‘One of my team is going to come and take some bloods from you,’ he told Charlotte, ‘and I’ll be up to talk to you later. Hayley, let’s give her some labetalol.’ He scribbled on the drug chart and handed it to Hayley, who followed him out of the room.
‘You’re worried too, I can tell. You’re treating a borderline blood pressure.’
He gave a faint smile. ‘I am. I’m sure my colleagues would frown with disapproval.’
‘You think her condition is worse than it appears.’
‘Yes, I do,’ he said frankly. ‘I think her blood pressure is going to rocket.’ He heard her sigh with relief at his response and then she stood on tiptoe and impulsively kissed him on the cheek.
‘I was afraid you might not take it seriously. That’s what I love about you—I mean like,’ she amended hastily. ‘Obviously I mean li
ke, not love. What I like is that you follow your instincts and don’t just rely on tests and machines.’ She was delightfully flustered by her slip and Patrick wondered what she’d say if she knew that his instincts were prompting him to behave in a deeply unprofessional way. In fact, if he followed his instincts at the moment there was a strong chance he’d be arrested and struck off simultaneously.
Obstetrician interrupts busy clinic to have steamy session with midwife.
‘We’ll watch her for the next hour and see how she goes, but I’m ready to deliver that baby if it becomes necessary.’ His eyes lingered on her face for a moment. ‘You did well. It could easily have been a virus at first glance. What made you suspicious?’
‘I’m hyper-sensitive to it. I’ve looked after a woman with eclampsia before.’ Her eyes misted. ‘We lost her, Patrick. The only time I’ve ever lost a patient. And she wasn’t our patient—it was similar to this situation. She was visiting her sister in Chicago and she had a fit. It was awful. Truly awful. That poor father, the baby…’
Patrick reached out and touched her shoulder and then wished he hadn’t because the chemistry was instantaneous. He stepped back from her at exactly the same moment she stepped back from him. ‘Take her upstairs and get her on a monitor,’ he said roughly. ‘I’m going to start my clinic and once the results are back I’ll come and see her. But if there is any change, call me.’
Patrick arranged the tests immediately. While they were waiting for the results, Hayley settled Charlotte into the room, trying to make her comfortable.
‘I wish Patrick Buchannan was my consultant,’ Charlotte said as she flicked through a magazine that Hayley had given her. ‘He’s very approachable, isn’t he? And gorgeous to look at—not that I’m interested in that, of course.’
Hayley smiled as she checked the woman’s blood pressure once more. ‘I should think you have other things on your mind at this point.’
‘Is he married?’
Hayley felt her heart miss a beat. ‘No,’ she said carefully, ‘he isn’t.’ And that meant he was free to marry her. And no matter how hard she tried to rein in her mind, she had an average of a million fantasies an hour, all of which involved her walking down the aisle towards him. He’d be stunned by her beauty, of course, and for once she was going to manage not to fall over—
‘Hayley?’
‘Sorry? What did you say?’ Blushing, Hayley pulled the CTG machine closer to the bed. ‘I’m going to monitor you for a while, Charlotte, is that all right?’ She must stop thinking about marriage! Technically she’d known him for about a week. And that one night, of course. But that probably didn’t count because they hadn’t done much talking. Either way, it had been a short time. They needed to get to know each other slowly, and maybe then—
‘I asked you whether he’s the sort of doctor who can’t wait to do a Caesarean section.’
‘No.’ Hayley frowned. ‘None of the doctors here are like that.’
Charlotte sighed. ‘Back home I never see my actual consultant anyway. Every time I go it’s someone else.’
‘That happens sometimes.’ Hayley didn’t add that the ‘someone else’ who had seen her last time hadn’t done their job properly.
‘I wouldn’t mind being one of Dr Buchannan’s patients.’
‘Mr Buchannan.’ Silencing the wedding bells in her head, Hayley adjusted the machine. ‘He’s a surgeon, and we call surgeons Mr.’
‘Oh—yes, of course. I knew that. I think.’ Charlotte shifted slightly on the bed, looking at Hayley anxiously as the sound of the foetal heart pulsed around the room. ‘Does that sound all right?’
‘Sounds good.’ Hayley checked the trace and then Charlotte’s blood pressure.
‘So how long have you worked here?’
‘Actually, I arrived just before Christmas. Before that I was working in the States.’
‘Oh. Are you here for good?’
Was she?