insignificance. If Harry wasn’t her son, she had no idea what she was going to do.
Thoughts flashed through her mind at the speed of light yet it felt as though a lifetime had passed when she focused on Leo Forester again. That he was furiously angry was obvious and she decided there and then that the only way to deal with him was by fighting fire with fire. Maybe it was wrong to allow their personal issues to spill over into work but she refused to bow down before him on any matter. Harry was her son. She was responsible for the patients on this unit; they were both unassailable facts.
‘If you have a problem with the way I run this ward I suggest you take it up with the head of Nursing. I’m sure she will be happy to discuss any issues you care to raise.’
She picked up the file and walked around the desk, pausing when she came level with him. Even though several inches separated them she could feel the power of his anger like a living force and inwardly shuddered. Leo Forester would make a very bad enemy. It was a scary thought in view of what had happened.
‘Please feel free to use my office, Mr Forester. I shall make sure you aren’t interrupted.’
Mia swept out of the door, half expecting him to call her back, but surprisingly he didn’t. She made her way to the nursing station and logged into the patients’ records. Leo Forester was right: there was something missing from Anthea Davies’s notes. The woman had had an angiogram the previous week and the results needed to be added to her file. Mia made the necessary changes and printed out a fresh sheet and placed it in the file. Contrary to what Leo Forester thought, she was always thorough, always liked to be prepared to prevent any mistakes occurring.
She sighed as she went over to the cabinet and filed the notes in their rightful place. If only the staff at the fertility clinic had been as thorough she and Leo Forester would not be having to face such a potentially life-changing situation.
Leo was tied up in Theatre for the rest of the morning. However, as soon as he’d finished he changed back into his clothes and headed for the cardiology unit. Whilst he hadn’t been prepared to make matters worse by causing a scene, he had no intention of letting Mia get away with treating him that way. Maybe they did have issues, issues that none of their colleagues knew about, but he wasn’t going to let her make a laughing stock of him.
She was in the men’s section of the unit when he arrived, talking to one of his patients, a young man called David Rimmer who had a long history of heart problems. David had been born with several holes in his heart and had been in and out of hospital over the past twenty-two years. Recently, he had started to suffer from cardiac arrhythmia—an abnormal and rapid heartbeat—and he would be having cardioversion that afternoon. His heart would be stopped before an electric current was passed through it, hopefully shocking it back into its proper rhythm. Although Leo knew that David must be in a lot of discomfort, he grinned when he saw Leo approaching.
‘Seems you’ve met your match at last, eh, Doc? The buzz on the ward is that Mia gave you a real rollicking this morning. I only wish I’d been there to see it!’
Leo summoned a smile, not wanting the younger man to think he was at all put out to learn that he was the subject of gossip. ‘You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, David. It’s not always true.’
David laughed. ‘You would say that! Still, it’s nice to know that you’re human after all. It’s done wonders for your image.’
Leo frowned. How on earth could his run-in with Mia have improved his image? He glanced around the unit, feeling his surprise intensify when several patients smiled at him. Normally, he found that people were rather reserved around him, but not today. As he looked at the friendly faces turned towards him, he felt a sudden warmth envelop him. It was rather nice to be on the receiving end of smiles for once.
He cleared his throat, refusing to get carried away by such a ridiculous notion. He much preferred it that his patients should value him for his skills as a surgeon rather than as a potential friend. ‘I wonder if I might have a word with you, Sister?’ he said politely. Maybe he wasn’t out to win friends but there didn’t seem any harm in observing the niceties.
‘Of course.’ Mia’s tone was icily polite. She turned to the younger man and Leo couldn’t help feeling the tiniest bit irked when he heard the warmth in her voice as she wished David good luck. Obviously, he didn’t rate that level of concern.
The thought was irritating, although Leo was very aware that he was behaving completely out of character. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared a jot how people addressed him, as long as they weren’t rude, of course. Nevertheless, Mia’s distant approach stung. For a second he found himself wondering how it would feel if she addressed him with genuine affection in her voice before he dismissed the idea. It was never going to happen, not after the havoc he was about to create in her life.
He led the way into the office and closed the door. He didn’t want any interruptions, nothing and nobody to throw him off course. Maybe they were facing a very difficult situation but he needed to lay down some ground rules. Mia didn’t look at him as she walked around the desk and sat down. She appeared perfectly composed but Leo sensed her inner turmoil and for some reason the harsh words he’d been going to say seemed wrong. This was as stressful for her as it was for him; maybe he could afford to lighten up a little.
‘Before you say anything I want to apologise. I should never have spoken to you like that this morning.’
The apology caught him on the hop. Leo hadn’t expected it and found himself struggling to reply. ‘No, you shouldn’t,’ he said more sharply than he’d intended.
She gave a little shrug, her slender shoulders rising and falling beneath her navy cotton uniform, and he felt a flash of awareness shoot through him. For the first time since they’d met, he really looked at her, deliberately taking stock instead of simply forming an overall impression.
Her features were neat and regular: a firm little chin; a short straight nose; softly rounded cheeks. Her skin was very pale, almost translucent in the harsh glare of the fluorescent light overhead. Her hair was a soft mid-brown, caught neatly back from her face with a plain black clip. Her eyes were her best feature, a pure emerald green that seemed to glitter with an inner fire that fascinated him. Some people might have described Mia Adams as ordinary but not him, he decided. Not when he looked into those incredible eyes.
Leo took a deep breath, used it to shore up his world, a world that seemed to be falling apart around him. First there’d been the shock of discovering that Noah wasn’t his child and now this. He couldn’t be attracted to Mia Adams; he wouldn’t allow himself to be! However, as he looked at that ordinary little face and those extraordinary eyes staring back at him, he realised that he might not have a choice. There was something about her that intrigued him, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had given birth to his son.
Mia bit her lip, wishing that Leo Forrester would say something. He was staring at her with the oddest expression on his face…
He suddenly spun round on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving her staring after him in confusion. She hadn’t expected him to let her off so lightly. Maybe she had apologised, and meant it too, but she’d been sure he would give her a dressing down. He’d have been perfectly within his rights to do so because she had overstepped the mark that morning.
Normally, she wouldn’t have dreamt of speaking to a consultant that way. But she’d not even tried to hold back as she had told him what she thought. Maybe this situation was unusual but she would be extremely lucky if he didn’t make a formal complaint about her and heaven only knew what would happen then. Staff had been sacked for less
