His Summer Bride
‘Or stroke-like symptoms.’
She nodded. ‘It sounds as though you have some experience of the condition. Has someone in your family had problems with TIAs?’
‘No, nothing like that.’ His gaze meshed with hers. ‘As it happens, I’m a doctor, like yourself. I suppose that’s why I didn’t think twice about rushing in on you when you were examining Mrs Wyatt. I’m so used to tending these medical emergencies that it didn’t cross my mind to steer clear.’
She gave a soft gasp. ‘I had no idea.’ She studied him afresh, a small frown indenting her brow. ‘I can’t imagine how you find time to practise medicine when you have a vineyard and a hotel to run.’
He laughed. ‘I guess it would be difficult if I tried to do all three…but the fact is, I have managers to do the day to day work for me. They let me know if any problems arise that need my attention—like today, for instance. Jenny called me. Otherwise, I make regular checks to make sure that everything’s going smoothly, but for the most part I work in the emergency department at the hospital.’
Her eyes widened. ‘That must take some dedication. After all, you could have chosen to stay in the valley and reap the benefits of years of grape cultivation. Your wines are internationally famous, according to my mother.’
‘That’s true. But I’ve always wanted to be an emergency physician. When I was a teenager, I saw one of my friends injured in a traffic accident. It was horrific…and for a while it was touch and go as to whether he would survive. Thankfully, he had the best surgical team looking after him, and he made it in the end. It left a huge impression on me. So, you see, I’m passionate about my work, and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. After all, saving lives is a job that’s definitely worthwhile. It gives me more satisfaction than I could ever get from gathering in the grape harvest.’
‘I can see how you would feel that way but, then, I’m biased.’ She gave a faint smile. ‘I have to admit, though, there are times when I’m tempted to swap it all for the kind of life I see out here… lazy days in the sunshine, a trip down to the beach to watch the surfers ride the waves… but then I come back to reality. I couldn’t give up medicine. It’s part of me.’
He nodded, his glance trailing over her. ‘I was surprised to see you here. I remember you said you were a paediatrician… but you did a pretty good job of taking care of Mrs Wyatt, as far as I could see. She didn’t appear to be in any pain, there was an IV line already in place, and you had her on oxygen. No one could complain at the standard of treatment she received.’
‘Let’s hope not, anyway.’ She guessed he was still thinking about the repercussions of that morning’s accident, and how it might affect him as a proprietor. ‘I do work as a paediatrician most of the time, but I’m on call two days a week. During my training, I specialised in both paediatrics and emergency, and I wanted to keep up my skills in both those fields. This job was ideal.’
‘I can imagine it would be.’ He smiled, his gaze slanting over her, and then he waved a hand towards a platter. ‘Won’t you try our Burrata cheese? I think you’ll find it’s out of this world.’
‘Thanks.’ She helped herself to one of the cheeses, a ball wrapped in mozzarella, giving it a springy, soft texture. As she bit into it, she savoured the buttery texture of the centre, a mixture of cream and shredded mozzarella. ‘Mmm,’ she murmured. ‘It’s like a little taste of heaven.’
He chuckled, his gaze moving over her, flame glimmering in the depths of his blue eyes. ‘Your expression said it all.’ His glance slid to the soft fullness of her mouth and lingered there. ‘What I wouldn’t give to have savoured that with you,’ he said on a husky note. ‘You have the lips of an angel…soft, ripe and exquisitely sensual.’
She stared at him, her green eyes widening in confusion. His words took her breath away, and a tide of heat rushed through her body. ‘I… Uh…’ She didn’t know what to say to him. She wasn’t prepared for his reaction and his comment was unexpected, disarming, leaving her completely at a loss.
Nervously, she swallowed the rest of her coffee then ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, an involuntary action to make herself feel more secure, to help her to know that all was as it should be, and he made a muffled groan.
‘Don’t…please...’ he said, his tone roughened, his gaze darkening to reflect the deep blue of the ocean. ‘That just adds to the torment.’
Katie’s pulse began to thump erratically, and a torrent of heat rushed to her head. Panic began to set in. Why was he having this strange effect on her? Hadn’t she come all the way out here to start afresh? She didn’t want any entanglements, and yet Nick seemed to be constantly in her face, a powerful, authoritative man, someone it was hard to ignore. He wasn’t like other men she had met, and she was finding she couldn’t trust her instincts around him. At the first foray into dangerous territory she was conscious of the ground sliding out from under her feet. She couldn’t let him do this to her.
She straightened, leaning back in her chair. ‘Perhaps I should leave,’ she said distractedly, her thoughts spiralling out of control. He was altogether too masculine, too hot-blooded for a girl like her. With just a word, a touch he had her senses firing on overdrive.
‘Surely not?’ he murmured. ‘Please, stay a while longer.’
She shook her head. Her bewildered mind searched for options, rocketed from one impossible scenario to the next and collapsed in a panicked heap. ‘I’ve probably spent way too much time here already,’ she managed. ‘It was good of you to offer me lunch. Thank you for that, but I should be on my way now.’
He reached out to her, laying a hand over hers when she would have drawn back from the table. ‘Don’t let me frighten you away, Katie. It’s just that you shook me to the core the first time I met you, and that feeling hasn’t gone away. You’re really something special and I’d do anything to see you again.’
She gently pulled her hand out from under his. ‘I’m sorry. It’s not that I have anything against you, Nick, but I’m not in the market for relationships right now. I just… There are too many things going on in my life, too many changes I have to deal with.’
It was all too much for her. The business with James had hurt her deeply, made her guarded and uncertain, and now she was struggling to build a new life, trying to find her niche in a new job. She couldn’t deal with any distractions right now, and she sensed that Nick was way more trouble than she could ever handle.
She pulled in a deep breath and stood up, pushing back her chair. ‘Thanks again for lunch,’ she said, hating herself for the slight tremor in her voice. ‘It was delicious… but I really must go.’
He wasn’t going to make it easy for her, though, she discovered. He came to stand beside her, his body so close to hers that she could feel the heat coming from him, could register the heavy thud of his heartbeat as he leaned towards her and slid an arm around her waist. Or was that her own heart that she could feel—that pounding, intense rhythm that warned of imminent danger? His hand splayed out over her rib cage, and her whole body fired up in response.
‘That’s such a shame,’ he murmured. ‘There is so much more I want to say to you. I could even show you around the hotel if only you would stay a little longer.’
She shook her head, steeling herself to resist the lure of his embrace. She couldn’t allow herself to lean into the warmth of his long, hard body, no matter how great the temptation. ‘I can’t,’ she murmured. ‘I. I really ought to go back to the office and type up my notes while everything’s fresh in my mind.’ It sounded such a weak excuse, even to her ears.
‘Such mundane tasks, when life could be so much more interesting.’ He sighed, reluctantly giving in. ‘If you’re determined to go, you must at least let me walk you to your car.’
She nodded. ‘Okay.’ At least he was yielding to her decision. Escape was within reach at last, and maybe soon the fog of indecision would lift from her mind…though it didn’t help at all that he kept his arm around her as they headed back through the hotel.
Only when they reached her car did he let her go and finally she began to breathe a little more easily.
‘I imagine you have to write up a report on Mrs Wyatt’s accident,’ he said on an even note, ‘for the inquiry.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘There’ll more than likely be an official investigation. I gather any kind of accident on public premises causes the wheels to be set in motion.’
‘Hmm…do you have any idea what will go in your report?’
She sent him a quick glance. ‘I can only state the facts. Anything else would be pure conjecture.’
He considered that for a moment, a line indenting his brow. ‘Yes, of course.’ He pulled open the car door for her and held it while she slid into the driver’s seat. ‘I’d be interested in hearing the results of the tests.’ He paused. ‘Anyway, I expect we’ll run into one another again before too long.’
She nodded. ‘I should think so.’ He closed the door and she turned the key in the ignition, starting up the engine.
She frowned as an errant thought dropped into her mind. He’d asked about the report and what she might put in it… and for a good deal of the time while they had been eating he had been asking about the precise details of Mrs Wyatt’s medical condition.
Was he worried about the outcome of the investigation and how it would affect the hotel?
Her report could sway things one way or the other. Was that the real reason he was making a play for her? Why would a man such as him be interested in her, after all, when no doubt he could take his pick of beautiful women? The thought disturbed her. She had to tread cautiously, and she couldn’t take anything or anyone at face value these days, least of all Nick Bellini.
CHAPTER THREE
‘I’M SURE I’d have been all right if we’d stayed at home,’ Jack Logan said. His breath was wheezy, coming in short bursts, so that Katie frowned. ‘There was no need for you to bring me to the hospital,’ he added, struggling to gulp in air as he spoke. ‘It’s your day off. You shouldn’t be tending to me.’
‘You’re ill,’ she said firmly. ‘And I’m your daughter, so of course I should be looking after you.’ He was a proud man, not one to ask for help, and up to now she had been cautious about stepping in where she might not be wanted. Today, though, he had reached a point where medical intervention was imperative. ‘You need to see a doctor right away so that we can get your medication sorted out. You can’t go on like this. I won’t let you.’
He didn’t answer and she suspected his strength was failing fast. She wrapped an arm around him, supporting him as she led him to a chair in the waiting room. The emergency department was busy at this time of the day, just after lunchtime, but she hoped they wouldn’t have too long to wait. Her father’s breathing was becoming worse by the minute, and it was worrying her.
She paused awkwardly, scanning his features. ‘You have your tablets with you, don’t you…and your inhaler?’
‘Yes.’ He eased himself down on to the padded seat, dragging in a few difficult breaths and giving himself a minute or two to recover.
‘Perhaps you should have a few puffs on the inhaler now. It might help a bit.’ She watched as he fumbled in his pocket for the medication. ‘Will you be all right for a minute or two while I go and have a word with the clerk on duty?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. I don’t need to be here.’
She made a wry face and turned to walk over to the reception desk. He was stubborn and independent, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with trying to bamboozle her. He was in a bad way, and he needed help…maybe even to be admitted to hospital.
She gave the clerk her father’s details. ‘He’s gasping for breath and I believe he needs urgent treatment. His medication doesn’t seem to be working properly.’
The clerk glanced over to where Katie’s father was sitting. ‘I’ll see if we can have him looked at fairly quickly, Dr Logan. If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll have a word with the triage nurse.’
‘Thanks.’ Katie went back to her father and sat down. ‘We shouldn’t have to wait too long,’ she told him. ‘Just try to relax.’
In fact, it was only a matter of minutes before they were called to go into the doctor’s room, and Katie was startled to see Nick coming along the corridor to greet them. He looked immaculate, as ever, with dark trousers that moulded his long legs, a crisp linen shirt in a deep shade of blue, and a tie that gave him a businesslike, professional appearance.
She hadn’t expected to run into him so soon after their meeting at the hotel. It threw her, coming across him this way, and for a moment or two she wasn’t sure how to respond.
‘I didn’t realise that you worked here,’ she said, frowning. ‘I’d somehow imagined that you worked at one of the bigger city hospitals.’
He smiled. ‘I prefer this one. It has all the up-to-date-facilities, and I’ve been familiar with it since childhood. It’s become like a second home to me.’
He lent her father a supporting shoulder. ‘I’m sorry to see that you’re having problems, Jack,’ he murmured. ‘We’ll go along to my office where we can be more private.’ He turned and called for a nurse. ‘Can we get some oxygen here, please?’
‘Of course.’ The nurse hurried away to find a trolley, while Nick led the way to his office.
Nick waved Katie to a leather-backed chair by the desk, and then turned his attention to Jack.
‘Let me help you onto the examination couch,’ he said quietly, pumping the bed to an accessible height and assisting Jack into a sitting position, propped up by pillows. ‘I see you have your inhaler with you. Is it helping?’
Jack shook his head. ‘Not much.’ He leaned back against the pillows and tried to gather his breath. His features were drawn, his lips taking on a bluish tinge.
Nick handed him the oxygen mask and carefully fitted it over his nose and mouth. ‘Take a few deep breaths,’ he said. ‘We’ll soon have you feeling better, don’t worry.’
Katie watched as Nick examined her father. He was very thorough, listening to his chest, taking his blood pressure and pulse and asking questions about the medication he was taking. All the time he was efficient, yet gentle, and she could see that he was a doctor who would put a patient’s mind at ease whatever the circumstances. He set up a monitor so that he could check Jack’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Katie saw that the results were way out of line with what they should be.
‘Excuse me for a moment,’ Nick murmured. ‘I’m going to ask the nurse to bring a nebuliser in here. We’ll add a bronchodilator and a steroid to the mix to reduce the inflammation in your airways, and that should soon make you feel a lot more comfortable.’
He went to the door and spoke to the nurse then returned a minute or two later, coming to stand beside the couch once more. ‘Your blood pressure is raised,’ he said, ‘so I think we need to adjust your tablets to bring that down… and also perhaps we should question what’s happening to bring that about.’
‘I dare say I can give you an answer on that one,’ Katie remarked under her breath. Her tone was cynical, and that must have alerted Nick, because he began to walk towards her, obviously conscious that she wouldn’t want her father to hear.
‘You know what’s causing it?’ he asked.
‘I think so. You and your father have been pushing him to sell the vineyard, and he’s worried about making the right decision. It’s tearing him apart, thinking about giving up the one thing that has kept him going all these years.’
Nick raised dark brows. ‘You’re blaming my father and me?’ He, too, spoke in a lowered voice.
‘I am. Who else would I blame?’ She returned his gaze steadily. ‘His health is failing, yet you bombarded him with paperwork and tried to persuade him to hand it over. He was looking at the papers this morning when he was taken ill. The vineyard means everything to him, and you’ve set him a huge dilemma. I don’t believe he’s in any state to be dealing with matters such as this.’
‘I hardly think you can lay the blame at our feet. Jack has been ill for a number of years, and his lung function is way below par. As to causing him any distress, all I can say is that if he didn’t want to consider our offer, he only had to say so.’ His eyes darkened. ‘He’s perfectly capable of making his own decisions.’
Katie stiffened. He hadn’t added ‘without his daughter’s interference’, but the implication was there, all the same.
The nurse appeared just then with a trolley, and Nick broke off to go and set up the nebuliser. ‘Just try to relax and breathe deeply,’ he told her father, his manner soothing. ‘It’ll take a few minutes, but your blood oxygen levels should gradually start to rise. In the meantime, I’m going to go and glance through your medical notes and see where we can make changes to your medication.’ He halted as a thought had occurred to him. ‘Katie’s obviously concerned about you. Do you mind if I discuss your medical history with her, or is it something you would rather I kept private?’
Jack shook his head. ‘That’s fine. Go ahead. There’s nothing to hide.’
‘Okay.’ Nick checked the monitor once more, before saying quietly, ‘I’ll also arrange an urgent appointment for you with your respiratory specialist.’
‘Thanks,’ Jack said. He looked exhausted and seemed relieved to be able to just lie back and let the drugs do their work.
Nick came back to the desk and glanced towards Katie as he sat down.
‘He should start to feel better once his airways expand.’ He accessed her father’s medical notes on the computer, and then said quietly, ‘You seem very concerned over this matter of the vineyard. Have you been out to see it?’
She nodded. ‘He took me on a tour a few days ago. I was very impressed, completely bowled over by it, in fact. So much work has gone into making it what it is now. It’s something to be proud of.’ She looked at him through narrowed eyes. ‘I can’t see any reason why he would want to let it go.’
His mouth made a crooked shape. ‘I’d say it was possibly becoming too much for him to handle, but it’s probably better if we leave off that discussion for a while. It isn’t getting either of us anywhere, is it?’
She clamped her lips shut. Nick glanced at her briefly, and then said, ‘Your father’s heart is taking a lot of strain—the effect of years of lung disease.’ He lowered his voice as he studied her. ‘I wonder if you realise just how precarious his situation is becoming.’
She nodded, her mouth making a downward turn. ‘I’d guessed. I suppose I just needed to have it confirmed.’
He checked the drug schedule for a moment or two on the computer, and then stood up and went back to her father. ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.
‘Much better.’ Jack managed a smile. ‘You’ve taken good care of me, as always. Thank you for that.’
‘You’re welcome. It’s what I’m here for.’ Nick glanced down at his chart. ‘I want to prescribe some tablets to ease the workload on your heart, and I think we’ll arrange for you to have oxygen at home. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll go and see if the respiratory specialist is around. It’s possible he might be able to come and see you while you’re here, and that way we can finalise the details of your medication in one go.’
‘Okay.’ Jack nodded. ‘I’m not going anywhere for a while.’
Katie could see that he was looking much better. ‘The colour is coming back into your face,’ she said, going over to him as Nick left the room. ‘You had me worried there for a while.’
His glance trailed over her. ‘You worry too much. Your mother was the same. I used to say to her, life’s too short to be fretting about this and that. Seize the day—as they say. Make the most of it where you can.’
Katie’s mouth flattened. ‘I suppose that was back in the days when you were getting along with one another… before it all went wrong.’
‘I… Yes..’ He hesitated, shooting her a quick, cautious glance. ‘It hasn’t been easy for you, has it, Katie? We tried to make a go of things, you know, your mother and I, but there were problems… For one thing, my job took me away from home so much.’
Katie was unconvinced. ‘Your job obviously meant more to you than we did, because one day you went away and never came back.’ Even now, her heart lurched at the memory. ‘Mum was devastated, and I could never understand why you left us that way. You were living thousands of miles from us. I was eight years old, and suddenly I’d lost my father, and my mother was in pieces. You disappeared from our lives. For a long time I thought I’d done something wrong and it was all my fault that you’d gone away.’
He frowned, his grey eyes troubled. ‘I’m sorry, Katie. I should have handled things differently; I know that now.’ He pulled in a deep breath. ‘But your mother and I were going through a bad time, and the atmosphere was incredibly tense between us. There were lots of bitter arguments. Back then I thought it would be for the best if I stayed away. I thought it would be easier, less painful.’
She gave a short, harsh laugh. ‘You were wrong. It might have been better for you, maybe, but as far as I was concerned a card here and there at birthdays and Christmas was hardly going to make up for the lack of a father. Did you really think it would? And as for presents that you sent—well, they were great but it just made me realise that you didn’t even know me. I appreciated the gifts, but I couldn’t help thinking that a visit would have been more to the point. But it never happened. I thought perhaps you didn’t care.’
It was as though her words had cut into him like a knife. He caught his breath and seemed to slump a little, his features becoming ashen, and Katie looked on in dismay, a rush of guilt running through her. What was she thinking of, having this discussion with him in here, of all places? She had gone too far way too far... He might have a lot to answer for, but he was ill, after all, and she was layering him with anxiety that could bring on respiratory collapse. She ought to have known better.
‘That was thoughtless of me,’ she said in an anxious voice. ‘I didn’t mean to do anything to aggravate your condition.’
‘It’s all right.’ He paused, sucking in another breath. ‘It was something I struggled with all the time—leaving you. I kept meaning to come back to see you, but somehow the longer I left it, the harder it became. I thought… if I came back to see you…’ he started to gasp, fighting against the constriction in his lungs ‘…you might be all the more upset if I left you once more. You were very young.’
Katie’s expression was bleak. ‘Let’s not talk about it for the moment. You’re ill, and we should concentrate on making you more comfortable. Keep the mask over your face. Take deep breaths and try to relax.’
‘What’s going on here?’ Nick came into the room and hurried over to the bed. ‘What happened?’ He checked the monitor, and Katie could see that her father’s heart rate and respiratory rate had increased to dangerous levels.
‘It was... We were just talking. It’s my fault,’ she said in a halting tone. ‘I said some things I shouldn’t have said.’ She had berated Nick for causing her father stress, and then she had done exactly the same thing, hadn’t she?
She pressed her lips together. Wasn’t this all part of the problem she had battled with since she had come out here? There was so much resentment locked up inside her, but none of it could gain release… not when her father was so ill. It was frustrating, an ongoing dilemma that could have no end. No matter what he had done, she would have to be inhuman to ignore his condition, wouldn’t she?
‘No, no…you mustn’t blame yourself,’ her father said, cutting in on her thoughts. ‘It’s only right that you should say what’s on your mind. I let you down.’
Nick gave her a thoughtful glance. Perhaps he was curious about what was going on between them, but he said nothing. Instead he checked the monitors once more and handed her father a couple of tablets and a drinking cup. ‘Take these,’ he said. ‘They’ll bring your blood pressure down and calm your heart rate. Then you need to rest.’ He sent Katie a warning glance and her face flushed with heat.