Joanna Neil - Hawaiian Sunset, Dream Proposal

It might have been her imagination, but she thought she detected a look of relief passing over James’s face. Was he finding it too much of a strain lately, being the second half of a couple? Over the last few weeks she had noticed subtle changes in his manner towards her, though she had tried to tell herself it wasn’t happening. Now it cut her to the quick to have to take on board the changes in him. She didn’t want to believe that their relationship was falling apart, but all the signs were beginning to point in that direction.

‘I might do that, if you really don’t mind? I said I would help her as much as I could.’ He made a fleeting smile. ‘It’s strange, but it appears we have a lot in common. It turns out Caitlin’s studying pharmaceutical sciences and wants to go into clinical research, much the same as me. It’s an odd world, isn’t it?’

Amber nodded. So they were on first-name terms already, were they? Her gaze was bemused as she watched him walk away. She set off with Sarah towards the patient’s private room.

‘I don’t think I would have had the confidence to give him the go-ahead to meet up with another woman,’ Sarah commented in a low voice as they walked along the corridor. ‘Seems like a risky proposition to me.’

Amber gave a shuddery sigh. ‘I’ve a feeling you could be right, but without trust, what is there? If I tried to stop him, it would make me appear selfish and uncaring, and for his part he’d probably end up feeling thwarted and resentful.’

‘You’re too good for this world,’ Sarah commented dryly. ‘In fact, you have a lot in common with Martyn Wyndham Brookes, now I come to think of it. I feel really sorry for him. He seems like such a lovely man. Even though he was very ill when he first came to us, he managed to thank us for what we were doing for him. He was appreciative to all the nurses. He’s one in a million…I suppose it must have been great for his daughter to have him come over to the U.K. to work for a few months while she’s studying here.’

‘I should imagine so. I take it for granted that my parents are fairly close at hand, though we don’t see each other as often as I would like. It must be a bit lonely for Martyn’s daughter, being so far from home.’ Amber was making an effort to put all thoughts of James and her patient’s daughter out of her mind. It was all supposition up to now, and she could be wrenching her heart unnecessarily.

‘A great experience, though, coming to study at one of the best universities around. And she has a dishy cousin keeping in touch with her.’ Sarah grinned. ‘Now, that does make me envious…except I wouldn’t want to be related to him. He’s much more like eligible-bachelor material.’

Amber gave a rueful grin. ‘Are you sure he’s eligible?’

‘Oh, yes. Professor Halloran told me so. The family’s rich, and he’s always in the papers because some flighty madam wants to get her hooks into him.’

Amber gave a dismissive laugh. ‘I don’t believe that for a minute. I have a feeling that he’s way too grounded to allow anyone to take advantage unless he wants it. Just talking to him puts my defences on alert.’

‘That’s because you’re ultra-cautious—and you’re much more of a touchy-feely kind of person. Talking to him via a screen and a microphone isn’t the same as meeting up with someone face to face. Technology just doesn’t do it for you, does it?’

‘You should have been a psychologist,’ Amber remarked with a faint smile. ‘Is he online right now, do you know?’

‘Yes, he is,’ Sarah murmured. Her mouth relaxed into a soft smile. ‘He spoke to me to ask how things were going in the catheterisation suite. I’d have given anything to stay and chat with him,’ she added in an undertone, ‘but his cousin beat me to it, coming into the room and wanting to tell him what she’d heard.’ She rolled her eyes heavenward. ‘He has everything, doesn’t he? Good looks, energy and a fabulous office practically on the beach.’

‘Perhaps he works from home,’ Amber suggested. ‘If his family owns an international fruit-shipping company, it could be that they live on site. Imagine being at work and watching the waves roll onto the beach while you cool down with a glass of something iced and delicious, made by your own company.’

Sarah chuckled. ‘I doubt I’d get very much work done in those circumstances,’ she murmured.

When Amber walked into Martyn’s room a moment later, she saw straight away that he was in a state of exhaustion. Of course, he was still drowsy from the anaesthetic, but the readings from the various monitors showed her that he was very weak and that his heart was struggling. She checked his medication, adjusting the infusion meter, before turning to his daughter, who was sitting, waiting anxiously by his bedside.

The computer monitor with the video link was set up so that Ethan Brookes would be able to see both his uncle and his cousin. Amber did her best to ignore the webcam while she spoke to Caitlin. She was aware of Ethan’s image in the background, though, his features alert, his gaze watchful, and though she nodded towards him briefly out of politeness, she preferred to set about dealing with the flesh-and-blood person who was in the room with her.

‘Professor Halloran asked me to let you know that he removed the blockage in your father’s artery,’ she told Caitlin. ‘His circulation improved right away, and he should soon start to feel much better. Even so, it looks as though there has been extensive damage to his heart, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe he will ever regain perfect health. It’s important that you know that.’

Caitlin’s gaze was cool and remote. ‘Wouldn’t he have stood a better chance if he had been operated on earlier?’

It was a faint barb, but Amber deflected it easily enough, knowing that the young woman was deeply upset and trying to come to terms with her father’s illness.

‘No, I’m afraid he wouldn’t,’ she said gently. ‘Your father was already struggling with a heart that had been weakened by an infection of some kind. It must have occurred a while ago, and unfortunately it means his heart muscle is unable to pump at normal strength. The body tries to compensate for this, and as a result fluid builds up in the lungs, liver and legs.’

‘What treatment are you planning on giving him?’ Ethan Brookes’s deep voice cut into their conversation. ‘There are things that you can do to help him have a better quality of life, aren’t there?’

‘Yes, we can certainly do that.’ Amber turned to look at the computer screen. Ethan Brookes’s blue eyes seemed to pierce her like lasers, as though he would accept no prevarication. ‘We’ll give him medication that will enhance the capacity of the heart muscle. Professor Halloran has prescribed a cardiac stimulant. What we want to do is make the heart’s pumping more effective, and at the same time reduce congestion.’

She turned back to Caitlin. ‘I know this is going to be hard for you to accept,’ she said softly, ‘but your father is never going to be the man he once was. He’s very frail and once he’s up and about again he’ll find that he’s short of breath if he tries to do too much. He’ll have to take things slowly and that means he will need a long convalescence.’

Caitlin looked bewildered. ‘He’s never going to tolerate that. He’s always been so vigorous. The business has been everything to him, and I can’t see him sitting back and taking a passive role.’

‘I don’t believe he’ll have any choice,’ Amber said in a quiet voice. ‘He can look forward to a reasonable quality of life if he takes things easy. Perhaps you can help by encouraging him to do that?’

Caitlin looked at the computer screen, sending her cousin a look of complete bewilderment. ‘The business is everything to him,’ she said. ‘How is he going to be able to hand over the reins?’