‘But he’s only a baby!’ Heather found it impossible to hide her dismay. ‘How on earth could any mother leave a child that age on his own?’
‘No idea, but it happens all too often, I’m afraid.’ Melanie glanced across the room and sighed. ‘Evidently, the fireman who rescued him was lucky not to be killed. The whole place caved in just seconds after he got the kid out.’
Heather shuddered, unable to stop the rapid play of images that flashed through her head. They were part of the nightmare that had haunted her since Stewart had died. Everyone had said that he’d been a hero but it was hard to find comfort in that fact when all she could think about was what she had lost that day.
‘Heather, are you OK?’
‘Fine. I was just wondering if we should ask the police to find the mother,’ she said briskly when she heard the concern in Melanie’s voice. She mustn’t think about what had happened to Stewart. She must focus on what needed doing, instead of allowing her emotions to run away with her. ‘If they questioned the neighbours then someone might be able to tell them where she went.’
‘Want me to have word with them?’ Melanie offered. ‘There’s a policeman waiting outside so I could ask him.’
‘No. It’s OK. I’ll do it. The burns reg should be here any minute….’ Heather glanced round as the door opened and Alan Fontain appeared. ‘Ah, here he is now.’
She quickly relayed everything that had been done for the little boy for the benefit of the other registrar. Alan was of the same opinion as her, that the child had been extremely fortunate to have got off with such a small area of damage. He made arrangements to admit Damien to the burns unit then hurriedly left.
‘If you’ll take Damien to the burns unit, Mel, I’ll have a word with that policeman,’ Heather began, only to stop once more when Ben approached her.
‘Would you mind taking a look at this chap for me, Heather? I don’t think the damage is too severe but I’ve not handled any cases like this before and I’d hate to miss anything.’
The young registrar’s handsome face broke into a rueful smile. Ben had caused quite a stir since he’d started working in the accident and emergency unit but, so far as Heather was aware, he’d not asked any of the nurses out yet. ‘The effect of smoke inhalation is not something you see very often in the maternity unit, which was my last rotation!’
‘I don’t suppose it is,’ Heather conceded, trying to hide her dismay. However, the fact that she should feel the least bit worried about dealing with a patient alarmed her. What was it about this patient that disturbed her so much?
‘I’ll ask the police to chase up the mother,’ Melanie put in helpfully, shooting a megawatt smile at Ben.
‘Thanks.’ Heather formed her mouth into a smile but her lips felt as though they’d been turned to rubber all of a sudden. She would have to help Ben, of course, because it would be unforgivable to endanger a patient’s life by missing some vital sign which the younger doctor had overlooked.
In silence she crossed the room and took the notes Ben handed her, using the few moments it took to read through them to calm her racing heart. Then, when she could delay no longer, she handed back the clipboard and turned to the man lying on the bed.
‘My name is Heather Cooper and I’m the senior registrar in the accident and emergency unit.’
She couldn’t have counted the number of times she had introduced herself that very same way, yet for some reason the words sounded unfamiliar, as though it was the first time she’d ever said them, the first time they had really mattered.
Her shocked grey eyes flew to the man’s face and stopped, held by the expression in the hazel ones which were regarding her with exactly the same degree of bewilderment. In that moment Heather knew that it wasn’t her imagination that something odd was going on because he could feel it, too. And the panic she’d felt before was nothing to the fear that suddenly gripped her.
There was no room in her life for another hero!
‘IF YOU could just lean forward, Mr Tanner…a little more. That’s fine. Thank you.’
Ross felt his rigid muscles relax as the cool fingers that had been touching his bare back were suddenly removed. Dr Heather Cooper’s examination had been extremely thorough, although he wasn’t foolish enough to imagine that he should read anything into it. Even though he knew nothing about her, he sensed that she would treat all her patients the same way. Dr Cooper was just very good at her job.
Disbelief shot through him and the monitor blipped as his heart rate increased. He saw Heather Cooper’s eyes swivel towards the screen and willed himself to calm down. The last thing he wanted was for her to suspect that something was wrong with him, but it was hard to deal with the way he seemed to be behaving all of a sudden.
Since when had he developed the gift of ESP? How on earth could he know that Heather was good at her job? He had no idea but it was worrying enough to cause his heart to fit in several more beats in rapid succession.
‘Do you have any chest pain at all?’
Dr Cooper’s calm voice should have been the perfect antidote to his fanciful musings but Ross was past the point of no return by that stage. Blip, blip, blip went the damned machine as he shook his head, seemingly intent on making a liar of him.
‘Are you quite sure, Mr Tanner?’
Those cool fingers returned to hold the chilly end of a stethoscope against his chest. Ross sucked in as much oxygen as his burning lungs would allow but the blasted machine rattled out another volley of blips. Heaven help him if Heather Cooper worked out that the reason why his heart was hopping up and down like a kid on a pogo stick was because she was touching him!
‘Relax, Mr Tanner. I know how worrying this must be for you but I’m confident that you’ve suffered only minimal damage to your throat and lungs….’
She stopped talking while she listened, lightly holding the end of the stethoscope against his chest with the tips of her fingers. Ross focused on the pale ovals of her nails because that seemed a relatively harmless thing to do. Fingernails weren’t the least bit scary. Neither were they sexy, although Heather Cooper’s nails were particularly beautiful with those delicate half-moons at the base of each shimmering through the unvarnished shell-pink.
Ross saw her stiffen as his heart gave an almighty surge. He closed his eyes, praying that nobody would notice the matching response that had occurred in another part of his body. Thankfully, the nurse had only removed his shirt and he was still wearing his uniform trousers beneath the sheet. With a bit of luck they would save him from any major embarrassment.
‘We’ll monitor what’s happening overnight.’
Ross’s eyes flew open when he realised that Heather Cooper was speaking to him. She was calmly rolling up her stethoscope but there was a hint of colour in her cheeks that hadn’t been apparent before. His gaze dipped down then swooped back up in relief when he realised that the bulky trousers had safely preserved his modesty. If Dr Cooper was looking a little hot under the collar then it had nothing
