The Australian's Proposal. Alison Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ chair beside Megan, who was anchored to the bed by Jack’s hand clasping both of hers.

      ‘Are you OK?’

      Megan nodded, a tremulous smile on her lips.

      ‘Dad came to see him,’ she whispered to Kate, ‘before they transferred him to Townsville for his bypass. He told Jack he’d better hurry and get better, because he was needed out at Cooper’s Crossing.’

      Megan’s smile improved as she added proudly, ‘That’s our place. Dad wants him there, but not right away. Dad and Charles have been talking. They think Jack and I should get agriculture training—they say we should spend a few years at university so we’re sure we know what we’re doing. Charles says there’s enough money to fund it and that there’s child care at university.’

      She paused and her smile, if possible, grew even more radiant.

      ‘University, Kate! Can you imagine? Then we’ll come home and with water we’ll make Cooper’s Crossing viable again. It’ll be as good as Wetherby, good enough to support two families—the Ransomes and the Coopers. Together.’

      As Megan’s expression suggested this was the most wonderful of ideas, Kate gave her a hug and told her how happy she was, hiding her own reservations about this happy-ever-after-ending until she’d left the ICU.

      Charles and Hamish were talking outside the ED and though she didn’t want to interrupt—and certainly didn’t want to get entangled with Hamish again, as colleague or kisser—she did want to know if Harry was proceeding with his enquiries.

      She hesitated, and Charles saw her and settled her indecision.

      ‘We were just talking about you,’ he called to her.

      ‘Surely I haven’t been here long enough to be in trouble,’ she said lightly, smiling at Charles.

      ‘Far from it,’ Charles assured her. ‘No, we were talking about Jack. Harry really needs to see him and, for Jack’s sake, the sooner the mess with his mates Todd and Digger is sorted out, the better. Emily says, providing there’s no setback, we can move him out of ICU tomorrow, and once he’s on a ward it will be hard to keep Harry away from him.’

      ‘You’ll stay with him when Harry interviews him?’ Kate asked anxiously.

      Charles looked at a point somewhere over her head.

      ‘That’s actually why we were talking about you. I know you were employed to work the ED here, but I wondered if you’d mind working the men’s ward for the next few days. I don’t want to seem as if I’m standing guard over the lad, it will make him look bad, but I’d like to think he has someone he knows and trusts hovering around. I’ll tell Harry he’s still sufficiently ill that I want a nurse with him while he’s interviewed. Would you do it?’

      ‘Of course,’ Kate said. ‘Do I see Jill? She’ll need to change someone else’s shift as well as mine.’

      ‘I’ll fix it up with Jill. What were you working tomorrow?’

      ‘Early shift,’ Kate told him. ‘Six to three.’

      Charles smiled at her.

      ‘Well, isn’t this your lucky day? We’ll transfer Jack in the morning, and he’ll need to rest after the move, so I won’t let Harry near him until the afternoon. If you could do the afternoon shift, midday to nine, that should cover the time Harry’s likely to be there, and if you’re already on the ward, it won’t look as if we’ve brought in someone especially to be with Jack.’

      Kate smiled at Charles’s obvious satisfaction with this plan. In fact, it pleased her as well. She’d have the morning free to explore the town and, once she’d found out how shopping and cooking rosters worked in the house, maybe shop as well.

      She nodded to the two men and walked away, her thoughts veering between Hamish, who’d been silent throughout her talk to Charles, and Jack—was he well enough for Harry to question him?

      ‘Are you happy taking on the role of protector?’ Hamish fell in beside her. ‘Do you feel you’d be able to stop Harry’s questioning if you felt it necessary?’

      Kate stopped and turned towards him.

      ‘Medical question?’ she asked, feeling warmth within, although he wasn’t touching her.

      ‘Medical question,’ he confirmed, though the look in his eyes suggested he was feeling things not entirely medical.

      ‘You bet your life I’d stop the questioning if I felt it was affecting his recovery in any way.’

      ‘Mama bear protecting her cub?’ Hamish teased, and Kate had to agree.

      ‘I’m probably the very worst person to have there, because I do feel over-protective about Jack, but the slightest sign he might be tiring and Harry will be out of there.’

      Hamish smiled at her.

      ‘Word gets around the hospital quickly. When I hear Harry’s arrived I might drop by, in case you need moral support.’

      ‘And you’re not over-protective?’

      Hamish shrugged in a way that suggested agreement, leaving Kate to wonder if it was Jack or her that Hamish was protecting.

      They walked out into the scented garden that drew Kate like a magnet, together only as colleagues, she was sure.

      Its potent spell filled her head with pleasure, so worries over Kissing Hamish and Colleague Hamish were banished to the far reaches of her brain, and even her concern for Jack lost its hard, knobbly edges of doubt and dread.

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