James lowered his hands and moved closer to her, so that she was disturbingly aware of his long, lean body, and the way that he moved, with a suppleness that spoke of lithe energy and keen vitality.

‘There’s nothing to stop me from coming and working here, is there—for a few months at any rate?’

He said it in such a casual manner that it took a moment or two for it to sink in. Louise stared at him. ‘I’m not sure that I heard that right. Did I just hear you offer to come and work in my department?’

‘Are you afraid to accept my offer?’ Again, there was that faint hint of amusement that played around his mouth. It was unsettling, as though he could read her like a book, whereas Louise would be hard put to it to say what it was that was bothering her.

How would she cope with having him in close proximity on a regular basis? He exuded masculinity without even trying, and just knowing that he was around seemed to throw her nervous system into chaos…

When Joanna Neil discovered Mills & Boon®, her life-long 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:

HIS VERY SPECIAL BRIDE

PROPOSING TO THE CHILDREN’S DOCTOR

A CONSULTANT BEYOND COMPARE

THE DOCTOR’S LONGED-FOR FAMILY

CHILDREN’S DOCTOR, SOCIETY BRIDE

BY

JOANNA NEIL

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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CHAPTER ONE

‘JUST try to take a drop more for me, cherub.’ Louise gently brushed the teat of the bottle against the baby’s lips and smiled as he began to suckle once more. ‘That’s the way…that’s good,’ she murmured softly. ‘You need to build up your strength, little one.’ Smiling, she leaned back in her chair, nestling the baby in her arms, rocking gently to and fro.

‘He’s doing well, isn’t he, considering that he’s recovering from emergency heart surgery?’ Alice, the specialist nurse, came to peer down at her precious bundle.

‘He is.’ Louise nodded agreement, and then looked up at Alice with a wry smile. ‘I suppose you’ve come to take him away from me, have you?’

‘I have, I’m afraid.’ Her dark hair made a silky swathe as she nodded. ‘His mother’s talking to the surgeon, and I want to have all my observations recorded before she comes back. The doctor’s bound to want to take another look at him, and I need to make sure that he’s ready.’

Louise gave a soft sigh. ‘Ah, well, he’s finished off all of his milk, so I guess I have no excuse for keeping him to myself any longer.’

She winded the baby, lightly rubbing his back until he gave a soft burp, and then she reluctantly handed the infant over to Alice’s care. Getting to her feet, she flicked back her shoulder-length auburn hair with a deft twist of her fingers.

‘Thanks for letting me steal him for a few minutes. I can’t resist coming over here to the paediatric ward whenever I have a few minutes to spare. It was lovely to be able to sit here and relax for a while. It’s been so hectic in the children’s A&E this morning that I was glad of a chance to come and wind down for a bit.’

‘I can imagine. Are you on call for the whole day?’ Alice slid a thermometer into the baby’s armpit and checked the monitor before noting down his pulse rate on to the chart.

Louise shook her head. ‘It was just for this morning. I’m off to grab myself some lunch now, and then I have to conduct interviews this afternoon. We’re looking for another Senior House Officer to take on some of the workload—though how that will pan out with all the hoo-ha that’s been going on of late, I’m not entirely sure.’

Alice’s grey eyes took on a sombre look. ‘I can’t believe that they’ll go ahead with it. How can they even think of closing the unit down? What are people going to do if their children become desperately ill all at once or get knocked over by a car? The A&E at the Royal Forest Hospital is almost forty miles away for some people in the outlying areas. And if they close down the children’s A&E, the adult A&E here will go too. I can’t believe that they’ve thought it through properly.’

‘Neither can I. It makes me so angry when I think about it. We’ve been so fortunate in having a separate children’s emergency unit here—in some places they are still combined with the adult unit. It’s essential to have a department dedicated to children’s A&E, with specialist staff, and yet now they plan to destroy everything.’ Louise straightened up, her jaw setting in a tight angle. ‘See, I’m getting fractious all over again. I shall have to go and eat lunch in the park just to calm myself down.’

‘Have some for me. A crisp salad in a crusty bread roll, along with an ice-cold bottle of fruit juice would do just nicely.’ Alice smiled before turning back to her small patient. Making a swift check of his nappy, she wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh, we’ll have to do something about that, won’t we, pumpkin?’

‘See you later, Alice.’ Louise went in search of the lifts. The sooner she was out in the warm, fresh air of the park, surrounded by the green shade of trees and shrubs, the better.

How could they even think of taking her A&E unit from her? After all the work that had gone into building it up and making it the smooth running enterprise that it was today, it was nothing short of criminal to contemplate pulling the plug. What would happen to children who were grievously injured, or who were suffering from the onset of septicaemia if they had an hour-long journey ahead of them before they reached the skilled team workers in the A&E department at the Royal Forest Hospital?

She was still aggrieved when she reached the relative sanctuary of the local park. At least there, though, she could take solace in watching the gently flowing waters of the river as it meandered along the valley carved out through meadowland over the centuries. Broad trees that had stood the test of time spread their branches heavenward, and she looked up at the blue of the sky and basked for a moment in the gentle heat of the summer sun. This was just a small part of the beautiful Wye Valley, and she was eternally pleased that she had decided to make her home here.

Glancing around, she searched for a table where she might sit and eat her sandwiches. Not too far away, children were joyfully kicking a ball over the neatly cut grass and, closer to the water’s edge, a young couple sat and followed the progress of swans as they glided gracefully beneath the arch of a stone bridge.

A little further in the distance, an elderly man was making his way slowly towards a large oak tree. A bench seat surrounded the massive trunk, and Louise guessed that the man was heading there with the bench in mind.

He was smartly dressed, wearing a suit and waistcoat, but as she looked closer it occurred to her that he didn’t look at all well. He was coughing, she noticed, and his breath was coming in short bursts. As she drew closer to him, she could see that his lips were faintly blue.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked in a tentative voice, her green eyes troubled as she approached him. He must be in his eighties, and because of his frailty she was immediately worried about him. What on earth was he doing out here on his own? Surely someone ought to be looking out for him?

‘I’m just a bit short of breath,’ he managed. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute.’

‘Were you trying to get over to the seat?’ she asked, and he nodded. ‘Perhaps I could help you, then?’ she suggested, and when he acquiesced she lent a supporting arm so that he could lean on her.

Slowly, they covered the short distance to the bench and she steadied him as he lowered himself down onto the seat.

‘Thank you,’ he said, gasping for air as he finally leaned back against the trunk of the tree.

Louise sat down beside him. ‘Just rest there for a while,’ she said. ‘You looked as though you were about to stumble. Were you feeling dizzy?’

He nodded, clearly unable to answer her right then. Sitting this close to him, she could hear the wheezing in his chest, and she frowned.

‘Are you on any kind of medication?’ she wondered. ‘It’s just that I’m a doctor and I can see that you’re very pale, and it’s clear that you were finding it difficult to go on.’

He put a shaky hand to his chest, patting his ribcage. ‘The ticker’s not all it used to be.’ He began to fumble in his pockets, but Louise realised that he was struggling and intervened.

‘Do you have some tablets that you need to take? Perhaps I could help you to find them?’

He made a weary inclination of his head. ‘In my pocket,’ he said.

‘This one?’ Louise carefully slid her hand into his jacket where he indicated, and drew out a small plastic bottle. She read the label. ‘These are to slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure,’ she murmured. ‘Would it be best for you to take one of these tablets now? I have a bottle of water on me.’

‘Yes, thanks.’ There was a hint of relief in his voice.

She opened the container and tipped a tablet into his palm, and then she unscrewed the lid off her water bottle and held it out to him. ‘I’m sorry I don’t have a cup,’ she said. ‘Will you manage?’

Again he tilted his head in acknowledgement, but she could see that he was still shaky, and so she helped him with the bottle and watched as he sipped some of the liquid, swallowing the tablet down.

‘It will take awhile for the medicine towork,’ Louise murmured. ‘You should just sit and rest for a while. You don’t need to talk if it’s difficult for you. Just take your time.’

She sat with him and he closed his eyes for a while. Later, when he appeared to have recovered a little, she said quietly, ‘Is there anyone I can call who could come and take you home?’

‘I was with my grandson,’ he said, sucking in a ragged breath, his voice a little cracked with strain. ‘We were having a cup of tea together in town, but he had to go off and make some phone calls.’

‘And he didn’t come back?’

He shook his head. ‘I expect it was something important.’

Louise frowned. ‘So…let me see if I have this right… You were with your grandson, but he left you on your own so that he could go and call someone?’

‘No, they called him.’

‘Oh, I see.’ She didn’t, not really, but at least the old gentleman seemed to be breathing a little more easily now, and Louise was pleased about that. Even so, he definitely wasn’t well enough to be left on his own, and it was annoying to think that his own grandson could abandon him so casually.

‘Do you have your grandson’s number—presumably he has a mobile phone with him? I could give him a ring and ask him to come and fetch you.’ She was already reaching for her phone.

‘Um…yes, I think so.’ Hesitantly, he supplied the number, and it occurred to Louise that he might be getting on in years, but his mind was still keen enough if he could recall the digits. ‘His name is James,’ he added.

‘Okay.’ Louise started to dial the number. She felt like giving James a piece of her mind for leaving his grandfather. What kind of person would go off without a care in the world and leave his grandfather to fend for himself?

The engaged tone started to bleep, and Louise felt her irritation begin to rise. She stabbed the button on her phone with her finger, shutting off the noise. What was the matter with the man? Was he so busy calling all and sundry that he had lost sight of everything else?

She tried not to let her annoyance show. ‘He’s talking on the phone,’ she told the old man. ‘I’ll try him again in a minute or two.’ She looked at him carefully. ‘You seem to have a little more colour in your cheeks now,’ she said. ‘Are you feeling a bit better?’

‘Yes, I am, thanks.’ There was still an underlying rasp to his voice, and she guessed that his chest was badly congested. If he had been one of her patients, she would have asked to check out his lungs and his heart, and she would have taken a look at his ankles to see if there was any swelling there.

‘Are you having regular check-ups at the hospital or with your GP?’ she asked. ‘Perhaps you ought to go and see someone fairly soon.’

He reached out and patted her hand. ‘You’re very kind,’ he said, giving her a smile, ‘but I’m getting on a bit these days, and there’s probably not too much that anyone can do for me.’

‘You won’t know unless you ask.’ She felt an immediate empathy towards this old gentleman. Now that he was feeling a little better, she could see that there was a faint twinkle in his eyes, and she guessed that he had been a lively soul in years gone by.

‘I’ll try your grandson again,’ she said, deftly thumbing in the numbers once more.

This time, the ringing was answered after just a short time.

‘Hello, James Ashleigh speaking.’ The tone was concise, the voice a deep, masculine timbre that was easy on the ear.

‘Hello. I’m so glad that I managed to reach you at last,’ she began. ‘I’m Louise Bridgford. I have your grandfather here with me, and I’m afraid he’s not feeling too well. I wonder if you would care to come and fetch him?’

There was a pause on the other end of the line. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s struggling for breath and he needed to sit down for a while.’

‘Where are you?’

James was obviously a man of few words, and Louise decided to be equally succinct. ‘We’re in Castle Park, just about a quarter of a mile from the entrance.’

‘I’ll come and find you. Will you be able to stay with him until I get there?’

‘I won’t leave him on his own,’ she said in a clipped voice. She was tempted to add, unlike some, but she managed to restrain herself. No doubt her sharp manner would have been enough to convey the message.

He cut the call, and for a moment she stared down at the blank screen. So much for James Ashleigh, grandson extraordinaire… How long was it going to take for him to get here? she wondered. Would he manage to avoid any detours or distractions along the way?

She turned her attention back to the man beside her. ‘He’s coming over,’ she said.

He smiled broadly, his features relaxing properly for the first time since she had met him. ‘That’s good.’ He glanced around. ‘I don’t think he’s set foot in this park since he was a child,’ he said on a musing note. ‘We used to bring him here, his grandmother and me. Those were good times.’

Louise’s mouth curved. ‘I can imagine.’ They talked for a while about those visits and the way the riverside had always been an attractive spot for picnics. Louise did most of the talking, afraid that the elderly man might relapse with the effort. ‘I love to be out in the open air,’ she said. ‘Even this close to the centre of town, this place is a lovely haven for wildlife.’

‘Yes. I wanted to see if they still have the aviary here.’ He coughed and stopped to gather air into his lungs. ‘I don’t get out much these days. It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten the exact layout of the place.’

She felt a rush of sympathy for him. Had it been so many years since he had a chance to visit the park?

‘I remember some years ago they used to have one. I think nowadays it’s more of a pets corner for the children—rabbits and guinea pigs and the occasional quail scrabbling about.’

‘Ah…’ He nodded. ‘Things change, don’t they?’ He looked at her, a gentle, indulgent smile on his face. ‘But I can see that you’re a girl after my own heart, Louise. May I call you Louise?’

‘Of course.’

‘Thank you. I’m Joseph. You’ve been very kind to me and I want to thank you for all that you’ve done. I feel guilty about this. I’m sure you must be busy and I’m taking up so much of your time.’

‘That’s all right, and you don’t need to feel guilty at all. I’m happy to be here with you. As things stand, I’m able to take a slightly longer lunch break today. But, whatever happens, I won’t leave you until you’re safely on your way home.’

He patted her hand once more in acceptance of that, and itwas as shewas returning the gesture that she became aware of a man striding purposefully towards them.

She looked up, casting a thoughtful glance over him as he approached. Like his grandfather, he was well-dressed, wearing a grey suit, though the jacket hung open to reveal a crisply laundered shirt with a pale, faintly striped design. She wondered if he was a businessman of some sort.

He was tall, long-legged, and his demeanour was resolute, the jut of his strong jaw signalling a man who was used to being in charge.

His gaze flicked over her. ‘Are you the lady who called me? Louise Bridgford?’

She nodded. ‘That’s right. I am.’

‘Thank you for calling me, and for staying here with my grandfather. I appreciate it.’ Then he turned his attention to Joseph, and his matter-of-fact manner changed to one of concern. ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked, hunkering down, his knees bent so that he could be at eye level with him.

Louise let her glance wander over the beautiful cut of his black hair, noting its springy texture. The hair seemed to reflect the man. It shimmered faintly in the sunlight, with not a strand out of place, and she judged that each fibre was thick and strong.

‘I’m fine now. This young lady here, Louise, has been a great help to me.’

James subjected her to another quick scrutiny before turning back to his grandfather. He nodded. ‘I’m glad to hear it, but what happened to you? Was it just that you felt short of breath, or did you actually collapse?’

‘I just felt a bit peculiar,’ Joseph told him. ‘I’m feeling much better now.’

James appeared to be giving that some thought. ‘The car isn’t too far away. I’ve brought it as far into the park as I could. I’m just wondering if you’re going to be able to manage the walk.’

‘Yes… I think I can do that, if you just give me another minute or two.’

‘Hmm.’ James was doubtful. ‘Perhaps it would be better if I called for the paramedics. You should probably have someone look you over at the hospital.’

‘No. I don’t want that.’ Joseph’s voice was firm. ‘I wouldn’t like that at all. I’ll walk back to the car.’ He made to get up and, seeing how the colour immediately drained from him, both James and Louise gently pressured him back down into his seat.

‘I think I might have a solution,’ Louise murmured, getting to her feet.

James stood up and came alongside her, both of them moving a short distance from where his grandfather was sitting. ‘And what might that be?’ he asked.

‘I work at the hospital just across the way. I could go over there and borrow a wheelchair. It shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes to go and organise that.’

‘That seems like a good idea. Would there be any objection to you doing that?’

She shook her head. ‘I think they trust me enough to know that I’ll bring it back. There’s just the question of whether you could sit and wait with your grandfather that long.’

James gave her an odd look. ‘I’m not sure that I know what you mean.’

‘As far as I understand it,’ she said, giving him a direct stare, ‘you were with your grandfather when you suddenly went off and started to deal with your phone calls. Do I have that right?’

‘Partly.’ He frowned. ‘We were at the café, and I received a phone call that was quite urgent. The signal wasn’t too good, so I left my grandfather enjoying a cup of tea and a bun and went to deal with it outside.’

She guessed that he had been so taken up with dealing with his call that afterwards he had forgotten all about his grandfather. Of course he wasn’t going to admit that to her, was he?

‘Well, I sincerely hope that isn’t going to happen again, because it’s very important that you stay with him. You can’t be sure that his condition won’t worsen—in fact, if I were you, I would be on the alert to call out the emergency services.’

She glanced down at the watch on her wrist. ‘I shall have to get a move on. Will you be here when I get back? Can I rely on you?’

He gave her a narrowed stare and she had the impression that he didn’t like being questioned that way. He made as if to say something, but then he must have thought better of it because he simply waved a hand in a gesture of acceptance, urging her to go ahead.

‘I’ll be here,’ he said.

Louise set off at a brisk pace and within a few short minutes she was back at the hospital. ‘Is it all right if I take one of these wheelchairs?’ she asked the senior registrar in charge of the adult A&E unit. ‘I’ll bring it back in less than half an hour.’

‘Go ahead,’ the registrar told her. ‘Are you okay? Is there a problem?’

‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ she told him. ‘Thanks, Taylor.’

When she arrived back at the park, James was pacing across the grass in front of the oak tree. Joseph was sitting where she had left him, and he looked more weary than ever, as though his fighting spirit had gone. She wondered if he was even aware of them being around.

‘Has something happened?’ she asked.

Perhaps itwas more of an accusing stare than a questioning glance that she directed towards James, because he stopped pacing long enough to give her a startled look.

‘No, nothing. What did you think might have gone on? I’m not exactly sure what opinion you have of me, but I do care for my grandfather, very much so.’

She didn’t respond, and he tacked on, ‘I think he must have some kind of chest infection, and I’ll probably have to call the doctor out to him once we get home. The trouble is, he can be quite determined once he’s made up his mind about something, and I don’t think it would have been worth the stress that would have followed if I had tried to take him to the hospital.’

‘Well, I have the wheelchair and a blanket, so we should be able to get him back to your car easily enough now.’ She started to walk towards Joseph, adding, ‘As to the rest of what you said, I just have a problem with somebody who lets his work take priority over family responsibilities. I can’t fathom what could be so important that it can’t wait until you’re back in the office. No matter what you said, I was actually relieved to come back and find that you were still here.’

James was already starting to help his grandfather into the wheelchair. He settled the blanket around him, his movements gentle and solicitous, but there was a hint of tension in the fixed shape of his mouth.

‘Some calls can’t be ignored,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Perhaps you don’t have anything of importance going on in your life, or you would have some understanding of that.’

Her green eyes flashed a warning. ‘I wouldn’t go there if I were you,’ she said, her voice ominously quiet.

Joseph stirred and looked from one to the other. ‘Have I missed something?’ he asked. ‘You two are not arguing, are you?’

James laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘No, Grandad. Everything’s fine.’

‘Good, good,’ Joseph managed. ‘I’m sorry to be so much trouble to everyone.’

‘You mustn’t think that way,’ James said. ‘Hold tight, now. I’m just going to wheel you over to the car and we’ll get you home where you’ll be more comfortable.’

Joseph nodded, and looked up at Louise as she walked beside the chair. ‘I’ve so enjoyed coming out to the park.’

She gave him a smile. ‘And you should do it more often when you’re feeling better,’ she said.

She directed her attention towards James. ‘You should remember that people like to get out into the fresh air from time to time, especially the elderly, who might be fed up of being cooped up in their little bungalows, or staring at the walls of their tiny flats day after day.’

She might have expected that James would throw her a terse reply. After all, she was having a quiet dig at him, ramming home the impact of his neglect of his grandfather, but she was surprised to see a faintly amused smile playing over his lips.

She was also startled by how just the hint of a curve to his mouth could affect the way he looked. It dawned on her that he was simply breathtaking, totally masculine in a way that would make any girl’s heart begin to flutter. She braced herself, shoring up her defences.

‘I’m sure you’re right,’ he said, his grey glance moving over her in an appraising fashion.

She thought he might enlarge on that statement, but he remained silent after that and it was her turn to be puzzled.

By now, they had reached James’s car. It was a sleek silver Mercedes, gleaming in the light of the sun, and she guessed that the inside was every bit as opulent as it appeared on the outside. His dedication to his work had obviously paid off.

What he lacked in family feeling, he obviously made up for in his business acumen.

James helped his grandfather into the car and settled him in his seat. Then he turned to Louise and asked, ‘Might I give you a lift anywhere? I could always fold up the wheelchair and put it in the boot.’

She shook her head. ‘No, thank you. I have to be getting back to work and it’s only five minutes walk away from here.’

She leaned down to take a last look at Joseph. ‘You take care,’ she told him. ‘And make sure that your grandson looks after you properly.’

‘I will. Thank you for everything, Louise.’

She stepped away from the car, allowing James to close the passenger door.

‘I should add my thanks too,’ he said. ‘It was good of you to stay with my grandfather and take care of him. We’re in your debt.’

‘I was glad to help.’

He inclined his head a fraction towards her and then moved around to the driver’s side and slid in behind the wheel. He raised a hand in acknowledgement before starting the engine.

Louise watched as he drove smoothly away out through the park gates, and it was only when she had lost sight of them that she let out a faint sigh. She hoped that Joseph would be all right.

Then she glanced once more at her watch and realised that her lunch break was over. Her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t even got around to eating her sandwiches.

CHAPTER TWO

‘I WASN’T expecting to find you still here, Louise,’ Alice said, coming over to the central desk and putting packages in the box that was to go to the laboratory for testing. ‘Don’t you have somewhere else to be?’

‘Yes, a management meeting.’ Louise grimaced before adding her signature to her own set of laboratory forms. ‘I just wanted to finish off a few things before I go—tidy up the loose ends, so to speak.’

Alice laughed. ‘I’ll translate that to mean that you’re playing for time and trying to avoid the issue.’

Louise wrinkled her nose. ‘I have to admit, I’m not actually looking forward to a confrontation with the executives. This whole business of possible closure has messed everything up and made me feel as though we’re in limbo. It’s difficult to plan for the future when you don’t know if there’s going to be one.’

Alice nodded in sympathy. ‘I know what you mean. There are staffing problems to contend with, and you were thinking about doing something to brighten the place up a bit, weren’t you? I suppose that will have to be put on hold now.’ She frowned. ‘Actually, I meant to ask you how the interviews for the Senior House Officer went last week, but it slipped my mind when we were talking about the old gentleman you met in the park. You were worried about him, as I recall.’

‘Yes, I was. In fact, even now, some days later, I still find myself thinking about him. I only met him for a short time, but he was such a lovely man. I can’t help wondering if his grandson is taking proper care of him, but it seemed to me that he must have been more concerned about his business interests than looking after his grandfather’s welfare.’

‘To be fair, he did come as soon as you called him.’

‘Yes, I suppose that’s true.’ Louise picked up a file from the table and glanced through it. ‘As to the interviews, things didn’t go all that well, as it happens.’ Her mouth made a brief downward turn. ‘There weren’t any candidates who had sufficient paediatric experience, as it turned out, and those who were well qualified made an excuse and dropped out. I expect they heard about the threat of A&E being closed down and thought better of their applications.’

‘That’s going to make life difficult for you, isn’t it?’ Alice was frowning.

‘It will be hard on all of us,’ Louise murmured. ‘We all have to take on the extra workload, and yet there could be months of uncertainty ahead of us. We won’t know for some time whether the closure will go ahead, because today’s meeting is just the first stage of proceedings. The proposal has to go through the review process, and all the options for change have to be considered by various committees before a final decision can be made.’ She pulled a face. ‘Though, the way people in charge have been talking, it sounds as though it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion. How do you fight a steamroller when it’s bearing down on you?’

She studied the file, analysing the notes made by the triage nurse, and then went over to the light box to check the X-ray film that accompanied the notes. ‘I think I just about have time to go and look at this next patient,’ she told Alice. ‘She’s a twenty-two-month-old infant who’s been vomiting for the last few days, poor thing. After that, I’ll be off upstairs.’

She sent a quick smile in Alice’s direction. ‘It’s good to have you working with me here in the A&E unit, Alice. I always feel that I can rely on you. Things seem to run that much more smoothly when you’re around.’

Alice’s mouth curved. ‘I’m glad to be here, although I must say I do like the variety of alternating between the children’s ward and A&E.’ As an afterthought, she added, ‘Though whether the children’s ward will survive without A&E is another matter. It seems to me that we’re all going to be looking for new jobs.’ She made a face. ‘It looks as though we’re counting on you to defend the territory.’

‘I’ll do my best.’ Louise left her to organise the transfer of samples to the laboratory and went along to the treatment room, where her patient was waiting with her mother. The child was lying on a bed, looking frail, and her mother was sitting beside her, holding the little girl’s hand.

‘Hello, Mrs Watson,’ Louise said in a friendly fashion, going over to the bedside. ‘I’m Dr Bridgford. I understand Millie has been unwell for a few days, is that right?’

The child’s mother nodded. ‘I think she’s getting worse. Apart from being sick, she keeps crying, and she just isn’t herself. I think she must be in pain.’

‘I’ll take a look at her.’ Louise gently checked the infant over, speaking to her all the while in a soft voice, trying to put her at ease. The little girl was lethargic, though, and her eyes had a sunken appearance. She was fretful and when Louise examined her tummy there appeared to be some tenderness there. ‘Does that hurt? I’m sorry, baby. We’re all done now.’

She covered the infant with the sheet once more. She wanted to soothe Millie and let her know that she would take care of her, but first they had to find out what was causing the problem.

‘There certainly seems to be some tenderness in her tummy now,’ she told the mother. ‘We’ve taken blood tests and done a chest X-ray, but we still don’t have sufficient information at the moment to be able to make a correct diagnosis. There is some sign that there is pressure at the base of her left lung, but there could be a number of reasons for that.’

‘Do you think it’s an infection of some sort?’

‘I don’t think so. She’s not particularly feverish, and there are no indications of wheezing to point in that direction, but we’ll know more on that score once we get the results back from the lab. In the meantime, I’m going to order some more tests, including an abdominal X-ray so that we can get a better idea of what’s going on. She’ll be given a barium drink to swallow so that everything will show up on the X-ray as the fluid passes through her intestines. The procedure won’t cause her any pain but it will help us to discover if there’s anything amiss.’

Mrs Watson still looked anxious and Louise comforted her, saying, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find out what’s causing the trouble.’

They spoke for a little while longer, and then Louise gave Millie an encouraging smile in the hope that it would help to reassure her. There was still no reaction from the little girl. The child was miserable, clearly too ill to respond.

Louise started to write out the test forms for the nurse in attendance.

‘I’ll leave that with you, Jenny, if I may?’ she told the nurse. ‘Will you let me know the results when they come through? I’ll be in a meeting with management, but you can bleep me.’

Jenny nodded. ‘I will.’ She was a reliable young woman, with fair hair swept back into a ponytail and blue eyes that missed nothing. Louise knew that she was leaving the child in good hands.

To the mother, Louise added, ‘If you have any questions, just ask our nurse here. She’ll be able to tell you anything that you want to know.’

‘Thank you.’

A moment or two later, Louise was ready to make her way to the top floor room where management was holding its meeting. She stopped off in the doctors’ lounge to pull a brush through her long hair, satisfied that it gleamed with health and was pinned back satisfactorily with a couple of clips. She added a light touch of lipstick to her mouth, and then smoothed down her skirt and checked that her cotton top was neat beneath the light jacket she was wearing. The jacket nipped in at the waist, making the most of her slender form, and she contented herself with making a last adjustment to the collar before she felt confident that she looked all right.

A few minutes later, she tapped on the door of the conference room and took a deep breath to steady herself before walking in.

‘Ah, Dr Bridgford, do come in.’ The chief executive of the hospital Trust board rose from his seat to greet her. ‘I’m so glad that you’ve managed to find time to come and join us. We do value your input.’

She acknowledged him in a friendly enough manner, although inwardly she absorbed his remarks with a fair degree of cynicism. Since he was the one who had instigated the call for closure, she wasn’t about to go overboard with enthusiasm for anything he had to say, was she?

‘I think you know most of the people here, don’t you?’ the chief went on, waving a hand around the room in the direction of the assembled management team.

‘I believe so,’ she agreed, glancing briefly at the men and women who were seated around the large rectangular table. Some were other executives from around the region, but there were a number of people who she had been working with in this hospital for a few years now. For the most part they were much like herself, doctors or managers who were doing the best job they could, trying to cope in difficult circumstances.

‘Please, do come and sit down,’ Mr Jeffries urged her. ‘We were just about to go over the options for change.’

She glanced to where a seat had been left empty for her and started forward, but as her glance skimmed the people on either side of that chair she came to an abrupt halt, the breath snagging in her lungs. There was one man there who surely didn’t belong amongst this collection of medical chiefs.

James Ashleigh flicked a glance over her, his grey gaze wandering along the length of her shapely legs to the tips of her fashionably designed shoes, and back again to rest thoughtfully on the oval of her face. She faltered momentarily.

Mr Jeffries must have noticed her hesitation because he said helpfully, ‘Ah, of course you won’t have met Dr Ashleigh, will you? He’s been working overseas for a while on secondment, but we are really pleased to have him back amongst us.’

Louise blinked. So James Ashleigh was a doctor? He must be a pretty successful one, by all accounts, if he drove a top of the range Mercedes. Unless, of course, he wasn’t that kind of doctor. Perhaps he had a degree in economics. That would certainly explain his presence here. Was he one of the wretched money-counters who were intent on eliminating her A&E unit?

She frowned and stared at him once more.

‘Dr Bridgford and I have already met.’ James Ashleigh returned her gaze with a faintly quizzical expression. Had he guessed what she was thinking?

‘Good, good,’ Mr Jeffries approved.

Louise inclined her head in acknowledgement and then went and sat down beside James, put out by the way his glance shimmered over her, and out of sorts that he was here at all.

‘I hope your grandfather is feeling better by now,’ she said in a low tone under the buzz of general conversation in the room.

‘His breathing’s better than it was,’ he answered as the assembly began to settle down. ‘His GP prescribed antibiotics, which helped a bit, but my grandfather’s heart has been failing for some time now, I’m afraid. He’ll never be the man he once was.’

Her mouth flattened. ‘I’m sorry to hear it.’ She was even more sorry that his grandson couldn’t be trusted to take proper care of him. He couldn’t possibly be a medical doctor, could he? Where was his sense of responsibility and commitment?

‘So, let’s get on with the business at hand, shall we?’ Mr Jeffries began, calling the meeting to attention. ‘The main proposition before us is that we work towards centralising key services at the Royal Forest Hospital. This is part of a rational planning process that we hope will improve the way we serve the region and I’m looking to all of you to help find the best way we can devise our strategy.’

There was a rumble of comment from around the table as people sought to add their views.

‘Our most valuable resource is manpower,’ one man said, after some general discussion. ‘We should see to it that we have the best, most skilled specialists gathered together at the Royal Forest site. That’s where the cutting-edge equipment is based—high-performance scanners, new operating suites, and an up-to-the-minute range of telecommunication devices. Specialists can even offer advice over video links without having to travel from one base to another.’

‘That won’t be a whole lot of use if the departments in outlying hospitals have been closed down, will it?’ Louise murmured. She could feel herself getting prickly already.

‘We’re not talking about taking away necessary resources,’ the man answered. ‘We’re just redistributing them in order to provide a better service.’

Her mouth twisted. ‘You mean you’re tidying up as part of a cost-cutting exercise.’

Beside her, James Ashleigh stirred. ‘Not at all,’ he intervened. ‘It’s more a question of making the best of what we have. Now that we have to comply with directives about junior doctors’ working hours, it’s becoming even more difficult to maintain full coverage of departments. It makes sense to concentrate them in one centre of excellence.’

Louise gave him a narrow-eyed stare. ‘I would have thought the community deserved excellence from all quarters.’ Warming to her theme, she added, ‘And what will happen to patients who come from outlying regions and don’t have a chance to make it to this magnificent centre you’re proposing? It’s a well-known fact, backed up by research, that people with serious breathing difficulties are less likely to survive a journey to hospital if it’s more than six and a half miles away. It’s quite likely that patients will die if this plan goes ahead.’

James frowned. ‘Do you think you might be in danger of overlooking the part our ambulance personnel have to play in all this? After all, every day they make life-saving interventions while they transport sick people to hospital.’

‘Some do, I’ll grant you,’ she answered in a clipped tone. ‘But what happens if you’re unfortunate enough to be transported by a technician who isn’t allowed to carry out invasive clinical procedures or administer the necessary drugs? There’s a high percentage of ambulance personnel who aren’t trained to the same extent as paramedics.’

‘That’s an issue that’s being addressed.’ His tone softened as though he would appease her in some way. ‘You have to take on board the fact that advances in technology are being made all the time, and we need to centralise resources in order to keep pace with what’s happening.’

Sparks flared in her green eyes. ‘Are you suggesting that I’m out of touch? I can assure you, Dr Ashleigh, that I work with state-of-the-art equipment every day. I suppose you think the community would be better served if it were to be reallocated, in its entirety, to the Royal Forest Hospital along with my patients?’

He made a negligent movement of his hands. ‘I didn’t say that. I wouldn’t like you to feel that this is in any way personal, Dr Bridgford. I’m merely pointing out that we all have to accept that things can’t always stay the same, no matter how much we might want them to.’

Louise drew breath, ready to come back at him, but Mr Jeffries cleared his throat and stalled her.

‘Of course your opinions will be taken into account, Louise. This is merely a preliminary meeting to discuss the various alternatives. We all know how concerned you are about the effect these changes might have on your department. That’s why we need to be particularly careful in how we decide on what options are to be presented to the committee.’

Louise subsided, but inside anger was simmering. She might have known that James Ashleigh would be in favour of destroying what she had built up over these last few years. What did he know about the way she worked? Her patients meant everything to her. They were a huge part of her life, almost like family to her, and she protected the paediatric A&E unit she had shaped as if it sheltered her own little brood. He was all theory and management-speak.

The meeting progressed, and she contented herself with directing a frosty glare in James Ashleigh’s direction. He might think that this wasn’t personal but, when all was said and done, it wasn’t his carefully nurtured project that was being demolished, was it? After that, she made a concentrated effort to push him out of her mind altogether.

Her good intentions only lasted up until they adjourned for a coffee break in an adjoining room. She would have liked to distance herself from him, but he thwarted her by coming to stand next to her in the queue by the coffee machine and engaging her in conversation.

‘Can I get you something to eat along with your coffee?’ he volunteered. ‘I seem to be a little closer to the refreshments than you are. I can offer you biscuits, or there are even sandwiches and pasties, if you’d prefer.’

She shook her head. ‘Coffee will be just fine for me, thank you.’

‘Do you take it black, or with cream and sugar?’

‘Cream and sugar, please.’ She accepted the cup he offered her and moved away from the side of the room, looking around for a table where she could sit and mull over what had been said at the meeting. The consensus of opinion among the region’s chiefs was still that the paediatric A&E could be wound down, and the objections of the various doctors present had been nudged to one side.

‘Do you mind if I join you?’

She looked up to see that James Ashleigh’s hand was resting lightly on the chair next to hers. She inclined her head. ‘Feel free.’

He sat down, stretching out his long legs underneath the table. The movement was distracting, to say the least. She would have preferred to ignore the fact that he was close by, but he was altogether too masculine a figure and her intentions were doomed from the outset. Her heart began to thump in a chaotic rhythm and her mouth went dry. He was long and lean and totally disturbing to her peace of mind.

As before, at the park, he was dressed in an immaculate, beautifully tailored dark suit, with a crisp mid-blue shirt that looked as though it had come fresh from an exclusive store. His tie was perfectly coordinated, subtle and carefully knotted, as though he was a man who paid a great deal of attention to detail.

She made an attempt to recover herself. ‘Has your grandfather been ill for a long time?’ she asked.

He nodded. ‘Unfortunately, yes. His consultant is doing what he can to ease things for him, by giving him tablets to regulate the heart rhythm, and diuretics to ease his lungs. The trouble is, my grandfather finds it hard to accept his limitations. I dare say that’s why he went walkabout last week.’

A small line indented her brow. ‘I don’t quite follow. He said that you left him to go and make your phone calls. I was under the impression that you didn’t go back for him.’

James’s mouth made a wry shape. ‘I wondered if that was the notion you were left with. No wonder you were a little distant with me.’ He stirred his coffee, the action concise and methodical. ‘The fact is, I was on call that day, and my Senior House Officer phoned for advice. I stepped outside for a few moments to deal with the situation but, when I returned, my grandfather had disappeared. He does that sometimes. I think he gets a kind of wanderlust and forgets that he isn’t able to do what he used to.’

For a moment she was taken aback by this new piece of information, and she wondered distractedly whether she ought perhaps to reassess her opinion of him. He had everything going for him, after all—charisma in bucket-loads and a charm that could melt stone. Maybe she could allow herself to relax a little and get to know him better.

But then she recalled the way he had talked the committee around to his way of thinking just a few minutes earlier and she hardened her heart all over again. Perhaps he had been called away unexpectedly that day but, as a doctor, he should have paid more attention to his grandfather’s needs.

‘Perhaps you should take him out and about more often. That way he won’t feel as though he’s housebound and become desperate to escape. I rather had the impression that he feels he’s missing out on life sometimes, but I suppose, if you’ve been away, you won’t have realised that.’

She took a sip of her coffee, watching him over the rim of her cup.

He gave her a faint smile. ‘I can see that I’m not going to redeem myself in your eyes, whatever I say. I suppose it doesn’t help much that we’re at opposite sides of the fence when it comes to this business of the hospital.’

‘There is that,’ she agreed. She frowned, putting down her cup. ‘From what you said, I gather that you work here, at the hospital, but you do tend to come across more as management than as someone from the medical staff.’

She had noticed that people tended to listen carefully to what he had to say. They treated him with respect, as though he was someone in authority, someone who had the power to make sweeping changes.

She studied him thoughtfully for a moment or two. ‘I’ve been here at the hospital for a number of years,’ she added. ‘Even so, I don’t recall seeing your name on the list of physicians working at the hospital, but perhaps that’s because you’ve been away.’

He nodded. ‘I’ve been studying different management systems in Europe for the last year. Before that, I was one of the executives at the Royal Forest Hospital. Still am, for that matter, but I tend to divide my time between there and here. I still do hands-on medicine, but to a much lesser degree. I found that I could make more of a difference by being part of the management system.’

Surely he was very young to have reached the pinnacle of his career so soon? She sent him a sceptical look. ‘You opted out,’ she said.

His mouth twisted. ‘I don’t see it that way.’

She might have answered him, but her bleeper went off just then and she excused herself to make a call from her mobile phone. ‘Hello, Jenny,’ she said. ‘Do you have some news for me?’

‘I do. Millie’s results are back from radiology, and the report says that there is a diaphragmatic hernia which has allowed part of the child’s intestine to push through to the chest cavity.’

‘Oh, dear. No wonder the poor child is suffering. She’ll have to go for surgery to have that put right. Put out a call for Mr Simons, will you, and see if he can add her to this afternoon’s theatre list. I’ll come back right away. I’d better explain things to the mother. In the meantime, we need to make sure Millie’s fit to be operated on.’

‘I’ll do that. Thanks, Louise.’

She cut the call and looked around, to see that James was still there across the table from her. He finished off his coffee and said quietly, ‘Problems?’

‘A toddler who needs urgent surgery,’ she told him. ‘I’ll have to go back down to paediatric A&E to make sure that everything’s in order.’

‘You won’t be coming back to the meeting?’

‘I doubt it,’ she said, slanting him a direct glance. ‘Some of us have to deal with the sufferings of patients up-front. Fortunately for them, there are still doctors who care enough for their well-being to keep on with the hands-on side of medicine. We leave it to others to move us about like chess pieces on a board.’

She didn’t stay to witness his reaction to that, but she could feel his gaze boring into her spine as she walked away from him.

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