The Consultant's Surprise Child

  THE CONSULTANT'S SURPRISE CHILD

  Joanna Neil

  Her boss’s secret son!

  Dr. Allison Matthews hasn’t seen Taylor Briscoe since their one tender night together five years ago. Knowing her heart was in danger she left, believing this bachelor doctor would never settle down. But now she discovers that Taylor is the new consultant -and her new boss!

  Taylor has always thought of Allison as a woman he could have fallen in love with - if only she’d stayed long enough to let him. Now it all seems too late - she’s moved on and had a child of her own. Except he doesn’t realize that he is the father of their son….

  CHAPTER ONE

  'Are you sure that you don't mind doing this for me, Rhea?' Allison was busy gathering together her medical pack as she spoke, but her green eyes were troubled as she looked at her friend. 'I hate to impose on you like this at such short notice.'

  'That's OK. Don't worry about it. Even though it's your day off, you can hardly ignore a callout to a major accident, can you? I just hope that you'll be able to help those poor people in some way. I told you I'd help out at any time.' Rhea shook her head, making her chestnut curls dance. 'Anyway, it's no problem. I was planning on taking Poppy out for a visit to Rembrandt Gardens at Little Venice this afternoon—it's a beautiful spring day, and I'm sure Connor would love to come along there with us.' She looked fondly at the children, whose ears had pricked up at the sound of their names. 'We could take a picnic with us,' she suggested. 'Would you like that?'

  Five-year-old Poppy clapped her hands together, performing an excited little jig. 'A picnic? Oh, yes...yes. I'd love it.'

  Connor was a touch more reserved in his judgement. He stopped playing with his toy soldiers and began to roll them lightly between his fingers as he mulled over the prospect.

  'Would we have ice cream and pop?' he wanted to know. 'And biscuits? Those little ones with jam and smiley faces—I like those.' He looked at Rhea with wide grey eyes, his mouth puckered in expectation. Clearly, her answer was going to make all the difference.

  Rhea nodded. 'Oh, yes, I expect we can manage that,' she murmured, and was rewarded with a cheerful grin.

  She glanced at Allison, saying with a smile, 'We'll probably take a walk along the canal towpath later on and look at the boats.'

  'Thanks, Rhea.' Allison relaxed a little and paused, looking around to see if anything else needed to go in her bag. 'I'll feel better, knowing that Connor is safe with you. I'm not sure how long I'll be out, but it may be a few hours.'

  'That's all right.' Rhea's expression sobered. 'It must be awful, what's happened in the City. You just never imagine these things can come about, do you? Didn't you say it was an event at a gallery—a special exhibition of artwork?'

  'That's right. Apparently the ceiling and part of the mezzanine floor came down. They don't know how many people have been injured.'

  Rhea grimaced. 'Do you think Taylor will be there—attending the accident, I mean? I should imagine they would have called in as many doctors as are available.'

  Allison frowned. 'I don't know.' It was something that had been worrying her. 'I'm not even sure whether or not he's arrived in London yet, or if the changeover will come about at all. This new post of consultant only came up unexpectedly when my boss decided at the last minute to take up the offer of a sabbatical in the States. I know Administration wanted Taylor but, from what I heard, he was undecided about the job. Anyway, whatever the outcome, he wasn't expected to start work for another week. I suppose there must be a lot of loose ends to be tied up at his old hospital.' She pushed a wayward strand of her long fair hair behind her ear. 'I still can't get used to the idea that he might actually turn up.'

  Rhea made a sympathetic sound. 'It will be difficult for you, won't it, seeing him again after all this time? I don't suppose he has any idea that you're working at King's Bridge Hospital?'

  Allison shook her head. 'There's no way he would know that. I haven't seen him or heard from him in five years.'

  Rhea's gaze shifted, to follow four-year-old Connor, who at that moment took it into his head to chase after Poppy, heading out through the kitchen door and into the garden.

  'Give me my soldier back,' he shouted.

  'Shan't.'

  Allison went into the garden to investigate. The little girl was waving the toy aloft, baiting Connor.

  'You poked me with it and I'm going to throw it away.'

  Connor glared at her. 'Didn't. It was a accident. You pushed me.'

  'Here we go,' Rhea said with a wry smile, coming to join Allison. 'It looks as though the fun and games have started already. I'd better go and sort things out.'

  Allison's brow furrowed. She walked over to her son and said in a quiet voice, 'Connor, I have to go to work now. You should make friends with Poppy, and be good for Rhea.' She waited, watching him stop in his tracks and turn to face her. 'Come and say goodbye.' She held out her arms to him and after a moment's hesitation he came and gave her a hug and a kiss.

  'I will, but she started it.' He looked up at Allison, his expression earnest. 'I want my soldier back.'

  'Then you must ask Rhea to deal with it, instead of getting into a fight over your toys.'

  Connor looked doubtful about that, his jaw firmly set, his shoulders going back, as though he was unwilling to pass up on his responsibilities, and Allison's heart gave a squeeze. He looked so much like his father at that moment, forthright, in control of himself, ready to deal with anything.

  Connor looked at the medical bag she was holding and said, 'You going now? You going to help the poorly people?'

  'That's right.'

  He wound his arms around her as far as he could reach. 'Bye, Mummy.' His smile was angelic, as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, and Allison lightly ruffled his dark silky hair, her whole being filled with love for her troublesome offspring.

  'Bye, sweetheart.'

  She gave Poppy a cuddle and said goodbye to Rhea, hurrying out of the house a few moments later, the children's renewed shouts echoing in her ears. The tube station was just a short walk away, and she made the journey to the centre of London in quick time.

  She wasn't sure what to expect when she arrived at the gallery. There were emergency vehicles parked all around, and police had cordoned off the area, keeping worried onlookers back behind taped lines. Allison showed her medical badge and an officer escorted her inside the building.

  'They're working as fast as they can to get to some people who are trapped under the rubble,' he explained, 'and there are parts of the building that are still not safe, so you'll need to follow the directions of the officer in charge.'

  'I will. How did it happen, do you know?' she asked.

  He shook his head. 'It's not clear at the moment, but we do know that some renovations were carried out recently, and the thinking is that they might have had something to do with the collapse. It appears that, over the years, several alterations have been made to the fabric of the building, but we don't know yet whether any of them could have affected the load-bearing structures. At any rate, it's bad. A lot of the stuff that came down is heavy, and there are a number of casualties.'

  It certainly looked horrendous, and there was noise all around, groans and cries for help, mixed with the tense voices of the people who were trying to get to those who were hurt. Allison could see piles of rubble, made up of wood, steel and plaster, along with lumps of concrete, lodged at precarious angles. Everything was covered in a layer of dust, and even the air was clogged with it. Firemen were working to remove some of the wreckage, moving carefully so as not to cause more damage to the people who were trapped underneath.

  Allison covered her nose and mouth
with her hand so she didn't breathe in the choking dust and spoke to the man who was co-ordinating operations.

  'We've managed to get some of the injured people out of the way of immediate danger,' he told her, 'and we've taken them to one side so that they can be treated initially.' He gestured towards a pillared archway, where things looked relatively safe. 'Dr Melbourne—James—is doing triage, and he'll tell you where you're needed.'

  Allison hurried over there and spent the next hour going from one patient to another, giving oxygen and pain medication, stemming wounds and splinting fractures. At one point she straightened up from a kneeling position and stretched, easing the knotted muscles of her back, and took a look around.

  Over at the far side of the gallery a mountain of debris was still in place and the fire crew had brought in lifting gear to try to move it. A man, wearing a jacket that marked him out as a doctor, was working his way over the rubble, moving carefully upwards, probing among the timbers and stopping from time to time in order to listen for any sound that might be coming from inside the mound.

  Watching him, Allison's eyes widened and her heart began to thud heavily. Wasn't that someone she knew? Her breath caught in her throat. How could she mistake that tall figure?

  It had been several long years since she had last seen him, but there was no mistaking that assured stance, or that measured way he had of looking at things. He was a man who would always stand out in a crowd. He was the one you would go to instinctively when you were in trouble, when you needed someone who could take charge.

  Her mouth was suddenly dry. At the back of her mind she had convinced herself that this day would not come, and that she would never see him again. She had been so sure that Taylor would change his mind about the new job, or that something would crop up to keep him in Hampshire—an enticing promotion, maybe, or at any rate an offer he couldn't refuse. Why would he abandon everything he had worked for to come and take over an A and E department just for a year?

  The triage doctor called out, 'I need some help over here— a cardiac arrest.'

  Allison hurried over to him and started compressions on the patient's chest while James charged the defibrillator. They worked together until the man's heart was shocked into a normal rhythm once more, and then Allison moved to one side while the paramedics carried the patient away to a waiting ambulance.

  She was still unsettled by the knowledge that Taylor was there. She glanced towards the rubble. 'It looks as though something is going on over there, James,' she murmured. 'Do you think they've found someone?'

  By now, Taylor was at the top of what had once been the mezzanine floor, and he was speaking to one of the fire crew. As she watched he began to ease himself down through a gap into the mass of broken timbers.

  Allison sucked in a sharp breath. Surely he couldn't be going in there among all the fallen masonry?

  'Yes, we believe there's a man trapped in there,' the doctor said. 'They heard him calling out earlier, but then he went quiet. It seems that the broken beams have formed a tent-like structure around him and that's keeping the worst of the masonry off him for the time being. Even so, it looks as though he has multiple injuries. The fire crew have been trying for some time to clear a way through to him, but it was too dangerous to allow anyone to get close enough to treat him.'

  Allison frowned. 'But I just saw a doctor going in there.'

  He winced. 'He must be crazy. If the concrete slabs collapse, we'll have an extra casualty on our hands.'

  He marked off his patient's chart and excused himself to go and talk to the paramedic about his patient's care. Allison made her way over to the place where the mezzanine floor had collapsed and managed to waylay one of the firemen.

  'What's going on? Is there anything I can do to help?' she asked.

  'I don't think so. We've managed to slide in some temporary supports, and we've rigged up a ladder to lie flat along the side of the heap so that we could slide a stretcher over there if necessary, but the whole thing is shaky. Everything might cave in if too much weight is placed on it. We're having to go very carefully.'

  'But a doctor went in, didn't he?' Allison was alarmed at the thought of the masonry giving way. What was Taylor thinking of, putting his life in jeopardy?

  'That's right, he did. He insisted on going in, because he said the man—his name's Matt, apparently—had crush injuries and it was important to get him out as quickly as possible.' He made a face. 'His patient is trapped by a steel and concrete strut, and we're doing what we can to prepare to lift it from him, but it's taking a while. I think the doc is struggling a bit. He's trying to stem the bleeding and give the man lifesaving treatment, but there's not much room to move and he needs extra equipment—he says the man's ribs are broken and his breathing's impaired.'

  'It sounds as though he has a collapsed lung.' Allison was thoughtful for a moment. 'I could get things to the doctor. I'm lighter than most of you, and I probably know what kind of help he needs.'

  The fireman looked doubtful. 'We'd have to put a harness on you so that we could lift you to safety if things start to give way.'

  'Then let's do that...as quickly as we can.'

  Within minutes, she was ready. Holding on to her medical pack, she flattened herself against the ladder and eased her way upwards towards the gap in the wreckage. Peering down into the space where Matt lay injured, she shone a torch into the area.

  She saw a man whose leg was wedged beneath a broken pillar, and Taylor was attending to him, working to save his life. He had managed to set up an intravenous line so that Matt would receive an infusion of vital saline. The fluid bag was suspended from a jutting slat of wood. Right now Taylor was applying a pad dressing to an open wound in Matt's arm.

  'What can I do to help?' she asked softly.

  Taylor looked up at her. He blinked, and she moved the torch so that the light was no longer shining in his eyes, but she caught his startled expression and knew that he was stunned to see her there.

  'Allison?' His voice held a disbelieving note, as though he thought his eyes were deceiving him. 'I'd heard that you were in London, but...' He broke off and then added, 'You were called out?'

  'Yes. Along with every other doctor who happened to be available.' There was a rumbling sound just then, like distant thunder, and her whole body tensed as something began to shift beneath her. The whole edifice was unstable and the knowledge that it might collapse made her feel sick and dizzy. She pressed her lips together and put her head down until the movement stopped.

  When things had steadied, she opened her eyes and searched for the gap in the rubble once more. She was relieved to see that Taylor was still down there, crouched over his patient.

  The man was groaning. 'Can't breathe,' he muttered. His eyes were frightened. 'I'm going to die, aren't I?'

  'I'm not going to let that happen,' Taylor said. 'Bear with me.' He frowned, looking up at Allison. 'You shouldn't be here,' he said in a quiet tone. 'It's too dangerous. You should go. Get the fire crew to hoist up the medical equipment.'

  She made a wry smile. 'It seems to me that you don't take your own advice, so why should I do what you say? Tell me what you need.'

  He pressed his lips together, and his glance shifted over her. Perhaps he noticed the harness she was wearing but whatever the reason, he obviously decided not to waste time arguing with her any more. 'A one-way valve—I can make one up from tubing and a container of water that can be sealed. He has a pneumothorax.'

  'I have those things here, and some lignocaine for the anaesthetic.' She delved into her medical pack and passed the equipment to him, watching while he worked to reinflate the man's lung.

  'We'll get you out of here, Matt,' he said in a low voice. 'Hang on in there.'

  Little by little, the fire crew were removing debris from the heap that enclosed the injured man, and the escape route via the gap was gradually being widened. Allison helped them to slide a narrow stretcher through the opening, and then she tentatively made
her way down into the tented structure, ready to assist. After a while, the team signalled that they were ready to attempt to lift the structure that was holding Matt down.

  Taylor nodded, and eased himself out of the way within the cramped space so that they could work. He looked worried.

  'When they move the beam,' he said, glancing at Allison, who was crouched beside him, 'we have to slide him onto the stretcher and strap him in place. He's stable for the moment, but he's floating in and out of consciousness all the while and things are going to be tricky when we manage to release the pressure from his leg. I'll give him a painkiller, but once the circulation starts up again, the pain will really start to kick in and his tissues will start to swell. When that happens there's always the danger of renal failure.'

  'You've been giving him fluids—that should go some way to alleviate that problem.'

  'That's true. I just hope that I've done enough so that we can save his leg.'

  Things happened fairly quickly after that. As soon as the concrete was lifted, they worked together to slide Matt onto the stretcher. His groans became louder, but they concentrated on getting him out of there before everything around them could start to shift.

  Taylor removed the fluid bag from the wooden slat and handed it to her. 'Will you keep this steady while I see to the oxygen mask and the bottle valve?'

  She nodded. Between them, they eased him up far enough through the opening so that the waiting fire crew could take over. The men used the ladder to slide the patient down to safety, and then Taylor urged Allison to follow, lifting her up the last part of the way through the gap into the waiting hands of a fireman.

  With his help, she clambered slowly over the mound and flattened herself once more on the ladder so that she could make the descent back to ground level. As she slid down, though, the whole edifice started to move, tilting her at an acute angle, and she landed on the floor below with a heavy thump. A roaring started in her ears and wood, metal and concrete caved inwards, shooting a cloud of dust and debris into the air.