Alison Roberts - Nurse, Nanny...Bride!

How weird to be offered a handshake. Except when Alice accepted her hand wasn’t shaken. Andrew took it in both of his and clasped it firmly.

‘There are no words,’ he said softly, ‘that could tell you how grateful I am.’

He didn’t need words. Alice could feel it. Like a miniature version of the circle his arms had created earlier. And she could feel her eyes widening with the wonder of it. The power.

She couldn’t hold his gaze because it was too much. The longing that stirred deep within her was so sharp it was unbearable. She had to break the contact. To look away and pull her hand free.

Alison Robertslives in Christchurch, New Zealand. She began her working career as a primary school teacher, but now juggles available working hours between writing and active duty as an ambulance officer. Throwing in a large dose of parenting, housework, gardening and petminding keeps life busy, and teenage daughter Becky is responsible for an increasing number of days spent on equestrian pursuits. Finding time for everything can be a challenge, but the rewards make the effort more than worthwhile.

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By

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SO THIS was what it felt like to faint.

As if a plug had been pulled out of your brain and all the blood was disappearing in a rush to leave a curious buzzing sensation in its wake.

Alice tried to move her feet but they were lead weights. Just as well she could still move her arm. Catching hold of the metal rail along the side of one of the few empty beds in this emergency department was her best chance of remaining upright.

‘Are you okay, Ally?’ The voice of the nurse lowering the rail on the other side of the bed seemed to be coming from a very long way away. ‘You’ve gone as white as a sheet.’

‘I…’ Alice was gripping the rail as if her life depended on it. The black spots interfering with her vision were starting to fade. Any second now and she would be able to take a second look. She must have been mistaken, surely? It couldn’t possibly really be Andrew Barrett standing on the other side of this department. He was a world away. In London. A world she’d been only too happy to leave behind in the end.

‘Sit!’ Strong hands were guiding Alice towards the chair beside the bed. The one the patient’s relatives usually sat on. ‘Sit down and put your head between your knees.’

Alice resisted the pressure. ‘I’m okay, Jo.’

She was. The buzzing was gone. Blood was reaching her brain again almost as fast as it had left, thanks to the increase in her heart rate. ‘I’m just a bit…’

Shocked. Slapped by a reminder of a past she had worked very hard to escape from. It probably wasn’t even him. Just someone who looked a bit like him from the side. Tall and well built with slightly scruffy dark blond hair and the weathered skin of a man who loved to be outdoors. A figure familiar enough to push a lot of old buttons.

Bright ones like desire.

Much darker ones such as envy.

‘Exhausted?’ Jo supplied. ‘I’m not surprised. What time did you get back home last night?’

‘About eleven, I guess.’

‘And how long was the drive?’

‘More than ten hours. Mostly thanks to the radiator boiling with my old truck trying to pull a horse float over the pass.’

‘Oh, no! You poor thing. I’ll bet it took an hour or more to offload Ben and get things sorted when you got home, too. You probably haven’t had more than a few hours’ sleep and that’s on top of a week of having to sort your gran’s property and everything.’ Jo’s arm came around Alice in a swift hug. ‘Have you even had any breakfast, hon?’

‘No.’ In fact, it was hard to remember when she’d last had a proper meal. No wonder she’d nearly fainted. Or was imagining things. The swirl of disturbing emotions was still there. Making her stomach feel a shade queasy.

‘Go into the staff room right now and make yourself some toast. And hot chocolate. I’ll tidy up in here.’

Again, Alice shook her head. The route to the staff room would mean having to brush past the two men who were peering at one of the wall-mounted X-ray screens on that side of the department. And maybe she hadn’t been imagining things. Maybe one of those men was someone she hadn’t expected and really didn’t want to see. Ever again. It would be too hard going down that particular road again. Negotiating painfully bumpy terrain that led absolutely nowhere.

‘I’m fine now, really.’ Alice smiled. She was. She could move again. She lowered the rail on the bed and tugged at the sheet that needed changing. ‘And it was worth all the hassle. I couldn’t have left Ben for more than a week when there was nobody to keep an eye on him and the beach rides more than made up for the stress of having to clean out Gran’s place. The last tenants made a hell of a mess. It’s no wonder it barely sold for enough to cover the mortgage.’

‘At least it’s settled.’ Jo was moving back to the other side of the bed as Alice rolled up the sheet and stuffed it into the linen bag. ‘Having to pay that on top of your rent for the last year’s been a killer, hasn’t it?’

Alice nodded. There was nothing she could say. It had just been one of those things. It had to be done so she’d done it. The same way she had dealt with all the hard stuff that life had a habit of dumping her in. Head on. Standing tall. Fainting was definitely not an option. Alice took a deep breath and deliberately shifted her gaze. She was ready to get her bearings.

‘Who is that?’ she asked calmly. ‘Talking to Peter?’

Jo glanced over her shoulder. When she turned back to Alice, her eyebrows were a little higher and a smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. ‘Andy Barrett. New consultant. Cute, huh?’

Alice couldn’t say anything. Hopefully Jo wouldn’t interpret her stare as anything more than curiosity.

‘He’s English. Started work here the day after you left last week. We were all surprised. Turns out that Dave had health issues he didn’t want anyone to know about and finding his replacement had been kept well under wraps. Apparently we really scored getting this Dr Barrett. He’s been the head honcho at some big London hospital for years. Can’t remember which one. Hammersmith, maybe.’

Alice couldn’t trust herself to open her mouth. If she did she might tell Jo that it hadn’t been Hammersmith. It had been the same hospital she had worked in herself for over a year.

Until she’d been as good as fired.

By one Dr Andrew Barrett.

Jo didn’t know any of that story. No one here did and that was exactly the way Alice wanted it to be. No way was she getting pulled back anywhere near that black period of humiliation again. Not now. Apart from the death of her grandmother a year ago and the ten days leave she had just taken to sort out the eventual sale of the isolated cottage the only remaining member of her family had lived in, Alice’s life was finally on track again.