Marion Lennox - The Australian's Bride - Marrying the Millionaire Doctor / Children's Doctor, Meant-to-be Wife / A Bride and Child Worth Waiting For

‘It hurts…’ Danny’s voice was uncharacteristically pathetic, but at least he was talking now.

‘What hurts, buddy? Your eyes?’

‘No. My head.’

‘Whereabouts? Can you show me?’

‘No. Can’t. It’s inside.’

‘All over inside, or just in one place?’ Susie could hear the smile in Alex’s voice and it made her own lips curve as she tucked the pillow behind Jack.

‘All over.’ Poor Danny sounded miserable.

‘OK,’ Susie whispered to Jack. ‘Turn back over now, sweetheart.’

Jack flopped, ending up at a forty-five-degree angle because of the cushioning. Automatically, he lifted his arm on that side and tucked it over his head, well used to the position that gave his therapist good access to the middle lobe of his left lung. She cupped her hands, conforming the shape to match the chest wall and trapping a cushion of air to soften the impact as she began the rhythmic percussion.

‘Squeeze my hands, Danny,’ Alex said behind her. ‘Good boy. And this hand?’

‘Danny had a fit,’ Jack told Susie.

‘I know. I was there. He’s not very well, poor wee guy.’

‘He’s been really sleepy since he came in here. I heard the nurse talking to one of the doctors. They think there’s something wrong with his head.’

‘Just let your leg go floppy,’ Danny was being instructed. ‘I’m going to tap it with my special hammer. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.’

Susie stopped the percussion and flattened her hand to shake the lung segment and try to encourage the movement of mucus.

‘Big, deep breath,’ she instructed.

The action started him coughing and Susie waited until he had finished.

‘Excellent! You’re doing really well, Jack. Do you remember what the next position is?’

‘Pillow between my legs and I put my arm down.’

‘Cool. Let’s go.’ Susie moved the pillow. ‘You’re sounding a lot better.’

‘My temperature’s down. I’m going to be allowed to go back to camp.’

‘That’s great. Did they say when?’

‘Tomorrow.’ Jack twisted to look up at Susie hopefully. ‘They might let me go back tonight if you said it was OK. They’re having a movie.’

‘It would be fine by me. As long as you take things quietly. You might not be able to run around too much for a day or two.’

‘I don’t mind. I’d like to see the movie, though. It’s been really boring in here. I thought I could play with Danny but he’s just sleeping all the time.’

‘He’s sick.’ Susie started percussion on the lower lobes of Jack’s lung, staying quiet to try and hear what Alex was saying to his medical colleagues. Was it unprofessional and selfish to hope the little boy would be well enough to give them an uninterrupted evening? She may not know Alex very well but Susie was quite confident that personal pleasure would be postponed if he was needed by one of his patients, even out of hours.

‘Where are those baseline recordings we did?’

‘Here.’ There was rustle of paperwork and a moment’s silence as Alex scanned the information again. ‘I’d like another full set,’ he said. ‘Including a head circumference. I’m not happy with this blood pressure, either.’ He had moved to the foot of the bed and his voice was lowered. Danny was quiet. Had he fallen asleep again?

‘Systolic pressure’s stable enough.’ It wasn’t really a surprise that Charles hadn’t been content to leave Alex with nursing staff to share the consultation. Did anything happen in his domain that he didn’t involve himself with?

‘Yes, but the diastolic pressure’s dropped. Widening pulse pressure could be sign of rising ICP. It needs watching. I’d like thirty-minute recordings. Have we got a cardiac monitor available?’

‘Yes.’

‘Pulse oximetry and automatic BP?’

‘Of course.’

Alex still didn’t sound happy. ‘GCS is down at least a point. He’s still drowsier than I’d expect. He hasn’t had another seizure since being admitted, has he?’

‘No.’

‘Has someone been with him all the time?’

‘Not every minute. We’ve been flat out with another three admissions. We’re calling in extra staff but until now we’ve been run off our feet.’

‘I want someone with Danny at all times,’ Alex decreed. ‘It’s possible he’s had another seizure that was short-lived enough to go unnoticed.’

‘Jack’s been here.’ That was Marcia’s voice.

The curtain was twitched back. For a split second Alex caught Susie’s gaze and his look of intent focus softened. Susie’s hands stilled as she felt the delicious tingle of being noticed.

Acknowledged.

‘Hey, Jack?’ Alex tilted his head, his attention on the boy now lying on his stomach with the pillow under one side. ‘I’m Dr Vavunis. You haven’t noticed Danny doing anything strange, have you?’

‘He’s just been asleep.’

‘Not twitching or making funny noises?’

‘You mean, like having a fit?’

‘A seizure. Yes.’

‘Nah.’ Jack shook his head, caught his breath and then started coughing, which ended the exchange. Alex turned back and Susie held Jack’s ribs to support him because he was beginning to sound tired.

‘We’re almost done,’ she encouraged. ‘You’ll feel a lot better when we’ve got your chest clear.’

Alex was almost done, too, it seemed.

‘It would be good if we can get Danny’s temperature down a bit further,’ he said to Marcia. ‘Tepid sponge bath, perhaps. And a fan. When’s the next dose of paracetamol due?’

‘Fifteen minutes.’

By the time Susie was moving Jack into his final position on his stomach with the pillow under his hips, Alex was leaving the room.

‘I want to be called if there’s any change,’ he said. ‘Marcia? If you’re monitoring him, I’d like a full GCS check with the vital-sign recordings.’

‘You mean, wake him up and talk to him?’

‘Yes. I need to know if his level of responsiveness drops any further. At least ensure that he’s easy to rouse.’

It was torture.

Exquisite but almost unbearable.

If anticipation was a drug, Susie was in danger of falling victim to an overdose.

Could Alex not feel it? Or was he enjoying this? Doing it deliberately, in fact? Drawing out this public part of their evening together as a kind of foreplay?

The way he was looking at her certainly seemed deliberate. Susie couldn’t hold that gaze for more than a few heartbeats at a time. It was so…intense.

‘ Interested ’ was too pale a word for it. He seemed fascinated. Smitten even?

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but it would be far too easy to fall into that dark gaze. To lose herself and any control over what she might say. And that would be dangerous. Susie didn’t want to change the way Alex was looking at her. How awful would it be to see a hint of alarm or a cloud of doubt dulling that fierce approval? Or, worse, a gaze that slid over her shoulder to scan other women in the room.

There were plenty of them. The resort was full to capacity thanks to the quarantine trapping the guests. Many of the people using the restaurant were dressed up for the occasion and Susie was sure she was the only one wearing the same outfit as she had the night before. She hadn’t expected to be going out on a date, though, had she?

And she could never have expected Alex. Not in this lifetime. He was too good to be true and that gave a sense of urgency to this dinner. Any moment now he would wake up and realise how beautiful the other women in here were and wonder what on earth he was doing, sitting here so intent on Susie Jackson.

Or his phone would ring and he’d be called back to see Danny or some other patient. He’d work all night and by morning daylight would make him see clearly and realise that Susie wasn’t this special.