Doctor in crisis
Nursing Supervisor Cate Forrest is shocked at her electric reaction to new C.E.O.Noah Masters. He may be drop-dead gorgeous, but surely she can’t be attracted to the man who’s threatening the future of her beloved maternity ward? She’s convinced he’s bad news for the hospital, and for her heart, but she can’t help trying to discover the secret that has made this caring and talented doctor so afraid to practise medicine.
When a maternity emergency strikes Cate and Noah are forced to work together, and they quickly realise their feelings are too powerful to be ignored. But can they let go of their fears long enough to fall in love?
Reviews
I loved this book and felt myself working along side Cate, sandbagging for my first time. When she took her duty of care that little bit further and tapped into Noah’s feelings, I knew you could count on her. Always!
Robyn NSW
Excerpt
Noah Masters could sort the medical part. Militantly she knocked at his office door but her battle plan hadn’t included Noah opening the door half-dressed.
‘Yes?’ He wore his lack of clothing like a night at the opera.
Cate stared and suddenly the oxygen content in the room fell below the usual twenty-one percent.
Noah’s voice was impatient. ‘You knocked, Sister Forrest?’
Cate blinked and refocused on Noah’s expression and the warmth of a blush embarrassed her even further. This was ridiculous. She must be more tired than she thought. She wrenched her gaze away from what seemed like acres of firmly muscled chest and a sprinkling of dark springy hair – hair that curled out of sight into his unbuckled trousers – and she bit her lip. Compared to her previews of what she now saw as Brett’s pigeon chest, she was impressed.
Just when she thought she had her brain back in gear he confused her again.
‘Why aren’t you off duty? Don’t you know how to delegate?’ His voice was clipped and the exasperation in it jolted her out of her haze quicker than anything else could have.
‘I don’t have the luxury,’ she snapped back. ‘Delegation is more your angle.’
His eyes narrowed at her response. I’ve annoyed him now, she thought. Good. The problem needed a fix, she glanced at her watch, and the evening staff needed to get to bed.
‘Well come in.’ He stood back to allow her past him into the office and the momentum of the moment carried her through the door and dumped her in the middle of the room. His trundle bed was pushed up against the wall and the door shut behind her with a click. Cate turned to face him and realised it was a very crowded room and most of it seemed filled with Noah Masters.
Exasperated and half-naked, Noah glowered at her and Cate moistened suddenly dry lips and tried to remember why she was here. Thankfully, her thought processes came sluggishly to life. Staffing.
Cate cleared her throat. ‘The night Emergency team have been involved in an accident and we need to find replacement staff for this shift…’ Noah walked across the room to lift his shirt from the chair back and Cate’s voice trailed off.
He looked up and caught and held her gaze. Noah shrugged his way into the sleeves slowly as if staring at her had slowed his fingers. Cate couldn’t help but stare back. There was something disturbingly intimate in the way he was so steadily arranging his clothes in front of her. The muscles in his shoulders and chest rippled as he lifted his arm to slide through the sleeve, and her breath lodged somewhere deep in her chest. This man affected her way more than he should. Especially when she knew he was in Riverbank for a very limited time. She shook her head in denial of that attraction, and tried to concentrate on the problem she’d come with, and not the way his fingers fastened the buttons on his shirt.
She looked away with a jerk. ‘I need to replace the evening staff so they can still work the morning shift. I don’t have any more Emergency sisters to pull from anywhere, at least until daylight, because I’m not putting more people at risk to drive in this weather.’ She glanced back just as Noah tucked his shirt in and tightened his belt. Her gaze flicked away again but then his voice drew it back.
‘And you want me to do what?’ The words were very soft as he leaned his long fingers on the desk and she wished of all the things she wanted, she wished he’d he’d left the door open the most.
Cate shrugged with a forced nonchalance. ‘Find me a doctor to work with and I’ll do the nursing part of night shift in Emergency.’
Noah scanned the options in his mind. ‘We don’t have any spare doctors.’ He rubbed the back of his head and Cate only just heard the oath he muttered. He looked up. ‘It would take too long to drive another resident in from one of the other hospitals. I suppose I could ask the rescue helicopter to fly in a locum.’ He shook his head as he finished the thought. ‘But you’re right about the risk. The rain is still too heavy for safe flying.’
Cate raised her chin and forced herself to meet his eyes. ‘There is still one doctor left who could work.’ He didn’t react to her suggestion and she wondered how he’d take it when he realized what she meant. She shrugged again and hammered the option home. ‘You do still have your registration don’t you?’
Any subtle awareness of his attraction to Cate, awareness he’d been trying to ignore in the closeness of the room, evaporated at her words. Rumbling lust was driven clear away by the knee jerk denial of that idea.
Him in Emergency? He’d sworn he’d never go frontline medicine again after Donna had died. And Cate Forrest had no right to push him towards it!
To be fair to the woman, she had no idea how disturbing the idea was to him, because the chance of someone else dying because he couldn’t save them scared the life out of him. He just hoped she couldn’t see it.
‘No.’ His voice was firmer than he intended but he couldn’t help that. The word hung in the air and there was no room for argument. ‘Get the evening resident to stay on and I’ll arrange a replacement for him in the morning.’
Cate put her hands on her hips. ‘He’s already done a sixteen-hour shift.’
‘I’m the CEO and it’s my call – not yours. Thank you, Sister Forrest.’ He crossed the room and opened the door for Cate. She glared as she went past but by the time she was half way up the corridor she couldn’t help trying to figure out why he was so adamant. There must be a reason he was so determined not to work as doctor.
Noah watched her stride away. He’d thought he’d been safe in administration. Then this had to happen. Of course he still had his registration.
Noah kicked his office door shut behind him as he went back in to the office. As an administrator, was he willing to run the risk that the overtired resident would be up to handling the night’s emergencies as they came in the door? Noah swore softly under his breath. If anything happened he’d be morally to blame anyway. He’d have to do the shift himself. Damn the woman.
Noah strapped on his watch and checked his pocket for a pen. He’d be interested to see just how good Sister Forrest was at the clinical stuff. She’d better be efficient or he’d make her life hell.
my second Kimberley’s of Western Australia book has hit the shelves.
Makes you wonder about the covers in all the other countries. 
