Rivals In Practice
When a storm throws a rural New Zealand town into chaos, Dr. Jennifer Tremaine's professional prowess is put under pressure.Understaffed and overworked, she is relieved to see surgeon Andrew Stephenson step into the fray. She and Drew haven't seen each other since medical school, where they were in constant competition. But now things are different, as beneath the rivalry stirs a new sensation….
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“Liam?” Jennifer leaned closer and raised her voice
“Liam? It’s Dr. Jennifer Tremaine. Open your eyes for me.”
“He’s not responsive.” The deep male voice came from the back seat of the car. “Except to painful stimuli.”
Jennifer nodded. Liam’s mouth was closed around the end of the plastic airway.
“Here’s the oxygen.” A mask was passed in beside Jennifer. “It’s running on fifteen liters.”
Jennifer fitted the mask to Liam’s face. As she pulled the elastic strap, her hands brushed the arm of the man still supporting Liam’s head. She glanced up, registering the stranger’s appearance for the first time. She blinked and stared, her jaw dropping. The man smiled without amusement.
“Hello, Jennifer. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Andrew!”
Akaroa has to be one of the prettiest small towns in New Zealand. It’s one of my favorite places to visit because of its beautiful scenery and the distinctive essence that still remains from its French settlement. I’ve wanted to set a story here for a long time, and the fact that Akaroa’s geography lends itself to the potential of being cut off provided a good starting point.
Jennifer Tremaine has excellent reasons for her reluctance to leave Akaroa, and Andrew Stephenson finds his own compelling reasons to stay in such an attractive location. They could be perfect partners in more ways than one, but the circumstances that bring them together could just as easily drive them apart.
Separating a small rural hospital from high-tech backup provides opportunities for challenging situations. The challenges can become even more dramatic when two doctors who spent their training years as fierce rivals are forced to spend time with each other both professionally and personally.
I’m sure you’d love to visit Akaroa. I hope you enjoy Andrew and Jennifer’s story as much as I loved writing it.
With love,
Alison
CONTENTS
THE crack split the airwaves as unnervingly as gunfire.
‘My God, what was that?’ The fear in the woman’s eyes had nothing to do with the reason she was lying on a hospital bed.
Dr Jennifer Tremaine turned away from the window with a reassuring smile. ‘Nobody’s been shot, Liz. It’s just a branch coming down on that old twisted willow by the front gate.’
Elizabeth Bailey settled back onto her pillows reluctantly. ‘Must have been a pretty big branch.’
‘It was. I think some of these wind gusts are getting over a hundred kilometres an hour.’
A nurse smoothed the final piece of clean linen into the bassinet with a satisfied pat. Then she straightened, turning suddenly as a fresh gust of wind rattled the window viciously and sent droplets of water against the glass with enough force to sound like a shower of small pebbles.
‘I thought this was supposed to be the tail end of that southerly storm.’ The nurse, Wendy Granger, peered out of the window. ‘It looks a lot closer to the head end to me.’
‘At least we had plenty of warning. The fishing boats should all be in and they closed the school early.’ Jennifer Tremaine frowned as she picked up the chart lying on the end of Elizabeth’s bed. The small rural community of Akaroa, nestled into a peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand, wasn’t used to winter weather of such severity but preparations had been a focus all day. The young doctor’s immediate concerns were much closer. If she needed back-up for any complications with Elizabeth’s labour, the nearest large centre was Christchurch. Evacuation by air was clearly out of the question already, and even in good weather transport by road took an hour and a half.
‘That branch has blocked the front driveway completely,’ Wendy announced. ‘I hope no one’s been injured.’
‘You and me both.’ Jennifer glanced at her watch. ‘I must ring home. I want to check that the children are all back from school safely.’ She frowned again, her attention still on her watch. ‘It’s over ten minutes since your last contraction, Liz. You’re slowing down again.’
‘Oh, no! Is this going to be another false alarm?’
‘I guess we’ll have to wait and see.’ Jennifer smiled at her patient. ‘One thing’s for sure, we won’t be sending you home in a hurry in this sort of weather. As I explained to you yesterday, the position your baby is in is likely to make the first stage of labour quite a lot longer than usual. The backache you’re getting is the other major disadvantage.’
Liz sighed heavily. ‘Trust Peter’s child to be difficult before it’s even born. Like father, like son—or daughter,’ she added.
‘Have you heard from Peter again?’
‘He rang half an hour ago. The airport at Dunedin is closed because of the weather. There’s no chance of him getting back tonight. I hope it is another false alarm.’
‘How’s your back feeling?’
‘Sore, but no worse than it’s been since I came in yesterday morning. What was it you called the position?’
