the barouche but an incredible anger swept over her. She couldn’t help but notice his expensive clothing and conservative haircut. He wasn’t a street junkie. Everything about him was in conflict with the popular image she’d once had of a heroin addict.
As she watched him lying there with an oxygen mask covering his pallid face, Beth controlled her impetus to shake him to his senses. To ask him why he was throwing away his life. To find out what drove him to do it. What void was he filling with drugs? Beth found it so sad and so frustrating.
She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and turned her eyes to see Dr Harrison’s face lowered to her level as he spoke. ‘Had any contact with ODs during your training, Dr Seymour?’
‘Too much, I’d say.’ She had seen so many young lives destroyed by drugs. It seemed to be almost an epidemic during her training in London—including one of her fellow medical students, who had been a close friend all through school.
‘It’s a sad fact of life in the city.’
‘And that means it’s acceptable?’ she retorted loudly, a little too loudly, she quickly realised.
‘No, but it means there’s nothing you or I can do except patch them up and let them get back on the street to score their next hit. Although,’ he paused ‘...by the look of the manicure and haircut on this one, he’s a corporate user. A yuppie with a habit.’
Beth felt her body stiffen. His words cut deeply as she thought back to her friend who’d been three weeks away from graduating when he’d overdosed. ‘It’s a stupid waste of a life and we get to clean up the mess they leave behind.’
Matthew observed his new medical colleague as she stood deep in thought. She obviously had strong views about what she had witnessed and she wasn’t afraid to come out with what she thought. Despite her small stature, she was neither a walkover nor a wallflower. She was forthright and almost commanding. It was a refreshing change.
He also noticed she was pretty, a fresh, natural beauty. He hoped despite her somewhat innocent looks she would be equipped to handle the rigours of A and E. First appearances would lead him to believe she would do just fine but perhaps treating her harshly while she might be suffering from jet lag had not been entirely fair. Despite her almost palpable anger at the situation, she looked truly shaken.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tap on her shoulder and words she hadn’t expected. ‘Dr Seymour, maybe I was a bit hard on you earlier.’
Beth stared in silence.
‘I’m offering an apology for my previous behaviour. Make the most of it because, believe me, it’s not something I do very often.’
She couldn’t believe her ears—this seemed totally out of character, given everything she had heard about the man and the callous way he had treated her earlier.
‘Look, the truth of the matter is I’ve had a lousy morning. What with one resident off sick and a fourth-year medical student tagging behind me like Casper, I guess I took it out on you.’
‘There’s no need—’ Beth began.
‘No, it’s your first day here, I could have shown some empathy. Let’s face it, you shouldn’t think of me as an absolute son of a—’ He stopped in mid-sentence. For some strange reason, and against his better judgement, he actually cared what Beth thought of him. ‘Well, let’s say you shouldn’t completely despise me, like the rest of them do, until at least your second week here.’
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS ABOUT seven o’clock in the evening when Beth headed for the doctors’ lounge. Vivian, an attractive ashen-haired nurse who had arrived for the afternoon shift, convinced her of the need to take a tea break.
Beth had managed to slip away in the afternoon for half an hour for lunch and that had doubled as time to put her feet up. But that had been almost six hours ago and she could feel the hunger in her stomach starting to stir. The thought of waiting for the lift or walking up three flights of stairs to the staff cafeteria after ten hours on her legs had her slip some coins into the slot of a vending machine and retrieve two chocolate bars for her late supper.
‘You’re not setting a good example to the patients. What happened to the three well-balanced meals a day?’
Beth was stopped in her tracks by the same dogmatic voice that had started her day.
‘You’d be better off with some fruit or at least a protein bar,’ Dr Harrison continued before she had the chance to reply.
Trying hard to keep her heavy legs from collapsing, she turned to him. Then she wished she hadn’t. He stood before her in a dark grey suit and crisp white cotton shirt, which contrasted starkly against his tanned skin and black wavy hair, which he wore slicked back. This further emphasised his softly chiselled features. A red silk tie and highly polished leather shoes completed his outfit.
Beth drew a steadying breath. He looked gorgeous and she felt like nothing on earth. She glanced down at her creased slacks and shapeless consulting coat with iodine splatters and wanted to disappear into an invisible black hole in the tiled floor. She had long since given up on her hair and had just let the curly wisps take on a direction of their own. How unfair was nature to let him bounce back and look so good after a full day’s work? The musky scent of his cologne stirred senses she had thought were asleep.
‘A night on the town?’ she enquired as she tried to stifle a yawn.
‘A celebration of sorts, actually.’
‘Well, I hope you have a nice time,’ she answered softly.
‘I will if my date turns up on time.’
Beth thought better of staying around chatting to the handsome consultant. If he was anything to set standards by, his date would be ravishing, and after the long day she had put in she’d rather not be introduced. She would only feel like the third, and definitely shabby, wheel.
‘Well, if you’ll excuse me,’ she began, ‘I’ll be going. I’ve only got a few minutes’ break and I really need to sit down.’
‘Certainly,’ he said, giving her a sideways glance. ‘You look like you could do with the rest.’
Beth just smiled and headed for the doctors’ lounge. You look like you could do with the rest, she repeated in her mind. Why hadn’t he just said, ‘God, you look awful’ and be done with it?
As she made her way down the corridor, she heard the seductive tone of his voice, then a soft female laugh. Unable to hide her curiosity, Beth turned her head and watched as a tall blonde, wrapped in a strapless red evening gown, slipped her arm through Dr Harrison’s. Beth felt a stab of envy. She wasn’t sure whether it was the woman’s disgustingly expensive designer dress and jewelled shoes or the man with her that really appealed. Then she laughed to herself at how terrible she would look with either after such a long day, and she headed into the lounge for a much-needed half-hour rest.
To her dismay, the vision in the dinner suit filled her mind. Looking that good, she decided, should be a crime. Then she thought back to their meeting that morning, and despite his arrogant attitude Beth couldn’t deny her unexpected and unwanted attraction to her boss. He was handsome and inherently sexy, that was undeniable... But there was something else. She wasn’t sure what intrigued her about the man but as she felt her eyes slowly closing, she shook her weary head and climbed to her feet. Now was not the time to drift off to some pleasant reverie about her picture-perfect boss. The last thing she needed was to be found sleeping on the job.
Beth stretched her aching muscles and made her way back to A and E. She had not quite reached the swing doors when her beeper went off. The sound of hurrying footsteps in the opposite direction signalled an emergency arrival. Beth rushed through the doors and fell in step with the paramedics and the barouche. A nurse hurriedly attached a stand to the drip that one paramedic held.
‘What do we have?’
‘Female,