‘Your temper?’ he tried.
That brought her up short. She stopped a foot away from Blake and she glared.
‘You meant my overalls.’
‘They’re…they’re wonderful.’
‘I made them myself.’
‘Like I said—’
‘They’re wonderful,’ she agreed, her eyes narrowing. ‘Not outlandish.’
‘I…not outlandish.’
‘You’re not colour prejudiced?’
‘I like pink. And purple…’
‘That’s enough. There’s no reason to go overboard.’ Nell glared some more. ‘Do we have a deal, Dr Sutherland, or do I go to the medical board and say you won’t employ me because of stupid prejudices about pregnancy and patchwork pants?’
‘I’m not employing you.’
‘No. The hospital board is. And they already have. So if I’m now unemployed then I’ve been sacked and you’re the one that’s doing it. So I’m right. Prejudice…’
‘I’m not prejudiced.’
‘You want a quiet Christmas?’
‘Yes.’ How would he get a quiet Christmas if this virago was in town?
‘Then do what we want. Let me share your load. Let me take on as much as I can, while you enjoy mince pies and mistletoe to the max.’
‘I can’t.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Look. Miss McKenzie—’
‘Doctor!’ It was an angry snap. ‘Think it through. Think of what you’re refusing.’
He took another breath, but still she glared at him. Her anger gave him pause. It made him stop and count to ten…
And counting to ten helped. It did give him time to think.
‘Um…’ he said, and she homed right in on it.
‘Yes?’
She was deadly serious, he saw. She really was intending to live in the place. ‘Maybe you could just do morning clinics for a bit,’ he said weakly. That might get her out of his hair.
And maybe it’d even be a good idea.
It was a generous offer Jonas and Em had made. So maybe he should accept. If this woman could take on his morning work then he’d have only a normal day’s work left to do himself.
She considered what he’d said and her anger faded. A little. ‘It’s a start,’ she said grudgingly, sinking back into her chair and watching him across the desk. ‘But I’ve been paid to work.’ She brightened. ‘I can take every second night’s house calls.’
He bit his lip. ‘You can’t. The emergency calls are switched through to my house. It’d be too much trouble to change the system just for a month.’
‘We wouldn’t need to change the system.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because Em told me the situation here is the same as the one at Bay Beach,’ she said sweetly. ‘The hospital has the doctor’s residence attached and it has four bedrooms. They were built at the same optimistic time—when hospital boards imagined doctors might like becoming country practitioners in remote areas. So, that’s a bedroom for you, there’s one for me, there’s one for Ernest and there’s one left for whoever wants to drop in.’
Ernest? Who was Ernest? Another child? A partner?
Blake didn’t want to know. It was irrelevant. ‘You can’t stay with me.’
‘Why ever not?’ Her eyes widened in enquiry. ‘The doctors’ residence is supposed to be for doctors—isn’t it? It’s designed for up to four doctors. There’s two here. Me and you.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘And my house is unlivable. That’s one of the reasons I agreed to do this locum.’
‘Miss McKenzie—’
‘It’s Dr McKenzie,’ she said sweetly. ‘And the board has already given me permission to move in with you. You know, you’re going to have to get used to it. And…you really don’t want to refuse.’
He looked across the desk and met her eyes. She’d calmed down, he realised. The laughter and temper and over-the-top threats had died. What was left was understanding. And sympathy.
And something more?
Something he didn’t understand.
But he didn’t want this woman in his house. He didn’t want anyone in his house.
He didn’t want anyone in his life!
And who was Ernest?
He was saved by the waiting-room bell. Marion, his receptionist, had ushered Nell into his surgery but with the last patient safely with Blake, she’d felt free to leave, so there was no one out there to see what the problem was.
‘I need to see who this is.’
She glowered. ‘There’s no need to sound pleased. We haven’t come to an arrangement.’
‘Afterwards,’ he told her, and opened the door with real relief.
CHAPTER TWO
AS A rescuing angel, Ethel Norris didn’t quite make the grade.
She was a massive woman, weighing close to twenty stone. Normally well groomed and cheerful, she was anything but well groomed now. Her clothes were soiled. Her mass of grey curls looked as if it hadn’t been brushed since she’d climbed out of bed this morning and her cheeks were grubby with tearstains. She looked up as Blake entered the reception area, and the look she gave him said it was the end of her world.
‘Oh, Dr Sutherland. Dr Sutherland…’ She put her face in her hands and sobbed as if her heart were breaking.
‘Hey…Ethel.’ He guided her to a chair and pushed her into it, then knelt before her and pulled her hands away from her face. ‘What is it?’ His eyes were on hers. He was totally focussed on her distress, unaware that Nell had followed him to the door and was watching.
‘I can’t… I couldn’t…’
‘You couldn’t what?’
‘I broke.’ She took a ragged gasp. ‘And I’ve been doing so well. I’ve lost four stone and you were so pleased with me. My clothes have been getting looser and looser, and then all of a sudden I couldn’t go on. I dunno. I sort of snapped. I went out and bought everything I could find. Ice cream. Biscuits…’ She took a searing gulp. ‘Not just one. Tubs and tubs of ice cream. Packets and packets of biscuits. I’ve stuffed myself stupid, and I’ve been sick but not sick enough. I’ll have put all my weight back on and I can’t bear it.’
‘Ethel, you can’t have put it all back on.’
‘I have.’ It was a wail of agony.
‘How long have you been dieting?’ Nell’s voice cut across both of them.
Blake flashed her a look of annoyance but Nell seemed unconcerned. In fact, she appeared not to even notice.
‘You must have been dieting for ever to lose four stone,’ she said in a voice of awe. ‘That’s fantastic.’
Ethel looked up at her, her attention caught. Well, how could it not be caught by purple patchwork?
‘Don’t mind me. I’m just another doctor,’ Nell told her blithely. ‘I’m Dr Sutherland’s new associate. But losing four stone.