Prescription-One Bride

CHAPTER FIVE

JESS left Niall and Paige organising themselves and drove slowly back to the hospital. It was still early. She stopped midway and did some overdue herd testing but she was still well on schedule for her morning’s work as she turned into the hospital car park.

In the space marked ‘Medical Superintendent’ was a gleaming black Range Rover.

Niall hadn’t wasted time.

Swiftly Jess showered and changed her cow-soiled clothing, checked her menagerie and walked through to the hospital.

Geraldine met her as she walked through to the sister’s station.

‘You’re a magician, Jess,’ Geraldine beamed. ‘However did you talk the man into it?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Jess confessed. ‘Has he been here long?’

‘An hour. He’s seen Frank and given me orders and seen old Mrs Fryor, too. Guess what? He says she can go home. He says she’s risking making herself really ill lying on her back recuperating from a sprained ankle and he’s ordered a walking frame, a few lessons to make sure she’s stable and then an ambulance trip home. She’s tickled pink.’

‘I’ll bet.’ Jess hesitated. ‘Geraldine, have you or have you not been on duty for over twelve hours?’

‘Sixteen,’ Geraldine grimaced. ‘But I thought…Well, Sarah doesn’t like being on her own and there’s the little one…’

‘Little one?’

‘Paige.’ Geraldine’s face softened. ‘Oh, Jess, isn’t she a poppet? Her dad’s been explaining about her legs. He’s going to take Dr Hurd’s clinic at one-there are seven patients booked and he’s going through their records now-and I’ll massage Paige’s legs then and look after her till he’s finished.’

‘No.’ Jess shook her head. Running Geraldine into the ground wasn’t in her master plan at all. ‘You’re off duty. Do Paige’s legs now if it’s OK with Paige and her dad and then I’ll take charge of Paige while Dr Mountmarche does the clinic.’

‘But you’ve your vet clinic as well…’ ‘Small animal clinic,’ Jess smiled. ‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Paige loves it.’

Paige did.

The child endured Geraldine’s gentle massage with stoic indifference to the pain. ‘It’s enough to make you cry to see her,’ Geraldine whispered as the nurse finally took herself off duty. ‘Now, you’re sure you’ll be right with her?’

‘I’m sure.’

Jess had to reiterate her assurances to Niall. He’d done what Jess suggested and stayed out of the way while Geraldine massaged Paige’s legs, and then returned to comfort his small daughter and take her to the kitchen for lunch. Surrounded by welcoming kitchen staff, Paige ate more than she’d eaten for a week.

‘I don’t believe it,’ Niall told Jess as lunch drew to a close. ‘At the vineyard it’s a battle to get her to eat anything.’

‘Maybe this is what she’s used to,’ Jess said thoughtfully. ‘If her mother’s taken her from one group of friends to another-one commune to another, or whatever-then noise and laughter and general chaos won’t be strange. A formal meal with just one or two people-and both of them male-will be something she’s not used to.’

‘Maybe…’ Niall looked at Jess strangely as if he was trying to figure out whether she was being impertinent, pushy or just plain sensible. In the end, his expression said, he hadn’t decided. And he didn’t much like the sensation.

‘I don’t like leaving her again this afternoon,’ he told Jess bitterly. ‘This is some mess you’ve got me into, Dr Harvey.’

‘Mess?’ Jess watched Paige drain the last of a huge glass of milk and smiled reassuringly across the table at the child. ‘What sort of mess?’

‘I mean the medical treatment in this island has been a shambles from the time this so-called Dr Hurd arrived. Nothing’s been done. Regular tests have been missed. Every patient booked this afternoon shows some sign of mismanagement on their record. I suppose I have to be grateful that he has at least documented his pseudo-treatments.

‘The worst…Well, it seems your Dr Hurd has been giving pethidine injections almost on demand. There are three people booked in for what’s written up as a regular injection. That alone is just about grounds for having the man struck off-if he was ever on any medical register in the first place. It looks like I’ll have to instigate withdrawal treatment for people who never should have been allowed to become addicted.’

Jess flinched. ‘I’m…I’m sorry.’ She shook her head. ‘1 didn’t realise how bad…Well, Lionel never let me know what he was doing. I wasn’t welcome…’

‘To stick your nose into his affairs.’ Niall gave a bitter smile. ‘You seem content enough to stick the same appendage into mine.’

It was a rebuke and Jess’s eyes flew up to his. There was a softness there, though, that said that maybe judgement was being suspended. A faint easing of the bitterness…

His daughter was at least eating…and smiling…

‘There’s a mess to sort out this afternoon if I’m to do any good.’ Niall told her. ‘Are you sure you have time for Paige?’

For answer, Jess smiled across at the little girl.

‘Paige, this afternoon I have to see a cocker spaniel who was hit by a car last week. I put twelve stitches in his rump ten days ago. Would you like to come and see Harry and then help me take the cocker spaniel’s stitches out?’

The empty glass was put down with a thump. Paige grabbed her crutches.

‘I’m ready,’ she said.

It was after seven by the time Niall finished and Jess was starting to feel incredibly guilty.

She and Paige had worked their way through the ills of the island’s small animals and Paige had helped to feed Jessie’s orphaned wallaby and wombat Afterwards Jess had made Paige an omelette. As Paige had finished her tea Harry had stirred in his cage by the fire and decided to show some interest in proceedings. To Paige’s wide-eyed astonishment, Jess had made another omelette.

‘I thought dogs were supposed to eat dog food.’

‘They are,’ Jess had smiled. ‘But Harry’s special. Just like Paige.’ She’d eyed the dog thoughtfully as he’d wolfed the omelette and headed for his water bowl. ‘Though I think we might take out his intravenous line. That’s the tube running into his leg, Paige. When Harry was too weak to eat or drink that’s how he got his fluids-but it’s starting to seem a bit unnecessary.’

Finally, as Harry had settled down again before the fire and the little girl’s eyes had drooped after such a big day Jess had pulled her onto her lap and told her stories until her eyes had closed completely.

There they’d stayed. Paige was as relaxed as Jess had seen her. She’d loved the animals and in her concern for their plight had put aside her own.

As she’d drifted into sleep Paige had put her hand up again to the V of Jessie’s blouse and clutched.

‘Nice,’ she’d said.

Niall arrived soon after.

Sarah must have directed him to Jessie’s flat. He knocked once and entered, his eyes lighting up at the sight of his sleeping daughter.

‘I thought she might be fretting…’

Jess didn’t stir. She sat by the fire, Harry at her feet, her arms holding Paige close and her face in the child’s hair. She felt strange-as if she had somehow found her rightful place.

Silly. To feel like this about someone else’s child…

She looked up at Niall and that weird current flashed like lightning from one to the other. It was almost a physical jolt…

‘I’ll…I’ll put Paige down.’ Jess had to fight to get the words out, forcing herself to look away from those eyes. She stood and carried the sleeping child over to the day bed in the corner of the room. Paige seemed dead to the world. There was no chance of waking her.

‘How’s Harry?’

Niall seemed to be suffering the same trouble. His voice sounded stiff and unsure. The dog stirred and opened one eye in token investigation. Niall walked over, stooped and started gently scratching one ear.

The dog almost purred.

‘He’s fine.’

‘He seems it.’ It was as if Niall was searching for something to say. Something to break the link…‘This kitchen’s huge,’ was all he could manage.

‘The house was a mansion with this kitchen as the hub.’ Jess bent over the sleeping child, her back to Niall, gently adjusting pillows and covering her with a rug. ‘When we divided it the hospital cook wanted electric ranges and stainless-steel cook-tops but I loved this kitchen. So we decided this kitchen would be part of my flat and we’d build a new kitchen for the hospital.’

‘We?’

‘My cousin’s the permanent island doctor. He’s on the mainland doing obstetrics while his wife finishes her training as a physician. Quinn and I planned this centre.’

‘I see.’ There was still that physical current and it took a huge effort for Jess to turn round and face him. ‘There’s a massive amount of money gone into this.’

‘Yes.’ Jess shrugged. ‘Quinn and I put our savings into it-and the island board helped out. On the mainland if you ask for a donation you’re looked at as if you’re asking for money for someone else. Here if you ask for money the islanders know they benefit and if they can possibly afford it then they’ll give. The generosity has been amazing.’

‘And you intend to stay here?’

‘Yes.’

Unconsciously, Jessie’s chin tilted as she turned to face him, as though she was defending her position. Niall smiled.

‘I’m not about to evict you, Dr Harvey,’ he said mildly. ‘I’m just trying to figure out why a young and attractive veterinary surgeon would want to bury herself in a place like this.’

‘This place is paradise,’ Jess said simply. ‘You don’t bury yourself in paradise.’

‘But your friends…your colleagues…’ He frowned. ‘You must be one of the most isolated vets in Australia. What does that do to your love life, Dr Harvey? Local farmers? I haven’t seen any worthy suitors banging on the door.’

‘I don’t have a love life,’ Jess said flatly and then flushed. There’d been no need to say that. She should have shut up.

‘Why ever not?’

Jess shrugged. ‘That’s none of your business, Dr Mountmarche.’ She looked down at the sleeping Paige. ‘I…Your daughter and I have eaten. Would you like me to make you an omelette?’

‘I certainly would.’ There was no hesitation and Niall met Jessie’s startled look and smiled. ‘Cook tells me hospital tea is at five-thirty so I’ve missed it by an hour and a half. I told Hugo to expect us if he saw us-and he eats early, too. So it’s your omelette or fend for myself-and I make mean toast but not a lot else.’

‘Fine.’ Jess managed to smile back. ‘Take a seat.’

She moved round the kitchen swiftly, trying not to be flustered by his presence. Heavens, she’d fed enough people in her time. She shouldn’t be shaken by one dark-eyed, solitary male.

If he wasn’t solitary she wouldn’t be shaken.

He didn’t speak, seemingly content to sit and watch, and Jess gained the impression of weariness only just contained.

For the first time she felt a stab of guilt at persuading him to take this job.

‘I’ve organised the island board to place advertisements in every major Australian medical publication for a new locum,’ she told him as the omelette sizzled on the stove. She sprinkled its surface with fresh herbs and flipped it over. ‘With luck, we’ll find someone fast and you can go back to being a viniculturist-or whatever you call yourself.’

‘Wine-grower will do-and I’d appreciate that,’ he said slowly, his eyes not leaving her.

‘When Paige settles, will you go back to London?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘You mean you do want to farm permanently?’ Jess asked, startled. ‘Instead of practise medicine?’

‘As I said-I’m not sure.’ Jess ladled the omelette onto a warmed plate and placed it in front of him and Niall looked down in appreciation. ‘That’s some omelette, Dr Harvey. They never taught you that in vet school.’

‘I enjoy cooking. Will you drive back to the farm tonight?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Niall looked across at his sleeping daughter. ‘If my promised apartment is prepared then I’ll carry Paige over and we’ll sleep there.’

‘Sensible.’ Jessie reached into her fridge and produced a chilled green bottle. ‘Especially as it means you can have wine with your omelette.’ She smiled. ‘It’s even Barega wine.’

‘Our very own Riesling. And you weren’t intending to produce it if I was driving.’ Niall’s eyes glinted with laughter. ‘Has anyone ever told you what a managing woman you are, Dr Harvey?’

‘I try.’ Jess said demurely and laughed back at him.

Their laughing eyes met.

And the weird, magnetic force slammed home with such impact that Jess gasped.

Good grief…

What was she getting into here?

She poured the wine with shaking fingers and turned away quickly. She had no idea what was happening and she didn’t want to know. This man was threatening her safe, cocooned world and she didn’t like it one bit.

Maybe they should have airlifted Frank to the mainland.

Maybe it would have been safer.

A movement by her leg caught her eye and Jess knelt down in relief. Wobble, her tiny baby wombat, was struggling free of his pouch.

‘You want your dinner, too?’ Jess said in a voice that wasn’t quite steady.

At least it gave her something to do. She fed her two orphans with their milk formula while Niall ate his omelette, drank his wine and watched her like…

Like a benevolent genie…

A genie who’d just produced something magical and was amazed with what he’d done.

Jess wasn’t at all sure that she liked the impression.

Finally, her babies tucked back in their pouches, she stood up.

‘I’ll put Harry back into his cage and take you to your apartment,’ she faltered. ‘The domestic staff have cleaned it out for you and they tell me it’s ready.’

‘Cook showed me the general layout of the place,’ Niall replied. ‘I know where to go. Why does Harry have to go back in his cage?’

‘Because he’s getting better,’ Jess smiled. ‘And I don’t trust him with my babies. Even if he just sticks his nose into their pouches it might shock them.’

‘I see. Well, don’t put Harry back on our account.’ Niall stood then, large and overpowering, his presence seeming to fill her kitchen as it had never been filled before.

‘Thank you for the omelette,’ he said softly. ‘And for the wine.’

‘It was my pleasure…’

‘As it was your pleasure to look after my little daughter?’

‘That, too,’ Jess agreed softly. She looked down at the sleeping child and shook her head in bewilderment. ‘How could her mother abandon her? How could she?’

‘Heaven knows.’

Jess looked up at Niall. He was staring down at his sleeping daughter and his face was a mixture of pride and love. Love for a little daughter that he hadn’t known existed until four months ago!

How many men would leave their career and go halfway round the world to claim an ailing child they’d never been told had been conceived? Niall had gone with no proof that the child was his-only a message from a monk in Tibet and a scrawled note in the back of a passport.

And he’d come here…Put aside his medicine in London and brought his daughter to Barega. To find a cure for ills that weren’t just physical.

What sort of man…?

Jess didn’t know. All she knew was that his presence frightened her. The very knowledge of what Niall had done scared the life out of Jessie. She’d sworn not to have anything to do with another man-ever-and here was this man undermining all her determination.

Overwhelming her with his compassion…

He turned to her, a question in his eyes.

As if he could read her thoughts.

No…

Confused, she turned away to open the door-but Niall was there before her. Whatever the current was that was running between them it didn’t have just one direction. It flooded back and forth with the strength of fire.

‘Jess?’

He moved like a sleek cat, somehow propelling himself to stand between Jess and the door. Niall placed strong hands on her shoulders and gazed down into her confused, brown eyes.

His confusion matched hers.

And his desire…

‘Jess,’ he whispered, his hands pulling her to him. ‘Do you feel this thing, too? This thing between us? Dear heaven…’

Jess didn’t reply. She couldn’t.

She wanted to pull away. Desperately she wanted to pull away but her body wouldn’t obey.

Instead she stood mesmerised, caught by the desire in his dark, dark eyes.

Caught by the stirrings of want in her own slight body.

Of need…

She didn’t need. She didn’t!

She didn’t need any man. Not after John Talbot. Once was enough. She’d been stupid once…

The thought gave her strength to pull back but Niall’s hands didn’t release her. His hold tightened and his dark eyes searched hers.

‘What’s wrong, my beautiful Jessie?’ he whispered.

My beautiful Jessie…

The words slashed like a knife. She’d been called that before. Before the pain.

‘No…’ It was a frantic whisper.

‘I’ve told you before-’ Niall’s voice contained a hint of concern ‘-I’ll not hurt you. I swear…’

‘I don’t want…’

‘Me?’ He shook his head. ‘What’s between us, Jess…I don’t understand it any more than you do but I’m starting to think it’s something we should explore. And how else to explore…’

His voice fell away. The dark eyes looked straight into hers, passion flaring in their depths, and he bent his head and kissed her.

Jessie had been kissed before-but never like this.

For a moment she held herself rigid, her body reacting with blind, unreasoning panic.

And then the kiss caught-and held.

It was like the meeting of two halves in a whole. The coming together of parts that had been torn asunder and their rightful place was together.

Niall’s mouth caught and held hers and his arms went round to draw her rigid body to his.

She was powerless-powerless to resist the magnet.

Jess had never felt a kiss so full of longing.

There was desire surging through Niall’s body-she could feel it-and Jess felt a rush of matching need in hers. Her lips were under his and he kissed her mouth with infinite tenderness-as if he had never touched anything so precious.

How could she hold out against such tenderness? How could she? Especially when every nerve in her body was screaming to respond.

She felt her lips open; she felt her mouth welcome his, tasting his arrant maleness and feeling his need. Her arms went around his hard male body and she clung as if drowning.

It was as if there were two Jessies: one being kissed and responding with all her heart and another standing above her body, staring with horror at this man making love-wanting her-demanding a response with every fibre of his being.

And the first Jessie was winning hands down.

The first Jessie wanted this man with all her heart.

What would have happened next the second Jess-the one above the responding Jessie’s head screaming grim warnings-was horrified to think but a gentle tap on the door and then another, more urgent, knock almost brought the first Jess to her senses.

Almost.

It was Niall who drew away first. He stood holding the dazed young vet at arm’s length and the desire was still there, blazing.

‘Damn,’ he said unsteadily as the knocking continued and Jess managed a shaky laugh.

‘Just…just as well.’

‘Maybe.’ Niall touched her face with the finger of one hand. ‘Duty calls,’ he said softly. ‘Damn…’

He swore and kissed her lightly once again before moving to open the door.

It was Sarah.

Of course.

The nurse stood staring from Jess to Niall and back again, clearly confused but too worried to see what was really happening.

If it had been Geraldine then Jess would have been in big trouble. Geraldine would have guessed what she’d interrupted as soon as she’d opened the door. Jessie’s face was suffused with colour. Her breath was coming too fast for comfort. Something deep inside was threatening to burst.

Sarah was too concerned with her own worries, though, to think about what was happening between doctor and vet. Geraldine’s normal nursing partner was returning from holidays in the morning and it couldn’t be too soon for Sarah. She could go back to helping out when things were busy-when there was work to do but little responsibility.

‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Dr Mountmarche, but Mr Reid’s drip has packed up,’ she faltered. ‘I tried your flat, Doctor, but you weren’t there.’

‘Because I was here.’ Niall grinned, the strain that seemed almost permanently round his eyes lifting and lightening. ‘Well hunted. I guess you want me to fix it.’

‘Y-yes, please.’

‘I’ll come now,’ he promised. He cast a thoughtful glance at Jess, his eyes glinting at the colour on her cheeks. ‘But I’ll carry Paige back to my flat first and you can stay with her while I do the drip, Sister.’

‘I’ll do that.’ Sarah relaxed. Caring for a child while Dr Mountmarche took over acute medical care suited her down to the ground.

It was on the tip of Jessie’s tongue to say, Leave Paige here. I’ll look after her.

She didn’t make the offer. The tip of her tongue wasn’t working properly. The sensations running through Jessie’s body were almost overwhelming.

All she wanted to do was to hide. To be alone. To think through events that threatened to overwhelm her.

She stood aside as Niall gathered his precious bundle, wrapping his daughter in blankets and carrying her to the door.

‘I’ll bring back the blankets later,’ he told Jess.

‘No.’

Jess shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes.

‘I’ll be asleep later,’ she managed. ‘Morning will be fine.’

‘I see.’ Burdened with the child, Niall couldn’t force her to look at him. His voice was troubled, though. ‘Are you OK, Jess?’

‘Fine.’

She wasn’t fine at all. She was scared stiff.

‘I have a clinic booked in the morning…’

‘Paige can come with me while you work,’ Jess told him. ‘She’s always welcome and there’s little I do where she can’t watch.’ She took a deep breath, still not meeting his eyes, but her voice was almost back to normal. ‘My patients don’t worry about modesty or confidentiality.’

‘I suppose they don’t.’ It was an absurdly formal conversation.

She wished he’d go. She just wished he’d go.

‘Jess?’

‘Yes?’ Jess was acutely aware of Sarah watching from outside the door. For heaven’s sake, the nurse must know there was something going on between them. The tension was almost visible it was so strong.

‘I wish you sweet dreams,’ Niall said softly.

Jessie’s eyes flashed up to meet his-and then wished she hadn’t. His look was a caress all by itself. ‘I hope…I hope your daughter has sweet dreams,’ she managed to whisper in reply. ‘That’s all I care about.’