Read the book: «The Doctor's Surprise Bride»

CHAPTER ONE

‘ARE you OK?’ Dr Jack Dancer, Medical Director—in fact, only doctor at Bellbrook Hospital—tilted his head. He tried to bring together this city woman’s list of qualifications and experience—then reconcile it with her youth and the tiny package she came in. Actually, Eliza May looked like a garden fairy with attitude. Her shoulders were tense, her head tilted and she glowered fiercely at him through slitted eyes.

This woman looked ten years too young to qualify for half of her résumé and, with Mary going, the hospital needed every skill this city woman was supposed to have.

He’d thought his cousin’s agency recommendation extraordinarily glowing and he wondered what fanciful planet his cousin had been on when she’d recommended this woman.

‘I’m fine.’ Her voice was not loud but contained an element of self-confidence that made him look at her again. She straightened and the movement added a desperately needed few centimetres to her height. Now he could see her eyes.

Jack felt a ripple shimmer down his back and his breath stuck somewhere behind suddenly sensitive ribs.

Good grief. Her eyes were amazing—vibrant green, alluring eyes that dared him to step out of line and taste the consequences. Even the jagged gold circles around her pupils seemed to glow and shimmer and draw him in. He couldn’t look away.

Jack forced his diaphragm back into action, and dragged his gaze lower to accelerate past memorable lips and a determined little chin, but knew he was in trouble when he skimmed too low and had to bounce his attention out of her tightly restrained cleavage. What on earth had got into him?

‘Lead on, Dr Dancer.’ Now she was decisive and he felt the earth shift again under his feet. No fluttery fairy here. He quietened his reservations—and his libido. Energy vibrated and the new Eliza May held such promise for Bellbrook Hospital that he would never risk jeopardising her suitability with unwanted attention.

Perish the thought.

Whatever shock wave had belted him was past now and he wouldn’t think like that again.

Realistically they had no one else, and apparently she was multi-skilled and dynamic, though a bit of a chameleon. Still, they all required diversity when Bellbrook bestowed some of those moments of unusual interest and everything went haywire.

He had a full waiting room in his surgery at the side of the hospital and his sister-in-law, Mary, had been due to start maternity leave a month ago. His cousin had said Eliza was reliable.

‘Right, then.’ He didn’t look at her again. ‘As soon as we find our matron, she’ll show you around. I won’t see you until later when I do my evening round at the hospital.’

‘Good,’ Eliza said quietly, but with emphasis, and Jack blinked. Did she mean good she didn’t have to see him till later, or good that the departing matron would show her around?

Strangely, both explanations piqued him and he glanced down at her as they made their way to the front of the hospital. This new matron came up to his shoulder yet her smaller legs didn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up with him.

Her hair shone with red glints as they passed under a light and her fringe swung across her face as she turned her head to look up at him. She floated beside him on invisible wings and matched his speed.

‘Where’s the fire?’ She lifted one finely arched brow as she dared him, and he couldn’t help smiling at her.

‘Touché,’ he said and slowed. ‘I forgot your legs were smaller than mine.’

‘Thought you might have,’ was all she said, and he realised she jangled his nerves and wasn’t overawed by him at all. Well, that was good. Wasn’t it?

Jack was pleased to see Mary up ahead.

Matron Mary McGuiness was round-faced and round-bodied, though, of course, most of her abdomen belonged to the baby inside her. Mary was the hospital. The staff, and Jack, had a problem imagining anyone else in her position. He hoped Eliza May could do half as good a job in the time she was here.

After the introductions Jack was eager to get away. Most of his eagerness had to do with his waiting patients and a backlog of paperwork, but a percentage had to do with a sudden need to ring his cousin and find out a few more facts about Bellbrook’s new Acting Matron. Something about Eliza bothered him.

In fact, several things about her bothered him in a way he hadn’t been bothered for years.

He turned to Mary. ‘I’ll leave Eliza with you, but after showing her around I want you signed off, and with your feet up. Doctor’s orders, Mary!’ He nodded at Eliza. ‘Good luck. You can phone my office if you’re worried about anything.’

Eliza smiled blandly. Not if she could help it, Eliza promised herself grimly. Thank goodness he was going. Dr Jack Dancer had everything she wanted to keep away from in a man, let alone one she’d have to totally rely on.

Eliza regretted another bad decision. She may as well rip the heart out of her chest and tear it in two. All he needed was some psychological disaster that kept him from forming a relationship and he’d be irresistible to her twisted mind. After eight weeks with her he’d be ready to marry—someone else.

She watched Dr Jack Dancer stride away and Eliza dispassionately imagined she could hear the creak of the fabric stretching across the strong muscles of his long legs and taut backside. Then there were his shoulders.

The man’s physical presence was too much. Any woman cradled in Jack Dancer’s arms wouldn’t be afraid of falling—until he dropped her.

‘This will be your office.’ Obviously Mary McGuiness hadn’t been sidetracked by Jack’s physique and Eliza knew she was immune. Unobtrusively Eliza dug her nails into her palms to remind herself.

‘Do I need an office?’ Back on track, Eliza couldn’t help returning the other woman’s friendly smile because there was something about Mary that warmed the cold parts in Eliza left by too many people over the years. Mary would never let anybody down.

Mary nodded sagely. ‘Rosters, hunting up staff if someone is off sick, stock ordering, company reps, interviews with the local newspaper. Heaven forbid—disaster control.’

‘Good grief.’ Eliza laughed and then stopped, surprised at herself. She hadn’t laughed freely for a while. There was such a different feel to this little hospital, a warmth and genuineness that probably radiated from the woman in front of her.

‘I’m sure most of those occasions will wait for your return but I can see the need for a private space.’ Eliza looked out the door and into the corridor with the clinical areas. ‘You say most of my work is hands on?’

‘I think you’re pleased about that.’ Mary smiled again and drew Eliza out of the office. She pointed at doorways as they walked the length of the small building.

‘On the semi-acute side, we have two two-bed wards and four single rooms, each with their own bathroom. We were fortunate to build this wing with a bequest from a grateful former client.’

The rooms were light and airy and all the fittings sparkled with good care. Only two of the rooms held patients.

The first room held two men. ‘Meet the new matron, gentlemen. This is Eliza May.’

In the bed beside the door, a man in his early thirties had both arms bandaged to the shoulder with just the tips of his fingers poking out the ends.

Mary stopped beside his bed. ‘Joe came off worse when he lit a bonfire with too much petrol.’ Mary shook her head at his folly.

‘Because Joe’s hands and arms are involved he needs help to care for himself. He should be in Armidale Hospital but Dr Dancer has a lot of experience with burns and they let Joe come home if he stays here for another few days.’

‘Hi, Joe.’ Eliza smiled. ‘When I was six I fell off my horse and broke both my arms. For six weeks it was hell with no hands. I have a lot of sympathy.’

Joe sighed with relief. ‘Reckon you understand, then.’

‘Next to Joe is Keith.’ Mary smiled at a seventy-ish-looking man with leathery skin and crinkled stockman eyes. ‘Keith’s supposed to be going home tomorrow. He ruptured his appendix without telling anyone. He wouldn’t come in to see the doctor and nearly paid the ultimate price. We’ve kept him a few extra days to make sure he doesn’t work too hard.’ Mary narrowed her eyes at the old gentleman. ‘I’m not sure he’s right yet.’

‘Now, Matron.’ Keith had a slow drawl and his lilting voice brought back memories to Eliza’s mind of her father, as did the seriousness of the old man’s expression.

He held out his hand to Eliza. ‘Good to meet you, new Matron. I’ll shake for Joe and me.’

His work-roughened hand felt cool and welcoming in Eliza’s and she began to recall the sweeter side of country towns. These were the facets to country life that the city missed—that she missed—and she had never realised the fact before. Of course she’d never miss anything enough to move from the city permanently and there were aspects of country life that terrified her.

Small towns, gossip, everyone related to everyone else. Eliza had grown up in such a place and shuddered at the memory of when her mother had left them. Her father had closed his door on the wagging tongues, and incidentally Eliza’s friends, and she’d never been so lonely. But she didn’t want to think about that.

And she didn’t want to be drawn into some tiny niche of a town where they would all know her business and invade her personal life.

She’d even told her friend, Julie, at the agency that. ‘Bellbrook might be a little too warm and fuzzy for me, the way I’m feeling at the moment,’ she’d said, but Julie had seen a benefit that had escaped Eliza.

‘There’s only one doctor you have to work with.’ Julie had avoided Eliza’s eyes when she’d said that, now that Eliza came to think of it.

‘Hope you enjoy your stay, Matron.’ The old man’s kind words penetrated Eliza’s reflections and she thanked him and moved on with Mary.

They moved on to the next room and Mary spoke to their only maternity patient. ‘This is Janice, and her son Newman.’ The baby squawked as if he’d recognised his name and the three women smiled.

‘Newman was born two days ago in Armidale by Caesarean, and Janice arrived this morning to convalesce here for the next few days. Meet our new matron, Janice. Eliza May.’

‘Congratulations, Janice. He’s gorgeous.’ Eliza stroked Newman’s tiny wrist. She’d read the patient notes later and find out the rest because there’d be a Caesarean story there. She’d always enjoyed her stints in Maternity.

Eliza’s not-so-great ex-fiancé, Alex, had been reluctant to even speak of babies and months ago Eliza had decided she’d be better sidetracked by more illness-orientated nursing until her fiancé was ready to discuss children. But she’d missed working in Maternity.

Midwifery was such a fascinating area of nursing. If she wasn’t going to get married, maybe she could just enjoy other people’s babies.

‘He’s such a good boy.’ Janice’s delight in her new son touched Eliza and she saw Mary rest her hand over her stomach. Of course Mary would be anxious for the birth of her own child. Eliza narrowed her eyes as she tried to estimate when Mary’s baby was due. Here was an obstetric case right beside her that she needed to keep an eye on.

To Eliza, Mary looked ready to go into labour today!

Maybe that was why Julie had been so keen for Eliza to come here?

They moved on and Eliza glanced in the doors of two empty rooms. ‘So do you have many maternity patients?’

Mary nodded. ‘We normally have three or four post-delivery patients a month. Each stays for a day or two, sometimes longer.’

‘Do you ever have emergency deliveries?’

Mary smiled as if at an amusing memory. ‘We can manage if we have to but Jack is so busy with everything else he doesn’t feel he can give the care needed and refers any obstetric case on.’

The two women set off again and turned a corner to enter a large dining area with rooms off the other wing. ‘Our older residents are on this side of the building and enjoy their meals in the communal dining room when they’re well enough.’

They paused at the nurses’ station where two identical-looking dark-haired women stood in civilian clothes, waiting to be introduced to Eliza. Another younger woman came up to the desk as introductions were started. They all shook hands and smiled but Eliza had the feeling they were measuring her against Mary. Height wasn’t the only thing they were measuring.

Mary continued as her comforting self. ‘We have four wonderful enrolled nurses who rotate as the second person on for each shift.’ She gestured to a dark-haired young woman. ‘This is Vivian, who will be on with you for the rest of the day.’

Eliza smiled at Vivian. A patient call bell rang and Vivian said, ‘Nice to meet you.’ Then scooted away to answer the summons.

‘Rhonda and Donna are our dynamic duo. One of them is your night sister while the other is on days off. They also do the two days on call to cover when you’re off. The rest of the week you’re the third pair of hands if needed at night.’

Both women nodded and smiled so Eliza gathered she’d passed muster, at least today. ‘I’m going home to bed,’ Donna said. ‘Nice meeting you.’

‘I’m off, too. Ditto.’ added Rhonda, and they hugged Mary and left.

Mary watched them go and she smiled. ‘I’m going to miss this place.’ She sighed and then blinked mistily at Eliza and moved on.

Mary cleared her throat. ‘Across the hall we have our admissions office and medical records, and in here we have our small emergency room.’

Mary entered the neat mini-theatre and treatment room. ‘Of course, very occasionally we have larger emergencies and sometimes use the wards if we need more space.’ She gestured to the labelled shelves. ‘I’m a big believer in labelling so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding things.’

‘This is going to be great.’ Eliza leant across and rested her arm briefly around Mary’s shoulder in a spontaneous gesture of comfort. ‘I know I’ll love it here, Mary, and you’re not to worry. I’ll take good care of your hospital until you come back.’

A bell rang overhead and they both glanced up.

‘What’s the bell for?’ Eliza asked, and then frowned as Mary stopped and rested one hand low on her stomach.

‘That’s the casualty bell. At least I’ll get to run you through an outpatient card.’

Eliza inclined her head towards Mary’s stomach. ‘I’ll do this. If you’re going into labour I’ll write a card for you, too.’

‘The tightness will go.’ Mary smiled ruefully but didn’t deny she had some discomfort as she gingerly led the way round the corner towards the main admissions desk, where a young mother leant on the desk with her frightened daughter by her side.

‘Asthma,’ the clerk said. ‘I’ll do the admission without her.’ She gladly handed over her charges, along with a dog-eared card.

Eliza glanced at the name. Mia Summers. A good choice by the admissions clerk, Eliza thought as she helped the woman up the hallway until she met Mary with the wheelchair. They wheeled Mia into the assessment room where Eliza sat her on the edge of the bed. Mary hovered at the door, ready to help if Eliza needed her.

At least the woman had been able to stand and hadn’t fallen unconscious in the car. It hadn’t been that long since Eliza had been present at a young man’s tragic death from asthma, and that had been in a big city emergency department with more doctors than they’d needed, but it hadn’t been enough. Asthma was a killer if people didn’t take the early warning signs seriously enough, and Eliza was on a crusade for education of patients at the moment because of that.

‘Hello, Mia. I’m Eliza. Have you got your Ventolin on you?’

Mia opened her mouth to answer but was far too breathless to talk.

‘Mummy’s puffer is here but she can’t seem to breathe it.’ The little girl prised the small cylinder from her mother’s clenched fist.

Eliza glanced at the label of the puffer and nodded as she slipped the pulse oximeter on the woman’s finger and noted the low oxygen saturation of the woman’s blood. She suspected Mia wasn’t far from unconsciousness.

‘What’s your name?’ Eliza asked the little girl as she reached up into the cupboard to pull down a Ventolin mask.

‘Kristy. I’m eight.’

‘I’m Eliza. I think you’ll make a great doctor or nurse one day, Kristy, the way you’ve looked after Mummy. Where’s Daddy?’

‘Daddy’s in the far paddock and Mummy said we had to go now. I left a note.’

‘That was clever and Mummy was right.’

While she was talking, Eliza’s hands were busy. ‘This mask gives Mummy oxygen and makes the stronger asthma drug into a fine mist and that helps Mummy to breathe.’

Eliza broke open the plastic ampoule, squirted the pre-mixed drug into the chamber of the nebulising mask and fitted the now misting mask over Mia’s face.

She continued talking to the little girl but really she was talking to the frightened young woman beside her. ‘Inside Mummy’s lungs, all her little breathing tubes are blocking up with thick slime. This medicine helps the slime get thinner so Mummy can cough it out of the way and breathe better again, and the oxygen makes mummy feel better.’

The little girl nodded and Eliza rested her hand on the woman’s shoulder. ‘Just close your eyes, Mia, and let the medication do the job.’ Eliza fitted the blood-pressure cuff around the woman’s arm and began to pump it up. ‘Do you have an asthma plan sheet and a spacer?’

Mia shook her head tiredly and Eliza nodded. ‘We’ll talk about it later because I think it would help a lot in your case.’

Eliza glanced at Mary. ‘She needs IV access, cortisone and probably IV salbutamol. Would you like to ring Dr Dancer to come around? I’ll pop a cannula in to save time.’

Mary nodded and reached for the phone on the wall while Eliza swiftly prepared her equipment. ‘I’m going to put a little needle in Mummy’s arm. It looks like it would hurt but it’s really not much more than a mosquito bite. Mummy needs some other medicine that works really quickly if we put it in through the needle. Do you want to look away when I do it?’

Kristy shook her head. ‘I’ll hold Mummy’s other hand.’

‘You have a wonderful daughter, Mia.’

Mia nodded as she started to cough. Already her oxygen saturation had improved. Eliza glanced at Kristy to see if she was upset by her mother coughing.

‘So the slime in Mummy’s lungs is getting thinner, isn’t it Eliza?’

‘Yep.’ Eliza slid the cannula into Mia’s arm and taped it securely. Then she began to assemble the flask and line and draw up the drugs in preparation. ‘Next time Mummy’s fingers go this blue or she can’t talk, she’d better come in the ambulance because they can give her this medicine in the mask and put the needle in on the way to the doctor. Do you know how to ring an ambulance, Kristy?’

Kristy nodded. ‘I ring 000, or 911 in America or 999 in England.’

‘Wow. Even I didn’t know that.’ Eliza felt like hugging the little girl. ‘Tell them Mummy can’t breathe and then answer all the questions.’

When Jack arrived he could see that Eliza had everything under control. Mia could manage a few words, and after he approved the intravenous drugs Eliza had ready, Mia was stable enough to go by ambulance to Armidale, where she’d have to stay overnight, at the very least, for intensive observation.

‘Rhonda’s coming in as escort in the ambulance with you, Mia.’ Jack squeezed the young woman’s shoulder. ‘If all goes well, I’ll see if they’ll transfer you back to us here at Bellbrook tomorrow or the day after.’

Mia’s husband arrived. Jack reaffirmed Mia would be better in Armidale, at least overnight, and after goodbyes Mr Summers took their daughter home.

Jack watched Eliza clear the benches and restock the room in record time. He shook his head. Good was an understatement. He wasn’t sure he was used to someone telling him what he needed to give a patient, but he’d have to get over it. Eliza had certainly been instrumental in saving Mia’s condition from becoming perilous, and that was the important thing.

He cleared his throat and wondered why the words stuck a little. ‘You did well, Eliza. Mia hasn’t had an attack that severe before.’

Eliza stopped what she was doing and met his eyes. He watched her smile spread to her eyes at his compliment and he could feel himself responding. She was like a sunrise. Boom—explosion of light as she smiled. She blew him away again just like she had when he’d first met her.

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly. ‘So this is what a sleepy country town is like.’

The moment extended and his smile broadened. She was gorgeous in an understated way and his diaphragm imploded again. Unconsciously he took a step forward towards her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to want to be closer to her.

Then she changed and the corners of her mouth drooped. The expression in her beautiful eyes grew distant and she broke eye contact as she looked away. The angry fairy wasn’t quite back but there were glimpses.

Eliza spoke to the package she lifted into the cupboard. ‘Mia said she doesn’t have an asthma plan or a spacer. Are the plans not something you do here?’

‘Not really.’ Jack didn’t concentrate too much on what she was saying because he was wondering why she’d created such reserve and backed away from being friendly. He re-focussed on her question. ‘If someone becomes a moderate asthmatic, I usually send them to a specialist in Armidale or even the respiratory clinic in Newcastle, and the specialists do all that.’

She twisted her neck and looked at him from under her brows. ‘I’ll have some forms sent from the Asthma Foundation. They’ll send us an info pack and a pad of plans that you could look at. I’ve helped generate plans before and believe they give the patient back control of their asthma. Spacers make it easier for the patient to take their Ventolin, especially during an attack.’

Her tone was icy and he couldn’t help the drop in warmth in his own voice. It was almost as if she’d engineered the whole estrangement of their brief rapport. Something else was going on here, something ill-defined, and he didn’t like it, but he had to get back to his surgery. If she didn’t want him here, he could take a hint!

‘Thank you, Matron May. I’ve actually seen such plans and I know what a spacer is,’ Jack said dryly. ‘I’ll certainly consider your suggestion.’ He glanced at the door where Mary was an interested bystander. ‘I thought you were going home, Mary?’

Mary raised placatory hands and bit back a smile. ‘I just need to finish the round I’ve started with Eliza. I’ll be gone soon.’

‘Well, I am gone,’ Jack muttered. ‘Matrons,’ he said mockingly, and inclined his head at Eliza. Then he took himself back to his surgery.

Eliza watched him go. What on earth had got into her? Lecturing Jack! It wasn’t part of her job and she didn’t need to alienate her boss for the next eight weeks.

And why was she thinking of him as Jack and not Dr Dancer?

The problem was, the guy was too tall, too handsome and too sure of himself, and he made her feel all weak and feminine and things she’d promised she wasn’t going to feel again. What really worried her was whether coming here had been another bad decision. She’d made a few of those in her life.

‘I’m afraid I’ve put his back up,’ Eliza said.

‘You don’t look too upset about it. It won’t kill him to have someone not in awe of him.’ Mary changed the subject. ‘You seemed to find everything you needed for Mia easily.’

Eliza glanced around at the now tidy room. Back to reality and escape from the distraction of Dr Jack Dancer. ‘You’ve stored everything in the most obvious place, Mary, and the labelling is fantastic. This is such a bonus. As an agency nurse, finding the equipment is the hardest part.’

‘I’ll bet.’ Mary tilted her head. ‘So how did you get into agency work? I bet a few hospitals would love to hire you full-time with your qualifications.’

Eliza met Mary’s eyes. ‘It’s a new direction for me. I like being unattached. It gives me the choice to move when I want to.’

‘Fair enough,’ Mary said. ‘We’ll move on ourselves before Jack discovers me here on his next round.’ She smiled and swayed out of the room to waddle further down the hallway.

‘Where was I? Basically, you do five days a week, eight hours normal and four hours overtime, then you’re on call at night except for weekends. Think you can handle that?’

‘Fine by me.’ Eliza shook her head at Mary. ‘How on earth did you have time to fall pregnant?’

Mary twinkled back. ‘My husband is the local fire captain, amongst other things, so we know there’s twenty-four hours in a day. We both enjoy being busy. He’s away at a conference at the moment.’

Mary shrugged. ‘When Mick’s home he’s home and when he’s not I spend a lot of time here. We both like it that way. He used to be in the navy.’ She answered the question Eliza didn’t ask. ‘Mick will be home in a few days and stick around more when my baby is due.’

‘And if baby comes early?’ They both glanced down at Mary’s stomach.

‘He’ll have to fly home quick smart!’

Eliza shook her head at Mary’s calmness. ‘Mary, I think you’re Wonder Woman.’

Mary shrugged. ‘I’ll be Bored Woman for the next few weeks. I wondered if you’d like to drop around in a day or so. I’m sure you’ll have questions and I’ll be dying to know how you settle in.’

And that’s how country towns worked. Eliza knew that from past experience. It wasn’t what she’d planned when she’d hoped to keep a city-dweller’s distance from the townsfolk. She’d seen the effect of gossip and everyone knowing her business, but she couldn’t offend Mary. Bellbrook’s matron was too genuine.

Trouble was the next thing would be an in-depth conversation with the publican’s wife when she went back to the hotel tonight. Then there’d be the corner shop purchases tomorrow and the visit to the post office, by which time everyone in the valley would be aware of her arrival, the car she drove and enough physical features to be picked out at a hundred paces.

She’d better not do anything noteworthy or Jack Dancer, who seemed to be related to everyone, would be the first to hear about it.