Free Patient Nurse by Diana Palmer Page A

shortly. “I’m ordering you to have another checkup, and I warn you that I’m going to request a copy of the report. You’re jeopardizing not only the patients in your care, but your own health by putting this off.”
    She wished that she had a comeback. He was much too perceptive. She knew that it wasn’t on her account that he was concerned. He didn’t want anything to happen to his patients. How amusing, to let herself think for an instant that Dr. Cortero would ever look at her with the tenderness and concern he’d shown to his beloved wife.
    She stared down at her white lace-up shoes. “All right,” she said wearily, tired of fighting the inevitable. “You win.”
    â€œThis isn’t a contest,” he said solemnly.
    â€œIsn’t it?” she asked, her tone weary with pain and defeat. “I’ll get in touch with my doctor.”
    â€œI’m glad you’re willing to see reason.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” she said, looking up at him. “I won’t deliberately jeopardize your patients.”
    He scowled. “That isn’t why…”
    â€œPlease excuse me,” she said formally. “I have a lot to do before I can go off duty.”
    She took the chart and walked to the nurses’ station, without looking back.
    Ramon watched her go with mixed feelings. He was more confused than he’d ever been before.
    Noreen didn’t allow herself to watch him leave the ward. She’d spent so many years eating her heart out for him that she took his contempt for her as a matter of course. If he was concerned for her health, it was only because of his patients, and she’d better remember it. She was far too old for pipe dreams.
    On the other hand, he was right about her condition. She was only delaying the inevitable. She went home and phoned her surgeon in Macon. She arranged to go into the hospital the following week for the surgery.

Chapter Five
    N oreen had a cup of black coffee for breakfast. She had to go to work, but she didn’t know how she was going to make it through another day. She went to the bathroom mirror and looked at her pale, pinched face. The irregular heartbeat was much worse today. Her breath rattled when she breathed, and it was hard to get a decent breath. It was probably just as well that she’d given in on the subject of the valve replacement. She glanced down at the kitten following her and remembered that she was going to have to find someone to keep him while she was away. That would be her first priority today. She refused to think about her finances for the moment.
    She leaned against the sink and lowered her head. It was hard to think straight when she could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, erratic and a little frightening.
    Her surgeon had assured her that it was a fairly simple operation these days, that people had it all the time. She was in good health and a fighter, he knew she’d come through it just fine.
    Of course she would, she told herself. She certainly would. In the back of her mind, she wished that she could have asked Ramon to do it. He was the very best in his field. But she didn’t think he’d consent even if she asked him. He hated her far too much.
    Â 
    She went out the door and everything started going wrong at once. Her car wouldn’t start, not for the first time in memory. She heard the sickening sound of the battery going completely dead, and remembered that the mechanic who’d jumped the car to start it just recently had warned her to replace it. She’d been saving up to do that, hoping it would last just a bit longer. She groaned, checking her watch. She’d have to run to catch the bus and she was already late.
    She locked the car door and slammed it shut angrily, forgetting in her haste that she’d left the keys in it, and her purse. She stared at her bag through the glass with a sense of despair. Her wallet, her credit