Читать книгу NYC Angels: An Explosive Reunion - Алисон Робертс - Страница 5

EVERYBODY WAS WAITING.

Expecting Alex Rodriguez to be taken to task by the chief of paediatrics for failing to put in an appearance or even the courtesy of an apology for the monthly report meeting.

Alex had caught more than one oddly expectant glance from people over the course of the afternoon following that meeting. When his path crossed again with that of Layla for the first time he was in the cafeteria for lunch the next day, and the air of anticipation around him was palpable. A public arena and an attentive audience to witness a senior staff member being told off was gold for feeding a grapevine.

Alex gritted his teeth and waited for the kind of acerbic comment that would let him know by how far he’d missed the mark in his professional responsibilities.

Instead, he was treated, along with everybody else snatching a quick meal, to one of those thousand-watt smiles that Layla was so good at.

‘Good to see you’re finding time to eat,’ she said, with that husky Southern edge to her voice that always made her sound vaguely amused about something. ‘I hear you’re busier than a one-armed paper-hanger over there in Neurology.’

He waited for the kicker. The jibe about being so busy that he couldn’t have found the good manners to let her know he couldn’t make the meeting. But that smile didn’t dim. With a flick of those tousled, shoulder-length blonde waves, Layla continued moving towards the food counter, leaving nothing but a faint scent of something deliciously fresh in her wake. Apples?

Realising that he was sitting there with his mouth half-open, trying to identify what flavour shampoo Layla used, was enough to make Alex aware of the unpleasant burn of embarrassment, but he needn’t have worried. Everyone around him was still watching Layla. Especially the men. And the collective gaze was laced with admiration.

Definitely apples, he decided the next day when Layla brushed past him in the recovery room to visit with a small patient of hers who’d just undergone open heart surgery.

He knew it was a coincidence that had placed her patient right next to the little girl he’d just operated on to correct a spinal abnormality but did she have to stand on his side of the bed? Did she really have to be here at all?

‘I’ve been so worried about this wee man,’ he heard her say to the nurse. ‘I just had to come and have a peek.’

‘He’s doing just fine,’ the nurse reassured her. ‘We’ll be transferring him to PICU any time now.’

Recovery was an extension of the operating theatre suite. Alex’s turf. As Chief of Paediatrics, Layla often got involved with the more serious cases that came into Angel’s and he’d often seen her in places like the paediatric intensive care unit. Even when she was sticking to her own specialty of paediatric cardiology, she would often have small patients who spent time in there when their condition deteriorated or after they’d had surgery. But he’d never come across her in the actual recovery area and it felt like more than a professional coincidence.

Was he getting paranoid or was Layla trying to get in his face at every possible opportunity and … and enjoying it?

‘Don’t tell me …’ Alex didn’t try and erase the sardonic lilt to his words as the nurse sped off to attend to another patient arriving from Theatre. ‘You’re regretting your choice not to become a surgeon.’

‘Not at all.’ Layla’s glance flicked the whole length of his body and Alex instantly felt at a disadvantage.

Underdressed, standing here in his loose-fitting scrubs. He still had a theatre cap on his head and he’d only broken the top strings on his mask so it was hanging around his neck like a bib. Layla was wearing a smart, close-fitting pencil skirt and a crisply ironed blouse under her spotless white coat. And she had her trademark high heels on. Alex was wearing white, plastic gumboots.

‘I adore cardiology,’ Layla continued. ‘I get to make the diagnosis and I get to enjoy the follow-up and see the way lives improve after surgery. I don’t have to do the messy, in-between bit of adjusting the internal plumbing.’ Her gaze seemed to intensify. ‘My surgical rotation back when I was an intern showed me that it wasn’t where I wanted to be.’

That rotation had been when they’d met. When Layla had become little Jamie’s champion and she’d persuaded him to take on the toddler’s complex surgery.

When they’d been together as far, far more than professional colleagues. Was that what Layla was really referring to here? Maybe he didn’t want to find out. He backed down.

‘I’ve just never seen you hanging around Recovery before,’ he muttered. ‘That’s all.’

She knew, dammit. She knew exactly how uncomfortable he was with her presence in what had previously been a sacrosanct area for him.

We’re colleagues. Her raised eyebrows managed to convey even more to the message. We work in the same hospital. We are mature, professional people who are passionate about our careers. Deal with it.

Fine. Alex would deal with it. He tilted his head towards the tiny patient in the bed.

‘What was the procedure?’

‘Just an ASD closure. But it was a big one and little Josh here is a real cutie. One of triplets.’

Triplets? Good grief … Why was nothing about Layla … ordinary?

Even this unusual visit was vaguely disturbing.

Any other doctor would be looking at the monitors or reading the recovery notes. Or at least quizzing the nurse. But not Layla. She was leaning over the tiny, unconscious boy. Finding a patch of skin that wasn’t covered by an electrode for monitoring or tape that was holding an intravenous line in place. Stroking that skin with such a gentle touch that Alex couldn’t look away.

‘Hear what that nurse told me, honey?’ he heard her murmur. ‘You’re doing just fine. You keep it up now. Your momma and daddy aren’t far away and they can’t wait to see you.’

Alex forced his attention back to the monitors attached to his own patient but he couldn’t ignore the knot in his gut. It tightened when he glanced back in time to see Layla on the point of leaving. She had two fingertips against her pursed lips and, having turned her head to check that the nurse wasn’t watching, she took that tiny kiss and transferred it to the forehead of the unconscious toddler.

A tiny moment in time. A very personal moment. If Layla hadn’t turned in his direction again as she’d straightened, she would never have known that she had been observed. Alex was busted. He wasn’t going to pretend he hadn’t been staring so he held her gaze steadily and it was gratifying to see the flush of colour that painted Layla’s cheeks.

But she didn’t look away. Her chin came up and the spark in her eyes was one of defiance.

So I get emotionally involved with my patients, the spark said. Deal with that, too. I happen to think it makes me a better doctor.

‘See you later, Alex.’

‘Yeah … I’m sure you will.’

The high heels of Layla’s shoes beat a sharp tattoo as she exited the recovery room and, despite himself, Alex knew he was watching her leave with the same kind of expression that every male in the cafeteria had had the day before.

You had to hand it to her. Layla Woods had very decided opinions and more courage than you could shake a stick at to defend them. And that feistiness, wrapped up in such an attractive package, was the kind of challenge any red-blooded man would get drawn to.

Look at him. He knew the deadly consequences of rising to that challenge and he was still finding it difficult not to get sucked in all over again.

Alex looked down at his small patient. He had done the best he could for her with the surgery to correct the spinal malformation and he was confident that it had been a success. This little girl would soon be able to sit up and walk and catch up with the developmental milestones she had missed. Her parents were going to be thrilled and he would take a great deal of pleasure in following up on her progress.

He cared about her. A lot. But he wasn’t going to start cuddling and kissing his patients. He’d learned long ago how dangerous emotional entanglements could be. Probably even before his mother had died.

Alex hadn’t needed the gut-wrenching confirmation of that lesson represented by the disastrous notion that Layla might have been different enough to deserve his trust. And he wasn’t going to lay himself open to the kind of heartache that came with losing a small patient that you’d got too attached to. He knew how to keep just the right amount of distance to make sure he stayed at the top of his game.

He just had to apply the same wisdom to his professional relationship with Layla, never mind how many times he found himself close to her. Or how many personal things he happened to notice.

Personal things like the kind of shoes she wore or shampoo she used were superficial and easily ignored. The personal detail he discovered about Layla a few days later nearly did his head in.

Plan B seemed to be going slightly astray.

The idea had been to show Alex that the past was well and truly behind them. That they could enjoy a professional relationship and put any lingering attraction behind them as well. Tuck it away, along with the malpractice suit and the way both their lives had been derailed.

But it seemed to be taking on a life of its own now.

Alex didn’t like it that she was invading his space. Layla could feel the ‘Oh, God, not again’ vibe whenever she just happened to be in the same place at the same time. Like the cafeteria or Recovery or the intensive care unit or one of the wards. She was getting so good at this she didn’t need to check his electronic calendar to guess where he might be next. Often her instinct put her in the right place. Or maybe fate was helping because her path seemed to be crossing with that of Alex far more often as she fulfilled her own professional duties.

Well, Alex had only himself to blame. The effect of her subtle campaign was magnified considerably by how successful Alex had been in trying to avoid her in the run-up to that meeting he’d stupidly decided to miss. This could have all blown over by now. She would have given Alex his moment in the limelight, taken the opportunity to say thank you in a heartfelt manner and they could have agreed that this was a fresh start for both of them.

Bygones could have been bygones.

But no … Alex had taken a stand and presented a challenge and she knew perfectly well that he would have been expecting her to front up and tear a strip or two off him because everybody knew that she didn’t hang back from necessary confrontation. The perfect opportunity had presented itself the very next day, in fact, in the staff cafeteria, with the bonus of a built-in audience.

What a stroke of brilliance it had been, doing the complete opposite of what they had all been expecting. Her ultra-friendly smile and the way she had simply ignored the whole issue had thrown Alex off guard completely. He was still suspicious of her motives and she couldn’t blame him for not liking what was happening. She was in control here.

The problem was that she was enjoying herself. A bit too much perhaps. She was quite confident of how aware of her Alex was. She could sense the way he watched her, like that time in Recovery. She could feel the intensity of that gaze like a touch on her skin.

No. The real problem was the flip side of that particular coin.

She was equally aware of him.

Just how unhelpful this awareness was became strikingly obvious a few days later after Layla had been called to the emergency department to consult on a ‘blue baby’ case that had been rushed in by ambulance. The mother had had almost no prenatal care so the baby’s cardiac abnormalities had not been picked up prior to birth and, to complicate matters, the young mother had gone into labour and had given birth at home. With the baby safely intubated and stabilised and now under the care of the neonatal surgeons, Layla was free to leave the department to carry on with the rest of her duties when she spotted Alex.

He was standing just outside one of the resuscitation rooms where the more serious cases were assessed and stabilised. Right next door to the one she had been in. That small thrill of excitement and the way her heart rate picked up was due purely to the stroke of luck crossing his path in such an unexpected place. Neither of them had much to do with the emergency department so what were the odds of them both being here at the same time? That this would annoy Alex no end might be a kind of a bonus.

Except that he didn’t even seem to be aware of her standing so close by. His attention was focussed on the woman he was with. White-faced and sobbing, she looked barely more than a teenager. She had long, dark, wildly curly hair and she was talking fast and loudly. In Spanish.

Alex was looking stunned. As though he had no idea how to handle the situation.

Layla had never seen him look like this.

She’d seen him in charge of emergency situations in Theatre. Running a resuscitation scenario in the intensive care unit. Dealing with distraught parents. But never once had she seen him look as if he wasn’t in complete control.

Looking … vulnerable?

Well … she had once. When things had gone so disastrously wrong at the end of Jamie Kirkpatrick’s surgery. She’d had to stand back and watch helplessly then. She didn’t have to now.

Layla moved swiftly towards them. ‘Can I help you?’ she said to the young woman. ‘Te puedo ayudar? Digame lo que pasa …’

Her Spanish was fluent. The woman grabbed her arm in relief and sobbed out her story. Alex looked, if anything, even more stunned when Layla turned back to him.

‘Ramona says you’re treating her baby. Felix?’

His nod was terse. ‘He’s got a skull fracture. I was hoping to get to the bottom of the story but the language barrier’s suddenly got a lot worse.’

Layla asked Ramona a question and then translated the response. ‘His brother hit him with a toy brick.’

She could see the total disbelief in Alex’s face. ‘I’m talking about a fracture here. A broken skull. An unconscious child.’ His voice was so tense it cracked.

Layla’s brain sent out the kind of alert signal that any Chief of Paediatrics would be wise to pay attention to. It had been known to happen, hadn’t it? She’d read of more than one case where parents had had children taken away from them by social services and had been prosecuted for child abuse.

One sprang to mind immediately, of an eight-month-old boy whose sibling had hit him with a toy aeroplane and caused a fracture. And what about the Tommy Jenner case a few months ago when the child-abuse screen had been started and then they’d found that Tommy had actually been injuring himself because of the seizures caused by his brain lesion?

Alex needed to be careful of what he was saying here but Layla found that she was thinking of something else entirely as she stared at him. Had she really not noticed before how those glimmers of grey had crept into his jet-black hair? The way those lines at the corners of his eyes had deepened over the years they hadn’t seen each other? Had she really forgotten the way those chocolate-brown eyes could darken when something emotionally intense was going on, like anger or … physical passion?

Heavens … they looked positively black at the moment.

Ramona had picked up the tone of Alex’s voice. Looking terrified, she made a huge effort to pull herself together and change languages.

‘No … don’t say those words. No person hurt my baby. I … I love him.’

The anguish in her eyes and broken words was heart-breaking. Alex put his hand on the young woman’s shoulder.

‘Try and calm down, Ramona. I won’t ask any more questions now. We’ve got Felix stabilised and we’ll be taking him up to surgery in a few minutes.’

‘Què? I … no understand …’

Layla translated but she couldn’t look away from where Alex’s hand was still resting on Ramona’s shoulder. She could feel that hand herself.

‘Ask her if her husband’s on the way,’ Alex ordered.

But Ramona understood that.

‘Not husband. Boy … friend. I was …’ With an impatient head shake and hand movements she reverted to rapid Spanish and Layla had to relay the information.

‘She was already pregnant with Felix when she met him. He’s bringing in her older son. She’s scared that you’re going to call the police and she doesn’t want to get into trouble.’ It was quite possible there was an issue concerning illegal immigration here. Layla bit her lip, wondering if this was another alert signal her new position meant she should be worrying about.

The hand had dropped now. Layla watched as Alex’s fingers curled into a fist but that was the only sign that something was disturbing him very deeply. That and the sense of raw power he was exuding. Right now that power was all about anger on behalf of a defenceless small child. Did he know for sure that his little patient’s head injury had not been accidental? Layla wouldn’t want to be standing in his way if he was planning to do something about such a conviction.

When he looked at Layla, she knew he was barely aware of her.

‘Tell her that my only concern is treating her son.’

Alex left the impression of power in his wake and it stayed with Layla long after leaving Ramona with one of the nurses. She was left with a whole kaleidoscope of impressions whirling around her head, in fact.

The tension in Alex’s face. The image of his hand on Ramona’s shoulder. The way those dark, dark eyes had seemed to look right through her.

Memories … That first time they’d made love in the wake of her being so wound up after a blazing row with Luke. The urgency and the mind-blowing heat of that encounter. The unbelievable bliss in which it had culminated …

The feel of his lips against hers, which she’d experienced again not very long ago. The sheer wanting that it could conjure up every single time …

Oh, yes. It was just as well Alex was nowhere near where he might be able to see what was whizzing through her head because any control Layla felt she’d had in following this fool plan of hers had just gone out the window.

Concentrating on what she had to do for the rest of her day was quite a tall order. Layla was still feeling out of kilter by the time she got to the end of her list, long after most staff members had finished their days and gone home for dinner. She always liked to pop into all the intensive care units before she went home, to make sure she was in touch with how all Angel’s most seriously unwell children were doing.

Her little ‘blue’ baby was in the cardiac unit, having had surgery to correct the abnormality she had been born with. All was well in NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit. PICU was her last stop. Maybe because she was a little nervous at crossing paths again with Alex today?

A little nervous? Judging by the way she actually jumped when she heard the sound of his voice even before she saw him, she was as jumpy as spit on a hot skillet.

‘For God’s sake … a skull fracture with acute subdural and epidural bleeding. You can’t tell me a two-year-old kid can throw a wooden brick hard enough to cause that kind of an injury.’

‘Are there any other potential signs of abuse?’

Another male voice. And they were both talking quietly, probably confident that their intense conversation was private. Had they left the unit for precisely that reason?

Layla stopped in her tracks, unsure of whether to round the corner where she’d have to walk past them to get to the locked door of the intensive care unit. The indecisiveness was an alien sensation and she didn’t like it at all. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, fingering her security badge, which would allow her access through that locked door.

‘I don’t know.’ Alex’s voice was a growl. ‘I haven’t had a chance to check him over properly yet. I’ve been too busy trying to save the poor little tyke’s life. My suspicions are more than enough to base a report on and it needs to be filed within thirty-six hours of admission.’

‘You need to be careful. Do you remember the first time I went to the monthly report meeting? Who was that kid you presented the case on? The one who’s been on chemo for months and you’re going to think about operating on soon?’

‘Tommy Jenner.’ Alex sounded impatient now. He didn’t want to change the subject.

‘You presented that case as a warning, didn’t you? Not to make assumptions that just might be wrong. The last thing you need is another malpractice suit on your hands.’

‘Are you telling me to stand back and say nothing? You, of all people, should know better than that, Cade. We both know the kind of damage that can do, don’t we?’

‘Yeah, yeah … point taken. But that’s exactly why you need to tread carefully, man. You’re too wired to see the worst-case scenario. You know too much.’

Layla was standing very still now, her eyes wide. What on earth was all that supposed to mean?

‘You’re following protocol,’ Cade continued. ‘Treating the child is number one. You can order a child-abuse screen and do the other tests you need, like X-rays to look for old fractures. The kid’s safe and you’ve got some time up your sleeve. You need to cool down.’

Having Layla appear around the corner probably wouldn’t help Alex to cool down. She found herself backing away. Turning, ready to leave, only to find herself face to face with a man who had a small boy with him. The child was about two or three years old and he was a reluctant companion. The man had a grip above the boy’s elbow and was half pulling, half shoving him along. With long, greasy-looking hair and the skin of his arms beneath his T-shirt barely visible between tattoos, the man looked distinctly menacing.

‘Get a move on,’ he snarled down at the child, ignoring Layla. ‘We’re going to find your mother and then I’m outta here. I’m done with babysitting someone else’s snivelling brat.’

He swept past Layla and around the corner. He practically banged into Alex and Cade.

Layla was hot on the man’s heels. She didn’t need the strong whiff of alcohol that reached her nostrils to know that a very volatile situation was forming.

‘Whoa …’ It was Cade who held up a hand to ward off a collision. ‘Take it easy.’

‘I’m in a hurry,’ the man responded. He ignored Alex and walked past Cade. ‘What … is that door locked? What kind of a joint is this? I thought it was a hospital, not a bloody prison.’

Layla was watching Alex. She could see he had assessed what was going on with the speed and intelligence she had learned to expect from him long ago. He was also putting two and two together as fast as she had. A young man arriving at the intensive care unit with a small boy. His patient’s mother was inside the unit with her son. The baby had an older brother who had, supposedly, caused his severe head injury.

Alex caught her gaze and she felt that tingle of connection. Of knowing they were on exactly the same wavelength.

But there was more to this than a surgeon worried about his patient or a doctor who found treating a case of child abuse appalling. The shadows she could see in Alex’s gaze created a flood of questions. She’d always been aware of that dark side to him, hadn’t she? She’d never had the chance to find out how it had got there. She’d been happy to just let it add to the frisson of danger that had gone with getting close to this man. The excitement of the illicit affair.

And, right now, it was more than just wanting answers to those questions … she wanted to defuse this situation. Or was it more than that even? That squeezing sensation in her chest suggested that she wanted to … make it better somehow. For Alex.

As if he read something of that in her face, his gaze jerked away from her to the stranger.

‘You’re Ramona’s boyfriend, aren’t you?’ Alex sounded calm. Dangerously so.

‘Who wants to know?’

‘I’m Alex Rodriguez. Felix’s neurosurgeon. I’m the person who’s been operating on Felix this afternoon. Getting some of the blood out of his skull before it did too much damage to his brain.’

‘Good for you.’ The man eyed Alex up and down. More up than down. Both Alex and his brother towered over this stranger by at least six or seven inches. Layla could see that he was practised in assessing another man’s strength but if he was intimidated by his male company he didn’t show it. He stepped closer to Alex. ‘If you’re a doctor, you can let me in through that door. I’ve got a right to see Ramona.’

Alex was taking a breath. Layla could see the way his eyes narrowed as he smelt the alcohol. ‘I’d like a word with you first, if you don’t mind.’

‘I do mind.’ Layla saw the way the man shoved the little boy to one side and then curled his fists.

The little boy staggered sideways and bumped into Cade, who caught him as he started sobbing. ‘You’re OK, buddy,’ he said.

‘Shut up, Cody, or you’ll be sorry,’ the man warned.

‘Like Felix was?’ Alex’s query was almost conversational.

‘Alex …’ Cade’s tone was a warning.

The men were squaring off at each other. Layla could feel the fury of Alex’s stare even though it was fastened firmly on the man directly in front of him. The tension was indescribable. Any second now and all hell would break loose. Alex would flatten Ramona’s low-life boyfriend and then what? She wouldn’t be trying to thank him for saving her job. She’d be fighting a losing battle trying to save his.

Not going to happen.

Without pausing to think about what she was doing, Layla stepped in between the two men just as both men raised their fists.

The vicious shove she received from behind was meant to get her out of the way but, in fact, it slammed her against Alex’s rigid body. He had no choice but to lower his fists to catch hold of her before she fell sideways. It still felt like she was falling but she was encased in an astonishingly powerful grip.

From the corner of her eye she saw the fist aimed at Alex, which would have connected with the side of her head if Alex hadn’t hauled her out of harm’s way.

He only held Layla long enough for her to feel that strength and all that leashed power. To feel the pounding of his heart against her own for no more than a second. And then he let go of her and moved so swiftly the attacker didn’t have a chance.

‘That’s enough.’ Alex grabbed the raised arm of the attacker and then twisted it behind the man’s back.

‘Ow … lemme go,’ the man snarled. The words turned into a whimper of pain as Alex clearly tightened his grip.

Layla, Cade and little Cody were all staring, wide eyed.

‘Call Security,’ Alex told Cade. ‘Layla, take Cody in to find his mother.’

Layla did as she was told. She held out her hand. ‘Come on, honey. I’ll just bet your momma is going to be so happy to see you.’

Behind her, she could hear Cade talking urgently to Alex. ‘I’ll sit on him till Security gets here. You need to go and cool down before you talk to them. I’ll tell them you got paged.’

‘No way …’ The refusal was almost drowned by a stream of obscenities and threats from Ramona’s boyfriend.

Layla used her swipe card to gain entry to the unit. As the doors closed behind Cody and herself she could only hope that Alex could control his fury. It didn’t matter what the man was guilty of—a member of staff in an altercation with a parent figure would be a dismissible offence.

She found a staff member to take care of Cody and filled them in on what had happened. She even spoke briefly to Ramona and learned that Felix had come through his surgery with flying colours and everybody was very pleased with how he was doing. It was only a few minutes before she could head back to see what was happening on the other side of the door. With a curious mix of both relief and disappointment she found Alex was nowhere to be seen. Ramona’s boyfriend was also gone from the scene and the security guard talking to Cade had finished whatever he needed to do.

‘I’ll go and have a word with the boy’s mother,’ he said. ‘And I’ll catch up with Dr Rodriguez when he’s done with that emergency.’

Layla pinned Cade with a look that told him she wasn’t leaving without some answers.

‘Where’s Alex?’

Cade shrugged. ‘Gone. I thought he should cool off a bit before he started talking to the cops.’

There was a moment’s silence as they stared at each other. Cade looked … defensive? As if he was challenging Layla to criticise Alex for coming on too strong. She weighed her words.

‘I heard you guys talking,’ she said carefully. ‘What did you mean by Alex knowing too much?’

She could see the shutters come down. Cade shrugged again, a gesture that told her this was between brothers and none of her business. And then his eyebrow rose.

‘Is it true what I’ve heard around here? That there’s something going on between you and Alex?’

Was this a case of attack being the best form of defence? Or was it a brother looking after a brother? If Layla wanted an honest answer from Cade, maybe he deserved the truth first.

‘Not now,’ she told him. ‘There’s … history. We were together way back. At the time of the Kirkpatrick case. You’d know about that.’

A sharp nod from Cade. ‘It’s what made me get in touch with Alex after not seeing him for years. Not that I got much of a chance to spend time with him before he took off to Brisbane.’

‘It messed up a lot of things,’ Layla agreed. ‘But what’s important right now is that I owe my job to Alex and I’m not going to let him get into trouble over what just happened here if I can help it.’

Cade’s nod was relieved. ‘Just as well. The creep’s telling everybody that Alex started it. Just laid into him without any provocation.’

‘I’ll sort it,’ Layla promised. But she wasn’t letting Cade off the hook just yet. ‘After I’ve talked to Alex, that is. Now, are you going to tell me where he is so I can do that before the cops start looking for me?’

Cade sighed. ‘He didn’t say where he was going but I’d guess he’s where he always is when he wants to burn off some steam. Where we both go.’

‘Which is?’

‘The hoop-shooting court out the back of the ambulance bay.’