Her Boss and Protector. Joanna Neil

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СКАЧАТЬ hurried away, and Jade decided that maybe the best way for her to prepare for the incoming patient would be to find out where everything was kept, so that she could lay her hands on whatever it was that she might need. She went and collared a nurse who was fetching supplies, and showered her with questions.

      ‘Blood and lab forms are in boxes behind the reception desk,’ the girl said. ‘Medications are next to the A and E makeshift laboratory, and other supplies are in the room opposite the doctors’ lounge. If you need anything else, ask Dr Franklin, the registrar, or James in Reception.’ The nurse hurried away, leaving Jade floundering.

      ‘But surely, I need a key for the drugs cupboard?’ she called after her, but she was too late. The nurse had disappeared round a corner.

      ‘Is there a problem here?’

      Jade froze at the sound of that voice. It couldn’t be, could it? A prickle of tension ran along her spine. There was no getting away from it…the deep, gravelled tones were somehow disturbingly familiar. Turning around slowly, she looked up at the owner of the voice and immediately felt as though the stuffing had been knocked out of her.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ The words were dredged up from inside her, shock draining the blood from her face as she took in the sight of Callum Beresford’s long, lean frame.

      ‘I could ask you the same question.’ His glance moved over her, taking in the white doctor’s jacket that she wore over smoothly fitting black trousers and cotton top. He looked as though he was almost as stunned as she was.

      She lifted her chin. ‘I work here, as of today. I’m the new senior house officer—Dr Holbrook.’

      He shook his head. ‘No, surely not? That can’t be…Fate wouldn’t be so unkind, would it? I was expecting someone sensible and efficient, someone who would be in control of the situation…a doctor that I could rely on to be on top form.’

      Her shoulders stiffened. ‘What makes you think that I’m not all of those things?’

      His mouth made a wry slant. ‘We’ve met before, remember? I imagine you have a fulltime job looking after those two wayward children. I would have thought that they would be more than enough to keep you occupied and at home.’ He laid a slight emphasis on that last word.

      She lifted a brow. ‘Are you seriously suggesting that a woman’s place is in the home, by the kitchen sink, surrounded by young children?’ She frowned and shook her head. ‘If so, I have to tell you that isn’t always the case these days.’

      He studied her broodingly. ‘Yes, I realise that. In some instances it seems that’s an unfortunate fact.’

      She stared at him, about to make a pithy comment in reply, but then a siren sounded in the distance, and she said, ‘I have a patient coming in, and I need to get ready for him. Do you know where I can get a key to the drugs cupboard?’

      ‘I’ll sort one out for you, just as soon as we’ve checked your details. I’ve been busy transferring patients to Theatre or I would have dealt with this earlier.’ He made a brief grimace. ‘You had better come with me.’

      ‘My patient?’ she queried. ‘I was supposed to be looking after a heart-attack patient.’

      ‘I’ll get Dr Franklin to supervise that one.’

      He turned away and she hurried after him. ‘It’s all very well you giving me orders,’ she said on a terse note. ‘I don’t even know who you are—or what your position is here.’

      ‘I’m the acting consultant while Mr Ramsay is away. I was brought in to take over from him.’

      She winced. She might have known. He certainly looked the part. He was wearing another immaculate grey suit, which sat well on his tall, firmly muscled frame, and he appeared to be every inch the consultant, an authoritative, confident man, totally in command. Her spirits sank.

      He stared at her. ‘If what you say is correct, I’m afraid it looks very much as though you and I are going to be working together for some time. Perhaps we had both better get used to the idea.’

      He wasn’t taking any chances, though. It was only after he had verified that she really was supposed to be there that he reluctantly allowed her to go and start work. As she moved away from him and went in search of her patient, she felt his gaze searing into her back and she had the feeling that he was going to be watching her like a hawk.

      She tried to put him out of her mind and hurried to meet the ambulance crew as they wheeled in a little boy on a trolley.

      ‘This is Dean Matthews,’ the paramedic said, bringing the trolley to a halt in a side bay. ‘He’s four years old, suspected poisoning from beta-blockers—propranolol. Apparently he took some pills out of his grandmother’s bag. We have the bottle, and it’s almost empty.’

      Jade was worried. The child looked very ill, and she knew that a propranolol overdose could be fatal. ‘Do we know how many he took?’

      The paramedic shook his head. ‘No, but there should have been a fair few in the bottle, and the family think he must have taken them well over an hour ago. His heart rate has fallen dramatically and he’s hypotensive. We’ve been monitoring his cardiac output on the way here.’

      ‘It doesn’t look good, does it?’ Jade said in an undertone. She signalled for a nurse to come and help. ‘I’m going to get him on activated charcoal right away.’ She worked quickly, hoping that the charcoal would help to remove any of the drug that hadn’t already been absorbed into his bloodstream. The boy was being given oxygen through a mask, and her main concern was that the drug had reduced the activity of his heart to an extent where it could damage his organ systems. Her priority was to restore perfusion to those systems.

      ‘Thanks,’ she told the young paramedic, who had hung around to await results. She could see that he was worried. ‘We’ll take over from here. Do you want me to let you know how he gets on?’

      He nodded. ‘Please. I’ve another call coming in, but I would like to know what happens here.’

      ‘Of course. I’ll update you when you come in again.’

      ‘Thank you. I’m Sam, by the way.’

      ‘OK, Sam.’ She acknowledged him briefly, and with that he went away. With the nurse’s help, Jade wheeled the child into an available treatment room and made sure that he was hooked up to the monitors. Just as they settled him, though, the little boy started to convulse, and a few seconds later he lost consciousness.

      ‘I’m not getting a pulse,’ Jade said anxiously. ‘He’s gone into cardiac arrest.’ She worked as fast as she was able to put in an endotracheal airway, and then started chest compressions with the palm of her hand, while the nurse took over with the oxygen.

      Jade was desperately afraid that her efforts were to no avail, but after a while the nurse glanced at the monitor and said, ‘He’s back with us.’

      Jade was relieved, but she was still feeling apprehensive. The child’s cardiac output was thready, and she swiftly established an intravenous line and gave the child atropine.

      It didn’t appear to be having much effect. ‘Helen,’ she said, “we’ll start him on the charcoal. You’ll need to watch him СКАЧАТЬ