expression suggested this was the most wonderful of ideas, Kate gave her a hug and told her how happy she was, hiding her own reservations about this happy-ever-after-ending until she’d left the ICU.
Charles and Hamish were talking outside the ED and though she didn’t want to interrupt—and certainly didn’t want to get entangled with Hamish again, as colleague or kisser—she did want to know if Harry was proceeding with his enquiries.
She hesitated, and Charles saw her and settled her indecision.
‘We were just talking about you,’ he called to her.
‘Surely I haven’t been here long enough to be in trouble,’ she said lightly, smiling at Charles.
‘Far from it,’ Charles assured her. ‘No, we were talking about Jack. Harry really needs to see him and, for Jack’s sake, the sooner the mess with his mates Todd and Digger is sorted out, the better. Emily says, providing there’s no setback, we can move him out of ICU tomorrow, and once he’s on a ward it will be hard to keep Harry away from him.’
‘You’ll stay with him when Harry interviews him?’ Kate asked anxiously.
Charles looked at a point somewhere over her head.
‘That’s actually why we were talking about you. I know you were employed to work the ED here, but I wondered if you’d mind working the men’s ward for the next few days. I don’t want to seem as if I’m standing guard over the lad, it will make him look bad, but I’d like to think he has someone he knows and trusts hovering around. I’ll tell Harry he’s still sufficiently ill that I want a nurse with him while he’s interviewed. Would you do it?’
‘Of course,’ Kate said. ‘Do I see Jill? She’ll need to change someone else’s shift as well as mine.’
‘I’ll fix it up with Jill. What were you working tomorrow?’
‘Early shift,’ Kate told him. ‘Six to three.’
Charles smiled at her.
‘Well, isn’t this your lucky day? We’ll transfer Jack in the morning, and he’ll need to rest after the move, so I won’t let Harry near him until the afternoon. If you could do the afternoon shift, midday to nine, that should cover the time Harry’s likely to be there, and if you’re already on the ward, it won’t look as if we’ve brought in someone especially to be with Jack.’
Kate smiled at Charles’s obvious satisfaction with this plan. In fact, it pleased her as well. She’d have the morning free to explore the town and, once she’d found out how shopping and cooking rosters worked in the house, maybe shop as well.
She nodded to the two men and walked away, her thoughts veering between Hamish, who’d been silent throughout her talk to Charles, and Jack—was he well enough for Harry to question him?
‘Are you happy taking on the role of protector?’ Hamish fell in beside her. ‘Do you feel you’d be able to stop Harry’s questioning if you felt it necessary?’
Kate stopped and turned towards him.
‘Medical question?’ she asked, feeling warmth within, although he wasn’t touching her.
‘Medical question,’ he confirmed, though the look in his eyes suggested he was feeling things not entirely medical.
‘You bet your life I’d stop the questioning if I felt it was affecting his recovery in any way.’
‘Mama bear protecting her cub?’ Hamish teased, and Kate had to agree.
‘I’m probably the very worst person to have there, because I do feel over-protective about Jack, but the slightest sign he might be tiring and Harry will be out of there.’
Hamish smiled at her.
‘Word gets around the hospital quickly. When I hear Harry’s arrived I might drop by, in case you need moral support.’
‘And you’re not over-protective?’
Hamish shrugged in a way that suggested agreement, leaving Kate to wonder if it was Jack or her that Hamish was protecting.
They walked out into the scented garden that drew Kate like a magnet, together only as colleagues, she was sure.
Its potent spell filled her head with pleasure, so worries over Kissing Hamish and Colleague Hamish were banished to the far reaches of her brain, and even her concern for Jack lost its hard, knobbly edges of doubt and dread.
HARRY FAILED TO arrive the next day, and Jill explained she’d like Kate to stay on the ward until he did come. Not a bad idea, as far as Kate was concerned, as she hadn’t seen Hamish all day, whereas in the ED, if a child came in, she’d have had to call him as he was the doctor with the most paediatric experience in the hospital.
And being on duty until nine meant she could eat dinner at the hospital, and by the time she’d signed off and walked back to the house, it was late enough to go straight to bed, pleading tiredness should any of her housemates be hanging around.
The arrangement was perfect as far as Hamish-avoidance went.
Until she had to walk through the kitchen on her way to her room! He was over by the bench, waiting for the electric kettle to boil.
‘Cup of tea?’
She checked her watch and studied him suspiciously.
‘Were you waiting for me to come off duty?’
‘Me?’
All innocence!
But then he smiled. ‘Of course I was. I haven’t seen you all day. Do you think I’d miss this opportunity? Now, did you say yes to tea?’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Kate said crossly, although her mouth had suddenly gone dry and she could kill for a cup of tea. ‘And not seeing each other is a good idea, Hamish. I don’t want to get into another relationship—not now, not here, not anywhere.’
He had turned his back, busying himself with cups and the kettle, and finally turned back and set a cup of tea on the table in front of her.
‘You’d deny the magic?’
He spoke so softly she barely heard him. She wanted to yell, to tell him she’d had magic before and it had let her down, but she knew that what she and Daniel had shared had been an illusion—a magic trick, not the real thing at all. Only it had taken her longer than it had Daniel to work that out.
She picked up the cup of tea and sipped at it, eyeing Hamish cautiously over the rim.
‘I’m not answering that, and I’m taking my tea through to my room.’
Would he argue? Pursue her?
Not Hamish. She answered her own question even before she heard his quiet ‘Goodnight,
