Hawaiian Sunset, Dream Proposal. Joanna Neil

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘WE’VE done all that we can for him for the moment,’ Professor Halloran told Amber as they left the catheterisation suite some time later. ‘We may have cleared up the immediate problem, but Mr Wyndham Brookes is still a very sick man.’

      Amber nodded. ‘At least you managed to remove the blood clot that was causing the trouble. It’s unfortunate that he has a lot of other things to contend with alongside that.’ Martyn was lucky to be alive, but from the results of tests and the indications they had discovered during the operation, his quality of life was going to be severely restricted.

      ‘I expect his nephew will want to know exactly what we’ve found,’ Professor Halloran added, ‘although the medical notes he sent us were a good pointer to the cause of the problem.’ He frowned. ‘Ethan Brookes is certainly keen on being kept fully involved, even though he’s living thousands of miles away. Maybe you could explain to him that his uncle will need to take great care with his health over the next few months.’

      ‘Are you not going to talk to him yourself?’ Amber looked at her boss in surprise.

      ‘Yes, I will…later. Right now, I have to go back to my pacemaker patient. His needs are greater right now.’ He gave her a beaming smile. ‘Besides, I’ve every confidence in you. Talk to Miss Wyndham Brookes, as well. I’ll speak to both of them this afternoon, when I’m free.’

      Amber was glad he had such faith in her to do the right thing, though she suspected it was a ploy…he was a much better surgeon than he was at talking to patients. As to speaking to Martyn’s nephew herself, she was conscious that Ethan wasn’t entirely pleased that she was the one taking day-to-day responsibility for his uncle. He wanted the best…but Professor Halloran was not readily available to be there for him one hundred per cent of the time.

      She went back down to A and E and went in search of Martyn’s daughter. She could understand how distressing this situation was for the girl, but the image of James consoling her and leading her away with his arm draped protectively around her had been running through her mind over and over again as if in a film loop these last few hours.

      Perhaps she was taking things too personally, though. Wasn’t it entirely natural for any normal, thinking person to want to comfort someone in their hour of need? James was a good, kind man. She ought to be pleased that he was so considerate towards others.

      While she had been in the catheter suite, James had apparently been working his way steadily through the mounting list of patients who had arrived at A and E. He met her as she walked over to the central desk in the unit a few minutes later.

      ‘I picked up this letter for you from your mail box,’ he said, handing her an envelope. ‘It looks official, so it could be news of the job you applied for.’

      ‘Oh, thanks.’ Amber frowned, looking at the logo on the envelope. He was right…the letter probably contained the information she was waiting for. She glanced up at him. ‘Did you hear anything about the job you were after?’

      His mouth made a downward turn. ‘Yes. It turns out I didn’t get the job. The letter was waiting for me when I went back to the mailroom. They appointed another candidate, but wished me luck for next time.’

      Amber felt an immediate rush of sympathy for him. ‘Oh, James,’ she said, reaching out to give him a hug, ‘I’m so sorry. I know how much you wanted that post. You must be feeling really down about it.’

      He nodded briefly, trailing an arm around her in return. ‘I was almost expecting to be turned down, but it came as a shock, all the same.’

      ‘It must have done. What will you do now?’

      He gave a negligent shrug. ‘I’ll have to think about some of the other research projects available. They weren’t nearly as appealing as this one, but at least I stand some chance of getting one of them.’

      ‘Sorry to interrupt, Amber,’ Sarah said as she approached the desk, ‘but Mr Wyndham Brookes has just been brought back down to his room. His daughter is feeling anxious because he doesn’t look too good…and I think she’s been looking at the medical notes that were sent over from Hawaii—that was never going to make her feel better. Her cousin advised her against it, and so did Professor Halloran, but she was determined to go ahead anyway. Do you want to come and have a word with her?’

      ‘Yes, of course. I’ll come along right away.’

      Amber sent a worried look in James’s direction, but he was already lifting up a patient’s chart from the tray on the desk, and she started to turn, getting ready to walk away with Sarah.

      James frowned. ‘I feel sorry for the girl. It’s bad enough that her father has been taken seriously ill, but she’s a long way from home and virtually on her own.’

      ‘I expect she appreciated you trying to help her,’ Amber murmured. She slipped the envelope into her pocket. If it was bad news about the job she’d applied for, she’d rather deal with it when she was on her own back in her rented apartment. ‘You were very kind to her. I imagine she’ll look to you for help from now on. I heard you telling her that you would be free to talk to her after your shift finishes.’

      ‘That’s right. Do you mind very much?’ James asked softly. ‘I know we said that you and I would have dinner together later on today, but she’s not coping very well, and I don’t like to leave her without support. Maybe we could all get together to eat. She might appreciate having a woman around.’

      ‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Amber’s expression was subdued. ‘I don’t think I’m her favourite person at the moment. She was quite distraught, and I had the distinct impression she thought I wasn’t doing enough to help her father. It happens, doesn’t it, when people are ill and the situation isn’t improving?’ She had the feeling that Caitlin had passed that view on to her cousin, but to his credit he hadn’t made any comment on that—to Amber, at least.

      She sent James a thoughtful glance. ‘But you go ahead and meet up with her if that’s what you want to do. I have a thousand things to catch up with back at the apartment.’

      It might have been her imagination, but she thought she detected a look of relief passing over James’s face. Was he finding it too much of a strain lately, being the second half of a couple? Over the last few weeks she had noticed subtle changes in his manner towards her, though she had tried to tell herself it wasn’t happening. Now it cut her to the quick to have to take on board the changes in him. She didn’t want to believe that their relationship was falling apart, but all the signs were beginning to point in that direction.

      ‘I might do that, if you really don’t mind? I said I would help her as much as I could.’ He made a fleeting smile. ‘It’s strange, but it appears we have a lot in common. It turns out Caitlin’s studying pharmaceutical sciences and wants to go into clinical research, much the same as me. It’s an odd world, isn’t it?’

      Amber nodded. So they were on first-name terms already, were they? Her gaze was bemused as she watched him walk away. She set off with Sarah towards the patient’s private room.

      ‘I don’t think I would have had the confidence to give him the go-ahead to meet up with another woman,’ Sarah commented in a low voice as they walked along the corridor. ‘Seems like a risky proposition to me.’

      Amber gave a shuddery sigh. ‘I’ve a feeling you could be right, but without trust, what is there? If I tried to stop him, it would make me appear selfish and uncaring, and for his part he’d probably end up feeling thwarted and resentful.’

      ‘You’re too good for this world,’ Sarah commented dryly. ‘In fact, you have a lot in common with Martyn Wyndham Brookes, now I come to think of it. I feel really sorry for him. He seems like such a lovely man. Even though he was very ill when he first came to us, he managed to thank us for what we were doing for him. He was appreciative to all the nurses. He’s one in a million…I suppose it must have been great for his daughter to have him come over to