Sarah Morgan - The Greek Children's Doctor

Bev sidled up to her, looking sheepish. ‘Er, Libby…’

Libby glared at her. This was all her fault! ‘Go away. You are not my favourite person right now.’

‘Libby, the man’s gorgeous, you should be thanking me for making it happen.’

‘Thanking you?’ Libby let out a choked laugh. ‘Thanks to you, our new consultant thinks I’m a dizzy, brainless lush with a sad love life.’

‘He paid £1000 for one date with you,’ Bev pointed out wistfully. ‘That’s an enormous sum of money. He can’t think you’re that bad.’

Libby groaned and rubbed slim fingers over her aching forehead. ‘I can’t believe you got me into this mess. How am I ever going to have any credibility with him?’

‘You’re a great nurse,’ Bev said firmly. ‘The minute he sees you in action, he’ll be bowled over.’

‘He undressed me,’ Libby hissed in an outraged tone, and Bev’s eyes widened.

‘Wow. You lucky thing.’

Libby looked at her blankly. ‘Lucky?’

‘Libby, he’s gorgeous,’ Bev breathed wistfully. ‘He is the most stunning-looking man I’ve ever laid eyes on.’

‘Precisely. His rat factor must be off the scale.’

Bev rolled her eyes. ‘If someone fancied me enough to pay £1000 for a date, then as far as I’m concerned they could have me for ever. It’s incredibly romantic.’

‘It’s not romantic. It’s embarrassing. And, thanks to you, from now on I’m going to have to avoid him. And how am I going to work with a man I have to avoid? Aargh!’ Libby rolled her eyes in frustration and at that moment one of the more junior nurses hurried up.

‘Libby, can you take a look at Rachel Miller for me, please? The GP sent her in an hour ago with a very high temperature and it’s showing no sign of coming down. I don’t like the look of her. She’s still waiting to be seen by one of the doctors but they’ve been caught up in clinic and I wasn’t sure whether to bother the new consultant.’

With a last meaningful look at Bev, Libby followed her colleague down the ward and into one of the side rooms that had cots and beds for parents who wanted to stay.

The baby was in a side ward and Libby could see instantly that she was very poorly. She lay still in the cot, her breathing noisy and her cheeks flushed. Immediately Libby snapped into professional mode, her personal worries forgotten.

The baby’s mother was by her side, pale and worried. ‘She’s really floppy and so, so hot.’

‘Can you tell me what happened?’ Libby spoke softly, her eyes fixed on the child, assessing her breathing. ‘When did she become ill?’

‘She was a bit under the weather yesterday morning and then she just got worse and worse. By teatime she was just lying on the sofa.’

And she was just lying now. Totally unresponsive. It wasn’t a good sign.

‘Could you get her interested in anything—toys, books?’ The mother shook her head. ‘Nothing. She just lay there. Finally I panicked and took her to the GP and he sent us in here.’

‘And when did she last have paracetamol syrup?’

‘Two hours ago.’ The mother looked at her anxiously. ‘What’s going to happen?’

‘I’m going to check her temperature now and then ask one of the doctors to see her straight away.’ Libby reached for the thermometer. ‘Has she had all her immunisations, Mrs Miller?’

‘Please, call me Alison and, yes, she’s had everything.’

‘Good.’

Libby checked the temperature and recorded it on the chart. ‘It’s very high, as you know. Has she been drinking much?’

‘She’s just not interested in anything.’

‘When did she last have a wet nappy?’

The mother looked startled by the question. ‘I don’t know…’

‘It’s a way of judging her fluid output,’ Libby explained, and the woman nodded.

‘Oh, I see.’ She frowned slightly. ‘I suppose I changed it about three hours ago.’

Libby checked the child’s blood pressure and then gave Alison Miller a brief smile.

‘OK, well, the next thing to do is to ask one of our doctors to see her. We need to find out what’s causing this temperature. I’ll be back as soon as I can. If you’re worried, press the buzzer.’

She gritted her teeth and went to find Andreas. She would have preferred to have avoided him completely but that wasn’t an option. Bleeping one of the more junior members of his team would have taken time and she didn’t have time.

And, anyway, she didn’t really want one of the more junior members of his team.

She was worried about little Rachel. She needed someone experienced and he was the consultant after all.

She found him at the nurses’ station, checking a set of X-rays, his shoulders impossibly wide as he stood with his back to her.

Libby swallowed and dragged her mind back to her work. She already knew he was a fantastic kisser. It was time to find out what he was like as a children’s doctor.

‘I need a doctor to see a new admission for me urgently.’ Her tone was cool and ultra-dignified as she struggled to behave as though she hadn’t kissed him senseless and then woken up half-naked in his spare bedroom. ‘I don’t like the look of her. Seeing that the rest of your team are elsewhere, I wondered whether you’d do it.’

Or was he the type of consultant who preferred to delegate to his staff? He turned and she backed away a few steps, watching him warily.

In work mode he suddenly seemed very imposing.

‘I’ll see her.’ He flicked off the light-box and moved towards her. ‘What’s the history?’

Relaxing her guard slightly, Libby fell into step beside him as they walked back to the side ward. ‘She was referred by her GP, but the letter just says that she’s worried about the child’s temperature. Not much else. The child is floppy, she’s refusing fluids and I don’t like the look of her.’

She’d been a children’s nurse long enough to trust her instincts and her instincts were shrieking about Rachel.

‘Great.’ He shot her a wry smile. ‘It’s wonderful to be a GP, isn’t it? If in doubt, refer to hospital and let someone else make the decision.’

‘Before you insult GPs, you should probably know that my brother is doing a GP rotation—’

He lifted an eyebrow and his mouth twitched in humour. ‘This is the same brother who forgot to buy you last night?’

Libby gave a wry smile at the reminder. ‘I still have to speak to him about that. But despite his shortcomings as a brother, he’s a very dedicated doctor. I expect he was caught up with a patient, which was why he didn’t show up. Unluckily for me.’

‘But luckily for me,’ Andreas breathed softly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.

She blushed hotly. ‘Stop it!’

‘Stop what?’ He dealt her a slow smile. ‘Libby, I haven’t even begun yet.’

Without giving her a chance to speak again, he walked into the side ward and introduced himself to Alison Miller before bending over the cot.

His swift shift from professional to personal and back again flustered her more than she cared to admit, and Libby struggled to concentrate as she followed him into the room.

Andreas didn’t seem to be suffering from the same affliction. His eyes were on his tiny patient.

To the uninitiated it might have seemed as though he was just looking at the baby, but Libby knew that he was accumulating vital pieces of information. She saw his eyes rest on the child’s chest, assessing her breathing, saw the way that he noted her skin colour and the way she lay limp and unresponsive in the cot.

He lifted his head and looked at Libby, the humour gone from his eyes. ‘Temperature?’

‘Forty point seven,’ Libby said immediately, and his mouth tightened.