The Taming of Dr. Alex Draycott (4 page)

Alex’s mouth flattened. ‘Even so…I don’t see how she can go on this way. She doesn’t look at all well. Something needs to be done. In fact, I feel really guilty that I took her up on her offer to look after the children. It worries me that I’m putting too much on her.’ She pulled in a deep breath. ‘And I don’t believe she’s coping too well with the house and garden either. The weeds are beginning to overtake the borders, and it’s all much more than she can manage.’

Callum gave Alex a perplexed stare. ‘I mended the fence and tidied up the rockery a couple of weeks ago.’

Alex finished wiping the table with a flourish. ‘I’m sure the stress of keeping up with the maintenance is taking a toll of her. Is there any chance you could arrange a more regular schedule? Find a local gardener who will come along and tidy things up, perhaps?’

He didn’t say a word for a moment or two, but simply studied her as though he was deep in thought.

‘You’re very good at this sort of thing, aren’t you?’ he said at last, a note of wonder in his voice.

‘This sort of thing?’ She frowned. ‘I’m afraid I’m not following you.’

‘Organising people…deciding what needs to be done. I get the strongest feeling that not only am I being audited at work, but now you’re taking stock of how I conduct my personal life as well.’ He turned his blue gaze on her. ‘I’m obviously done for. Maybe I should give in, here and now?’

Alex felt warm colour fill her cheeks. ‘Well, that would be a good idea,’ she said, giving a self-conscious laugh. ‘That would make things easier all round, wouldn’t it?’

He gave a wry smile. ‘You’ll find I don’t surrender that easily.’

‘I’
M ALL
done disturbing you, angel,’ Callum murmured as the two-year-old girl fretted and tossed restlessly on the bed. ‘No more horrible needles and stethoscopes and all that palaver.’ He adjusted the medication drip, and then drew an ink line around the perimeter of the reddened area on the infant’s leg. ‘Let’s hope that rash starts to shrink very soon,’ he commented to the nurse who was assisting him. ‘We’ll make arrangements to admit her.’

He gave his attention back to the child. ‘I think you’ll be feeling a lot better before too long. I’m going to come back later to take a look at you, and I hope I’ll find that nasty red area is beginning to disappear.’ He carefully adjusted the bedcovers around the child, and gently brushed away the flaxen curls that massed around her hot cheeks. ‘Just you go to sleep and let the medicine do its work. We’ll have you right as rain in no time at all.’

Alex stood in the doorway of the treatment room, following his movements as he briefly checked the monitors. She had slipped into the room quietly, not wanting to disturb him, so he hadn’t realised she was there, and for a moment or two she was able to watch him at work, undisturbed. It gave her a fascinating glimpse of the man behind the professional mask, and though she felt guilty at not announcing her presence, the compulsion to feast her gaze on him somehow overcame everything else.

He might well be a constant source of frustration to her where her budget schedule was concerned, but there was no doubting his commitment to the patients in his care. And even though paediatrics wasn’t his specialty, she could see he had a sure instinct for dealing with children. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him tending to a youngster in A and E. It was clear that he had a genuine concern for his young charges, and the tenderness that she saw in him as he leaned over the cot brought an unexpected lump to her throat.

It made it all the more difficult that she had to confront him right now, but she had a job to do, regardless, and so she stiffened her shoulders and quietly claimed his attention. ‘Might I have a word with you, please, Callum?’ she said.

‘Uh-oh…’ Callum glanced at her, and then moved away from his young patient’s bedside, giving final instructions to the nurse before walking towards the door where Alex waited, chart in hand. ‘I’ve heard you use that tone of voice before…’ he said under his breath, as he went out into the corridor. ‘Quiet but insistent.’ He frowned. ‘It generally means I’m in trouble of some kind.’

‘Not at all,’ Alex murmured, following him and adding sweetly, ‘You’re obviously developing a persecution complex of some sort.’

He nodded, a faint grin tugging at his mouth. ‘True. Funnily enough, it seemed to happen right about the time you joined the department.’

She tilted her head to one side. ‘Guilty conscience, perhaps?’

He shook his head. ‘Not true. I’m innocent as the day…at least, I think I am.’ He glanced at the chart she was carrying. ‘I expect that’s one of mine, or you wouldn’t be here. So what have I done this time?’

‘It isn’t just you,’ Alex said in a sympathetic tone. ‘I’m not singling you out. Please don’t think that. I’m checking everyone’s lab work to see if we can cut down on unnecessary testing…and here, looking at yours, I find you’ve ordered blood cultures, urine samples, swabs, to name just a few, for one small patient. Are you sure all these are really needed? Apart from the cost, we’re laying a great strain on the laboratory facilities.’

He put on a stern face. ‘If I hadn’t needed them, I wouldn’t have ordered them.’

‘For a simple fever?’

‘For a not-so-simple fever. The child was burning up, there was the beginning of a rash, and I suspect an insect bite of some sort that has led to a generalised infection which could lead to septicaemia.’ He studied her. ‘Do you really expect me to treat my patients without the proper diagnostic tools in place?’

‘Of course not.’ She smiled. ‘I’m just checking, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong in making sure everyone keeps efficiency and cost awareness in the forefront of their mind, is there?’

He gave her a sour look. ‘I’d appreciate it if you would take your checks elsewhere. I’m a consultant, remember, like yourself. I didn’t get to this position by not knowing what I’m doing.’

‘And I’m not suggesting otherwise. I see no reason why you should be so uptight about the situation,’ she commented in a soothing tone, trying to placate him. ‘We all want to do our best for our patients, and all I’m saying is that it’s only natural that sometimes we might be a little over-zealous in our efforts.’

‘I was not being over-zealous…I was being thorough. The child needs admission to hospital and treatment with an intravenous antibiotic. And if that doesn’t meet with your approval, then I’m afraid it’s too bad. That’s how it’s going to be.’

She put up a hand as though to ward him off. ‘I’m not stopping you from doing anything. All I’m saying is that we all have to be responsible and think carefully about the tests we order. It’s easy to slip into lax ways when you’re not the one counting the cost. Unfortunately, that’s down to me, and ultimately I have the job of making sure everyone complies with the new, stringent measures.’

He gave her a long look. ‘It never ceases to amaze me how very single-minded you are. Don’t you ever relax and watch the world go by without wanting to leap on its back and wrestle it into shape?’

She gave him a bewildered glance. ‘I’ve a job to do. What do you expect?’

‘I expect you to take a breather every once in a while.’ He checked the gold watch on his wrist, and as he moved she noticed the sprinkling of dark hairs that ran along his bare forearm. His shirtsleeves were rolled back, to show an expanse of skin that was lightly bronzed. His arms were muscular, his wrists strong, giving the impression of overwhelming masculinity, and for a second or two she felt a sudden tide of awareness that surged throughout her body and left her momentarily breathless.

He began to speak again, his voice cutting into her thoughts, and she reluctantly dragged her gaze away. It was strange, these weird sensations of being out of control that had afflicted her of late. She wasn’t used to feeling this way. Perhaps she was overworked, stressed, and the sheer amount of changes that were taking place in her life right now was making her unduly sensitive.

‘It’s getting late,’ he said, ‘and I don’t suppose you’ve had a break since lunchtime. I certainly haven’t. Why don’t we take a few minutes to go and get a cup of coffee—in my office, perhaps?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry,’ she answered abruptly, struggling to get a grip on herself, ‘but I don’t have time. I have to finish this data chart by the end of my shift, and I’m already running late.’

‘We could use the time to go over the budget cuts you had in mind,’ he suggested silkily, a glint coming into his blue eyes. ‘Of course, if you’d rather leave it until another day, that’s fine by me.’ He started to turn away.

Alex was suspicious of his sudden apparent willingness to work with her, but his offer was one she could hardly refuse, was it? ‘Uh…maybe I was a little hasty. I dare say I could spare a few minutes, since you appear to have had a change of heart.’

‘Change of heart? Me? I’ve always been happy to go along with your suggestions.’

She gave him a withering look. ‘Let’s not push it, shall we?’

He laughed softly, and stopped for a moment to sign off his patient’s treatment chart before dropping it into a tray on the reception desk. ‘Are there any casualty cards for me to fill in?’ he asked the girl behind the counter.

She checked, but then a moment later shook her head. ‘Seems you’re all up to date,’ she told him.

Callum gave Alex a smug glance. ‘See?’ he said. ‘Didn’t I say I was only too happy to work with you?’

She made a wry smile. ‘I heard you’d shut yourself in your office and barred all callers after your shift yesterday so that you could catch up with things.’ He hadn’t been in the best of moods, by all accounts. ‘Amazing what a little gentle badgering will do, isn’t it?’

He huffed, and gently but firmly took her by the arm, and ushered her into his office. He shut the door.

‘Oh my!’ she exclaimed softly, looking around. ‘You’ve done well for yourself, landing a prize room like this, haven’t you? It’s much bigger than mine.’ She gazed out of the large, Georgian-style window onto a wooded landscape to the side of the hospital. ‘What a beautiful view.’ After a moment, she turned back to face him. ‘I’d find it really hard to work in here—I’d be so distracted by that lovely scenery.’

‘I was going to say, hands off,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘but maybe we should do a swap—it might help to slow you down a bit. I’ve never met anyone before who was so driven—well, maybe one, but she was an exception, like you.’

‘You’d give up your room for me?’ She seized on his words and stared at him, wide-eyed, ready to tease him mercilessly. ‘What a lovely idea.’ She gazed around the room once more, her glance taking in the glass-fronted bookcase and luxuriously upholstered leather chair. She ran her fingers lightly over the polished surface of his desk. ‘I could really see me making myself at home in here.’

‘Yes, so can I.’ He watched her float dreamily about the room, stopping only to perch on the corner of the desk, draping herself possessively over it, one hand flat on the shiny top, the other resting lightly on her hip, her long legs crossed at the knee and showing a hint of creamy thigh. He looked at her abstractedly for a moment or two and appeared to be struggling to pull himself together.

‘On second thoughts, forget it,’ he said, going over to the other side of the room and setting out a bowl of sugar on the worktop. He retrieved a small jug of cream from the fridge. A coffee jug had been simmering gently on its base since they’d entered the room, but now he lifted it and began to pour the liquid into two mugs. ‘I can just imagine,’ he added in a droll tone, ‘once you get yourself established in here, you’d be so invigorated you’ll end up doing twice the amount of work you’re doing now.’

She chuckled. ‘You think so?’

‘I know it.’ He waved her to a padded leather chair by the side of the desk, and pushed the mug of coffee towards her. ‘Help yourself to cream and sugar.’

‘Thanks. Mmm…this is good.’ She sniffed the aroma appreciatively and then went to sit down. ‘Much better than the stuff in the machines out there.’ She waved a hand towards the corridor outside and then frowned. ‘But I’m a little concerned about your opinion of me. Where did you learn to be so mistrustful?’

His mouth quirked. ‘At my mother’s knee. And through dealing with people like you who prod and poke and instigate changes until what was once a smooth-running organisation becomes a mere sliver of what it was before.’ He lifted his mug to his lips and swallowed the hot coffee. ‘What is it that makes you so focussed and determined?’

She shrugged lightly, adding cream to her coffee and stirring it slowly. ‘I suppose I’ve always had a strong work ethic. It probably comes from my father. He believes in hard work, sticking to a task—for him there’s no such word as “can’t”. He says there’s always a solution and we have to keep going until we find it.’

‘And you live by his rules, even now, even though you’re a grown woman, with a mind of your own?’

‘Why wouldn’t I?’ She met his gaze full on. ‘It seems a reasonable enough philosophy to me. Besides, I’ve worked hard to get where I am today, and I’m not about to let it all slide. I always wanted to be a doctor…ever since I was little and I saw my friend being struck down by appendicitis, I knew it was the career for me. Now I’ve reached the point where I can see things that would be better for being changed, and I’m glad I’m in a position to do something about it.’

He sighed. ‘Lord save us from a woman on a mission,’ he murmured, his gaze sweeping over her. ‘Does it never occur to you to stop for a while and look at things from someone else’s viewpoint?’

‘Like yours, you mean?’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve a feeling you think everything can stay the same, and you go ploughing on, regardless of the warnings from all around you. There’ll come a time when the plough will break down and there will be no money to replace it. What will you do then?’

‘Get a spade and start digging.’ He frowned, studying her closely. ‘I must say you seem to be very clinical in your attitude, and strangely unemotional.’

She shrugged. ‘Someone has to be.’ She took another sip of her coffee and looked him over. His dark hair was a perfect foil for his rugged good looks and his eyes had that quality of being able to see right into your soul. It was disturbing, to say the least.

‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘I’ve noticed the same work ethic in you. You put in a lot of hours, you’re very dedicated to the job, and you must have been ambitious to get as far as you have in this profession. There aren’t too many consultants around who are in their mid-thirties.’ Her glance ran over him, gliding over the strong line of his jaw, coming to rest on the firmly moulded mouth that hinted at hidden sensuality. Dreamily, she wondered what it would be like to kiss him… Then she brought herself up sharply, veering away from the errant path her thoughts would have taken her. What on earth was wrong with her?

‘I suppose that’s true.’ He looked at her oddly, as though he was trying to fathom what was going on in her mind, and a wave of heat ran through her body. Heaven forbid he should work it out!

‘So what made you decide to become a doctor?’ she asked. ‘Are your parents in the same line of work? You said they were working with underprivileged children.’

He nodded. ‘In a manner of speaking, they are. They’re part of the World Health Organization, so mostly their work involves organising medical care. They generally manage to collaborate with one another on various projects.’

‘So I guess you don’t see much of them?’

‘That’s true. Of course, they come home on vacation, and they have a fairly generous span of time off, but they’re dedicated to what they do, especially my mother. The job is very important to her.’

He gave a faint smile but didn’t comment any further, and Alex was prompted to ask, ‘Would I be right in thinking your mother is the other person you know who is “driven”, as you put it?’