Twain could not wait to finish his lecture. Macy had been a total distraction. He'd regretted his instruction to have her in the front row. She was stunning in her evening dress ... sexy as hell, with those dark grey eyes undressing him, the way she so provocatively tugged at the ends of her silky hair, black as midnight. He almost never saw her with make-up on, but tonight her face was lightly made, just enough to accentuate her beautiful eyes and high cheek bones. She was laughing at something Stuart was whispering in her ear. She had the most innocent of laughs. He did not like Stuart's ability to make her laugh so easily. Purposefully he stepped down from the podium and walked straight to Macy's chair.
'I'll take you home,' he asserted, without preamble.
Macy squirmed with embarrassment. 'I got here with Alec,' she reminded him.
'But you're going home with me.'
Macy could see, Twain was not going to allow her to leave with Alec, neither was Alec going to challenge the Chief of Staff, from the subservient look on Alec's face.
Coward!
Macy's eye's glared at Alec accusingly. 'What happened to the late night movie?' Macy whispered close to Alec's ear.
He shifted uncomfortably, 'Not like you would have went with me, Mace, admit it.'
'Dr. Crawford!' Somebody called Twain's attention.
Macy looked up to see a familiar professor, from her days at University.
Macy was incensed when Twain just merrily took her by the elbow and walked towards the professor who had called his name.
'Prof,' Twain smiled good naturedly. 'How are you sir?'
'Fine, fine, young man,' but his smiling eyes were on Macy.
'Prof, let me introduce you to my fiancée, Dr. Macy Skye.'
I am not your bloody fiancée!
Macy tried to remove her hand that was in a steel grip in Twain's, but he was having none of it.
'I may be old, young man, but I never forget a pretty face,' the professor kept his eyes on Macy.
'Hi, Professor Kahn,' Macy greeted.
The professor absently rubbed his thumb and index finger over his chin. 'Skye, ___ pediatrics, if I remember,' he nodded to himself. 'One of my brightest students,' the professor finally met Twain's eyes.
'And she's on staff at Crawford, doing a splendid job,' Twain proudly added.
The professor laughed. 'She was gutsy too, would challenge me for every mark.'
Macy's face coloured brightly.
'She still is,' Twain laughed, possessively draping his arm around her waist.
'I would deliberately mark her down, just to play devil's advocate with her,' the professor smiled in a self-satisfied way.
'You use to do that on purpose!' Macy exclaimed, in astonishment.
The professor laughed heartily. 'It was refreshing, having somebody challenge me. Most students just swallowed what I said as gospel.'
'I don't believe it,' Macy shook her head incredulously.
The professor smiled again, placing his heavy palm on Macy's shoulder. 'You're marrying a fine young man. He's extremely dedicated and hard-working, with a great future ahead of him,' he prophesied.
Macy's eyes travelled slowly to Twain's. He was dedicated and hard working all right, she was not sure about herself "marrying a fine young man."
'Darling, shall we mingle? There's somebody I haven't seen in years,' his eyes held Macy's endearingly.
She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but from the determined look in his eyes, he was going to drag her with him anyway.
Macy was introduced to so many learned members of the medical fraternity. She was amazed that Twain knew such a wide network of intellectuals. Incredibly a large number of them were international guests; names she had only seen credited to medical journals. By the end of that evening, there was no doubt in the room, whatsoever that Macy Skye was Twain Crawford's fiancée.
When Twain escorted her to his car, she got in; strapped her seat belt and turned on Twain.
'Why the hell do you insist on telling people, I am your fiancée? I am not!' Macy spat out angrily.
'Of course you are darling,' he pulled her into his arms, his hold like a steel vice grip, as his mouth hungrily took possession of hers.
'Don't kiss me,' she tried to shove him away, but his rock hard chest did not move an inch.
'I saw the way you were looking at me when I was at the podium Macy, you want me,' he dared her to deny it.
"I don't,' she lied weakly. Her eyes fell to his mouth, so close to hers, her breathing erratic.
Twain laughed victoriously. When Macy's mouth opened to protest, Twain seized the opportunity, his tongue plundering hers. All the fight left her, her body yielded shamelessly. Her arms circled his neck. She participated in the kiss wholeheartedly, relishing their intimacy, as Twain's hand slipped under her dress, caressing her thigh, his thumb sending erotic tremors deep down where she ached most for his possession.
'Twain___,' she whispered passionately, cupping his face tenderly.
'I've wanted to kiss you all night, Macy,' he groaned against her throat.
She cried out when his finger slipped beneath her panties, touching her heat. Her legs parted, she pulled him closer. Hastily his buttons were undone, her fingers sliding over his chest.
'Macy___,' he groaned, guiding her hand to his aroused shaft. 'Come with me to my place,' he pleaded.
'No!' She sobered.
What would his parents think of her, rocking up there just to have sex with Twain?
'You want me Macy,' his finger delved deeper, running riot in her moist centre, his lips worrying at her throat.
Her hand stopped his. 'I know,' she whispered shamefully, 'but your parents ___.'
'My parents?' He laughed. 'What have they got to do with us making love?' His tongue worried at her cleavage.
'Well ___ it's embarrassing,' she pulled his face towards her so she could kiss him.
'I have my own place darling,' he chuckled. 'I don't live with mum and dad.'
'Oh? I thought you stayed there in Hyde Park with them.'
'No,' he smiled, slipping one of her sleeves down, his tongue caressing her breast. 'I own a comfortable estate in Houghton,' he answered modestly. His hand delved into her moistness again, making her tremble with aching need.
'Twain___ she groaned softly. 'What are you doing to me?'
'I want to make love to you Macy, come home with me,' he urged again.'
There was no denying, she wanted him, like her life depended on it. 'Okay___,' she whispered after indulging in a lengthy kiss. 'But you have to take me back home tonight.'
Triumph blazed gloriously in his eyes. 'Okay,' he checked his watch. 'You're not giving me much time,' he protested; as he set her dress right again. He didn't bother re-buttoning his shirt as he tried not to break the speed limit, hastening to his home. He could not wait to remove Macy's dress and have her naked body entwined with his.
Twain grabbed Macy's hand and rushed into his house. 'I only have till midnight,' he groaned, lifting her dress over her head. 'Oh Macy ___ you are so sexy,' he admired her lacy, oyster coloured briefs and tiny waist. Her breasts were hidden by her lacy bra, that matched her panties. He knew her breasts were perfectly beautiful. He'd gloried in them during their trip to Cape Town.
'You're very sexy too,' she smiled, shyly removing his shirt.
'Kiss me,' he demanded, when she just stood there admiring his elegant torso.
Macy obeyed, her hands reached for him, kissing him, Twain pulled her closer,' raking his hands through her hair. It was so silky, so soft.
Macy's hand travelled down, she unzipped him. Her fingers hesitated, nervously.'
'Don't torture me,' he groaned.
'Sorry,' she whispered,' allowing her fingers to dip beneath his boxers.
'Macy,' he groaned. 'I can't wait any longer.
'Yes___ yes,' she whispered.
Macy and Twain both stilled when their cell phones beeped simultaneously. Macy thought it was Parker, dug into her bag and answered it instantly. Twain ever the alert doctor, knew it was the hospital.
Twain and Macy listened to the emergency code, relayed to their phones. There'd been an accident. A school bus on an overnight trip had skidded on a slippery, wet surface. Many of the passengers experienced severe trauma. Macy the pediatrician and Twain the cardiologist/ orthopaedist were urgently needed.
Instinctively Macy was putting her dress back on, Twain re-buttoning his shirt. Macy put a call through to her mother, informing her of the accident.
'I could be all night mum,' she warned her mother.
'Is that Twain I hear?' her mother astutely enquired.
'Yes__,' Macy reluctantly looked at Twain, he was barking instructions to the doctor in charge in the Emergency Room and informing them he would be there within ten minutes. 'Talk to you later mum,' Macy cut the call.
'Ten minutes?' she queried? Surely it would take longer to get to the hospital.
'I'm going to use my emergency lights, Macy' he held the door opened for her. 'Sorry about tonight,' he smiled ruefully.
Secretly, so was she, but she didn't respond as she rushed to Twain's car. Why did she allow Twain to seduce her at every turn? Why couldn't she ever resist him? And just what the hell was she thinking going with him to his home for quickie sex? I am so pathetic! Macy groaned silently.
She forced herself to listen quietly to Twain conversing with the Doctor in charge in E.R. Twain was asking all the questions, she wanted answers to as well. He had his mobile on loud speaker, so she listened attentively as Twain issued more instructions.
From what Macy was hearing, many of the casualties have suffered fractured arms, broken legs. They were going to be busy all night it seemed, as Macy heard the theatre reminding Twain, he was performing surgery on two patients scheduled for the morning.
'Twain,' Macy pleaded, laying a hand on his arm as he drove. 'Please call additional orthopaedic surgeons to assist you,' she pleaded. He would be in theatre until tomorrow evening, if he opted to go it alone.
He smiled, lifting her palm to his lips and kissing it. 'I will, as soon as I assess our requirements. 'You're probably going to be there all night,' he sighed. 'These are all children from a primary school.'
'I'll manage,' she replied confidently. She didn't want to brag to him, that in the not too distant past, she had spent many Friday nights assisting all night long in the emergency room.
It was only when Twain had returned, and she'd discovered that he spent a lot of his time in E.R. that she backed off not wanting to bump into him.
The second they were in the ER, Twain was calling for stats.
'We have two on the very critical list, one with chest trauma,' the doctor in charge stated.
'I need more information than that,' Twain demanded as he scrubbed his hands with the sterilizer.
The doctor cleared his throat. He was a locum doing the night shift on what should have been a hassle free week night.
'Thoracic trauma; sternum and cardiac bruising,' he added, nervous of his first interaction with the Chief of Staff of the Crawford Clinic. 'When the vehicle summersaulted, the front passenger suffered spinal cord injury,' he added. 'His chest was pierced by the debris of the broken windscreen.'
Macy winced when she heard that. 'You have tested the arterial flow?' She prompted, encouragingly.
Twain smiled inwardly at her encouraging support for the locum. She wanted to know if the patient demonstrated symptoms of pain and numbness. Twain had been examining the patient's chest area. He looked up, also interested in the locum's answer.
'Yes,' the locum nodded. There is response, he smiled.
'The chest wall stabilized?' Twain asked, 'identification and treatment of injuries around the chest?'
'Yes,' he nodded again. 'No visible external trauma,' he added.
'Next,' Twain nodded, moving to the next bed.
'This is the driver. He sustained chest laceration, trauma to lung and heart when impact forced his body onto the steering wheel. Also severe trauma to right ankle from being trapped between the brake and accelerator pedals.
Twain listened attentively as he expertly ran his fingers over the head to check for any swelling.
Macy watched in fascination... His hands so gentle. Less than an hour ago, those hands had been expertly causing mayhem over the most intimate part of her body.
Pay attention Macy!
'Vital stats?' Macy asked, praying Twain would not look up and see her flushed face.
'Unstable and decreasing,' the locum answered gravely.
'Do we have an x-ray of the spinal cord?' Twain asked, pressing his stethoscope to the driver's chest.
'Yes sir,' the doctor quickly lifted the film up to the light for Twain's inspection.
'The rest of the passengers?' Twain enquired, relieved that there were just the two critical cases from the accident.
The doctor proceeded to the next patient. 'Fractured sternum due to seat belt injury. The patient is in extreme pain. Front and side X-rays don't show any additional injuries. We've administered mechanical ventilation.'
'Let's monitor her heart function with electrocardiogram,' Macy suggested.
'Agreed,' Twain nodded after examining the chest. Twain moved to the next bed. He was impressed with the locum's excellent management of the accident victims.
'This next patient has trauma to the tibia.'
'Do we have complete medical history; prior fractures; neoplasia?' Macy asked, examining the extent of trauma to the leg.
'Yes,' he tapped the file on the patient trolley.
'Has the patient complained of decreased range of motion at the knee?' Macy established.
Macy saw the locum hesitate. 'I want a MRI done please,' Macy scribbled into the patient file. He probably looked at the film radiographs only, and those will not pick up stress fractures until after eight weeks.
'Hi. I'm Dr. Skye,' Macy smiled at the young boy who was looking at her solemnly. 'I'm going to fix you up, okay,' she patted his head gently.
'Is my mummy coming?' Tears filled in the young boys eyes.
Macy looked up at the doctor, he nodded. 'Yes, sweetheart. She's on her way.'
'Let's move on,' Twain hurried Macy. She nodded, understanding Twain's urgency. Whilst the little boy had injuries and was able to talk, Twain needed to attend to the driver and front passenger in theatre. The locum started speaking again.
'Five rear passengers have whiplash.' Another two sustained minor radii fractures, one elbow subluxation and the rest of the passengers have very minor lacerations. Some in shock.'
'You've done well,' Twain patted the locum on the shoulder.
'Thank you sir,' he suddenly felt a burst of self-confidence.
'Twain, you take the driver and the front passenger,' Macy suggested, formality forgotten due to the urgent need for division of labour.
'We already have the critical team on standby, in theatre for you sir. The front passenger is prepped.'
'Macy, I can't leave you alone to attend more than fifteen causalities.'
'Two standby doctors are on their way as we speak,' the locum informed Twain.
'Is orthopaedics on standby for us?' Macy asked.
'Yes,' the locum hauled out his mobile. 'I'll just confirm.'
Macy pulled Twain aside. 'I can manage the rest,' she murmured. 'The rest of the trauma cases are minor enough for me to handle. You're probably going to be in theatre for the next six hours,' she reminded him.
He knew she was correct. 'Okay, call for more standbys if needed,' Twain instructed as he prepared to don his theatre garb.
They were separated as Twain rushed into theatre and Macy began methodically working through her caseload, starting with the most severe and going to the least serious cases.
The little boy with the tibia fracture touched Macy's heart. He seemed the youngest of the lot, probably six years old. His eyes followed her as she expertly attended to each of the injured learners. Macy had attended to the five most serious of her case load, when she set up a station next to the little boy and had the rest of the patient's beds, brought to her temporary station. In between patients she spoke to him, told him of the results of the tests she'd done, when his mum rushed in, her face distraught, covered in tears, the little boy's beaming smile, brought relief to the mum's face.
It was four a.m. after the gruelling session in E.R. Macy was dead on her feet. All she longed for was her bed. She was also on duty this morning in the Outpatients.
Twain was still busy. He was amazing to watch...so calming to be around. He not only gently pacified all the traumatized kids, but he was amazing with his trauma unit staff. She thought he would be this high handed dictator, but he was so encouraging to all his junior staff, he built their confidence and encouragingly stood behind their shoulders, supporting and complimenting their good work. She secretly wished, he'd come to her and compliment her "good work."
But they'd split the tasks, he was seeing the severe trauma cases in theatre and Macy was allocated the less critical cases, even though she had a higher workload, Macy was done before Twain was. Macy was contemplating calling a cab, when she heard Twain's voice behind her.
'You should go home,' he murmured in her ear.
'You're done?' she was happy to see him, but banked her feelings.
'No,' he sighed. I have two more surgeries. He looked at his watch. I'm probably going to be in there another three hours. The team's just prepping the next patient.'
That meant it was going to be a new day, new shift, before he was done. She looked up into his face. He looked tired. She wanted to hug him. Macy hated that green theatre garb, but Twain looked gorgeous in them. She quickly averted her eyes.
'I want you to take my car home?'
'What ___no!'
'Macy, I insist. You've been working like a horse, non-stop.'
'What about you? And you're not done yet!'
'I have a dedicated team of six people, supporting me. You've been working alone with two nurses!' He lowered his head, conspirationally, ' although I must concede, they supported you like real trauma unit pros,' he smiled proudly.
Macy smiled back. 'I'm sure they'd love to hear that acknowledgment from you, personally, Dr. Crawford,' she playfully tugged his theatre jacket.
'My keys are in my pocket, fish them out,' he grinned.
'Twain no! I'm not putting my hand inside your pants,' she looked around uncomfortably, and sure enough, they were getting some curious glances. It was a blessing, Nurse Julia was not on duty.
'Oh,' his eyes mocked. 'And what were you doing when our phones went off?'
Macy went scarlet. 'That was different,' she mumbled. 'I can't believe you went there.'
Twain threw his head back and laughed. 'Macy, I've got gloves on,' he lifted his hands in the air, turning to his side, so she would not be embarrassed to remove his keys from his pocket. 'Go on,' he prompted.
Still Macy hesitated. 'I'll catch a cab,' she pleaded. 'You're going to need your car to get home.'
'Macy get the keys!' he instructed.
'You should have allowed me to go home with Alec,' she gritted her teeth.
'I can't deny, our rendezvous in the car was scintillating,' he grinned wickedly.
'Why you____.'
'We're ready for you, Dr. Crawford,' a theatre nurse arrived just in time to save Twain from Macy's assault. He laughed heartily.
'Come here Nurse Casey,' Twain angled his body, making it easy for the nurse, to retrieve the keys from his pocket. 'Remove my keys from my pocket and hand them to Dr. Skye please.'
'Sure, Dr. Crawford,' the nurse dipped her hand in, and had the keys out in a jiffy. Though there was a frown on her brows, wondering why Dr. Skye was going to drive the Chief of Staff's car.
'Thank you,' Macy murmured to the nurse. 'Call me when you're done, I will pick you up.' she informed Twain.
'I want you to go to bed,' he instructed. 'I know you were on call in O.D. I've arranged for a replacement, to stand in for you.'
'You should not have done that,' Macy argued.
'I'm the Chief of Staff,' he winked. 'I just did. Now go,' he instructed softly, 'before I kiss you in front of Nurse Casey.'
Macy moved as fast as lightning. 'Bye,' she threw over her shoulder and heard Twain's laughter ring out loudly.
Though she was an excellent driver, Macy was extra careful as she drove Twain's car. It was superfast, more like a racing car. It drove beautifully. Macy was sure, Parker would be in his element, if he could see the car, but she was determined to work her shift this morning. She would have a quick one hour power nap and head back with Twain's car. She would buzz Alec to give her a ride home.
As she drove home, Macy was admonishing herself to stay away from Twain. How though, when he was constantly in her face? How could she resist him when every nerve, every cell in her body came alive, just at the sight of him? And why should she resist him, when she wanted him, as much as he wanted her.
Macy slipped in quietly and tip-toed into Parker's room. She smiled, kissed his cheek and murmured a loving greeting to him. He tried mumbling a respond, but was too deep asleep.
Two hours later, after a quick shower, Macy tip-toed out again before her mum or Parker could awake and see Twain's car. She left a note for her mum that she'd be home by noon. Macy felt well rested to be productive for the morning. She wondered if Twain was still in theatre or had he managed to go home and get some rest, she hoped that he had.
When Macy went up to Twain's office to drop his keys of, she got the usual hostile reception from Carla, his secretary.
'Please make an appointment, Dr. Skye,' Carla instructed. 'Dr. Crawford is not in.'
'I don't need one,' Macy informed her. 'Please hand this to Dr. Crawford.'
'What are you doing with his keys,' she demanded accusingly.
Macy found the temptation to be honest irresistible and informed Carla smugly, 'I was at his home when we received the emergency code last night. We drove back here together.'
Macy did not wait to hear Carla respond. Instead she dropped the keys on the desk and strolled out, leaving Twain's secretary, speechless with her jaws dropped.
-end chapter fourteen-