Dr. White's Baby Wish (14 page)

‘You going to be all day?' Cody leaned against the doorframe, hands in his jeans pockets, for all appearances like he had the whole day to wait for her. ‘You left the door open.'

She hadn't noticed. Warmth stole through her. Not rampaging heat that ended in an orgasm, but soft heat that touched her heart, her toes, her tummy and all places in between. He made her feel good about herself. Not something she'd experienced for a long time. For too long. ‘I don't suppose you've got a drawer full of make-up anywhere?'

‘I'm all out of it. You'll have to go completely natural, which is better than being plastered with goo anyway.'

That softness intensified. He paid the nicest compliments, even if not quite true. ‘Then I'm nearly done.' She looked around the bathroom. ‘You thinking about any changes in here?'

Cody nodded. ‘There's not a room that doesn't need dealing with. I'll give you the grand tour before we head out.'

‘The house appears huge.'

‘It is.' He grinned. ‘I visited when I was fourteen and in the rugby team. The coach owned it, and I've wanted something like it ever since.'

‘You got the real deal.'

‘Wanting this place is what started me on the property ladder. A fishing mate and I saved hard to go halves in a rundown shack that we could rent out. Soon we mortgaged it to the hilt and bought another, and then another, until...' his grin widened. ‘...here I am. Back in Wellington in the house of my teenaged dreams.'

‘Go you.' She gazed out of the window at the harbour sparkling in the sun, absorbing how much he'd told her about himself. ‘You'll never get tired of looking at that.'

‘I agree. Even the windy days are wonderful. Then there are the ferries scooting back and forth, and the fishing fleet heading out to the Strait. It's great.' He was almost purring.

As they wandered along the Parade hand in hand Cody said, ‘I'm thinking we should hire two paddle-boards and give it a crack before you cancel that order. This could be the one sport you're great at.'

The sea was so calm she couldn't use that as an excuse. ‘I haven't got any gear with me and I'm not immersing this skirt in salt water.'

‘I'd have enjoyed watching as it got wet and figure-hugging.' He gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘Not my lucky day. I could offer you one of my tee-shirts but that'd be all over the place on you, no figure-hugging going on at all. We'll have to drop by your place. You think those other two will still be there once we've had breakfast?'

‘I have no idea.' She batted his arm lightly. ‘You make it sound as though we're definitely following through on your idea of paddle-boarding.' Her problem being...? Didn't she want to have fun with him? Hadn't she been extolling the reasons she should let go and enjoy life?

‘Relax. Your knees will be fine.'

They mightn't have got the skin scraped off them, but they were going to hurt like stink tomorrow, Harper decided as she stiffened into a slight turn three hours later. Breakfast had been long and leisurely, then there'd been coffee with Suzanne and Steve in her tiny back yard. Now finally they were on the water, and she was wobbling front, backwards and sideways, feeling like a drunk penguin. ‘Keeping my balance is hard work,' she growled as Cody came close.

‘Relax into the movement of the board, don't fight it.'

Easy for him to say. ‘Go away. You're causing waves.'
Show off.
Just because he could do this without even trying.
So unfair.
She'd have to challenge him to a knitting contest next. Except she barely knew one end of a knitting needle from the other.

Damn, but he looked good wet. Those board shorts clung to his butt and thighs, making her mouth moist and her tummy tight. As for his chest... She'd never been a chest girl before but Cody was breaking all her norms.

Now he grinned at her. ‘Waves are when water rises above the level.'

She didn't deign to supply him with a reply. Instead she pushed the paddle deeper and pulled on the handle to move forward. Her arms were starting to complain about this added activity too. Paddling was definitely more strenuous than inserting IV lines or stitching wounds.

She snuck another sideways glance and had to stare. Cody standing on his board, looking for all the world as if he'd been born doing this, was a picture to remember. He had natural balance. ‘How come you're so relaxed with this?' She could see his calf muscles adjusting as the board beneath his feet shifted. Unlike hers, which were tight and unyielding to any movement.

‘Comes from years of staying upright on the deck of a heaving trawler.' Cody pushed the paddle through the water, his strokes effortless. Didn't she know it? Her face heated as memories of the previous night flooded her brain.

‘Want to head back to shore?' Mr Oh-So-Good-at-This cruised close again. ‘I'll shout you a cold drink.'

‘And an ice-cream.' What had happened to the diet?
Tomorrow.
She began working the board around to face the shore—or make that she began
trying
to head home—but the current had changed and she wasn't going anywhere in the direction she needed to.

‘Now I know where the brats get their love of ice-cream. They're copying Auntie Harper.'

A wave passed under her board and she froze, afraid to move in case she got it wrong and overbalanced. ‘That's a proper wave,' she muttered through clenched teeth.

‘Hey,' Cody was yelling. ‘Back off. Can't you morons see what we're doing here?'

Harper risked twisting her head to the left to see who had caused his annoyance and her decidedly wobbly ride, and saw a speed boat about a hundred metres away going full throttle and sending out huge bow waves.

Slosh. Slosh. Water rushed at her, over her feet, and continued into shore. ‘Do I paddle or freeze? Do I try to keep moving while balancing like a stork?'

The left side of the board lifted. Uh-oh. Her hands gripped the paddle handle.
Like that's going to help,
she thought as she leaned into the lift. The board dropped back flat while her momentum took her head-first into the tide.

Thunk
. As she popped upwards, pain blasted into her skull. The board? It had to be. She kicked hard, hopefully away from it, and surfaced—to get a swipe on the chin from the paddle she'd let go as she'd fallen in.
Ow
.
Pick on me, why don't you?

‘Harper? You all right?' Cody straddled his board, reaching out to her, concern etching his face.

‘My knees are fine.' She spluttered out a mouthful of salt water. ‘Yuk. That's gross.'

‘Those morons should've been driving their boat a lot slower. There are speed restrictions around here,' Cody muttered as he concentrated on getting her sorted. Catching her hand, he tugged her close to his board, hers following as the cord attached to both her ankle and the back of the board snapped tight. ‘Hey, you're bleeding.'

‘I got whacked, but not hard enough to do damage.' Or so she'd thought.

Strong fingers held her chin and tipped her head back gently. ‘You're the doctor, but I'm thinking you're needing a couple of stitches on your chin.'

She began to feel a sharpness on the corner of her chin. ‘Guess I'm going into work after all.' She didn't doubt he was right. He knew his medicine.

‘I can take you to the weekend emergency surgery. Though that will take longer, since you're not staff.' Cody put his hands under her arms and hauled her up to sprawl across his board. As easy as that. ‘Stay still and I'll paddle us back in.'

She shook her head. Was nothing too much trouble for Cody Brand? He'd never used a board before yet he was already turning them towards shore and calmly pushing his paddle through the water despite that current. It would be too easy to get used to this, to come to rely on him to look out for her.

Harper stiffened. No way. She watched her own back. No one else did. Not even for a few weeks while they had an affair.
Huh?
They were having an affair now? Why not?

‘You okay? You've gone quiet, and I don't like a quiet Harper as much as the chatty one.' Above her, Cody was smiling that heart-melting, ‘I will take care of everything' smile that was his trademark.

‘I'm thinking I like the sound of going to the surgery, wait or no wait.' There was less chance of people from work knowing she and Cody had been spending the day together.

‘No problem. That cut hurting yet?'

‘I'm trying to pretend it doesn't.' The sharp ache was amplified with salt water sluicing over it as they bobbed up and down. The daily summer sea breeze had arrived, chopping the surface and adding to the pressure pushing them in a direction in which they didn't want to go.

But Cody had everything under control and within a very short time he jumped off to push the board with her still sprawled over it onto the beach. ‘Here we go.' He leaned down and lifted her up, placing her carefully on her feet. ‘Let me get that cord off your ankle.' He looked across the beach to the van that the board-hire company operated from and waved. ‘Give us a hand, will you, buddy?'

* * *

‘Her sewing skills weren't too bad.' Cody dropped an arm lightly over Harper's shoulders as he led her out of the emergency surgery to a taxi he'd ordered.

She looked a little pale and those black threads weren't helping her appearance as she muttered, ‘Two stitches, and the poor woman was terrified of making a mistake with you hovering over her. You're not a frustrated plastic surgeon, by any chance?'

‘Me? Never. More into dress making,' he quipped.

‘You have absolutely no problem laughing at yourself, do you?' There was wonder in her voice and those tired eyes.

‘Don't see any problem with that. I know who I am and I'm totally comfortable with people having a laugh at me. Believe me, I'd never have survived nine years on the trawlers if I couldn't take the crap the guys threw at me. You're fair game with some of those rogues if you get too serious about just about anything.'

He felt her shudder under his arm. ‘I've had a very sheltered life.'

‘Huh? You can say that after our drug-runner incident? Or having dealt with Friday and Saturday night revellers and their drunken angst in the ED?'

‘I guess.'

There'd been something else in her earlier comment. ‘A previous partner didn't take kindly to being teased about his skills, or lack of?' Her history concerning partners was a complete mystery, and likely to stay that way, he acknowledged to himself.

But Harper did what she'd done last Sunday on the beach. She blurted the truth quickly and emotionlessly. ‘My husband had a great sense of humour except when it came to anything about himself.'

Husband?
Jeez.
Cody shoved his free hand through his hair. He did not do having sexual relations, sexual anything, with a married woman. ‘I didn't know.'

‘That I was married? I don't tend to make a big deal of it. It's an episode of my life I do not want to revisit.' She looked up at him and now there was emotion lining her voice. ‘No point. What's done is finished.'

Phew.
Was
married, not
is
married
. He could breathe easily again. ‘How long have you been separated?' He should quit while he was ahead, but he liked learning little snippets of information about her. Marriage wasn't small, whether she'd separated or not. Okay, so he was nosey, or out to protect himself. He couldn't decide which.

‘The divorce came through two months ago, right on the two-year anniversary of when we officially called it quits. I was in a hurry. If I wasn't going to be married in the full sense of the word then I wanted out.'

‘I get that.'
I think.
But then he'd never been there; he would never have the chance to see his marriage through or leave it. That had been taken out of his hands by the man who'd killed Sadie.

‘You ever been married? Or in a serious relationship?' Harper asked.

Don't want to go there.
He could change the subject. But then he'd asked first. Which only went to show how much he lost the plot when he was around Harper. ‘Yes. Years back. It lasted six months and then she died.'

‘Cody.' Harper spun around to stand in front of him, her hands resting on his cheeks. ‘I'm so sorry.'

His gut twisted at the sight of that genuine concern for him. Her hands were soft and gentle on his cheeks. He placed a hand over one of hers and lifted it to kiss her palm. ‘Me too.' Another kiss, then he stepped back.

‘Don't want to talk about it?' There was no reproach in her eyes or her tone. Just a genuine concern that if he didn't want to carry on this conversation she'd be okay with that.

‘Not really. It would spoil the day.' Wrapping his hand around her soft small one, he swung them high. ‘I don't want to do that.'

‘Then take me back to my place so I can change into something half-decent and we'll go out for a drink and dinner. My shout.'

‘Yes to all of the above, except I'm shouting you.' When she began to argue he covered her mouth with his and kissed her, long and slowly, long enough for her hopefully to forget whatever she'd been going to say.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘W
ILL
YOU
LOOK
at that?' Tim, one of the doctors clocking off from night shift, whistled as Harper took the notes he was handing her about a patient in Resus. ‘Things get a little rough between you two over the weekend, did they?' He glanced from Harper to someone behind her.

Turning slightly, Harper saw Cody strolling in, looking totally ready for the start of the week and not at all as if he'd spent most of the weekend making love with her or doing other energetic activities.

Then, ‘What did you say?' Cody snapped, that nonchalance gone in a flash.

‘Joking, mate. Harper's chin looks like it's taken a nudge. What happened?' His question was directed at her.

But she didn't get a chance to answer.

Cody stepped up to Tim and growled, ‘Nothing like what you're thinking.'

‘Take it easy.' Tim stepped back. ‘I said I was joking.'

‘It's not a joke to suggest someone has been rough with a woman.'

Harper grabbed Cody's arm and pulled until he settled back down on the heels of his shoes. She shouldn't be touching him at work, but she had to get him to see sense. Quickly. ‘Tim didn't mean anything. He certainly wasn't suggesting for one moment that you knocked me around.' Dropping her hand, she handed Cody a file. ‘This patient's ours. Go and get her. Now.' She was talking to him as though he was a recalcitrant child, but he needed to get away from Tim and calm down.

‘Yes, doctor,' Cody snapped, a flicker of hurt crossing his face before he all but snatched the file from her fingers. Tossing a glare at Tim, he turned to head for the waiting room.

Watching him stride away, his back über-straight, his head high, she said, ‘I was paddle-boarding and fell off—took a hit on the chin.' What was bugging Cody, for him to go septic so fast? Had someone accused him of hitting a woman in the past? Surely not? He absolutely wouldn't do anything remotely violent—he was the proverbial gentle giant, except when confronted with a gunman in Resus. She'd swear her career on that, but that didn't mean someone hadn't accused him of some such action to get attention or make his life uncomfortable.

‘Ambulance bringing in hit-and-run victim, male, twenty-four, cyclist. ETA fifteen—though it's the start of the rush hour, so that might go out further.' Karin had taken the call when Cody had headed for the waiting room on Harper's instructions.

‘What's the damage?' Harper asked. Cyclists copped more than their share of shoulder injuries.

‘Probable fractured clavicle, fractured humerus—otherwise nothing obvious,' Karin replied, unknowingly acknowledging Harper's thoughts.

‘One for the orthopaedic crowd, then. You want to take him?'

Karin nodded. ‘Absolutely. Thanks.'

‘I'll be within calling distance.' She'd also look in on the situation regularly. Karin was a very competent registrar but it never hurt to make sure she didn't have any problems with a patient. Now, where had Cody got to?

There he was, escorting an elderly man and woman into Cubicle Two. His face was strained, though he spared a smile when the couple said something to him. ‘Deep cut to thigh,' he told Harper in a less-than-friendly tone as she approached. ‘Mr Gregory fell over the gardening fork and landed on some corrugated iron an hour ago.'

‘He shouldn't have been digging the garden at all,' the woman Harper presumed was Mr Gregory's wife growled. ‘He's been told to leave it to our boys.'

As Cody eased the man onto the bed, Mr Gregory retorted, ‘I want to pick my veggies this summer, not next year. They never have time for a cup of tea, let alone to turn over the garden.'

‘Maybe that's because you told them off last time they came to help.'

Okay, that was enough. Monday morning and crotchety patients—and nurses—was not how she wanted her week to start. ‘Right, Mr Gregory. I'm Dr White. Nurse Brand says you've got a deep cut which we will probably have to sew back together. Let's take a look.'

While Cody removed the man's trousers, Harper turned to the woman. ‘Mrs Gregory?' She nodded and Harper continued. ‘Would you mind sitting over there? Thank you.' Right, everyone was in their place and she could get on with her day. Except she glanced at Cody and her heart softened. Whatever that altercation had been about, it had shaken him. There was a white line around his mouth, and his eyes were sending out spears to anyone who dared look at him, which was mostly her at the moment.
Well, I didn't do anything wrong.

Cody looked up, those eyes wintry. ‘I'll get the gear.' He nodded at the wound he'd exposed on the old man's thigh.

‘Thanks.' She snapped on gloves and began to gently probe at the wound. ‘When you do something you do it well, don't you, Mr Gregory? We're going to have a load of stitches in here by the time you go home.'

He winced when she touched the wound again. ‘Yes, lass, I believe in doing a proper job, no matter what it is.'

‘I bet you grow fabulous vegetables.' She chattered on to keep him occupied and hopefully not noticing too much pain. It also kept her mind off Cody and whatever his problem was.

‘Do you grow a garden, doctor?'

‘Can't say I've ever tried.' Could that be her next attempt to find something to do outside of work? No. She'd decided to give that up and focus on what she already had, hadn't she?

‘Dr White is more attuned to sewing than digging.' That deep, husky voice came from behind her. The edgy tone had lightened a little.

It seemed she might almost be back in favour, though why she'd actually slipped out of it because of something Tim had said, she had yet to find out. ‘And colour co-ordinating,' she risked. Looking directly at Cody, she was rewarded with a small smile, and knew everything was right between them again. Until she took him to task about his earlier reaction. That had not been good and, if the staff hadn't been aware they'd seen each other over the weekend, they certainly would be now.

‘Mr Gregory.' Cody glanced at the older man. ‘What colour would you use for your bedroom if you were painting it?'

‘Aw shucks, lad, ask the missus. She says I'm hopeless at that stuff, though I don't see anything wrong with a bit of strong colour myself.'

That set Mrs Gregory off on another tirade.

Harper hastened to finish suturing the wound, then left Cody to put a gauze cover over it while she went to print out a prescription for antibiotics and a mild analgesic for her patient.

‘That chin looks sore,' Karin said. ‘You must've hit the board hard.'

‘It was the paddle that got me.' She signed the prescription. ‘How was your weekend?'

‘Quiet. Studied a lot, saw my sister for a bit, caught up on washing. Nothing exciting. No paddle-boarding with a hunk, for sure.'

Harper's teeth snapped tight. Then she forced herself to relax. This was no different from any other Monday morning except that she'd been with Cody over the weekend and didn't want everyone gossiping about them. ‘I don't think I'll be doing it again.'

‘What? Paddle-boarding or spending time with Hottie?'

Harper's brow tightened and she opened her mouth with a retort, only to be talked over by Karin.

‘You shouldn't have left the pub looking like you were totally lost in each other if you didn't want people to know you'd get together.' The annoying woman nodded at her with a warning in her eyes. ‘Stop letting everyone get to you and they'll soon find something or someone else to talk about.'

‘But I haven't said anything.'

‘Only yelled at Tim, stuck up for Cody and ignored Jess when she asked you about your weekend.' Karin laughed lightly. ‘So not like our well-mannered, polite and fun consultant at all.'

Harper pushed up from the chair. ‘Thanks for the warning. I guess I did get a bit carried away.' But she'd been rocked by Cody's outburst. Would he tell her what it had been about? If they saw each other this week out of work, that was. ‘Are you free to do dinner and a movie one night this week?'

‘I am. Are you?' Karin winked and headed for the resus room.

I have no idea,
Harper wondered as she headed back to Mr Gregory.
Yes, I will be. I can't cut off other friends because of one particular man.
She slipped into the cubicle and the breath caught in her throat at the sight of that man gently helping their patient back into his trousers while keeping the old man's dignity in place. ‘Where have you been all my life, Cody Brand?'

‘On a fishing trawler, getting on with
my
life,' he drawled as they watched the elderly couple walk towards the exit, Mrs Gregory giving her husband an earful about being more careful in the future.

Harper would've felt sorry for the old man if she hadn't noticed Mrs Gregory slip her hand into her husband's for a brief moment. Then she really heard Cody and her head shot up. ‘Did I say that out loud?'

He nodded. ‘You did. I'd ask what you meant by it but there's a waiting room full of patients, and a load of staff around here with ears bigger than their backsides.' He leaned over the counter for the patient files. ‘Now, who's next?'

‘My ears aren't that big.' Jess nudged him as she strolled past.

Harper took the file from Cody. ‘I'll get this one. You two continue your discussion on ears and butts.' She was back to normal, feeling relaxed and happy to be at work. The weekend had been one out of the box; it might or might not be repeated, minus the chin whack, and right now she was ready for anything.

As if to prove a point, the emergency phone screeched as she walked past. Though it was Cody's job to answer it, she automatically picked up the receiver. ‘Wellington ED. Dr White.'

‘Rescue helicopter service, doctor. Bee attack in the Sounds. Patient male, sixty-five, no known prior allergies. ETA twenty-five.' The woman called out more details.

‘We'll be ready.' Harper put the phone down. ‘We've got a severe allergic reaction coming in.'

* * *

Cody knew he'd overreacted to Tim's comment, but hey. He hated when someone went off half-cocked and didn't bother to find out the real deal. That caused people distress or at the very least unhappiness. It had happened with his mate, Jack: because of false accusations by his girlfriend about hitting her, he'd nearly ended up in jail.

Cody's gut churned. Harper had been unhappy with his reaction, and he couldn't blame her. There'd been searching looks from her all morning that shamed him. He should've shrugged Tim's comments away, as Harper had.

Come lunchtime, he went for a walk in the blazing sun and fierce wind to get some air to clear his head. He was an idiot not to explain to Harper why he'd reacted like that. It wasn't that big a deal, but he'd got used to keeping quiet about what mattered most to him after Sadie's passing. Was now the time to start opening up, start letting Harper in a little?

Harper. She was getting to him. Sneaking under his skin, rattling his beliefs and worrying him stupid.

After just one weekend he was ready to spend more time with her. He'd even consider—no, he'd go with—having an affair for as long as it lasted. But that was as far as he'd go. His heart would cope with that, but no more.

So why did he feel as though he'd known her for ever? Why did the idea that they had a future together keep blindsiding him? Why the feelings of wanting to protect her, to be there for her all the time, to share everything with her? He enjoyed being with her; he wanted more and couldn't wait to get into bed with her again. All this after such a short time.

‘You going to stand there all day looking like someone stole your coffee?' Harper reached past him to drop a completed patient file on the desk.

‘Sorry. Having a rest on my feet.' He looked around the department and saw nothing untoward. ‘Who's next?'

‘A toddler with a dislocated thumb. You want to go and get him?'

‘Sure.' He loved his job. Even on days like today. Yet right now it would be great to be able to head away and take his confusion out with a hammer as he put the boards back on the railing of his veranda. Or to slop some paint on a couple of walls. Except he had yet to decide on the colour and buy the paint. Harper's suggestion of deep cream didn't quite turn him on. Like he knew anything about it. Cream could be anything; what did it matter about the shade he painted the place when he couldn't tell what it was?

Except he was determined to make his house something special, to do it up and decorate it in the style it had been built in ninety-odd years ago.

He returned to Harper. ‘Want dinner at my place tonight? I'd like to run some decorating ideas past you.'

Surprise filled her eyes, and the smile she found for him was a little lopsided as she nodded slowly. ‘I'd like that.'

‘Six o'clock suit you? I need to visit the supermarket and do a couple of jobs before you get there.'

Her smile widened and tied his gut in more knots than usual while giving his heart a nudge. The fireworks between them were unbelievably intense, like something he'd never experienced. Or had forgotten over the last few years.

He wanted more of Harper. Hadn't even begun to have enough of her. It could be that he'd never have enough. Damn it.

* * *

The day was a continuous stream of patients. Harper began to wonder if three o'clock would ever arrive, but finally it did. ‘I'm exhausted. That's got to have been the busiest day in a long while.'

‘You said that one day last week.' Cody had joined her in the staff room.

‘Really? I must need a break. It would be cool to go lie on a beach somewhere for a few days.' A beach, sun, water: it sounded wonderful. Sunburn, paddle-boards knocking her head, mosquitos... It still didn't sound half-bad if she compared it to drug overdoses, broken bones and cut hands. She checked her phone for messages; she'd got the usual texts from the brats, and one from her sister reminding her about Levi's birthday. ‘As if I'd forget that.' She had a present to pick up. She might as well go to town now and then it was done, box ticked.