An Innocent Affair

‘What, Hope?’

‘You’ve got the most beautiful hands I’ve ever seen,’ she confided in a slurred tone.

‘That’s very kind of you to say so.’

‘I wanted to say so. Something else I wanted to tell you, Alex—’ she began.

Alex turned and the paramedic swiftly smothered the smirk on his face. ‘I think we might discuss this later on, Hope.’

‘I’ve forgotten what it was anyway.’

‘Well, aren’t you a lucky girl?’

Was she meant to reply to that one? Hope wondered. Wearing a white coat seemed to endow its owner with an endless supply of platitudes.

‘We’ll whip you up to Theatre shortly, and realign that tibia, and you’ll be as good as new in next to no time. The ribs will be sore for a while, but they’re only cracked. You’re really very…’

‘If you tell me one more time how lucky I am, Adam, so help me I’ll realign your nose,’ she said wearily, but with sincerity.

Her brother-in-law cast a dampening glare at his tittering minions. ‘Someone who throws herself into pits and doesn’t break her neck has to expect clichés, Hope.’

Her grin was a shadow of its former self. ‘Has anyone told Mum and Dad yet?’ she asked fretfully.

‘Alex insisted on doing that personally. He thought it would give them less anxiety than a phone call.’

‘I see.’ So that was where he’d gone. Since she’d been placed in the care of her brother-in-law she hadn’t seen him. She did have an embarrassing recollection of clinging tenaciously to his hand, but details were rather hazy. ‘What’s that she’s got?’ she asked suspiciously as a nurse materialised at the bedside.

‘A pre-med, Hope, to calm you down.’

‘I am calm. Any more calm and I’d—’

‘Why don’t you shut up, Hope, and let us do our job? If you’d prefer another doctor you’re entitled…’

‘We’ve been through all that, Adam, and I’m quite happy with you so long as your precious ethics don’t get in the way of treating a family member.’

‘Oh, my ethics can take the strain. It’s the nursing staff I’m worried about.’

Hope was still grumbling quietly to herself when she drifted once more into a drug-induced slumber.

Three days later she was packing up her belongings—or at least giving instructions whilst her mother did so for her.

‘Lovely flowers, dear,’ her mother observed, fondly regarding the large bouquet of yellow roses arranged in a tall vase.

‘Send them to the children’s ward,’ Hope put in quickly.

‘Quite sure?’

Hope smiled grimly. Her mother wasn’t going to find a card no matter how hard she looked, because she had removed it—ripped it up and thrown it away with the other rubbish. There had been just one word on the card; Alex, written in a bold, strong hand.

She’d woken up the previous afternoon to find him standing there beside her bed, holding the roses. It must have been raining outside because his hair had been wetly slicked back, curling slightly over the collar of his leather jacket. A film of moisture had covered the faintly tanned olive-toned skin of his face, enhancing the air of healthy vitality he exuded.

Her eyes had skimmed over the sharp planes of his face, touched the firm lines of his sexy mouth before coming to rest on his eyes—eyes that followed the slanting line of his dark eyebrows, eyes that were silver-flecked grey and, most significantly, eyes that sent an electrical surge spiralling through her body. She’d felt stunned; she hadn’t dreamed this feeling, it had really happened. She’d felt restless, weak and excited all at the same time.

‘Thank you. They look beautiful,’ she’d said shyly.

Shyness wasn’t an emotion Hope was accustomed to and it made her feel awkward. His keen eyes were missing no details of her ravaged face. ‘It looks worse than it is.’ She spoke self-consciously.

Though, spectacular and painful, the bruising which covered most of the left side of her body would leave no lasting damage. She wasn’t vain, but she wanted him to see her at her best, which in all modesty she knew was a pretty good best. Instead she looked like something out of a horror film. Sod’s law! she thought fatalistically.

‘I wouldn’t have thought it was in your best interests to admit that.’

Confusion settled on her face. Her brain still felt a bit like cotton wool. Had she missed a complete segment of conversation here? What did he mean? Or was he implying she ought to enjoy being a patient? If that was so she could swiftly disillusion him on that score!

‘Don’t worry.’ He forestalled her reply. ‘I didn’t come here to discuss that.’

‘Discuss—?’

He silenced her with an imperative hand. ‘I understand your position completely.’

I wish I did! Hope’s confusion deepened; this grave comment didn’t have the ring of sympathetic empathy to it.

‘I wanted to see for myself how you are. There are no ulterior motives, Hope. I hope you understand that.’

Hope managed to keep her expression neutral, but it took a phenomenal effort. The minute she’d opened her eyes and seen him standing there she’d known—and it seemed he did too. The hazy dream-like recollections of the time immediately following the accident probably told only part of the story. God knows what I did, she thought, humiliation washing over her. God knows what I said.

‘I didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings.’

Hope cleared her throat, which still felt a little raw after the anaesthetic. ‘I appreciate that,’ she said. His clinical regard sharpened, grew less impersonal as he absorbed the husky catch in her voice. Hope didn’t flinch from his regard and he was the first to look away. She was glad. I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of, she decided rebelliously. Falling in love was no crime, even when the recipient of those feelings was as reluctant as Alex obviously was.

Privately she thought there was a big difference between blunt and brutal. What does he think? she wondered. That I’m going to fling myself at him and declare my undying passion? It hurt to know he wasn’t prepared to risk it.

He hadn’t even said goodbye… The sound of her mother’s voice pulled her out of her gloomy reverie.

‘I’ll take them along to the nurses’ station, shall I?’ Beth Lacey repeated, with an expression of regret.

Hope wasn’t left alone long before her brother-in-law put his head around the door; the rest of his lean body swiftly followed suit.

‘All set, then?’

‘Thankfully, yes.’

‘You’re a terrible patient.’

‘Says you,’ she replied disrespectfully.

‘Seen Alex lately?’

Hope stiffened at this seemingly casual question. ‘Why should I have seen Alex?’