Jennifer could feel the muscles in Andrew’s arm tense beneath her hand. She fixed her eyes on his face, willing him to agree. He still looked pale. The skin stretched across the strong lines of his features and deep lines around his dark eyes suggested that he was in pain…or unwell. Jennifer swallowed quickly. Was that the reason he’d given up his career? He’d just lost a significant amount of blood himself from the leg injury. He’d been exposed to the elements and put under stress. Had that exacerbated some underlying serious medical condition?
‘Are you all right?’ Jennifer queried urgently. ‘Are you able to operate?’ She almost reached up to touch his face. Her concern for Andrew’s state of health wasn’t purely for Liam’s sake. Andrew Stephenson needed medical attention that only she would be able to provide. She was in a position of crisis here and somebody had to lose at least in the short term. The question was, who could afford to wait?
‘I’m able.’ Andrew’s response fell into the tense silence. Jennifer felt her breath being released in a sigh of relief and unconsciously tightened her grip on Andrew’s arm with a grateful squeeze.
Andrew nodded down towards Jennifer’s upturned, eager face. ‘I’m able,’ he repeated with more emphasis. His solemn expression softened as his mouth twisted into a lopsided smile. ‘And I’m willing.’ The smile faded. ‘We’ll need a small miracle if we’re going to be successful, you realise.’
‘Miracles happen.’ Jennifer tugged Andrew’s arm gently as she turned him back towards their patient. ‘Sometimes they just need a bit of a push to get them started.’
‘I STILL can’t believe it.’ Jennifer’s hazel eyes were alight with triumph. ‘We did it!’
‘He’s not out of the woods yet.’
‘He’s relatively stable. He’s come through the surgery and the bleeding is controlled. His blood pressure’s up and he’s breathing well on ventilation.’ Jennifer was smiling as she leaned over a tray and selected a suture needle. Andrew’s eyelids drifted slowly closed again but Jennifer didn’t notice. ‘They’ve almost cleared that slip on the road and there’s a team coming from Christchurch to transfer Liam to the intensive care unit. They’ll be here within a couple of hours.’
‘He still needs blood.’ It seemed to be a major effort to open his eyes again. Andrew had never felt so tired in his entire life. Even the strain of nearly three hours of conducting major surgery under primitive conditions wasn’t enough to explain this weariness. ‘I’m O-negative,’ he informed Jennifer.
‘Mmm.’ The light above the couch in the consulting room was catching Jennifer’s bent head. Her hair had dried during its confinement under the cap she had worn in their makeshift operating theatre. Now Andrew could see it was still the colour he remembered so well. A rich honey blonde. And it was still just as curly, with soft waves that almost reached her shoulders. ‘Can you feel this at all?’ Jennifer asked.
‘No. You put in enough local to numb an elephant.’
‘I needed to. This cut was right down to the bone. It must have hurt like hell.’ Jennifer was concentrating on her task. Andrew watched in fascination as she caught the tip of her tongue between her teeth for a second. He could feel the tug deep in his calf muscle as another stitch was knotted into place. ‘No wonder you bled like a stuck pig,’ Jennifer commented.
‘I’m O-negative,’ Andrew repeated.
‘So you said.’ Jennifer glanced up. Her lips twitched as she reached for scissors. ‘I have to admit I couldn’t spot that. It looked just like ordinary blood to me.’
Andrew snorted. ‘You’re missing the point, Dr Tremaine. O-negative is a universal donor.’
‘Are you suggesting I’ve forgotten everything we learned at med school?’ Jennifer sounded cool. ‘I might point out that my marks in biochemistry were often better than yours.’
Andrew sighed inwardly. Jennifer hadn’t changed a bit. She still assumed that anything he said was in some way a criticism of her. She was still far too quick to defend herself by going into verbal attack mode. ‘What I’m suggesting is that I could donate some blood to young Liam Bellamy. A bit more haemoglobin circulating would do him a lot of good right now.’
‘You look like you could use a bit more yourself.’ Jennifer dropped the curved needle into a tray and picked up another. ‘We’re up to skin level now,’ she told Andrew. ‘I’ll try not to leave you with too much of a scar.’ She frowned at her patient. ‘You’re still looking rather pale. I think you probably lost more blood than I realised. I certainly wouldn’t even consider taking any more.’ Jennifer bent her head to her task again. ‘Besides,’ she added casually, ‘who knows what sort of condition your blood is in?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Andrew forced his weariness a little further away.
‘I’m talking about infectious diseases,’ Jennifer responded calmly. ‘Things like hepatitis or HIV.’
‘I wouldn’t have been licensed as a surgeon if I posed any threat of transmitting disease.’
‘How would they know?’
‘Try regular blood tests.’ Andrew felt a flush of annoyance. ‘I’ve been vaccinated for hepatitis and have documented proof that I’m clear of HIV.’
‘And when was your last test? Before or after you gave up your position as a surgeon?’
Andrew pushed aside the blanket covering his body. He felt distinctly overheated now. ‘Does it matter?’ he snapped. ‘Are you really interested in my sex life?’
‘No. Of course not.’ Andrew could see a faint flush of colour staining Jennifer’s cheeks.
‘Good. Because I would have nothing of interest to tell you. My sex life would bore anyone. Including me.’
Andrew felt a trickle of perspiration on his face. Was the heat responsible for giving him this wave of dizziness and nausea? Or was the stress of the last few hours catching up? Jennifer hadn’t been wrong about that cut hurting like hell. The pain hadn’t gone until she’d pumped local anaesthetic into his leg. And he had lost a lot of blood. He’d pushed himself to the limit after agreeing to operate on Liam Bellamy. While the assistance he’d had had exceeded expectations, it had still been a major achievement on his part to remove Liam’s spleen and control the massive abdominal blood loss. He was beginning to feel distinctly spaced out now. He gave up the effort of keeping his eyes open.
‘My sex life is non-existent,’ he heard himself saying. ‘How’s that for boring?’
The silence was odd. Andrew wondered whether he’d actually said the words aloud. Surely not! He opened his eyes to find Jennifer staring at him. Her expression was more peculiar than the silence.
‘You said you were on your honeymoon.’
‘I am.’ A silly grin plucked at the corners of Andrew’s mouth.
‘So where’s your wife?’ Jennifer was still staring. Lord, her eyes were gorgeous. Huge and round with the shade of hazel an exact match for the darker tones in her hair. Andrew blinked.
‘I didn’t bring her,’ he told Jennifer cheerfully. What was wrong with him? He was actually enjoying confessing his failure. ‘I’m starting a new trend,’ he added. ‘Solo honeymoons.’
‘Are you feeling all right?’ Jennifer was standing up. She appeared to be swaying slightly. ‘You look a bit hot.’
‘It is hot. This place is like an oven.’
‘It