The Doctor Claims His Bride (2 page)

He glanced down at her, his expression a mixture of understanding and humour. ‘Beware the “I’ll come back and do it” sentence—that actually means no.’

Mia wiped the back of her hand against her perspiration-soaked forehead and sighed. ‘I’ve got so much to learn.’

Flynn smiled and dimples carved through the black stubble, giving him a renegade look. Perhaps her initial impression of a crocodile hunter hadn’t been far off. Somehow she couldn’t imagine him in a white coat, stuck inside the antiseptic corridors of a hospital down south.

‘If you want to learn then we’re happy to teach you.’ His voice rumbled around her like distant thunder.

A slight tremble of unease rippled through her before her indignation surged back. ‘What do you mean,
if
I want to learn? Of course I want to learn.’

He shrugged. ‘Not everyone does. We get a lot of people up here. They arrive city-wired, city-savvy, ready to save the world as long as it can be saved their way.’ He grinned at Susie, who’d wandered over from the shade of the tree now that it looked like they were ready to return to the clinic. ‘And then they leave us, don’t they, Susie?’

Susie nodded. ‘Yep. Mia third nurse this year.’

Mia’s chest tightened. ‘I plan to be the one that stays.’

‘Yeah, they all say that.’ Flynn opened the driver’s door of the truck, his expression resigned.

‘No, really, I’m staying.’
I have nothing to go back to. Nothing at all
. Her mother’s blank and expressionless face wafted across her mind and a sliver of the terror she usually managed to keep concealed deep inside her coiled upward, threatening to choke her.

She needed to move, she needed to
do
something to keep the panic at bay.
The clinic
. Walking briskly, she
ducked under Flynn’s outstretched arm and sat down hard in the driver’s seat.

A startled expression momentarily creased his forehead before he gently closed the door.

A dash of guilt bubbled up at her abrupt brush past him but it was quickly doused by fear and anger at his blasé attitude toward her. She gripped the steering-wheel hard and breathed in deeply. How dared this man make assumptions about her when he didn’t even know her? She wasn’t ‘everyone’. She was so far removed from being ‘everyone’, so far removed from being the ‘norm’, that it didn’t bear thinking about.

She turned the key in the ignition and gunned the engine, clawing back some control. It was time get back to work.

She turned her head and met his clear and intense gaze. A shiver shot through her, making her both cold and hot at the same time. A shiver that created shimmers deep inside her.
No, no, no. Remember Steven
.

Don’t remember Steven
. She’d been working really hard on forgetting Steven and she didn’t want to revisit that pain either.

She involuntarily swallowed before clearing her throat. ‘I need to run this immunisation clinic so if you’re ready, we’ll leave now.’

Flynn wordlessly pushed back from the door where his arms had been resting. ‘Let’s head back, Susie.’ He walked slowly around the twin-cab truck, opening the back door for the health worker, and clambered in next to Mia, tilting his hat forward as if he was going to take a nap.

Everything about him, every action and word powerfully
stated that this man was in command of his world—completely and utterly. It was in stark contrast to Mia, who had the feeling she was only just hanging on by her fingernails. Coming to Kirra was supposed to give her some control, and at the very least control over her job. She didn’t think that was too much to ask, given what she faced in the future.

Mia thrust the truck into gear, forcing away the thoughts that threatened to undo her. She refused to let ‘Dr Cool and Laid-Back’ make her feel incompetent.

You’re doing a good enough job of that yourself
.

With a jerk, she swung the truck into a wide U-turn and pulled onto the main road, a plume of dust rising behind her. One hundred metres later she slowed and peered out the windscreen, checking for incoming planes as the runway crossed the road.

‘You’re right, no planes.’ The words sounded muffled from under the hat.

Exasperation whipped her. ‘Really, and you can see clearly out from under that hat, can you?’

Susie giggled behind her.

He tilted the hat back and his eyes twinkled at her. ‘Well, there are few holes in this old workhorse, but I can also hear. Combination of the senses, Mia.’

Susie’s earlier words, ‘Listen with all of you’ played across her mind. She’d been happy to hear them from Susie. But not from Flynn. Everything about this doctor had her on edge.

Thank goodness she only had to put up with him until tomorrow and then he’d fly out of her life for another week.

As she turned the truck onto the coast road and headed toward the clinic, she had to slow the vehicle to a crawl. There were people in cars, trucks, on bikes and on foot, blocking the road in a mass of colour—their bright clothing vivid against their dark skin. ‘I wonder what’s happening?’

‘Barge is in.’ Susie spoke matter-of-factly as she hopped out of the truck.

‘Friday’s barge day.’ Flynn wound down his window and high-fived some of the kids walking along the road.

Mia could see a big blue ship almost sitting on the shoreline, a large gangplank coming from the centre of its twin hull and resting on the red beach. She stared straight ahead at the party atmosphere in front of her as an ute, loaded with boxes, drove off the barge.

‘And that means…’ Flynn’s mouth twitched at the corners but his eyes expressed commiseration.

Realisation thudded through her. ‘It means no one is going to bring their baby, toddler or pre-schooler to the clinic this afternoon to be immunised.’ She gently banged her forehead against the steering-wheel, defeat tugging at her every pore.

‘See, you’re catching on already.’ His words were gentle with no trace of jubilation at her frustration.

With her head still against the wheel, she turned slightly as he stretched his long arms above his head, his shirt straining against muscular biceps. She bit her lip against the surge of unwanted heat that coiled through her. ‘You didn’t mention barge day when we left the airport.’ Her voice wavered.

He shrugged, his face impassive. ‘You were pretty
strung out at that point. I thought it best to go with
your
flow.’

She breathed in hard, realising she’d made a fool of herself in front of her new colleague. What did they say about first impressions not being able to be undone? She welcomed the uncomfortable edge of the steering-wheel against her forehead, overriding the pain of humiliation. ‘What a waste of a day.’

‘Nothing is ever a waste, Mia.’ His soft words washed over her, not soothing but not gloating either. ‘I tell you what, I’ll fill you in as much as I can during the next week. At least you’ll know that the footy and barge afternoons are times you do paperwork because no one will be at clinic.’

She abruptly sat up and stared at him, her heart hammering so hard against her ribs she was sure he could see it. Surely she’d misunderstood. Surely her humiliation wasn’t going to be extended over one hundred and sixty eight hours. ‘The next week?’ Her voice squeaked out the words. ‘I thought you were only here for tomorrow’s clinic?’

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes crinkling in a smile. ‘That had been the plan but things change. Kirra has the largest population so I’m here more often than not. I’ve been away for five days so now I need to play catch-up and I’m here for seven days straight.’

Somehow she managed to force the muscles of her face into a smile, while her gut seemed to fold inward. ‘I guess it’s my lucky week, then.’ But luck had never played a role in her life and she didn’t believe it was going to start any time soon.

F
LYNN
gazed out of his office window, watching the cabbage palms waving in the breeze and desperately trying to ignore the lure of the sunshine and wide-open spaces. Most of him wanted to be outside, swimming in a waterhole or just sitting under the shade of the banyan trees with the local community. He learned a lot by just sitting and listening.

But he had a major health department report due, and a budget review—two huge tasks that should be claiming his complete attention. Hadn’t he told Mia that Friday afternoon was a good time for admin work? But it seemed he couldn’t take his own advice today and his mind kept wandering. For some inexplicable reason he couldn’t stop thinking about Mia.

A dull thud sounded behind him, the third bump in the last twenty minutes. It sounded like Mia was tearing apart the treatment room. He grinned despite himself. She was the type of woman who couldn’t sit still even if she was tied to a chair. There was nothing new in that. Each new nurse needed to put his or her stamp on the place.

He met a new nurse every few months. More male
nurses were taking up positions but they were usually younger, came for some adventure, and headed back south for a promotion.

Generally the nurses were older women, jaded with life, anti-men, and they came up here so they could work solo. Teamwork didn’t usually feature on their agenda and they ‘tolerated’ doctors in their domain. He was used to flying in, running his clinics and flying out. In between he consulted over the phone for emergencies and other than those contact times he rarely gave these competent women another thought.

But Mia, with her long blonde hair, her vivid blue eyes and high cheekbones, had caught his attention the moment he’d walked around the plane. She didn’t fit the type at all. She seemed out of place and that had piqued his curiosity.

Yes, curiosity was the only reason he was thinking about her. It had nothing at all to do with honey-brown skin, a hesitant smile and long, long legs.

No, he was immune to women and had been since three thirty p.m., March eighteenth, two years ago.

But despite his immunity, the image of Mia—eyes flashing against fleeting shadows, with her hands fixed firmly on shapely hips—wafted across his mind. She’d been prickly from the moment they’d met.

The least you could have done was send a message to say you were going to be late
.

She was bossy with a take-charge attitude. He laughed out loud, the sudden realisation pushing away the disconcerting feeling that had dogged him since he’d first seen her. Mia wasn’t any different from the usual RAN after all.

With a clear mind he returned his attention to the spreadsheet blinking at him from the computer and tackled the budget.

Running feet unexpectedly pounded on the ramp outside his office and the door of the men’s entrance to the clinic was abruptly flung open, its hinges screeching in protest.

‘Doc, Sis, come quick.’ The distressed voice bounced off the walls.

Flynn shot out of his chair, reaching the corridor at the same moment as Mia. He instantly recognised Walter, one of the talented wood carvers on the island. ‘What’s happened?

‘What’s wrong?’

Walter gripped the railing on the wall, panting hard. ‘Jimmy, he’s in the ute. He’s hurt pretty bad.’

‘I’ll get the trolley.’ Mia quickly disappeared into the treatment room.

Flynn picked up the emergency kit. ‘Let’s go.’ He pushed open the door and ran, the heat of the late afternoon hitting him hard after the cool air of the clinic.

A twelve-year-old boy lay very still on his side in the back of a truck, the whites of his eyes wide with fear and a spear protruding from his back.

Flynn flinched at the unusual sight, immediately calculating possible internal damage. ‘Thank goodness you left the spear in place, Walter.’

The man ran his hands through his tight, curly hair. ‘Them boys were practising. I went to burn off, I was gone a few minutes and…’A long breath shuddered out of him as words failed him.

Flynn squeezed the father’s shoulder. The rattle of the trolley wheels against the ramp sounded behind him, along with Mia’s gasp as she stopped next to him.

This emergency would give him a chance to see Mia in action, and firm up what he already knew. Mia was cut from the same cloth as every RAN—a sole practitioner who had trouble working as part of a team. He’d worked with most types and sometimes it was easy and sometimes it was a hard slog. Based on how she’d bumped him from driving the truck, it would probably be a hard slog.

She cleared her throat. ‘Right, we need to cut the spear down closer to the entry point before we move him. We don’t want to cause any more damage than has already been done.’ She spoke firmly, as her sound practice broke through her initial shock. She looked straight at Flynn. ‘We need a saw.’

Flynn swallowed a sigh. She’d immediately taken charge, directing the play despite the fact she was working with a doctor. Situation normal. It looked like the power struggle had started already. ‘Walter, we need to cut the spear. Can you get a saw or some strong secateurs?’

‘I’ll get them from the shed.’ The anxious father ran around the building to the bush medicine garden, which was an important part of tying in indigenous medicine with modern.

‘There’s packing gauze in the kit to steady around the puncture site.’ Flynn handed Mia the large box, expecting her to counter his request with a suggestion of her own.

‘Right, will do.’ She eagerly accepted the box and pulled on a pair of gloves.

Her unexpected compliance startled him but there
was no time to second-guess her. He needed to concentrate on Jimmy. He crawled into the back of the ute, the ribbed metal hard against his knees. ‘Hey, mate, you weren’t supposed to be the target in practice. How are you feeling?’ His fingers immediately rested on the young boy’s neck, feeling for his carotid pulse.

Jimmy bit his lip, trying hard to be stoic. ‘It hurts heaps.’

Flynn nodded in understanding as he silently counted Jimmy’s pulse. Rapid but firm. Perhaps the spear had missed vital organs? But most of him knew that was probably wishful thinking.

Metal pinged as Mia scrambled onto the tray, hauling the emergency kit with her. ‘Hi, Jimmy, I’m Mia and I’m going to have to touch the area around the spear but I’ll be as gentle as I can.’