The Bush Doctor's Challenge Read online

  She wanted to be the winner, wanted to unwrap her parcel, wanted to taste a moment in his arms, didn’t want to go through the rest of her life not knowing how it felt to be held by a man like Kell. Never had she felt such a connection, experienced such an overwhelming mutual attraction, and though the questions, the warning bells alarming in her head were irrefutably warranted, for once Abby chose to ignore them; for the first time in her ordered life, logic lost to passion, desire overrode reason. Surely Kell was a risk worth taking?

  He even made denim look sexy.

  Until now, jeans had just been that—jeans. Something you pulled on when you couldn’t be bothered or didn’t have time to think what to wear, a lazy answer almost. But there was nothing lazy about the way Kell wore them, pale and soft against his strong legs, legs that were walking towards her now, taking a step closer, one firm hand taking the mug from her tense hand and placing it carefully on the kitchen bench behind her before bringing his fingers to cup her face, fingers still cold from the champagne, a contrast to the lips so warm, so full, Abby couldn’t help but respond, couldn’t help but kiss him right back, melt a little closer into his body as she felt his warm smooth tongue slide between her parted lips. And as she slipped from doctor to woman, she knew, as he pulled back slightly, as those black eyes met hers, that she was lost, that the only possible conclusion to this teasing taste was to sign up for the whole package.

  No man had ever carried her before, no man had ever swooped her up in strong arms and taken her to the bedroom, and no man had ever even come close to kindling the passion that overwhelmed Abby.

  She had to have him.

  It was as basic as that.

  Had to have him near her, on her, inside her.

  The chore of undressing, the usual clumsiness that broke so many moments didn’t even get a look-in. Their T-shirts were discarded in seconds, but every button on his jeans was a pleasure, a slow, unhurried delight, her fingers shaking slightly as she glimpsed the stomach that had teased her only this afternoon, the belly button she had wanted so much to touch. She could now. Her white French manicured nails dragged teasingly around the dark, dark hair as he undid her bra, slipping the lace straps over her shoulders until the cream of her breasts flattened against his chest, the white soft flesh such a contrast to the mahogany of his taut, toned body. Catching her breath, he snaked her own jeans past her hips, brushing her thighs then dusting the scratchy denim over her calves until finally nothing separated them, and as he buried his fingers into her damp, needy warmth Abby groaned in primitive wantonness.

  A wantonness that embalmed her, overrode her usual reservations, defied all logic.

  Shuddering in his hand, her breath coming in small gasps, she snaked a leg around his thigh, urged him closer. Stretching on tiptoe, she raised herself against his solid manhood, her gasps increasing as he slipped inside. His hands were holding her buttocks now, lowering her down on him, taking her weight with such ease Abby realised then the strength of Kell, that his muscles weren’t manufactured in some gym, empty hours pumping iron to earn the perfect body. Instead the grit of hard work had given him this divine body, and how she revelled in the strength. How divine to feel so light, so feminine, every fibre of her being on high alert as effortlessly he lowered her back on the bed, their most intimate parts still entwined as she rested her shoulders on her bed, and pulled him deeper inside, Kell standing, pushing, beckoning her on to a place she’d never been, the peak of her orgasm so intense, such a release, only then did Abby realise the tension that had held her together, the strain of the past few weeks dissolving as she shuddered under his touch, as a sob escaped her lips, as tears she hadn’t known were there sprung forth and she wept with sweet release.

  Her tears didn’t faze him. Instead he scooped her into his arms, held her, comforted her and told her over and over that it was all OK, comforting her like a child, slipping a cool sheet over them, tucking his body into her back and stroking her hair, letting her cry those inexplicable tears until finally Abby fell into the deepest, sweetest sleep.

  Oh, no.

  Abby didn’t say it, but the words resounded over and over in her mind as gradually the unfamiliar room came into focus. The overhead fan was still whirring, the sheet billowing gently in ripples over her body, a lazy hand holding her closely as Abby lay rigid, her eyes clamped firmly closed, determined to feign sleep for a few moments until her mind hopefully made sense of the chaos that she’d awoken to.

  How?

  The single word was the prelude to a multitude of questions that stamped through her mind demanding answers.

  How had she let this happen?

  How could she have let her guard down like that? She was here to work, to focus on her medical skills, to get her life back on track, not tumble into bed with the first man she met.

  But it hadn’t been like that, Abby acknowledged. Something much bigger than sex had happened last night. Kell had strolled into her life and into her heart with such breathtaking ease and it would be so easy, so very easy to let him stay.

  And that was what scared her the most.

  ‘Morning!’ That hand wasn’t being so lazy now. Instead, it was working its way along the curve of her hip, moving leisurely along to her stomach, moving relentlessly upwards toward the soft swell of her breasts, and for a second or two, or maybe a moment even, it felt so good, so right, Abby was tempted again to just flow with it, to let the balming effect of his touch soothe her again, to give in to the mastery of Kell’s touch.

  ‘Don’t.’ Her hand gripped his tightly, but there was no need. As soon as the word left her lips, Kell stopped his relentless, sexy exploration and she felt him exhale, and even though Abby’s back was to him she sensed the frown on his forehead.

  ‘What’s wrong, Abby?’

  Scarcely able to believe her ears, Abby wriggled free of Kell’s embrace and turned to face him, scooping the sheet around her and trying to cover a determinedly escaping bosom.

  It didn’t go unnoticed by Kell. She watched his eyes flick downwards, the sheen of early morning lust in his eyes, and again she was assailed with an urge to stop the fight now, to just make love to him and then deal with the consequences.

  ‘What do you think is wrong?’ His frown annoyed her now, and Abby sat up smartly, dark tousled hair tumbling down her back, her eyes aghast. ‘You, here in my bed, that’s what wrong!’

  ‘It didn’t feel wrong last night,’ Kell said easily. ‘In fact, till about two minutes ago it felt pretty damned good to me.’

  ‘I’m not talking about last night,’ Abby said, trying to keep her voice even, desperately trying to cast aside the memories of their delicious love-making. She had to put an end to this here and now, to ring the bell and get off at the very next stop, before this journey took her to a place she definitely wasn’t prepared to go to. ‘I’m talking about now. How I’m supposed to deal with this.’ She looked at his incredulous face, visibly shocked at the hysteria in her voice. ‘I’m sure you won’t believe this but falling into bed with someone I’ve just met isn’t a regular occurrence. In fact…’ She took a deep stinging breath, her cheeks flaming as she spoke. ‘This has never happened to me before.’

  ‘Nor me.’

  Abby gave him a wide-eyed look. ‘Oh, sure.’

  But Kell didn’t seem bothered by the obvious disbelief in her voice, instead he just propped himself up on his elbow and gave his usual easy smile. ‘It hasn’t,’ he insisted. ‘Something happened yesterday, Abby, something neither of us was expecting. The second you stepped off that plane there was…’ She watched his full mouth struggle to find the words, to articulate something so impossible to define, but, full credit to him, Abby registered, Kell tried. ‘There was an attraction, a reaction, whatever you want to call it, but it was nothing you or I had a say in. What happened last night, well, it was special, Abby. Don’t ruin it now.’

  ‘Ruin it?’ Her voice rose slightly and Abby swallowed hard, raking a hand through her hair,
desperately struggling to stay calm. ‘Oh, I can tell you about ruining things! I’m an expert! How am I supposed to face everyone? How am I supposed to exert any semblance of authority when I go and have a one-night stand—’

  ‘Hey.’ Kell was standing now, his raw nudity causing Abby to flinch. Sensing her embarrassment, he hastily pulled on his discarded boxers as Abby pulled the sheet tighter around her. He didn’t look quite so amenable now. If anything, he looked annoyed, those dark eyes narrowing at the edges, deep lines furrowing his brow.

  ‘Firstly, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to face everyone because, apart from you and yours truly, no one else is going to know.’ He watched her disbelieving shrug and his shoulders tensed. ‘They’re not. I’m hardly going to go rushing around the town telling everyone. I happen to think that what happens in a bedroom should stay in the bedroom.’

  She believed him, albeit reluctantly. As Abby looked up, she knew, as little as she knew him, that Kell wasn’t the sort to shame a woman. The blissful time in his arms had taught her that at least. ‘What if Ross and Shelly saw…?’ Abby said quickly, refusing to be comforted.

  ‘They’ve got a brand-new baby to deal with. I’m sure they’ve got better things to be doing than peering out of the window to check whose house I’m going to.’

  Abby gave a grudging nod, but Kell hadn’t finished yet. ‘Secondly, having not had the pleasure of working with you yet, I can’t comment on your methods, but I’ll tell you this much, Abby, you can exert as much authority as you like out here, but it isn’t going to get you very far. We work on mutual respect here. And thirdly…’

  Abby took a deep breath and looked up.

  ‘Is this lecture over yet? I’d like to have a shower!’

  ‘And thirdly,’ Kell carried on, ignoring her obvious desire to end the conversation, ‘you’re the one relegating what happened between us to a one-night stand. For what it counts, it meant one helluva lot more to me than that.’

  Abby didn’t answer—she didn’t really get a chance to. In two seconds flat Kell had pulled on his jeans, T-shirt and boots, and without further acknowledgment stomped down the hall. Only when the front door was none too gently closed, and all that was left was the scent of him, did Abby remember to breathe again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘YOU must be Abby Hampton,’ a smiling, friendly, freckled face greeted her as Abby tentatively pushed open the door of the clinic. ‘I’m Clara, one of the nurses here.’

  That went without saying. Clara was dressed in smart blue culottes, topped with a crisp white and blue blouse emblazoned with various badges, and Abby was somewhat taken aback, immediately regretting her own unusually informal attire. She had expected, what, she wasn’t sure, but even in the city rarely were nurses so smartly dressed these days, but Clara looked as if she’d stepped out of a nursing brochure as she let out a gurgle of laughter.

  ‘One of the nurses! That makes it sound like we’re spoiled for choice, doesn’t it? Apart from me there’s Noelene, she’s part time, very part time,’ Clara added with a slight edge to her voice. ‘Then there’s Shelly, who I’m sure you’ve guessed is on maternity leave, and Kell, you’ve met him already, haven’t you?’

  That seemingly innocent question had Abby’s cheeks flaming and she gave a brief nod.

  ‘He met my plane.’

  ‘And a bit more besides.’ Clara was still smiling and Abby thought she might faint on the spot. Surely Kell hadn’t told her already! ‘I was on yesterday,’ Clara said, as if that explained everything. ‘And let me tell you, you don’t have to worry about proving yourself to the locals, you’ve already done it. Dealing with a breech delivery ten minutes into your arrival has pretty much sealed your approval rating!’ She carried on smiling as Abby let out an audible sigh of relief, scarcely able to believe that the drama of the birth yesterday had been so quickly relegated in her mind.

  Kell, or rather her behaviour with Kell, was the only thing on it at the moment.

  ‘Good morning.’

  On cue Kell appeared and Abby stiffened at the sound of his voice, turning in what she hoped was a casual manner, but her rather forced greeting died on her lips as she took in the delicious view that greeted her.

  Gone was the labourer, the cowboy, the jack of all trades, in his place a smart, very smart, and extremely efficient-looking male nurse. His hair was still damp from his shower but, instead of falling in the chaotic manner of yesterday, it was neatly combed, a touch too much on the collar for the old-school type but smart all the same. A crisp white shirt with dark epaulettes on the shoulders was tucked into a pair of very neat navy shorts, and the Blundstones boots had been replaced with dark brown boat shoes.

  Anticipating the laid-back style of the bush, Abby had settled for lilac shorts and a white T-shirt but, looking at Clara and Kell, Abby realised she was woefully underdressed. A bush clinic it may be but the nurses here were serious professionals.

  Rather than looking at him, Abby peered at his name badge. Kell Bevan. A rueful smile tickled the edge of her lips as Abby finally dragged her eyes up to meet his.

  At least she knew his surname now.

  ‘What’s Kell short for?’ Abby asked, curious despite herself.

  ‘It isn’t short for anything.’

  ‘Well, you two don’t need any introductions,’ Clara said crisply. ‘I’m sure you got to know each other yesterday. Is she very cute, Kell?’

  ‘Oh, very,’ Kell said with a devilish grin as the colour swooped at breakneck speed up Abby’s neck. ‘I’m sure she’ll break her fair share of hearts.’ And though it was an entirely appropriate response, though Clara carried on smiling as Kell kept talking, Abby would have sworn on anything she could have put her hands on that Kell wasn’t talking about the baby.

  ‘Do you think Ross will be in?’ Clara asked, oblivious to the undercurrents. ‘Bill Nash’s daughter just rang and she’s bringing him over. He’s got chest pain and insists it’s just angina even though the sprays aren’t working. I offered to go over but Martha wouldn’t hear of it. I think she’s hoping for a sticky beak at the new baby.’

  ‘She’s driving him?’ Abby said, alarmed. ‘With chest pain? What if he arrests?’

  ‘We’ve told them over and over to stay put, but they simply won’t listen.’ Kell gestured to a room. ‘But just in case your prediction’s right, I’d better show you where things are, or would you rather wait for Ross?’

  Her cheeks were burning again as Abby remembered how she’d tossed aside his previous offer to show her around. ‘You’ll do fine.’

  The room Kell led her into had Abby blinking in surprise as she entered it. She had expected a few stainless-steel trolleys, a couple of antiquated monitors perhaps, but the room that greeted her, though smaller, was better equipped than her own emergency department in the city. Advanced monitors lined the walls, along with electronic blood-pressure machines and saturation monitors. In fact, from Abby’s brief assessment, it had pretty much everything an emergency room could need.

  ‘Pretty impressive, huh?’ Kell said, noting her surprise.

  ‘I’ll say.’ Fiddling with one of the monitors, Abby shook her head. ‘I think I’m going to need a few lessons to fly this thing!’

  ‘You’ll be all right,’ Kell said assuredly. ‘We have to be well equipped,’ Kell explained, turning on the monitor and running through the various commands as he spoke. ‘It’s not like an emergency room in the city where you resuscitate people then send them off to Intensive Care or Coronary Care…’ He pushed a red button. ‘The ECG tracing will print off at the desk now,’ he continued, then carried on talking where he had left off, as Abby took her turn to work the machine. ‘We’ll have the patient in here until the flying doctors get here. Or patients,’ he added. ‘If there’s a fire or a crash or any number of things, we can end up with several patients at a time. You can start a shift one day and not surface for the next forty-eight hours.’

  ‘But we’re just a
n hour or two away from the nearest base.’

  ‘Assuming they’re free to come straight out. And as I said, we can have multiple patients in here, the plane will only take one sicky.’

  A dilemma that had first emerged in Abby’s mind yesterday was making itself heard, and though the atmosphere between them wasn’t exactly relaxed, there was definitely an emerging professional respect, which made Abby the one to ask. ‘What if Shelly had needed a Caesarean?’

  Kell turned and looked at her and the shrug he gave wasn’t dismissive, but loaded with meaning. ‘That would have been your call.’

  His words reached her, and Abby stilled, reliving yesterday’s drama with renewed gratitude for the positive outcome.

  ‘I’ve never done a Caesarean. How would we have anaesthetised—?’

  ‘We’d have dealt with it.’ Kell let out a long ragged breath. ‘We’ve got back-up, amazing back-up, and they can advise us every step of the way. But sometimes tough calls have to be made, and advice is great and all that, but when it’s on the other end of a phone or radio, that’s all it can be.

  ‘Now, on to Bill.’ The smile and slight roll of the eyes told Abby there was a lot of water under the bridge there. ‘He had a triple bypass five years ago, and the bottom line is he needs another one. He’s been to the city, had all the tests, and unless he has the operation, well, you know the outcome.’

  ‘So why doesn’t he have it?’

  ‘He wants to end his days here in Tennengarrah. He’s convinced if he has another bypass he won’t make it, and frankly with that attitude he’s probably right.’

  ‘How old is he?’

  ‘Forty-eight.’

  ‘Forty eight!’ Abby gasped. ‘But that’s no age at all. Surely he should be…’

  ‘Forced?’ Kell suggested, and Abby shook her head fiercely.

  ‘Told,’ Abby offered. ‘He should be told the consequences of his decision.’