She slept, cradled in his arms, warm, secure, safe.
Pippa.
What had he done?
He’d slept with her.
He’d made love with her.
He’d never meant to. She’d been his patient. She was his colleague.
She’d woken in mid-nightmare. He’d come to comfort her and he’d taken her.
Or she’d taken him.
It was her need as well as his. What had happened had been the culmination of a need so basic it was almost past comprehension, past his ability to judge on right and wrong.
Because right now, lying in the dark with Pippa’s naked body curled against him, it felt right. How could there be anything wrong with something that had felt so inevitable?
It didn’t feel like he was holding Pippa. It felt like he was holding a part of himself. If something was to wrench her away right now, it’d hurt like tearing a part of himself away.
He turned his head a little and his face was in her hair. He was smelling the faint clean scent of her. She murmured a little in her sleep, her hand shifted, sought, held. His fingers were entwined in hers.
Pippa.
He was lying in the dark, holding his woman in his arms.
He closed his eyes and a peace he’d never felt before settled over him.
Right or wrong, for now, for this moment, Dr Riley Chase had come home.
CHAPTER SIX
SHE woke and he was gone.
She lay in the filtered dawn light and forced herself to absorb the fact without panic. She was trying to figure where she was, what had happened, what was real and what was dream.
She was naked. The bed smelled of love-making. There was a strong indentation in the pillow crushed beside hers. She rolled over and buried her face in the linen, thinking she could smell him.
She’d made love to Riley Chase.
She’d taken him…
She closed her eyes, letting the sensations of the night before unfold, reveal themselves, sort themselves into some sort of order.
She’d had a nightmare. Riley had come in to comfort her. She’d pulled him to her and she’d made love.
Talk about needy…
She should be mortified to her socks, only she wasn’t wearing socks. She was wearing nothing at all.
It felt excellent.
Her body felt new, like she’d done one of those crazy rebirth things she’d heard about. She smiled a little at that, thinking rebirth. Yes, she could have lain in a foetal position and pretended to be pushed, with a birth coach telling her exactly what to do. Or she could have taken Riley to her. She could have allowed him to take her. She could have woken feeling this…
Excellent.
Though maybe a bit sore. They’d woken during the night and made love again. And again.
She stirred and stretched and smiled. The tangerine of the desert sunrise was calling. Life was calling.
She flung off her bedclothes, headed for the shower, and went to find Riley.
Gerry had passed an excellent night. His leg was looking good and he wanted to leave, but the exceedingly large brace fastened from thigh to ankle was stopping him. Riley wasn’t about to remove it any time soon. Gerry’s wound was large and penetrating, there was access for infection everywhere, and he needed to stay right where he was.
‘The nerves were millimetres away from being severed,’ he told him. ‘And you’re not out of the woods yet.’ No need to mention the two dangers were unrelated. ‘I haven’t saved your leg only to have you come back with gangrene or worse. You’re staying in this bed for a week and we’ll hear no more about it.’
He left the room grinning, and made his way to Amy’s room. His grin faded.
Amy was cradling Baby Riley and she was crying.
‘She won’t feed,’ she said. ‘My boobs hurt, they’re that full, but she won’t feed. I fed her at midnight and she hardly drank anything and now she just wants to sleep.’
‘Hi.’ Pippa was suddenly in the room with them. She was a colleague, Riley told himself, trying hard to greet her as a colleague. But… How could she look so… neat? The last time he’d seen her…
Let’s not go there.
‘Problem?’ Pippa asked, heading for the bed, professional even if he wasn’t. Amy was cradling her baby against her breast. ‘Hey, Baby Riley, who’s a sweetheart?’ She looked at Amy’s swollen breasts, glanced at Amy’s face, and Riley thought she had an instant appreciation of the situation.
‘Who’s a sleepyhead?’ she asked. She stroked the baby’s cheek, the one closest to Amy’s breast, and kept on stroking. The baby turned instinctively in the direction of the stroking. Pippa’s fingers moved slightly, steering the baby’s rosebud mouth. The little lips caught the taste of milk, caught Amy’s nipple and started sucking. Though not with gusto.
‘Keep stroking her cheek,’ Pippa told her. ‘No going to sleep, Baby Riley. You have growing to do.’
‘She wouldn’t… for me,’ Amy said, choking back tears.
‘I suspect she’s a bit jaundiced,’ Riley said, watching her suck. ‘Not badly, but it’s enough to make her sleepy.’
‘What’s jaundice?’
Pippa crossed to the basin and moistened a facecloth. She washed Amy’s face as Riley checked out his namesake. The baby was feeding but not with any energy. He checked her palms, then the soles of her tiny feet. Yesterday they’d been pink. Today there were faint traces of yellow.
Mild jaundice. Early days.
Watch and see, he thought. There wasn’t any need for intervention yet.
But watch and see here?
‘What’s wrong?’ Amy asked, breathless with fear, and Riley uncurled the baby’s fist and showed her.
‘See her palm? The faint yellow tinge is the first sign of jaundice. It’s common in babies. As our body’s red blood cells outlive their purpose, our liver gets rid of them. If they can’t, then we get a build-up of these old cells- the build-up’s called bilirubin. Because Baby Riley’s liver is so small, it’s not doing its job properly. It might take a week or so to adjust.’
‘But she’ll be okay?’
‘She’ll definitely be okay. Sunlight helps. We’ll pop her by the window with just a nappy on-that’s often enough to fix it. The way you’re feeding her now is great. It’ll take a little more encouraging on your part and we need to make sure she’s not getting dehydrated. If she gets any sleepier than she is, we’ll pop her under lights like a sunlamp.’
‘Sister Joyce will?’
‘That’s a problem,’ Riley said evenly, as Pippa rinsed the facecloth and bathed her face again. ‘Amy, jaundice usually shows up before this. If I’d thought Baby Riley might develop it, I’d have asked you to stay on in Whale Cove.’ He met Amy’s gaze square on. ‘I’m sorry, Amy, but you need to come back with us.’
‘To… to the hospital?’
‘That would be best.’
‘But I don’t want to.’ It was a wail.
‘Then we can organise for you to stay in a hotel near the hospital. Amy, if you were living in Whale Cove I’d be saying keep doing what you’re doing, give her a little sunbathe each day, call me if you need me. But I’m a long way away to call.’
Amy’s bottom lip trembled. She really was very young, Riley thought. A child herself.
