PATIENT CARE (Medical Romance) (Doctor Series) by Bobby Hutchinson Page A

unprofessional and unethical of her to read it simply to satisfy her own very personal curiosity.
    She’d have to get the information another way.
    She’d ask Arlene.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    “Burke just turned forty. He’s a Leo. His long-term goal is to be chief of Surgery. He was married once, when he was twenty-six or -seven,” Arlene related later that afternoon, lowering herself into a chair with a sigh and rubbing a hand absently across her burgeoning belly.
    “Lasted eighteen months. She’s an eye surgeon in Victoria. Dr. Anita Malpass. She married again, to a GP. She and the doc didn’t have kids. The word is they were both more interested in their work than they were in each other. He doesn’t date anyone from St. Joe’s, although one of the lab techs saw him walking down Granville one night with a blond bimbo in a miniskirt. Great legs and lotsa hair. He was holding her hand. They went into a vegetarian restaurant. This was six or seven months ago now. Nobody knows who or even if he’s dating at the moment. Many have offered, but none was chosen. All of that’s scuttlebutt. I asked Frank about him, and all he said was that Burke doesn’t eat meat, works out on a treadmill and a weight machine, rides his bike to work every day, and that he’s a pain in the butt about details. But Frank would trust him with his life in the OR. He likes the guy.”
    “Thanks, Arlene.” Melissa felt like a spymaster being briefed by a mole who’d pumped her own husband for secrets. The bulk of the information came from the underground gossip network at St. Joe’s, which was extensive and surprisingly accurate, but because of her position, Melissa was out of the loop. She wondered briefly what was being said about her, but she didn’t dare ask. She had enough to worry over.
    Arlene heaved herself to her feet. “This kid’s got his foot stuck in my ribs. I wish there were some way to get him to move it.”
    “You’ve only got four more weeks to go. You sure you don’t want to take some time off and just relax?” Melissa dreaded being without her, but she also fretted that Arlene was on her feet too much.
    “Not on your life. I’d go snaky at home with nothing to do all day long. Nope, I’m staying right here until my water breaks and the baby crowns. You better get going. You’ve got that meeting with the department heads in ten minutes.” She lumbered out of the office.
    Melissa watched her go, wistfully wondering if the day would ever come when she’d be able to complain of a baby having a foot stuck in her ribs. She wondered, as well, if the gossipmongers at St. Joe’s knew about Nadim Salem, the Egyptian internist Melissa had married in haste and divorced the same way.
    She’d been twenty-three, newly graduated as a nurse. He was an internist at St. Joe’s on an exchange program. She’d known him three weeks, married him and had it annulled two weeks later, a result of Nadim’s making it plain he expected her to quit her job and devote herself to being his wife. She’d suspected that being someone’s wife wasn’t a smart career move.
    Getting Nadim out of her system had involved taking food in, and she’d gained twenty-seven pounds in the next six months. She’d lost confidence; she’d hated the way she looked; she’d mourned the loss of her first real love. It had taken effort and a great deal of self-discipline to regain her slender figure.
    She’d learned from that disaster. She’d vowed never again to let a man disrupt her life, and she never had. Other men had come along, some of whom she’d even thought she loved. Each time, in one form or another, she’d ended up having to choose between them and her career. And her career had always won, hands down. She wondered if it had been the same for James. She guessed it probably had; he was ambitious.
    Chief of Surgery, huh? He’d get her vote. He was well qualified for the position.
    She glanced at her watch and snatched up the notes