Nurse In The Outback

Her uncle smiled broadly. ‘I’d like you to meet Grant Kershaw, Kate. He’s one of our rising stars and, though I hate to admit it, my most likely successor! Grant—my niece Kate Carpenter.’

‘How do you do, Miss Carpenter?’ he said formally, extending his hand and clasping her own.

So he was not going to acknowledge their earlier meeting, thought Kate angrily. And no wonder, since he behaved so rudely towards her. Well, two can play at your silly games, Mr. Kershaw! she thought doggedly.

‘Very well, thank you,’ she answered coolly as she sat down in the chair he’d pulled out for her. ‘Enjoying both the Australian sun and the warm hospitality of its people.’ She smiled at him politely and he winced slightly.

‘How was the party, darling?’ enquired her aunt as she handed her a cup of coffee. ‘I’m suprised that you didn’t run into each other.’

‘It was a bit of a crush, Auntie. I spent most of the time chatting to Paul and Joanne. Actually, I’m feeling quite tired, so I think I’ll turn in soon, if you don’t mind.’

‘You do that, Katie,’ replied her aunt. ‘Make the most of the last few days of your holiday!’ She turned and smiled at Grant. ‘I’m glad that you’ve met each other, though. At least you’ll know one person in Port Dampland, Kate.’

Kate saw him start while she herself grew hot. She noticed that he was avoiding her eyes.

‘Grant is doing a year as Surgeon-in-Charge at Port Dampland Hospital,’ her aunt explained. ‘Kate is a theatre nurse, Grant, and starts at Dampland Hospital next week. I expect you’ll be working together quite often.’

‘I expect we will, Mrs. Saunders, and I shall look forward to it.’ He smiled evenly at his hostess.

How disgustingly obsequious! thought Kate. Now that he knew she was related to his boss, his earlier rudeness had been replaced by charm itself. He obviously thought he could behave just how the mood took him, where women were concerned. Well, he wouldn’t find her so easily manipulated!

‘I’m going up to Dampland myself tommorrow,’ continued the surgeon. ‘I’ll be travelling in a converted jeep, and spend a couple of days getting there. It’s a marvellous opportunity to see the Australian bush. If you’d care to come along, Kate, there’s plenty of room, and I should be a most willing guide. That is, if your uncle approves of the arrangement.’

‘Good heavens, yes, Grant,’ answered her uncle. ‘I’m sure Kate would have a wonderful time and is perfectly capable of looking after herself.’

‘How very thoughtful of you to make such a kind offer,’ said Kate stiffly. ‘Thank you very much, but I intended to fly, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m picking up my ticket tomorrow, actually.’ She looked directly at Grant Kershaw.

‘Look here,’ he appealed, ‘that’s easily changed. Do come!’ He sounded as though he meant it.

Perhaps he was feeling guilty, and so he should be, she thought. His behaviour earlier had been quite unwarranted. No doubt he was used to changing women’s minds . . . but Kate could be stubborn.

And, if she were being entirely honest, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to spend two days in close confinement with such a dangerous man. She lifted her chin.

‘Thanks again, Mr. Kershaw,’ she replied, trying to sound as indifferent as possible, ‘but I really do enjoy flying, and my mind is made up. Now if you’ll excuse me.’

She turned to kiss her uncle and aunt goodnight, but not before she had seen his lips tighten in anger. He obviously wasn’t used to having his wishes thwarted! she thought gleefully.

Her goodnights said, she picked up the black silk shawl which she had slung across the back of one of the garden chairs and walked slowly towards the house. She sensed his eyes on her and looking casually over her shoulder, saw that she had perceived correctly. He looked furious too!

As she showered later, Kate puzzled at the unpredictable nature of sexual chemistry. She had quite definitely felt a strong pull towards the lofty surgeon she had met twice that evening, yet the man was a complete stranger and a condescending one, moreover.

On the other hand, she had gone out with Ben for over two years and sometimes they had seemed more like brother and sister.

That was probably the root of all the trouble, she thought as she rubbed shampoo into her hair. They had known each other since schooldays, when Ben used to see the young Kate safely home. Their parents even played tennis and bridge together in the sleepy Surrey village. Then Ben had gone away to study law and Kate had stayed behind to do her ‘A’ levels.

They had met up again in London where Kate was doing nursing training and Ben was reading for the bar, and had slipped into being girlfriend and boyfriend. All their friends had been so pleased, and had said what a perfect couple they made. Both sets of parents were delighted. Everything seemed so cosy and familiar. There had been talk of an engagement, and Kate had been mulling over her answer.

If she hadn’t decided to pay a surprise visit to Ben’s London flat, she might never have discovered him, in what she believed was known as a compromising situation, with a young redheaded secretary from his chambers.

It had been unbelievably sordid. And to her astonishment, Ben had seemed to imagine that she would forgive this one lapse on his part. As she towelled her hair dry, she remembered the rather bovine look of dismay on his face when she told him that the relationship was over and that she was going to Australia to forget.

She climbed in between the cool sheets and switched off the light. She lay in the darkness and watched the moon cast strange shadows on the ceiling.

She wasn’t going to think of Ben and she certainly wasn’t going to start thinking about Grant Kershaw. She wanted work to have a cathartic effect, leaving her at peace.

She hoped sleep would come quickly tonight. She badly wanted Monday to come.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_28b97d08-ab11-56d1-bb35-efcfc6985312)

‘THE HEAT hit Kate the moment she stepped from the aircraft. It was like a solid wall, and it made her gasp as it entered her lungs.

She managed to look cool and composed in an ice-pink cotton sun-dress with matching sandals. Her hair lay in a single plait down her back, woven with ribbon of the same pink as the dress.

Inside, however her stomach was churning. The flight from Perth to Port Dampland had been awful. She realised now that she should never have flown in the middle of the afternoon, when the fierce heat of the sun over the mountain ranges had created severe turbulence that, at times, had made her believe she had parted company with her stomach.

She reached the bottom of the aircraft steps and surveyed the scene around her. It was some of the most dramatic terrain she had ever seen. The earth was coloured a deep, dusty red and it seemed to stretch into infinity.

Behind a fence which bordered the runway stood a small wooden building whose front bore the legend ‘Dampland Airport’. The interior of the building awaited Kate with all its air conditioned coolness, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she handed her papers to the burly official.

‘G’day, love,’ he smiled as he extended the familiar Australian greeting. ‘Where are you headed?’

‘I start work at Dampland Hospital tomorrow. I’m a nurse,’ explained Kate.

‘A nurse, are you? Then you’ll be wanting Barney Ferguson. He’s the hospital porter, driver and almost anything else you can think of! He’s in his ute over there.’ He pointed out of the window to where an extraordinary vehicle sat parked on the side of the dusty road.

It was the size of a car and had a cab at the front with two seats. There, however, the resemblance ended, for the back consisted of a small trailer on wheels which contained a dusty fridge and, incongruously enough, a selection of plastic watering cans! The ute was coloured a vivid scarlet, and lovingly polished.

As Kate walked towards what she later learned was fondly called ‘Beaut’, its owner jumped out from behind the driving wheel and advanced towards her grinning from ear to ear.

Barney Ferguson was of indeterminate age, but although Kate hazarded a guess at around fifty, she wouldn’t have been at all suprised to hear that he was, in fact, almost seventy. He had periwinkle blue eyes in a creased face, tanned dark by the sun.

He doffed a battered old straw hat and took Kate’s one suitcase, placing it carefully in the back of the ute.

‘G’day, miss,’ he said, and shook her hand warmly. ‘Is that all the luggage you’ve got?’

‘Oh no,’ replied Kate, as she climbed into the passenger seat and fastened her seat belt. ‘But I decided to wait and see what I really needed. My uncle and aunt live in Perth, so they can send the rest of my clothes down later.’

‘Good thinking,’ said the old man as he placed the key in the ignition. He started up the car, and drove off from the tiny airport in a cloud of dust.

‘Welcome to Port Dampland!’ he exclaimed, and waved one hand expressively at the window.

The stark landscape had a beauty all of its own, Kate decided. Here and there, the harshness of the scene was broken by vivid green clumps of soft feathery-looking grass.

‘That grass,’ said Barney, who had noticed her interest, ‘is spinifex. Don’t park yourself anywhere near it—it’s spikier than a porcupine’s back!’

‘I’ll try to remember,’ laughed Kate, leaning back and closing her eyes as the warm air blew in through the window.

Some five or so miles on, the homogeneity of the tableau was broken by the appearance of a long, low building, glittering in the distance.