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“What?” Outrage gathered in her chest and built into a froth that threatened to explode. Surely he was not going to make a personal call right now.
As if he saw something in her face, he reached out and encircled her wrist. “I want her husband to check on something at the house before he comes here,” he said in a low voice.
The anger flooding her system disappeared in a whoosh as she stared back at him.
Margie’s panicked voice broke between them. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure yet. But I don’t think you’re in labor.”
“Then what?”
“I think you may have been bitten by a redback,” Lucas said.
“A what?” Margie asked.
“It’s one of our most famous residents,” he said. “It’s a spider. A nasty one at that.”
A redback! Darcie had heard of them but had never encountered one, and since she wasn’t from Australia, it had never dawned on her that Margie could have been envenomed by something. Her patient was also from England. She’d probably never thought of that possibility either.
She glanced at Lucas. “Are they that common?”
“Quite.” He patted Margie’s hand. “If that’s the case we have antivenin we can give you, which should help.”
“If it is a bite, will it hurt the baby?” She gritted her teeth and pulled in another deep breath.
“I think we’ve caught it at an early stage.” His gaze went back to the monitor, which Darcie noted still held steady. “I want to have your husband check the towel and your bathroom.”
The patient’s eyes widened. “I used the walk-in shower in the guest bathroom this morning. I almost never use that one because it’s quite a long way from the bedroom. But my mother is due to fly in to help with the house and baby in a few weeks, and I thought I could tidy things and scrub the shower stall down as I was bathing.”
“I’m just going to pull Dr. Green into the hallway for a moment. I’ll send the nurse in to sit with you.”
Once they were outside the room, and Lucas had rung the husband, asking him to shake out the towel and examine the bathroom, she spun toward him. “A redback. Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure. Most Australians know what to look for, but no one else would. I’ve seen this once before. A redback bite that comes in looking like preterm labor.”
She sagged against the wall. “God. I would have never checked for that. I didn’t see a bite. Didn’t even think to ask.”
“You wouldn’t have. And as for the bite mark…” He shrugged. “Small fangs, but they pack quite a wallop.”
He gave a smile that looked as tired as she suddenly felt.
“Can we give antivenin to her during pregnancy?”
“We’ve given it before. I can’t recall anyone having a bad reaction, unless the patient is allergic to the equine immunoglobulin in the serum.” He sighed. “There’ve been some conflicting reports recently about whether or not the antivenin actually works, but I’ve seen enough evidence to tell me it’s worth a shot. Especially since she’s miscarried once already.”
Lucas’s mobile phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. “It’s him. Let’s hope this is the answer we’re looking for.”
He punched a button asking a few questions before assuring the man that she should do well with the antivenin and telling him they’d be awaiting his arrival.
“He found the redback. It was still in the towel. A big one, from the sound of it.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’ll need you to sign off on the medication. We’ll go the intravenous route rather than administering the antivenin intramuscularly, since that’s more favored at the moment.”
“Of course.” She closed her eyes with a relieved laugh. “God, I could kiss you right now. I never in a million years would have got that diagnosis right.”
A few seconds of silence met her comment.
Hell. Had she really just said that? About kissing him?
Evidently, because when she dared to look at him again a thread of confused amusement seemed to play across his face. “I don’t think now would be appropriate, do you, Dr. Green? But later…” He let his voice trail off in a way that gave her no question that he was definitely open to whatever later meant.
What? Hadn’t he just come to work this morning all rumpled and sexed up?
Sexed up? Was that even a real expression?
Whether it was or not wasn’t the point. It was unbelievable that he would roll out of one woman’s bed and be ready and willing to kiss a second one. A perfect stranger, actually, since they barely knew each other.
Not likely, you jerk.
She gave the haughtiest toss of her chin she could manage and fixed him with a cold glare. “It’s a figure of speech, Lucas, in case you haven’t heard. I was just happy to know that Margie’s symptoms have an explanation and a treatment. But get this straight. As grateful as I am for your help, I had no intention of really kissing you. Now…or ever. I have no interest in being part of a love triangle. Been there. Done that.”
Before she could scurry away in horror over that last blooper, he murmured, “I stand corrected on the kissing, although you totally had me for a moment or two. But I’m intrigued by this supposed love triangle you envision us in. Care to enlighten me as to who the third party might be, or do I have no say in the matter?”
Was he serious?
She wanted to hurl Cora’s name at him. Instead, by some superhuman force of will, she clamped her jaws shut before they had a chance to issue any other crazy statements. Then, without another word, she swung back into their patient’s room to give her the news about the redback.
At least he hadn’t asked her about the been-there-done-that part of her rant, because no one needed to hear her sad tale about the wedding that almost had been. Or the woman who’d stolen her fiancé’s heart when he was supposed to be madly in love with her.
Since when had she become so reckless with her words?
Just like the ruby stripe on the infamous redback that warned of dire consequences to those who came in contact with it, the answer to her last question was inscribed with words that were just as lethal: Lucas Elliot.
He made her forget about everything but his presence.
The thing was, she had no idea how to go about scrubbing him—or the image of their lips locking in a frenzy of need—from her mind and finishing out the rest of her time in Australia in relative peace.
But she’d better figure out an antivenin that would work against his charm and inject herself with it. As soon as she possibly could.
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_70c84722-2de1-5d90-8b8d-67789ed85ae1)
“HOW’S CORA?”
Isla settled herself on the paper-lined exam table like a pro, despite the burgeoning evidence of her pregnancy.
A week after they’d successfully treated the redback spider victim, Darcie had somehow managed to keep her tongue to herself.
Ugh. Now, why did that thought sound so raunchy?
And why was it that every time she was around Lucas her mind hadn’t quite stopped doing mental gymnastics over every word the man uttered, turning them over and over and looking for hidden meanings?
There weren’t any, and he hadn’t brought up the subjects of kissing, love triangles, or anything else of a personal nature, for which she was extremely grateful.
Here Isla was, though, bringing up the one person she had no desire to hear about.
Lucas’s supposed lover.
As if hearing her thoughts, he glanced at her before looking back at their patient. “She’s great. Wants me to buy her a sports car.”
Darcie’s eyebrows shot up, even though she tried to keep her facial features frozen into place. The woman had actually asked him to buy her a car? A pool of distaste gathered in the pit of her stomach. Just what kind of women did the man hang out with?
Isla, though, instead of castigating Lucas and telling him to kick the tramp to the curb, laughed as if she found that idea hilarious.
“Did you tell her she has to be tall enough to reach the pedals first?”
Her brain hit the rewind button and played those words over twice. Either he was dating a very short woman or…
“Yep. I also told her she has to be old enough to have her driving permit. So I’m safe for a few years.”
Darcie couldn’t help it. The words just came out. “Cora’s not of legal age?”
“He hasn’t talked your ear off about her yet? Wow.” Her former flatmate blew out a breath. “She’s his niece. And she gives him quite a bit of grief. Isn’t that right, Lucas?”
The man in question studied Darcie as if he couldn’t quite grasp something. “That’s right, and.” The pupils in his eyes grew larger. “Oh, Darcie, I’m almost afraid to ask. Who did you think she was?”
“I—I.” She stammered around for a second then finally gave up.
He made a tutting sound then his lips curved. “I think I see. A love triangle, wasn’t it? I don’t know if I should be insulted or flattered.”
“I just thought, she was—”
“My girlfriend?”
Isla’s voice cut in. “Would someone like to clue me in on what you two are going on about? What’s this about a love triangle?”
“It’s nothing.”
Lucas spoke at the exact same time she did. He then laughed, while Darcie’s face flamed.
Their patient looked from one to the other of them. “Oh, this is definitely not nothing. But…” she patted her belly “…someone is starting to use my bladder as his own personal football. So unless you want to take a break while I visit the loo, maybe we should get on with this.”
“Of course.” Lucas pulled out his measuring tape and stretched it over the bulge of Isla’s belly, writing the results on her chart. “Right on schedule. At this rate I think the baby will weigh in at a little over seven pounds. The perfect size for a first baby.”
“Thank goodness, because right now my stomach looks to be the size of a football.” She gave a light laugh. “I guess that’s why this little guy feels like he’s training for the World Cup.”
“Anything out of the ordinary? Contractions?”
“No. Nothing. I feel great.” She glanced at Darcie. “Except I have to break our date for the beach this afternoon. Someone called off sick, and they’ve asked me to fill in.”
“Don’t worry about it. Some other time.”
“I know, but I promised to take you to see some sights, and with everything with Alessi and the baby, time has just slipped away.” Isla slid a look at Lucas. “Aren’t you two on the same rota?”
A pit lodged in her stomach. “Yes, why?”
“Well, because…” She gave the midwife a wide smile. “Would you mind going in my place? Darcie and I were going to make a list of things for her to see and do. If she puts it off too much longer, she’ll go back to England without having visited anything.”
Her unease morphed into horror. “Isla, I’m sure he has other things to do with his off time than go to the beach.”
“Actually, I’m free once our shift is over.” The smile he gave her was much slower than Isla’s and held a touch of challenge that made her shiver. “I’ll be happy to help her make her list. And maybe even tick an item or two off of it. Since we do have the same rota. Unless she doesn’t trust me, for some reason.”
Isla skimmed her hands over her belly and gave a sigh that sounded relieved. “Of course she trusts you. That would be brilliant, Lucas. At this point, I would only slow her down.”
They were making plans that she hadn’t even agreed to. And go to the beach with Lucas? See those long legs stretched out on the sand beside hers? A dull roar sounded in her ears as panic set in.
“I’ll be fine—”
A quick knock sounded before she could blurt out the rest of her sentence, that she would be fine on her own, that she didn’t need company.
Sean Anderson, one of the other obstetricians, poked his head into the room. “Sorry, guys, they told me Isla was here.” He looked at the patient, his expression unreadable. “One of your teen mums-to-be projects is at the nurses’ station, asking for you. And after that your father wants to speak with you about your sister. I have a few questions about her myself.”
Poor Isla. Not exactly the kind of thing one wanted to deal with when heavily pregnant.
Charles Delamere—Isla’s father and the head of the Melbourne Victoria Hospital—had given her friend nothing but grief over her older sister’s mad dash to England and the reasons behind it. Sean hadn’t been far behind in the question department. But according to Isla, she’d promised Isabel that she would never reveal her secret to anyone. Especially not to Sean, since his coming to the hospital nine months ago had been what had sent Isabel running for the door in the first place.
She tried to avoid the other man’s gaze as much as possible, until Isla sat up and grabbed her hand. “Would you come with me, since you wanted to know more about the teen mums program?”
Her eyes said it all. She didn’t want to be alone with Sean in case he grilled her again about Isabel. Darcie wouldn’t have known about any of this except that Isabel’s sudden departure had left an opening at both the MMU and in the Delameres’ luxurious penthouse flat, which she’d shared with Isla until her friend’s marriage to Alessandro.
Darcie had been all too happy to take Isabel’s place, since she knew what it was like to run from something. In Darcie’s case, it had been the right decision. In Isabel’s, she wasn’t so sure.
Isla hadn’t told her much, but she knew Isabel was keeping something big from Sean. Maybe it was time for her to tell him the truth and see what happened.
But that wasn’t her decision to make.
“Of course I’ll come with you. It’ll give me a chance to meet someone who’s in the program.”
As Isla threw her a grateful look and slid off the bed, Lucas, who’d been listening to their conversation without a word, wrapped his fingers around Darcie’s wrist. “I’ll meet you by the entrance after work. This’ll give us a chance to discuss some things as well.”
Like how she’d somehow managed to leap to the conclusion that his niece was some floozy that kept him out late at night and caused him to have a flippant attitude about work? Heavens, she’d misjudged the man, and she wasn’t exactly sure how to make it right. But going to the beach with him was the last venue she would have chosen. For the life of her, though, she couldn’t think of a way to get out of it. “If you’re sure.”
“More than sure.” His thumb glided across the inside of her wrist, the touch so light she was almost positive she’d imagined it, if not for the cheeky grin that followed. Then he released her. “Give me a ring when you’re done.”
“‘Kay.”
Once out the door, she went with Sean and Isla to the waiting area, her shaking legs and thumping heart threatening to send her to the floor. It took several deep breaths to get hold of herself.
It turned out the expectant mum was there to introduce Isla to a friend of hers—also a teen, also pregnant—who wanted to be included in the teen mums program. Darcie’s heart ached over these young women who found themselves facing the unthinkable alone. She glanced at her friend, who greeted the newcomer with a smile, handing her a brochure that explained the enrolment process for TMTB. Darcie might not be able to understand what they went through, but Isla and Isabel understood all too well. Her chest grew tighter as she noticed Sean still standing behind them.
Oh, the tangled webs.
