Kisses at Sunset

‘Mannequins are good but they’re no substitute for the real thing.’ Josh picked up a laryngoscope. ‘Obviously if it’s less than straightforward you call the anaesthetist, but it may be that you’ve called them anyway and they’re tied up so you need to be able to do it yourself if the need arises.’

Kat thought back to the day before when she’d seen him intubate a patient. ‘You make it look easy.’

A smile flickered across his face. ‘I’ve had lots of practice, unfortunately. And don’t forget that sometimes it’s easier than at others, of course, and don’t forget that it’s always easier in the controlled environment of an operating theatre than it is in the mayhem of A and E.’

Kat moved to the head of the bed, totally absorbed and eager to learn. ‘Do you always oxygenate by bag and mask before you intubate?’

‘Unless spontaneous breathing is adequate.’ Josh handed her the laryngoscope. ‘Take a deep breath before you start, and if you haven’t finished by the time you need to breathe again then remove the ET tube and laryngoscope and ventilate with oxygen for a couple of minutes, using the bag and mask, before you try again.’

Kat nodded, peering down into the patient’s larynx and carefully sliding the ET tube between the vocal cords.

‘Brilliant job,’ Josh said softly. ‘You don’t need me to tell you that oesophageal intubation can be fatal. The best way to confirm tracheal intubation is to actually see the ET tube pass between the vocal cords, as you just did. Well done.’

Feeling more than a little pleased with herself, Kat held the tube while one of the nurses fastened it securely in place.

‘Very slick, Dr O’Brien,’ Josh said, and Kat tried not to notice the warmth in his eyes.

Something flickered between them, something she forced herself to ignore.

She was there to work, and that was what she was going to do.

And work she did. In fact, she worked until her feet ached and she was so tired that she fell into bed every night wondering if her legs would actually move when she tried to get up in the morning.

In contrast, Josh displayed boundless masculine energy, working hideous hours and still managing to find time to keep an eye on the staff.

On several occasions she saw him talking quietly to Paula, the receptionist, and guessed he was offering advice and support. It had taken only hours for her to see what a close-knit team they were in A and E, and she was touched that they’d welcomed her as part of that team without question.

Snatching a quick cup of coffee in the staffroom late on Friday, her last afternoon before days off, she contemplated the weekend with a quiet smile.

‘You look happy.’ Josh strolled into the room and shot her a questioning look. ‘Hot date with Archie tonight?’

Immediately her smile faded. Perhaps it had been stupid and cowardly of her to have let him believe that she had a man in her life, but there was something about Josh that made her feel vulnerable, and during the week she’d found herself noticing all sorts of things about him that she would have rather not noticed.

‘We’ll just grab something to eat at home, I expect,’ she muttered vaguely, watching while Josh poured himself a coffee. His forearms were bronzed and dusted with dark hairs, and she suspected he spent a great deal of time outdoors when he wasn’t at the hospital.

On the deck of his pirate ship?

She shook herself. She was doing it again. Noticing things about him…

‘What does he do? Archie?’ He asked the question casually, and for a moment she just stared at him stupidly.

‘He’s—er…’ She struggled to find a suitable answer. ‘He’s studying.’ At the local primary school, she thought, biting back a hysterical urge to laugh. Oh, what on earth was the matter with her? Why didn’t she just tell the man to mind his own business? Or, better still, tell him the truth! That she had a little boy she adored and no room for any other man in her life.

But she knew why she was avoiding the truth.

Because that first, unguarded moment when they’d met on the beach had unsettled her, and she had the sense to know that her feelings on that occasion were best left undisturbed and unexplored.

And there had been something in his eyes that had taken her breath away.

Maybe she was using Archie as a defence, but what was wrong with that?

‘What about you?’ She changed the subject quickly. ‘Do you have a hot date, Dr Sullivan?’

She couldn’t imagine that this man spent a single evening on his own unless that was the way he chose to spend it. She’d seen the way women looked at him, both patients and staff.

‘Tonight I have a hot date with my older brother and his wife, who is cooking me my first decent meal in a week,’ Josh said easily, sprawling in the nearest chair and stretching long legs out in front of him. ‘And the rest of the weekend is my own, providing I don’t get called in here.’

‘Does that happen often?’