IT WOULDN’T go away.
That flash of warmth in Luke’s gaze had been contagious, and Beth could still feel it, hours later, when she was finally able to follow Chelsea to the staffroom where Maureen was making a pot of tea.
She could still abandon her new job and leave Hereford, she reminded herself as she sank gratefully onto a chair. Her head was telling her that in no uncertain terms again and again. Her heart, on the other hand, was insufferably smug in the knowledge of how difficult it would be her to talk herself into walking away. From this place. From the new job.
From Luke Savage.
And all it had taken had been that one little spark from the warmth in those grey eyes and the tone of his voice when he’d said she’d been brilliant.
Brilliant!
Beth’s toes actually curled inside her shoes as a new wash of the glow spread through her.
‘You’re looking happy.’ Maureen placed a steaming mug on the table in front of Beth. ‘Sugar?’
‘No, thanks.’
‘I reckon she’s just relieved it’s all over.’ Chelsea reached for the sugar bowl. ‘What a night!’
Beth smiled wryly. ‘It’ll certainly go down in history as the most memorable first shift I’ve ever had at work, that’s for sure.’
And the major incident with the gang members had only been the half of it.
‘You did an amazing job out there.’ Maureen pushed a plate of chocolate biscuits closer to Beth. ‘Well done.’
‘Yeah…’ Chelsea was eyeing Beth curiously. ‘You were brilliant.’
Beth hadn’t blushed like that since she’d been a teenager. She reached for a biscuit to cover an embarrassment that had little to do with any modesty concerning her professional skills.
It hadn’t been the first time she had been a key player in a dramatic life-and-death scenario in an emergency department. Not that she’d assisted with a thoracotomy, of course—in a big department there was always a queue of more senior staff eager to participate in something that big, but there had been that emergency Caesarean that time. And the puncture wound in a carotid artery and…
And none of that history mattered a damn because any praise that had come her way had been strictly professional.
As the comment that Chelsea appeared to have overheard from Luke had been, she reminded herself firmly.
But it hadn’t felt like that, had it? The approbation from Luke had touched a place that hadn’t been touched since…since…
Since she had been Luke’s lover.
Beth crushed the thought relentlessly because Chelsea was still giving her an odd look. As though she was determined to read her mind.
So was Maureen, come to that. Beth’s eyebrows rose sharply.
‘What?’ she asked. ‘Have I got chocolate all over my nose or something?’
‘We’re just curious,’ Maureen explained.
‘About the thoracotomy?’
Chelsea laughed. ‘No. About whether you’re going to ask or not.’
Beth was mystified. ‘Ask what?’
‘What every new female staff member always asks.’
So the interest had to concern a male staff member, and Beth suddenly knew exactly whom Chelsea had in mind. She could stop this conversation right now. Change the subject. Pretend that an urgent trip to the bathroom was called for. But her mouth had other ideas. It smiled.
‘Which is?’
Chelsea exchanged another significant glance with Maureen. ‘Whether Luke Savage is married or not, of course.’
The fact that the answer was expected did not stop Beth’s heart stumbling over the next beat or two, but she actually laughed and shook her head in a valiant attempt to feign indifference. She picked up her mug of tea with a remarkably steady hand and took a sip.
Her lack of any verbal response did not faze Chelsea but she did seem puzzled.
‘Well, that’s a first, then.’
‘What? A woman not throwing herself at Luke Savage?’
‘Yep.’
Beth couldn’t pretend to be all that surprised. She’d had a vivid reminder tonight of what it had been like the first time she had clapped eyes on Luke. There must be countless women out there who would feel that same level of attraction. What was surprising was the distinct impression she was getting that Luke was, in fact, still single.
‘Not that any of them succeed,’ Chelsea added wistfully enough for Beth to wonder if she had been one of those women herself. ‘Maureen and I have a kind of running bet to guess how long it will take for them to realise he’s not interested.’
That explained the significant glances but it left rather a lot still not explained.
Like why was Luke not interested in the women who clearly made themselves easily available?
Why was he here? In a medical backwater that lacked so much of the resources a larger hospital would have in the way of specialty expertise and facilities?
And why was she experiencing such an overwhelming level of curiosity?
The need to escape took on greater urgency and Beth glanced up at the wall clock.
‘Nearly time to go home,’ she said in relief. ‘Is there anything I should be doing before the day shift arrives?’
‘No.’ Maureen smiled at Beth. ‘You go and get some sleep. You’ve done more than enough on your first shift. We’ll take care of the paperwork and handover.’ She waved aside the protest Beth was clearly about to make. ‘Go on,’ she ordered. ‘And if you see Mike out there, tell him his cup of tea’s getting cold. I don’t know why he hasn’t come in yet.’
Beth soon found out. Mike was leaning against the central desk, in a now deserted department, talking to Luke. Both men looked exhausted but Beth could sense their satisfaction.
‘How’s Stella?’ she queried.
‘Stable,’ Luke answered. ‘We’ll be transferring her to Wellington pretty soon.’
‘Thanks to you two,’ Mike added. ‘You’re a pretty good team, aren’t you?’
Beth gritted her teeth. The old wound must have opened more than she had realised for Mike’s words to have the effect of rubbing salt into it. This wasn’t good.
‘Runs in the blood for Beth, mind you,’ Luke told Mike lightly. ‘Did you know that her father is Nigel Dawson?’
Beth could barely suppress her groan. Of course Mike didn’t know. It was the last thing she’d be pointing out to any new colleagues.
‘Not the Nigel Dawson of heart-transplant fame?’
‘That’s the one.’
Mike’s glance towards Beth was openly interested but it was Luke he directed his comment to. ‘How on earth did you know that?’
‘Beth and I worked together for a while, years ago.’ Luke made it sound completely impersonal. ‘She did a stint as a theatre nurse.’
‘Lucky for Stella that you did.’ Mike was smiling warmly at Beth but it was almost impossible to return the gesture.
Not only had Luke dismissed their past relationship as not rating a mention, he had revealed a large chunk of Beth’s personal history that had been the other major part of her past she had been hoping to leave behind in coming to Hereford. It was the last straw and the balance finally tipped. No. Thanks to Luke, there was no way she could envisage the future she’d hoped to find here.
‘I’d better go,’ she said aloud.
Of course, her new colleagues couldn’t detect any undertones to her statement. They both smiled understandingly.
‘I’ll walk you out to your car,’ Luke offered.
‘No need, thanks. I’m walking.’
‘I’ll come anyway,’ Luke said infuriatingly. ‘I need to grab my shaving gear from my car. Besides, we haven’t even said hello properly, Beth.’
Beth ignored the quirk of Mike’s eyebrow but she could feel her shoulders slump as she turned away. On top of discussing her famous father, she could just imagine how interested Chelsea and Maureen would be to hear that Luke was insisting on escorting her out of the building.
Her first shift at Ocean View hospital was ending with just as much of a disaster as it had begun with. Beth was in no mood to give a polite response to Luke’s query about how she was.
‘I would have been a lot better if you hadn’t told Mike who my father was.’
Luke looked justifiably taken aback by her sharp tone. ‘What’s the problem? He is your father.’
Beth couldn’t deny it, however much she would have preferred to. ‘I came to Hereford to make a new start,’ she said curtly. ‘My family was one of the things I was more than happy to leave behind. Now I’m going to have everybody I meet asking questions.’
The calm, early morning sunshine that they emerged into made the drama of the last six hours seem totally unreal. This conversation with Luke seemed just as unreal. How crazy that they could slip back into an argument the first time they got to talk to each other.
‘Well, I’m sorry.’ Luke didn’t sound sorry at all. ‘But what’s so wrong with your family? If he was my father I’d be proud of what he’s achieved in his career.’
‘Yeah…you would.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
The tone was enough to force Beth to slow her pace and turn to face Luke. He looked so tired, she thought. And annoyed. And genuinely puzzled.
‘Your opinion of my father was always higher than mine.’
‘I only met the man once. If you remember, you kept me away from your family for so long I thought you were an orphan.’ Luke shook his head. ‘For heaven’s sake, Beth. When did you start hating your father?’
‘I don’t hate him. I don’t hate any of my family. They’re strangers.’ Beth’s anger was more than ready to spill out. Gone were the days when she had responded to a conflict by bottling things up. ‘We were just an item to add to our parents’ CVs. Our son, the cardiologist. Our daughter, the paediatrician. Oh, there’s Beth, of course, but the only thing she ever did that we really approved of was to produce Luke Savage as a potential son-in-law.’
Luke had stopped walking completely now. He was staring at Beth with that look she had seen earlier. The one that implied she was a total stranger.
He opened his mouth but Beth didn’t give him a chance to say anything.
‘I wanted to escape from that “not living up to the family tradition” rubbish. Now, thanks to you, that’s going to be impossible.’
Luke merely blinked. ‘Was that all you came to Hereford to escape from?’
‘What?’
‘Is there anything else I should know about so I don’t put my foot in my mouth and make your new start any more difficult for you?’ Luke didn’t actually sound as though he was trying to be helpful. His polite tone had a distinct edge of sarcasm. ‘Have you left a boyfriend behind as well perhaps? Or a husband maybe?’
The tone pushed a button Beth had almost forgotten about. As if he cared about any answer she might supply!
‘A fiancé, actually.’
The effect on Luke was quite satisfying. His jaw dropped. ‘You’re engaged?’
‘Not any more.’
Luke’s expression became carefully blank, as though a switch had been thrown. ‘Who finished it?’ he asked quietly. ‘You…or him?’
‘Me.’ Beth glared at Luke. Just how much of her past was going to be dragged up before she could even find some time alone to come to terms with it all? It had gone beyond any kind of joke, however unfunny. Right now, it felt like her entire life was unravelling.
Luke met Beth’s glare without moving a muscle. ‘Not good enough for you, huh?’ he suggested casually.
Beth could feel the heat leaving her gaze but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from Luke. What would he say if he knew that her fiancé hadn’t measured up because it was Luke who had set the standard? Staying in a relationship with Brent would have been settling for second best. No, not even that close. It would have been stepping onto another emotional planet.
The thought was gone as quickly as it had come and Beth could feel her anger draining, but it was Luke who looked away first.
‘Maybe I should start a club,’ he muttered. He turned towards a black Jeep parked nearby. He took a step away from Beth then stopped again. Luke looked more than tired now. He looked…sad.
‘You’ve changed, Beth. I would never have thought you could stand up to trouble with gang members like that. Or start hating your family. Or go around dumping fiancés. I don’t feel like I even know you any more.’
The sadness in Luke’s expression was enough to bring the sting of tears to Beth’s eyes and she turned away quickly to hide them.
‘You never did, Luke,’ she said softly. ‘That was the problem, wasn’t it?’
The walk to the motel unit the hospital was providing until she found somewhere to live was not long enough to calm the spin-cycle effect Beth’s brain was having on her thoughts, and despite her exhaustion she knew she had no hope of sleeping yet. A walk on the deserted beach over the road from the motel seemed the perfect way to wait out the cycle.
Somewhere beneath the emotional roller-coaster the night had provided was a quiet pride in the fact that she had actually coped with it all. And the knowledge that she could cope again, if she had to. She wasn’t going to follow Neroli’s path and give up the work she loved because of intimidating patients.
Seeing Luke again had been just as much of a shock. But she had coped with that, too. Or had she? Somehow, it was crushingly disappointing that their conversation in the car park had ended up feeling just like one of the arguments that had marked the disintegration of their relationship. Nothing had changed.
But everything had changed. There was something different about Luke. A mystery that was never going to be solved if Beth didn’t stay in Hereford long enough to find out why Luke had chosen this quiet place to live and work.
And the tension created in the car park was never going to be resolved the way the old arguments had been. Until that last, horrible conflict, they had always made up their differences…in bed.
Any lingering tension would have been channelled into love-making that had made anything else totally insignificant. The world could have stopped turning as far as Beth was concerned when she had been in Luke’s arms like that. She wouldn’t have cared. She probably wouldn’t have even noticed.
An echo of Luke’s touch reached through the years and surfaced strongly enough for a spiral of desire to clutch something deep within Beth. A sound like a strangled groan escaped her lips and she sank onto a sun-warmed boulder.
How could she cope with this?
It was the ultimate reason to leave, wasn’t it? A very clear alarm sounding. If her body and heart were going to rebel against her head and decide they still wanted Luke, then she was going to be vulnerable. She could get hurt.
Again.
The thought was terrifying.
The spark was still there. Even if the result was a negative tension, it was better than indifference would have been, wasn’t it? When Beth had thought Luke had been ignoring her because he didn’t give a damn, she had felt astonishingly let down.
But it hadn’t been entirely negative.
He’d told her she’d been brilliant. He had looked at her—for just a fraction of a second—with an expression that had spoken of appreciation. Pride even.
And for the briefest pinpoint of time Beth had felt the sensation of pure joy that had always come from Luke being proud of her. Turning her face up to the sun, Beth closed her eyes and sighed softly. That sensation, however brief, was unforgettable. It was precisely what had been missing from her life for far too long. It was that elusive ‘x’ factor she had been searching for in all her attempts at other relationships. She had thought she might have found it more than once, only to gather enough doubts to ruin things.
And she’d been so right. Because now that she’d experienced the genuine article again, Beth knew she’d never found anything comparable. The craving to feel it again was undeniably powerful. The fear that she couldn’t protect herself if she did was equally strong.
The chance of experiencing it again if she stayed was minimal in any case. Luke hated her now. She was a stranger to him. An angry stranger who confronted people and hated her family. He was clearly bitter about their past. Did he really think that Beth had ended things because she’d thought he Luke ‘wasn’t good enough’? And how many fiancés did he think she might have had in the intervening years?
It was almost too hard to open her eyes again. It was definitely too confusing to try and make any long-term decisions. Beth needed sleep if she was going to be ready for her next shift tonight.
At Ocean View hospital.
The short-term decision she needed to make was suddenly easy. She wasn’t going to leave Hereford just yet. If revisiting her past was too much to handle, how on earth did she imagine she could build herself a future?
Besides, even if she only stayed for a little while, she might find answers to the questions that seemed astonishingly important. If they went unanswered they might haunt her for ever, and the further she moved away from Luke the less likely she would be to ever find those answers.
The minor celebrity status Beth had gained on her inaugural night in Emergency had worn off by the end of her first four night shifts but then, after three days off, she began on days and found it starting all over again.
‘I’m Roz,’ the red-headed nurse in the locker-room introduced herself. ‘And you must be Beth, right? I’ve heard about you.’
‘Oh, no!’ Beth grimaced. ‘It was a one-off, honestly. I don’t go around looking for trouble from gang members. Quite the opposite.’
‘Actually, I was talking about the thoracotomy.’ Roz closed her locker, smoothed the tunic top of her uniform and gave Beth a curious glance. ‘Have you done anything like that before?’
‘Hardly. Cracking a chest in an emergency department is not exactly a common procedure, even in big hospitals.’
‘First time it’s happened here, that’s for sure,’ Roz said. ‘And it wouldn’t have happened at all if it wasn’t for Luke. He’s amazing, isn’t he?’
‘He’s a good surgeon,’ Beth agreed cautiously. She pulled her sweatshirt off and reached into her locker for the dark blue tunic, hoping this wasn’t going to be another fishing expedition to gauge whether or not she was attracted to Luke. ‘I hear the girl’s been discharged from Wellington hospital already.’
Roz nodded again. ‘Apparently, she’s giving up her gang associations and going home. Being in hospital gave her mother a chance to see her for the first time in years.’
‘That’s a nice, happy ending. She’s been very lucky, having the chance to start again.’
‘Thanks to Luke.’ Roz was waiting for Beth to lace up the comfortable trainers she wore for work. ‘He could have been a cardiothoracic specialist by now—you know, working somewhere like the Mayo Clinic. We’re so lucky to have him here.’
The look Beth received implied that she had been lucky to have the opportunity to assist him so closely and it was too good an opening to pass up.
‘Really?’ Beth’s eyebrows rose. ‘What made him come and work in a place like Hereford, then?’
‘Something to do with his family, I think. I heard he had a sister who died a few years back.’
‘Oh?’ Beth’s response was genuinely surprised.
‘And he grew up here.’
Beth had not known that. For a horrible moment she wondered if he had told her and the information had been buried in her subconscious, ready to sabotage her after she’d chosen a new place to live. No. He’d talked of Nelson as his childhood stamping ground—a much larger town than Hereford but still not exciting enough for Luke. He hadn’t been able to wait to get away…and stay away. Working somewhere like the Mayo Clinic had been right up there on the career ambition list.
Beth shut her locker and then waited as Roz paused in front of the mirror to redo her ponytail and catch errant strands of her long hair.
Losing his only sibling—and a twin at that—would have been dreadful but did it explain the change for someone as determinedly ambitious as Luke had been? Especially when he had never talked about his family in more than general terms. Had he been that close to his sister?
Had it been her own influence that had prevented him sharing that aspect of his life? She had certainly avoided families as a topic of conversation because she’d had no desire to let her own family diminish the joy of being with Luke.
She had made the accusation that it had been Luke’s lack of knowledge about her that had caused the failure of their relationship, but how well had she actually known Luke?
Surely well enough to guess that the death of a family member wouldn’t have been enough to sway the whole direction of his life. There had to be more to it than that but Beth wasn’t about to appear too interested by asking questions. If Maureen and Chelsea had a running bet going, how many other staff members would have their antennae up?
Imagine if it got back to Luke that the newest staff member in Emergency appeared to fancy him? The thought was enough to make Beth cringe and she willingly accepted a new topic of conversation as she followed Roz into the department for the 6:45 a.m. staff changeover.
‘So, how are you finding work here?’
‘It’s great.’
‘Know your way around now?’
‘I’m getting a good handle on the emergency department but I’d still get lost pretty fast if I had to go much further afield.’
‘I’m supposed to keep an eye out for you today.’ Roz was smiling, apparently happy with the assignment. ‘If we get a quiet spell I’ll see if can take you on a tour.’
There was to be no quiet spell in the early part of the day. Beth was kept busy monitoring an 84-year-old woman from a local rest home who had a history of cardiac problems and was now developing pneumonia. She required blood tests and X-rays, fluids and antibiotics, and her family needed reassurance that she was getting the best possible care. It was nearly 9 a.m. by the time the elderly woman was transferred to the medical ward and Roz signalled Beth as she returned from accompanying her.
‘Would you mind taking the baby in cubicle 3? He’s been vomiting all night and I won’t be popular if I take a bug home to my boys.’
‘Sure.’ Beth collected the referral note from the GP. ‘How many boys have you got?’
‘Five. Six, if you count my husband, Gerry.’
‘You’re kidding!’
‘I wish I was sometimes.’
‘How on earth do you manage to find time to work here?’
‘I only did one night a week until my youngest, Toby, started school last year. Gerry’s very supportive.’
‘Five kids!’ Beth shook her head, as she moved away. ‘That’s a big family these days.’
‘The first one wasn’t exactly planned.’ Roz grinned. ‘But we figured that since we’d started we might as well carry on. We kept hoping to get a girl eventually.’
‘You’re not…’ Beth stopped speaking as she realised that the question was rather personal, but Roz laughed.
‘No. We’re not still trying. Have you got any idea what it’s like, living with six men? I may as well just nail the toilet seat to the wall.’ She pointed towards the IV trolley. ‘You’ll need to take that. They’ve sent the baby in because the GP’s concerned at her level of dehydration. I’ll get one of the docs to come and put it in.’
Beth was still smiling inwardly at the thought of Roz and her toilet seat as she helped the houseman get an IV line into ten-month-old Barry. He was the first child for the anxious mother and Beth did her best to reassure both of them after the young doctor had left to arrange admission.
‘Barry’s going to be fine, honestly. The worst part’s over now that the line is in. He’s just going to need watching and some fluid replacement.’
‘I just can’t bear him being so sick.’ Barry’s mother was holding him tightly enough to make him protest. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘It’s awful!’
‘He’s going to be fine,’ Beth repeated. ‘Whoops! It might take a while longer for that vomiting to stop. I’ll go and a get towel so you can clean up a bit.’
Roz pushed a wheelchair past the linen trolley as Beth collected supplies and she wondered just how many minor or even major crises Roz would have fielded with her tribe of children by now. The feeling of envy was fortunately muted by familiarity but it still stung. Beth was running out of time to hope for much more than one or two children, let alone the big family she had always dreamed of.
Acceptance might have to be the next step. She wouldn’t have any children if she wasn’t with a partner she truly loved. She had come here to avoid just such a compromise, hadn’t she? The notion of a childless future was still not acceptable, however. Beth smiled at Roz. She wasn’t going to give up yet. She was only thirty-four, for heaven’s sake, and she was in a new place, starting a new life.
She was a whole week into that new life now but Beth had yet to catch another glimpse of Luke. No night time emergencies had occurred that required a surgeon to be called into the department. Disappointingly, it looked as though her first day shift might go the same way.
Having made the decision to stay, Beth had been preparing herself for the next time her path crossed Luke’s, quietly confident that she would be able to cope without the confusion and angst that first meeting had sparked. With every passing day she was feeling happier with her decision so why did that knot appear in her stomach when the call for a surgical consult on her next patient was answered…by Luke?
The young girl had come in by ambulance from her school, looking pale and complaining of severe abdominal pain, and Beth hadn’t been surprised when the houseman made a provisional diagnosis of appendicitis and referred her to the surgeons.
Luke’s smile at Beth, after being introduced to the patient and her mother, was friendly. Professional.
‘What’s been happening?’ ‘Katy’s had dull, generalised abdominal pain for the last twelve hours.’ Beth repeated what the houseman must have already told the surgeon. ‘No nausea but she’s been anorexic. The pain’s settled into the right lower quadrant and she felt too unwell to stay in class this morning. Vital signs are all within normal limits but she’s running a mild temperature of 37.4.’
‘Got a white-cell count yet?’
‘On its way.’
‘So, Katy.’ Luke’s smile for his patient was much warmer than the one Beth had received. ‘Got a bit of a sore tummy, huh?’
‘It feels better now.’
‘Mind if I take a look anyway?’
Luke pressed on the left side of Katy’s abdomen first.
‘Ow!’
‘Where does that hurt?’
‘Here.’ Close to tears again, Katy pointed to the right side of her abdomen, well away from the pressure.
Luke glanced up. ‘Know what that is, Beth?’
‘Rovsing’s sign.’ Beth nodded. ‘Associated with rebound tenderness.’
His eyebrow twitched. ‘You do know your stuff, don’t you? No wonder Mike’s been so impressed with you.’
Had the emergency department consultant been talking about her to Luke in the last few days? Was Luke impressed? He didn’t appear to be.
Neither did Katy’s mother. She looked worried.
‘What are you talking about? The sign? Is it Katy’s appendix?’
‘It’s a definite possibility. Rovsing’s sign is one of the things we look for. There are a few other possibilities, though, so we’ll need to run a few more tests. Like an ultrasound or CT scan. Beth, could you see if CT is free at the moment?’
‘Sure.’
Katy looked frightened. ‘Does that hurt?’
‘Not a bit, sweetie,’ Luke said reassuringly. He rested a hip comfortably on the side of the bed and smiled as Beth slipped out of the cubicle. ‘You getting your periods yet, Katy?’
Beth headed for the phone. When had Luke become so comfortable talking to children? Or laid back enough to practically sit on their bed for a comfortable chat? The Luke she had known had always been moving way too fast to pause that long. In far too much of a hurry to get to the top.
This new Luke was even more attractive than the old one. Beth’s confidence that she could cope with working in the same place dropped a notch. Possibly two.
Beth’s first day shift at Ocean View hospital was almost finished by the time Roz took her on a quick tour.
They bypassed the area adjacent to Emergency that Beth was now familiar with. The minor theatre, Radiology and CT and the plaster room. Roz paused near the pharmacy and small gift shop, manned by volunteers.
‘Outpatients is down that corridor. There’s also Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Mental Health Services and so on. A few people wander into ED by mistake so it’s worth knowing where to direct them.’
Beth peered past Roz. ‘It looks busy.’
‘It always is. Hereford’s only small but the hospital has a huge catchment area.’
‘That explains why the staff is so much bigger than I’d expected. I must say I was surprised. I’d expected this quiet little small town hospital.’ The number of staff hadn’t been the real surprise, though, had it? More the calibre. ‘I’m still amazed at how many consultants there are.’
‘Yes, we have a lot. The private work fills in any slack time but there seems to be less and less of that these days.’
‘There are private patients?’ Beth couldn’t hide her astonishment.
‘Just one ward. It’s shared by all the consultants doing private work. They use the hospital facilities and I guess the insurance companies pay the government. The consultants and anaesthetists get a separate fee, of course.’
‘Of course. I suppose Luke Savage does most of the private work?’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘I…um…’ Beth bit her lip. What had made her say that? Because fame and fortune had been so important to the man she’d known? Because his desire to become a kind of clone of her father had started the rapid downhill slide of their relationship? The fact that private work was available had seemed like another small piece to fit into the puzzle of why Luke was here, but the expression on her colleague’s face was making her wonder now. ‘I have no idea,’ she concluded lamely. ‘It just seemed to fit.’
‘Weird.’ Roz shook her head. ‘He’s the only surgeon who doesn’t do private work. Len does any general stuff and the orthopaedic guys share out the hip replacements and so on.’
‘Is that the maternity ward?’ Beth was eager to change the subject.
‘Yes. And that’s Paediatrics beside it.’ Beth latched onto a good way to distract Roz. ‘My sister’s a paediatrician. In Sydney.’
‘Really?’
‘And I’ve got a brother who’s a cardiologist in London.’
‘Wow. That’s a very medical family.’
‘Mmm.’ Beth suddenly regretted the change of subject because the look Roz was giving her was rather too familiar. Maybe Luke hadn’t spread the interesting information about her background any further.
‘Dawson…you’re not related to Nigel Dawson, are you? That heart surgeon guy?’
Beth suppressed a groan. ‘He’s my father.’
‘Wow!’
Beth shrugged her eyebrows. Despite the feeling that she and Roz could end up being good friends, she wasn’t about to start spilling the beans about how her father’s personality and career had had such an adverse effect on her family and childhood.
‘I read about him not so long ago,’ Roz continued. ‘Isn’t your mother medical as well?’
‘An anaesthetist,’ Beth confirmed. ‘They met in a theatre and have worked together ever since.’
‘How romantic!’
‘Mmm.’ Was it romantic to allow nothing, including three children, to interfere in any way with accruing fame and fortune?
‘And you went into nursing?’
‘I’m the black sheep,’ Beth confessed lightly.
Roz laughed. ‘Every family should have one, I guess. Do you know where the surgical ward is?’
Beth nodded. ‘I went up with Katy when she got admitted for surgery.’
Luke hadn’t been there. And Beth had been irritated with herself at finding that disappointing.
‘OK. I’ll show you the really important stuff now, like the staff swimming pool. You’ll be diving in like the rest of us at the end of every shift in summer, believe me.’
‘I love swimming,’ Beth said, ‘but I prefer the beach.’
‘You’d better talk to Luke, then.’
Beth’s spine prickled as her pulse quickened. ‘Why?’
‘He lives on the most perfect beach around these parts. Boulder Bay. You’ll have to wangle an invitation and try swimming there. It’s gorgeous.’
‘But New Zealand has public access to any beach. They can’t be private.’
‘It’s not, but you need four-wheel drive to get up and down the access road safely. Have you got a four-wheel-drive vehicle?’
‘No.’
‘So that’s why you’ll need to talk to Luke. He won’t mind giving you a lift if you leave your car at the top of the hill. That’s what we all do. Look, that’s him just over there. I could ask him for you, if you’re shy.’
Beth laughed. ‘No, thanks. I can do my own asking. He looks a bit busy right now.’
He was talking to a woman who had just emerged from the pharmacy and was looking into the contents of a paper bag. She was an attractive blonde, probably in her late twenties, and the diamond rings on her left hand caught the light as she moved. Whoever she was, and despite her obvious marital status, she had Luke’s full attention.
‘I’m just going to grab a chocolate bar from the gift shop,’ Roz said. ‘Want something?’
Beth shook her head. ‘No, thanks. I’ll just wait here.’
Where she could appear to be admiring the display of flowers and teddy bears for sale while Roz waited in a small queue. Where she could still see Luke talking to the pretty blonde.
The woman seemed to be scrubbing tears from her face when Beth flicked a glance in her direction. Was she the relative of a patient perhaps? She saw the blonde nodding as though whatever Luke was saying was what she needed to hear. Then she saw Luke’s arm going around the woman’s shoulders and the impression of closeness touched a very deep chord in Beth. This was no professional relationship. She would never believe that Luke would be having an affair with a married woman, but whoever the blonde was, she had a bond with Luke that clearly meant a lot to them both.
And it hurt, dammit! There was no way Beth could reason her way out of this reaction. Had she really thought she could cope? This was jealousy, pure and simple. A nasty feeling that Beth wanted to eliminate as quickly as possible. Roz was finally paying for her chocolate. Beth moved to meet her at the door of the shop. A rapid escape seemed entirely possible.
Until Luke called out. And waved. And came towards her.
‘We got to Katy’s appendix just in time,’ he told Beth. ‘It looked like it wasn’t that far off perforating.’
‘That’s good.’ Beth edged closer to the door. She didn’t want to talk to Luke. Not while she was struggling with the knowledge that she still cared enough to be jealous of any other potential women in Luke’s life.
Luke’s smile hadn’t lost any of its charm. ‘Look, I’m sorry about the other night. I shouldn’t have said anything to Mike about your father. I really don’t want to make a new start any more difficult for you.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Beth muttered ungraciously. It was on the tip of her tongue to say something about how hard it was to escape the past no matter how much you might want to but fortunately, perhaps, Luke spoke again first.
‘We should have a coffee one of these days, Beth, and catch up on the last few years.’
He was being so friendly. Casual. As though she was simply an old acquaintance and it really didn’t matter if they ‘caught up’ or not. The evil claws of jealousy were still digging into Beth and they sharpened her tone far more than she liked.
‘I came here for a change of lifestyle, Luke. I don’t see much point in raking up the past.’
‘Fair enough.’ The upward inflection on the last word was subtle but nevertheless conveyed that Luke had received the message. He wouldn’t be making another attempt to engage Beth socially in a hurry. ‘See you around, then.’
Roz emerged from the gift shop and received a smile from Luke warm enough to highlight just how chilly his words to Beth had been.
‘Hiya, Roz. Sorry, I can’t stop and chat just now. We’ll have to catch up soon with a coffee or something. Everything all right with that tribe of boys you live with?’
‘Great, thanks. You’ll have to come to dinner soon.’
‘Love to.’ And Luke was gone with a friendly wave to Roz and not even a glance back at Beth.
Beth straightened her spine. She didn’t care. Luke would probably be avoiding her from now on and that should make things a lot easier. She should be happy.
‘Are you all right?’ Roz was giving her a curious look.
Beth pasted a smile to her face. ‘I’m fine, really. Just a bit tired.’
‘Me, too. It’s been a busy day.’ Roz nodded her understanding and smiled back, clearly convinced that Beth was being honest.
It was just a shame she couldn’t convince herself so easily.