LITMIR.BIZ

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kind of tension and Eliza wished he’d just arrive. Surely Dancer wasn’t so spectacular he’d turned her into a bundle of nerves?

      Apparently he was. When Jack breezed in he brought more devastation to her peace of mind than she needed. So much for saying her imagination had been over-active. His wavy black hair was tousled as if he’d been dragging distracted hands through it all day, and he’d even jammed a couple of curls behind his ears. That was when she noticed he had a tiny diamond in his right ear lobe. How on earth had she missed that this morning?

      ‘Ready for the round?’ He seemed very businesslike and Eliza allowed some of the tightness to ease from her shoulders. Businesslike sounded good. He’d want to get home, too. The brusquer the better, Eliza thought gratefully.

      ‘Let’s go.’ She picked up a notebook in case she needed to take notes.

      He glanced across at her briefly, and she saw he had dark chocolate eyes, not black, as she’d previously thought, a strange thing to notice when she was supposed to be immune.

      ‘So how was your day?’ Jack was brief and Eliza even briefer.

      ‘Fine.’ She picked up the pace to get the next few minutes over as quickly as possible. Noticing too many things about this man, Eliza, she thought grimly.

      ‘Are we racing again?’ Laughter in his voice and Eliza felt her face stiffen. Please, don’t let him be nice to me or flirt with me or in any way endear himself to me, she prayed. There was something about him that pierced her skin like a poison dart and was just as irritating. She was not playing man games any more.

      ‘I just know you’ll be emotionally scarred and unable to have a worthwhile relationship,’ she muttered.

      Jack stopped walking and Eliza carried on a few more steps before she realised she’d said what was on her mind out loud! She closed her eyes and then opened them again. Oh, boy!

      He tilted his head. ‘I’m sorry? What did you say?’

      She glanced down and then lifted her chin resolutely. ‘Sorry. Ignore that.’

      He looked stunned.

      She shrugged. ‘Look, I may seem mad, but I’ve had the worst run of luck with men and I’m still spinning from the last one. I seem to have a penchant for poor sods who have been a victim of some unscrupulous woman. They find me, I heal their poor broken hearts, and then they happily marry someone else. I usually get invited to the wedding. For some bizarre reason, I don’t want to play that game any more.’

      She was sure his eyes were glazing over but it was imperative she make this clear. ‘This may seem more than you need to know, but I am trying to explain my stupid comment.’

      He moved his lips a little but didn’t actually say a word. Eliza sighed. ‘Forget I spoke and we’ll do the ward round.’

      Jack felt as if someone had just popped a paper bag in his unsuspecting face. He’d known there was something odd about her. The chameleon fairy was mad and Mary was gone. What the heck were they going to do? He’d had a hell of a day already.

      After the dash out for Mia’s asthma attack, he’d returned to his office and realised today was the anniversary of the worst day of his life. He hadn’t been able to believe it had slipped his mind for a few hours.

       After he’d fought his way out of that depression, a desperate young couple, distant relatives on his mother’s side, had miscarried their second IVF baby. Then one of his uncles had come in for results on a mole he’d excised last week, and the specimen had proved to be a particularly vicious melanoma.

      Now this!

      The new fairy matron was a man-hating elf with issues.

      He heard her voice from a long way off. ‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘Forget it.’

      He blinked, the hallway came into focus again, and he shelved her replacement problems for a minute. Deep breath, Jack, he suggested to himself.

      She was still talking as if nothing had happened. ‘You should have a look at Keith’s wound. I know he’s supposed to go home tomorrow but I believe he’s brewing an infection.’

      Jack blinked. He’d just play along with her until after the round. ‘Fine. I’ll look at that. How’s Keith’s temperature?’

      ‘Creeping up, and it spiked to thirty-nine this afternoon before it went down again.’

      Jack glanced at the chart the madwoman handed him from the end of Keith’s bed and he saw that she was right. Blast. They’d have to start intravenous antibiotics again because Keith had little reserve to fight infection after his brush with peritonitis.

      She’d pulled the curtains and had Keith supine in the bed with his shirt up before Jack could ask, and when she removed the dressing, tell-tale red streaks were inching away from Keith’s wound.

      He glanced at Keith’s face and realised his patient did look more unwell than this morning. ‘Sorry, Keith. No home until we sort this out.’

      Keith sighed with resignation. ‘Matron warned me it could be that way.’

      Eliza spoke from beside his shoulder. ‘Do you want me to put an intravenous cannula in?’ Jack saw that she had the IV trolley waiting and she’d probably decided which antibiotics Keith should be on, too. Just who was the doctor here? He couldn’t help the bite in his voice. ‘Have you drawn it up as well?’

      He should have known she’d be immune.

      ‘Almost,’ she said. Was there a hint of laughter in her voice?

      Jack scowled. She went on, ‘What would you like him started on?’

      She had two choices there for him and they would have been first and second if he’d chosen them himself. What was wrong with him? He wanted her efficient. ‘We’ll go with the Ceftriaxone, but see if you can get a wound swab before the first dose.’

      She didn’t look at him and he couldn’t tell if she was smiling. ‘Did that earlier when I took today’s dressing off,’ she said, as she prepared the antibiotic before laying it down and assembling the cannulation equipment.

      ‘Shall I pop the cannula in?’ Eliza glanced at him.

      Jack almost said, I’ll do that thank you, but he changed his mind. ‘Let’s see how good you are,’ he said out loud. Nothing like a bit of pressure to put someone off. He knew from bitter experience that Keith’s veins were nowhere near the young bulging ones that Mia had. Matron May was too darned cocky.

      ‘Just a sting for a second, Keith,’ Eliza soothed as she slid the needle into an almost invisible vein with disgusting ease. She seemed to have three hands as she juggled cannulas, bungs and even took blood. ‘Did you want blood cultures?’ She taped the line securely and stood back. They both glanced at the antibiotic waiting to be injected.

      ‘Can I do this?’ He sounded petty and she made a strange sound that he hoped wasn’t her laughing at him. He normally wasn’t like this and he needed to get a grip. He looked at her to apologise but realised she was amused. Amused!

      Today had been anything but amusing. He didn’t say a word, just gave the antibiotic, wrote up the orders and patted Keith’s hand carefully. ‘Sorry, mate. You’ll probably be in for another couple of days yet.’

      Keith nodded. When they pulled the curtain back Jack was surprised to see that Joe was asleep. He frowned and raised his eyebrows at Eliza and she drew him from the room.

      ‘I found out today he hasn’t been taking any pain relief. He didn’t want Keith to think he was a baby,’ she said quietly, and shrugged. ‘I spoke to Joe when Keith was out of the room and we’ve come to an agreement. Since the first lot of medication he’s been asleep and Keith tells me Joe’s hardly slept.’

      Jack frowned and then nodded. ‘OK. Let’s get on, then.’

      They completed the

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