Marrying The Boss (7 page)

"
I hear you're adding to Mountaindale's
population. What do you need?" His narrowed, sweeping gaze
freshened Kate's feeling of tension. Even asking for his
professional help seemed to be pulling her closer to this man she'd
been determined to keep at arm's length. But right now she had no
choice.

Kate swallowed her tension and beckoned him
over so she could explain her predicament in low tones. She braced
her shoulders as he stepped closer.

His vitally warm presence enveloped her with
an aura of solid dependability. It ruffled her wary senses. What
was it about this one masterful man that she found so hard to
ignore?

"
The baby's face looks a little cyanosed."
Spencer assessed the situation quickly. "If it's already hypoxic we
might as well clamp and cut the cord, rather than trying to loosen
it. It will quicken the birth."

Kate nodded sharply. "We'll need to do an
episiotomy. The quicker the baby is born the better." She carefully
explained to Mandy what they were about to do. The young mother
nodded jerkily and closed her eyes.

Leaving Cheryl to continue talking to the
frightened young mother in low tones, encouraging her, Spencer
deftly cut and clamped the cord while Kate held the baby securely
in position. Mandy panted and gripped the bed tightly with both
hands, her face red with the exertion of not being allowed to bear
down. With the baby's shoulders rotated into the right position,
and the episiotomy performed, Kate was eager to see the baby born
as soon as possible.

"
You can push now, Mandy!" She encouraged
and after a few anxious moments the baby almost fell into her
waiting hands.

"
Well done, Mandy." Kate breathed raggedly
as she looked her over. "It's a beautiful little girl!"

She felt a sharp pain tightening around
her rapidly beating heart. It threatened to engulf her with the
overwhelming sense that having a child of her own just wasn't in
her future. She tried to squash the feeling deep down where it
wouldn't hurt so much and summoned a relieved smile when Spencer
threw her a questioning glance.

"
That's great, I wanted a girl." Mandy fell
back against the pillows, looking completely exhausted. "Is she all
right?"

"
We're not out of the woods yet," Spencer
said, for Kate's attention only.

"
I know." Kate tenderly cuddled the tiny
limp form, willing the child to inhale her first breath. "Just give
us a couple of minutes, Mandy." Kate stroked the tiny baby and
lowered her voice to below a whisper, "Come on, little one, breathe
for me." Mentally she sent all her energy to the little girl. "Come
on, come on."

A few more tense moments passed as they
watched and waited, looking for the baby to breathe. Finally she
let out a tiny wail. Kate, Spencer and Cheryl looked as each other
with relief and joy.

Staring down at the yowling infant in her
hands, Kate noted with pleasure that its slightly bluish face had
become flushed and ruddy. She moved away to check the baby's APGAR
score before handing her over to Mandy to cuddle. Spencer continued
to work over Mandy for several minutes before he could insert a few
neat stitches.

"
I haven't done that in a while." Kate
pressed a hand to her chest, as she stroked the little baby head as
she lay in her mother's waiting arms. "It really feels
good."

The uncomfortable
feeling of despair
rose again and Kate tried to ignore it. But the whole scene around
her simply reinforced her own chosen state of aloneness.
It had always been
her dearest wish to have a baby, but she found it hard to trust
another man not to hurt her. But the unfulfilled desire hurt just
the same.
"It
does indeed."

Cheryl came over and she and Kate hugged
each other, both laughing a little, with tears in their eyes.

"
Well, that went well." Spencer
straightened up after several minutes to stare at the three women
clucking over the new arrival before they cleaned up the room and
Cheryl helped Mandy and her baby into a wheelchair. Kate watched
them leave the room.

"
Thank you, Dr. Stelanos." Her heart gave a
funny little leap as she turned to look into his dark eyes. She
looked quickly away again, commanding that foolishly errant organ
to behave itself. "A second pair of hands is always
useful."

"
There you go again." He frowned at her.
"The name is Spencer, remember? Dr. Stelanos is far too formal. We
are really like a family here."

"
How could I forget?" she muttered,
inadvertently inhaling the clean, masculine scent of him, causing a
dizzying effect to her system.

She glanced up into his face. He was
wearing his glasses again. The lenses reflected the light, making
his eyes difficult to read. But, his expression was once more set
in those same cool, remote lines.

He seemed to be judging her
again. By some standard she could never hope to measure up to. If
it helped her maintain some kind of distance between them,
she
wasn't
about to complain.

Spencer'
s mobile mouth settled into a wry
twist, both height and presence seeming to fill the small room to
exclusion.

Kat
e did her best to gather her scattered
defenses, show him she was oblivious to his closeness. "Thank you
for your help. I do appreciate your taking the time."

"
So formal." A wry smile drifted across his
mouth, curving his lips up at the corners. His look was faintly
teasing, as if he found her constant stiffness perversely amusing.
"Very well, then. Was there anything else you need me for,
Kate?"

"
Nothing that comes to mind, thank you."
Her breath hitched at the slight inflection in his tone as he said
her name.

Spencer shook his head as he opened the
door. "I should mention that Jake has asked me to make sure I look
after you. Make sure you have everything." His words gave away
nothing of his inner thoughts or feelings about the arrangement.
"So, anything you need, I'm always available."

"
Thank you. I'll remember that." She
nodded, keeping her eyes down, even after she heard him leave the
room and close the door quietly behind him.

Thank heavens!
Only then did she
release the pent up breath she wasn't aware she'd been
holding.

Her new life was becoming more complicated
by the hour. She could easily become confused by the sound of his
voice, the way his eyes trailed over her when he thought she wasn't
looking and the slight curve of his mouth when he seemed determined
to tease her out of her stiffness, confused into thinking there was
some sort of romantic future there for her. Some unknown way for
her to have everything she had once craved.

Her heart picked up the drumbeat of dawning
awareness within her tight chest. She could easily become seriously
addicted to looking at him, wanting him to look at her. With a
determined effort she pushed the image of the man into the back of
her mind and tried to concentrate on the work in front of her.

To wonder about anything else more personal
would be pure madness.

Spencer stood in the doorway of her
consulting room, looking impatient and concerned.

Kate determin
ed to ignore the sensual
implication of his words as she rose to her feet. "Yes, I've just
finished my morning list. What do you have?"

"
An unusual case to attend. Since you're
going to be working here it's vital that you become familiar with
the symptoms." Spencer turned away. "We'll take my four wheel
drive. It'll be quicker since you're still finding your way
around."

"
If you think so." She followed him into
the car park, trying not to walk too close to him.

She felt vitally on edge and wary with
Spencer, but it seemed inevitable they should be flung together,
despite her need for some distance. Where was the sense of peace
she craved?

She tried to shrug aside her personal
concerns and asked, "Who's the patient?"

"
Ryan McCarthy, a twelve year old boy."
Spencer unlocked his four wheel drive and they got in. "His mother
phoned saying he'd been bitten by an insect at a school camp two
days ago. She wasn't too concerned, but this morning the bites
turned nasty and he's running a high fever. She doesn't have any
transport and Ryan needs to be seen urgently."

Spencer turned out of the surgery car park
and drove swiftly through town as he filled her in with the
details. He pulled off the road into the driveway of a large house.
A brown haired woman with dark worried eyes opened the front
door.

"
Thanks for coming quickly, Dr. Stelanos."
Joanna McCarthy led the way into a large bedroom at the back of the
house. "I've been out of my mind with worry."

"
We didn't think anything of it at first,"
she explained, in a distressed tone. "But Ryan's in a lot of pain
this morning and the bite looks really awful. And it's now so
big."

"
Okay, let's take a look at it." Spencer
approached the bed while Kate gathered some more details from the
boy's mother and did her best to reassure her everything would be
all right.

"
Hi there, Ryan." Spencer bent down to the
flush faced child in the bed. "I hear you're not feeling well. Can
I see where the bite is?"

"
I didn't feel anything when it bit me."
Ryan lifted the covers from the large wound on the side of his knee
where the skin had begun to ulcerate.

"
Let's see what we can do to make you more
comfortable." Kate came around to the opposite side of the bed from
Spencer, opened her bag and proceeded to take Ryan's pulse,
temperature and blood pressure.

As she worked she noted the area surrounding
the wound was reddened and swollen, indicating a severe case of
cellulitis. Spencer sat down on the edge of the bed to take a
closer look. Kate did her best to ignore his nearness as she
worked.

"
It's already starting to ulcerate."
Spencer inspected the wound, gently probing its limits. "We need to
take care of that right away."

"
I didn't see what did it," Ryan put in
tearfully. "It was only an itchy spot yesterday."

"
What do you think caused it, Dr.
Stelanos?" Kate looked across at Spencer.

Even given her extensive reading, she was at
a loss to explain the cause of the wound, but clearly a full course
of antibiotics was called for to treat the severe infection evident
in and around the ulceration.

Spencer sat back. "I had my suspicions
when Joanna rang. That's why I asked you to come with me. I'm
afraid this looks like the bite of a white tailed
spider."

Mrs. McCarthy shook her head. "What sort
of a spider can cause such a wound?"

"
It's an Australian spider that's
unfortunately becoming all too common in this country. Its bite
will cause this kind of infection if left untreated."

"
Oh, dear." Joanna swallowed tightly. "So
we should've had Ryan seen earlier?"

"
You weren't to know," Spencer reassured
her quickly. "People's reactions to the venom vary widely. The bite
isn't really noticed until it begins to ulcerate. That's when the
pain sets in. With the right course of treatment and careful
monitoring Ryan should be fine in a few weeks."

"
A few weeks?" Joanna gasped. "I didn't
think it was that serious."

Kate moved around the bed to the
distressed mother's side. "A course of antibiotics should clear it
up and regular paracetamol will help with the pain and bring down
Ryan's temperature. Hopefully it should heal cleanly without any
further problems."

"
Thank goodness." Ryan's mother sighed.
"Should he—I mean—will he be put into hospital?"

"
I don't see the need for hospitalization
at this stage," Spencer told her. "Dr. Martin or I will come back
tonight to take another look at the wound and redress it. I want
you to make an appointment for tomorrow morning, for a follow-up
consultation. Then we can see how things are
progressing."

"
Please, Mrs. McCarthy, try not to worry,"
Kate said, continuing to talk quietly to her, as Spencer dressed
Ryan's wound and made him more comfortable.

Kate not
ed that Spencer was very thorough and
managed to put Ryan at his ease as he worked over him. It was
obvious the boy was in good hands.

"
I can see I'm going to learn a lot while
I'm here," she said, once they were back in Spencer's vehicle.
"That was another new one for me. Thanks for consulting
me."

"
No problem, I thought you should observe
the condition first hand. White tailed spiders bites aren't
something you'd see in the States," he acknowledged, as he drove
back to the surgery. "I saw too many of them when I was training in
Australia. Now they've established themselves here. Their bite can
be fatal if left untreated. It's the bacteria they carry, not the
venom that does the damage."