Awakening The Shy Nurse / Saved By Their Miracle Baby

‘Hi, Hugh. Had a good day?’

One of the team welcoming people back on board the ship after their shore excursions saw him heading for the gangway.

‘Fabulous, thanks, Simon. I love Barcelona. I had a picnic with a friend in Parc Guell.’

‘Oh…lucky you, not having to work today. I don’t get a day off on shore until Santorini this time. Or it might be Mykonos. One of the Greek islands, anyway.’

‘I know… I’m lucky. We only need one doctor on board at all times when we’re in port so, with two of us, we can take turns.’

He did feel lucky. What other doctors got to do their work in what could seem like an endless holiday but still got to practise enough real medicine that it didn’t get boring and it was also possible to keep one’s skills honed? Okay, he’d probably want to settle down sometime in the future but not yet. Maybe never, in fact. He’d almost done that once and look what a disaster that had turned out to be.

‘I’m about to go and take over from Peter now, though,’ he added, heading towards the gangway. ‘That way he can at least get out and stretch his legs on land.’

Hugh took the stairs rather than the elevator to get to the lobby atrium of the ship, which was one of the most impressive areas on board with its marble floors, glittering chandeliers, huge potted palm trees, and the grand piano that was always providing some background music for the crowds taking advantage of the boutique shops and bars that circled the lobby on several levels.

Except old Harry wasn’t playing his usual repertoire of popular classics. He wasn’t playing anything at all but standing beside his piano stool, looking down at a knot of people at the base of one of several staircases that curved gracefully between the atrium levels.

What was going on? Hugh’s pace increased as he got close enough to see that someone was on the floor in the middle of the group. An elderly woman, who, despite what had to be well over thirty-degree heat today, was wearing quite thick stockings. One of her shoes had come off and was lying beside someone that was crouched at the woman’s head.

‘Let me through, please,’ he said calmly. ‘I’m a doctor. What’s happened here?’

The crouching person looked up and Hugh was momentarily startled to see that it was the blushing girl from the taxi rank. Right now, however, she was supporting an elderly woman’s head in a manner that suggested she knew what she was doing to protect and assess a potential cervical spine injury.

‘She fell,’ he was told. ‘From about halfway down these stairs. Her neck seems to be okay, though.’

‘Did you see it happen?’

‘Yes… I was almost beside her going up the stairs.’

‘Please…’ the victim of the fall raised her hands. ‘Just help me up. I’m fine… I really don’t want to cause such a fuss.’

‘We need to make sure you’re okay first,’ Hugh told her. ‘My name’s Hugh and I’m a doctor and this is…’ He raised his eyebrows at the young woman who had, he couldn’t help noticing, rather extraordinary eyes—a golden hazel shade but the edge of the iris had a dark rim around it, as if nature had been determined to accentuate the design.

‘Lisa,’ she supplied. ‘My name’s Lisa and I’m a nurse.’

No wonder she was giving the impression of competence, Hugh thought, as he focused on his patient. ‘What’s your name, love?’ he asked.

‘Mabel…’

‘Is anything hurting, Mabel?’

‘I… I’m not sure… I don’t think so, dear.’

‘Can you take a deep breath? Does that hurt?’

‘No…’

‘Is someone with you?’

‘Frank…my husband…he’s coming shoon. We need to shee about our…our…’

Hugh frowned. Mabel might look to be well into her eighties but that didn’t mean she might not have been having a drink or two this afternoon. But slurred speech could very well be an indication of something more serious as well—like hypoglycaemia from a diabetic emergency or a head injury, which was not unlikely given the hard marble flooring beneath her.

‘Was she knocked out?’ he asked Lisa.

She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so but, if she was, it would have only been for a moment because I was beside her by the time she got to the bottom of the stairs. I tried to catch her but I was just a split second too slow, unfortunately.’

This Lisa might be small but Hugh could imagine her leaping into action to try and help someone. She was still clearly determined to help.

‘She didn’t just fall,’ Lisa added. ‘She looked dizzy. She was already holding the railing but she let go and…’ Lisa was watching the elderly woman carefully. ‘Mabel? Do you remember that?’

‘No…pleashe…let me up…’

Hugh was holding Mabel’s wrist, finding her pulse rapid but very pronounced, so her blood pressure couldn’t be low enough to explain any dizziness.

‘Move back, folks.’ Old Harry, the pianist, had come down from the stage and was trying to move people further away. ‘Let’s give them some space.’ He caught Hugh’s gaze. ‘I’ll go to the infirmary, shall I? And get some help?’

Hugh nodded. ‘Yes, thank you.’

Mabel pulled away from his hand and moved as if she was making an effort to sit up.

‘Don’t move, Mabel,’ Lisa said. ‘Let us look after you for a minute, okay?’

But Mabel tried to roll and then cried out with pain.

‘What’s hurting?’ Hugh asked.

‘Look…’ Lisa tilted her head to indicate what she had noticed. ‘That looks like some rotation and shortening of her left leg, don’t you think? A NOF?’

Fracturing a neck of femur was a definite possibility given the mechanism of injury and they were often not that painful until the patient tried to move, but Hugh was impressed that Lisa had picked up on it with no more than a glance.

‘Try and keep still, Mabel.’ Lisa leaned down so that Mabel could hear her reassurance. ‘It’s okay…we’re going to take care of you…’

The warmth and confidence in her voice was as distinctive as her eye colouring. She sounded absolutely genuine—as if she was well used to taking care of people and doing it extremely well. If Hugh were unwell or injured, he would certainly feel better hearing that voice. Mabel was trying to respond but seemed to be having trouble getting any words out and that was when Hugh noticed the droop that was now obvious on one side of her face. Lisa’s observations that it had appeared to be a medical event that had caused the fall rather than a simple trip and the other symptoms like the slurred speech now were coming together to make it urgent to get this patient into hospital.

It was a relief to see the other ship’s doctor, his colleague Peter, coming into the lobby, with the emergency kit in his arms. One of their nurses was following and she carried a pillow and a blanket under one arm and an oxygen cylinder under the other. Hugh had another flash of relief that they were currently docked in the port of a major city. They might be very well equipped to deal with emergencies on board but someone who was potentially having a stroke and had fractured their hip in a fall would have needed evacuation to a land hospital as quickly as possible. At least they wouldn’t need to call in a helicopter this time.

‘We need an ambulance,’ he told Peter. ‘Not just for the NOF. We’ve got signs that the fall might be the result of a CVA.’

‘We’ll get them on the way.’ the older doctor nodded.

‘Mabs?’ An elderly man was pushing his way through the concerned spectators. ‘Oh, no…what’s happened?’

He crouched down beside Lisa, who moved to let him get closer to his wife. Hugh turned to reach into the emergency kit as Peter opened it. They needed to get some oxygen on for their patient, check her blood glucose level, get an IV line in and some pain medication on board and to splint her hip. They needed to talk to Mabel’s husband, too, and find out about her past medical history and what kind of medications she might be taking. It was only when he looked back to start talking to Frank that he realised that Lisa had disappeared. Did she think she might be in the way now that the rest of the ship’s medical staff were on scene?

It was a shame she’d gone, anyway. He would have liked to have thanked her. And to tell her how helpful she had been.

Lisa should probably have introduced herself to the ship’s doctor and the nurse who’d come in with him and she should have offered to keep helping, but after she’d moved to let Mabel’s husband get close enough to comfort his wife, the nurse had moved in front of her and it just hadn’t been the right time to say anything that might interrupt the focus on their patient so Lisa had let herself slip into the background to let them do their work. She would have expected that good-looking passenger who also happened to be a doctor to stand back and let the people in uniform take over but it almost looked as if he was still in charge of the scene.

Moving further back brought Lisa to the bottom of the staircase and she took a few steps and then paused to watch what was happening. She might be doing this herself very soon, dressed in pale green scrubs with a stethoscope hanging round her neck like the nurse who was currently taking Mabel’s blood pressure. The doctor, in a crisp, white uniform with epaulettes on the shoulders of his shirt, was attaching electrodes to monitor Mabel’s heart and the extra doctor… Hugh…was sorting something from what looked like a well-stocked kit. IV supplies, perhaps?

She could only see Hugh’s profile but she’d been much closer to him only a minute or two ago and she’d been aware from the instant he’d appeared that this was a very different man from the one who might have been flirting with her near the taxi rank earlier.

It wasn’t that he was any less good looking, of course. Or even that that relaxed grace that came from an easy enjoyment of his life had vanished. It was more that there was a focus that made it obvious this man was intelligent and he knew what he was doing. Lisa could respect that. She could forgive him for being some kind of playboy, in fact. After all, doctors were just like any other professional people and there were no laws that prevented them going on holiday and letting their hair down occasionally, were there?

Onlookers were being asked to leave the area and make space as a team of paramedics arrived with a stretcher. Lisa found herself in a flow of people that took her to the next level of the atrium but she knew she needed to find an elevator or internal stairway. Not that there was any point in finding the ship’s medical centre to introduce herself when she knew the staff were busy here for the moment, but her suitcase would have been delivered to her cabin by now so it would be a good time to find out where that was and freshen up before she went to meet her new colleagues.

She did know she had to go down rather than up. Crew members didn’t get cabins with balconies. They were possibly right in the middle of the ship and might not even have any portholes. Lisa had to hope that she wasn’t prone to seasickness. Either that, or that the Mediterranean was a very calm sea.

An hour or so later, Lisa was heading for the middle of Deck Two, where a helpful steward had told her the medical centre and infirmary were located. She had showered, swapped her jeans for a more formal skirt and brushed her short waves of auburn hair into a semblance of order. A large red cross painted on a steel door told her that she had found her destination and a sign below that gave the hours the medical facility was open and phone numbers for the nurse on duty for out of hours. So, it was a nurse rather than a doctor that made the first response to any calls?

Lisa’s heart skipped a beat as she went into an empty waiting room. She was going to be one of those nurses for the next two weeks, with possibly more responsibility than she’d ever had before if she was going to be the first responder to something major like a cardiac arrest or severe trauma. This time she knew that that internal flutter was definitely excitement. She was stepping well out of her comfort zone here, and…well…she couldn’t wait…

‘Hello?’

The desk at one side of the waiting room was empty. Lisa peered around a corner and walked a short distance down the corridor. There were consulting rooms, a room labelled as a laboratory where she could see benches covered with equipment that looked like specialised blood or specimen testing machines and a closed door that had a sign saying it was the pharmacy. An open door on the other side of the corridor showed Lisa what looked like a small operating theatre. Surprised, she stepped into it. There was a theatre light above the narrow bed in the centre of the room, a portable X-ray machine, cardiac monitor and ventilator nearby and glass-fronted cupboards lining the walls that looked to be stocked with a huge amount of medical supplies.

A movement in her peripheral vision as she entered the narrow corridor again made Lisa turn, to see the back view of the white pants and shirt of the ship’s doctor’s uniform as he stood at the desk in the waiting room.

‘Hello…’ she said again, walking towards him. ‘I was starting to wonder if I was all alone here.’

The doctor turned and Lisa could actually feel her jaw dropping. If she’d thought this man was good looking when she’d seen him kissing his girlfriend, it was nothing to how attractive he looked in uniform. Especially this uniform, with the snowy, white fabric accentuating his tanned skin and making those brown eyes look remarkably like melted chocolate. He also looked as startled as Lisa was feeling. They both spoke at precisely the same time.

‘What are you doing here?’ Lisa’s voice was embarrassingly squeaky.

‘It’s you…’ His tone was more than welcoming. It was almost delighted.

They both stopped speaking then and simply stared at each other. Lisa was confused. Why was Hugh wearing the same uniform as the ship’s doctor? And, now that they were nowhere near someone who needed medical attention, why was it that the first thought that came into her head as she looked at him was the image of him kissing that woman so very thoroughly? To her dismay she could feel heat creeping into her cheeks.

It was Hugh who finally broke the awkward moment, his mouth curving into a lazy smile. ‘You’re blushing.’ He sounded amused. ‘Again…’

Oh, help… So, avoiding eye contact with him out on the pier hadn’t been enough to disguise her beetroot-coloured cheeks, then. Lisa closed her eyes as she sighed. ‘I’m a redhead. It kind of goes with the territory.’ She opened her eyes again, frowning. ‘I thought you were a passenger.’

‘But you knew I was a doctor. We’ve just been working together.’

‘Yes, but… I thought you were a doctor who was on holiday.’ Good grief…the look she was getting suggested that it was Hugh who was confused now. He probably thought that she was an idiot. ‘I’m Lisa,’ she added. ‘Lisa Phillips. I’m a—’

‘Nurse,’ Hugh put in helpfully. ‘Yes, I remember. A good one, too, I think. Thank you for your help earlier. With Mabel.’

‘It was a pleasure.’ The compliment about her abilities was making her feel far more proud of herself than it merited. ‘Do you know how she is?’

‘I believe she’s doing well. She’s scheduled for hip surgery later this evening but the better news was that her neurological symptoms had virtually resolved by the time she reached the hospital.’

‘So it was a TIA rather than a stroke?’ A transient ischaemic attack could present with the same symptoms of a stroke but they were temporary. A warning signal rather than a critical event.

‘So it would seem.’ The quirk of Hugh’s eyebrow told her that he was impressed by her medical assessment but then his smile reappeared. ‘Now…what it is that I can help you with, Lisa Phillips? I hope you’re not unwell…or injured…’

Along with a very genuine concern in his voice, there was a gleam in those brown eyes that made Lisa remember that kiss all over again. Or rather the moment he’d caught her gaze after the kiss and they’d both acknowledged what she’d seen. There was also an acknowledgement of something on a different level—one of mutual attraction, perhaps? Oh…help… Lisa looked away. Any attempt to return the man’s smile evaporated instantly. She’d never expected to see him again and things were about to get even more unsettling.

‘I’m a nurse,’ she explained.

‘Yes, I know. A nurse on holiday.’

‘No… I’m here to work. Through London Locums. I believe I’m replacing someone called Amanda who needed time to support her mother who’s having surgery?’

There was another moment of startled silence. ‘You’re our locum? Why didn’t you say something?’

‘Why would I? I thought you were a passenger.’

‘But you didn’t say anything when Peter turned up.’

‘Peter?’

‘Our other doctor. And Janet was there—one of our nurses.’

‘Well…it didn’t seem quite the right moment to be introducing myself.’

‘I guess not. Let’s do that properly now, shall we?’ Hugh was holding out his hand. ‘I’m Hugh Patterson. Pleased to meet you, Lisa. I look forward to working with you for the next couple of weeks. And it will be me you’re working with mostly because you’re filling a gap on my Blue Watch.’

‘Oh?’

Lisa had taken his hand automatically but, instead of shaking hers, he simply held it for a moment and then gave it a slow squeeze, and that did it. Like a switch being flicked on, an electrical jolt shot from Lisa’s hand and raced up her arm—an extraordinary tingle she had never felt before in her life. It was enough to make her pull her hand free with the kind of instinctive reflex she might have had to touching something that was hot enough to burn her badly.

How weird was that?

And this Hugh Patterson was looking forward to working with her?

‘Yes,’ he said, as if confirming her silent query. ‘I’m Blue Watch. Peter’s Green Watch. It just means that we’ll be working together. Probably having the same days off as well and you should be able to get some shore excursions if there’s space. Do you have a favourite place to visit around the Mediterranean?’

‘This is the first time I’ve been out of England,’ Lisa confessed.

‘Really?’ Hugh sounded astonished. ‘You don’t like travelling?’

‘I’ve…um…never really had the opportunity, that’s all.’ Lisa wasn’t about to tell him the reasons why. He didn’t need to know about her family responsibilities and he certainly wouldn’t be interested in hearing about financial hardship. This Hugh Patterson looked like one of life’s golden people who never had to worry about anything much. Someone from a completely different planet from her own, which made her wonder how well they might be able to work together. Perhaps he was thinking along the same lines now because the look she was receiving made her feel as if she was being seen as someone very unusual. Someone…interesting?

The prospect of her new working responsibilities pushing the limits of her professional comfort zones were nothing in comparison to how this man was pushing the boundaries of anything she considered personally safe when it came to men.

No wonder she’d snatched her hand back as if she was about to get burned.

Anyone who had anything to do with Hugh Patterson could be playing with fire. Lisa could feel herself releasing her deeper than usual breath carefully. It was nothing to worry about because she never played with anything dangerous. Never had. Never would. That there was even any temptation there was enough of a warning that she wasn’t about to ignore.

‘I’m looking forward to working here as well,’ she heard herself saying with commendable calmness. ‘And, if you’ve got a moment, I’d appreciate a bit of a tour, if you’ve got time, that is. I’d like to get up to speed as soon as possible—preferably before my first shift tomorrow morning.’

Lisa was edging back a little as she spoke. Even though she had broken the skin contact between them well over a minute ago, she could still feel that odd tingle it had provoked. It was almost as if she could still feel the warmth of his skin, filling the air between them, and when he spoke both his words and his tone made both those impressions even more noticeable.

‘No problem,’ he said. Those dark eyes were watching her so closely Lisa had the horrible feeling that he knew about that tingle. That he knew that she thought he was dangerous.

‘Come with me,’ he added, with that lazy smile that was already beginning to feel familiar—the one that suggested he was finding this all rather amusing and he intended to enjoy the entertainment as much as possible. ‘I’m all yours, Nurse Phillips.’

CHAPTER TWO

OH, DEAR…

It was going to be too tempting not to tease this new colleague a little. There was something about her that made her seem much younger than she probably was. First appearances were giving him an interesting impression of someone being well educated and intelligent but possibly naïve at the same time. Hugh had never had a little sister, but if he had, he was quite sure he’d feel like this in her company. He could appreciate the fact she was gorgeous without being remotely attracted, feel proud of her ability to do her job well and perhaps recognise that there were things he could teach her. That, in the interests of being a kind, big brotherly sort of person, he had a duty to teach her, even.

Like persuading her that life could be significantly more enjoyable if she relaxed a bit? She was so tense. So eager to give the impression that she could cope with anything she might be asked to do. It seemed that this Lisa not only liked to be able to manage on her own when it came to carrying a suitcase, she was determined to get all the information she needed to be able to achieve the ability to manage alone in her professional environment if that should prove necessary.

‘So…do you follow a standard protocol for resuscitation in cardiac arrest?’ Lisa was clearly familiar with the model of life pack for cardiac monitoring and defibrillation that was on top of their rapid-response/resuscitation trolley. ‘Thirty to two compressions to ventilation rate until an advanced airway is secure? Immediate shock for documented VT or VF and then every two minutes?’

Hugh nodded. ‘You’ve got a recent Advanced Care Life Support qualification, I assume? That’s one of the standard requirements for working on board a ship.’

Lisa mirrored his nod. ‘I’ve had experience with laryngeal mask airways and administration of adrenaline but I’m not yet qualified for antiarrhythmic drugs or intubation.’

Something in her tone made Hugh curious. Or maybe it was the use of that qualifying ‘yet’.

‘What made you decide to go into nursing and not become a doctor?’ he asked her.

There was a flash of surprise in her eyes that made him wonder if she wasn’t used to people asking her personal questions—or that she discouraged them because she preferred to guard her privacy.

The response was no more than a verbal shrug, however. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘I just get the impression you’d like to be doing more. Like intubating someone in a cardiac arrest?’

Lisa’s glance slid away from his. ‘I always wanted to work in a medical field,’ she said. ‘Nursing was the most practical option at the time.’ She turned to touch another piece of equipment that was close. ‘Does this take digital X-rays?’

‘Mmm…’ Hugh was still curious but he knew when someone wanted to avoid talking about something. Had Lisa become a nurse because she hadn’t been able to afford the time or costs to go to medical school? ‘It can be helpful to be able to transmit an image, either for a second opinion—which we can get via internet links to all sorts of international experts—or to get the right treatment available as soon as possible if we transfer someone to a land hospital, by chopper, for instance.’