Fiona Lowe - Gold Coast Angels - Bundle of Trouble

The elevator doors closed and Callie Richards, neonatal specialist, wished she could turn off her pager and hide in the steel box for an hour. She knew it was just an idle dream, however, because the NICU was full of sickies and Nick Kefes, Gold Coast City’s beloved obstetrician, had just called her, flagging a possible case that might require her skills. She hoped Nick was being his usual overcautious self and that she might actually get home tonight to sleep in her own bed.

Who else’s bed would you sleep in? Certainly not arrogant Cade Coleman’s .

Shut up!

She hated how her conscience threw up unexpected reminders of her most stupid mistake to date—flirting outrageously with Cade Coleman. Just when she’d been convinced she’d successfully let go of the embarrassing memory, her brain did this to her. It made little sense because it wasn’t like he was the only man she’d ever had practise forgetting. Truth be told, he was just one in a long line of men—men she rarely gave a second thought after she’d picked up her shoes and tiptoed quietly out their doors, never to see them again.

Correction—thinking about Cade made no sense because she hadn’t even got to first base with him, thank God, let alone kissing and sex. But flirting with him had been a basic error—a rookie mistake she should be long past making.

Rule Number One: don’t hit on the men you work with . Prior to Cade, she’d held fast to that rule like superglue because it meant she never had to deal with coming face to face with her folly on a daily basis.

Mind you, the man didn’t seem perturbed by that fact so she shouldn’t be either and, damn it, she wasn’t. Just yesterday she’d given him a polite nod and not felt a moment’s regret. Well, not very much of a moment, anyway.

Emotionally stunted men like Cade are not worth thinking about . She repeated the mantra to herself.

The elevator pinged, the doors opened and she stepped out to see Chloe Kefes standing and staring through the large windows of the special care nursery. On the other side of the glass were the cots that were home to the premature babies who were now almost full term. The staff affectionately called this part of the room the ‘fattening-up’ corner and when babies graduated here, they were close to being discharged home into the loving care of their parents.

‘Hi, Chloe, you’re a long way from Plastics.’

The nurse looked momentarily flustered and a pink flush stained her cheeks. ‘I’m on my way back from Pathology.’

‘You’re taking the long way, then.’ Callie laughed, understanding exactly, because sometimes in a fraught and busy hospital, taking a circuitous route gave a professional the only breathing space they got in a day. She followed Chloe’s gaze. Twin boys had managed to each get a hand out from under their bunny rug and their little fingers were exploring the air.

‘Those two were so sick and now look at them. They’re just itching to explore life,’ Callie said with a glow of satisfaction.

‘Hmm.’

Callie glanced at Chloe, who was usually a lot chattier. ‘Tough day?’

Chloe shrugged. ‘I used to love coming to work but for the last few weeks the ward’s been on tenterhooks. It seems no matter what we do, we can’t do anything right.’

‘Luke Stanley?’

She nodded. ‘When the consultant’s not happy…’

‘No one is.’ Although Callie didn’t know Luke, she’d heard the news of his wife’s death on the hospital grapevine. She touched Chloe’s arm in an understanding gesture because nurses often took the brunt of a doctor’s unhappiness.

‘When my day sucks, I often come down here and look at the babies.’ Callie smiled. ‘There’s something about them that makes you feel better and gives you hope, right?’

Chloe spun away from the window so fast that she almost knocked into her. ‘I have to get back to work, Callie. Catch you later.’

She walked away before Callie had time to say another word. Astonished by the nurse’s abrupt departure, she watched her disappear into the lift. Chloe was usually so upbeat—one of those people who seemed to be almost too bright, bubbly and good humoured to be real, although Callie knew her to be absolutely genuine. Chloe Kefes was one of the hospital’s best nurses, with a perfect blend of professionalism, empathy and good cheer. For her to be so skittish, Luke Stanley must really be getting her down.

Men . Working with them should be straightforward but so often it was far from that. Thoughts of Cade threatened to rise but she cut them off at the knees. She’d made a fool of herself once and she had no plans to do it again. She was over and done with Cade Coleman.

She pushed open the door of the nursery and did a round of her little patients. The baby with bronchomalacia, who was being nursed in the open cot, was improving and she hoped that by tomorrow he’d be breathing without the assistance of continuous positive airway pressure. She took the time to reassure anxious parents about the standard procedure of using an apnoea mattress with all premature babies, and she was thrilled to be able to help a mother hold her premature baby for the very first time.

Callie loved her job. Unlike her private life, here at the hospital she was in control and she knew exactly what she was doing. After she’d completed the discharge papers for the twins, Nick still hadn’t called back, so she decided to grab something to eat while she had the chance.

As she reached the tearoom door, laughter and conversation rolled out to meet her.

‘Oh, my God, that Cade Coleman has to be the sexiest man ever to walk the floor of this hospital.’

Callie recognised the voice of Sara Hennessey, one of the NICU nurses, and she stopped short of entering the room.

‘I know, right? And that accent! He only has to say hello and I’m a puddle of lust,’ replied a voice Callie wasn’t familiar with.

‘He is without a doubt the best addition to Gold Coast City in a very long time. I heard from the theatre nurses that Callie Richards—’

Oh, God, no! Callie hastily spun on her heel, away from the tearoom, and punched open the nursery door. It took every ounce of control she had to keep her feet from breaking into a run. One dumb mistake. It was bad enough she’d plastered herself all over him when they’d danced and then gone on to suggest that she was open to more, but to have the nursing staff talking about her was more than she could bear. She’d worked so hard at keeping her private life exactly that—private.

Never again was she going to give anyone any excuse to talk about her. From this day forward she was marking Cade Coleman and every other red-blooded male in the hospital as off limits .

‘What is the point of writing down clear instructions if no one reads them?’

As Luke’s terse words broke over Chloe like jagged shards of glass, she counted slowly to five. Despite talking with Keri and Kate and outlining her concerns about Luke, and their meeting with staff in Theatre to try and work out the best way to handle him, not much had changed in two weeks. With Keri and Kate, with whom he’d worked before, he seemed to hold himself in check, but there were still moments when he was difficult, and on those occasions he took down everyone in his path.

Oh, why had Keri gone to a seminar today, leaving her in charge of the ward? Now she had to deal with the man she’d nicknamed the panther . Like the big black cat, he was a perfect specimen—sleek, muscular and strong. At times his emerald eyes would glow with ruthless keenness that made her shiver with delicious anticipation.

It unnerved her because she didn’t want to be attracted to him. She didn’t want to be attracted to any man, let alone one who had a neon ‘excess-baggage’ sticker plastered all over him. That would be like throwing herself under a truck—both dangerous and deadly to her peace of mind.