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Her eyes shifted away from his. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled.
Ben could tell she wasn’t the least bit sorry. She had a pout on her mouth and her chin was a little too high for his liking.
He forced his attention back to the matter in hand and said, ‘Maybe the students can help us out, then. Karen, what do you think we should be doing with Mr Neale today?
‘Well, I think we should maybe re-CT him to make sure no focal bleed has occurred, because we can’t do a clinical neurological assessment. Then maybe start to withdraw the sedation and see what sort of GCS and peripheral neuro activity we get,’ Karen answered. ‘Oh, and maybe an EEG, too.’
‘That’s not bad for a medical student,’ Ben said. ‘Karen, why don’t you work with Dr Willoughby and write down a management plan, and we’ll review it later this morning?’
‘Gee, thanks, Mr Blackwood. I’d be glad to help out,’ Karen gushed.
Georgie caught Jules’s amused gaze and rolled her eyes.
The next patient was a woman in her early fifties who had undergone a microdiscectomy a few days previously. Georgie gave the students a quick rundown on Mrs Walters’s progress before addressing the patient. ‘So how is the physiotherapy going, Mrs Walters?’
‘I’m not very good on the stairs yet,’ Margaret Walters confessed. ‘And the pain is keeping me awake at night.’
‘It takes time for things to settle down,’ Ben said, his shoulder brushing Georgie’s as he reached past her to inspect the IV fluid chart. ‘We’ll write up some more pain relief for you but I’d like to see you walking down the corridor tomorrow. I don’t expect you to do a marathon but it’s important to get moving. And don’t forget—no sitting for two weeks and no lifting or bending for six.’
‘I don’t know how I’ll manage,’ Margaret said with a worried frown. ‘My husband’s not well and we’ve got our disabled son to care for. Who’s going to do the washing and cooking?’
Ben put the chart back, noticing how Georgie had put some distance between them. ‘I’ll send one of the social workers in to chat to you about home help,’ he said. ‘And perhaps you’d better have a few extra days in hospital to give yourself a bit more of a break.’
Georgie fell back as the ward round came to an end to chat with Jules, who had attended the same university as herself and Rhiannon. He had briefly dated a friend of hers and while he and Emma had since broken up, Georgie and Rhiannon had maintained occasional contact with him.
‘So what’s going on with you and Ben Blackwood?’ Jules asked with a teasing smile. ‘I’ve never seen him act like that before. He’s normally so laid back and easygoing.’
Georgie checked to see if anyone could hear them before answering with a scowl, ‘I disliked him the moment I met him. He’s a pain in the you-know-where.’
‘Uh-oh,’ Jules said.
‘What do you mean, “Uh-oh”?’ Georgie asked, frowning at him darkly.
He gave her another grin. ‘You don’t stand a chance, Georgie,’ he said. ‘Pay Rhiannon the thousand bucks and get it over with.’
She gave him a surprised glance. ‘She told you about that?’
‘Yeah,’ he said, not quite meeting her eyes. ‘I ran into her the other night.’
‘Funny she didn’t mention anything to me,’ Georgie said with a smile and a glint in her eye.
‘Dr Willoughby.’ Ben Blackwood’s voice cut through the air like a switchblade. ‘If you have finished flirting with the intern, I would like to see you in my office to discuss your research project.’
Georgie turned around but he was already striding away.
She turned back to Jules and said in an undertone, ‘See what I mean? A total pain in the rear end.’ Jules just smiled.
This time his office door was closed and Georgie stood outside it for a moment, trying to control her bubbling anger. She took a couple of calming breaths and clenched and unclenched her fists.
‘Are you to going to knock on it or kick it in?’ Ben asked from just behind her.
She spun around, her colour rising as she met his mocking eyes. ‘I suppose you think it’s hilariously funny, making a laughing stock of me in front of the medical students, do you?’ she said.
He reached past her to open the door, his arm brushing against her waist. Georgie stepped away but her body felt hot and tingly and her nostrils began to flare as the tantalising scent of his aftershave drifted towards her. She fought against her reaction and not just for the sake of a thousand dollars. He was quite clearly enjoying every moment of her discomfiture if the look in his bluer-than-blue gaze was to be believed.
‘Would you like a coffee or something?’ he asked as he took the chair behind his desk.
‘No, thank you,’ she said, still standing.
