Reawakened by the Surgeon's Touch (9 page)

‘Hey there. Looks like you two have beaten us to it!'

Jude drew back abruptly when Lesley appeared closely followed by the rest of the team. He gave Claire a last searching look and she couldn't fail to see the puzzlement in his eyes before he slid into the water. Claire felt a rush of panic assail her. Was he wondering why she hadn't pushed him away? Why she hadn't given any sign that she didn't welcome his advances? She knew it was true and it was the last thing she wanted. She didn't want to give Jude the wrong impression, certainly didn't want to encourage him, but what had happened just now had shaken her. If they hadn't been interrupted then who knew where it could have led?

‘It's a real scorcher of a day, isn't it? Perfect for a dip,' Lesley declared cheerfully as she made her way over to where Claire was sitting. The others had already jumped into the water and Claire was relieved to see that Jude had joined them. She turned to her friend, unable to disguise her anxiety.

‘Can I borrow your towel? I didn't bring one with me.'

‘Of course.' Lesley handed her the towel, her face filling with concern when she realised how tense Claire looked. ‘Are you all right, love? Nothing's happened, has it?' She glanced towards the pool and her mouth thinned. ‘Jude didn't try anything, did he?'

‘No! Of course not.' Claire forced herself to smile. ‘He's been the perfect gentleman.'

‘Good. I'm glad to hear it.'

Lesley returned her smile but Claire could tell that her friend was wondering what had upset her. Shaking out the towel, she wrapped it around herself, not wanting to explain why she was so on edge. If she did that then she would have to tell Lesley why she could never have a relationship with Jude and that wasn't an option.

‘I think I'll get changed,' she said hurriedly. ‘There's a couple of things I need to do before I go off duty but I'll pop back with a dry towel for you.'

‘Oh, don't worry about it. I'll borrow Kelly's spare.' Lesley stripped off her scrubs and dropped them on the ground. She was wearing only her underwear beneath, but she didn't let that worry her as she slid into the water. ‘See you later,' she called as she set off across the pool to join the others.

Claire watched her for a moment then turned away and headed back to the hospital. How she envied Lesley and the other women, envied their confidence and their self-assurance. One of the worst things about what had happened was the fact that it had made her doubt herself. Had she given out the wrong signals that night? she wondered for the umpteenth time. She had wanted only to end the relationship but was she to blame for what had happened? Had she—as Andrew had claimed—brought it upon herself?

She bit her lip as the old doubts were joined by fresh ones. Had she done the same thing just now, led Jude to think that she had wanted him to touch her, kiss her? She couldn't put her hand on her heart and swear it wasn't true, not when she recalled the effect he'd had on her. Fear rose inside her. It would be so easy to make another mistake. Far too easy with Jude.

CHAPTER EIGHT

J
UDE
WAS
DISAPPOINTED
to find that Claire wasn't in the dining room when he went down for dinner. He hadn't seen her since she had left the pool and he had been hoping that she would be there that night. Jeremiah's X-rays had come back and he wanted to discuss them with her—or that was what he had told himself. It had seemed safer than admitting that he desperately wanted to see her.

Jude sighed as he went to the serving hatch. He had come so close to crossing the line today. If they hadn't been interrupted then he knew that he would have kissed her. He felt guilty as hell about it, too, and yet he couldn't rid himself of the thought that Claire might not have spurned his advances. Even though he knew it was madness, he couldn't get the idea out of his head. After all, she must have known what was about to happen, so why hadn't she stopped him? Why had she sat there, looking at him? It didn't make sense which was why he needed to speak to her. He mentioned her absence to Lesley as they carried their plates back to the table.

‘What's happened to Claire tonight?' he said, deliberately keeping his tone light.

‘She's gone back to the convent,' Lesley explained as they sat down. ‘Apparently, the nuns have found some old cartoons and they're planning to show them to the kids tonight as a treat.'

‘Oh, I see.' Jude dredged up a smile. He certainly didn't want Lesley guessing how disappointed he felt. That would only lead to questions and that was the last thing he wanted. ‘Well, I'm sure the children will enjoy them. They've been through such a lot, from what I can gather. They deserve a bit of fun.'

‘They do indeed.' Lesley forked up a mouthful of rice. She chewed and swallowed it then looked at him. ‘Nothing happened today at the pool, did it?'

‘Such as?' Jude said, feigning surprise although his heart had started pounding.

‘I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. Only Claire seemed very...well,
uptight
, for want of a better word. I wondered if you two had fallen out about something.'

‘No, of course not!' Jude exclaimed in dismay. ‘Why? Did Claire say that we had?'

‘No. On the contrary, she said you'd been the perfect gentleman.' Lesley sighed. ‘Take no notice. It's just that she seemed very tense earlier on and I was wondering if there was a reason for it.'

‘And you've no idea what was wrong with her?' Jude asked, overwhelmed by guilt. Had he completely misread the situation? Far from being receptive, had Claire been upset by what had so nearly happened?

‘None at all. I love Claire to bits. She's one of the sweetest, kindest people I know, but she doesn't give much away. I know nothing about her past life, for instance, apart from the fact that she was working in London before she came out here.' Lesley grimaced. ‘Still, we all have our secrets. I'm just being a nosy old bag!'

Jude laughed as he was expected to do but he couldn't deny that he felt dreadful. The thought that he had upset Claire was more than he could bear. He wanted to improve her opinion of him, not make it any worse!

* * *

They were halfway through the film show when five-year-old Bebe started crying and clutching her stomach. Claire hurriedly got up and went to her. Crouching down, she laid her hand on the child's forehead and was dismayed to discover how hot she felt. When Sister Anne came to see what was happening, Claire told her that she would take the little girl to the sick bay. She got Bebe settled in a bed and examined her. It was immediately apparent that the child was in a great deal of pain; she started screaming when Claire gently palpated her abdomen.

‘Shh, sweetheart. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.'

Claire stroked the little girl's cheek but she had to admit that she was extremely concerned. Although it wasn't possible to make a conclusive diagnosis, Bebe was exhibiting all the symptoms of appendicitis, and if that were the case then she needed to be seen immediately by a doctor. When Sister Julie came to see what was happening, Claire explained her concerns to her.

‘So what do you suggest, Claire?' Sister Julie asked anxiously. ‘Shall we try to get hold of a driver and take her to the hospital?'

‘I think it would be far too much for her,' Claire replied, glancing at the little girl. ‘She's in tremendous pain and being jolted over all those potholes will only make matters worse. No, we need to get one of the doctors to come here and see her.'

‘In that case I shall radio the hospital and see what they can arrange.'

Sister Julie hurried away, leaving Claire to watch over the child. She fetched a bowl of tepid water and gently sponged Bebe's face and neck. The child's high temperature worried her most of all as it could signify that her appendix had perforated and that peritonitis had set in, and that was extremely serious. It was a relief when she heard footsteps coming along the corridor some time later, heralding the arrival of one of the doctors from the Worlds Together team.

Claire straightened up, the welcoming smile freezing on her lips when Jude followed Sister Julie into the room. For some reason she hadn't expected him to respond to their call for assistance and it threw her completely off balance to see him standing there. In a fast sweep, her eyes travelled from the top of his gleaming black hair to the tips of his expensively shod feet and she only just managed to bite back her groan as another image promptly superimposed itself on the reality before her. Now all she could see was Jude as he had looked that afternoon, his powerful body gleaming with moisture as he had sat on the edge of the pool, looking at her with such hunger in his eyes.

Her breath caught because she knew it was an image that was going to stay with her for a long time to come.

* * *

‘There's a strong chance her appendix has perforated.'

Jude moved away from the bed and went over to the sink to wash his hands. He glanced round, doing his best to contain his feelings when Claire remained at the child's bedside. Maybe he should put it down to concern for their patient; however, he suspected there was a very different reason why she appeared so keen to maintain her distance from him. Once again he felt a rush of guilt rise up inside him so that it was an effort to concentrate when she spoke.

‘I did wonder if it might be that with her running such a high temperature.'

Her voice was cool, in keeping with her overall demeanour since he had arrived, and Jude sighed. If he had upset her then he wished to heaven that she would come out and say so. Treating him with this icy politeness only made him feel worse!

‘If peritonitis has set in then her temperature will be elevated,' he replied gruffly. He dried his hands and went back to the bed, taking care not to encroach on her personal space. He'd committed enough sins for one day! ‘I'll need to operate immediately and see what's going on. If her appendix has ruptured, the longer the delay, the worse the outcome will be. Is there anywhere suitable here at the convent or will we need to transfer her to hospital? I'd like to avoid that if it's possible,' he added.

‘Actually, the convent used to have its own hospital. Apparently, the nuns used to run it before the uprising. It was closed then but I know there was an operating theatre,' Claire explained then grimaced. ‘However, it's not been used for years, so I've no idea what state it's in.'

‘Then we'd better go and take a look.' Jude raised his brows when she failed to move. ‘If you could show me the way, please, Sister?'

‘Oh! Yes. Of course.'

A touch of colour stained her cheeks as she hurriedly led the way from the room. Jude forbore to say anything as he followed her along the corridor, but her reluctance to be around him was going to make life extremely difficult in the coming weeks. Although he appreciated why she was behaving this way, he couldn't help wondering why she hadn't made her feelings clearer that afternoon. If she had given him even the tiniest hint that she had felt uncomfortable then he would never have let things go that far. Once again the thought that there was something odd about her behaviour rose to his mind but he blanked it out. He wasn't going to complicate matters even further by going down that route again.

Claire stopped when they reached a set of double doors. Pushing open one of the doors, she felt for the light switch. ‘I hope the lights still work,' she murmured.

Jude stepped inside when the lights came on, turning in a slow circle as he took stock. Although the equipment was dated, there appeared to be everything there they needed. The other plus point was that the whole place was spotlessly clean. ‘This is fine,' he declared. ‘I've brought my case with me, so we just need to make sure that the operating table and anaesthetic equipment are sterile before we start.'

He glanced at Claire, keeping his face free of expression. Maybe he was puzzled by her behaviour but it would be better to leave things how they were rather than go raking it all up. He didn't want to embarrass her and he certainly didn't want to explain why
he
had acted the way he had done. Heat ran through him at the thought of admitting how much he had wanted to kiss her. It was out of the question to do that.

‘Have you anaesthetised a patient before?' he asked, deliberately focusing on the task at hand.

‘Yes. Bill showed me what to do, although it was only the once when he wasn't feeling well. I'm certainly no expert,' she added quietly.

‘So long as you understand the basics,' Jude replied curtly. ‘However, if you're tied up doing that then I'll need someone else to assist me. Would one of the sisters be able to help, do you think?'

‘I'm not sure.' She frowned as she considered the question and Jude's hands clenched. All of a sudden he was overwhelmed by the urge to smooth away those tiny lines marring her brow. It took every scrap of willpower he could muster not to give in to it.

‘Sister Julie used to be a nurse—I remember her mentioning that she worked at St. Linus's Hospital in London, although I've no idea which department she was in.'

She looked up and Jude hurriedly adopted a noncommittal expression. The thought of running his fingertips over her brow was giving him hot and cold chills and it was alarming to realise how out of character he was behaving. He had dated many beautiful women over the years, not only dated them either but slept with them as well. However, he couldn't remember ever feeling this aroused before.

‘Perhaps you could ask her if she would assist me,' he suggested, his voice grating. He saw Claire glance at him but thankfully she didn't say anything before she left.

Jude went to check on Bebe again, doing his best to ignore all the crazy feelings rushing around inside him. He had sworn after his experiences five years ago that he would never allow himself to become emotionally involved again but it was different with Claire—he couldn't seem to detach himself as he usually did. She wasn't for him; she never could be his, he reminded himself. But even though his mind understood that rock-solid, his heart refused to believe it. He sighed wearily. Maybe it was being here that was causing the problem. He was so far out of his comfort zone that everything was all mixed up: his thoughts, his feelings, what he wanted from life; every single thing. Once he was back in England it would be a different story. He would pick up the threads and carry on as before.

He frowned as he looked at the little girl lying in the bed. Once again the thought of continuing to live his life the way he had been doing held very little appeal. He had a feeling that nothing would be the same ever again.

* * *

Sister Julie agreed to help, so in a very short time the operation went ahead. Once Jude was satisfied that Bebe was properly anaesthetised he made an incision in her abdomen. Claire gasped because it was immediately apparent what had happened. Although the appendix had perforated, the infection had been contained by the omentum—the fold of membrane that hangs in front of the intestines. This had stuck to the appendix and formed an abscess which was why the little girl had been in such pain.

‘She'll need antibiotics before I can risk draining this abscess and removing the appendix,' Jude declared. He looked at Claire over his mask and she could see the concern in his eyes. ‘She's a very sick little girl and the outcome is by no means guaranteed.'

Claire nodded although she didn't say anything. The thought of the child's life being at risk after everything she had been through had brought a lump to her throat and she didn't want Jude to know how emotional she felt. For some reason she knew it would make her feel even more vulnerable.

They returned Bebe to the sick bay. Fortunately, Jude had brought antibiotics with him, so Claire set up a drip, although she suspected that the little girl would need something stronger to deal with the infection. She wasn't surprised when Jude announced that he intended to transfer Bebe to hospital as soon as possible.

‘Can it wait until the morning?' Claire asked as she finished taping the cannula to Bebe's arm. She sighed when she saw him frown. ‘I know how important it is to get the correct antibiotics into her, but it's too risky to drive into town at this time of the night. If it can wait till daylight, it will be much safer.'

‘I suppose so,' he agreed with marked reluctance. ‘But I'd like to leave at first light. The sooner we get the antibiotics sorted, the better her chances will be.'

‘Of course.' Claire moved away from the bed, her breath catching when her hand accidentally brushed against his arm. She could feel the silky-soft hair on his forearm tickling her skin and swallowed as she was beset by a sudden rush of awareness. She hurried to the door, desperate to put some space between them. The last thing she needed was to be even more aware of him than she already was.

‘I'll get onto Lola and make arrangements for Bebe to be moved in the morning,' she said, over her shoulder.