someone announced. ‘Stand clear.’
Luke gave another nod and touched Anna’s arm. ‘Let’s go. Better if we’re scrubbed and ready by the time they come up if we’re going to be needed.’
A cold, still heart.
This lad was technically dead and here they were thinking they could play God and bring him back to life.
Luke could see the lines of strain around Anna’s eyes. He knew that her lips beneath that mask would be pressed tightly together. And, despite how subtle it was, he saw the way she flinched when her hands touched the chilled flesh in the small chest they had just opened.
‘We need to work fast,’ he reminded her quietly. ‘Standard bypass. Arterial cannula in the ascending aorta. Right atrial cannulation with a single, two-stage cannula.’
Anna nodded. She was already placing a purse-string suture around the major vessel that took blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
Within minutes, with both surgeons working together in a tense atmosphere, the cannulae had been positioned and the boy’s blood was now being circulated through the heart-lung bypass machine instead of his frail-looking body. Circulated and being carefully warmed.
There was nothing more they needed to do surgically until it was time to take him off bypass and repair the vessels currently holding the thick tubes. Then they would—hopefully—restart his heart, close his chest and wait to see if he woke up. Wait to see whether his brain function had survived this terrible insult.
Hours later, Luke found Anna in her office. She had been pacing back and forth between the intensive care unit and the wards. Between the canteen, where she’d eaten nothing at all, and the ICU. Between her office and the ICU.
‘It’s taking too long,’ she said when Luke appeared through the door.
‘He’s in a good rhythm. Body temperature is within a normal range. The hyperglycaemia has been corrected. Renal function is looking good.’
‘I know, I know.’ But Anna was still pacing, her arms wrapped around her body as if for comfort. ‘Blood gases are fine, too, and I’m happy with cardiac pressures. But what about possible complications like thromboembolism? Or disseminated intravascular coagulation?’ She dragged in a breath. ‘Have you met his mum, Janet? Did you know his big brother is six years older and that she had two late miscarriages before Jamie came along? What … what if he doesn’t wake up?’
‘Anna …’ Luke stepped in front of her, forcing her to stand still. He gripped her upper arms. She was so wrapped up in this case, so desperate for them to have succeeded, she was losing her perspective. He’d never seen her like this.
So involved.
Caring so much.
‘The sedation is only being lightened slowly. It’ll take time for him to start breathing on his own and he’s not going to wake up before then.’
‘But what if—?’
‘Stop,’ Luke commanded.
He was still holding her. Looking down at Anna’s pale face. Those astonishing green eyes were locked on his. Hanging onto his words of reassurance. Believing what he was telling her. And then his gaze dropped to her mouth and he saw the tiny tremble of her lips and that undid something deep inside him.
‘What you need, Dr Bartlett,’ he said very softly, ‘is distraction.’
She caught the meaning of his words as soon as he’d uttered them. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and he found himself running his tongue across his lower lip. Slowly. Deliberately.
Time came to a standstill.
‘Mmm.’
The sound Anna made could have been agreement but it sounded more like need. Desire.
It was all the permission Luke needed. His hands left her arms. He used one to cradle the back of her head and with the other he cupped her chin. Then he bent his head.
He was initiating this kiss. He was in control and he intended to make sure Anna was aware of nothing but the sensations he was going to provide with his lips. And his tongue.
This was going to be a kiss that Anna would have no chance of forgetting. Ever.
Anna kept her arms wrapped around her body even after that first touch of Luke’s lips.
She’d needed to keep hold of herself in those seconds leading up to that kiss. Feeling the way his fingers splayed and claimed control of her head and her chin. Sensing the intent of this being far more significant than the last time they’d kissed.
She’d kept her eyes open as she watched his face dipping to meet hers. So slowly. And she’d held herself even more tightly with her own arms then because she’d been sure she was falling.
Desire had sucked her into some kind of vortex and she was spinning wildly. Totally out of control.
And then his lips had touched hers and moved over her mouth. Questing. Claiming. Giving. Demanding her involvement and response.
Sensations rippled through Anna and unlocked the awful tension that had been building from the moment she’d touched Jamie’s small, cold heart. Her skin tingled and seemed to melt and then her muscles gave up conscious control. Her arms let go of her own body and, instead, moved to hold Luke’s. She could feel the strength of his muscles and the steady thump of his heart and all the time his mouth was doing such amazing things to hers. Her bones were melting now. He could just scoop her into his arms and lay her down on the floor of this office and she’d willingly—
Luke pulled away and for a dazed moment all Anna could think of was holding on more tightly. Pulling him back.
‘Phone’s ringing,’ he said gently.
‘Oh.’ Anna put her hand to her mouth and took in a shaky breath. ‘I—I’d better answer it, hadn’t I?’
Luke was smiling at her.
Really smiling. His eyes were crinkled and the corners of his mouth had disappeared into those deep furrows beneath his cheeks.
‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘I think you had.’
She actually stumbled moving towards her desk. Heaven only knew what the intensive care consultant on the other end of the line thought of her initial stammered response but the content of the call was more than enough to bring her back to the present and reality. She put the phone down a moment later.
‘Jamie’s breathing on his own,’ she told Luke. ‘He squeezed his mum’s hand.’
To her horror, Anna felt tears gather in her eyes. She never cried. She most certainly never cried in front of a male colleague.
But Luke didn’t seem to mind. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. Not to kiss her this time but simply to hold her. For long enough to be more than a celebratory hug. Long enough for Anna to know that he understood exactly how she was feeling. Long enough for her to take several deep breaths and get her brain working properly again.
‘If
