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.
HARRY FAILED TO arrive the next day, and Jill explained she’d like Kate to stay on the ward until he did come. Not a bad idea, as far as Kate was concerned, as she hadn’t seen Hamish all day, whereas in the ED, if a child came in, she’d have had to call him as he was the doctor with the most paediatric experience in the hospital.
And being on duty until nine meant she could eat dinner at the hospital, and by the time she’d signed off and walked back to the house, it was late enough to go straight to bed, pleading tiredness should any of her housemates be hanging around.
The arrangement was perfect as far as Hamish-avoidance went.
Until she had to walk through the kitchen on her way to her room! He was over by the bench, waiting for the electric kettle to boil.
‘Cup of tea?’
She checked her watch and studied him suspiciously.
‘Were you waiting for me to come off duty?’
‘Me?’
All innocence!
But then he smiled. ‘Of course I was. I haven’t seen you all day. Do you think I’d miss this opportunity? Now, did you say yes to tea?’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Kate said crossly, although her mouth had suddenly gone dry and she could kill for a cup of tea. ‘And not seeing each other is a good idea, Hamish. I don’t want to get into another relationship—not now, not here, not anywhere.’
He had turned his back, busying himself with cups and the kettle, and finally turned back and set a cup of tea on the table in front of her.
‘You’d deny the magic?’
He spoke so softly she barely heard him. She wanted to yell, to tell him she’d had magic before and it had let her down, but she knew that what she and Daniel had shared had been an illusion—a magic trick, not the real thing at all. Only it had taken her longer than it had Daniel to work that out.
She picked up the cup of tea and sipped at it, eyeing Hamish cautiously over the rim.
‘I’m not answering that, and I’m taking my tea through to my room.’
Would he argue? Pursue her?
Not Hamish. She answered her own question even before she heard his quiet ‘Goodnight, Kate.’
So with a cup of tea in her hand, and loneliness beyond measuring in her heart, she walked through to her bedroom.
Hamish watched her walk away then took himself out onto the back veranda, settling into the old settee.
He needed to get rid of the baggage of his feelings and think this through with cool, unemotional logic.
Was he stupid, pursuing this attraction Kate obviously didn’t want?
Yes.
So he should stop.
Right.
Would he?
Didn’t even need to ask that question. This was different. This was special. This was something he’d never felt before …
Jack’s condition improved steadily, and the following afternoon he watched Megan feed the baby, then held his son for a short time, before nodding off to sleep.
Megan was in the nursery, bathing Jackson before returning him to his crib, and Kate was putting a new dressing on Jack’s wound when Harry wandered in.
‘OK if we talk a bit?’ he said to Jack, while Kate tried to act as if she was part of the furniture.
Jack did his eye-closing thing, but Kate knew he was refreshed and this was probably a good time for Harry to question him.
‘You have to talk to Harry some time,’ she said quietly. ‘Why not at least start now. I’ll be here, and if I see you getting tired I’ll send Harry away, but at least start, Jack.’
He opened his eyes, looked at her for a moment, then nodded and turned to Harry.
‘I honestly had no idea that they were anything more than cattle drovers,’ he said. ‘Not at first.’
‘And who were “they”?’
Jack looked startled.
‘Todd and Digger of course.’
‘That’s all the names you knew?’
Jack nodded.
‘Met them in a pub out past Gunyamurra. They had a camp in an old station house way out on the edges of some property. Could even have been Wetherby Downs, but it was a place I’d never been. Todd said they had to hold these cattle there because they were expecting more.’
Kate had finished the dressing and now she took Jack’s arm, unobtrusively holding his wrist so she could feel if his pulse began to race or falter.
Jack sipped from a glass of water, then continued.
‘About the time of the Gunyamurra rodeo they gave me some time off—I tried to visit Megan but couldn’t get the right lifts. I thought they were going to the rodeo because they kept talking about it, but when I got back they’d brought more cattle in. That’s when I saw the brands.’
‘What brands?’ Harry asked, as Megan walked back into the ward and, seeing Harry with Jack, came flying across to the bed.
‘It’s OK, Megan,’ Kate said quietly, but Megan was not to be stopped.
‘He’s still too sick!’ she yelled at Harry. ‘Can’t you see that?’ Then she turned her fury on Kate. ‘You should have stopped him.’
Behind her, Kate sensed another presence and turned to see that Hamish had come in quietly.
‘He has to answer questions some time, Megan,’ Hamish told her, but Megan refused to be appeased, and as Jack had closed his eyes again, this time with a finality Kate recognised, she indicated to Harry to walk away. She followed him out of the room, leaving Hamish to reassure Megan that her loved one was all right.
‘Jack was getting tired,’ Kate said to Harry. ‘Why don’t you come back in the morning? Patients are always fresher then. And in the morning Megan is due to spend some time with Susie, learning massage techniques for Jackson.’
Harry smiled.
‘She was as fierce as a mother bear protecting her cub, wasn’t she?’ he said, and Kate nodded, though she was thinking not of Megan’s behaviour but of Hamish, who had said the same thing to her the previous evening.
Hamish who was now holding Megan in his arms and no doubt whispering all the soothing, special, comforting things she needed to hear.
He was special …
Get your mind off him and onto your patient! Think Jack!
Kate set her mind to it, recalling the questions and answers. Jack had been talking easily about the cattle until he’d come to the bit about the brands.
‘Worries?’
So much for getting Hamish out of her mind by thinking about Jack! But, then, maybe Hamish could help.
Kate glanced