A Doctor's Courage

by Gill Sanderson

Genres: Contemporary Romance; Medical Romance; Workplace Romance

Synopsis

Newly arrived G.P. Tom Murray finds himself both neighbour and colleague of Nurse Nikki Gale at the same country practice. He a stranger; she a local girl who, as she shares her passion for the area, becomes increasingly fascinated by this man. But what is his secret? Why is he sometimes so distant? He seems intent on halting their growing relationship. The shocking truth? Time is short and he dare not hurt the woman he desires. A dramatic rescue and Nikki's determination - are they enough to give Tom the courage to face the future and the chance to love and be loved?

Release date: May 15, 2014

Publisher: Accent Press

Print pages: 137

Sample

Chapter One

It was a fine morning in early summer when Tom dropped into Nikki Gale’s life – really dropped in, that is.

It was going to be a busy day for her. But, then, all her days were busy, that was the way she liked them. Perhaps Saturday morning was different, she could take things just a bit easy. So she stayed in her dressing gown. She listened to Radio 4, made herself a percolated cup of coffee and put on some wholemeal bread to toast. Perhaps she would sit on the little patio outside her caravan and watch the robins fly around the rather neglected back garden of the White House. How she wished she could see to that garden!

She heard it when she switched off the radio. A loud creak – and a cracking noise. It was very near, it sounded almost like a branch breaking. Her caravan was parked partly under the shade of a large oak tree. But there was no wind, not even the lightest of breezes, so why should a branch creak? Tying her dressing gown round her, she went outside.

Her residential caravan was parked carefully to blend in with its surroundings. It was painted dark green, situated in a grove of trees at the end of the White House garden. There was access through a high wall at the back for herself and her car.

Branches from the great oak tree hung over the bedroom end of her caravan. And six feet above the van, desperately clinging onto the lowest branch, was a man.

He was facing downwards, his feet higher than his head. And just behind his feet the branch had splintered and was starting to break.

‘What are you doing, climbing over my van?’ Nikki asked.

The man appeared to think. ‘Being over your van wasn’t my precise intention,’ he said, after a while.

‘I was trying to get to the end of this branch so I could see into that nest.’

He pointed. There was a nest where he indicated – Nikki had seen the mother robin flying to it. ‘You’re a bit old to be bird’s-nesting,’ she said severely, ‘and there are no eggs there now, the chicks have hatched. It’s not good to disturb them.’

‘I wasn’t going to disturb them,’ the man said indignantly, ‘I just wanted to look. I was looking out of my bedroom window and I saw a bird with a worm in its beak. It struck me that I’d never actually seen into a bird’s nest with chicks. There are some things a man should do at least once in his life, and I’ve never seen a bird drop a worm into …’

There was no creaking this time, just a snapping sound. The branch broke and the man dropped six feet onto the caravan roof with a great thump.

‘Don’t try to move,’ Nikki shouted. ‘I’ll be right up with you.’

She ran to the garden shed, fetched the stepladder and propped it against the side of the van. Then she hastily climbed so she could see the van roof.

Her face was a foot away from the man’s face. It was quite an attractive face. Thin perhaps, but with unusually big green eyes. His mouth looked nice but at the moment was twisted with pain or shock. And his dark hair was longish.

‘I hope I haven’t damaged your roof,’ the man gasped politely. ‘I didn’t intend to fall on it.’

‘It’s a well-built caravan,’ Nikki replied equally politely. ‘I doubt whether you’ve harmed it much. But I’m more worried about you. Just lie there, don’t try to move. Did you bang your head or hurt your neck when you fell? I’m a nurse, by the way.’

‘I think I’m all right. I didn’t fall too far and I managed to relax. Your roof isn’t too hard either. I was winded, I’ll be bruised, but most of all I’m embarrassed. Now, if you climb down I’ll wriggle sideways and then come down your ladder.’ He kicked the broken branch off the roof.

‘I thought oak trees were supposed to be strong. This one wasn’t.’

Nikki decided to defend her tree. ‘It’s a very thin branch,’ she said, ‘and you did crawl out quite a way on it. Are you sure you can climb down?’

‘I think I’m fine. I just feel a fool.’

He inched towards her and she saw him wince.

‘You’re hurt. You look as if you might be badly bruised. When you get down I’ll have a look at you.’

The man smiled. ‘That’ll be nice. And I can see quite a lot of you already.’

Nikki looked down and blushed. Her dressing gown had come undone and was gaping open. As it was summer, her nightie was a bit skimpy – well, very skimpy really. He could see a lot of her. With one hand she managed to cover herself up.

‘A gentleman wouldn’t look,’ she said haughtily.

‘Since we were so close together, I had no choice. But you’d rather be told than not, wouldn’t you?’

This is a lunatic conversation, Nikki thought.

Carefully she climbed down the ladder, steadied it and called,

‘Come down now – but slowly.’

‘No problem.’

He slid sideways, over the edge of the van roof, his feet seeking the rungs. And two minutes later he was standing facing her. She looked at him thoughtfully.

Nikki had dealt with dozens of falls. She knew that he could be more badly injured than he realised. So many times she had seen what people had thought to be just a bruise turn out to have a broken bone underneath. And he could be suffering from shock. His face was paler than when she’d first seen him.

‘Come inside and sit down,’ she said. ‘I’ll make you a hot drink. I’m the district nurse. I’d just like to check you over a bit then we can decide if you need to go to A and E.’

‘You’re very kind. I don’t think a visit to A and E will be necessary, but I could use a hot drink.’

She frowned.

‘Do I know you? I thought I knew most people round about here.’

Then she remembered something he had said and looked at him suspiciously. ‘And what’s this about you seeing robins from your bedroom window? What bedroom?’

The man turned and pointed to the White House.

‘That bedroom. I’m living there temporarily. I’m Dr Tom Murray, I’m joining your practice. And you’re Nikki Gale, the practice district nurse. Joe Kenton said that you … that you …’

Suddenly his face was even paler than before, if possible and he started to sway. ‘Inside,’ said Nikki, putting an arm round his waist and dragging him with her. ‘You can faint there in comfort.’

But he didn’t faint. She got him inside, sitting on her banquette, opened a window next to him and made him a cup of the traditional sweet tea. A couple of minutes later she saw the colour creeping back into his cheeks.

‘Don’t try to talk,’ she said, ‘just sit there.’

He did try to object a bit later when she told him she was going to take his pulse and blood pressure. But then she said,

‘You’re a doctor. What would you do if I had fallen?’

‘You’re a persuasive woman, District Nurse Gale. I suppose you’re right.’

Both pulse and BP were within acceptable limits – though she thought just a bit high. Then she told him to take off his shirt and let her see his arm, chest and shoulder – the bits she knew he had fallen on.

He was going to be bruised and there was a nasty gash on his ribs where he had caught himself on the corner of one of her skylights. She bathed the cut, pulled it together with butterfly stitches. Then she felt his arms and shoulders, got him to stand and move everything. She could tell it hurt, but there didn’t seem to be any bones broken.

‘No serious damage,’ she said, ‘though you should take painkillers if it hurts too much.’

‘I’ll do that.’ He shrugged back into his shirt and she sat to watch him. He had a lean body, sinewy, no fat on him at all. It was almost as if he’d decided to slim far beyond what was necessary. Like a jockey, in fact, but he was too tall and well-built to be a jockey.

‘You’re a good patient,’ she said when he had his shirt back on. ‘Most doctors aren’t.’

‘I’ve learned always to do what nurses – and doctors – tell me. Makes for a quiet life. And now we’ve finished the medical bit, we can be formally introduced.’

He held out his hand. ‘I’m Dr Tom Murray, and, as I said, we’re going to be neighbours and we’re going to work together. I’m pleased to meet you, Nikki. I can tell you’re a real asset to the practice.’

She took his hand, feeling ridiculously pleased, and looked at him for the first time as a man, not as a trespasser or a patient.

He was casually dressed – old trainers without socks, khaki drill trousers, a disreputable shirt with the collar torn off, now stained with blood and lichen from the branch. She had noticed the long hair before, it gave a more cheerful effect to what could have been a severe face. It was a thin face – with lines around the eyes as if he frowned a lot. But there was that generous mouth and those gorgeous green eyes …

With a start she realised that she was still holding his hand. Quickly letting it go, she said, ‘Since we’re going to be neighbours, would you like to stay for breakfast?’

‘I’d be delighted. But …’ He indicated her dressing gown and slippers. ‘Haven’t I caught you unawares?’

‘Oh. Well, yes. Why don’t you go and sit on my patio if you feel up to it? It’ll only take me a minute to get dressed. Here, take the paper and read while you wait.’

Nikki slipped into her tiny bathroom for a quick wash, then went to her equally tiny bedroom. After vigorously brushing her hair, she found herself looking at a long dress. She knew she looked well in it and … not on a warm Saturday morning! She put on shorts and a T-shirt. But she did add a touch of lipstick. It wasn’t often that she had a guest for breakfast!

In the kitchen she put on coffee to percolate and made more toast. Then she placed things on a tray and took it out to where Tom was sitting, waiting for her. He stood as she came down the steps and took the tray from her. She liked that.

She poured the coffee and passed him the toast. It was very pleasant, sitting out here on her patio in early summer, with … well, say it, a good-looking man with her. It wasn’t usual.

‘I knew you were coming,’ she said, ‘but I was away on a course when you came up for interview and to look round. Why the big change? I gather you were a junior registrar in a big London hospital – specialising in orthopaedics, wasn’t it? There was a distinguished career in front of you.’

‘Possibly distinguished.’ He smiled. ‘But perhaps just ordinary.’

‘So why change? Why come to be a rural practice GP in the Yorkshire moors?’

‘Well, I did train to be a GP first, in London. Then I got interested in orthopaedics, was offered a good job and …’ He shrugged. ‘But then I changed my mind.’ He waved his hand around to point at the trees, the birds, the sky. ‘Look at all this. I’ve lived all my life in London. Nothing but work as far back as I can remember – you know, the usual fourteen-hour day. One day it struck me, I loved the countryside and yet I’d not been out of town for over nine months. So I gave up the job – for a year. For a year I’ll do something completely different. I know I’ll have to work here, and I want to. But I’m thirty-one. There’s so many things I haven’t done yet, and I’m going to do some of them.’

‘Like fall onto a caravan roof?’

‘Exactly. I had it on my list of things I must do, now I can happily cross it off.’

Nikki was enjoying herself. She liked this new colleague.

‘My mother says I’m nosy,’ she said, ‘I prefer to say that I’m naturally curious. How come you’re living in the White House? I should tell you, I envy you. I’ve wanted to live there since I was a little girl.’

He laughed. ‘You know I’m doing a year’s locum work because Anna Rix is taking maternity leave?’

‘Yes. She’s married to an American, Floyd Rix. They’ve gone back to America for a while.’

‘Well, she wanted the house to be used and so I’m leasing it for a year. It couldn’t have worked out better. Joe Kenton suggested it. You’ve been inside, haven’t you?’

‘Of course. Lots of times. And each time I find myself thinking that I’d have things a bit different from Anna. But it’s a wonderful house.’

‘It is. It’s the largest place I’ve ever lived in. I’ve tended to have just a tiny central flat and use it for nothing much but sleeping. Now I’m looking forward to learning to cook and perhaps even learning to garden. So, tell me how you come to be my neighbour.’

Nikki shrugged. ‘The house used to belong to Joe. He offered me this place to live when I came to be his practice nurse six years ago. We both thought it would be a temporary thing – but I never got round to moving. Then when Anna bought the house she was happy for me to stay – I help her with the garden sometimes. I like the place.’ She looked at Tom’s empty plate and mug. ‘More toast and coffee?’

‘Please. I’m really enjoying this, Nikki. You must come over and have a meal with me when I get myself properly settled.’

‘I’d like that … er … will you be … that is …’

He grinned. ‘You’re trying to find a tactful way of asking if I’m married. No, you won’t have a new lady neighbour. And there’s no fiancée or other woman waiting for me in the background. It’s a dreadful thing to say, but I’ve been so busy working that the relationships I’ve had tended to be … well … over fairly quickly. Now, since it’s let’s-be-frank time, tell me about yourself. A good-looking woman like you must have a man somewhere – if not two or three.’

She liked being told she was good-looking and smiled. ‘At the moment, I don’t have a man in my life. Perhaps I’m too busy as well.’

Then she hastily gathered crockery onto the tray and ran inside. May. . .