very good of you,’ Katie said slowly, wondering if there was an ulterior motive to the offer. Maybe she was a little over-sensitive where Nick was concerned but how many people would offer to work on Christmas Eve if they didn’t need to?
‘There isn’t a catch, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ he said quietly. ‘I just feel really bad about what happened earlier. I should have told you who I was from the outset instead of leaving it until we had a near tragedy on our hands.’
‘But you weren’t to know it would happen,’ Katie protested, surprised that she should feel a need to defend his actions.
‘Maybe not, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Karen could have lost her baby and maybe even her life if she hadn’t received the treatment she needed.’ His deep voice was laced with guilt and Katie frowned because it certainly wasn’t the response she would have expected from him.
‘But she did receive the right treatment and it was all thanks to you, Nick. I don’t know why you’re blaming yourself. I mean, we weren’t expecting you to start work until after Christmas so it was really fortunate that you happened to be here in the first place.’
‘Maybe,’ he conceded, although Katie could tell he wasn’t convinced.
‘There’s no “maybe” about it. It was a stroke of luck that you turned up when you did. Let’s face it, not many people decide to move house on Christmas Eve. They usually wait until after the holidays.’
‘It just seemed like a good time to do it.’ He went to the filing cabinet and switched on the kettle again. ‘Everyone’s always so busy at Christmas that I thought I’d have a couple of days to myself to get settled in before I had to start work.’
‘I see. What about your family, though?’ she asked curiously because it still seemed rather a strange thing to have done. ‘Didn’t you want to spend Christmas with them this year?’
‘My parents got divorced a few years ago,’ he explained, pouring boiling water into a mug. ‘Mum emigrated to New Zealand to live with her sister and Dad remarried. He lives in Scotland now with his new wife and family.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Katie grimaced. ‘That must be rather difficult—unless you take it in turns to visit them, of course.’
‘No. Christmas is just another day so far as I’m concerned,’ he said flatly, stirring the contents of the mug. ‘I prefer to work over the holiday, but it just so happens that I was off this year because of starting this job.’
He glanced up and Katie shivered when she saw the bleakness in his eyes. She sensed there was a lot more that he wasn’t telling her but before she could think of a way to ask him, he countered it with a question of his own. ‘So what about you? D’you normally spend Christmas with your family?’
‘No.’ She summoned a smile but it was difficult to keep the ache out of her voice. If things had gone to plan then this year she would have spent the holiday with David, but after she’d found out how different their views on life were there’d been no chance of that happening. ‘My parents died a couple of years ago in a coach crash. I was an only child and don’t have any other family so that’s why I volunteered to work over Christmas.’
‘I see. Sorry. That was a bit tactless of me, wasn’t it?’
‘There’s nothing to apologise for. You weren’t to know about my circumstances,’ she said briskly because she certainly didn’t want to be the recipient of his sympathy. Nick Lawson had aroused a lot of conflicting emotions inside her already and she didn’t want to add any more so she swiftly changed the subject. ‘Anyway, I’d better get a move on. We have two mums in labour so there’s always something that needs doing.’
‘Just give me a shout if you need me,’ Nick told her, carrying the cup of coffee over to the desk and sitting down.
‘I doubt we’ll have another emergency tonight. Why don’t you get off home once you’ve drunk that coffee? It seems pointless, you staying here when you could be tucked up in bed.’
‘I’d rather stay in case anything happens.’ He shrugged when she frowned. ‘I’d just feel better about it so long as you don’t mind. In any case, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get into the staff accommodation block at this hour of the morning. I should have collected the key to my room from the admin office when I arrived but I forgot all about it.’
‘You’re staying in the staff quarters?’ Katie exclaimed.
‘Uh-huh.’ He took a sip of the drink then shrugged. ‘I’m only going to be here for a few months so it didn’t seem worth all the hassle of finding myself a place to live. Niall offered to get me a staff room so that will do me very nicely.’
‘You’ll find it very cramped,’ she warned, knowing it wasn’t just the shock of learning that a senior registrar had settled for the dubious delights of staff accommodation that disturbed her so much. The fact that she lived there as well was what she found really unsettling, for some reason.
‘Is that where you live?’ he asked curiously.
‘Yes.’ Katie summoned a smile because she didn’t want him to suspect how uneasy she felt about the idea of them living under the same roof. It was completely ridiculous and she hurried on. ‘It was only supposed to be a temporary measure to tide me over after I moved out of the flat I’d been sharing with my boyfriend, but six months later I’m still there.’
‘Are you hoping for a reconciliation?’ he asked, watching her over the rim of the mug.
‘With David? No way! We weren’t suited and I’m only surprised I didn’t realise it sooner.’ She cleared her throat because her relationship with David really wasn’t the issue here. ‘I just haven’t had a chance to go flat hunting so it’s been easier to stay put. However, living in staff accommodation wouldn’t be my first choice. I prefer a bit more room to manoeuvre!’
‘I don’t imagine it will bother me all that much.’ He grinned when he saw the scepticism on her face. ‘You’re talking to a guy who’s just spent six months living in a tent so, believe me, it will feel like a palace compared to that.’
‘A tent?’ Katie repeated, forgetting her own concerns at this fresh revelation. ‘What were you doing living in a tent for all that time?’
‘I was working for one of the overseas aid agencies. You may have heard of it…Worlds Together?’ He carried on when she nodded. ‘We were setting up a new maternity unit in an area of India which has a particularly poor record of infant mortality and ended up living in tents because there wasn’t any other accommodation available. What few resources the people have there are needed for themselves.’
‘Sounds pretty grim,’ she observed, watching him closely so that she saw the shadow which crossed his face.
‘It certainly wasn’t a picnic.’
He didn’t say anything else. However, Katie was left with the distinct impression that the experience had been a lot worse than he’d admitted. As she left the office, she found herself wondering if she’d been a bit hasty in her assessment of him. Was Nick really the trickster who’d set out to have fun at her expense, or was he a caring and dedicated doctor? Only time would tell but it was worrying to suddenly have these doubts about him.
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