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'Will they tell Rob?' the woman whispered, and Zach gave a sigh.
'I'll have a word with the consultant who'll do the operation. The answer is, I don't know. It depends on what happens in Theatre.'
Keely helped prepare the woman for transfer to Theatre for a laparoscopy—an operation which would allow the surgeons to look inside her abdomen.
When she returned, Zach was making himself a cup of coffee in the staffroom.
Bother. She'd been hoping to have five minutes by herself. But, still, she could use it as an opportunity to pick Zach's brains. She was still stunned and impressed that he'd known instinctively what the matter was with the woman.
'How did you know it was an ectopic pregnancy?'
Maybe if she kept it professional they'd be able to have a conversation without her wanting to throw herself into his arms.
'I've seen it before,' Zach told her, adding milk to his coffee and stirring it slowly. 'Several times, in fact. She was lucky. She had a stable form. In the unstable form it's often touch and go.'
Keely still didn't understand how he'd reached his diagnosis so quickly. 'But it could have been any number of other things.' She ticked them off on her fingers. 'Appendicitis, a gastrointestinal bleed—'
'True. But the first thing you exclude in a woman of childbearing age suffering from abdominal pain is ectopic pregnancy,' Zach told her, taking a sip of coffee and dropping into one of the armchairs. 'It's important to assess risk factors to see how likely it is.'
Keely was confused. 'But she told you she couldn't be pregnant so it didn't seem likely. Why didn't you believe her? I think I would have just taken her at her word, and then what would have happened? How did you know, Zach?'
'How did I know?' He gave a sigh and stretched long muscular legs out in front of him. 'Firstly, because she was of childbearing age and her symptoms suggested it. Secondly, because her body language suggested that she wasn't telling the truth—'
'But how did you know that?'
She would have missed it, she knew she would.
He shrugged. 'Experience.'
Keely's shoulders sagged. 'But I wouldn't have pushed her like you did. I don't think I would have had the nerve to do a pregnancy test when she'd told me that she couldn't be pregnant.'
'On the contrary, you handled it very well,' Zach said quietly. 'You spotted instantly that her condition could be serious and you called a senior doctor, which was absolutely the right decision. You were kind and approachable and I suspect that if I hadn't forced her to tell me, she would have eventually confided in you.'
'But you knew what was wrong with her,' Keely said gloomily, 'and I didn't have a clue. I haven't got your instincts.'
'You haven't got my experience,' he corrected her gently. 'There's nothing wrong with your instincts. Your instincts are fine. Stop beating yourself up.'
Their eyes locked and awareness sizzled between them.
With a muttered curse Zach thumped his mug down on the table and stood up abruptly. His broad shoulders tensed and his blue eyes were suddenly wary. 'Keely, we need to talk.'
'Yes.' Her voice was little more than a whisper. 'I suppose we do.'
'At home. It's more private.'
'I thought you were working late tonight?'
'Sean swapped with me,' he said smoothly, 'so that I can be home in time to put Phoebe to bed.'
'But I could have done that,' she protested as he walked over to the sink and put his mug on the draining-board.
'Thanks.' He kept his back to her. 'But I'd rather do it myself. It's one of the things I need to talk to you about.'
In other words, he didn't want her near his daughter.
Keely watched him go and felt more miserable than she ever had in her life. If he was going to those lengths to keep her away from his daughter then it was definitely
time that she moved out.
