Outback Thunder (11 page)

"Dr. Bob,
you're
shtill
here?"

"Can't get
rid of me that easily. Nice slur you have there." He lifted his head and
spoke to Jonas. "Knocked unconscious was she?"

"Yes for at
least three to five minutes." He hovered at the end of the bed watching as
the town’s favorite doctor gave Zoe's vitals a quick check.

He held his breath
when Dr. Bob peeled away the blood soaked bandage from her head. "Hmm,
nasty cut there, Zoe. A couple of stitches I'm afraid. Shouldn't leave too much
of a scar though. Bleed a lot, these head wounds, but not always that serious.
On a scale on one to ten, what do you think your pain is?"

Zoe moistened her
lips and looked at him.

"Don't try
and be brave, kid. You are going to have the worst headache for a few
days."

"I want to
throw up it’s so painful. Maybe a seven or eight."

"She did
throw up, Doc so I figured it's pretty bad." Jonas shook his head at her.

"I'll get you
something for the pain. Back in a jiffy."

Her eyes flew open
and a look of panic filled her face. Jonas reached past the doctor as she tried
to sit up.

"Settle down,
Zoe. I'll stay with you."

"You still
haven't outgrown those panic attacks, I see." Dr. Bob nodded to them.
"Just give me a minute and I'll get a suture tray too and you can sit
beside the bed to keep her calm Jonas."

The doctor bustled
out past the curtain and Jonas leaned down to wrap his arms around her
shoulders. "It's okay... just a couple of stitches and I promise I won't
let you go. You can watch me while he does it, okay?"

Her eyes were wild
and frightened but she nodded her head and gripped onto his hands, her
fingernails digging into his skin.

He eased her back
down on the pillow and hooked a chair with his foot to sit on so he was at eye
level with her. He kept her hands tightly in his and slowly she relaxed and
closed her eyes again.

Zoe startled when
the curtain was swept aside and the doctor came in rolling a cart with him. The
same nurse from reception followed close behind. Jonas narrowed his eyes. It
was Lucy Carmichael, the girl that broke them apart.

How much worse
could today get?

He hoped that Zoe
didn't recognize her. He cringed when she withdrew her hands from his and her
breathing picked up a notch. She had seen her.

"Let me give
you some pain relief, dear girl," Dr. Bob said. He withdrew a syringe from
the drawer in the cart and took a vial from the dish on top. Checking it with
the nurse against the chart, he inserted the needle and filled the syringe.
"Not allergic to morphine from memory are you, Zoe?"

"N...no."

Doc leaned over
and lifted her shirt to swab her stomach. "This is best in the stomach
muscles as I'm sure your remember me telling you last time you came to grief on
the farm. Just a little sting."

Zoe cursed when
the doctor plunged the needle into her stomach, the look on her face one of
horror when her gaze met Jonas.

"You know
it's for the best, Zoe. You can't sport a headache like that." He grabbed
her hands again and held them tight when she tried to pull away.

The doctor got the
sutures ready and turned her head to Jonas so he could clean her brow. The
nurse handed him a green cloth which he put over Zoe's face leaving the wound
visible in a small patch. Jonas peeked under the cloth, making eye contact with
her.

"Don't move
and you will be fine." Her warm breath rolled over his face and he rested his
chin on their twined fingers.

"I'm going to
put in some local now, Zoe. Don't move," Dr. Bob said.

She closed her
eyes and gripped Jonas' hand tightly. He ignored that she had just dished him
two minutes ago.

She kicked the end
of the bed with her boots to let everyone know how much it stung.

"Sorry, it's
not the nicest thing and I wouldn't bother for one stitch but you probably need
a few in that cut."

They both stayed
under the cloth with their gazes locked on each other while the doctor worked
sewing her up. He wanted to speak to her, tell her it was going to work out
between them if she would just give them a chance but with Lucy in the room it
just wasn't possible. With any luck he would get the chance to talk to her
later when they were alone.

The doctor took
the cloth from Zoe's face and smiled down at her. "I know you are going to
fight this but I want you to stay in overnight." He held up his hand when
she started to protest. "It is for your own good. You've taken a serious
hit to the skull, my dear girl and you were knocked unconscious. Twenty-four
hours observation and you can go home." He helped her sit up and watched
her skin pale and she swayed. "Don't feel so good do you?"

Using a gently
hand the doctor pushed her back to lay her head on the pillow. "Nurse will
call up to the ward and get you a bed for the night. I'll see you back here in
the morning and if you have a good night you can go home then."

He smiled gently
at Zoe, wrote a note on her chart and left the room.

Lucy came closer
to the bed and Zoe all but growled at her.

"Um, I'll
just go and call up to the ward. Won't be long."

She turned and
scuttled away.

"Oh sorry
Jonas. Maybe you wanted to speak to her," Zoe said in the sarcastic voice
Jonas was so used too. She scowled at him but Jonas saw the look of dejection
on her face.

"No and that
is something we will sort out when you are feeling better. This has gone on way
too long."

Zoe closed her
eyes and signaled the end of the discussion.

He held her hand
until Lucy came back with an orderly pushing a wheelchair.

"Your chariot
has arrived, madam," he said angling it to help her from the bed.

She let the
orderly take her arm and help her down. Lucy was standing ready to help but
backed off when she saw the look in Zoe's eyes. Jonas stepped in and took the
bulk of her weight. When she was settled he followed as the orderly pushed her
down the corridor to the ward.

"Here you
are, madam, your room is ready."

Another nurse
arrived to help Zoe out of her dirty blood soaked clothes and into a hospital
gown before tucking her into bed. By the time they had her settled a film of
sweat was moistening her top lip and her skin was pasty white. She lay back on
the pillow and Jonas pulled the chair close to the bed. He sat down and clasped
her hand in his.

"Sleep, Zoe.
I'm not going anywhere."

"Sir, you
can't stay here after visiting hours but you can come back tomorrow," the
nurse said as she tucked the sheets in.

"I'm not
leaving her, so deal with it."

"I'll have to
speak to the nurse manager about that, sir. It's not hospital policy to have
family stay overnight unless we are dealing with children." She grabbed
Zoe's chart and holding it to her chest, left the room.

"Don't go
upsetting everyone, Jonas. I'll be fine," Zoe said her voice soft.

"Sleep, baby,
I'll be here when you wake up. I can deal with a couple of nurses."

Her lips curved in
a small smile and Jonas watched her fall asleep her fingers twined with his.

Zoe tried to open
her eyes and winced. Her head was throbbing like she had the worst hangover. It
took her a few minutes to remember what happened and where she was. She lifted
her lids just a tiny bit and sighed. She had it right. Bloody hell, in hospital
again, the bane of her childhood. She had spent too many days here as a
youngster because she was so damned accident prone. One of the joys of living
on the farm had been very few limits and she always managed to do something
requiring stitches or masses of bandages or the occasional plaster cast.

It was lucky Lilly
hadn't inherited her skill of being accident prone. When she was a baby Zoe had
panicked every time her baby had fallen over. She was so overprotective of the
tiny little girl that even her friends had remarked on it.

When Lilly was
three, she had been running away from Zoe on a visit to the zoo. She was
laughing and heading toward the monkey enclosure when she had turned to her
mother to call out and missed the edge of the footpath.

The screams had
wrenched at Zoe's heart. The blood had poured from the cut in her chin and Zoe
had panicked. She sat on the ground with a screaming child in her arms and
sobbed wishing she had someone to help her. Sitting with Lilly in the waiting
room in hospital, Zoe had cursed Jonas
. "If you only knew what you were
missing out on Jonas. I wish I could tell you, I need some help here. Lilly
needs her father."

But they had coped
without him and once they were home the thought of contacting Jonas had fled
her mind. Zoe couldn't bear the thought of rejection if she gave in and told
him. Best to leave well enough alone. Luckily it had been the only time her
little girl had needed to visit the hospital. She managed to get through her
early years with nothing more than the occasional scraped knee.

Now Lilly was at
school and Zoe was the one in hospital. She choked back a sob.

Tears filled Zoe's
eyes thinking about her little girl in boarding school without her mother there
for support. She brushed away the tears before they could fall. Soon she would
be back in London, no matter what Jonas said. Her daughter was more important
than any block of dirt and although it was the place where they had grown up,
Zoe would have no hesitation in signing it over to Brandon if that was what the
board would allow. She needed to be home with her baby girl.

 Her fingers were
numb and gingerly she looked down at her other hand. It was clasped tight in
Jonas's palm. There was no hope of withdrawing it because he had an iron grip
on it. Zoe's heart leapt as the memories came back to her. He had driven like a
madman in his beautiful car over the dirt roads and ruts that shook his car to
get her to the hospital. She dreaded to see what it looked like now.

The idiot. The
very sweet idiot.

Fuck, no. That
bitch worked here, I do remember that much. She was in emergency when I came
in.

Zoe ripped her
hand from Jonas's pushing his from the bed. A sob escaped her lips before she
could swallow it back.

"Zoe? Baby,
what is it?" Jonas looked at her with panic in his eyes as he surfaced
from a deep sleep. "Are you okay? Can I get you something?" He rubbed
his face and stood up reaching for her hand again.

"I want to go
home. Please take me home, Jonas. I need to get out of here."

"Do you feel
okay?" He glanced at her face, stroking a finger down her cheek steering
clear of the bandaged side of her head.

"She’s here
and I want to go home."

"Honey, she
probably isn't even on duty this morning."

"I don't care
if I'm being irrational, okay. Just get me the fuck out of here now or I will
walk out myself." Zoe threw back the blankets ready to get up.

Jonas pushed her
back on the pillow and held her down by her shoulders. The feel of his hands
seared her skin and the heat rushed up her face. She gazed up at his beautiful
face and sighed. If she could have shut the door now Zoe would have done it.
Locked away in their own room she would be very tempted to tease him until he
took her if she didn't pin him down first, even with that bitch out there.

"No Zoe, not
here," he said locking gazes with her. They could read each other so well
sometimes it embarrassed her.

Like now.

 "Promise me
you will stay in bed and I'll go get Dr. Bob. If he says you can go I'll take
you home in a flash."

"Okay."
She licked her lips and relaxed against the pillows fighting to suppress the
heat pooling between her thighs.

Jonas looked at
her with his eyebrow quirked before nodding and walking out of the room.

Zoe wiped a hand
tentatively over her brow.

Holy shit. I'm
ready to jump him here and now. What is wrong with me?

The door opened
and Lucy stood at the door, her eyes skittering between Zoe and the floor.

"Um, do you
mind if I come in for a minute?"

"Yes I
do."

Lucy stepped in
and let the door close behind her. She clasped her hands behind her back and
took a few steps closer to stand at the foot of the bed. "I should have
come to you sooner but the moment never seemed to be right."

"It's not
now, so I would prefer it if you hiked your ass out of my room."

"No, I have
to say this Zoe. That night you caught me in your special place with Jonas,
well it wasn't what it looked like."

"Really. It
looked pretty fucking obvious to me. You half naked and he was wrapped around
you with his tongue down your throat."