The Doctor's Forbidden Fling Read online

  Although the Earl had dropped like a stone he’d thankfully avoided hitting the table on the way down and there was no indication of any head injuries. Nate loosened the shirt around his neck and tilted his head back to check his breathing. Nothing.

  ‘He’s not breathing. Phone 999.’ He delegated phone duties to prompt Violet into moving. He couldn’t afford to have her in shock too. Far from helping, his meddling had simply caused more catastrophe. He should’ve left well alone and they might all have carried on down their own paths they’d chosen a dozen years back. Oblivious to each other’s emotional dysfunction.

  If he hadn’t still been hung up on Violet and insisted on getting involved in her father’s treatment in the first place this could’ve turned out differently. The Earl might’ve accepted help easier or sooner without all of this added stress.

  Leaving the past unresolved now seemed a better option than being directly responsible for his death. If the worst happened there was no chance Violet would ever forgive him, never mind love him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  VIOLET STAMMERED OUT the address and the details of what had happened to the switchboard operator. It was difficult to focus on what was being said on the other end of the phone when she was watching Nate pump life back into her father’s chest for a second time. The difference now was there was no defibrillator to shock the heart back into rhythm. He was literally the only thing standing between her father and certain death.

  ‘The ambulance is on its way.’ Sooner rather than later, she hoped. Every second counted now in bringing her father back.

  Violet was helpless in the fight, watching her father’s body jerk with every violent chest compression needed to keep the blood circulating around his body. It was her fault they were all in this situation. If she hadn’t come back in the first place, or dragged Nate into their family politics, her father might still be recovering in his hospital bed. Not lying here on his dining-room floor literally heartbroken because of the accusations she’d thrown at him. This was what happened when she finally stood up to him.

  He’d never forgive her for this. If he made it through. She’d never forgive herself if he didn’t.

  ‘Did they say how long on that ambulance?’ Nate was breathing heavily, sweat beading on his upper lip, with the continued effort of CPR. It was easy to forget how physical a task it was doing the heart’s job when it was out of commission.

  ‘Five minutes. Apparently there’s one not too far from here.’

  Nate nodded and turned his attention back to his patient.

  Watching him work, his hair falling over his forehead as he tried to prolong life, was impressive and mesmerising. She, on the other hand, was standing here like a spare part with no active role in saving her father’s life.

  ‘Do you want me to take over for a while?’ Her mouth was dry at the mere thought of undertaking such a crucial task but Nate needed a break and she needed to do something useful.

  ‘Are you sure?’ His serious face told her he wasn’t going to leave his post unless she was confident she could do this.

  ‘Yes.’ She knelt down beside him on the floor, not giving her brain time to start overanalysing everything that could go wrong.

  ‘Remember, you need to be forceful to be effective. Ready?’ He scooted over so she could move closer for the transfer.

  ‘Yes.’ No.

  She’d never performed CPR on an actual person, only synthetic dummies whose fate didn’t affect anyone. If she screwed this up she’d have her father’s death on her conscience for ever as well as Strachmore’s fate.

  She locked out her arms and linked her fingers in preparation, throwing her weight into the first compression when she took over.

  ‘One, two, three...’ She counted out each chest pump to keep the timing regular and her brain occupied.

  ‘That’s good. Nice and steady.’ Nate laid a hand on her back to support her and used the other to grab his phone from his pocket.

  Her father’s skin was cold beneath her fingers and she tried desperately not to convince herself it was already too late but Nate wouldn’t give up and neither would she.

  ‘Come on. We can do this,’ she told him in the hope he would suddenly bat her away and tell her he could do this on his own. This was the first time she’d actually been in a position to help him and she prayed it wouldn’t be the last.

  ‘Apparently the ambulance is coming up the drive. I’ll go out and direct them here if that’s okay with you?’

  ‘Sure. Hurry.’

  Her arms were beginning to tire with the tension and repetitive movements but adrenaline was keeping them moving. She could hear the sirens, see the shadows of the ambulance lights dancing through the windows, but she didn’t relax until Nate returned with the crew, giving them the lowdown on events to date.

  ‘We can take over from here.’ Nate gave her a reprieve and took over the compressions while the paramedics set to work with the oxygen and defibrillator.

  ‘Stand clear.’

  This time Violet was there to witness the shocks as they were delivered in between Nate’s chest compressions as everyone crowded around to save her father’s life. They had him hooked up to so many machines and life-saving equipment he might as well have been in the hospital.

  After the second shock was administered there was a renewed flurry of activity.

  ‘We’ve got a pulse.’

  ‘Lord Dempsey, can you hear us?’

  ‘Open your eyes for us, Samuel.’

  ‘Dad?’ Violet held her breath, waiting for confirmation there was still a chance he could make it. Nate came to her and put her mind at ease with a squeeze of her hand.

  ‘He’s breathing on his own again. You did an excellent job, Nurse Dempsey.’

  ‘We made a good team, Dr Taylor.’ Her limbs were shaking as the tension began to ebb from her body, only to be replaced with shock at what she’d just undertaken. They were a long way from celebrating just yet but they’d done their bit to get him this far.

  ‘I’ll ride with you in the ambulance in case there are any complications. We might have to operate this time to prevent this from happening again.’ Not even Nate’s warmth could prevent the cold chill that ran down her spine. They were right back at square one, with the stakes higher than ever. This time she was directly responsible for putting her father in hospital and it was down to Nate again to save the day.

  * * *

  Nate had been more forceful about the need to perform emergency angioplasty as soon as they reached the hospital to prevent any more attacks. This latest episode had obviously shaken the Earl as he’d agreed without much of a fight this time. Now Nate’s blue scrubs were sticking to the sweat on his back. He performed this procedure as a matter of routine but not usually on people who thought he’d somehow forged his qualifications, and not with old girlfriends sitting outside waiting for news.

  With the Earl awake and aware of everything going on around him, Nate was under pressure more than ever to prove himself. He’d never been more aware of the small risks involved in this minimally invasive treatment, or his responsibilities during it, as he stood over Violet’s father.

  ‘Okay, Lord Dempsey, you’ll be awake during the procedure but you shouldn’t feel anything with the local anaesthetic we’ve given you. You can even watch what’s happening on the monitor beside you.’ He usually tried to make his patients more at ease by remaining on first-name terms but he didn’t want to antagonise his patient before they started.

  ‘Thanks.’

  They’d administered a mild sedative along with a local anaesthetic but Nate was still pleasantly surprised at how co-operative the patient was being, considering his earlier mood. Well, at least less combative than he’d expected. He’d had visions of having to strap him down to stop him taking a swing at
him for bringing him back to the hospital.

  ‘We’re just going to insert a catheter into the small incision we’ve made in your wrist. That will allow us to inject X-ray dye into the arteries so we can get a clear picture of what’s going on in there.’ He could make a better assessment of how to proceed when he could see the problem for himself instead of guessing.

  Once he had the nod, Nate carried on as he would normally do. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this case if he could set personal history aside and stop thinking about how much was riding on this being a success. Potentially this was his chance of winning the Earl’s approval, essential in making his and Violet’s lives a little easier. It mattered to him to be accepted when he was spending so much time at Strachmore. With Violet. There was also the matter of professional pride when this was his patient who’d been readmitted only a matter of hours after leaving.

  With the help of the monitors, he concentrated on feeding the thin, flexible tube through the blood vessels until it reached the coronary arteries on the heart. It was an intricate process, one which he’d honed over the years. Hence, his continued irritation when people dismissed the skills he’d worked hard to perfect.

  ‘You can see on the screen that your right coronary artery is almost completely blocked, preventing blood flowing to that particular section of the heart.’ It was clear now exactly what was causing the problem and, providing there were no objections, he could repair it.

  ‘What’s next, Doctor?’

  If the Earl’s co-operation had taken him by surprise, being referred to respectfully in his professional capacity was nearly enough to knock him off his feet.

  ‘The best thing to open the artery is to insert a tiny balloon and inflate it to let the blood flow. I think in your case we’ll also need to use a stent too. It’s a small mesh tube that helps support the inner wall of the artery to make sure it remains open once we remove the balloon.’

  ‘Whatever you think’s for the best.’ He deferred to Nate with his eyes closed, either too tired to argue or too squeamish to watch.

  It enabled Nate to relax a tad without being scrutinised as he threaded the guide wire into the affected artery. The balloon was inflated to widen the artery and squash fatty deposits against the artery wall, the stent expanding with it. Once the stent was open, he was able to deflate the balloon and remove it.

  ‘And that’s us finished.’ The whole thing had taken just over an hour, a typical time for the procedure but, under the gaze of Lord Dempsey, it had felt like a never-ending test of his abilities.

  ‘Already?’ Lord Dempsey was straining to make sure he’d been true to his word.

  ‘Yes. We’ll send you back to CCU to monitor you overnight but with any luck you should be back home again tomorrow.’ He removed the catheter and the lab nurse applied pressure to the site to prevent any bleeding. Job done with a great degree of satisfaction and relief.

  ‘Thank you, Nathaniel.’ The Earl reached out to shake his hand and Nate stood a little taller in his comfy Theatre shoes.

  ‘I think you need to thank your daughter too. She was very much part of the team keeping you alive until you got here.’ She deserved some positive recognition from him for once too.

  ‘Violet?’

  ‘She helped me perform CPR until the ambulance reached you. That is one lady determined to keep you around for a while longer.’ Nate wanted to put to bed the ridiculous idea that she wanted him out of the way. No devious gold-digger would have worked so hard to bring him back from the dead.

  ‘I’ll talk to her.’

  ‘I think it’s about time you did but, please, hear her out this time. She only wants the best for you, and the estate.’ He’d held his counsel too long and in his eyes both he and Violet had proved their true intentions over the course of the evening. Despite their resistance to Strachmore and all it stood for, they’d both made a commitment to them in their own way.

  He stripped off the lead apron that he’d worn to protect against the X-rays and tossed his surgical gown aside, keen to report back to Violet and share this feeling of after-surgery euphoria with someone for once.

  * * *

  Violet was biting what was left of her fingernails. She inspected her once-beautiful nails, now raggedy, the candyfloss-pink varnish starting to flake. It was funny how quickly frivolous things such as her weekly manicure became insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Nate had reassured her that her father’s was a relatively straightforward procedure and she had every faith in him, but her father’s health was so precarious she couldn’t relax until she saw them both coming out of Theatre.

  ‘Did everything go okay?’ Her father was awake, Nate was smiling, but she wanted confirmation all had gone to plan.

  ‘Like clockwork. We’re just taking your father back to CCU, if you want to come with us?’

  He was so handsome in his scrubs, made even more so with his amazing life-saving skills, Violet was liable to follow him anywhere. Overcome with relief and gratitude, she launched herself at him for a hug. She found solace in the smell of sweat and soap, which told her everything about how hard he’d worked over the course of the last hours. Now the drama was over she wished they were able to take time out in one of their old haunts to decompress and simply enjoy each other’s company. Somewhere she wasn’t constantly faced with reasons she shouldn’t want to be with him.

  From the corner of her eye she saw her father struggle to sit up. She instantly let go of her hold around Nate’s neck and stepped away from the hunky cardiologist. Even though she was proud of him, it was her natural response to back off, knowing her father would never approve of such a public display no matter what the circumstances and especially with someone he deemed beneath him.

  ‘How are you feeling, Dad?’

  ‘Sore.’

  If she’d expected Nate to flick on her father’s humility switch while he was in there, she was sadly mistaken. She couldn’t bear for him to take umbrage against Nate for any residual pain after all his hard work.

  ‘I’m sure Nate did everything he could—’

  ‘I didn’t dispute that. From what I saw in there Nathaniel is a very, very skilled physician but I think I’m entitled to express my discomfort after everything I’ve been through. Now, if you don’t mind, I need some rest.’

  Violet could only stand open-mouthed as he was wheeled away.

  When she finally regained control of her paralysed body parts she turned to stare at Wonder Doc. ‘Did I imagine that or did my father just pay you a backhanded compliment?’

  If so, it was a breakthrough of epic proportions. She’d never heard him praise anyone for anything. It was probably the closest thing to an apology they’d ever hear from him. Violet was pleased on Nate’s behalf that he was finally being recognised for his achievements even if she wasn’t likely to receive that honour herself.

  Nate gave her a wry smile to warm her frozen limbs. ‘I told you I was good at what I do.’

  ‘Yes, yes, you are.’ That brought all things non-medical to Violet’s corrupted mind, forcing her to break eye contact before he saw her lustful thoughts for himself. She knew how good he was at everything he did—she’d had a sample for herself. That taster had only made her crave more.

  Nate gave a nervous cough and she got the impression those wayward thoughts hadn’t been confined only to her head.

  ‘It’s late but you can go to CCU and say goodnight before you leave if you want.’ Apparently he’d decided to go with the relatively safe ground of dealing with her father compared to that minefield of their relationship and the boundaries they’d come close to redrawing.

  ‘I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I don’t want to push my luck and end up in another row with him after that bombshell. I don’t want a repeat of what happened at the house.’ Their cosy chats didn’t have
a great track record. For all the good she’d done so far trying to help, she was tempted to simply let his world collapse around him rather than take any more responsibility for his ill health.

  ‘You saw him for yourself. He’s quite mellow at the minute. For him. Although, it might be wise not to mention Strachmore. At all.’

  ‘Message received loud and clear.’ Violet pondered his advice. There’d been enough excitement for one day, but surely five minutes spent bedside saying goodnight couldn’t hurt? It might even put her mind at ease to see him settled at the end of such a traumatic twenty-four hours. Then she might stand a chance of a decent night’s sleep.

  She set off after the porter towards the coronary care unit safe in the knowledge Nate had fallen into step next to her. She was getting too used to having a sidekick with her during her trials and tribulations. When she finally went back to London she was probably going to have to get a dog or something to pour out her troubles to even though it would be a poor substitute for this man, who knew her better than she knew herself at times.

  ‘I’m just popping in to make sure you’re comfortable before I head home.’ Violet approached her father’s bed with as much caution as ever. There never was any warning of what mood he’d be in from one minute to the next, and he was bound to be tired and cranky after the evening he’d had. This wasn’t the time or place to start pointing out his flaws and mistakes again. With any luck he’d begin to realise them for himself some day.

  ‘I know you would rather I’d died instead of your mother. I do too.’

  It was such an out-of-the-blue statement coming from him it stunned Violet into silence. Not so long ago it would’ve been true, she’d have preferred to have lived without him instead of her mother, but she’d moved past that. Nobody could change the past and it had been her mother’s decision to leave them when all was said and done.

  The greatest surprise, other than her father considering anyone else’s feelings, was that he’d expressed something approaching remorse. She guessed facing his own mortality had finally awoken his conscience from its long slumber.