скачать книгу бесплатно
‘Does this happen often? I imagined I was coming to a quiet seaside village. Not some hotbed of violence.’
‘There’s nothing quiet about this place, at least not in the middle of summer,’ she said wearily. ‘We’re the only doctors’ surgery in this part of the town and the nearest A and E is twenty miles down the coast so, yes, we get our fair share of drama. David probably didn’t tell you that when he was persuading you to take the job. You can leave now, if you like.’
His eyes rested on her soft mouth. ‘I’m not leaving.’
There was a brief silence. A silence during which she stared back at him. Then she licked her lips. ‘Well, that’s good news for my patients. And good news for me. I’m glad you arrived when you did.’
‘You didn’t look glad.’
‘Well, a girl can’t be too careful and you don’t exactly look like a doctor.’ A hint of a smile touched that perfect mouth. ‘Did you see his face when you said you were Sicilian? I think they were expecting you to put a hand in your jacket and shoot them dead any moment.’
‘I considered it.’ Gio’s eyes gleamed with humour. ‘But I’ve only had one cup of coffee so far today. Generally I need at least two before I shoot people dead. And you don’t need to apologise for the mistake. I confess that I thought you were the receptionist. If you’re Alice Anderson, you’re nothing like David’s description.’
‘I can imagine.’ She spoke in a tone of weary acceptance. ‘David is seeing the world through a romantic haze at the moment. Be patient with him. It will pass, given time.’
He laughed. ‘You think so?’
‘Love always does, Dr Moretti. Like many viruses, it’s a self-limiting condition. Left alone, the body can cure itself.’
Gio searched her face to see if she was joking and decided that she wasn’t. Filing the information away in his brain for later use, he walked over to retrieve the coffee from the window-sill. ‘If you’re truly Dr Anderson, this is for you. An ice breaker, from me.’
She stared at the coffee with sudden hunger in her eyes and then at him. ‘You brought coffee?’ Judging from the expression on her face, he might have offered her an expensive bauble from Tiffany’s. She lifted a hand and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. Tired eyes. ‘For me? Is it black?’
‘Si.’ He smiled easily and handed her the coffee, amused by her response. ‘You have fans in the bakery who know every detail of your dietary preferences. I was told “just coffee” so I passed on the croissant.’
‘There’s no such thing as “just coffee”. Coffee is wonderful. It’s my only vice and currently I’m in desperate need of a caffeine hit.’ She prised the lid off the coffee, sniffed and gave a whimper of pleasure. ‘Large Americano. Oh, that’s just the best smell…’
He watched as she sipped, closed her eyes and savoured the taste. She gave a tiny moan of appreciation that sent a flicker of awareness through his body. He gave a slight frown at the strength of his reaction.
‘So…’ She studied him for a moment and then took another sip of coffee. Some of the colour returned to her cheeks. ‘I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I’m glad you’re early. You were just in time to save me from a nasty situation.’
‘I prefer to drive when the roads are clear. I thought you might appreciate the help, given that David has already been gone two days. We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Gio Moretti.’ He wanted to hold her until she stopped shaking but he sensed that she wouldn’t appreciate the gesture so he kept his distance. ‘I’m your new partner.’
She hesitated and then put her free hand in his. ‘Alice Anderson.’
‘I gathered that. You’re really not what I expected.’
She tilted her head to one side. ‘You’re standing in my surgery having frightened off two teenage thugs by your appearance and you’re telling me I’m not what you expected?’ There was a hint of humour in her blue eyes and his attention was caught by the length of her lashes.
‘So maybe I don’t fit anyone’s image of a conventional doctor right at this moment…’ he dragged his gaze away from her face and glanced down at himself with a rueful smile ‘…but I’ve been travelling all night and I’m dressed for comfort. After a shave and a quick change of clothes, I will be ready to impress your patients. But first show me to a room and I’ll stitch that boy before his friends return.’
‘Are you sure?’ She frowned slightly. ‘I mean, David told me you didn’t operate any more and—’
‘I don’t operate.’ He waited for the usual feelings to rise up inside him. Waited for the frustration and the sick disappointment. Nothing happened. Maybe he was just tired. Or maybe he’d made progress. ‘I don’t operate, but I can certainly stitch up a face.’
‘Then I’m very grateful and I’m certainly not going to argue with you. That wound is beyond my skills and I’ve got a full surgery starting in ten minutes.’ She looked at the teenager who was sprawled across the chairs, eyes closed, and sighed. ‘Oh, joy. Is it alcohol or a bang on the head, do you think?’
‘Hard to tell.’ Gio followed her gaze and shook his head slowly. ‘I’ll stitch him up, do a neurological assessment and then we’ll see. Is there anyone who can help me? Show me around? I can give you a list of what I’ll need.’
‘Rita, our practice nurse, will be here in a minute. She’s very experienced. Her asthma clinic doesn’t start until ten so I’ll send her in.’ Her eyes slid over him. ‘Are you sure you’re all right with this? We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow and if you’ve been travelling all night you must be tired.’
‘I’m fine.’ He studied her carefully, noting the dark shadows under her eyes. ‘In fact, I’d say that you’re the one who’s tired, Dr Anderson.’
She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘Goes with the job. I’ll show you where you can work. We have a separate room for minor surgery. I think you’ll find everything you need but I can’t be sure. We don’t usually stitch faces.’
He followed her down the corridor, his eyes drawn to the gentle swing of her hips. ‘Do you have 5/0 Ethilon?’
‘Yes.’ She pushed open a door and held it open while he walked inside. ‘Is that all you need?’
‘The really important thing is to debride the wound and align the tissues exactly. And not leave the stitches in for too long.’
Her glance was interested. Intelligent. ‘I wish I had time to watch you. Not that I’m about to start suturing faces,’ she assured him hastily, and he smiled.
‘Like most things, it’s just a question of practice.’
She opened a cupboard. ‘Stitches are in here. Gloves on the shelf. You’re probably about the same size as David. Tetanus et cetera in the fridge.’ She waved a hand. ‘I’ll send Rita in with the patient. I’ll get on with surgery. Come and find me when you’ve finished.’
‘Alice.’ He stopped her before she walked out of the door. ‘Don’t forget to call the police.’
She tilted her head back and he sensed that she was wrestling with what seemed like a major inconvenience then she gave a resigned sigh.
‘I’ll do that.’
CHAPTER TWO (#ufafd4de0-bfb2-5aa6-8ba6-069a43f99527)
ALICE spoke to Rita, called the police and then worked flat out, seeing patients, with no time to even think about checking on her new partner.
‘How long have you had this rash on your eye, Mr Denny?’ As she saw her tenth patient of the morning, she thought gratefully of the cup of coffee that Gio Moretti had thought to bring her. It was the only sustenance she’d had all day.
‘It started with a bit of pain and tingling. Then it all went numb.’ The man sat still as she examined him. ‘I suppose all that began on Saturday. My wife noticed the rash yesterday. She was worried because it looks blistered. We wondered if I’d brushed up against something in the garden. You know how it is with some of those plants.’
Alice picked up her ophthalmoscope and examined his eye thoroughly. ‘I don’t think it’s anything to do with the garden, Mr Denny. You’ve got quite a discharge from your eye.’
‘It’s very sore.’
‘I’m sure it is.’ Alice put the ophthalmoscope down on her desk and washed her hands. ‘I want to test your vision. Can you read the letters for me?’
The man squinted at the chart on her wall and struggled to recite the letters. ‘Not very clear, I’m afraid.’ He looked worried. ‘My eyes have always been good. Am I losing my sight?’
‘You have a virus.’ Alice sat down and tapped something into her computer. Then she turned back to the patient. ‘I think you have shingles, Mr Denny.’
‘Shingles?’ He frowned. ‘In my eye?’
‘Shingles is a virus that affects the nerves,’ she explained, ‘and one in five cases occur in the eye—to be technical, it’s the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve.’
He pulled a face. ‘Never was much good at biology.’
Alice smiled. ‘You don’t need biology, Mr Denny. But I just wanted you to know it isn’t uncommon, unfortunately. I’m going to need to refer you to an ophthalmologist—an eye doctor at the hospital. Is there someone who can take you up there?’
He nodded. ‘My daughter’s waiting in the car park. She brought me here.’
‘Good.’ Alice reached for the phone and dialled the clinic number. ‘They’ll see you within the next couple of days.’
‘Do I really need to go there?’
Alice nodded. ‘They need to examine your eye with a slit lamp—a special piece of equipment that allows them to look at your eye properly. They need to exclude iritis. In the meantime, I’ll give you aciclovir to take five times a day for a week. It should speed up healing time and reduce the incidence of new lesions.’ She printed out the prescription on the computer as she waited for the hospital to answer the phone.
Once she’d spoken to the consultant, she quickly wrote a letter and gave it to the patient. ‘They’re really nice up there,’ she assured him, ‘but if you have any worries you’re welcome to come back to me.’
He left the room and Alice picked up a set of results. She was studying the numbers with a puzzled frown when Rita walked in. A motherly woman in her early fifties, her navy blue uniform was stretched over her large bosom and there was a far-away expression on her face. ‘Pinch me. Go on, pinch me hard. I’ve died and gone to heaven.’
Alice looked up. ‘Rita, have you seen Mrs Frank lately? I ran some tests but the results just don’t make sense.’ She’d examined the patient carefully and had been expecting something entirely different. She studied the results again. Perhaps she’d missed something.
‘Forget Mrs Frank’s results for a moment.’ Rita closed the door behind her. ‘I’ve got something far more important for you to think about.’
Alice didn’t look up. ‘I thought she had hypothyroidism. She had all the symptoms.’
‘Alice…’
Still absorbed in the problem, Alice shook her head. ‘The results are normal.’ She checked the results one more time and checked the normal values, just in case she’d missed something. She’d been so sure.
‘Alice!’ Rita sounded exasperated. ‘Are you even listening to me?’
Alice dragged her eyes away from the piece of paper in her hand, still pondering. Aware that Rita was glaring at her, she gave a faint smile. ‘Sorry, I’m still thinking about Mrs Frank,’ she admitted apologetically. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Dr Giovanni Moretti is the matter.’
‘Oh, my goodness!’ Alice slapped her hand over her mouth and rose to her feet quickly, ridden with guilt. ‘I’d totally forgotten about him. How could I?’
Rita stared at her. ‘How could you, indeed?’
‘Don’t! I feel terrible about it.’ Guilt consumed her. And after he’d been so helpful. ‘How could I have done that? I showed him into the room, made sure he had what he needed and I promised to look in on him, but I’ve had streams of patients this morning and I completely forgot his existence.’
‘You forgot his existence?’ Rita shook her head. ‘Alice, how could you possibly have forgotten his existence?’
‘I know, it’s dreadful! I feel terribly rude.’ She walked briskly round her desk, determined to make amends. ‘I’ll go and check on him immediately. Hopefully, if he’d needed any help he would have come and found me.’
‘Help?’ Rita’s tone was dry. ‘Trust me, Alice, the guy doesn’t need any help from you or anyone else. He’s slick. Mr Hotshot. Or I suppose I should call him Dr Hotshot.’
‘He’s finished stitching the boy?’ She glanced at her watch for the first time since she’d started surgery and realised with a shock that almost an hour and a half had passed.
‘Just the head, although personally I would have been happy to see him do the mouth as well.’ Rita gave a snort of disapproval. ‘Never heard such obscenities.’
‘Yes, they were pretty drunk, the three of them. How does the head look?’
‘Better than that boy deserves. Never seen a job as neat in my life and I’ve been nursing for thirty years,’ Rita admitted, a dreamy expression on her face. ‘Dr Moretti has amazing hands.’
‘He used to be a surgeon. If he’s done a good job and he’s finished, why did you come rushing in here telling me he was having problems?’
‘I never said he was having problems.’
‘You said something was the matter.’
‘No.’ Rita closed her eyes and sighed. ‘At least, not with him. Only with me. I think he’s fantastic.’
‘Oh.’ Alice paused by the door. ‘Well, he arrived a day early, brought me coffee first thing, sorted out a bunch of rowdy teenagers and stitched a nasty cut so, yes, I think he’s fantastic, too. He’s obviously a good doctor.’
‘I’m not talking about his medical skills, Alice.’
‘What are you talking about, then?’
‘Alice, he’s gorgeous. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed!’
‘Actually, I thought he looked a mess.’ Her hand dropped from the doorhandle and she frowned at the recollection. ‘But he’d been travelling all night.’
‘A mess?’ Rita sounded faint. ‘You think he looks a mess?’
Alice wondered whether to confess that she’d thought he looked dangerous. Strangely enough, the teenagers hadn’t bothered her. They were nothing more than gawky children and she’d had no doubts about her ability to handle them. But when she’d looked up and seen Gio standing there…
‘I’m sure he’ll look more respectable when he’s had a shower and a shave.’ Alice frowned. ‘And possibly a haircut. The boy was in such a state, I didn’t think it mattered.’
‘You didn’t even notice, did you?’ Rita shook her head in disbelief. ‘Alice, you need to do something about your life. The man is sex on a stick. He’s a walking female fantasy.’
Alice stared at her blankly, struggling to understand. ‘Rita, you’ve been married for twenty years and, anyway, he’s far too young for you.’
Rita gave her a suggestive wink. ‘Don’t you believe it. I like them young and vigorous.’
Alice sighed and wished she didn’t feel so completely out of step with the rest of her sex. Was she the only woman in the world who didn’t spend her whole life thinking about men? Even Rita was susceptible, even though she’d reached an age where she should have grown out of such stupidity.
‘He doesn’t look much like a doctor,’ she said frankly, ‘but I’m sure he’ll look better once he’s shaved and changed his clothes.’
‘He looks every inch a man. And he’d be perfect for you.’
Alice froze. ‘I refuse to have this conversation with you again, Rita. And while we’re at it, you can tell that receptionist of ours that I’m not having it with her either.’
Rita sniffed. ‘Mary worries about you, as I do, and—’
‘I’m not interested in men and both of you know that.’
‘Well, you should be.’ Rita folded her arms and her mouth clamped into a thin line. ‘You’re thirty years of age and—’
‘Rita!’ Alice interrupted her sharply. ‘This is not a good time.’
‘It’s never a good time with you. You never talk about it.’
‘Because there’s nothing to talk about!’ Alice took a deep breath. ‘I appreciate your concern, really, but—’
‘But you’re married to your work and that’s the way you’re staying.’ The older woman rose to her feet and Alice sighed.
