Читать книгу By My Side - Wendy Jones Lou - Страница 7

It wasn’t long before the casualties began to arrive. The first ambulance brought in a woman with cuts and bruises and a child with what seemed little more than a broken arm, but the mother was hysterical. Kate took control, whisking them through to a cubicle within A&E and found a free nurse to get them checked in and taken care of before hurrying back to Resus. As it turned out they were also expecting the other daughter of this woman, the girl who had been worst hit by the car, so she quickly ran back around and promised to let them know the moment the girl came in, but insisted they get seen to while they waited.

Doctors came hurrying down the corridor and entered Resus just as the second ambulance was arriving. They pulled on gloves and hovered about, trying to glean what information they could about the casualty expected.

Mr Cobham appeared and began to take control. An elderly man strapped to a back board arrived. He was handed over and assessed by the team. They got to work and soon X-ray were there too. It was Kate’s job to fly around making sure everything was being done and chasing up anything that seemed to be taking too long.

Another ambulance arrived and all but the few staff needed to deal with the gentleman in bed one moved over to bed two along with the paediatrician, who had been waiting in the background for the girl to arrive.

Mr Elliott left his registrar to handle the man and came over to see the girl. The child was in the process of coming round and appeared to be very distressed. They had been told that she was nine years old and called Sasha. She had been hit by the car when the elderly man appeared to have collapsed at the wheel. Kate moved around to the head of the bed and started talking to the girl very calmly while Fiona, the paediatrician, got a needle in the back of her hand and then Mr Elliott stepped up to take a look.

Kate tried her best to comfort the girl as Mr Elliott began assessing her limbs and asking her questions, but the child was too scared and began to cry again. Her legs were hurting and Kate leant in closer still to talk softly into her ear. The girl grabbed her, her pleading gaze searching Kate’s, and then her face just crumpled.

“Sasha,” she soothed. “I’m Kate and I’m going to stay with you until you’re safely on the ward. Your mum and your little sister are already here waiting to see you, but they have injuries of their own and they need to get those seen to before we can get you all back together. Now these nice men and women here are just trying to find out what’s hurt and what’s not and then we’ll get you comfortable and we can bring them in, okay?” Sasha sniffled and looked up at her. “I promise I’ll stay with you.”

Kate looked across and caught Elliott’s eye. He held her gaze for a moment and then nodded. “See that handsome doctor down the end there?” she said. Mr Elliott smiled uncomfortably. “Well he needs to ask you a few more questions and when he’s done, this nice lady here is going to get you something else for the pain.”

Mr Elliott called down instructions, asking Sasha to wriggle her toes and if she could feel him touching her legs and Kate did her best to keep the girl calm. After he was satisfied with her legs, he moved up to her arms and went through the whole process again, with Kate trying hard to comfort the girl as they went.

Fiona drew up the pain relief and injected it through the line in the back of the girl’s hand and Kate checked that she was more comfortable as the doctors and nurses began to disperse to their various tasks.

With her hand firmly by Sasha’s side, Kate called across to one of the other nurses. “Pam, you wouldn’t fetch Sasha’s mother and sister for me, would you? I think they’re in Cubicle Six. They’ll probably have just about enough time to see her before X-ray are ready.”

Mr Elliott nodded his thanks and wandered over to the side to write in the notes. Suddenly the little girl started fitting and Kate called across to Fiona, who was back by her side in an instant.

The final ambulance arrived with the wife of the old man. She had been trapped in the car and had just been released. Reluctantly Kate had to leave Fiona and a junior nurse to deal with the little girl and hurried to the main door to receive the last casualty.

The lady was lifted onto the third bed where Mr Cobham appeared at Kate’s side. His registrar, who had been dealing with the gentleman in the same bay, finished writing and moved over to help. Orders were called out and staff began to materialise around the trolley.

Kate picked up the scissors and started to cut away the clothes so that the doctors could better examine the lady and a shout went out from behind the curtain next door: Cardiac arrest.

Looking over, Kate realised they were running short of staff, so she shouted for the medical student to carry on cutting and dashed over to pitch in.

Staff flew everywhere chasing equipment and drugs needed for all the casualties, like ants in a burrow, each one a part of something greater.

Sasha’s mother appeared around the corner with the smaller child at her side and Kate shouted at the nearest nurse, “Get them out of here!”

Kate was still busy with Mr Cobham, doing chest compressions on the man in Resus One, when the anaesthetist peered round the curtain to see if he was needed. Fiona was managing Sasha and Mr Elliott was working on the old lady.

They lost the old man.

Kate pulled the curtains around the trolley and checked round the other casualties. They were all in hand.

The Anaesthetist stayed to help out with the elderly lady, whose injuries seemed to be mainly to do with her right leg. Mr Elliott checked around the other casualties too, deciding which ones were a priority for Theatre, and then he returned to Mr Cobham, who was arranging a plan for each one.

Mr Cobham turned round and put his hand on Kate’s shoulder. He looked at his watch. “Kate, it’s nearly ten. Go home. The cavalry’s here and they’re stuck in. We’ll be fine. Thanks for staying on.”

“I’ll just check in on Sasha,” she said.

“She’s intubated now and Fiona’s with her,” Mr Elliott said, coming to stand beside them. “She won’t know.”

“What about her mother? Has anyone gone to talk to her?”

“I think Sue’s with them right now,” Mr Cobham assured her. “Go home, Kate.”

“Thank you,” Mr Elliott said. “With the girl.”

Kate looked at his furrowed brow, aware that he had a long night’s work ahead of him. “No problem,” she said and as she made her way out to her car and drove home, she wondered, had she really described Mr Elliott as ‘handsome’?

Letting herself back into the house, Kate called out a hello to Sophie and was reassured by a reply. He had thanked her for her help, spontaneously. That in itself was a surprise. Maybe the man was feeling guilty? Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all? Whatever the workings of his mind, Kate knew she would be back again tomorrow and Mr Elliott would still be there, but for the rest of that night she had a date with a glass of wine and a pillow, and nothing and no-one was going to get in the way of that.

A few days later Mr Elliott stopped by in A&E and asked to speak to her. Kate was in a cubicle when she heard his voice. Her body froze as she wondered what he could want with her this time and she excused herself from her patient for a moment to step outside and speak to him.

“Kate, I thought you might want to know that the girl from the other night is going to be all right.”

“What, Sasha? Oh good,” she said. “Is she still here? I wondered if she’d end up on a neurosurgical unit.”

“No. Her CT didn’t show any bleeding, just a bit of swelling which we can handle here. She’s off ITU and recovering up on the children’s ward if you’d like to go and see her. She’s been asking after you. She thought you were an angel.”

Kate laughed. “Not quite. But thanks for letting me know. I’ll pop up in my break.”

“Good. Well…”

Kate looked down at the floor, uncomfortable at being the focus of his attention once again, even though it was in a good way this time.

“You worked like a Trojan the other night. You must have been exhausted by the time you got home,” he said.

“A little. But you had to carry on after I left. And your bit was far more important than mine.”

“Not in the eyes of that little girl,” he said.

Kate shifted her feet uncomfortably and blushed. “Well, let’s not disillusion her too quickly, eh?” She smiled, and for a moment she could swear she saw a trace of a smile on his lips too. A cough came through the curtains from her patient within and Kate excused herself politely and returned to her work.

Seeing Sasha so much better at lunch time put a spring in Kate’s step, despite the mountains of bandaging and tubes surrounding her. She was comfortable now and her mother was with her.

“Thank you so much for what you did the other day,” her mum had said, after Kate had been introduced to Sasha again.

“Not at all. I was just doing my job. I’m just sorry I ended up having to yell at you,” she said. “I felt awful doing that, but it had just gone a bit mad at the time.”

“It doesn’t matter. I quite understand. Sasha’s in one piece, that’s what’s important.”

The father walked in just then.

“Mark, this is Kate, the nurse from casualty Sasha was telling us about,” the mother said.

The gentleman shook Kate’s hand firmly. “Thank you for everything you did,” he said.

“But I was just saying, I didn’t really do much,” she told him. “It was Fiona Phillips, the paediatrician, who saved the day. She’s great, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she’s lovely, but the surgeon who saw her in A&E came up this morning too and he was very complimentary about you. He told us you were amazing, getting Sasha to stay calm and quiet so that they could deal with her as quickly as possible. And you stayed with her, reassuring her when all the other doctors and nurses were scaring her to death with their questions. She thought you were an angel.”

From the bed, Sasha groaned with embarrassment and Kate smiled at her and winked. “Not quite, but I’m very flattered.” Then she whispered a loud aside to the girl, “Blame the strong pain killers, I would,” and Sasha giggled. “Anyway, I’d better be getting back to work. I’m glad you’re on the mend, though.”

It was always nice to get good news and for the rest of the day, Kate breezed along with a contented smile on her lips.

On the last day before her long awaited days off, Kate came across Mr Elliott in the corridor. He was talking with another consultant. She caught his eye as he walked past.

“Kate,” he called out. He put a hand out to stop her and excused himself from the other consultant. “You went to see Sasha then?” he asked.

“Yes. She’s looking much happier. Thank you.”

“You know she’s determined to be a nurse like you when she’s older now.”

Kate smiled. “I’ll have to have a long talk with her, then, won’t I?” she said. She wrestled with the idea of apologising for her behaviour the other week, or should she just leave it to blow over? Their gazes held, as words, waiting to be spoken, lost their moment and went unsaid and then he nodded slightly, turned away and continued to talk to the other consultant.

Kate walked back down to A&E. “What are you looking so happy about?” Gloria asked her. Gloria always seemed to know when something was bothering them. It was like having your own mother around. Kate smiled to herself but quickly straightened her face. A few minutes later Gloria walked past again, carrying a suture pack and dressings.

“Well?” she asked.

“Nothing," Kate replied, her cheeks flushing with the fib.

“Hmmm, looks like it,” and she walked on, calling back over her shoulder. “I’ll get it out of you, Katy Heath, don’t you worry.”

Kate rolled her eyes and picked up the next card in the box, calling out the name to a sea of expectant faces sitting in the waiting room.

Returning home that night, Kate collapsed into the armchair. Sophie was on a day off and was already in the party mood. “You’re home. Come on, Mr Crickland from orthopaedics is having a house warming and we’re all invited,” she said.

“But I’ve just worked twelve days straight,” Kate said. “I’m exhausted. Besides, I barely know him.”

“But I do and I’m allowed to bring a friend and I’ve been waiting for you to get home to go.”

“Oh, Soph. Don’t make me go, please. I’m done in.”

Sophie gave her a stern look and then sighed in resignation. “Go on then. I’ve put some lasagne in the fridge. You can bung it in the microwave when you’re ready. Don’t wait up.”

Kate looked around the room. Two whole days off. She really wanted to get out of her uniform, but she just didn’t have the energy to move.

Sophie sauntered down the stairs around ten o’clock the following morning and found Kate sitting in the front room, cuddled up under a blanket, watching some of the TV she’d missed out on across the previous two weeks. Sophie yawned and Kate looked round. “Morning, you dirty stop out. Sleep well?”

“Eventually,” Sophie croaked.

Kate studied the smug expression on Sophie’s face. “Go on, give us the dirt, then,” she said. “You know you want to.”

Sophie grinned. “It was good. You would have liked it. Great house. It was one of those refurbished barns outside town. The carpets are going down today, so they decided to have the party last night in case anybody spilled their drink. And they did. Jenny tipped a whole glass of wine down some poor guy. He was very good about it. Probably one of her stupid stunts to get attention.”

“Did it work?” Kate asked.

“I guess so, yes.”

Kate shook her head. “That girl’s incorrigible. Who was it, do you know?”

“No. It might be one of your lot, though. Medium height, brown hair, got a mole by his right eye.”

“Oh, Carl. Dr Penn. Really? Well, it takes all sorts, I suppose.”

“Was Jolly there?” she asked.

“Jolly? At a party? Are you mad? No he was probably at home devising new tortures for A&E nurses. Or maybe he was at a gay bar?”

“I never said he was gay!” Kate snapped. “That was Kirsty.”

Sophie looked at her. “Okay.”

There was a pause in the conversation as Kate wondered why she had reacted so sharply. “I was just angry at him that day,” she said.

“Really?”

Kate shot her friend a look. “I wish I’d never told you all,” she said sagging. “I was just as bad as him, wasn’t I?”

“Ooh. I bet that hurt to say, didn’t it?” Sophie said. “You mean you may actually have been in a bit of a bad mood that day, having just buried your granddad and all, and it’s possible you might have shot your mouth off at him because he caught you slagging him off behind his back?”

Kate winced. “You didn’t have to put it quite like that. You’re meant to be on my side.”

Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Don’t worry. Consultants never listen to gossip and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him… or you for that matter. Have you managed to swap a few hours next Saturday night so we can go to the ball?”

“Yes. Gloria said she’d cover for me. She reckons she’s too old to be out partying till all hours anyway.”

~~~

“She is,” Lena added and a small smile crept into the corner of her mouth and settled there.

~~~

“Good,” Sophie said. “Then you can make it up to him there with an apologetic snog.”

“Is he going?” Kate asked.

“What is this I detect? Is the ice maiden beginning to crack?”

“Like he’d ever look at me that way? No.”

“I wasn’t thinking about him being after you.”

“Oh, shut up! Is Peter going to be there?” Kate asked.

“The delectable Dr Florin? I honestly don’t know.” Sophie got up and walked out to the kitchen singing, “Adam and Katy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Kate threw a cushion at her, but smiled. ‘Adam?’ she thought. ‘Adam Elliott’.

On Saturday night, Kate rushed in around six and jumped into the shower. Sophie was walking round in her dressing gown and slippers, busy ironing her dress and straightening her hair.

“I wish Rich could come with us,” Sophie said as she arrived in Kate’s bedroom doorway, pulling a long-handled black comb through her hair.

“He could have. If you’d wanted,” Kate said.

“Would you? If you weren’t medical?” Sophie asked.

“No. Probably not. But he’s still going to give us a lift, isn’t he?”

Sophie smiled. “Yes, of course.”

“You’ve got him wrapped around your little finger, haven’t you?”

“Absolutely, and quite right too,” she said.

At a quarter to eight Rich rang the bell and Sophie hurried down to the front door to let him in. She kissed him and stood back to show him her dress. “How do I look?” she asked, twirling from side to side and bobbing a little curtsey.

“Stunning,” he said, pulling her into his arms.

Sophie beamed. “I’ll do then?” and Rich kissed her emphatically.

“More than ‘do’,” he growled. “I’m beginning to regret not coming with you now. You’re going to need someone to fight off all those young doctors.”

Kate appeared on the stairs wearing a long flowing dress in deep turquoise-blue, embroidered with pale gold. It had tiny thin straps and stopped just above her ankles. Her strawberry blonde hair hung loosely down her back with only a single clip to stop it falling across her face. She smiled. “You do realise half those doctors are actually women? Hello, Rich. Doesn’t she look amazing?”

Rich turned back to look at Sophie. “Beautiful,” he said. “You both do. But we’d better get a move on if Cinderella here doesn’t want to be late for the ball.”

Rich helped them both into the back of his car shutting the door behind them and then he produced a cap from the passenger seat and put it on. “Where to, milady?”

The girls collapsed with laughter in the back seat of the car. “The Ambassador, please, Tibbs,” Sophie said, through a splutter of giggles.

Rich winked at her in the rear view mirror. “Right away, milady.”

They arrived at the hotel and Rich opened the car door. He bowed as they stepped out and Sophie beamed at him. “Thank you,” she said.

“Just you mind you don’t go swanning off with any of your dashing young doctors. Male or female,” he added. “You’re mine now and don’t you forget it.”

Sophie saluted obediently and Rich turned to Kate. “I’m relying on you to keep her on the straight and narrow, Kate.”

“No problem,” she said dragging Sophie away from him to get inside before they missed the start of the meal.

Inside, the hotel was filled with light. Huge arrangements of flowers adorned magnificent pillars and chandeliers sent sparks dancing around the marble walls.

The doorman directed the girls to where they could deposit their coats and from there the cloakroom attendant pointed them in the direction of the drawing room. On their arrival, they accepted a glass of wine from a waiter and then wandered into the room.

Kate looked round and spotted a seating plan on an easel. They looked for their names and found them on table ten. Searching further they found Mr Elliott on table thirteen, Carl, on table ten with them, but there was no sign of Peter Florin for Flis. Kate sipped at her wine and watched the waiters, busy setting the tables in the dining room.

From where they were standing, Kate found she was in the perfect position to keep an eye out for new arrivals. Thus far there had been no sign of Mr Elliott, but by the time they took their places to eat, there he was. There were a couple of tables between them, but with his table being diagonally across from her own, Kate could see him quite clearly.

“You’ve gone very pale all of a sudden,” Sophie whispered as she placed her napkin in her lap. “What is it?”

“He’s here,” Kate whispered back. “I’m looking straight at him.”

“Who? Peter?”

“No, Elliott.”

Sophie stifled a smirk. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Kate looked sideways, horrified that Sophie seemed to have such insight into her predicament. It was becoming horribly plain to Kate that she was attracted to the man, despite her reluctance to accept it. Sophie smiled an all knowing smile, which Kate found fell hopelessly short of reassuring. “Why? Do you think there’s any point?” Where had that come from? What on earth was she thinking?

“Of course,” Sophie said.

“But…”

“Look, he’s a good-looking, successful, single guy and you’re a gorgeous, caring – despite recent events which may make him think to the contrary – intelligent woman. What could be wrong about that?”

Kate fiddled nervously with her hair as she racked her brain trying to work out what it was she really wanted.

“You look lovely. Don’t fuss,” Sophie said. “And I don’t want to find you hiding in a corner, polishing the silver if he tries to ask you to dance later on. It’s fine.”

Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I wouldn’t need to polish this silver anyway,” she said. “Have you seen it? It’s positively gleaming.”

As the starter was being served Kate glanced over and saw Mr Elliott talking with his colleagues. One of the senior nurses from Ascot Ward was sitting on the far side of him and Kate found herself for the moment feeling glad that he wasn’t talking to her.

The conversation began to liven up on Kate’s table as the group settled in and started to eat. It was a welcome distraction for Kate, enjoying the conversation until the waiters began to clear the plates and she felt something pulling her eyes to look across again, and this time she caught Elliott’s gaze. Immediately she looked down and then, after a second or two, back up. He was busy with his table, his own plate being cleared. But he looked back over and caught her still looking at him and they were fixed there, a moment captured in time, as her pulse raced and her breath held. The heat rose in her cheeks making her dip her face and turn back to her friend for refuge. She swallowed and took another sip of water. She had to find something to focus on.

Kate reached for the dinner menu and looked in the direction of the words, but nothing was going in. She tried again. Was she so nervous? Not a word of encouragement had passed his lips. In fact he had probably said more words to her in anger than anything else, but still she found she was captivated. She knew she had a history of failed relationships, but then again, who didn’t?

“What are we having next?” someone asked from across the table.

Kate was confused. “Oh… Er… Chicken in tarragon with white wine sauce and seasonal vegetables,” she managed to croak out, realising she was still holding the menu. She took a deep breath and placed it back on the table.

“Brain shorting out a little?” Sophie whispered and Kate rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh of exasperation. Sophie smiled and tucked into the food in front of her, but Kate found she could barely stomach a thing.

“No wonder you stay so lovely and slim, Kate,” one of the women on the table called across to her. “You eat like a sparrow. I wish I ate less, but I just love my food.”

“Oh, don’t you believe it,” Sophie told them. “She eats like a horse when we’re at home.”

“Don’t you like the food?” Carl Penn asked.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just not very hungry,” Kate said. “I might pop to the bar and get another drink, though. Anyone else want one?”

Kate had to take the chance to catch her breath. She walked back to the bar in the drawing room, breathing deeply. The stuffiness in the dining hall had become quite suffocating. She ordered some drinks and returned to the table carrying a tray only to find Jenny now sitting in her seat.

She handed out the drinks and stood beside the table. Sophie looked up. “We thought Jenny could sit in your seat while we’re having pudding and you could go and natter to Flis. You’ve ordered the same thing. You don’t mind do you, Kate?”

Kate thought it a little odd, until she remembered Jenny’s penchant for Dr Penn and then she agreed happily. “Where’s Flis, then?” she asked looking around.

Jenny stood up and pointed to the near side of table six, where a place was now sitting empty. Kate could see the back of Flis sitting next to it but suddenly realised sitting there would put her directly behind Mr Elliott. Only inches away in fact. She looked back at her friend in panic. But Sophie just turned to her with that all knowing smile of hers and nodded. “Go on, then,” she said. “See you after.”

“But…”

Sophie turned back to talk to Jenny and Kate was left to walk through the dining hall to her new position, right behind Mr Elliott.

She took a deep breath and tidied her hair and then picking up her drink, she walked over and sat down at table six.

Sitting so close to Adam Elliott, Kate found it difficult enough to breathe, let alone hold down a decent conversation. His presence flowed around her, enveloping her in a haze of sexual tension. Flis was gushing on about the beautiful decorations and gorgeous dresses and Kate had to just sit there and let it all wash over her. Breathe in; breathe out, she thought, her pulse surging faster and faster. Kate’s ears strained for any words at the next table Adam Elliott might utter, but he was distinctly quiet throughout and she could do little else but play with the edges of her dessert.

When all the crockery was cleared away and the coffee was served, the guest speaker, an American lawyer, stood up and began a very amusing tale about medico-legal claims in the USA. Everyone turned their chairs to face the front, leaving Kate almost side by side with Mr Elliott. She was convinced she could feel the heat from his body warming her own. Her palms were sweating as her eyes found their focus on his right knee. It was a firm-looking knee, not too bony and not too big. His dinner jacket was black and his shoes were smart. God, how she wanted to touch that knee.

The noise of laughter around her became distant and muffled, allowing only the pressing thud of her heart in her ears.

At last the speech came to an end and the audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically, except in the small space between table six and table thirteen, where only the sound of a poor heart beating wildly could be heard.

Music struck up on the dance floor and people started to talk again, sipping their coffee and laughing at each other’s jokes.

Kate excused herself and walked away through the cool corridors to the sanctuary of the ladies’ room. Only one girl was in there when she arrived and she left soon after. Kate looked in the mirror and spoke to herself. “You’re a mess. He’s just a man and he has no interest in you anyway. Hell, you don’t even like him; it’s just a stupid obsession. For heaven’s sake, get a grip.”

A group of nurses walked in and she quickly clawed back control and checked her make-up in the mirror. It was fine. She dabbed her cheeks with a little cold water and then walked back outside to find Sophie. Sophie would know how to handle her stupidity. She would understand how to put Kate at ease. Her mother hen abilities were the stuff of legend.

Walking back down the corridor, Kate suddenly saw Mr Elliott walking towards her. One of his hands lay casually in his pocket and the other swung loosely by his side. His cummerbund and bow tie were both midnight blue and his shirt was crisp and white. Dark, blue-grey eyes pierced her as he moved slowly closer. Kate couldn’t think. Where should she look? What should she do? Mr Cobham walked out of the drawing room as Mr Elliott passed by. They exchanged a look and Mr Cobham disappeared again and Mr Elliott’s eyes moved back to her.

Kate felt sure her face must have been scarlet under such scrutiny, or else deathly white from fear. She tried to smile as he approached, though it took all her courage to do so. And then he stopped.

“Kate. You look… stunning. I’m only used to seeing you in your uniform. Your hair, it’s so long. It’s beautiful.”

Kate suddenly lost the power of speech, her higher functions having long since left her. She stuttered. “Y-You’re looking very handsome too, sir.”

“Adam. Please, Kate; call me Adam. We’re not in work now.”

“Adam.” A world of expectation hung between them, raising the tension to breaking point, and then Kate snapped. “Look I’m really sorry about that day on Aintree. I was completely out of order. I’d just had a very bad day and I-”

He stepped closer and placed a warm finger on her lips. “No need,” he said. “You were right. I had lost my composure. It got out of hand. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” His finger moved slowly away from her lips and brushed a stray lock of hair from the side of her face. He stepped a fraction closer. Their gazes mingling. Kate’s breath quivered, as she realised the moment she had been subconsciously hoping for was rapidly approaching.

“Kate, there you are,” Jenny called out from the doorway of the drawing room. I’ve been looking for you.”

Jolted, Kate turned abruptly, like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar, and when she turned back, Mr Elliott was walking away, back down the corridor and into the hall.

“That was close,” Jenny said. “I’m not going to let him have a go at you tonight. We’re here to party. Come on. We were all starting to wonder where you’d got to.”

With her pulse still pounding through her body, Kate followed Jenny back into the drawing room and soon found her friends again.

“You found her, then. Where were you?” Flis asked.

“I just went to the toilet,” Kate said.

“I caught her in the nick of time,” Jenny announced. “Elliott was about to get his claws into her again. Close one that, wasn’t it, Kate?”

Kate pulled a strained face, making a non-committal grunt that in no way fooled Sophie, who looked at her, seeming to assess the situation. A few of the A&E nurses pushed past her, grabbing her arm. “Come on, Kate. It’s time to dance.”

Kate looked at her friends as she was dragged up onto the dance floor, none of whom seemed keen to follow her. “You dance,” said Sophie. “We’ll see you in a bit.”

Kate moved through the crowd onto the dance floor and started to dance, but it wasn’t long before she spotted Adam Elliott with some of the surgeons just to the right of the room. He was looking at her, making her feel… naked. She looked back a moment or two later and he was still there, looking at her intensely. Bravely she managed a small smile and felt sure his eyes gleamed a little brighter than before. What could she do? She could hardly walk up to him and ask him to dance. Well, she could, but she wasn’t nearly brave enough or drunk enough to do that yet. That was the answer, she thought, she needed more to drink.

Kate excused herself and headed to the bar in the drawing room and bought herself a long drink. She was just about to leave again when Kirsty came in. “I heard you nearly had another run in with Elliott tonight,” she said.

Kate’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “What?”

“Elliott. It’s a shame he wasn’t on call tonight instead of Barker. I don’t care if he is straight, he’s about as interesting as a dry stone. ‘Cold-hearted, pompous prick who wouldn’t know what it was for’ I heard you said? Yeah, well, I pity the poor girl who ends up with him. We’d have to hold a wake for her. Ooh, there’s Bianca. See ya.”

Kate was mortified. Kirsty had always been a bit of a tornado, but she hadn’t even given Kate a chance to reply. She looked back across to the dining room and her world began to cave in, as there, standing just inside the doorway, looking at her, was Mr Elliott. His eyes dulled as his gaze fell away and he turned around and left.