Resisting the New Doc In Town Read online

  As she dragged in a breath and stood up straight, squaring her shoulders and preparing her mind for the busy task ahead, Bergan was determined that although her new colleague may have cause havoc with her equilibrium, she would force herself to be immune to him. She was a strong, independent woman who had worked hard for many years to gain control over her silly, schoolgirl emotions.

  Yes, she would be immune to him, she thought as she pushed away the emotions he’d evoked. And that was most definitely that.

  CHAPTER TWO

  IN A AND E, BERGAN remained the focused and consummate professional that she’d worked so hard to become. It certainly wasn’t every day that a man could enter her well-ordered, neat and controlled world and make her knees weaken with a single smile, and for that reason alone she knew she needed to keep her distance from Richard Allington.

  The fact that she was friends with his parents, and that for the next four weeks he would be her neighbour as well as working alongside her at the hospital, meant that it was going to be difficult to maintain her composure, but she’d lived through much tougher situations than this and she’d always come out on top.

  It’s only four weeks, she’d thought over and over again, every time she’d caught a glimpse of him roaming around her A and E, tending to patients, chatting with staff, flirting with every available female. He was just the same as every other man, interested in only one thing—conquering and controlling a woman. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to fall for his charm and charisma.

  Having been raised in foster homes since she’d been small, her parents both drug addicts, Bergan had grown up with a skin much tougher than that of the average little girl. Bad things had happened to her and she’d forged her own way through them, coming out stronger and more determined than ever. Now, after many years of hard work, she was the director of a busy A and E department, running it effectively and efficiently, respected by her colleagues and peers. Four weeks wasn’t long. She could and would survive the onslaught to her life that was Richard Allington.

  Squaring her shoulders, she headed to the nurses’ station, where he was leaning comfortably against the desk, chatting with Katrina, one of the best retrieval and triage nurses Bergan had ever worked with. ‘All done?’ Bergan asked, barely glancing in his direction as she sat down to write up a set of case notes.

  ‘Basically.’ There was a hint of relief combined with satisfaction in Richard’s voice. ‘Just waiting for two patients to return from Radiology, but the most serious cases are off and away to Theatres.’

  ‘Off and away?’ Bergan looked up at him, unable to stop the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. ‘You do realise you said those words with a hint of an Irish accent?’ she pointed out.

  ‘No, I didn’t.’ Richard shifted from the desk and shoved one hand into the pocket of his trousers. ‘Did I?’

  ‘You did,’ Katrina confirmed for him, smiling brightly at the handsome doctor. ‘Have you worked in Ireland?’

  ‘A few months ago, yes, but I hadn’t realised I’d picked up any of the accent.’ He shrugged one shoulder, his smile brightening. ‘One problem I have had during this fellowship has been to control my French—and I mean that literally. Having lived and worked in France for the past six years, for the first few months of the fellowship, when I was in emergency situations, as we were just now, I’d often break into rapid French when giving instructions to staff. It was only when they all stopped and stared at me as though I’d grown an extra head that I even realised I’d done it.’ He chuckled and Katrina joined in.

  Bergan’s smile increased as she pictured the stunned looks on people’s faces at an Australian doctor, working in somewhere like Spain, giving out instructions in French. Then, as though realising she was enjoying his company, she quickly frowned and returned her attention to the case notes open in front of her.

  ‘What led you to settle in France in the first place?’ It was Katrina who had asked the question, but Bergan was very interested in the answer. Although she’d known Richard’s parents for quite a few years now, it wasn’t as though they all sat around listening to Helen’s anecdotes about her children’s accomplishments. And at any rate Bergan preferred not to engage in deeply personal conversations with people, except for her three closest friends, who had definitely proved themselves worthy of her friendship over the many years they’d been together.

  Would Richard prove himself worthy? The question jumped into her head unbidden and she quickly shook it away. Her friendships with Sunainah and Reggie had been forged well over a decade ago and Mackenzie was the closest thing she had to a sibling, as they had both been raised in the foster system. Richard was here for one month and she doubted if that was long enough for any man, no matter how ambitious, to break through the barriers she’d spent almost a lifetime putting carefully in place.

  Even though she was writing in the case notes, Bergan couldn’t help but listen to his reply to Katrina’s question.

  ‘It was one of those strange things that happened. I was working in the UK, my contract about to expire, and a friend who worked at the public hospital in Paris told me of a job going there. Well, I spoke the language so I thought—why not?’ He shrugged nonchalantly and yet… Bergan could have sworn she heard something in his tone that suggested there was much more to the story than he was telling.

  She glanced up at him, quickly noting that his previously jovial blue eyes now reflected a hint of sadness.

  ‘And one year morphed into two years then three, and before I knew it I’d been working at the hospital for six years.’

  ‘And then you were offered the fellowship?’ Katrina asked.

  ‘That’s right. My first two years in Paris…I actually worked part time and did some further study, which meant I was qualified for the fellowship.’

  There it was again, Bergan thought. That little pause in his words, as though he was choosing them carefully. Was he avoiding saying something too personal? Perhaps the cheeky, arrogant man she’d met earlier that morning wasn’t all there was to Richard Allington.

  ‘Well,’ he said a moment later, drawing in a long breath and slowly exhaling, ‘I don’t know about you, but three hours of dealing with emergencies has left me with an appetite. Care to join me?’

  Bergan kept writing up the notes, thinking he was talking to Katrina, but it wasn’t until the nurse cleared her throat that Bergan looked at her. Katrina nodded pointedly in Richard’s direction and it was only then Bergan realised he’d been talking to her. ‘Oh!’ She stared at him for a moment, his words sinking in. ‘You’re asking me to join you for a late lunch?’

  Richard watched her closely for several seconds before replying. ‘I’m asking if you wouldn’t mind accompanying me to the hospital cafeteria so we can continue our debriefing.’ He spread his hands wide. ‘I’m hungry. You’ve got to be hungry, too, and it just seems to make sense if we eat and get some work accomplished at the same time.’

  ‘Go, Bergan,’ Katrina encouraged. ‘I can follow up with the patients who are in Radiology if they come back before you return.’

  Bergan looked at the clock and then, as if on cue, felt her stomach grumble. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Richard, wondering if he’d heard that. His answer was to wink at her again and the same flood of tingles spread through her at the action. At least this time she was sitting down. Why did he have to be so…personable?

  She shook her head and forced herself to look back at the case notes before her. Knowing it would probably raise more questions if she declined his polite offer, and as she was clearly hungry, it seemed easier to accept, but still, something held her back from saying so. Probably her strong self-preservation instinct. Already, in just a few short hours, he’d somehow managed to get under her skin and she didn’t like it one little bit.

  ‘Is that a no?’ he asked, as she signed the case notes and handed them to Katrina, who instantly took them from her, mumbled an excuse of some sort and left them alone.
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br />   ‘What?’

  ‘You shook your head. Does that mean you don’t want us to eat together?’

  ‘I don’t really have anything else to debrief you on. There are just a few more forms to sign, but…’

  Richard shifted his stance and gave her a look of veiled amusement, as though he could easily read her thoughts and knew she didn’t want to spend time with him. ‘Well, I’m not up to date with mine. I have several forms that require your signature.’ He held out a hand towards her, but Bergan ignored it, rising to her feet and pushing in the chair. ‘It’s business, Bergan. Two colleagues walking together, eating together. Nothing more sinister than that, I promise.’

  Bergan sighed heavily, knowing if she kept refusing him he might end up making a mountain out of a molehill. After all, he was an international fellow, and for Sunshine General to host such an accomplished doctor as Richard Allington had been quite a coup. ‘Fine,’ she said, rolling her eyes. The action, designed to show her impatience and to let him know once and for all that she wasn’t happy with this arrangement, brought an unexpected chuckle from him.

  ‘Thank you. You do me a great honour.’

  She ignored the way his light laughter washed over her, ignored the delighted prickling down her spine, which heightened her awareness of him. ‘You’re teasing me,’ she murmured as she headed out of A and E, catching Katrina’s gaze and mouthing the word ‘Lunch’.

  He chuckled again as they entered the stairwell, the rich, deep sound echoing around the walls. Bergan tried not to like the way his laughter made her feel. It had been a long time since any man had dared to tease her. Most of the men she knew were colleagues and although her friend Reggie had done her best to set Bergan up on a few dates, none of the men had interested her.

  ‘Moi?’ Richard feigned ignorance. ‘Tease? Je ne sais pas ce que vous dites.’

  Bergan was glad she was a few steps in front of him so he didn’t see the small smile on her lips. ‘Teasing and rude. Speaking in a language a simple girl like me would have absolutely no hope of understanding. Tut-tut, Dr Allington.’ She glanced at him over her shoulder as they rounded the landing, heading up another flight. ‘This is not a good beginning for you.’

  ‘And yet,’ Richard said as he came up beside her, easily overtaking her in order to hold the door open, ‘why do I get the distinct impression you understood every word I said?’ He gave her a quizzical smile as she came up the final few steps. ‘Do you speak French?’

  ‘As I said, a simple girl.’

  Richard gave a hoot of laughter and Bergan had to close her eyes for a split second in order to block out the delightful sound. She’d made him laugh. She’d actually teased him back, had said something that had made him laugh. That wasn’t something she did every day. She much preferred to keep her distance from her male colleagues and as she walked past him Bergan met his gaze, holding it briefly and doing her best to ignore the way his spicy scent penetrated her senses. She had to admit she was mildly surprised with the way Richard didn’t appear to be kow-towing to her like so many other men did and while she found that refreshing, it also made him even more dangerous.

  Impersonal. Businesslike. Professional. That was the only way to handle a man like him.

  ‘This way to the cafeteria,’ she said, pointing down the long corridor. Before Richard could say another word she headed off, knowing he would fall into step beside her within an instant. She also hoped he’d drop the whole teasing demeanour so they could get their work done, eat some food and then get back to A and E, where she could be sufficiently distracted by work, not by Richard’s close proximity.

  ‘So…did you enjoy the Moon Lantern festival last night?’ he asked.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘What do you mean? I’m making conversation.’

  ‘Here?’ Bergan frowned as she glanced up at him. ‘Didn’t I say that I don’t like discussing my personal life at work?’ She turned her attention from him and nodded politely at another colleague, who was walking in the opposite direction.

  ‘No one can hear our conversation, Bergan.’ He kept his voice low, leaning a little closer to her as he spoke, and she immediately moved away, trying desperately to keep a decent distance between them.

  ‘Yet when you lean in like that and speak in that stage whisper, they’ll get the wrong idea.’

  ‘I disagree. Anyone seeing two doctors talking in such a fashion will no doubt think we’re discussing a patient.’

  ‘Which should be done in the privacy of an office.’

  ‘We’re busy people. Sometimes we don’t have time to sit and discuss things in an office. We need to talk and chat and eat and process information along with digesting our food. It’s the way doctors are.’

  Bergan sighed loudly. ‘Is there a point to all of this, or shouldn’t I ask?’

  ‘All I’m saying is that no one’s going to know what we’re discussing so if I want to discuss the Moon Lantern festival and the way our eyes seemed to meet across a crowded…er…crowd, then why can’t I?’

  Bergan stopped momentarily and looked at him with feigned astonishment. ‘Oh, gee! Was that you? I hadn’t realised.’ She raised an eyebrow then continued towards the cafeteria.

  ‘And now you’re teasing me!’

  Bergan couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. ‘Je ne sais pas ce que vous dires.’

  Richard’s warm laughter floated over her, but this time it was more than just his deep chuckle. The sound warmed her through and through, but thankfully it was drowned out as they entered the busy and noisy cafeteria. ‘Touché, mademoiselle.’

  ‘And our eyes didn’t “meet across the crowded…er…crowd”,’ she repeated, emphasising the way he’d used the same word twice. ‘You make it sound all clandestine and romantic—which it most definitely wasn’t.’

  ‘What was it, then?’

  ‘We were just in each other’s line of sight. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.’

  She joined the queue, waiting to be served, acutely aware of Richard standing very close behind her. Bergan couldn’t believe how aware she was of him and as she licked her dry lips and tried to appear nonchalant and completely unaffected by the man directly behind her, a woman with short, black, feathered hair, tipped with hot pink highlights, sidled up next to her.

  ‘And just who is this dishy, dishy man behind you?’ Regina Smith asked, placing one hand around Bergan’s shoulders and pointing interestedly towards Richard. ‘Is this…him?’

  Bergan sighed and shook her head in bemused astonishment at Reggie’s complete lack of inhibition, but then, that was Reggie. ‘Reggie Smith, meet Richard Allington.’

  ‘Helen’s boy?’

  Bergan smothered a smile at the ‘boy’ part, but nodded as Reggie dropped her arm and shifted closer to Richard, holding out her hand in greeting. ‘Enchantée.’

  Richard dutifully grazed his lips across Reggie’s knuckles before releasing her hand. Even though it was only a simple action, even though he was only being polite and even though this was hardly unusual behaviour for Reggie, the happiest and bubbliest person Bergan had ever known, she couldn’t ignore the thread of jealousy that ripped through her. It was odd, especially as she barely knew anything about Richard, and didn’t really want to.

  How was it this man, who had been in her world for such a short period of time, had somehow managed to get under her skin? Bergan advanced in the queue as Reggie chatted away, telling Richard all about the latest developments in the general surgical department.

  She was positive Richard was smiling brightly and staring at Reggie with his deep, engaging eyes. She couldn’t blame him because most men were instantly besotted by Reggie and her bubbly personality, but when it was their turn to be served at the counter, Bergan was surprised to find Richard highly attentive and insisting on paying for both Reggie’s lunch and her own.

  ‘You are such a sweetie,’ Reggie said, blowing him a kiss. ‘But you know this means that bo
th of you simply must eat lunch with me and I won’t take no for an answer.’ Reggie pointed to the corridor. ‘We’ll go down the first lot of stairs and then out into the small courtyard. It’s such a beautiful, sunshiny day, it seems such a shame to waste it.’

  ‘Every day’s a beautiful day in Queensland,’ Bergan grumbled, but neither of them took any notice.

  Richard readily agreed. ‘It is rather noisy in here. Bergan and I won’t be able to get any work done.’

  ‘Work! Good heavens,’ Reggie persisted, shaking a finger at Bergan. Bergan merely shrugged, trying to find a way to wriggle out of this situation. ‘Take a break for once, Bergan.’

  ‘Listen to your friend,’ Richard said to Bergan pointedly, falling into step beside her once more as they headed to the closest stairwell.

  Bergan hadn’t wanted to eat lunch with Richard in the first place and now he had Reggie as a playmate, so perhaps he wouldn’t insist she stay. At the thought of Reggie and Richard locked together in a whispered conversation, an awful taste came into the back of her throat. Why should she care if Reggie wanted to get to know Richard better—or vice versa, for that matter? True, Richard was only here for a month, but if Reggie didn’t mind getting involved with a man who would up and leave her when it was time for him to return to Paris, then so be it. She didn’t care. Honestly, she didn’t. So why did the thought leave such an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of her stomach?

  Bergan didn’t say a word until they were outside, the early afternoon sunlight shining brightly into her eyes. She followed Reggie to the courtyard, where one or two people were just finishing their lunches before departing. They sat at the picnic table, Bergan ensuring she didn’t end up sitting next to Richard. At least, with the table between them, it afforded her a bit of distance.

  Reggie sat next to Richard, keeping up a steady stream of easy chatter for the first five minutes before her phone rang. Reggie quickly excused herself and took the call. ‘Uh…duty calls,’ she said, rewrapping her sandwich and shifting out of the bench seat. ‘Looks as though my afternoon surgical list is going to start on time after all. Morning Theatre was running late,’ she stated by way of explanation. ‘You two stay here and enjoy the sunshine. Bye-ee.’