* * *
The following day Christy found herself working alongside Jake, who had been called down to look at a young woman who was bleeding.
‘Ouch.’ Her voice was soft as her eyes rested on his bruised mouth. ‘That looks sore.’
‘It’s more embarrassing than sore,’ Jake drawled, touching his fingers to his lips with a wry smile. ‘The entire hospital seem to be laying bets on whose wife I seduced last night.’
Christy blushed. ‘Did you tell them the truth?’
Jake lifted an eyebrow. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think you’re much too good a friend to gossip,’ she said quietly, ‘and I’m really grateful for that. And for lots of other things.’
He studied her for a moment and then smiled and held out his hand for the notes she was holding. ‘So—where’s this woman you want me to see?’
‘In cubicle one. I’ll act as chaperone.’
The day passed swiftly and Christy was just wondering how she’d managed to miss yet another lunch-break when the ambulance hotline rang.
She picked up the phone just as Alessandro strolled up to her. ‘Tonight,’ he said in a decisive tone. ‘We’re going out to dinner. I’ve booked a table for eight o’clock.’
In no position to argue, Christy spoke into the phone and listened while the ambulance gave the details of a casualty they were bringing in.
She scribbled a few notes, replaced the phone and discovered that he was still standing there. ‘They’re bringing in a fifty-five-year-old man with an upper GI bleed. Apparently he vomited up fresh blood about half an hour ago.’
Alessandro’s gaze lingered on her face. ‘Then we’d better call the physicians and warn them. You’re thinking that I won’t make that date of ours tonight, aren’t you?’
‘Well, I…’ The words died in her mouth as she caught his slow, sexy smile.
‘Be ready, Christy,’ he said softly, ‘because I’m going to be there.’
Her stomach turned over and she cursed herself for being so weak-willed. It was going to take more than one evening where he happened to show up to fix their marriage.
The patient arrived accompanied by sirens and clutching a vomit bowl filled with frank blood.
Christy snapped on a pair of gloves and an apron and helped the paramedics transfer him to the trolley.
‘This is Duncan Finn.’ The paramedic removed the red blanket covering his patient and Christy substituted one of the department’s own. ‘Suddenly started vomiting and noticed the blood.’
Katya slid into the room just as Alessandro moved round the trolley to talk to his patient.
‘Any history of abdominal pain, Mr Finn?’ he asked smoothly, as he swiftly examined the contents of the bowl and then picked up the patient’s wrist to check his pulse and capillary refill.
The patient shook his head and Alessandro methodically ran through a list of questions as he continued his examination.
‘Shall I put a line in?’ Katya asked, and Alessandro gave a nod.
‘Two. Christy will show you which cannula.’
Christy pushed forward the trolley that she’d already prepared and handed the other doctor a tourniquet.
‘I want a full blood count, a clotting screen, U and Es, blood glucose and group and cross-match. Christy…’ he lifted his head from his examination ‘… what are his sats?’
‘Ninety-six per cent,’ she said immediately, and he gave a nod.
‘Did you bleep the physicians?’
‘As the ambulance arrived.’ Seeing that Katya had successfully cannulated the patient, Christy handed her the right bottles for the various tests and labelled the necessary forms. ‘They said that they were on their way.’