lasted up until they adjourned for a coffee break in an adjoining room. She would have liked to distance herself from him, but he thwarted her by coming to stand next to her in the queue by the coffee machine and engaging her in conversation.
‘Can I get you something to eat along with your coffee?’ he volunteered. ‘I seem to be a little closer to the refreshments than you are. I can offer you biscuits, or there are even sandwiches and pasties, if you’d prefer.’
She shook her head. ‘Coffee will be just fine for me, thank you.’
‘Do you take it black, or with cream and sugar?’
‘Cream and sugar, please.’ She accepted the cup he offered her and moved away from the side of the room, looking around for a table where she could sit and mull over what had been said at the meeting. The consensus of opinion among the region’s chiefs was still that the paediatric A&E could be wound down, and the objections of the various doctors present had been nudged to one side.
‘Do you mind if I join you?’
She looked up to see that James Ashleigh’s hand was resting lightly on the chair next to hers. She inclined her head. ‘Feel free.’
He sat down, stretching out his long legs underneath the table. The movement was distracting, to say the least. She would have preferred to ignore the fact that he was close by, but he was altogether too masculine a figure and her intentions were doomed from the outset. Her heart began to thump in a chaotic rhythm and her mouth went dry. He was long and lean and totally disturbing to her peace of mind.
As before, at the park, he was dressed in an immaculate, beautifully tailored dark suit, with a crisp mid-blue shirt that looked as though it had come fresh from an exclusive store. His tie was perfectly coordinated, subtle and carefully knotted, as though he was a man who paid a great deal of attention to detail.
She made an attempt to recover herself. ‘Has your grandfather been ill for a long time?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘Unfortunately, yes. His consultant is doing what he can to ease things for him, by giving him tablets to regulate the heart rhythm, and diuretics to ease his lungs. The trouble is, my grandfather finds it hard to accept his limitations. I dare say that’s why he went walkabout last week.’
A small line indented her brow. ‘I don’t quite follow. He said that you left him to go and make your phone calls. I was under the impression that you didn’t go back for him.’
James’s mouth made a wry shape. ‘I wondered if that was the notion you were left with. No wonder you were a little distant with me.’ He stirred his coffee, the action concise and methodical. ‘The fact is, I was on call that day, and my Senior House Officer phoned for advice. I stepped outside for a few moments to deal with the situation but, when I returned, my grandfather had disappeared. He does that sometimes. I think he gets a kind of wanderlust and forgets that he isn’t able to do what he used to.’
For a moment she was taken aback by this new piece of information, and she wondered distractedly whether she ought perhaps to reassess her opinion of him. He had everything going for him, after all—charisma in bucket-loads and a charm that could melt stone. Maybe she could allow herself to relax a little and get to know him better.
But then she recalled the way he had talked the committee around to his way of thinking just a few minutes earlier and she hardened her heart all over again. Perhaps he had been called away unexpectedly that day but, as a doctor, he should have paid more attention to his grandfather’s needs.
‘Perhaps you should take him out and about more often. That way he won’t feel as though he’s housebound and become desperate to escape. I rather had the impression that he feels he’s missing out on life sometimes, but I suppose, if you’ve been away, you won’t have realised that.’
She took a sip of her coffee, watching him over the rim of her cup.
He gave her a faint smile. ‘I can see that I’m not going to redeem myself in your eyes, whatever I say. I suppose it doesn’t help much that we’re at opposite sides of the fence when it comes to this business of the hospital.’
‘There is that,’ she agreed. She frowned, putting down her cup. ‘From what you said, I gather that you work here, at the hospital, but you do tend to come across more as management than as someone from the medical staff.’
She had noticed that people tended to listen carefully to what he had to say. They treated him with respect, as though he was someone in authority, someone who had the power to make sweeping changes.
She studied him thoughtfully for a moment or two. ‘I’ve been here at the hospital for a number of years,’ she added. ‘Even so, I don’t recall seeing your name on the list of physicians working at the hospital, but perhaps that’s because you’ve been away.’
He nodded. ‘I’ve been studying different management systems in Europe for the last year. Before that, I was one of the executives at the Royal Forest Hospital. Still am, for that matter, but I tend to divide my time between there and here. I still do hands-on medicine, but to a much lesser degree. I found that I could make more of a difference by being part of the management system.’
Surely he was very young to have reached the pinnacle of his career so soon? She sent him a sceptical look. ‘You opted out,’ she said.
His mouth twisted. ‘I don’t see it that way.’
She might have answered him, but her bleeper went off just then and she excused herself to make a call from her mobile phone. ‘Hello, Jenny,’ she said. ‘Do you have some news for me?’
‘I do. Millie’s results are back from radiology, and the report says that there is a diaphragmatic hernia which has allowed part of the child’s intestine to push through to the chest cavity.’
‘Oh, dear. No wonder the poor child is suffering. She’ll have to go for surgery to have that put right. Put out a call for Mr Simons, will you, and see if he can add her to this afternoon’s theatre list. I’ll come back right away. I’d better explain things to the mother. In the meantime, we need to make sure Millie’s fit to be operated on.’
‘I’ll do that. Thanks, Louise.’
She cut the call and looked around, to see that James was still there across the table from her. He finished off his coffee and said quietly, ‘Problems?’
‘A toddler who needs urgent surgery,’ she told him. ‘I’ll have to go back down to paediatric A&E to make sure that everything’s in order.’
‘You won’t be coming back to the meeting?’
‘I doubt it,’ she said, slanting him a direct glance. ‘Some of us have to deal with the sufferings of patients up-front. Fortunately for them, there are still doctors who care enough for their well-being to keep on with the hands-on side of medicine. We leave it to others to move us about like chess pieces on a board.’
She didn’t stay to witness his reaction to that, but she could feel his gaze boring into her spine as she walked away from him.
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