His Emergency Fiancée (17 page)

‘As a consultant, Brown, I think I might have some idea of what I’m doing.’

‘Of course. I wasn’t questioning your abilities.’

The glare he’d shot her said he didn’t believe it.

She subsided and continued assisting with the operation, even though she was itching to perform it herself. Why was he insisting on doing every case personally? Hadn’t he worked with her and Paul for long enough now to know he could trust them to do their jobs and call him if they needed help?

‘Close for me, Fisher,’ Chambers directed.

Kirsty wanted to scream. Why wouldn’t the man let her get on with her job? What was his problem? She couldn’t think of anything she’d done to upset him—certainly nothing intentional—so why did they clash so badly? Was it her, or did he just hate all women? All women surgeons, she revised mentally.

He was staring at her. ‘Is there a problem, Brown?’

You tell me.
She stopped the words with an effort. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Then why are you glaring at me?’

Because you’re stopping me doing the job I love and it’s driving me crazy.

There was only one thing she could do. It was high risk and her working life could fall to pieces as a consequence—but, considering the mess the rest of her life was in, Kirsty didn’t think things could get much worse. ‘Could we have a word in your office when we’ve finished here, Mr Chambers?’

A brusque nod, and he swept off, leaving her to supervise Paul.

By the time Kirsty stood outside his office, she was having second thoughts. And third ones. Maybe head on wasn’t the best way to deal with this…but, then again, she’d already tried being quiet and docile, and it just seemed to make him worse. Face a bully and he’ll back down, she reminded herself. He’ll back down.

She took a deep breath and rapped on the door.

‘Come in.’

Feeling sick, she walked into Chambers’s office and closed the door behind her.

‘You wanted a word?’

She nodded. Get to the point, she told herself, digging her nails into her palms. ‘Mr Chambers, I can’t work like this.’

He smiled thinly. ‘Not my problem, Brown.’

She lifted her chin. ‘I’m a good surgeon, Mr Chambers. I just want to do my job.’

‘That’s what we all want.’

‘There…seems to be a difficulty between us.’

He folded his arms and stared at her. ‘Perhaps you should reconsider your attitude to my firm, Brown.’

But she wasn’t the one with the attitude problem!

‘Now, if there’s nothing else?’

He wasn’t even going to admit there was a problem—he’d as good as accused her of being paranoid and difficult to work with! Clearly he wasn’t going to discuss it with her. And she certainly wasn’t going to apologise for something she hadn’t even done.

‘No, nothing,’ she said, and left his office.

She busied herself with paperwork, until Jenny rapped on the door of her office. ‘Kirst, can I borrow you for a minute?’

‘Sure. What’s the problem?’

‘We’ve been doing ten-minute obs on Maggie Fletcher—’ the patient she and Chambers had rowed over that morning ‘—and I don’t like the look of her.’

‘What’s up?’ Kirsty asked as she followed her friend over to the patient.

‘Her BP’s dropped, she’s restless and a bit agitated, she looks pale and her skin’s cold and clammy.’

‘Pulse?’ Kirsty asked, recognising the early signs of shock.

‘Rapid and weak, and the pressure’s dropping.’

‘What about her dressing?’

Jenny shook her head. ‘No external signs of haemorrhage.’

Which meant there could be internal loss of blood, leading to a fall in blood pressure and then shock—something that needed action. Fast. ‘Where’s Chambers?’

‘On his break. That’s why I asked you.’

Kirsty examined Maggie Fletcher courteously but swiftly, and came to the same conclusion as Jenny: the patient was losing blood and starting to go into shock. There were no external signs but clearly it was internal—caused by a slipped ligature, a shifting blood clot or maybe just increased blood pressure opening up veins that had collapsed previously. They had to get her into Theatre now, open her up and stop the haemorrhage before her circulatory system shut down.

‘Better bleep him. I’ll call the anaesthetics team.’

When Jenny had bleeped him for the second time with no answer, Kirsty decided to take matters into her own hands. ‘Paul, it’s you and me.’

‘But—’ the house officer began, clearly worried about operating without Chambers’s permission.

‘Paul, shock’s serious. Circulatory failure means we could lose the patient. You know that as well as I do. We can’t afford to wait, for Maggie Fletcher’s sake. I’ll take the rap, if I have to.’

As soon as she made the incision, Kirsty could see what the problem was: a slipped ligature. It didn’t necessarily mean that Chambers had been negligent—sometimes they just happened. The important thing was to save the patient. She quickly repaired the damage, then Paul closed.

And it was when they got back to the ward that all hell broke loose.

‘My office, Brown,
now
!’

She followed the consultant into his room and closed the door behind him.

‘What do you think you were playing at?’

‘Saving a patient’s life.’

‘
My
patient,’ he reminded her.

‘She was in classic early shock.’

‘You should have bleeped me.’

‘We did.’ She folded her arms and stared at him. ‘Twice.’

‘Well, I didn’t get the message. You should have tried again.’

‘Shock’s life-threatening. We didn’t know where you were. What was I supposed to do—leave her until it was irreversible?’

‘You should have—’ Chambers began belligerently.

‘Should have, schmould have!’ Kirsty snapped back. ‘When you’re not around, the nursing staff come to me as the next most senior on the team. And I am
not
going to let patients die just to pander to your ego!’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You heard. I can’t work with you. I’ve tried—God knows, I’ve tried—but everything I do is wrong in your eyes.’

‘You’re being over-emotional, Brown.’

Too damned right she was. Work was impossible and now that Ben had walked away from her, she had nothing left to lose. ‘I’ve tried to talk to you about this…problem, whatever it is, between us before and you just won’t listen. I save your patient and you take me to task; but if I’d left her to die, not daring to touch her because she’s yours, I’d be breaking every moral code a doctor believes in and you’d be down on me like a ton of bricks.’

‘Now you’re being hysterical.’ His lips thinned.

‘Am I?’ she flared back. ‘You need to loosen up.’

‘And you need to review your position in this firm,’ he rapped back.

She shook her head. ‘No need. I’ve had enough. I quit.’ She slammed out of his office, ignoring the raised eyebrows and surprised looks from the rest of the ward staff.

She collected her things from her locker and stomped home, still fuming at Chambers’s high-handed attitude. Then she slumped into a chair and stared at the wall, not really seeing anything. Which was how Ben found her, four hours later.

* * *

‘Kirst, you left the door unlatched and—’ He saw her face and was at her side in two strides. ‘What’s happened?’

‘I don’t have a job any more,’ she replied tonelessly.

‘What?’

‘I said I don’t have a job any more.’

‘But why? What happened? Did you resign?’

‘Yep.’

‘But…’ He froze. Surely she hadn’t quit her job because of him? ‘Why?’

‘Because Chambers objected to me touching one of his patients.’

‘Huh?’

She explained briefly.

‘That’s outrageous! It’s constructive dismissal. Have you spoken to Personnel?’

‘What’s the point? What can they do about it?’

‘Get you reinstated, that’s what!’

‘Ben, you don’t get it, do you? Chambers hates me. If I go to Personnel and get reinstated, he’ll make my life hell until I resign again—for good.’

‘You’re going to let him get away with it?’

She shrugged. ‘What else can I do?’

‘Fight him! Surely you’re not going to let that—that low-life
scumbag
stop you doing what you really want, stop you being a top surgeon?’

‘I was never going to make it anyway.’

‘Yes, you were. You’re good at your job, Kirst, and you’re good with the patients.’

‘Yes, but maybe I don’t have the right temperament to deal with senior staff.’

‘Oh, Kirsty.’ He wanted to hold her, cuddle her pain away. In the old days, he wouldn’t have even thought about it: he’d have given her the hug she needed. Now…Oh, why was he dithering like this? Sure, there was a lot they needed to resolve between them, but that could wait. Right now, Kirsty was hurting and he wanted to make it better.

He picked her up, sat on her chair and settled her on his lap with his arms tightly round her. ‘Kirsty Brown, you’re talking nonsense and you know it. You’re one of the most popular doctors at the hospital.’

‘That doesn’t count.’

‘Yes, it does.’ His face hardened. ‘Tomorrow morning, I’m going to be in Chambers’s office, waiting for him. And when he gets in I’ll—’

‘Do nothing, Ben,’ she cut in.

‘What do you mean, do nothing? He’s not getting away with this.’

‘And you’re not going to ruin your career over it. Fighting’s a serious disciplinary offence. A sackable one.’

‘I didn’t say I was going to fight him, Kirst. I’m just going to talk to him. Though I admit I’d like to break every bone in his body right now.’

‘Just leave it, Ben,’ she said tiredly. ‘It’s not worth it.’

‘Yes, it is.’
She
was worth it.

‘Forget it, Ben. It’s over.’

Ben’s stomach turned to water. Over? What was she talking about? ‘What’s over?’ he asked carefully.

‘My job at Jimmy’s. I could fight Chambers, yes—but it’ll get nasty. Really nasty. If I got my job back, it wouldn’t be the same. I’d have divided the staff and there’d be an atmosphere. It wouldn’t be fair on anyone.’

Relief and dismay coursed through him in equal measures. Dismay that she was giving up so easily—and relief that she hadn’t been talking about them. ‘So what are you planning to do?’

‘Right now, I’m not sure. I’ll have to get a reference from someone. Maybe I’ll ask Tony.’ She shook her head. ‘No, that isn’t fair. I don’t want to worry him even more. I’ll ask Viv in A and E. Then I’ll do a locum job until I find something permanent.’

‘Kirst, you really need to talk to Personnel about this. Maybe they could—I dunno, have a bit of a change-round, and swap you with one of the other surgical registrars.’

‘There’d still be a lot of bad feeling, even if I didn’t have to work with Chambers again. And what would happen when my consultant was on leave? I’d have to work under
him
, wouldn’t I? I don’t want to work like that, worrying about everything I do and say. I don’t want to
live
like that, Ben.’

Ice slid down his spine. She wasn’t talking just about work, was she? ‘Kirsty, don’t do anything rash.’

‘I’m the sensible one, remember?’

The listlessness in her voice shocked him. ‘Kirst, you—’

‘Not now, Ben.’

Not now.
The last time he’d said that to her, she’d been in his arms—and he’d kissed her. Right now, she was in his arms and he wanted to kiss her. But he knew that would be the worst thing he could do. He couldn’t be her Dr Right, and although he could make her forget her troubles at work, it would be only temporarily.

Right now, he’d give her the support she needed. But when they’d cleared up all this mess about her job, maybe they could start working things out between them.

* * *

Kirsty wrote her official resignation letter the next morning. By the time Ben came back from a late duty, she’d organised a reference from Viv, the consultant in A and E. Five days later, she’d applied for half a dozen jobs, been interviewed twice and had found herself a locum position at Southampton, an hour’s drive away.

‘Kirst, all that extra travelling on top of your job—’

‘Isn’t important,’ she cut in. ‘I’m still working and I’m doing the job I trained for.’

‘Miles away.’

She shrugged. ‘I’ll see how it goes. If the travelling’s too much, I’ll have to move nearer the hospital.’

She’d move. And then, for the first time in nearly ten years, Kirsty wouldn’t be sharing a house with him. For the first time in nearly ten years, she wouldn’t be there any more. His eyes widened. ‘Kirst…’

‘I’ll manage,’ she said. ‘But I think we’ll need to get a cleaner.’

‘I’ll do your share of the housework,’ he said immediately.

‘You barely do your own.’

He flinched. ‘That’ll change, I promise.’

She ignored him. ‘I’ll ring an agency tomorrow.’

* * *

Why should Kirsty have to find herself another job, just because her boss was such a prima donna? This really wasn’t right, Ben thought angrily. He found it hard to be civil to Chambers when he had to refer cases up for surgery. He managed to keep things on a strictly professional level and gave the surgeon the information he needed about each case, even though he was itching to shake Chambers and ask him what the hell his problem was that he’d force out a brilliant registrar like that.

Maybe, Ben thought, that was the problem. Kirsty was brilliant. Maybe Chambers thought Kirsty would outshine him and had just decided to knock out the competition before anyone noticed. Maybe…It was just a hunch, but Ben wanted to check it out. And he knew just the place to start: Personnel.

‘I’m afraid I can’t give you that sort of information, Dr Robertson,’ Jan Kennedy said, looking worried.

He smiled. ‘I promise I’m not going to cause problems for you. I don’t want to see the file or anything like that. All I want to know is which hospital Mr Chambers came from.’

‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘It’s…a delicate matter,’ Ben said. Which was absolutely true, but also wasn’t specific enough to get Kirsty into even more trouble.

The personnel officer thought about it. ‘Well, I can’t see what harm that’d do.’ She glanced round at her colleagues, who all seemed busy, tapped quickly into the computer and looked up the information. ‘City General in West London,’ she said in a low voice.