Rescued by Dr. Rafe (4 page)

She felt a little breathless. Almost free, as if that was something that she'd been waiting for a long time to say. Mimi dismissed the idea. There was nothing...nothing that she'd been waiting to say to Rafe.

The car suddenly pulled off the road, jerking to a halt. ‘You think this is all about my ego?'

‘Well, it's not about mine...' The atmosphere was zinging with hurt antagonism.

‘Not about you?' He turned around to face her and she saw her own anger reflected in his face. ‘We all need each other at the moment. If you can't deal with that then that's all about you.'

‘Stop trying to twist things around, Rafe...'

‘I am
not
twisting anything. And I didn't promise Charlie that I'd look after you because you're a woman,
or
because we used to sleep together.'

Mimi caught her breath. He'd said the words they'd both been trying not to say. The words that could lead to all kinds of trouble...
we used to sleep together
. After all the efforts she'd been making not to think about it.

‘That's all ancient history.'

His lip curled in disbelief, and suddenly he was very close. That scent of his, a little soap, a little sweat. She'd always loved the way that Rafe smelled, and it was just as intoxicating as it had always been.

‘We need to get one thing straight. It's fine with me if you just want to come along for the ride. I happen to think that would be a shame, because I was hoping that I could rely on you.'

‘What for?' The words almost stuck in her throat. Suddenly she couldn't think of one thing that Rafe would want to rely on her for.

‘You know these roads better than I do. You know the best way to get to where we need to go. And you have a lot of experience of working with people outside the hospital, which I don't have. I could really do with your help.'

‘I...I want to help.' Although they'd worked at the same hospital for over a year, Mimi had never worked with Rafe. She knew he was a fine doctor and had often wished she could have that opportunity.

‘Right then. So we're a team?'

‘Yes... That would be good.'

‘In that case, I get to look out for you. The same way that I hope you'll look out for me.'

Mimi swallowed hard. ‘You want
me
to look out for
you
?'

‘Why not?' His sudden grin burned into her soul like a red-hot brand. ‘It's expensive to train new doctors. You'd be doing the economy a favour.'

Right now, the economy was the last thing on her mind. She tried to drag her attention away from the curve of his lips.

‘Okay then—partners. I'll look after you and you can look after me.'

He held out his hand and she took it, almost in a dream. One of those bright, happy dreams that had so often been shattered when she woke and found that Rafe wasn't sleeping next to her.

‘Partners it is, then.'

Suddenly the dream cracked. Mimi had promised herself not to risk falling for another man and fantasising about Rafe, of all people, was plain crazy.

She let go of his hand, settling back into her seat. Five years ago she'd been foolish enough to believe that she meant something to him, and now... He'd be gone soon and he wouldn't look back.

Perhaps that was the advantage of having a heart that had once been broken. It was stronger now, and well defended. Rafe couldn't just walk back into her life and steal it.

* * *

The shining look on her face, the way her lips were parted slightly, had obliterated everything else. Mimi might be as tough as they came, but when she made love she was the softest, sweetest thing.

Don't do this. Don't even think about it.

He'd made one promise to Charlie, and another to himself. He wasn't going to break either of them. Rafe switched on the engine, jamming the car into first gear with more force than was strictly necessary, and started to drive.

CHAPTER FOUR

T
HEIR
FIRST
CALL
was to a man with cuts and bruises, from where a dry-stone wall had collapsed onto him. In better circumstances he might well have just turned up in A and E, but he'd called first and been passed on to the Disaster Control Team, who had told him to stay put and wait for someone to get to him.

With Rafe there, it was possible to treat him in situ. Not the best use of his skills, but it saved time and resources where they were needed the most. The kitchen table was turned into a temporary treatment area, and Eric's arm lay supported on a wad of dressing as Rafe carefully injected the local anaesthetic on either side of the wound.

‘You're the doctor's assistant?' Eric's wife came to sit next to Mimi at the other end of the long table.

‘No.' She flipped her gaze towards Rafe to check that he wasn't grinning and saw that his concentration was wholly on what he was doing. ‘I'm a paramedic. Only my ambulance got washed away in the river.'

‘Up by Holme? I heard about that on the local radio news; they're completely cut off now. No one hurt, I hope.'

‘No. Just got a bit wet.'

A baby started to cry in the other room and the woman hurried out, returning with her child in her arms. ‘We're sorry to bring you out all this way. Eric was going to go into A and E, but I was worried about him driving and I called first. They said they'd send a doctor to us.' Her tone was apologetic.

‘That's all right. We're trying to get as many people as possible treated at home because A and E is pretty stretched at the moment. It's a lot better this way, all round.'

‘Not for you. It looks as if it's going to be a filthy night again.' The woman turned the edges of her mouth down in sympathy, and Mimi smiled.

‘I'll be in bed, drinking cocoa and reading a book soon enough.' Mimi thought she saw a movement from Rafe out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned he was already looking away again.

‘Whatever you earn you deserve more...' Eric broke in, and his wife nodded.

‘I tell my boss that all the time.' Mimi grinned, picking up a soft toy from the table and waggling it in front of the baby. There wasn't much else for her to do. ‘What do you say to my making a cup of tea?'

‘Tea?' Rafe seemed to hear the magic word. ‘That would be nice, thanks.'

Mimi swallowed the temptation to tell him that the tea was intended for their patient. Picking the kettle up and finding it empty, she went to fill it up at the sink.

* * *

Rafe stood at the end of the path, surveying the small cottage for any signs of life, and Mimi knocked on the door again. No answer.

‘I don't suppose we've got the wrong address...?'

‘Nope. This is the right one.' Mimi bent down to shout through the letterbox. ‘Toby. Open the door.'

Obviously she'd been here before. Or maybe she knew the elderly man who lived here. They'd been summoned by a concerned neighbour, who had noticed that he was limping and had seen an infected sore on his leg.

‘Do you think he might not be able to get to the door?' Rafe suggested, wondering if they were going to have to break in.

‘Shouldn't think so. He's probably hiding out in the kitchen.' Mimi walked to the side of the cottage, squeezing through the narrow space between the wall and a waterlogged hedge, and Rafe followed, avoiding the branches that sprung back behind her.

She clambered over a low wall, walking past a small kitchen garden to the back door. He stopped and waited, reckoning that Mimi probably knew what she was doing. She pressed her face against the glass, rattling the handle.

‘Toby, open up.'

There was a short pause, and Mimi banged on the door again. Then it opened, to reveal an elderly man.

‘You might have said it was you...'

‘Can we come in, Toby?'

‘You'd better. You'll catch your death out there.'

Mimi entered and Rafe hung back from the door as Toby eyed him suspiciously.

‘This is Dr Chapman.'

‘Where's the other lad?'

‘Jack's up at the top of the hill, in Holme. He's a bit tied up at the moment.'

Toby nodded sagely and beckoned Rafe inside. A black and white collie was sleeping by the fire and raised its head to inspect the visitors, then rested it back onto its front paws. The little kitchen was old-fashioned, yet clean and neat as a new pin.

‘What can I do for you?' Toby sat down at the kitchen table, its polished surface dark and pitted from years of use.

‘Mrs March called us. She says you've got something wrong with your leg.' Mimi's tone was firm, but she was smiling.

‘It's nothing.' The old man's chin jutted in a show of defiance. His face was like the surface of the table, dark from years spent in the open air, with deep lines at the side of his eyes.

‘No, probably not. But the thing is, now I'm here I have to have a look at it. Those are the rules.'

‘And him?' Toby gestured in Rafe's direction.

Mimi looked around, a trace of the smile that she'd bestowed on Toby still lingering on her face. After the uneasy truce between them, which seemed to have started to crumble as soon as it was made, it was like a ray of sunshine. ‘Yeah, he's got to look at it as well.'

Toby sniffed. ‘One of you not good enough, then.'

Mimi directed a bright grin at Toby and the old man's face softened. ‘Come on, Toby. Give me a break, eh?'

Toby shrugged and Mimi knelt down in front of him, pulling a pair of gloves from her pocket and carefully rolling Toby's trouser leg up. Halfway up his calf, a large sore blazed red against the pallor of his skin.

‘Have you been wading in flood water?' Mimi voiced the first question which occurred to Rafe. Flood water frequently carried a high concentration of bacteria, and in the circumstances it was the most likely candidate for turning a small injury into an angry, obviously infected wound like this.

‘Mebbe...' Toby shrugged non-committally.

‘I'll take that as a yes. You've been with your grandson up at the farm, have you?'

‘The lad needed some help to get all the animals inside. The pasture's waterlogged.'

‘And when was this?'

‘Day before yesterday.'

‘Okay. This looks as if it hurts.' Mimi gave Toby no chance to reply, clearly suspecting that he wasn't about to admit it if it did. ‘I'd like the doctor to take a look at it, and he'll tell us what needs to be done.'

Toby raised one eyebrow, pursed his lips and regarded Rafe steadily. The effect was something like the assessing stare of his first tutor, back when he was a student. Rafe took his coat off, hanging it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs, and bent to examine the leg.

‘Yes, there's some infection there.' Rafe stated the obvious and tried not to notice that Mimi was rolling her eyes. ‘I'll get some antibiotics and we'll dress the wound...'

‘That's okay. I'll get them.' Mimi was on her feet already. ‘I'll pop in to see Mrs March on the way, and I need to make a phone call.'

‘Okay, thanks.' Rafe supposed that the visit next door and the phone call were going to be about making sure that Toby was looked in on every day. The wound would heal, but not if he didn't take care of it. She caught up her coat and breezed through to the front door, leaving Rafe and Toby staring at each other.

‘Nice girl. Reminds me of my Joan.' Toby broke the silence.

‘This is her?' Rafe craned over to look at the photograph on the sideboard, and Toby nodded. ‘She's beautiful.'

‘That she was. Right up until the day she died.' Toby's eyes lingered for a moment on the image. ‘Had a temper, like your girl.'

‘She's not my girl. We're just working together.'

Toby gave a short barked laugh. ‘My Joan and me, we used to argue like cat and dog, but we never let the sun go down on a quarrel. Five kids to show for it, and twelve grandkids.'

‘Sounds like good advice.' Rafe wondered what Toby would think of letting things simmer for five years.

‘It is. You and your girl...'

‘She's not my girl, Toby.'

‘Aye. Well, take your eyes off her when she's not looking, and look her in the face when she is, and then I might believe you.'

There was no answer to that. Not one that Rafe could think of anyway, and that allowed Toby to warm to his theme.

‘Sun's almost down. Puts you on borrowed time.'

Rafe had been congratulating himself that, whatever their private differences, neither he nor Mimi had allowed them to bleed into their work and they'd remained entirely professional in front of their patients. But it appeared that he'd been mistaken.

‘It's...complicated.' Rafe decided that denials weren't going to work this time. Toby might be elderly, but that was no reason to treat him as if he was stupid.

‘No, it's not. You find a girl you like and, if she likes you, you lead her up the hill to the church.' Toby folded his arms in a gesture of finality.

The front door slammed, saving Rafe from the difficult task of working out how to answer that. Mimi's footsteps sounded in the hall and Toby twisted around in his seat as she appeared in the kitchen doorway.

‘Right. I've spoken to Mrs March and she's given me your daughter's number.' She waved a piece of paper at Toby and put the dressings down on the table, avoiding Rafe's gaze when he went to thank her. He wondered if she watched him when he wasn't looking, and wished he'd thought to ask Toby.

‘Are you going to call her, or would you like me to do it?' Mimi gave Toby her most persuasive smile.

‘Since you've come all this way, best you do something.' Toby's retort was accompanied by a slight gleam in his eye.

‘Yeah, right. Because you wouldn't want me to be bored while the doctor sees to your leg.' Mimi grinned at him good-humouredly and pulled out her phone, turning her back on Rafe as she dialled the number.

He had been about to ask Mimi to assist him, but apparently he was going to have to juggle scissors, tape and a dressing pad on his own. That wasn't what worried Rafe. What worried him was the feeling that he and Mimi weren't so much working together as working in close proximity to each other.

He disinfected the wound and dressed it, then broke open the blister pack, taking the first of the antibiotic tablets out. ‘Take this one now. Then three times a day for the next week. It should start to feel better in a couple of days, but if it gets any worse call us again.'

‘Wasn't me as called you the first time.' Now that Toby was reassured about his leg, a mischievous sense of humour had begun to surface. Mimi remonstrated with him and, after another short battle of wills, it was time to pack up and go.

‘You know him?' Rafe asked as he settled back behind the wheel of the car.

‘Yeah. He broke his hip about three years ago, up at his grandson's farm, and Jack and I attended. I went to see how he was doing in hospital, and he had all the nurses wound around his little finger. When he got better, he turned up at the ambulance station with two bags of home-grown strawberries, one each for me and Jack.'

‘Nice.'

‘They were. They had a real flavour to them, not like the ones you get in the supermarket.' Even though they were alone in the car, Mimi's smile wasn't for him. It was for Toby and the strawberries, and maybe for Jack. She must be missing Jack.

Rafe reminded himself that he shouldn't need her smile in order to work effectively. Despite all their good intentions, he and Mimi just weren't functioning as a team and they needed to address that. Quickly, if Toby was to be believed, because the sun was going down. He leaned back in his seat, trying to think of some way to broach the subject casually.

‘So, marks out of ten. What would you give us?' Rafe accompanied the words with a smile, hoping that it would soften them. ‘I reckon ten out of ten for individual performances, and a lot less for teamwork.'

She coloured suddenly. ‘What do you mean?'

‘Well, how many marks out of ten do you give
me
for teamwork?'

Mimi shrugged. ‘Can't we leave the psych assessments until later?'

Something in her tone made Rafe press the point. ‘I'd say one. Two if I was being generous. How many marks do you give yourself?'

She turned her gaze on him, luminous in the gathering dusk. Her eyes, wide and dark, seemed almost to be pleading with him.

‘I...I probably don't deserve any more than one. But I can do better.' Her words were almost a whisper.

She looked so deflated, so hurt, that he instinctively reached out for her, stopping only a moment away from touching her hand. The problem was almost entirely of his making and he'd blundered in, trying to fix it. And somehow all he'd managed to do was to wound Mimi.

‘It's me that needs to do better, not you.' Mimi looked as if she was on the edge of tears and the impulse to comfort her was almost irresistible.

None of his old coping strategies were going to work. Rafe knew that he needed to try something new.

‘We need to talk.'

* * *

She was doing it again, judging herself, doing herself down, before Rafe got the chance. And now he wanted to talk? Somewhere in the universe, something very big must have jolted out of alignment because Rafe didn't talk.

Even though she'd cursed him a million times in her head for not sharing how he felt, now that he'd offered she didn't want to hear it. The thought that Rafe's list might be far more damning than anything which Graham might have concocted terrified her.

‘You want
me
...?' She couldn't even say it.

‘I'll give it a go if you will.' His voice was suddenly tender. ‘We're both so busy doing our own thing that... Well, neither of us has put a foot wrong with a patient yet, but that might be only a matter of time. I want to do better, and I'd like you to help me.'