Chapter 4 #2
A nurse poked her head around the door but Connor sent her away with a glance.
He could keep an eye on whatever needed monitoring, like the circulation in Estelle’s foot.
Reaching out, he touched the skin. It was a bit cool but his fingers found a strong pulse on the top of her foot and he kept them there for a few moments to check her heart rate.
He was touching her.
His hand was on the bare skin of her neck.
It tracked the bumps of her spine, ran beneath the angle of her shoulder blade, and then the trickle of exquisite sensation moved relentlessly on to touch the curve of her breast. His fingers spread to cup the soft swell of flesh, and the ball of his thumb grazed her nipple.
The shaft of pleasure was so intense it was painful.
The pain of heightened desire was enough to wake Kate. The sheets were tangled around her and she was gasping for air.
She rolled out of bed and headed for the shower, but the dream lingered in the shape of the deep burning that was a desire she had never experienced in a conscious state. She didn’t want to experience it, awake or asleep. It was pure sensation. Uncontrollable.
Destructive.
Oh… God. Even turning the shower control to sluice her body with icy-cold water wasn’t enough to douse the effects of that dream.
She shouldn’t have danced with Connor.
Somehow, something had been unleashed that night. Kate had recognised it at the moment it had happened and she’d gone into damage control mode by tearing herself away and then putting as much distance as possible between herself and the man who had turned the key to unlock that forbidden space.
She had caught whatever it was and thought she’d locked it safely away, but her subconscious was betraying her.
Every night.
Kate got dressed in a tailored blouse and pencil-thin skirt.
She brushed her hair and scraped it back into a tight ponytail before braiding the length until there was just enough hair to keep the rubber band in place.
She even looped the braid and used another hair tie to hold the loops securely.
She didn’t want a braid swinging free on her back today.
She didn’t want anything swinging free, including unwanted feelings, and at least she knew she was in control now that she was awake.
A quick breakfast and then Kate intended heading in to work. She had a teaching session scheduled in the lab and hopefully, on either side of that, a day that would be busy enough to keep her fully occupied, physically and mentally.
Bella stumbled sleepily into the kitchen, wearing a singlet top and boxer shorts as Kate was mashing an avocado onto half a toasted bagel.
‘Ooh… yum. Not. Any coffee?’
‘Help yourself. I’m having a raspberry tea.’
‘You’re so healthy.’
It sounded like a complaint. Kate eyed her niece. ‘Maybe some of my healthy lifestyle will rub off on you. Looks like you could use it.’
‘I’m fine. Day off. All I have to do is go in this afternoon to get my new roster. I just got up to keep you company.’
Bella smiled and the sun came out in the kitchen.
Kate felt herself softening in the glow.
How could anybody resist a smile like that?
She watched Bella as she pushed a tumble of blonde hair over her shoulder and yawned hugely as she reached for a coffee mug.
Even half dressed and half asleep with yesterday’s mascara smudged around her eyes she was an extraordinarily beautiful young woman.
‘Late night?’
‘Did I wake you? Sorry.’
‘No. You look like you could use a bit more sleep, that’s all.’
‘Hmm. Might go back to bed for a bit. I wasn’t that late. I met some nurses from St Pat’s at a pub near the hospital. We just had a couple of drinks, that’s all.’ She glanced at Kate. ‘Connor was there.’
‘Oh?’ Kate suddenly had difficulty swallowing her mouthful.
She concentrated on reaching for her cup of tea.
What was Bella going to tell her next? That she and Connor were now officially dating?
Oh… help. That would mean she would be seeing more of him.
Bella might even bring him home for the night.
She couldn’t deal with that. With the kind of dreams she had haunting her nights at the moment, the thought of Connor here, in bed with Bella, touching her…
well, it was almost obscene. And as absurd as it was, there was the possibility that she could end up feeling jealous of her beloved niece.
Bella was the person she loved most in the whole world.
Kate couldn’t let something like this threaten such a precious relationship.
She cleared her throat. ‘You know, it might be timely to talk about a few house rules.’
‘Oh?’ Bella unconsciously echoed her aunt’s neutral tone. ‘You mean like putting the top back on the toothpaste and stuff?’
‘I’m thinking more about visitors.’
Bella was stirring sugar into her coffee. ‘I’m not following.’
‘Dates,’ Kate said succinctly. ‘Men. In particular, men that might want to stay overnight.’
Bella grinned. ‘I try and stick to one at a time but, hey, you go for it, Auntie Kate. More power to you.’
Kate’s cup clanked loudly on the saucer as she put it down. ‘I’m not talking about me, Bella. I’m talking about you. And Connor. I don’t want to wake up and find him in my kitchen. If you want to stay the night with him, do it at his place, okay?’
Pushing herself to her feet, Kate tipped half a cup of tea down the sink and abandoned her half-eaten bagel on the bench. Bella was staring at her, open-mouthed.
‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘No.’ Kate plucked her jacket from where she’d hung it over the back of her chair and started to put it on.
Bella was shaking her head. ‘You must be kidding.’
‘Why’s that?’ Kate hated how snappy she sounded but it was a warning all on its own. This was dangerous territory. She had to take control.
Bella had a curious expression on her face. A half-smile that suggested a wisdom beyond both her years and her personality.
‘Because it’s not me Connor’s interested in,’ she said slowly. ‘It’s you.’
The wave of longing was unexpected. Debilitating, almost. Kate was having trouble getting her arm through the sleeve of her jacket. The knot filled her belly. Tight and painful and… pointless.
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ If her previous comment had been a snap, this would verge on being a snarl, but Bella only snorted softly. The sound was one of amusement.
‘I wasn’t the only one who noticed the chemistry between you two when you were dancing the other night. It’s as plain as this mountain of a zit I’ve got erupting on my chin.’ Bella fingered the spot. ‘Good grief… I’m not a teenager any more. It’s not fair.’
‘Stop thinking like a teenager, then,’ was all Kate could manage to say. ‘And seeing things that aren’t – and never will be – there. And have some fruit for breakfast,’ she threw over her shoulder as she headed for the briefcase waiting for her by the door. ‘I’ll see you later. I’m going to work.’
The labs were humming.
All the usual work was in full swing, with samples of all kinds being tested, reports dictated and results being dispatched. Lewis Blackman was using the time before he started the day’s scheduled autopsies to rove the area and make sure that his department was running like clockwork.
Every microscope in the large room was in use, both by technicians on duty and the members of the tutorial group of junior doctors that Kate was instructing.
She was following up her lecture by testing how much her students had taken in.
Her boxes of teaching slides were spread over counters and eager young medics were trying to outdo each other by identifying what they could see.
‘What have you got there, Neil?’
‘I think it’s an osteoid osteoma.’
‘Which is?’
‘A common, benign, bone-producing neoplasm. Predominantly found in males aged between ten and twenty years.’
‘Common sites?’
‘Fifty per cent are found in the femur or tibia.’
‘What’s the differential diagnosis?’
‘An aggressive osteoblastoma, which is also benign. Or an osteosarcoma.’
‘Why is it important to differentiate them?’
‘An osteosarcoma is one of the most aggressive and highly lethal tumours and commonly throws metastases to the lungs and liver.’
‘How can you be sure this isn’t an osteosarcoma?’
‘Because I can see the lesional tissue. The nidus. It’s well demarcated from the surrounding bone.’ The student moved to let Kate lean over the microscope.
She nodded and then looked up. ‘Anyone got a slide that shows an osteosarcoma?’
‘I have, I think.’ It was a registrar called Marie who spoke. ‘It looks like lace.’
Kate checked the second slide. ‘Right. I want everyone to look at both these examples and then we’ll have a quick recap on differential diagnoses and clinical behaviour for both types of tumours.’
‘Kate?’ A technician edged into the group.
‘Janet’s on the theatre run but due to get a piece of kidney from Theatre One.
There’s an urgent case in Theatre Three.
Bone biopsy being done on a thirteen-year-old girl.
The surgery hasn’t started yet but do you want me to go and wait to collect the specimen? ’
‘Please. And bring it to me.’ Kate eyed her group of students again. ‘This is timely. You can see a real-time investigation on a bone biopsy. If it’s happening during surgery, the results are critical. It might mean the difference between losing or saving a limb.’
The group was milling between the two microscopes and debating clinical information when an alarm sounded a few minutes later.
‘Oh, no…’ It didn’t take much to trigger a fire alarm in a hospital and the disruption could be disastrous. Kate flicked a glance around her busy department. Could she afford to ignore it?
Someone rushed into the laboratory area. ‘There’s smoke coming from the kitchens,’ he shouted. ‘Everybody out.’
‘Oh, my God…’ Marie was looking terrified. ‘We’ll be caught in the basement. How do we get out?’