‘What…what sort of a doctor?’ she asked cautiously, and for the first time she saw a glimmer of a smile touch Niall Mountmarche’s face.
‘Not a doctor of philosophy,’ he reassured her. ‘Or of basket-weaving, for that matter. A people doctor. Doctor of medicine with a piece of paper from London University to prove it.’
‘An English doctor!’
‘I’ll confess I’m an English doctor,’ he agreed. ‘Does that make me less qualified?’ The smile deepened. ‘You colonials really are getting uppity.’ Then Niall looked down at the dog on Jessie’s lap and the smile faded. ‘Enough. We’re wasting time: Let’s get this trap off and move him. Is your car near the gate on the ridge?’
‘Yes.’ Jessie’s mind was working at a hundred miles an hour. ‘But…’
‘But what?’ Niall had risen and was standing over girl and dog, looking down. ‘Now what, Dr Harvey?’
‘You really are a doctor…?’
‘I really am.’ Once more that glimmer of a smile. The Ogre took a giant step back, to be replaced by someone altogether more human.
‘Then…’ Jessie hesitated. ‘My car is fifteen minutes’ walk-more if we’re carrying Harry without jolting him. I don’t want to remove the trap until I have Harry under anaesthetic. It may bleed like crazy and I’ll have to work fast. But I don’t want him carried far with the trap in place. Do you have a car at your home?’
‘Yes.’ His face had lost expression.
‘Then can we take him to your place?’
‘You mean you want me to drive him to your clinic? Is that what you’re suggesting?’
Jessie took a deep breath. She glanced down at Harry and the very limpness of his body strengthened her resolution. The Mountmarche house-and Niall Mountmarche’s car-was a few minutes’ walk away. Taking Harry to Jessie’s car meant a rough fifteen minute walk with the trap in place-or taking the trap off now and risking further bleeding.
And if Niall Mountmarche could give the anaesthetic then the dog had a chance!
‘Yes,’ she said firmly. ‘If we carry him together then we can move him with little jolting to the pad.’
Niall’s smile had faded once more, gone as if it had never been. ‘I don’t like strangers at my house,’ he said shortly, and Jessie flinched at the coldness of his words.
Back cometh the ogre…
‘I thought I introduced myself,’ she made herself say, replacing his smile with one of her own. ‘That makes me not a stranger, Dr Niall Mountmarche.’
She was fighting here. For Harry…
For a moment she expected a stinging rebuff. He wanted to give her one-she could tell.
Then Niall looked down again at the dog in Jessie’s arms and his look softened. If he was fighting a war then he was losing. Somewhere inside was a soft core.
‘I guess you’re not,’ he said slowly and in his voice was a small note of discovery. ‘Well, Dr Harvey. If you’re not a stranger then I suggest you act like a medical colleague. And we’ve got a job to do. So let’s get on with it.’
He stooped and took the dog from her as though the creature was weightless and, as Jessie supported the trapped pad, Niall swung Harry gently up to lie cradled against his body.
The impression of a man of compassion was stirring and beginning to grow. Jessie looked up at man and dog- and there was something else stirring within that she didn’t want to think about.
Niall Mountmarche met her look and his eyes widened.
It was as if he’d read her thoughts.
As if there was some sort of communication channel between them that needed no words. That was beyond words…
She was being ridiculous.
With a mammoth effort Jessie tore her eyes away, made sure Niall’s hand was supporting the injured pad and then turned to find her bag.
‘Let…let’s go, then, Dr Mountmarche,’ she said unsteadily and fumbled in the undergrowth for her belongings.
‘Let’s go.’ Niall Mountmarche repeated and by his words Jessie knew that she wasn’t imagining it.
Whatever she was feeling, Niall Mountmarche was feeling it too.
They didn’t talk on the walk to the house.
Jessie walked swiftly beside Niall, struggling to keep up with his long strides, support the trap and watch the big dog’s pain-dulled eyes at the same time. He was so far gone. At any moment she expected to see those big eyes glaze over…
The Mountmarche house was three minutes’ walk along the creek bed. It was a ramshackle old homestead, grand in its day but long fallen into disrepair. Jessie had expected the house to be deserted but as they neared the house she stared in astonishment as a man emerged from the back door.
The man was elderly, wiry and wrinkled to almost prune-like appearance. He looked like a man who’d spent his life in the sun. Like he’d been dried in the sun…
‘What the…?’ The elderly man stopped short as he caught sight of the group emerging from the bushland. His hand rose to scratch his bald head in a gesture of bewilderment. ‘What’ve you got there, Doc?’
Doc…So Niall really was…
‘An injured dog,’ Niall said brusquely. He motioned with his head to Jessie by his side. ‘Hugo, this is Jessica Harvey, the local vet. The dog’s been caught in a trap, Hugo. Can you bring the Range Rover round before Paige sees us?’
She’d already seen. There was someone else emerging from the house behind Hugo.
‘Daddy…’ The word was a cry of shock.
Niall’s face changed. He faced the door of the house like a man expecting trouble.
‘Paige…’
A tiny, elfin-like creature was limping into the doorway.
She was maybe five or six-no more-with a body that was thin to the point of malnourishment. The child’s white-gold hair was tied with a red ribbon that only added to her paleness and her eyes were huge in her pinched, wan face.
The little girl’s body swayed a little as though she was unused to the crutches she was using for support. Both her stick-like legs were encased in callipers-iron frames that seemed too big for her tiny body.
‘Daddy…’ It was both an accusation and a cry of pain and Jessie saw Niall Mountmarche flinch like a man struck.
Silence stretched out. There was something going on here that Jessie had no idea of.
All she could do was to stand and wait.
And watch…
Finally, Niall seemed to come to a decision. He gently moved Harry in his arms so that he and not Jessie was supporting the injured pad. Then he carried the dog over to where Paige stood, stooping so that the child could see the injured animal.
‘Paige, I know I promised you no one would come,’ Niall said softly, and his voice reminded Jessie of the tone she used with wild creatures. ‘I promised it would be just you and Hugo and I. But this is Harry. He’s a three-year- old Border collie and his leg’s been caught in a rabbit trap. You can see that he’s dreadfully hurt.
‘Now, this lady is Dr Harvey and she’s the local vet. She’s been searching for Harry. If it’s OK with you I’m going to drive Dr Harvey and Harry down to the veterinary clinic and help her operate on Harry-but if 1 keep my promise to you and keep us completely to ourselves then I can’t help and Harry might die. It’s up to you, Paige.’
What on earth was he doing? Jessie looked from man to child in bewilderment.
The child was obviously almost as confused as Jessie. She looked from Jessie to the dog in her father’s arms and then back to Jessie. Her eyes didn’t trust Jessie one inch.
‘She’s…she’s a dog doctor?’ The voice was trembling.
‘Dr Harvey’s a dog doctor.’
The little girl looked down at Harry and her hand went out in involuntary compassion.
‘He’s…The doggie’s hurting.’
‘Yes, Paige,’ Niall told her, still in that low, gentle tone, as if expecting the child to turn and run. ‘He’s hurting badly. You can see that.’
