temperamentally suited to this conversation. She was more of an action person. Let the official party chat with him. There was no way she could carry on a rational conversation with this guy and not get indigestion. Cate pushed aside the second half of her sandwich and took a last sip of her coffee.

There were still the orders to show him around. ‘Is there any area in particular you’d like to see while I have a spare moment, Dr Masters?’

A tiny crease appeared above his right eyebrow at the title. ‘If you’ve finished…’ He glanced down at the meagre lunch left on her plate and then away. ‘I’d like to see the maternity ward.’

Grimly Cate rose and carried her crockery back to the dish trolley. ‘Do you have a special interest in Maternity, Dr Masters?’

Noah winced again at her calling him ‘Doctor’. He wished she wouldn’t do that. He was never going back to practising medicine. Then he considered the question. Despite the fact that it was the least offensive thing she’d said to him, he knew the question was loaded. He couldn’t believe this woman. He’d met people who’d disliked him before, not often, but none as aggressively against him as she was. And she did aggression well. He’d had to struggle with his temper twice already and he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. He’d been controlled like a machine since Donna had died.

He chose his words carefully. ‘I believe Maternity can be the showcase of the hospital. Front-line public relations are an important facet of any hospital’s success.’ And the most common area of overspending. But he didn’t say it.

Public relations led back to the dollar again, Cate correctly deduced, and shrugged.

When they walked into Maternity two of the room buzzer lights were on and the nursery was lined with bassinets in which most of the tiny occupants were crying. Mothers with their babies in their arms, crowded around the sink as they waited for weighings and baths.

Noah frowned. ‘Where are all the staff?’

Cate almost snorted. ‘Both midwives are doing fifty things at once.’ She felt like saying, Can you see anywhere to save money here? But she didn’t. Well done. What control, Cate. She patted herself on the back then moved away from him to punch some numbers into the phone.

‘Hi. It’s Cate Forrest here. Can you send Trudy over to Maternity to help in the nursery for an hour, please? Yes, they’re snowed under.’ She smiled into the phone and he realised he hadn’t seen her smile before. It lit her face with a sweetness that warmed the ice around his heart. She had a smile that reached the corners of the room and shone up the walls. Noah wondered what it would feel like to have that wattage directed solely at him. It would be a smile worth waiting for. He blinked and refocused on the ward around him.

‘Thanks,’ she said to whoever was on the phone. ‘I owe you one.’

One of the midwives came out of the birthing unit and grinned at Cate. ‘Two new admissions, both in established labour, right on bathtime, and four babies are waiting for discharge weighings.’

‘Trudy is coming over for the nursery. Have you guys had lunch?’

Noah nodded at the mothers who walked past as Cate rearranged staff. He listened to her acknowledge the good job the midwives were doing with the workload and then she proceeded to address several of the mothers by their first names and enquire about their other children. She seemed to know and have one of those smiles for everyone. Except him.

But, then, he guessed she was a people person. He wondered if he still had that knack after two years in administration. Had he lost the knack of emergency surgery, too? Noah squashed that last thought down ruthlessly, and the guilt that rose with it.

Cate caught him studying her and excused herself from the mother she was speaking to. She moved across to his side with the light of battle in her eye. ‘Do you advocate breastfeeding, Dr Masters?’

Under attack, Noah looked around at the mothers watching him. ‘If at all possible, of course I do,’ he said cautiously.

‘So you’d agree it’s important that first-time mums in particular have access to help for at least the first few days after the baby is born to establish lactation? Especially if you believe that breastfeeding is best for babies.’

A glimmer of light appeared and Noah narrowed his eyes. Before he could ask if this had to do with his suggestion to shorten postnatal stays, she continued.

‘Were you aware that, unlike larger hospitals, Riverbank clients don’t have access to early discharge follow-up by midwives? Only overworked early childhood nurses?’

Her blue eyes bored into his and he had to admire her passion, if not her subtlety.

‘No, I wasn’t aware of that.’ He was going to continue but Cate cut him off.

‘Or that we have some of the best long-term breastfeeding rates in New South Wales?’ She looked justifiably proud about that.

She was like a steamroller and from one steamroller to another he couldn’t help admiring her—but a public hallway was unfair. ‘No. I wasn’t aware of that either, Sister Forrest,’ he replied sardonically. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t more annoyed with her. Perhaps it was the obvious undeniable passion she had for her work.

‘Pity!’ She’d scored her point and was ready to change the subject. ‘Seen enough?’

Before he could answer, her pager went off and she was thinking of something else. ‘I’m off to Accident and Emergency, Dr Masters.’

He knew she wanted to get rid of him but he wasn’t going to be shaken off that easily. ‘I’ll tag along, then.’

He lengthened his stride to keep up with her, which was quite a startling change from usually having to slow his pace for women. He found himself smiling again—Cate Forrest was certainly different.

Thunder rumbled outside and Noah shook his head as he glanced out of the window to see the sheets of rain falling even harder. ‘This is some storm.’

Cate paused and followed his gaze out of the window. ‘It’s more than a storm.’

Noah frowned. ‘Meaning?’

‘My father says we’re in for a flood—and when a farmer predicts a disaster, it’s a definite worry.’

Farmers predicting weather. He’d heard of that but he didn’t believe in it. ‘So how often does it flood around here?’

Cate turned from the window and started walking again. ‘Nineteen sixty-three was a big flood but 1949 was the biggest in recent history. That flood washed right through the centre of town, killed six people and left others stranded on the roofs that didn’t wash away. The locals still talk about that one.’

Her pager shrilled and she glanced down and muttered, ‘Outside call.’ Then picked up the pace again.

‘The staff with creek crossings can have problems getting in when it’s like this. That will be the first of those who can’t get in.’ She smiled sweetly at him. ‘They get flooded-in leave.’

He frowned. ‘Can’t you make them stay in town before they get flooded so the hospital will be staffed properly?’

Cate raised her own sardonic eyebrow. ‘Perhaps if that was a permanent rule, we could have our hospital staffed properly at normal times?’

He flicked a questioning glance across at her until he realised she was baiting him—again.

A small frown marred her forehead and he realised that he had only a fraction of her attention. Another thing he wasn’t used to. ‘I’ll leave you to it, Sister Forrest. I can see you have your hands full.’

For the first time she smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back. As he turned down the opposite corridor towards his car, he acknowledged wryly that all he had to do was leave her and she’d smile.

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