Despite her best intentions, Libby found her eyes drawn to his mouth.

Being kissed by Andreas had been a totally new experience and for a moment she was lost, remembering.

‘Libby?’ His voice prompted her gently and she gave a start and her eyes flew to his, registering the gleam of amusement.

Damn.

He’d caught her staring.

She backed away, totally flustered. ‘I’ll get back to Rachel.’

His smile widened. ‘Fine. Call me if you’re worried.’

Trying to steady her thundering pulse rate, Libby turned and walked away from him, wondering how on earth she was supposed to get any work done with him smiling at her like that.

Determined to forget about him, she focused her attention on Rachel, trying to obtain the sample they needed so badly.

She didn’t succeed and less than an hour later she was forced to find Andreas again.

She came straight to the point, her tone brisk. ‘I’m worried about Rachel. Her temperature isn’t coming down and I’m nursing her in a nappy and a sheet. I’ve tried to get a clean sample of urine but it’s been a nightmare.’

Andreas frowned. ‘Has she drunk anything?’

‘Barely.’

‘And she hasn’t passed urine in the last hour?’

Libby shook her head. ‘Her nappies are dry.’

Andreas nodded. ‘I’ll do a supra-pubic aspiration,’ he said immediately. ‘I know it’s invasive but at least it’s definitive and frankly I’m worried about her condition. We’ll do an ultrasound to check she has urine in her bladder. I’ll need a 21G needle—’

‘I know what you need,’ Libby slotted in, already on her way to gather the right equipment. She just hoped the new consultant knew what he was doing.

She laid up a trolley and was back by the cot minutes later.

‘Someone needs to hold her very firmly in the supine position,’ Andreas said calmly, using the ultrasound to check that the baby had a full bladder.

‘I’ll hold her,’ Libby said immediately, ‘and I know her mum will want to be with her. She’s just nipped to the phone to call home.’

At that moment Alison returned and Andreas quietly explained why they needed to aspirate the bladder.

‘Her temperature is going up and we need to obtain a sterile specimen of urine.’

Alison looked pale and tired. ‘Libby was trying to get a clean catch.’

‘I haven’t managed it,’ Libby said softly, ‘and we really, really need to see if she’s got bugs in her urine. In a child of this age this is the only reliable method and we need to send it to the lab before we start antibiotics.’

Alison nodded. ‘So do it.’ Her mouth tightened. ‘Can I stay with her?’

‘Do you want to?’ Andreas spoke gently and Alison sucked in a breath.

‘Yes. It’s upsetting but I couldn’t bear to think that I wasn’t there for her when she needed me.’

Andreas exchanged glances with Libby and then turned away to wash his hands, scrubbing them methodically.

Libby prepared the trolley and then held the child while he cleaned the area with alcohol and allowed it to dry.