Outback Surgeon Read online

  'Really?' Grinning, he placed his hands on Abbey's shoulders, his thumbs stroking the soft hollow at the base of her throat. 'Do I have a sexy smile, then?'

  'Stop fishing for compliments, Doctor.' She gave a strangled laugh, unfastening his hands and stepping back. After a moment she asked carefully, 'Was it difficult, getting time off?' She still felt amazed and slightly panicked at the lengths he'd gone to to be with her.

  'The hospital needed a bit of persuasion,' he admitted. 'But they owed me the time anyway. They've appointed an excellent locum to cover my caseload, so in the end everyone's needs were met.'

  Abbey felt riddled with guilt. 'I hope you won't be bored rigid here.'

  'How could I be?' He sent her a dry look. 'I expect you to keep me very busy, Dr Jones.'

  Abbey flushed. 'I...can't pay you much,' she deflected quickly. 'There is some extra funding to cover a locum but nothing like your normal salary.'

  He shook his head. 'Abbey, the money isn't important. I wanted—needed—to spend this time with you. End of story. Now, where should I stay? I noticed several pubs on the way here.'

  Abbey made a face. 'The Sapphire's the best but you don't need to shell out money to stay in a pub. I'm rattling around in a huge house that comes with the job. You can live with me.'

  His mouth kicked up in a crooked smile. 'Live as in live?' he inquired softly.

  Abbey felt the heat rising, warming her throat, flowering over her cheeks. She knew he was teasing her—well, she hoped he was. But she couldn't help wondering just what he expected from this month he was proposing to spend here.

  And whether or not she was going to be able to meet those expectations.

  'I meant to say, you can share my home—if that suits, of course...'

  Nick's heart somersaulted. She looked even more lovely than he remembered and he suddenly knew without a shadow of a doubt he wanted to test the strength of this relationship as far as it would go. And despite the frustration ripping through him, he knew he'd have to tread very softly around Abbey Jones. Very softly indeed.

  'Thanks.' He rubbed the back of his neck. 'That will suit me very well.'

  CHAPTER FIVE

  'I'll give you the tour,' Abbey said, as they went out, closing the door on her consulting room. 'Then I'll take you home to my place and you can get settled in while I do a hospital round.'

  'Why can't I come to the hospital with you?'

  Well, no reason, Abbey supposed, nibbling at the corner of her bottom lip. 'It's all pretty basic medicine,' she warned.

  Nick's eyes clouded slightly. 'Abbey, I'm on your patch now. I'm keen to learn about rural medicine.'

  She opened the door of the second consulting room. 'I was just pointing out that there'll be none of the drama associated with Theatres.'

  'I'm quite looking forward to the change of pace.' His voice was carefully neutral. 'But who knows?' He raised an eyebrow just slightly and grinned. 'You kind of lose the feel of general medicine when you detour into a speciality. I might turn out to be a real dud at your brand of medicine.'

  As if! Abbey angled her gaze quickly away from the lively intelligence of those amazing eyes. 'This will be yours.' She led him into the reasonably sized surgery. 'Wolf uses it when he covers for me. Feel free to move things around if they don't suit.'

  'I'll bear that in mind. But on first glance it seems fine.'

  'Treatment room through here. It's quite large,' she said, pulling back a screen to reveal an identical set of equipment. 'Once upon a time there were several doctors working here.' Her mouth moved in a rueful little moue. 'But not for some years now.'

  They moved on to the staff kitchen and walked onto the outdoor deck leading off it.

  'Oh, boy,' Nick breathed in obvious approval, placing his hands on the timber railings. 'This is really something...' His gaze went towards the hills and the magic of a vividly pink and gold sunset. 'The last time I saw something like this was in Bali.'

  'Have you travelled a lot?' Abbey came up to stand beside him.

  'Some.' He lifted a shoulder. 'Dad took us over to Italy when we were youngsters and I've been back a couple of times. Done most of Europe. I worked in the States for a year, Canada for six months.'

  She sent him a strained little smile, feeling like a real country bumpkin. Sadly, she realised she'd hardly travelled at all outside her own country. But there'd scarcely been time—or money, she reflected ruefully, considering the whopping great study loan she'd had to repay.

  'Is your family very wealthy, Nick?'

  A smile nipped his mouth. 'We never wanted for anything, I suppose. My grandparents established a vineyard outside Hopeton when they migrated from Italy. They never looked back. It just went from strength to strength.'

  And brought in lots of money obviously. 'Is it still in your family?'

  'Oh, yes. But they put in a manager some years ago, when we moved to Sydney. My parents run the sales and promotional side of things from there. Anything else you'd like to know?' he drawled with his slow smile.

  'Sorry.' Embarrassed, Abbey looked away. 'I didn't mean to sound as though I was interrogating you.'

  'You weren't,' he denied blandly. And then he frowned slightly, his eyes on her face with the intensity of a camera lens. 'Abbey, stop looking for the differences between us. This will work,' he said with conviction. 'We'll be good together.'

  'Well, let's hope the patients think so,' Abbey waffled, feeling the warmth of his regard all over her. 'End of tour.' She turned abruptly from the railings. 'Let's put Meri in the picture and then we'll be on our way.'

  'I'll follow you,' Nick said, as they left the surgery and made their way to their respective vehicles. 'How far is it to the hospital?'

  'About five minutes.' Abbey waggled her bunch of keys until she found the one for the ignition. 'Seven if it's a foggy morning.'

  Nick grinned. 'Perhaps I should invest in a push- bike? Save on petrol.'

  'Or a sulky,' Abbey shot back impishly. 'That would go quite well with your new rural image. And there happens to be a beauty on display at the heritage village. Maybe they'd let you borrow that. I'm sure we could round up a nice fat pony to pull it.'

  'And perhaps you could rustle up an old-fashioned Gladstone bag and a jar of leeches while you're at it?' Nick's eyes were full of laughter.

  He'd never felt so light-hearted. And he was still wearing a smile as he tailed Abbey's Range Rover through the town proper and across the disused railway line. As she had predicted, they were at the hospital within a few minutes.

  Nick got out of his car and looked around him. The hospital was a low-set building of weathered brick with several annexes at various points. There was a strip of lawn, faded to winter-brown, around the perimeter. And further over again, a windsock flapped gently in the breeze at the end of a large unfenced paddock.

  'We do have the odd emergency,' Abbey explained, coming to stand beside him. 'The strip's regularly maintained for the CareFlight chopper to land.'

  He shook his head. 'It's so quiet.'

  'Mmm.' Abbey's gaze stretched to the shimmering water of a lagoon in a farmer's adjoining paddock and the wild ducks resembling tiny specks swimming serenely on its surface. 'It kind of folds in on you, especially at night.'

  'You're not lonely?'

  'For a while at first. Not now. But living here is vastly different from living in the city. In every way.'

  'Yes.' Nick's reply was muted.

  After a minute, they turned and began making their way across to the hospital entrance. 'Like me to fill you in about the staff?' Abbey flicked him a brief smile.

  'Please.'

  'We've a husband-and-wife team, Rhys and Diane Macklin, as joint nurse managers. They're terrific. Keep the place ticking over. Usually one of them is on duty. And we have a regular staff of RNs. They're rostered part-time as necessary. And there are two youngish aides, Zoe and Tristan. They're really just getting the feel of working within a hospital to see if they'd like to go ahead an
d train as registered nurses.'

  Nick nodded. 'That sounds remarkably innovative.'

  'Well, in a small place like Wingara, it can work quite well. And Rhys and Diane have the necessary accreditation to be their preceptors.'

  'Who's the cook?' His grin was youthfully hopeful.

  'I wondered when we'd get to that.' Abbey lifted her gaze briefly to the sky. 'Bella Sykes provides the meals at the hospital and also does for me.'

  'Does?' Nick lifted an eyebrow.

  Abbey chuckled. 'She looks after the doctor's residence which means she comes in a couple of times a week to clean and keep the place looking reasonable. She's an absolute gem.'

  Nick looked thoughtful. 'The local community obviously values your presence enormously, Abbey. How will they respond to me being here, do you suppose?'

  'Thinking of backing out, Doctor?'

  Nick's jaw jutted. 'With you to hold my hand? No way.'

  Diane Macklin was just coming out of her office as they approached the nurses' station. 'Abbey!' The nurse manager's dark head with its smooth bob tilted enquiringly. 'Three times in one day. Are you concerned about a patient?'

  'With you in charge?' Abbey laughed. 'Not a chance. Um, Diane, this is Dr Nick Tonnelli.' Abbey turned to the man beside her. 'He'll be giving me a hand for the next few weeks.'

  'Welcome aboard, Doctor.' Diane extended a hand across the counter. Her gaze skittered curiously from Nick to Abbey. 'I'll just bet you're old friends from medical school. Am I right?'

  Nick tipped a sly wink at Abbey. 'I was a few years ahead of Abbey,' he deflected smoothly. 'Wasn't I?'

  Abbey almost choked. 'Ah...yes.' Well, she supposed he would have been. He was several years older than her after all. 'And Nick's here for a holiday as well,' she added boldly.

  'My first trip so far west,' he admitted, keeping the patter going but flicking Abbey a dry look.

  'Oh, you'll love it,' Diane enthused. 'And I'm sure we'll keep you busy.'

  Abbey stole a glance at her watch. 'Diane, we'd best get on. I'll just give Nick a quick tour of the hospital so he can find things.'

  'Good idea. But do yell if you need anything, Dr Tonnelli.'

  'It's Nick, Diane.'

  The RN beamed. 'OK, then—Nick. Oh, Abbey, before you go...' Diane gave an apologetic half-smile. 'There was something. I wonder if you'd mind just having a word with young Brent.'

  A frown touched Abbey's forehead. 'I've signed his release. He's going home tomorrow. What seems to be the problem?'

  'Oh, nothing about his physical care,' Diane hastily reassured her. 'But he's seemed terribly quiet for most of the afternoon and he's asked me twice if I thought he was ready to go home.'

  'That's odd.' Nick stroked his chin in conjecture. 'Most patients can't wait to get shut of us.' He raised a brow at Abbey. 'What was he admitted for?'

  'Snakebite.'

  'Oh—excuse me, folks.' Diane spun round as a patient's buzzer sounded. 'That's old Mrs Delaney.' She made a small face. 'Poor old love probably needs turning again.'

  'You go, Diane.' Abbey made a shooing motion with her hand. 'I'll certainly pop in on Brent. See if there's something needs sorting out.'

  'Thanks.' Diane flapped a hand in farewell, looking smart and efficient in her- navy trousers and crisp white shirt, as she hurried away to the ward.

  'You know, he may just need to talk.' Nick backed himself against the counter and folded his arms. 'And, just for the record, I've never seen a case of snakebite.'

  'That's not so surprising,' Abbey said, moving round beside him so that their arms were almost touching. 'Although these days, more and more snakes are being found in city environs and most of them are now being placed on the potentially lethal list.'

  'Charming.' Nick's response was touched with dry humour. 'So, is it still the same treatment we were taught in med school? Compression, head for the nearest hospital and combat the poison with an anti-venom?'

  'Mmm.' A smile nipped Abbey's mouth. 'Much more civilised than in the old days. They used to pack the bite puncture with gunpowder and light the fuse.' Seeing the horror on Nick's face, she elaborated ghoulishly, 'You can imagine what it did to the affected part of the body.'

  'You're kidding me!'

  'Go look it up in the local history section at the library. It's all there. And there was another method—'

  'Stop, please!' Nick raised his hands in mock surrender.

  Abbey chuckled. 'Put you off your dinner, did I? Better get used to it, Doctor. You're in the bush now. Um, what did you mean about Brent?' She changed the tenor of the conversation quietly. 'That he might need to talk...'

  'Just a thought. Give me the background.'

  'Brent is sixteen,' Abbey began carefully. 'He's left school, works on the family property about seventy kilometres out. He was bitten on Monday last.'

  'So he's been hospitalised all this week.'

  'It seemed the best and safest option. To make sure there were no residual effects. And don't forget, if I'd released him too early, it would have been a round trip of a hundred and forty K's if his parents had needed to get him back in.'

  'So you erred on the side of caution,' Nick said. 'I'd have done the same. Was it a severe bite?'

  'It was a blue-bellied black snake.' Abbey identified the species with a shudder. 'And it got a really good go at Brent's calf muscle. Fortunately, he was near enough to the homestead to be found fairly quickly and he didn't panic.

  'Out here kids are indoctrinated about what to do in case of snakebite. I remember when I'd been here only a few weeks, the principal of the school rang and asked when I'd be available to do "the snake talk".' She gave a low, throaty laugh, lifting her hands to make the quotation marks in the air.

  Nick tore his gaze away from her smiling mouth. 'You said Brent didn't panic?'

  'Ripped up his T-shirt, used it as a tourniquet and stayed put. He was visible from the track to the homestead and it was late afternoon. He knew his dad would be along within a reasonable time and he could hail him. It worked out that way and Tony and Karen brought their son straight in.'

  'So, given all that, how calmly he appeared to handle things, is it just possible young Brent is now suffering from PTS?'

  Abbey looked taken aback. 'Post-traumatic stress?'

  Nick shrugged, palms out. 'It happens as a result of dogbites and shark attacks.'

  Was it possible? Her hand closed around the small medallion at her throat.

  'How's he been sleeping?'

  'Not all that well, actually. But I put it down to the strangeness of being in hospital for the first time.' Abbey felt the nerves in her stomach tighten. Had she been less perceptive than she should have been where her young patient was concerned? She shook her head. 'He hasn't seemed to want to talk especially. In fact, I've been flat out getting two words out of him.'

  'Well, there could be a reason for that.' Nick sent her a dry smile. 'He's sixteen, Abbey. His testosterone is probably working overtime and you're a beautiful lady doctor. The kid was probably struck dumb.'

  Abbey felt the flush creep up her throat but then her chin rose. 'That's crazy!'

  'Is it?'

  'So I should try and talk to him, then?' Her hand clutched at her cloud of fair hair in agitation. 'Is that what you're saying?'

  'Why don't you let me?'

  'You?'

  'I'm on staff now,' he reminded her. 'And your Brent may just open up to another male. This is how we'll handle it.'

  Brent Davis was the only patient in the three-bed unit. Clad in sleep shorts and T-shirt, he was obviously bored, his gaze intermittently on the small television screen in front of him.

  Abbey braced herself, going forward, her greeting low-key and cheerful. 'Hi, there, Brent. Just doing a final round.'

  Colour stained the boy's face and he kept his gaze determinedly on the TV screen.

  'This is Dr Tonnelli.' Abbey whipped the blood- pressure cuff around the youth's left arm and began to pump. 'He's from Syd
ney. Going to spend some time with us here in Wingara.'

  'Hi, Brent.' Nick extended his hand. 'Dr Jones tells me you crash-tackled a death adder recently.'

  Brent looked up sharply. 'Don't get adders this far west.' He sent Abbey an exasperated look. 'I told you it was a black snake.'

  'So you did.' Abbey smiled, releasing the cuff.

  'How did it actually happen, mate?' Casually, Nick parked himself on the youngster's bed and raised a quizzical dark brow.

  Almost holding her breath, Abbey watched Brent's throat tighten with heartbreaking vulnerability, before he made faltering eye contact with the male doctor.

  'I...was just walking through the grass. This time of year it's pretty long and it's dry, tufty kind of stuff. I must have disturbed the snake—maybe it was sleeping.'

  'Don't they usually sleep on logs?' Head bent, Abbey was making notes on Brent's chart.

  'Not always.'

  'So, you disturbed it...' Nick folded his arms, and gave the boy an encouraging nod to continue.

  'Bastard gave me one hell of a fright.' Brent made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. 'It went straight into a strike pattern—like an S.' The boy flexed his hand and forearm to illustrate.

  'Hell's teeth...' Nick grimaced. 'And then it struck and bit you?'

  'Yeah. Quick as a flash.' Brent's demeanour had suddenly lightened with the enthusiasm of recounting his tale. 'I almost wet myself.'

  'Hmm, lucky you didn't do that.' Nick's grin was slow. 'And Dr Jones tells me you kept your head and did all the right things until you were able to get here to the hospital. I don't know whether I'd have been so cool.'

  Brent lifted a shoulder dismissively. 'Out here, you have to learn to take care of yourself from when you're a kid. Otherwise you're dead meat.'

  Over their young patient's head, Nick exchanged a guarded smile with Abbey. This response was just what they'd hoped for. And, it seemed, once started, Brent couldn't stop. Aided by Nick's subtle prompting, he relaxed like a coiled spring unwinding as he continued to regale them with what had happened.

  Finally, Nick flicked a glance at his watch. 'So, it's home tomorrow?'