Australian Affairs: Seduced. Carol Marinelli

tomorrow?’ Dr Vermont checked.

      ‘I can’t leave them with my parents for too long,’ Harry said, and Dr Vermont nodded. He knew Harry’s father’s health wasn’t brilliant and the twins were hard work at the best of times. By the time Harry had signed off on some paperwork, Marnie had gathered her bag and was walking briskly through the department, jangling her car keys.

      ‘You’re in a rush, Marnie,’ Dr Vermont commented, because Marnie never usually left till well past six. ‘Is everything okay?’

      ‘I’ll be back,’ Marnie said. ‘My brother just called and he’s cut himself—his finger. I’m just going home to fetch him and bring him in.’

      ‘I’ll stay around to see him,’ Dr Vermont said, and Marnie gave a grateful smile, though, in truth, it was a bit of a forced one because she desperately wanted Harry to offer to stay back. He was, as she was starting to find out, not just considered the best hand surgeon in the hospital but one of the top in the country.

      Harry made no offer; instead, he joined her as she headed out.

      She walked to the car park with him. Their footsteps were rapid and the atmosphere between them was tense but it was Harry who broke the strained silence. ‘Do you think it’s serious?’

      ‘It’s deep. I told him to make dinner and he couldn’t find my tin-opener so he decided to use a knife…’ She was waffling, stupidly feeling guilty for insisting that Ronan cook, but she was evading the real answer, not because she didn’t want to tell Harry, more because she didn’t want to think what it might mean to Ronan. ‘He says it’s bad.’ Harry could hear the slight panic in her voice as she elaborated, ‘I’m worried he might have cut a tendon.’

      ‘You haven’t even seen it yet.’ Harry was practical.

      ‘He plays the piano.’ Marnie glanced at Harry. ‘I mean—he plays it really well.’ She closed her eyes for a second. If Ronan had indeed injured his tendon it was going to be a tough few months ahead for him, with no guarantee his hand would return to full dexterity.

      ‘If he has injured his tendon, Dr Vermont will refer him to Stuart. He’s on tonight and he’s a great surgeon.’

      She wanted Harry.

      They were now at her car and, given how inflexible Marnie had been with his children, she was in absolutely no position to ask him a favour, except it was Ronan. For that reason, and that reason only, Marnie swallowed her pride and went to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. Harry watched as she ran one of those very beautiful hands through her dark hair as again she tried to swallow her pride.

      For Ronan, Marnie told herself.

      ‘If it needs doing, is there any chance of you repairing it tomorrow?’ There were two spots of colour appearing on her pale cheeks. ‘If Dr Vermont orders it to be elevated tonight, you could—’

      ‘I’m not coming in tomorrow.’

      ‘Oh, I thought you were on.’

      ‘No.’

      When Harry didn’t elaborate, Marnie just nodded and got into her car. She loathed that she’d asked him but, more than that, she loathed that he’d said no.

      When she got home, Marnie let herself in and Ronan called out to her. ‘I’m in here.’

      He was sitting on the floor of Marnie’s bathroom with his hand wrapped in a towel and he was holding it up.

      ‘You don’t have a bath to sit on,’ was the first thing he said, and Marnie managed a smile as, first things first, she washed her hands.

      ‘It was the first thing I noticed about the place too.’ Marnie knelt down beside him and gently pulled down his arm.

      ‘Sorry about the towel.’

      ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Marnie said.

      ‘I made a mess in the kitchen.’

      ‘Ronan, stop.’ She unwrapped the towel and Marnie, who was very used to looking at injured fingers, surprised herself by feeling a bit sick when she examined Ronan’s cut. Marnie blew out a breath as she saw the white of Ronan’s partially severed tendon as he attempted to move his finger.

      ‘Don’t try to do anything for now,’ Marnie said. ‘I’ll put a dressing on it and we’ll get you to the hospital.’

      She went to the kitchen and it was a bit of a mess with Ronan’s blood, as he’d said. She reached for a glass and took two long drinks of water then refilled the glass.

      It was ridiculous really, Marnie thought. There wasn’t a single thing at work that made her feel faint but as soon as it was family, it was a different matter entirely.

      She stood, remembering the nurses insisting she wait outside as they stuck another needle in Declan…

      Not now!

      Marnie tipped the water down the sink, got out her first-aid box and headed back to Ronan. She sorted out the wound, wrapping the injured finger in a saline dressing and bandaging it, then applying a sling, before she got him into the car and headed to the hospital.

      ‘It’s bad, isn’t it?’ Ronan asked, as Marnie concentrated on driving.

      ‘I think you’ve done your tendon,’ she admitted.

      ‘That can be fixed, though, can’t it?’

      ‘Of course it can.’ She glanced over and smiled but said nothing more just yet. Ronan’s tendon could certainly be fixed but it would take a lot of time and patience to get back the function that Ronan had had.

      She wished that Harry was on tonight.

      The department was quiet and Marnie took Ronan straight through and into a cubicle, where she told him to lie down.

      ‘I don’t need to lie down,’ he said, then changed his mind. He was tall and geeky and didn’t try to hide it, and Marnie loved him for it. ‘I do feel a bit sick.’

      ‘I know,’ Marnie said, because the phrase ‘as white as a sheet’ could have been coined just for Ronan—Marnie was quite sure that had he not lain down when he had he would have passed out.

      ‘Can a have a glass of water?’

      ‘Nothing.’ Marnie shook Her head. ‘You can’t have anything till a doctor’s seen it. Just wait there and I’ll go and get you registered and then…’ Her voice trailed off as the curtain opened and Harry walked in.

      ‘Harry!’ Marnie couldn’t quite believe that he was here—especially since she’d seen him drive off.

      Harry couldn’t quite believe it either. He’d got five minutes down the road, feeling as guilty as hell for saying no to Marnie’s brother, when his phone had rung with the news from his mother that Adam was coming out in spots.

      Harry had pulled over and sat with his head in his hands, listening to the sound of the traffic whizzing past.

      Of course, if Adam had them, then Charlotte would get them soon.

      Something had to give and at that moment it did.

      Adam was fine when Harry rang back—he was the centre of attention for once when usually it was Charlotte.

      ‘He’s tired, though,’ his mum explained. ‘I was just going to put him to bed. Why don’t you stay here tonight? It would be a shame to wake him.’

      Harry hesitated. He had been about to say yes, but at the last moment he asked his aging parents for yet another favour.

      For the last time.

      Sure, he’d need them in the future, Harry didn’t doubt that, but the madness had to stop and so he had ended it.

      ‘Marnie.’ He gave her a tight smile and then aimed a much nicer one at Ronan. ‘So, I hear that you’ve cut your finger,