today?’
She shook her head. ‘Then what about a coffee? Even in the staff room for five minutes? Let Rob write up his paperwork and come back with something.’
The thought of sitting down for five minutes was tempting. ‘But what about my patient?’
‘Cubicle five?’
She nodded.
‘Let me tell the charge nurse you need a five-minute break and ask if someone else can check on your lady.’ Harry pulled a face. ‘I hate to break it to you, Esther, but you are actually having an allergic reaction to antibiotics. It’s quite severe. Let’s just be sure it doesn’t progress. Let’s be safe.’
It was the way he said those words. She was so much of the ‘drag yourself into work no matter what’ mentality—one that a lot of nurses had—that she never really stopped and took time for herself. The truth was, with the extra hours she’d been doing, she hadn’t had any time. Would five minutes really matter? She should have been sent for a break a few hours ago.
‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly.
Harry nodded and walked down the corridor in long strides. Esther made her way to the staff room and flicked the switch on the kettle.
There was a huge box of cupcakes and doughnuts in the middle of the table from a bakery that was quite exclusive. Anything left in the staff room was pretty much a free-for-all and she was surprised there were any left.
As she took down a couple of cups Harry came back through the door. ‘All sorted. I told Rob where we are and he’s just finished the paperwork.’
Where we are. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that phrase.
She turned back. ‘Does that mean you’re planning on hanging around?’
He nodded. ‘I’m monitoring your reaction.’
As soon as he said those words she scratched again.
‘Whilst eating cakes,’ he added.
She spooned coffee into two cups and filled them with boiling water. It would be rude not to, but she didn’t plan on being too hospitable. ‘Milk’s in the fridge if you want it,’ she said as she handed over the cup.
He stood quickly to get some. ‘Don’t you want some?’ he asked as he added milk to his cup.
She smiled. ‘No, not here. I never trust milk dates when I’m in the hospital. I always drink my coffee black in here.’
He stared suspiciously into his cup as he sat back down. ‘Yeah, thanks for that.’ He pushed the box towards her. ‘Eat something.’
‘I wonder where these came from?’ she asked as a strawberry cupcake seemed to shout her name.
‘Me,’ he said.
‘You brought cakes to A&E? You didn’t even know you’d be down here.’
He gave her a calculating smile. ‘I brought multiple boxes. I left one in NICU, one in Paeds and one down here.’
‘Trying to win people around because occasionally you can be a bit brusque?’
He lifted a chocolate doughnut and met her gaze. There was something quite electric about those eyes. She was glad she was sitting, because the look would likely have stopped her in her tracks. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you speak your mind?’
She laughed. ‘No. Why would anyone ever tell me that?’ She nibbled at the cupcake. ‘But let me warn you, you think I’m bad? Try meeting Oona our charge nurse. If you think I was smart about the entourage, she would have chewed you up and spat you out.’
‘Nice.’ He nodded. ‘Okay, then, if this is a teaching hospital, exactly how many am I allowed to bring in to NICU?’
‘Students?’
He nodded.
‘Two. And they better follow the infection control procedures. To the letter.’
He leaned over and gently slapped her hand. ‘Stop scratching.’
He was right. She was clawing away at her neck again and hadn’t even noticed. ‘When are these antihistamines going to start to kick in?’ She let out a long, exhausted breath.
Harry glanced at his watch. ‘Probably not for another hour at least.’
Now she’d sat down, tiredness was really starting to overwhelm her, and it didn’t matter how nice Harry had been to her today, because of their altercation a few days before, the last thing she wanted to do was show him just how tired she was at work. Not when she had patients to see, and other staff relying on her.
But Harry was being nice to her. She couldn’t pretend anything else. Today, he’d given her space to deal with the mother and baby. Not all doctors were like that. Some would just have barged in and taken over.
The truth was, she was slightly curious about him. He must have worked hard to gain his position as a neonatal cardiac surgeon. As for the duke stuff? He certainly hadn’t told anyone his title, but information like that was quick to follow a person.
She was suddenly conscious they were the only people in the room, and even though she was at the other side of the coffee table, his fresh scent was drifting over towards her. When she was feeling as tired and woozy as this, it was kind of hypnotic. She felt as if she had to get out of here.
She pushed herself up. ‘I better get back. I have another hour before I’m off shift. You’ve seen it out there, it’s chaos. I can’t stay here eating cakes.’
She’d made it to the door by then, but Harry was right alongside her, his fingers brushing her arm. ‘Even if you’re sick?’
She licked her lips. She couldn’t pretend she felt one hundred per cent. She was feeling hot again, and she wanted to find Rob and get started on the third set of antibiotics. No wonder her body felt so tired from constantly fighting an infection.
She gave him a tight smile. ‘You know how the health service is.’ She ducked out the door before Harry had a chance to say anything else, his fingers burning an imprint on her skin.
She didn’t finish her shift an hour later. Harry knew, because after reviewing Billy in NICU, and making arrangements for the new baby’s surgery, his feet just seemed to automatically take him back downstairs to A&E to check on her.
It was crazy. He didn’t even understand it himself. But there was something about this occasionally angry Scottish midwife that was just pulling him in.
He was quite sure she didn’t want him there. But even though they’d had a bad start, he’d watched her interactions with others, with patients, and the respect she had from other staff, and all of it intrigued him.
So he stood in the corridor as he watched her dash back and forward between cubicles. Rob came and stood alongside him, folding
