so that the thin fabric hid very little of his powerful body. Katie’s ears began to buzz as her blood pressure whooshed several notches up the scale. Nick looked the epitome of every movie hero doctor ever created—tall, dark, handsome, his brooding good looks enough to have the normally sensible Jean all aflutter as he introduced himself to her.
Katie, however, wasn’t fool enough to be taken in by good looks a second time. She’d fallen for David because he’d been handsome and charming and it had taught her a valuable lesson. Appearance wasn’t enough—it was what was underneath that mattered so the sooner she made it clear to Nick Lawson that she didn’t intend to be charmed by him, the happier she would be. She was just about to set him straight, in fact, when the wail of a siren announced the arrival of the ambulance.
She hurried out of the office with Nick hard on her heels and went to open the front doors. The paramedics quickly unloaded Karen Johnson from the back of the ambulance and rushed her inside, rattling out information as they pushed the trolley towards the examination room.
‘Patient’s name is Karen Johnson, aged 32, and she’s thirty-five weeks pregnant,’ the young woman paramedic recited. ‘Her husband told us that she’s under your care so you should have her notes on file. She was conscious when we arrived but had lost a lot of blood so we’ve given her a litre of saline and have just set up a second.’
‘Thanks.’ Katie bent over the trolley. ‘Hi, Karen, I didn’t expect to see you here quite so soon.’
‘I didn’t expect to be here,’ Karen murmured. She was obviously in a great deal of pain and that, allied to the massive blood loss, had left her very weak so Katie didn’t waste any time as she pushed open the doors to the examination room and helped the paramedics roll the trolley inside.
‘Let’s get her onto the bed, stat!’ Nick ordered, bringing up the rear. He put out a restraining hand when Karen’s husband tried to follow them into the room. ‘Can you wait outside, please, sir?’
‘But I want to know what’s happening,’ Clive protested, trying to get past him. ‘Why is she bleeding like that? Does it mean that she’s going to lose the baby?’
‘I’m sorry but we don’t have the time for this right now,’ Nick said firmly. ‘Please, wait outside. I’ll come and tell you what’s happening as soon as I can.’
With that, he closed the door and walked straight over to the bed. Katie tried to hide her dismay as they quickly transferred Karen from the trolley because, in her opinion, Nick had been a bit rough on the poor man. She found herself mentally crossing her fingers that he wouldn’t turn out to be a bit of bully like some of the obstetricians she’d worked with over the years. Her mums had a right to expect the kind of birth they wanted and she’d fight tooth and nail to make sure their wishes weren’t ignored.
‘Hi, Karen, I’m Nick Lawson, the new specialist registrar on the obstetric unit. It just so happens that you are my very first patient here in Dalverston so I’m going to make sure you get five-star treatment from here on.’
Katie frowned when she heard the teasing note in Nick’s voice because it was a world away from the manner in which he’d treated Karen’s husband. As she listened to him she quickly stripped off the blood-soaked sheet and set up the foetal monitor which would record the baby’s heartbeat and the frequency of the mother’s contractions.
‘I want to examine you if that’s OK?’ he said, gently palpating Karen’s swollen abdomen. ‘Just yell out if it hurts or give me a good old thump if it makes you feel better.’ He grinned at her. ‘I’m tougher than I look!’
Katie was amazed when Karen gave a wobbly laugh. The poor soul was in a great deal of pain and terrified as well, but the gentle teasing had helped to reassure her. She stood to one side, ready to attach the monitor as soon as Nick had finished his examination. He was gentle but thorough, she noted, and she couldn’t find any fault as he quickly established the baby’s position before turning to her.
‘Let’s get a tracing of the baby’s heart rate, please, Sister.’
‘Yes, Dr Lawson.’ Katie quickly strapped the ultrasound transmitter to Karen’s tummy, glancing round when Nick said softly in her ear, ‘Can you turn up the sound so Mum can hear that her baby’s all right?’
Katie nodded as she set the dials so that a rhythmic beeping noise was emitted by the machine and she saw Karen’s face crumple in relief.
‘Oh, I can hear him! He’s all right, isn’t he? I thought he was…’ She couldn’t go on as tears overwhelmed her. Nick took hold of her hand and squeezed it.
‘Your baby’s fine, Karen. His heartbeat is a little faster than it should be because he’s getting a bit distressed so I’m going to have to deliver him by Caesarean section. I know it wasn’t what you’d planned but it’s the best thing for both of you.’
‘I don’t care what you do so long as my baby is all right,’ Karen gulped.
‘We’re going to do everything possible to make sure he’s fine so you just hang on in there.’
One last squeeze of Karen’s hand then Nick was all business as he turned to Katie. ‘I want bloods for cross-matching and SCBU put on standby. They need to know that we have a pre-termer, thirty-five weeks gestation. I’d like you to assist me, Sister, so can you get someone in here while we scrub up? I’ve already spoken to the anaesthetist on duty and he should be here very shortly.’
‘Of course.’
Katie went to the phone and called the nursing station to ask Abbey to take over from her. She checked the fluid and changed the bag then Larry Price, the duty anaesthetist, arrived, closely followed by Abbey. Nick had already left and she spotted him in the corridor as she went to get changed, talking to Clive Johnson. The man was obviously distraught at the thought of his wife having an operation and she sent up a quick prayer that Nick wouldn’t be too brusque with him.
She pushed open the changing-room door then glanced back in time to see Nick slap the other man on the shoulder and for some reason her heart felt a bit lighter all of a sudden. Maybe it was silly but she was glad that her fears about him being a bully seemed to have been groundless.
Her lips snapped together as she let the door slam shut behind her. She wasn’t going to go all soft because Nick might not be the monster she’d imagined him to be. He would need to do an awful lot more than be nice to the patients and their husbands if he hoped to redeem himself in her eyes.
‘Can you take him, please?’
Nick handed the squalling baby boy to Katie then turned his attention back to the child’s mother as the infant was whisked away. Karen had lost an awful lot of blood and the sooner he got this sorted out the happier he’d be.
He swore under his breath as he carefully removed the placenta and placed it in a dish. Two thirds of the placenta had become detached from the wall of the womb and it was a miracle that Karen and her baby had survived the resulting blood loss and shock. Although placental abruption was fairly rare in the UK, it cost a lot of lives in developing countries where there was a lack of decent antenatal care. The condition was often linked to high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia, although there’d been no indication of either of those in this instance. He’d read Karen Johnson’s case notes and there’d been no indication of anything wrong at her last check-up, two days previously.
Nick was suddenly filled with self-disgust when it struck
