Marion Lennox - Prescription-One Bride

At least the pad still had circulation because, miraculously, the rotten flesh hadn’t invaded the major blood vessels. Yet…Another half a day and it would have been too late.

Too late for both the leg and for Harry, Jessie thought grimly as she worked. He would have been dead from starvation and infection.

Not now…Please…If they gave him maximum dose antibiotic and intravenous fluid to rehydrate the body…

Niall Mountmarche had given the dog a chance at life. She had to be grateful.

Niall…

Even though her whole concentration was needed for the job in hand, Jessie couldn’t help being aware of the man working silently by her side. He was watching everything she did, she knew, and the thought, instead of making her feel nervous, in fact steadied her.

What on earth was such a man doing in a place like this? Growing wine? The thought seemed ridiculous and yet only hours ago the thought of him being a doctor had seemed ridiculous. And what was wrong with the little girl?

Such questions had to be put aside until later…Much later.

Finally, she’d done all she could. Carefully she dressed the wound and moved to help Niall reverse the anaesthetic.

Now…

Now it was up to Harry.

Jess smiled as she finally stepped back from the table and stripped off her gloves. ‘Thank you, Dr Mountmarche,’ she said simply. Her face was showing more exhaustion than she knew.

‘It’s the least I can do,’ Niall Mountmarche told her brusquely. He’d adjusted the antibiotic through the intravenous drip and was now looking at Jess as if he couldn’t really believe what he was seeing. ‘That was a fine piece of work, Dr Harvey. I’m sorry I doubted your qualifications.’

Jessie stared. An apology from the Ogre of Barega. What next?

‘You don’t make such a bad vet yourself,’ she smiled at him. ‘For a human doctor.’

For a human doctor…

All of a sudden he was. Immensely human.

And immensely male.

He smiled then, his smile reflecting her relief, and Jess felt her heart give an unexpected jolt. What a smile…

Crazy…

She turned swiftly to the sink before her colour began to rise.

Or maybe it already had.

Maybe it was too late to disguise what she was feeling.

Niall Mountmarche was watching her with a look that she didn’t understand in the least. It made her feel…

Vulnerable.

And slightly afraid.

She struggled with the tapes of her gown and Niall moved swiftly to release them. The gown was lifted away, revealing once more her dust-stained shorts and shirt and bare arms and legs.

‘Back to Jessica Harvey, adolescent in need of a good bath,’ Niall grinned, and Jessie was forced to smile.

‘It’s hard being clinically clean when you’re a vet.’

‘There are not a lot of vets I know who crawl round under grapevines looking for patients.’ Niall motioned to Harry. ‘Will you leave him here?’

‘I’ll take him into the kitchen,’ Jessie told him. ‘It’s warm by the stove and I can watch him recover and make myself lunch at the same time.’ She hesitated and glanced at her watch. It was almost two in the afternoon. ‘Would you…would you like some lunch?’

‘No. I have to get back.’

Back to being the Ogre of Barega. Back to Paige.

‘Please…’ Jess put out a hand and laid it on his bare arm-and then wished she hadn’t. The feel of his skin against her fingers did something odd to her legs.

She lifted the hand away but made herself repeat the word.

‘Please…Before you go. Come and see Frank with me. He’s the owner of the dog and he’s here in the same building-only over the other side.’

‘Yes, I heard you had twin animal and human hospitals,’ Niall grinned. ‘A Health Department nightmare.’

‘What the heart doesn’t know…’ Jessie said demurely and matched his grin. ‘We’re a long way from officialdom here, thank heaven, and the arrangements have worked well until now.’

‘And now?’

‘Dr Hurd doesn’t like my animals.’ Jessie shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. We can be very separate when we try. Will you come and see Frank?’

He glanced at his watch. ‘Paige will be waiting…’ Then he looked up at Jess and smiled, that heartwarming, heart-stopping smile that was all the things that Jess considered most dangerous in a man.

‘Ten minutes, Dr Harvey,’ he smiled. ‘Ten minutes more of human contact before I go back to being the Ogre of Barega.’

He knew. He knew of his reputation.

Jessie felt herself flush crimson but Niall Mountmarche was smiling in a way that showed he didn’t mind the title in the least-in fact, by the look of it, he rather liked it!

They wheeled Harry down to the kitchen and settled him into a cage beside the big slow combustion stove. Jess worked with swift efficiency but Niall Mountmarche stopped at the kitchen door and stared in amazement.

‘Good grief!’

‘What?’ Jess was lifting the dog from trolley to cage, careful not to tangle his intravenous line, and Niall recovered from shock enough to move to help her.

‘It’s hardly a clinically clean kitchen-pristine for cooking,’ Niall told her. He hooked the bag of saline above the cage.

‘It’s clean enough for me.’

Niall shook his head. Having settled the dog, he stood and stared around the room.

It certainly was unusual. The house had been built with mass entertaining in mind and now, even though it was separated into two wings-hospital and vet clinic-Jess had been able to keep the original kitchen for her own use. She used every inch of it.

The vast slow combustion stove was the kitchen’s heart but surrounding it was ordered jumble. Bags of animal formula were heaped along one wall; there were tiny woollen bags with heating pads-obviously used for injured wildlife-hanging from chairs and, above their heads, bunches and bunches of sweet-smelling lavender hung like fragrant clouds.

‘You eat your cornflakes in here?’ Niall demanded incredulously and Jessie smiled. Her fingers were smoothing Harry’s soft ears, settling him from anaesthetic to deep, natural sleep. The longer he slept now the better. He wouldn’t worry the intravenous line and she could get maximum fluid and antibiotic into his starving body.

‘I like it,’ she said, and her voice was a little defensive. Separate your work from your home life, they’d told her at vet school, but Jess had never quite managed it.

‘I think I like it too,’ Niall smiled. He bent down over a woollen pouch. ‘Anyone home?’

There was. A moist, pinkish-brown nose emerged, followed by two huge brown eyes. The baby wallaby checked the intruder out, cast a doubtful glance across at Jessie as much as to say, ‘What are you doing letting us be disturbed when it’s not dinner time?’ and squirmed back down into his cocoon of wool.

‘For heaven’s sake…’ Niall Mountmarche’s normally grim face was transformed. He straightened and stared round the room. ‘Four pouches. Are they all…’

‘Only two are in use,’ Jessie told him. ‘I’m…I’m not taking new orphans at the moment.’

‘Not taking…’ Niall frowned. ‘You mean these aren’t pets?’

Jessie shook her head. ‘They’re wild creatures found orphaned or injured. The islanders know I care for them so they bring them to me. But I can’t cope with any more than two babies without help.’

‘And you’re without help?’

Jessie shrugged. ‘I do have a little,’ she admitted. ‘One of the nurses’ daughters comes in for emergencies. Lucy plans to be a vet and I’ve taught her to prepare and give formula. Lucy fed these two this morning while I searched for Harry. But I was lucky it was a school half-holiday. Lucy goes to school and doesn’t do night feeds and two-hourly feeds get a bit much when you’re by yourself.’