A Father for Baby Rose. Margaret Barker
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hasn’t she?”
“Yes, sir. She’s had nothing to eat since midnight, hoping that you would decide to operate this morning.”
“Excellent!”
Cathy scrubbed up at the next sink to Yannis. She held her hands out. A nurse was waiting with a sterile gown to Velcro down her back. Gloves were peeled over her hands. Yannis glanced down approvingly. “Let’s go.”
She followed behind, noting that Theatre one was exactly like the one she’d just checked out. The surgical team looked alert and focused. Yannis raised an eyebrow above his mask as he looked across the inert figure towards Cathy.
“Scalpel, Cathy.”
As she handed him the required instrument she was feeling relieved that he’d chosen to call her Cathy. He’d already introduced her as Dr Cathy Meredith to the assembled team. But it made her feel special, that she was some kind of friend with the surgeon. A kind of friend; that was a good description that she should try to remember if she could.
For the next half-hour she was totally committed to the task in hand. Yannis quickly cut through the patient’s abdominal muscles to expose the angry-looking appendix. Yes, the patient would certainly feel much better when that infected organ was disposed of. Yannis was checking other organs in the vicinity.
“It’s just the appendix that’s infected,” he told the assembled team. “No other organ has been affected. Have the biopsies checked out, Sister. Let me know the results as soon as you get them back from the lab. I took a biopsy of this ovary as a precaution. It looks healthy enough but it’s in very close proximity to the infected area.”
The swing doors opened as a young, harassed-looking young man already swathed in surgical gown and mask arrived.
“Ah, Nikolas! Good of you to join us! Problem with the boat, I hear… Thank you, Cathy. You were a great help. You are free to go back to Outpatients now. I’ll see you later.”
Cathy smiled at the young man as she went out. From the greenish colour of his skin above the mask it looked as if he wasn’t such a good sailor. “Sure you don’t want me to take over for the morning, Nikolas?” she whispered as they passed each other.
“Better keep in with the boss,” he muttered. “I’m new here and—”
“So am I.” She pulled down her mask and smiled at the new recruit, who looked terrified of the ordeal ahead.
“When you’ve finished chatting, Nikolas, you can bring the next patient in,” Yannis said evenly.
Cathy turned to take a last look at the boss and was sure he winked at her over the top of his mask.
CHAPTER THREE
CATHY peeled off her surgical gloves and threw them into the bin before washing her hands. A couple of weeks had passed since she’d worked in surgery again with Yannis.
She’d been beginning to wonder if she’d done something he hadn’t approved of on her first morning at the hospital. And then she’d remembered the wink he’d given her over the top of his mask as she’d been leaving Theatre one. Totally out of character! What had that been all about? Or maybe she’d imagined it. Yes, that was more like it. Because he’d given her precious little attention since then!
Oh, he’d called her into his office a couple of times but merely to brief her about a new patient or a different treatment that was going to be introduced. Off duty she hadn’t seen him at all. Well, he did live near the sea and she was living in the upper town so there was really no reason why they should meet unless one of them arranged something socially. And it certainly wasn’t going to be her! She understood the macho Greek mind too well from her holidays here on Ceres.
She’d felt nervous coming to the hospital this morning because Yannis had told her he’d scheduled her to work for the whole morning with him on his surgical list. She had been relieved to be asked, but apprehensive that she might do something to annoy him.
His manner had been totally professional and decidedly cool for the last few days and she had begun to think she’d misjudged the warmth he’d shown her on that first evening. So she was very relieved now that her morning’s work in Theatre had gone well.
She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror above the sink in the ante-theatre.
Not a scrap of make-up. She didn’t wear it when she knew she was needed in Theatre. In the mirror she saw the door opening as Yannis came in, shedding his theatre gown in the bin by the door.
He stood behind her. She watched his reflection as a broad grin came over his face. “Don’t tell me. You were just about to put on your make-up and I’ve walked in so you don’t want me to watch you. It’s OK, I’ll go out again.”
She swung round. “No, you’re OK. I wasn’t going to put make-up on. Haven’t got any with me.”
“I’m glad.”
He was standing very close. She could feel his hot breath on her face. He seemed to be studying her skin. She wondered if he’d noticed the spot that had developed on her right cheek.
“Yes, I’m really glad you’ve come into Theatre without make-up. It makes you look younger and I’m sure it’s more hygienic.”
“I’ve never worn makeup in Theatre.” She was talking very quickly now, intensely aware of his close proximity. “Not since my professor of surgery at Middlefield General Hospital in Yorkshire ticked me off for wearing it. This particular professor claimed that make-up could harbour bacteria on the skin. He was probably right. And I’d found whenever I tried to wear make-up in Theatre it had gone all streaky anyway.”
“It’s an interesting theory. Turn round again. I’ll help you out of your gown.”
She put her hands in front of her defensively. “No, don’t do that! I’m going to shower first in the female changing room. I…I’m not fully dressed underneath!”
“I wish you hadn’t told me that,” he said, his voice hoarse and seductively sexy.
He stepped back as he tried to get his hormones under control. He’d tried so hard for the last two weeks to keep control of himself. It was as if he was coming to life again. A wonderful feeling but he’d no idea how to handle it. Whenever he caught a glimpse of Cathy in hospital, walking down the corridor or bending over a patient, he felt like a teenager again.
He turned abruptly, the guilt of the confession he’d just made to himself rising up inside him alongside the disturbing sensations of sexuality and tenderness that he felt when Cathy was around. He’d forced himself to schedule her to assist him for the entire morning to prove that it was possible for him to remain totally professional.
And he had! But here he was, falling at the last hurdle. “Thanks for your help,” he said evenly as he strode towards the swing door. He’d already pushed it open before the strong feelings she’d aroused in him became too much for him to ignore. He turned around again, letting the swing door close.
Cathy felt alarmed as she looked at his solemn face. He’d formally thanked her but was he now going to tick her off about the way she’d sutured that last patient? He’d been watching her so intently she was sure he was going to make some criticism.
“Cathy, I wonder if we could spend some time together this evening? I know we’re both off duty.”
He still wasn’t smiling as he struggled to get his emotions under control.
Cathy had a surge of conflicting emotions herself at his suggestion. On the one hand her heart was telling her she’d love an evening out with this handsome Greek doctor. But her head was questioning whether that would that be wise. She had to be more careful than she had in the past. Meeting up casually with him on that first evening had been fun. But this invitation needed more thought.
She’d vowed not