About the Authors

CAROL MARINELLI recently filled in a form where she was asked for her job title and was thrilled, after all these years, to be able to put down her answer as ‘writer’. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation. After chewing her pen for a moment Carol put down the truth—‘writing’. The third question asked—‘What are your hobbies?’ Well, not wanting to look obsessed or, worse still, boring, she crossed the fingers on her free hand and answered ‘swimming and tennis’. But, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, and the closest she’s got to a tennis racket in the last couple of years is watching the Australian Open, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!

JANICE LYNN has a Masters in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and works as a nurse practitioner in a family practice. She lives in the southern United States with her husband, their four children, their Jack Russell—appropriately named Trouble—and a lot of unnamed dust bunnies that have moved in since she started her writing career. To find out more about Janice and her writing visit janicelynn.com.

LAURA IDING loved reading as a child, and when she ran out of books she readily made up her own, completing a little detective mini-series when she was twelve. But, despite her aspirations for being an author, her parents insisted she look into a ‘real’ career. So the summer after she turned thirteen she volunteered as a Candy Striper, and fell in love with nursing. Now, after twenty years of experience in trauma/critical care, she’s thrilled to combine her career and her hobby into one—writing Medical Romances for Mills & Boon. Laura lives in the northern part of the United States, and spends all her spare time with her two teenage kids (help!)—a daughter and a son—and her husband. Enjoy!

SUSAN CARLISLE’s love affair with books began in the sixth grade, when she made a bad grade in mathematics. Not allowed to watch TV until she’d brought the grade up, Susan filled her time with books. She turned her love of reading into a passion for writing, and now has over ten Medical Romances published through Mills & Boon. She writes about hot, sexy docs and the strong women who captivate them. Visit SusanCarlisle.com.

Born to a family that was always on the move, TINA BECKETT learned to pack a suitcase almost before she knew how to tie her shoes. Fortunately she met a man who also loved to travel, and she snapped him right up. Married for over twenty years, Tina has three wonderful children and has lived in gorgeous places such as Portugal and Brazil.

Living where English reading material is difficult to find has its drawbacks, however. Tina had to come up with creative ways to satisfy her love for romance novels, so she picked up her pen and tried writing one. After her tenth book she realised she was hooked. She was officially a writer.

Tina loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website or ‘friend’ her on Facebook.

WENDY S. MARCUS is an award-winning author of contemporary romance who lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley region of New York where she spends way too much time indoors on her computer. Writing. Really! Okay, more like...where she spends way too much time on Twitter and Facebook! To learn more about Wendy and the books she’s managed to write, in spite of her social media addiction, visit WendySMarcus.com.

LYNNE MARSHALL has been a Registered Nurse in a large California hospital for over twenty-five years. She has now taken the leap to writing full-time, but still volunteers at her local community hospital. After writing the book of her heart in 2000, she discovered the wonderful world of Mills & Boon Medical Romance, where she feels the freedom to write the stories she loves. She is happily married, has two fantastic grown children, and a socially challenged rescued dog. Besides her passion for writing Medical Romance, she loves to travel and read. Thanks to the family dog, she takes long walks every day!

To find out more about Lynne, please visit her website: www.lynnemarshallweb.com

ALISON ROBERTS lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and has written over sixty Mills & Boon Medical Romances. As a qualified paramedic, she has personal experience of the drama and emotion to be found in the world of medical professionals, and loves to weave stories with this rich background—especially when they can have a happy ending. When Alison is not writing, you’ll find her indulging her passion for dancing or spending time with her friends (including Molly the dog) and her daughter Becky, who has grown up to become a brilliant artist. She also loves to travel, hates housework, and considers it a triumph when the flowers outnumber the weeds in her garden.

CAROLINE ANDERSON is a matriarch, writer, armchair gardener, unofficial tearoom researcher and eater of lovely cakes. Not necessarily in that order! What Caroline loves: her family. Her friends. Reading. Writing contemporary love stories. Hearing from readers. Walks by the sea with coffee/ice cream/cake thrown in! Torrential rain. Sunshine in spring/autumn. What Caroline hates: losing her pets. Fighting with her family. Cold weather. Hot weather. Computers. Clothes shopping. Caroline’s plans: keep smiling and writing!

Sadly, MARGARET MCDONAGH has passed away since the writing of this book. She will be remembered as an author who lived for her writing and who brought joy to readers everywhere.

ANNE FRASER was born in Scotland, but brought up in South Africa. After she left school she returned to the birthplace of her parents, the remote Western Islands of Scotland. She left there to train as a nurse before going on to university to study English Literature. After the birth of her first child, she and her doctor husband travelled the world, working in rural Africa, Australia and Northern Canada. Anne still works in the health sector. To relax, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, walking and travelling.

KATE HARDY has always loved books, and could read before she went to school. She discovered Mills & Boon books when she was twelve and decided this was what she wanted to do. When she isn’t writing Kate enjoys reading, cinema, ballroom dancing and the gym. You can contact her via her website: katehardy.com.

MAGGIE KINGSLEY says she can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer, but she put her dream on hold and decided to ‘be sensible’ and become a teacher instead. Five years at the chalk face was enough to convince her she wasn’t cut out for it, and she ‘escaped’ to work for a major charity. Unfortunately—or fortunately!—a back injury ended her career, and when she and her family moved to a remote cottage in the north of Scotland it was her family who nagged her into attempting to make her dream a reality. Combining a love of romantic fiction with a knowledge of medicine gleaned from the many professionals in her family, Maggie says she can’t now imagine ever being able to have so much fun legally doing anything else!

USA Today bestselling author SARAH MORGAN writes lively, sexy stories for both the Mills & Boon Modern and Medical Romance lines, and women’s fiction for HQ. As a child, Sarah dreamed of being a writer and, although she took a few interesting detours on the way, she is now living that dream. With her writing career, she has successfully combined business with pleasure and she firmly believes that reading romance is one of the most satisfying and fatfree escapist pleasures available.

SCARLET WILSON wrote her first story aged eight and has never stopped. Her family have fond memories of Shirley and the Magic Purse, with its army of mice, all with names beginning with the letter ‘M’. An avid reader, Scarlet started with every Enid Blyton book, moved on to the Chalet School series and many years later found Mills & Boon.

She trained and worked as a nurse and health visitor, and currently works in public health. For her, finding Mills & Boon Medical Romances was a match made in heaven. She is delighted to find herself among the authors she has read for many years.

Scarlet lives on the West Coast of Scotland with her fiancé and their two sons.

Cursed from an early age with a poor sense of direction and a propensity to read, ANNIE CLAYDON spent much of her childhood lost in books. After completing her degree in English Literature she indulged her love of romantic fiction and spent a long, hot summer writing a book of her own. It was duly rejected and life took over.

A series of U-turns led in the unlikely direction of a career in computing and information technology, but the lure of the printed page proved too much to bear, and she now has the perfect outlet for the stories which have always run through her head, writing Medical Romance for Mills & Boon.

A lifelong reader of most genres, LOUISA GEORGE discovered romance novels later than most, but immediately fell in love with the intensity of emotion, the high drama and the family focus of Mills & Boon Medical Romance.

An English ex-pat, Louisa now lives north of Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband, two teenage sons and two male cats. Writing romance is her opportunity to covertly inject a hefty dose of pink into her heavily testosteronedominated household.

AMY ANDREWS has always loved writing, and still can’t quite believe that she gets to do it for a living. Creating wonderful heroines and gorgeous heroes and telling their stories is an amazing way to pass the day. Sometimes they don’t always act as she’d like them to—but then neither do her kids, so she’s kind of used to it. Amy lives in the very beautiful Samford Valley, with her husband and aforementioned children, along with six brown chooks and two black dogs.

Hot Single Docs Collection

Hot Single Docs: Taming the Bachelor

Carol Marinelli, Janice Lynn and Laura Iding

Hot Single Docs: Meeting His Match

Susan Carlisle, Tina Beckett and Wendy S. Marcus

Hot Single Docs: Giving in to Temptation

Lynne Marshall, Alison Roberts and Caroline Anderson

Hot Single Docs: The Playboy’s Redemption

Carol Marinelli, Margaret McDonagh and Anne Fraser

Hot Single Docs: Happily Ever After

Alison Roberts, Kate Hardy and Maggie Kingsley

Hot Single Docs: Waiting for You

Sarah Morgan, Carol Marinelli and Scarlet Wilson

Hot Single Docs: London’s Calling

Alison Roberts, Lynne Marshall and Kate Hardy

Hot Single Docs: Blinded by the Boss

Annie Claydon, Louisa George and Amy Andrews

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08544-1

HOT SINGLE DOCS COLLECTION

NYC Angels: Redeeming The Playboy © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: Heiress’s Baby Scandal © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: Unmasking Dr Serious © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: The Wallflower’s Secret © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: Flirting with Danger © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: Tempting Nurse Scarlet © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: Making the Surgeon Smile © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A NYC Angels: An Explosive Reunion © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A St Piran’s: The Wedding of The Year © 2010 Harlequin Books S.A St. Piran’s: Rescuing Pregnant Cinderella © 2010 Harlequin Books S.A St. Piran’s: Italian Surgeon, Forbidden Bride © 2011 Harlequin Books S.A St. Piran’s: Daredevil, Doctor…Dad! © 2012 Harlequin Books S.A St Piran’s: The Brooding Heart Surgeon © 2012 Harlequin Books S.A St Piran’s: The Fireman and Nurse Loveday © 2012 Harlequin Books S.A St Piran’s: Tiny Miracle Twins © 2012 Harlequin Books S.A St Piran’s: Prince on the Children’s Ward © 2012 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: Surgeon in a Tux © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: Girl from the Red Carpet © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: The Proud Italian © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: American Surgeon in London © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: The Soldier Prince © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: The Enigmatic Surgeon © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: The Shameless Maverick © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A 200 Harley Street: The Tortured Hero © 2014 Harlequin Books S.A

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Table of Contents

Cover

About the Authors

Title Page

Copyright

Hot Single Docs: Taming the Bachelor

NYC Angels: Redeeming The Playboy

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

NYC Angels: Heiress’s Baby Scandal

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

NYC Angels: Unmasking Dr Serious

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Hot Single Docs: Meeting His Match

NYC Angels: The Wallflower’s Secret

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

NYC Angels: Flirting with Danger

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

EPILOGUE

NYC Angels: Tempting Nurse Scarlet

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Hot Single Docs: Giving in to Temptation

NYC Angels: Making the Surgeon Smile

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

NYC Angels: An Explosive Reunion

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

St Piran’s: The Wedding of The Year

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Hot Single Docs: The Playboy’s Redemption

St. Piran’s: Rescuing Pregnant Cinderella

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

EPILOGUE

St. Piran’s: Italian Surgeon, Forbidden Bride

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

St. Piran’s: Daredevil, Doctor…Dad!

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Hot Single Docs: Happily Ever After

St Piran’s: The Brooding Heart Surgeon

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

St Piran’s: The Fireman and Nurse Loveday

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

St Piran’s: Tiny Miracle Twins

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

EPILOGUE

Hot Single Docs: Waiting for You

St. Piran’s: Prince on the Children’s Ward

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

200 Harley Street: Surgeon in a Tux

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

200 Harley Street: Girl from the Red Carpet

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Hot Single Docs: London’s Calling

200 Harley Street: The Proud Italian

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

200 Harley Street: American Surgeon in London

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

200 Harley Street: The Soldier Prince

Back Cover Text

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Hot Single Docs: Blinded by the Boss

200 Harley Street: The Enigmatic Surgeon

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

200 Harley Street: The Shameless Maverick

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

200 Harley Street: The Tortured Hero

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

About the Publisher

Hot Single Docs: Taming the Bachelor

NYC Angels: Redeeming The Playboy

Carol Marinelli

NYC Angels: Heiress’s Baby Scandal

Janice Lynn

NYC Angels: Unmasking Dr Serious

Laura Iding

www.millsandboon.co.uk

NYC Angels: Redeeming The Playboy

Carol Marinelli

With love and thanks to Wendy S.

Marcus cx

CHAPTER ONE

‘NINA WILSON.’

Jack kept his face impassive, but his cynical grey eyes rolled a little when he heard that Nina was the social worker who was dealing with baby Sienna’s case.

Nina was hard work, and well Jack knew it, because they’d clashed on more than one occasion over the past couple of years.

Paediatrician Eleanor Aston had asked Jack, who was Head of Paediatrics, to join her in the case meeting that was to be held at nine this morning.

‘The social work department seems intent on discharging Sienna home to the care of her parents,’ Eleanor told him. ‘I’ve been up nearly every night for a fortnight witnessing Sienna’s withdrawal from methadone. The mother has already had two children taken off her. I personally looked after her newborn son last year.’

Eleanor’s lips tightened at the memory of that time, but Jack chose not to notice. Instead, he flicked through the case notes as Eleanor’s voice heightened with emotion, which Jack didn’t respond to—he preferred facts.

‘I just don’t see why we’re giving her a chance with her third baby when we know how she’s been in the past.’

‘You won’t win with that argument against Nina Wilson,’ Jack said, and as he read through the notes he saw that some of them had, in fact, been written by him.

One entry that he had written was just over a week old: Five-day-old, unsettled, distressed … He’d been called by the night team for a consult, he noted, but as Jack tried to picture the baby he had written about just a few nights ago he felt a slight knot of unease that he couldn’t place baby Sienna.

He told himself that it was to be expected—Angel Mendez Children’s Hospital was a phenomenally busy free hospital in New York City. Not only did Jack head up the general paediatric team, he also dealt regularly with the board, Admin and the endless round of socialising and networking that was required to raise vital funds for the hospital.

The Carters were a prominent New York family and, as the son of a Park Avenue medical dynasty, Jack, with his endless connections and effortless grace, was called on often, not just for his impressive medical skills but also because of his connections and therefore the donations his family name alone could bring.

Still, this morning it was all about baby Sienna and making the best possible decisions for her future.

Jack finished with the medical history and read Nina’s meticulous notes. They were very detailed and thorough and, Jack noted, very dispassionate—unlike Nina herself, who was incredibly fiery and fought hard for her patients. She was young, a little angry with bureaucracy and out to set the world to rights, whereas Jack, at thirty-four years of age, was just a touch more realistic as to what could and could not be achieved.

‘Nina always comes down on the side of the parents,’ Eleanor said.

‘Not always.’ Jack shook his head. ‘Though I do know what you mean.’

He did.

Nina believed in families. Of course there were tough calls to be made at times and then she made them, but as Jack read through the notes he realised this was going to be a very long meeting.

Arguing with Nina was like an extremely prolonged game of tennis—everything that you served to her was returned with well-researched and thought-out force. He wasn’t in the least surprised that Eleanor had asked him to sit in on the case meeting—Nina would know every inch of the family history and would have arguments and counter-arguments as to why her findings should be upheld.

‘Come on, then.’ Jack put on his jacket. He didn’t need to check his appearance in the mirror—a combination of genes and wealth assured that he always looked good. His dark brown hair was trimmed fortnightly, his designer attire was taken care of by his housekeeper. All Jack had to do in the morning was kiss whatever lover was in his bed, head to the shower, shave and then step into his designer wardrobe to emerge immaculate a few moments later—more often than not just to break another heart.

As he headed to the meeting Jack thought briefly about Monica’s tears that morning.

Why did women always demand a reason for why things had come to an end?

Why did they always want to know where they had gone wrong or how they could change, or what had happened to suddenly change his mind?

Nothing had changed Jack’s mind.

He simply didn’t get involved and there was no such thing to Jack as long term.

And so, as he entered the meeting room, Jack readied himself for his second round of feminine emotion that morning. Nina had already arrived and was taking off her scarf and unbuttoning her coat. There were still a couple of flakes of snow in her hair and as she glanced over and saw him enter the room Jack watched her lips close tightly as she realised perhaps that Eleanor had brought in the big gun.

‘Morning, Nina,’ he greeted her, and flashed a smile just to annoy her.

‘Jack.’ Nina threw a saccharine smile in his direction and then turned her back and took off her coat.

Damn.

Nina didn’t say it, of course, she just undid the belt and buttons and shrugged off her coat, but despite her together appearance she was incredibly unsettled and not just because Jack was Head of Paediatrics.

They clashed often.

Jack, always cool and detached, often brought her to the verge of tears, not that she ever let him see that. Just a couple of months ago she had been part of the team that had worked hard with a family struggling with a small baby who had been brought in to the emergency department. Jack had been reserved in his judgement that Baby Tanner should be discharged home to the care of the mother, but her team had fought hard to ensure that it happened. But just two weeks ago she had been called to the emergency department to find out that Baby Tanner had been brought in again, unconscious, a victim of shaken-baby syndrome.

Jack had said not one word to her as she had stepped into the cubicle.

His look had said everything, though—I told you so. Nina could still see his cool grey eyes harden as they had met hers, and she still carried the guilt.

But it wasn’t just that that had Nina unsettled this morning.

Jack Carter was more than good looking and, of course, that didn’t go unnoticed. He was known for his playboy ways and his charmed, privileged life, and the acquired arrogance that came with it irked Nina.

But, no, it wasn’t just that either.

What really got to Nina was that he got to her.

He was arrogant, chauvinistic, dismissive—in fact, Jack Carter was everything Nina didn’t like in a man, and, no, logically she didn’t fancy him in the least—it was just that her body said otherwise.

It noticed him.

It reacted to him.

And Nina didn’t like it one bit.

She could feel his eyes lazily watching her as she took off her coat, was incredibly aware of him as she hung up the garment and headed to the table to commence the meeting. She almost anticipated the slight inappropriateness that would undoubtedly come from his smirking lips.

He didn’t disappoint her. ‘Nice to see someone at the meeting with their clothes on,’ Jack said as she made her way over, because everyone apart from Nina and Jack was wearing scrubs. Everyone present laughed a little at his off-the-cuff remark.

Everyone, Jack noted, but Nina.

Then again, he’d never really seen her smile, at least not at him. She was always so serious, so intense and the only time her face relaxed and lit up with a smile was when she was engaging with her clients.

This morning she had on a grey pinafore dress with a red jumper beneath, but this was no school uniform! The red stockings and black boots that she wore took care of that. Nina’s dark blonde hair was pinned up and her cheeks were red from coming into the warmth of the hospital from a very cold January morning.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ Nina said, taking a seat at the table opposite him. Just as Jack found himself wondering if the workaholic Nina had actually overslept, she corrected his thought process. ‘I got called to go out on an urgent response.’

And, rather inconveniently for Jack, he wondered if there was a Mr Wilson who got annoyed at having Nina peeled from his bed at the crack of dawn by the emergency response team, or even a Ms Wilson, who bemoaned her partner leaving her side. Jack realised then that not once had Nina so much as flirted with him. Not once had she turned those cobalt-blue eyes to his in an attempt to bewitch him, which might sound arrogant, but flirting was par for the course when your name was Jack Carter.

Just never with Nina.

‘Right.’ Nina glanced around the table. Every person present felt like the enemy in this meeting and so she didn’t bother to smile. ‘Shall we get started, then?’

Nina really wasn’t looking forward to this morning.

Normally she would have spent a lot of the weekend poring over the medical notes and histories, but she had been working at the pro bono centre as well as moving into her new three-bedroomed apartment. She’d hoped to get into work very early this morning and go over the notes again, but instead, at four a.m., just as her alarm clock had gone off, so too had her phone, and now Nina felt less than prepared.

Which was very unlike her.

Certainly, it didn’t sit well with her. In a few short weeks her own family would be under the spotlight of a case conference and she wanted her sister and brother’s case worker to be as passionate and as informed as she usually was. Still, even if Nina hadn’t prepared as meticulously as usual, she was still well informed and, given Sienna was only two weeks old, most of the details of the case were fresh in her mind.

She knew that most of the medical staff were opposed to Sienna being discharged home to the parents. Their concerns had been well voiced and they were repeated again now.

First she heard from Brad Davis, head of the prenatal unit. Brad had seen Hannah for her very brief prenatal care and had also delivered Sienna, but thankfully he was very matter-of-fact in his summing up.

‘Hannah presented to us at thirty-four weeks gestation,’ Brad explained. ‘She had recently resumed her relationship with Sienna’s father, Andy. He was seemingly the one who insisted that Hannah attend Angel’s. Andy was concerned about Hannah’s drug habit and the effect it would have on their unborn child—Hannah’s only concern was feeding her habit.’

‘At that time,’ Nina responded, and Brad nodded. ‘She complied with the methadone programme?’ Nina asked, and again Brad nodded, and so on they went.

Nina heard from the midwives and nursing staff and also the addiction counsellors who had been in regular contact with Hannah.

Eleanor Aston, though, was particularly difficult. Always a huge advocate for her patients, Eleanor was perhaps the most insistent that Sienna be removed from her mother’s care.

‘I looked after her son last year.’ Eleanor’s voice shook with emotion. ‘And I can remember—’

‘We’re not discussing Sienna’s half-brother this morning,’ Nina interrupted. She knew that it was terribly difficult to separate the two cases, especially as Eleanor had dealt with Hannah at her very worst and had looked after what had indeed been a very sick little baby boy with a very cold and unfeeling mother, but this was a crucial part of Nina’s job and one that made her less than popular at times with the medical staff.

‘The difference this time around is that Hannah is doing her best to get straight and she is also in a very different relationship with this baby’s father. As soon as Andy found out that Hannah was pregnant he brought her straight to Angel’s and has been rigorously making sure that she keeps up with the programme, and Hannah herself has made a huge effort—’

‘When?’ They were half an hour into the meeting and it was the first time that Jack had actually spoken. He looked across the table at Nina as he did so. ‘When exactly did Hannah make this huge effort that you keep talking about?’

‘Since she came to Angel’s.’ Nina’s voice was very calm. She had been expecting Jack to step in at any moment and she hadn’t been proved wrong.

‘She had nine months to dry out,’ Jack said, and then corrected himself. Nina was quite sure Jack’s mistake was deliberate. ‘Oh, sorry, make that eight months, because it was considered vital that we induce her early due to the baby’s failure to thrive in the womb.’ Still he stared at Nina, perhaps waiting for her to interrupt, or to speak over him, but she met his cool gaze without words of her own and Jack carried on.

‘So, all in all, she actually managed two weeks of antenatal care, mainly because of her boyfriend’s efforts, and then two weeks of huge effort postnatally, but only with every system and resource available in place.’

‘Your point being?’ Nina asked, and Jack didn’t answer. ‘Why wouldn’t we offer every resource that we have to this family?’ She watched his jaw tighten as she scored a point.

‘Hannah has been attending addiction counselling twice daily. For the first time she actually wants all the help and support that we can provide and there is also an extremely devoted father who, I am quite sure, will put the baby’s welfare first. Hannah has broken down with me on two separate occasions and told me that she doesn’t want another child taken off her and that she is prepared to do whatever it takes. Now, I know that this is early days—’

‘My doctors have been up with that baby night after night,’ Jack interrupted. ‘I personally have been called in when Sienna has become agitated and distressed.’ His eyes held Nina’s and she didn’t blush or blink but simply met his gaze. ‘The baby had severe withdrawal, she was small for her dates due to maternal malnourishment, just like her older brother, and it is my opinion that the last person the baby—’

‘Sienna,’ Nina interrupted. ‘The baby is called Sienna and to date there is nothing that I have seen, from my many observations, to indicate that any of the traits that were a cause for concern with her other children are present now, and the nursing observations verify that….’

Jack drew a long breath as Nina spoke on. Her holistic approach irked him, and he sat, turning his heavy pen over and over as he listened to Nina drone on about how damaging it would be to both Sienna and Hannah if they were separated now, especially as a strong bond had been established. Jack said nothing, though he wanted to point out that a bond surely took longer than a couple of weeks, but he knew he’d be shot down, not just by Nina but by everyone in the room.

Jack really didn’t get the maternal bond argument.

His pen turned in his fingers as he thought for a moment of his own mother—she certainly hadn’t had one. Instead, Jack had been assigned to two nannies and had only been brought down for dinner and social events.

But instead of dwelling on his own messed-up family, he listened how, from Nina’s findings, there was nothing to indicate at this stage that Sienna was at risk and that with full back-up and aftercare, the department had determined that the child should be discharged to the care of the parents.

‘So what am I here for, then?’ Jack challenged. ‘From a medical point of view the baby has put on sufficient weight to be discharged, she is stable, her withdrawal from methadone is manageable now and you’ve clearly already determined the outcome. You’re really not interested in hearing our concerns—’

‘Don’t!’ For the first time this meeting Jack heard the shake of anger in Nina’s voice. ‘Don’t you dare insinuate that I am dismissing the medical staff’s concerns.’

Jack rolled his tongue in his cheek. He certainly wasn’t about to apologise, but inwardly he conceded that perhaps he had gone a bit too far. At the end of the day the social services department did one hell of a job. They dealt with the most vulnerable children and handled the most difficult cases and had to make decisions that few would relish, so he sat silent as Nina spoke on.

‘Every one of your concerns has been listened to and addressed. Every point you have made has been noted.’ Nina looked around the table. ‘I have to take each case on its own merits and in this case I see the mother making a huge effort. She is racked with guilt, witnessing all that Sienna is going through, and—’ Nina looked over at Eleanor ‘—while I accept that she had none of those feelings with the other two children, in this instance it is very different.

‘There is a father who is stepping up and a couple who are desperate to keep their child but, yes, there is also a baby who, thanks to her mother’s poor choices, has had an appalling start to life. Now, I could arrange temporary placement for Sienna, but I can assure you the foster-care system is not a fairy-tale alternative, especially when we believe that, with support, this family does have a chance.’

‘Well,’ came Jack’s terse response, ‘I’ve voiced my concerns.’

‘They’ve been noted.’

As soon as the meeting concluded Jack stood. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’

Once outside Eleanor spoke with him briefly. ‘Thanks so much for trying, Jack.’

‘Nina made several good points.’ Jack said to Eleanor, because although he always went in to bat for his staff he could play the devil’s advocate better than anyone, but probably, in this instance, he actually agreed with Nina. ‘I know that it’s hard to step back at times …’

‘It doesn’t seem that way for you.’ Eleanor sighed.

‘Yeah, well, you have to be tough to do this job or you’d go crazy,’ Jack said. ‘Eleanor, sometimes you just have to look at the facts. In this case the mother is doing everything right, albeit too little too late, but, as Nina said, if we take this child from the mother now then realistically they are not going to reunite and though we might think that that might be for the best, who knows where Sienna might end up?’

‘She might be placed with the perfect family. She might …’ Eleanor started, but her lips tightened and her words halted as Nina came out.

‘There’s no such thing as the perfect family,’ Jack said, and giving Nina a brief nod he stalked off.

‘Says the man who comes from one.’ Eleanor rolled her eyes as Jack walked off and then stood a little awkwardly when it was clear that Nina was hanging around to speak to her. ‘Did you see the Carter family Christmas photo shoot?’

Nina gave a pale smile. Yes, she’d seen it—all the Carters gathered around the hospital Christmas tree, their diamonds gleaming as much as their capped smiles. There had recently been a magazine spread too on Jack’s parents, but she didn’t want to think about Jack now so Nina got straight to the difficult point. ‘I’m sorry that you’re upset about the department’s decision.’

‘Thanks.’ Nina watched as Eleanor’s eyes filled up behind her glasses as she spoke. ‘I’ve listened to all that you’ve said and I’ve just spoken with Jack and he’s right—you made some very good points. It’s just that I saw what Hannah was like with her son. She was so distant and unfeeling and refused to take any responsibility …’

‘Addiction will do that every time,’ Nina said.

‘I know.’ Eleanor nodded.

‘And I can assure you that we will be watching Sienna very carefully. The real difference in this case is that there is a loving father on the scene. I really feel that if Hannah goes back to her ways of old and starts using again, then Andy will be the one raising Sienna …’

‘Far from perfect.’

‘Not so far from perfect.’ Nina smiled. ‘I think that he’d do a great job.’

As she said goodbye to Eleanor and headed off to find Hannah to let her know about the meeting, she paused for a moment by the water cooler and took a drink, Eleanor’s words still replaying in her mind.

Jack Carter thought she had made several good points.

Because she had made several good points, Nina told herself, screwing up the small plastic cup and tossing it into the waste bin.

She didn’t need his admiration, neither did she need his approval.

The only opinion Nina wanted from Jack was a professional one.

She just had to remember that fact.

CHAPTER TWO

WITH THE MEETING over Jack walked through the maternity unit, restless, angry but not sure why. He was looking forward to getting back to the shield of his office, but his pager stopped him and he halted to use the phone. However, as he waited to be connected by the switchboard he glanced at the handover sheet one of the nurses was working on.

Sienna Andrews. He saw the room she was in and the doctor she was under, that she had been the third pregnancy, and in the comments section was written ‘NASS’—which stood for neonatal abstinence scoring system, a method used to gauge a newborn’s withdrawal from the drugs they had been subjected to in what should have been the safety of the womb.

Jack concluded his call and walked through the maternity ward, pausing when he came to the room where Sienna was. He looked through the glass to the row of isolettes. Hannah wasn’t with her daughter, though a nurse was there, tending to the baby. Jack rarely went into these rooms, only when it was necessary.

Angel’s was a free hospital—there was more hope and heartbreak than one building could contain and as Head of Paediatrics Jack had more than enough to contend with, without getting unnecessarily involved with each and every case.

He had to stay detached, which he did easily.

Jack had learnt the art of detachment long before he had studied medicine—he’d been told by his parents to toughen up at a very young age, and told it over and over again, and so he had, simply refusing to hand over his emotions to anyone.

He had this sudden strange vision of Nina chairing a meeting about his own family and it brought a wry smile to his lips.

There was no such thing as a perfect family.

Certainly he never discussed his family life with any of his many lovers—he didn’t let anyone close and maintained the Carter image, because the image could be used for good. Jack looked around the unit, saw the cots and the equipment and, ever practical, thought of the cost.

‘Do you need anything, Jack?’ Cindy, one of the nurses, broke into his thoughts.

‘Nope.’ Jack shook his head. ‘I’m just checking in. How’s baby Andrews doing?’

‘She’s doing really well,’ Cindy said, as Jack looked through Sienna’s charts. ‘She’s still a little irritable at times, but seems much more settled now. She’d put on another ounce when we weighed her this morning and mum’s given her a bath. How did the case conference go?’

‘Same old, same old.’ Jack shrugged. ‘Home to the parents, follow-up, support systems in place …’ He looked at Cindy, who had worked at Angel’s for a very long time. They’d slept together once, years ago, but there was no awkwardness between them. Cindy was now happily married and expecting her first baby and Jack valued her opinion a lot. ‘What do you think?’

‘As I said in my notes, mum’s really making an effort …’

‘But what do you think?’

‘That I hope her effort lasts.’

Cindy walked off to check on a baby that was crying and Jack looked down into the cot, stared into the babe’s dark blue eyes and wondered, not for the first time lately, if he was in the right job.

Of course the hospital wanted him, he worked sixty-hour weeks as well as juggling a social life that would have most people exhausted. He did an excellent job with the staff, as well as the extracurricular events that ensured the city’s goodwill for the hospital continued.

He did a great job.

He just didn’t love it.

Didn’t know how to fire up, the way Nina had.

He’d heard the tremble in her voice, the passion she had for the family, her willingness to go against the flow and fight for a cause. Sometimes, and this was one of those times, he wished he had even a tenth of her passion.

He looked at Sienna, hoped that for her Angel’s had done its best. She’d had the best doctors, nurses, social workers, but would it be enough?

He turned as Nina came into the room.

‘How is she?’ Nina asked, wondering if he had been called for a problem.

‘Fine.’

‘Is Hannah around?’ Nina asked.

‘Nope, I think she’s at one of her meetings …’

‘That’s fine,’ Nina said. ‘I just wanted to go through the meeting and the conclusions with her.’ She walked over to the cot and gave a slightly wary smile to Jack. She wasn’t particularly used to seeing him pensive by a cot. ‘I was just explaining to Eleanor that we’ll be arranging regular—’

‘I’ll read about it, thanks.’

‘Of course you will.’

Nina saw his jaw tighten at her response and she smothered a smile that twitched on her lips as she scored an unfair point. But that was what Jack did—oh, she had no doubt at all that he was a brilliant doctor, he was incredibly respected amongst his peers and she knew that he was considered a brilliant diagnostician.

She’d seen him in action on several occasions, all suited and suave, and then, when he’d delivered his opinion, when the crisis was over, when he’d saved another life, the next time Nina might see him was the way she had this morning in a meeting.

‘All the resources that you’re putting in place for Sienna and her family …’ Jack’s voice was steel. ‘Where do you think they come from?’

Nina gave a tight shrug. She probably had gone a bit far—she had just wanted to needle him a bit, pay him back for his words in the meeting, and now, clearly, she had.

Jack gave Nina a brief nod and headed off, taking the lift down and walking towards Emergency, where he was meeting with one of hospitals most prominent benefactors.

He was sick of it.

Sick of the smooth talk, sick of the smarming just to get a decent-sized cheque.

Maybe it was time for a change.

Thanks to his extremely privileged upbringing and some very astute investments, Jack could easily not work another day in his life.

But then what?

Maybe he should follow in his father’s footsteps. Set up his own private Park Avenue practice, screen and choose his patients, patch them up and send them on their way.

A practice where he could fix everything.

Get in at nine.

Do a good job.

Be thanked.

Go home at six.

To what?

‘Incoming storm.’ As he walked along the corridor Jack was jolted out of his dark thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice.

‘Alex!’ He shook his colleague’s hand. ‘It’s good to see you—first day?’

‘It is.’ Alex nodded.

‘And?’

‘It’s going well,’ Alex said.

They had trained together at medical school, where two very ambitious minds had met and had got on well from the start, both admiring the determination in the other—two men who had not settled for a pass mark, two men who had been determined to excel. Jack had chosen the speedier route of paediatrics, while Alex Rodriguez had chosen neurosurgery and had just been appointed head of that department at Angel’s.

Jack had used his weight there too in employing his friend—Alex’s skills hadn’t been the issue, though, more a dark shadow on Alex’s past that the board had deliberated over. ‘I actually wanted to come and speak to you to say thank you for the recommendation.’

‘You didn’t need my recommendation,’ Jack said. ‘You were very impressive at the interviews—Angel’s wants you on board.’

‘Thanks.’ Alex was quiet for a moment. ‘And I am grateful to the board for agreeing not to bring up …’ His voice trailed off—Alex didn’t need to go into detail with Jack, there had been a messy court case in Los Angeles a few years ago that the board had finally agreed to keep confidential. Jack knew it had nearly destroyed Alex, and not just professionally. Still, Jack also knew that there was no one better for the role.

‘The past is the past.’

‘Yep.’ Alex wasn’t exactly known for small talk, but just as they were about to head off, Alex spoke on. ‘Everything okay with you, Jack?’

‘Me?’

‘Incoming storm.’ Alex’s smile was wry. ‘I could see it approaching as you walked towards me—it’s not the Jack I know.’

‘Yeah, well, you’ve been in Australia for five years. Maybe the Jack you used to know is getting older …’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘I’ve just sat through a case meeting with the most annoying social worker …’ Jack rolled his eyes. ‘You know the type.’

‘Holistic approach?’ Alex said, and Jack gave a reluctant smile. ‘With the right services in place …’ Alex put on his best social worker voice and Jack actually laughed. ‘They’re the same the world over. Still, can you imagine this job without them?’

‘No,’ Jack admitted. ‘Anyway, right now I’ve got to go and do some sweet-talking—there’s a VIP waiting for a private tour of Emergency.’ Jack’s words dripped sarcasm. ‘I can’t wait.’

Maybe it wasn’t Social Services that was getting to him, maybe it was this place, or maybe, Jack thought as he saw a pair of red-stockinged, black-booted legs walking very briskly along the corridor, her pager trilling, with Security by her side, it was one social worker in particular.

‘Problem?’ Jack checked as she dashed past him, but she just gave him a very strange look at his question. Nina didn’t generally get fast-paged because things were going well in the world.

And she had really hoped for Tommy and his father, Mike, that things were finally starting to go well.

‘Just stay back,’ Nina said to the security guards as they took the lift to the psychology wing. ‘Mike gets very angry at times, but it’s all hot air. I’ll tell you if I need you to intervene.’

She was met by Linda, one of the most senior child psychologists. ‘I’ve got another worker in with them at the moment,’ Linda said, and then explained what had happened that morning. ‘Basically, I noticed Tommy had a nasty cut on his hand. It was covered by a bandage but it came off during play therapy and it looks infected. I think it should have had stitches, but when I suggested we bring Tommy down to Emergency to have it looked at, Mike refused. He got extremely angry and now he’s insisting on taking Tommy straight home.’

‘How’s Tommy?’

‘Pale …’ Linda said. ‘Listless. He’s lost weight too. I saw him just last month and everything seemed fine. Things have been going so well between them …’

‘I was hoping to close the case this week,’ Nina admitted. ‘Obviously with ongoing support for Tommy …’ She bit back on the expletive that was rising in her throat. She had been sure that things were so much better, had been sure there wasn’t a protective issue, and then she heard Mike shouting.

‘We’re going home.’ He had Tommy in his arms and was striding down the corridor. ‘Oh, not you!’ he shouted when he saw Nina. ‘Got your bodyguards with you?’

‘Mike.’ Nina was calm but firm. ‘Tommy needs to have that cut seen. If it’s infected, he will need—’

‘I’ll stop at the drug store on the way home.’ Mike didn’t let her finish, just marched on towards the lifts.

‘Mike …’ She walked alongside him, and as he jumped into a lift that was going up, Nina darted in and the doors closed before Security could get in too.

Mike continued his angry rant, not caring that there was a family with a child in a wheelchair, not noticing Alex Rodriguez, who was in the lift and about to intervene. Nina glanced at his ID and realising he worked at Angel’s gave a brief shake of her head. In a confined space it might only make things worse.

‘We can talk properly down in Emergency,’ Nina said to Mike, because the last thing she wanted was Mike walking off in this mood with his son.

‘I’m sick of your talking!’ Mike shouted.

‘You’re scaring Tommy.’ She watched as Mike screwed up his face, watched as he tried to contain himself for his son, and thankfully Alex made sure everyone but himself got out at the next floor.

She was grateful to Alex for sticking around while staying back as they walked briskly to Emergency, Security catching up just as they got to the entrance doors.

It was a busy Monday morning in Emergency, Jack noted. He actually wanted to take off his suit jacket and pitch in, but instead he was stuck showing Elspeth Hillier around and telling her what her huge donation, in memory of her late husband, was earmarked for.

‘We’re hoping to have a supervised play area …’ Jack explained. ‘It would be used for the siblings of the patient or any child in the care of their guardian. Often the parent or carer arrives with two or three children in tow—naturally they want to be with their child throughout procedures and interviews, instead of having to take care of the other children until help arrives. The patient misses out on the comfort of the carer or, more often than not, the nurses end up babysitting.’

‘And it would be called …’ Elspeth asked.

‘We haven’t decided on a name yet,’ Jack said. ‘But certainly it would be something that honours the Hillier name.’

‘Not for me, of course,’ Elspeth said. ‘I just want Edgar to be remembered.’

‘Of course,’ Jack duly replied, though he was quite sure it wouldn’t be called the Edgar child-care centre or the Edgar Hillier child-care centre … He knew the routine only too well; he’d been raised on it after all.

‘So when will building commence?’ Elspeth asked, but Jack didn’t answer. He was distracted for a moment, not because of a new outbreak of commotion—that was commonplace here—but more at the sight of those red stockings again. Nina was walking through the department alongside a gentleman who was holding a pale-looking child. They were flanked by two security guards and Alex Rodriguez was present too.

Jack tried to answer Elspeth’s question but his eyes kept wandering to the group and he watched as a nurse approached to take the child.

‘Excuse me for a moment, Elspeth …’

Security were bracing themselves, Alex was hovering, nurses were looking over, and any second now the button would be pressed for the police to be called as the father was becoming more and more agitated. Only Nina stood resolute and calm. He could see her speaking to the gentleman and, as Jack approached, he saw that whatever she had said had worked, for without further demur he handed the child over to a nurse.

Jack was about to head back to Elspeth and even Alex had turned to go when the explosion hit. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, bitch?’ The man was right in Nina’s face, cursing her and, despite the presence of Security, backing Nina into a cubicle. But even then her voice was, to Jack’s ears, annoyingly calm, telling the security officers to step back.

‘I can handle this, thank you.’

Er, actually, no, she couldn’t, Jack was quite sure. There was well over six feet of angry male yelling at her, telling her that he had trusted her, that she should know him better, that he would never harm his child.

‘Take a seat, Mike.’ She just stood in the middle of the cubicle as he ranted. ‘No one is accusing you of anything, but Tommy looks unwell and needs to be examined. He has a cut that appears infected. No one has said anything about you harming your son.’

‘You’re nothing but a—’

‘Enough.’ Jack stepped in between them. ‘I’m Jack Carter, Head of Paediatrics. Can I ask what is going on?’

‘I’ve got this, thanks, Jack.’ He heard her bristling with anger and held back the slight incredulous shake of his head, because her anger was aimed at him! Still, he happily ignored Nina and looked at the man.

‘Sir?’ Jack stood patiently, his eyes warning the other man to calm down, and slowly he seemed to a little, but his words were still angry when he answered.

‘Tommy had an appointment today with the child psychologist and everything seemed fine but then they decide that the cut on his hand needs to be seen. I just want to take him home, he’s tired, and then she arrives with security guards in tow and I’m hauled down here just because a four-year-old has a cut hand.’

‘It looks infected,’ Nina stated. ‘It needs to be checked, it’s that simple, Mike.’

‘How did he get the cut?’ Jack asked.

‘I don’t know.’ Mike’s temper reared again. ‘He’s four years old, they fall over all the time.’

‘Sure they do.’ Jack nodded. ‘I’ll go and take a look at him myself right now. The thing I want you to do is to calm down before you go in to see him. You’ve scared your son—he doesn’t need to see his father angry and upset.’ He gave a brief nod to Nina, who stepped outside with him.

‘It’s a very complicated history—’ she started.

‘I’m sure that it is,’ Jack interrupted, ‘but right now my concern is the child’s medical status.’

‘The father can be explosive at times, but he’s never been that way with his child …’

Jack didn’t want to hear her findings at this stage. His only thought was for the safety of the child—well, there was one other thing he would address later. ‘I’m going to speak to you afterwards about your own safety. I don’t want staff taking risks.’

‘I know the family. I knew what I was doing—’

‘I’m not arguing about this right now,’ Jack broke in. ‘I’ll speak to you later.’

‘If I can just explain about Tommy …’

‘Please, don’t. Right now I want to go and see that child and find out first hand what we’re dealing with.’

So quickly Jack dismissed her.

Other times he blamed her.

But right now she couldn’t think about Dr Perfect Never Make A Mistake Carter. Instead she turned to another man, one who had made an awful lot of mistakes that morning, and she watched as Mike sat down, put his head in his hands and started to sob.

‘I didn’t mean to scare him.’ He was beside himself. ‘Tommy will be petrified without me …’

‘I know that,’ Nina said. ‘What’s going on, Mike?’

‘Nothing.’

‘When did Tommy get the cut?’

‘I don’t know, a few days ago … I need to be with him.’

‘Not yet. I want you to sit here for a while. Someone will bring you a drink and when things are more settled I’ll come and speak to you.’

‘I should be with him.’

‘You can’t be with him because you just lost your temper, Mike!’ Despite what Jack might think, Nina was no pushover. ‘You can’t be with your son because you refused to bring him down for an examination, because you avoided Security and then bullied me into a cubicle. You blew this, Mike, so, no, right now you can’t be with him. I’ll go in. Tommy knows me, I’ll stay with him for now …’

Nina left the cubicle and asked a nurse where Tommy was and was pointed in the direction. She knocked on the examination-room door and was let in.

‘Good timing.’ She could hear the weary bitterness in his voice. ‘I was just about to call you with an urgent referral.’ She looked down at Tommy, who was being helped into a gown that was covered with cartoon characters.

Nina looked at his pale, bruised body and immediately she could see why she was about to be called. Then she looked over at Jack and she saw it again.

The look he had given her when she had walked into Baby Tanner’s cubicle.

The look he would give her if Sienna returned unwell to the department.

It was a look she knew all to well, and one Jack Carter gave her all too often.

I told you so.

CHAPTER THREE

‘EXCUSE ME A minute, Tommy.’ Jack stepped outside and Nina assumed that she was meant to follow, but of course she had it wrong. Instead, Jack spoke with an elderly, very elegant woman, who looked less than impressed when he headed back towards Tommy’s cubicle, offering Nina a brief explanation. ‘Lewis is stuck with a multi-trauma, I’m just waiting for the registrar to come and take over. I just want to make sure that there’s nothing medically urgent that is wrong.’

‘Can I just have a brief word before you go in, Jack?’ He gave a slight hiss of frustration as he turned around. ‘Tommy is a very guarded child. Initially he had nothing to do with his father and responded only to me, but over the past months …’

She didn’t finish; instead she watched as Jack’s grey eyes shuttered as they so often did when she spoke. ‘You don’t want to hear what I have to say?’

‘At this stage, no. I want to find out from the child what has happened and given that you have had dealings with the family and that Tommy seems to trust you, I’d like you to assist. Do you think you can?’

‘Of course, but—’

‘I like facts Nina,’ he interrupted. ‘I like to explore things for myself and I do not want to walk in there with my thought process crowded by yours.’

‘Sure.’

He was arrogant, dismissive, even rude, but there was no mistaking that he was brilliant with Tommy. He didn’t rush in, he just chatted to the little boy for a couple of minutes and then asked him something about his parents.

‘Tommy’s mum is deceased,’ Nina said quietly, and had he given her just one moment to speak he might not be feeling such an insensitive bastard right now. At least, Nina hoped that was what he was thinking.

Of course it wasn’t.

Jack had been rather hoping Tommy might speak a little for himself, but instead he sat silent and pale, his mop of dark curls unkempt and unwashed. He had dark circles under his eyes and, Jack noted, despite gentle prompting, he remained silent.

‘Okay, Tommy,’ Jack said, pulling on his gloves, ‘we’re just going to take a look at that cut of yours.’ He looked at Nina and for the first time that day he was smiling in her direction—for the sake of the patient, of course. ‘You know Nina, I hear.’

Tommy’s eyes darted towards her and she gave him a smile. ‘We’ve met a few times, haven’t we, Tommy?’ Nina walked over and looked at the cut. It was deep and infected and it was clear that it should have been medically dealt with at the time it had happened. ‘That looks sore,’ Nina said. ‘What happened?’ She saw the confusion in Tommy’s eyes. ‘It’s okay,’ Nina said. ‘We just want to find out what happened so we can make sure it gets better.’

‘Where’s Dad?’ The question was aimed at Nina, and it was the first words Jack had heard Tommy say.

‘Dad’s just having a seat and a drink in another area.’ She made it clear, Jack noted, that his dad was well away and that he could talk freely, and she asked him again about the cut.

‘I don’t know.’

Gently Jack examined him, probing his little stomach, exploring his rib cage, noting that Tommy winced when he did so. Jack pulled on his stethoscope and listened to Tommy’s chest, but looked up as someone stepped into the cubicle.

‘Sorry about that.’ A woman smiled. ‘I’m Lorna Harris, locum registrar.’

‘It’s fine Lorna, I’ve got this,’ Jack dismissed, but then a nurse popped her head around the door and explained that Elspeth was getting impatient.

Jack closed his eyes in mounting frustration. He opened them to two very dark blue ones and the serious face of Nina, and for the first time that morning he said what was on his mind. ‘Do you know what I hate about charity?’

His voice was low and for Nina’s ears only, the words not even for her really, they just came from a dark place inside him called frustration, not that she could understand. Jack never expected her to answer. He was already pulling off his gloves, and he certainly never thought that she might get it, but at the sound of her voice he stilled.

‘The cost?’

Jack gave a wry smile, noted the small circles of colour rise on her cheeks as still he kept looking. He would have loved to continue this conversation, would have loved to say more, but the world outside waited. He turned and apologised to Tommy, told the little guy that Lorna would take good care of him now.

‘Will I see you again later?’ Tommy suddenly asked.

Jack had many noncommittal answers that he used to reply to questions such as this one, but apart from Nina he was the only person Tommy had spoken to, and though Jack did his best not to get too pulled in, especially with cases as emotional as this one, for reasons he didn’t want to explore, yes, he would be following up on this case.

In detail.

‘I’ll come and check on you later, but it probably won’t be till tonight,’ Jack said. ‘So you may already be asleep.’

Certainly Tommy was going to be admitted.

He handed over his findings to Lorna and then stepped out. Nina found herself blushing and unsettled by their brief conversation and just the effect of Jack Carter close up. He unsettled her in many areas—filthy rich, filthy morals, combined with a brilliance that somehow, despite his title, was wasted.

She’d always thought him shallow; a spoiled rich boy playing doctor, but she had sensed that he really wanted to be in here with Tommy, not out there talking with a benefactor, and for the first time she wondered if it was always so easy for him. Not that she had long to dwell on it. Despite gentle questioning, Tommy could offer no explanation for the cut and the bruising.

‘Yes.’ He started to cry when he admitted that his dad had been really cross that morning when he had wet the bed again.

Tommy had stopped wetting the bed three months ago.

Lorna was nice to Tommy, but not as thorough as Nina found Jack to be, and despite Nina telling her the complicated history, it was clear by the time they went into speak with Mike, Lorna had already made her mind up.

‘As tragic as their history is,’ Lorna said after interviewing Mike, ‘we have a child with injuries neither he nor the father can account for, a nasty, infected cut that the father has not sought help for and a father that is hostile and angry towards staff. He already has a history with Child Protection.’

‘I’ve explained why.’

‘I know you have, but he’s also admitted how frustrated he is that Tommy has started wetting the bed again.’ She paused as they were told Tommy’s X-rays were in, and as she checked them Nina’s heart sank. ‘Two fractured ribs.’

They spoke at length and a child abuse screen was ordered—bloods would be taken and a full skeletal survey done, and in the meantime Nina would obtain an order that the father could only visit Tommy while supervised.

It was a long, busy day—the emergency with Tommy was just added to her routine work and by the time Nina had caught up with Sienna the clock was nudging nine p.m., but still there was work to do.

Nina had had a long conversation with Mike, and, despite all evidence pointing to him, something simply didn’t sit right with her. Tommy had been desperately upset when his father had left, and Nina had assured Mike that there would be a case worker available first thing in the morning to supervise his access. Then she headed back into the general ward, where Tommy had been admitted, and went over and spoke to him, reassuring him that he was okay and that his father would be back in the morning.

Jack was sitting in the small office, going through Tommy’s notes, and he looked up as Nina entered the darkened ward. Her hair, which had been rather more neatly pinned up that morning, had bit by bit worked its way out of the pins and fallen in soft tendrils around her face. She must be exhausted, Jack thought, remembering that she had been called out for an emergency even before that morning’s meeting.

He wondered again if there was a Mr Wilson, though, remembering the blush that had spread on her cheeks that moment when their eyes had locked, he was certain that there was no Ms Wilson.

He was so not going there! Jack looked down at the notes he was reading—the last thing he needed was a fling with someone as intense as Nina Wilson.

Don’t even think about it. Jack grinned to himself.

Maybe his own lack of sleep was catching up with him.

Still, he did find himself looking at her again, saw that she was in no rush with Tommy, and wondered how she had the mental energy to be so involved.

And then she looked over towards the office and caught his eye, and Jack, for once, felt a little uncomfortable, as if he’d been caught staring. But he didn’t look away, just watched as she made her way over to him.

‘Nina.’ He gave her a nod and he noted that she closed the door behind her.

‘Could I have a word with you?’

‘Sure.’

‘I’m worried.’ She gave him a tight smile. ‘Which is nothing new. I always am … but tonight I’m really worried.’

‘Go on.’

‘I’ve just spent another couple of hours talking to Mike and I’ve just been in again to Tommy and I just don’t think that Mike’s responsible for the bruising.’ She looked at him. ‘Have you read the notes?’

‘I’ve just started.’

‘Have you read my notes?’

‘Not yet.’ Part of Jack’s frustration was that he never actually got a chance to sit down and do that. He was always relying on handovers, catching up. He had read Lorna’s findings and wasn’t quite happy with the detail of her notes, would have preferred to have thoroughly examined Tommy himself rather than rely on a locum registrar’s findings. He looked at Nina, saw the tension in her face and her genuine concern. ‘Tell me what you know.’

She actually exhaled in relief before she started talking.

‘I’ve been working with the family for six months, since the mother’s death,’ Nina explained. ‘Prior to Kathy’s death, the marriage was in trouble—they had major financial issues and Mike was away all week working, and when he came home at weekends Kathy often went to her mother’s, so he hardly saw Tommy. Six months ago, Mike left for a trip after a huge argument with Kathy. He didn’t ring her that day, but the next day, when he did, she didn’t answer her phone and he figured she still wasn’t talking to him.

‘When she still didn’t pick up the next day, Mike had a neighbour go and check on her. She was dead and Tommy was with her, hungry and dehydrated …’

Jack wasn’t shocked, he had heard many stories like this before, but he saw tears well up in her eyes and her involvement in the case unnerved him, challenged him even. ‘Given the row and the circumstances, there was suspicion as to Mike’s involvement in the death. While Tommy was admitted here, the father was flying back to face police questioning, and Child Protection was naturally called in. That’s the reason for my involvement.’

‘Okay.’ His expression was deadpan, but his mind filtered the information, and, Nina noted, he really was listening.

‘Tommy had shut down from the trauma of being with his mother’s body, but apart from that there were issues with bonding with his father.’

‘Explain.’

She smiled. He didn’t waste words, but gave her a chance to speak.

‘When I first met Tommy and his father, Tommy took all his direction from me. He had more connection with me than with his own father. As you know, a child is normally unsure around strangers, but not in this case. Mike had had very few dealings with Tommy and that’s what we’ve been working on, whereas the psychologist has been dealing more with the issues of losing his mother. They’ve come on in leaps and bounds—despite enormous financial stress, Tommy and Mike are a real unit. He looks to his father now for prompts, he’s asking to see him right now …’

‘The father clearly has a temper problem. I saw the way he was with you.’

‘Yes,’ Nina said. ‘But never with Tommy.’

‘Never?’

‘He was cross this morning about the wet bed, but that was out of frustration and fear. He doesn’t understand the bruises and the cut. Mike told me that he was terrified that we’d take him away, what we’d think, that’s why he didn’t bring him in—which, yes, was a terrible call …’

Jack nodded. It had been a terrible call but one he had seen many parents make.

‘I remember one child that was referred to us for unexplained bruising had leukaemia …’

‘He’s had blood work.’ Jack shook his head. ‘He hasn’t got that and leukaemia wouldn’t account for two fractured ribs and an infected cut that actually looks as if it’s combined with a burn—and that he’s resumed bedwetting.’

‘Fine,’ Nina said, and Jack frowned.

‘What does that mean?’

‘You’ve already made up your mind.’ She walked out of his office and to the nurses’ station and set up her computer to input her notes—God, she was an angry thing, Jack thought. He felt like walking over and tapping her on the shoulder, telling her that, no, he hadn’t made up his mind, that he was still trying to catch up on the notes, and that he didn’t jump in with assumptions. He looked at all the facts and then he made up his mind.

So he started to.

He read the psychologist’s notes though they dealt more with the issues surrounding the mother, and then he read Nina’s.

They were incredibly detailed and her observations were astute, outlining how Tommy had first responded to her, that he had been precocious almost, sitting on her knee, playing with her lanyard, taking no direction from the father he knew, but in later visits he had turned more and more to his father, so much so that Nina had been about to close the case.

So what had gone wrong these last weeks?

Jack looked up and saw Nina tapping away on her laptop, then she stopped and yawned and gave her head a little shake. He watched as she stood and headed for the water cooler and then came back to the computer, frowning as she read through her notes. Then she must have hit ‘send’, because an update appeared in the notes Jack was reading.

And he read Nina’s account of today.

She was a brilliant report writer. He had expected more passion, a little dig at the medial staff perhaps, but instead she had detailed all that had happened, and her conclusion that, given the injuries and the lack of any explanation, she had obtained an urgent court order that allowed supervised access only for the next seventy-two hours.

And Jack sat and racked his brains.

He shut out all chatter.

He was head of paeds for more reasons than his financial pull.

No one argument swayed him, no tearful plea prompted his signature on anything that he didn’t believe in.

Jack walked over to the bedside where Nina now stood stroking Tommy’s dark curls as he slept. ‘Do you always get this involved?’

‘Always.’ She didn’t look up. ‘Right now my department is all this little guy’s got.’

‘As well as the medical staff.’

‘I’m talking about family.’ She looked up. ‘He wants his father and I’ve been to court to stop that contact; it’s not a decision that can be taken lightly. I have a worker booked for nine a.m. and she will supervise a visit, but really Tommy needs his father tonight.’

‘I’ve been reading through the notes,’ Jack said, only he didn’t get to finish as he was interrupted by a sudden wail from a sleeping Tommy. Nina looked down, moved to comfort him as his eyes opened and he sat up, clearly terrified.

‘It’s okay, Tommy,’ Nina said, sure the little boy was having a nightmare, but instead Jack told her to step out, already pressing the bell for assistance. He knew long before Nina did what was happening, because Tommy hadn’t woken up. He was experiencing an aura, a sudden panic before a seizure, and Tommy nearly bolted from the bed as Jack firmly held him, then laid him back down as his body gave way to spasms …

Nina felt sick. There was no question now that she should go home and she headed to the office, watching as the nurses ran with the trolley, IVs were put up and drugs were given.

Yet nothing seemed to be working.

She heard the call go out for the anaesthetist and then she saw through a chink in the curtains that after only brief respite young Tommy’s body was starting to seize again.

A grim-faced Jack came into the office a while later.

‘He’s anaesthetised and we’re taking him down for an urgent head CT,’ Jack told her. ‘You need to let his father know.’

‘What do I tell him?’

‘Just tell him to get here,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll be the one to tell him that it’s not looking good.’

CHAPTER FOUR

IT WAS A wretched night.

She had to sit with a terrified Mike who arrived after Tommy had gone for his CT scan. Because of the court order, because of the possibility that he had caused the injuries, Mike would only be allowed to see Tommy supervised, and when Lorianna, the duty social worker, appeared in the waiting room to sit with him, although exhausted, the last thing Nina wanted to do was leave.

‘Go home.’ Lorianna pulled her aside. ‘It’s after one and you’re due back at nine.’

‘I want to hear the results.’

‘They’ll be the same results in the morning.’ Lorianna was practical. ‘Anything from dad?’

‘Nothing.’ Nina shook her head. ‘I’d just spent the best part of an hour trying to convince Jack that Mike hadn’t harmed Tommy and I’ve just heard a nurse saying that they’re flagging brain trauma …’ God, she was questioning herself, which Nina did often, but she had been so sure Mike hadn’t hurt Tommy. The sight of the little boy seizing had really upset Nina and standing outside the CT area, seeing more and more staff rushing in, in a race to save a little life, had tears stinging her eyes.

‘You need to go home.’ Lorianna was firm. ‘You know that.’

Nina did.

There would be another family or families that needed her tomorrow and it wasn’t fair to them if she hadn’t at least had some sleep, but it felt so wrong to be leaving, so terrible to just walk away, except Nina knew that she had to.

She said goodbye to Mike, told him she would be back first thing in the morning, and then headed out of the hospital building towards the street, where she would flag a taxi. Really, she should have called Security rather than walk in the hospital grounds this late at night, but right now she just wanted to get home. She questioned her decision, though, as a car slowed down beside her and she walked a little more briskly as the car kept pace with her and the window slid down.

‘Can I give you a lift?’

Nina turned at the sound of Jack’s voice and saw his luxurious Jag, along with his face. ‘No, thanks.’

‘I actually want to talk to you—it turns out that you were right.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Tommy hasn’t got a head injury,’ Jack explained. ‘It’s a nasty brain lesion that’s been causing the seizures. I expect that’s where his bruises and injuries are from. I just called in Alex Rodriguez, he’s in there speaking with the father now …’ He drove alongside as Nina walked on, her boots making a crunching noise on the icy sidewalk, her breath coming out in short white shallow bursts as she struggled to hold onto both her temper and her tears, but, oblivious, Jack spoke on. ‘So there you go—we find out again that things are never as they seem. Nina, let me give you—’ He never got to finish.

‘“There you go!”‘ She swung around, biting back tired, angry tears. His car halted when she did and Nina said it again. ‘“There you go?” Is that all you have to say?’ She should stop speaking now, Nina knew, should just run for the nearest cab, except she didn’t. ‘Are you telling me that Tommy has a brain tumour?’ She was furious and let it show. ‘“Oh, hey, Nina, I just thought you might like to know …”‘

‘I’m trying to explain—’

‘And doing an appalling job at it. Have you even listened to what I’ve told you? Have you any concept what that family’s been through and now Tommy has a brain tumour? Do you expect me to do a little victory dance because I was right that Mike hadn’t beaten him? Well, I won’t because, unlike you, I don’t take cheap shots.’

‘Really?’ Jack checked, thinking of her little dig about him reading that she had delivered just that morning. ‘Or do you not even realise you’re doing it?’

‘At least I don’t gloat over other’s mistakes.’

‘Now, hold on a minute …’ Jack, rather illegally, parked the car in the hospital driveway and as he climbed out she stood there shaking with fury as several weeks of guilt and misery culminated in one very unprofessional row. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You know full well what I’m talking about,’ Nina shouted. ‘Your little I told you so look when Baby Tanner was brought back in.’

‘Baby Tanner?’ She saw his nonplussed face, a frown marring his perfect features as he tried to recall.

‘The eight-week-old my department discharged …’ Guilt had lived with her since the night he’d been brought back and now, to add to her fury, Nina realised that he couldn’t even recall the case. ‘You don’t even remember, do you?’

‘Nina …’

‘You really can’t remember!’ She was disgusted.

‘Nina, what you fail to understand is …’

She didn’t want to understand him, she didn’t want to be inside Jack Carter’s mind. She wanted him well away, and so with words she kept him well back. ‘You’re so bloody distant from your patients,’ Nina shouted, ‘you’re so clinical and detached …’ Her temper was nearing boiling point. It was two a.m., she was tired, cold and hungry and, despite herself, she fancied the arrogant man who stood in front of her, could see him so tall and groomed and just so sexy that she was perhaps more angry with herself than with him. ‘You know what, Jack?’ she hurled at him. ‘You’re burnt out.’

‘Oh, I’m not burnt out, baby—I haven’t even fired up …’

Baby! Of all the chauvinistic, unprofessional things to call her—to relegate her … And maybe he realised the inappropriateness of his comment, because he gave a small shake of his head before walking toward her. ‘Get in the car.’ He was so close she could smell him. ‘I’ll give you a lift.’

‘I don’t want a lift.’

‘You’re upset …’

Nina could hardly breathe she was so angry, so attracted and he was so terribly close. ‘I’m more than angry,’ Nina said, ‘I’m ropeable.’

He had the audacity to smile.

‘I’m sure it could be arranged.’

He smiled in the darkness and she could see his white teeth as they both held their breath. For a very long moment she thought he might kiss her, and wouldn’t that be typical Jack Carter? Snog his way out of a row, dismiss any criticism with a stroke of his tongue.

She wanted him to, though, and that was what terrified her.

Her feelings for Jack actually terrified her. She simply didn’t know how to react around him, didn’t know how she felt.

Her eyes were savage now when they met his, as he again told her what she would do.

‘I’m going to drive you home and we’ll discuss this properly tomorrow.’

‘There’s nothing to discuss,’ Nina said.

‘Oh, I beg to differ …’ Jack said, ‘but not here, not now. Right now you need to calm down.’

He might as well have lit the match. He’d be telling her she was premenstrual next, which, as an aside, Nina realised in that dangerous flickering moment, she was.

But that wasn’t the point.

That so wasn’t the point.

‘Oh, I’ll calm down when I’m out of this place and as far away from you as I can get.’

‘Nina …’ He caught her coat as she turned to go, and swung her around.

‘Is this off the record?’ Nina checked.

‘Of course!’ Still, she was sure, there was an edge of a smile on his beautiful mouth.

‘Screw you!’

She shook him off, walked noisily on as fast as she could without slipping on ice, which he would just love, Nina thought angrily. Wouldn’t he just love watching her bottom up on the sidewalk as he slid past in his silver Jag?

She practically ran out of Angel’s, hailed a cab and climbed in, cursing under her breath as he overtook them.

At the same time, a curse come from Jack too.

What the hell was all that about? Jack wondered as he headed for his apartment.

Drama he so did not need.

Yet …

He thought of her angry face, the stamp of her boots, the bundle of passion he’d just witnessed and had actually enjoyed. Jack winced a little as he recalled his own retorts, though, which were so unlike him. He didn’t really row with anyone, didn’t really discuss, he just told people how it would be.

Still, as he headed for home she soon disappeared from his mind. He was just mildly annoyed that he had dumped Monica that morning, because he could really use a decent unwind …

Detached, clinical, yep, Jack was guilty as charged.

But no.

Nina was wrong.

He was so not burnt out.

Walking into her apartment, Nina closed the door on the world and let out a very long breath.

She would not think about Jack.

Neither would she think about Tommy.

Quite simply, she had to sleep and had learnt long ago that sometimes you simply had to turn off fear and panic and just close your eyes for a little while.

But her hands were shaking as she poured a glass of milk.

Nina wandered through her apartment, hoping it would soothe her.

She had just moved in and it was everything to her. She’d fought for eight years to have this, a proper home where finally they could be a family.

She went first to Blake’s room, looked at the mountain of boxes that would hopefully soon transform into a bed and bedside table and a chest of drawers, but so far the fairies hadn’t been in to build them. She’d hopefully do that tomorrow night, or at the latest by Blake’s access visit next weekend.

Then she moved to what would hopefully soon be Janey’s bedroom, but instead of feeling soothed her chest tightened in fear when she thought about her sister.

Janey, even before their parents’ death, had been a wilful, difficult child, but now at fifteen she was going spectacularly off the rails, and Nina was absolutely petrified for her younger sister.

She wanted Janey close and just hoped and prayed that the case meeting to be held in a few weeks would finally deem her a suitable guardian.

Nina had been seventeen when her parents had been killed in a horrific car crash. She had been considered old enough to look after herself, but too young to care for a one- and a seven-year-old and, she now conceded, the department had probably been right.

For two years she had been as difficult and as wild as Janey was now—worse, in fact. Devastated by the loss, not just of her parents but of her brother and sister too, Nina had been unable to keep up with the rent. She had lost her home and had spent a couple of years surfing friends’ couches until finally she had found the pro bono centre, which had, quite simply, turned her life around. The people there had counselled her, offered support, both practical and financial, and she had commenced her studies at the age of nineteen and had qualified as a social worker at twenty-three.

But a junior social worker’s wage had only allowed for a small one-bedroomed apartment and so she had still been unable to provide a proper home for her brother and sister, having to make do with just access visits and respite care.

Determined that they would be together Nina had scrimped and saved for the past two years, had gone without luxuries and every pay rise had gone towards her savings until finally she had found a three-bedroomed flat she could afford. Now, at the age of twenty-five, she was hoping that, after all these years, the Wilson siblings could be a real family.

But then she’d gone and lost her head with the Head of Paediatrics.

Nina tried to sleep.

Told herself that Jack wasn’t going to have her fired—he’d been inappropriate too.

Terribly so.

She lay there in bed and thought of his words, startled that just the repetition of them could have her body aflame.

Nina turned over, screwed her eyes closed and did her best not to think about him. She could not think about Jack like that—except she was.

Her own thoughts startled her. She had never been in a relationship, didn’t know how to handle men unless she was dealing with them professionally.

She wasn’t thinking professionally about Jack now.

And she hated sex, Nina reminded herself, except she was thinking the sexiest thoughts now, and she moaned out his name. For a breathless moment she lay there, embarrassed and mortified for different reasons now at the thought that tomorrow she might have to face him.

CHAPTER FIVE

IT ACTUALLY WASN’T an issue.

When Nina walked into ICU to check on Tommy, the sight of Mike’s grief-stricken face was the only thing that consumed her and she barely noticed Jack speaking with Alex.

But Jack noticed her.

She was wearing a black skirt with a jade top and stockings and flat ankle boots today. She was far paler than yesterday and there were dark rings under her eyes, but even running on fatigue she was a ball of energy.

‘How is he?’

Mike shrugged helplessly. ‘He’s just had some more tests and they’re arranging a biopsy. They want to keep him on the ventilator for a few days …’ He looked up at Nina. ‘I’m so sorry for yesterday.’

‘Let’s deal with that another time,’ Nina said.

‘I think I was starting to realise that there was something really wrong with him … I just didn’t want to know.’

‘Mike, we’ll go over all of that later. I’ve arranged a case meeting for tomorrow morning and we’ll look at the supervised access order then, but right now let’s just concentrate on Tommy.’ Jack noted that she didn’t ignore the issue of his outburst, there were just more important things to address right now. ‘Have you rung your sister?’ Nina asked. ‘The one in Texas?’

Mike nodded. ‘She’s sorting out her children and flying out as soon as she can.’

‘That’s good.’

Jack had never been a particular fan of the social work department. Oh, he knew that they did a good job, but more often than not he found himself in contention with them. But today he saw that the holistic approach that had irked him so much was vital now.

Mike had no one, had lost his wife, his career and could possibly now lose his son, and he saw just how necessary it was that someone knew that there was a sister in Texas, that there was someone who knew that yesterday had been out of character for him.

He saw how important it was that when Mike was too emotionally distraught to speak that he had a voice, and in this case it came from Nina. He watched as her eyes skimmed past his face and landed on Alex’s. ‘If I liaise with your secretary, would you be able to attend a case meeting tomorrow?’

‘We won’t know much more by tomorrow,’ Alex said.

‘Sure, but I want to sort out the order and bring everyone up to speed,’ Nina said.

Alex nodded and got back to the scan he was reviewing, but as Nina walked off Jack halted her.

‘I’ll catch up with you later, Nina.’

‘Sorry?’ She turned and frowned. ‘You don’t need to be at the case meeting, it was the locum registrar who ordered the child abuse screen.’

‘I’m aware of that,’ Jack said. ‘But I need to be brought up to speed on a few separate issues that arose last night.’

‘Sure.’

Damn.

She had wondered how he would handle things—a letter from Admin perhaps, an internal email asking her to attend HR, or, and she’d rather hoped for this one, that her outburst would simply be ignored. Nina really couldn’t believe she had spoken to anyone like that, let alone the Head of Paediatrics, Jack Carter himself! She had been completely unprofessional because, Nina knew, her feelings for Jack were completely unprofessional.

Of all the people to have a crush on …

How was it possible to be so attracted to someone that you actually didn’t like?

It was a question that she couldn’t answer and by three p.m., when her intercom buzzed and she was told Jack Carter was there to see her, Nina was actually relieved that soon things would be sorted out.

She just wanted this over with. ‘Send him in.’

Nina took a deep breath, wondering if she should stand to greet him, if she should just apologise outright and explain how tired and emotional she had been yesterday.

She didn’t get a chance to do either. The door knocked and as soon as she called for him to come in, he did so.

‘You wanted to screw me?’

She had never considered that he might make her laugh, that he might have her smiling with his reference to her parting words last night.

‘It’s a figure of speech.’

‘Oh!’ He feigned disappointment. ‘I shaved and everything. I even wore my best tie.’

He certainly had shaved, she’d noticed that this morning.

And, Nina reluctantly noted, he smelt fantastic.

He looked fantastic.

Jack would have had as little sleep last night as she’d had, yet there wasn’t even a hint of weariness about him. Mind you, from what she had heard about him, Jack Carter was more than used to operating on minimal sleep. As well as his phenomenally busy job, his social life was daunting. If you lived in New York, you knew all about the Carters. They were glamorous, rich and had the social life to prove it. Jack was a regular feature in the social pages, a different woman on his arm each time, and more often than not witty little pieces written about the latest woman he had left in tears.

Nina didn’t need to see it in magazines, there were many of his conquests dotted around the hospital, and the last thing she intended to be was another.

‘I’d like to apologise for last night.’ Nina wasn’t as immediate in her apology as she had intended to be, but the fact that he had made her laugh a little made the words more genuine and a little easier to say. ‘It came at the end of a very long day.’

‘I understand that.’ And if she had any hope that things would be left there, that her apology might suffice, then it was a very fleeting hope, because Jack was pulling up a chair. ‘However, it does need to be addressed.’

‘Really, it doesn’t.’

‘Really, it does.’ He mimicked her voice and then he was serious. ‘I’d like to offer an apology of my own—I shouldn’t have told you that Tommy had a brain lesion the way that I did. I thought you would want to know before you went home last night.’

She was somewhat taken aback by his apology. ‘How is he doing this afternoon?’

‘He’s still intubated and his father is with him. Alex is hoping the medication will start to really kick in and that his cerebral irritation will abate over the next forty-eight hours and then he can be extubated. They’ve taken a biopsy of the lesion.’

‘Is it serious?’

‘It’s too early to say, though I would think that it is. Given the prolonged nature of his seizure, it sounds as if he’s been having them for the last couple of weeks—that would explain the bruising and bedwetting. Still, the father has been negligent by not getting the cut and the bruises examined.’

‘He was scared.’

‘I’m aware of that, but his delay in seeking treatment for his son …’ Jack didn’t want to argue the point. ‘But, yes, I accept that he was scared.’

‘Well.’ Nina gave him a brief smile. ‘Thank you for stopping by and, again, I apologise for last night.’ She stood, but Jack didn’t.

‘I haven’t finished yet.’

‘I’ve actually got quite a full workload …’ Nina attempted, but could have kicked herself. He was Head of Paediatrics after all, and his diary would be full to bursting.

‘Don’t we all? But we’re going to make some time to sit down and talk about Baby Tanner.’

‘I’d rather not.’

‘I didn’t offer an option,’ Jack said. ‘And, yes, I’d love a coffee, thank you for offering.’

Reluctantly Nina headed over to her percolator. ‘Cream and one sugar,’ he called, and when she’d made him his drink and sat down, Jack immediately opened the conversation. ‘I’ve had a look through the notes and it would seem I made a recommendation for Baby Tanner to be placed in foster-care.’

‘You did.’

‘But the social work department felt that the mother was doing well and with suitable provisions in place …’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Does that sound familiar?’

‘You don’t remember him, do you?’

‘A little bit, now that I’ve looked him up. What I don’t understand is why you think that I’m supposed to remember him, why you’re so upset.’

‘I’m not.’

‘I’d suggest you are.’ Jack sat back in the chair, took a sip of his coffee as if he had all the time in the world. ‘Last night it was clear that you’re still furious about it, to the point where you were shouting in the hospital car park at the Head of Paediatrics, “Screw you!”‘

‘I’ve apologised for that.’

‘And I’ve accepted your apology. I’m not here to discipline anyone. I’m simply here to find out why you are so upset with me about Baby Tanner.’

‘It was what you said when he was readmitted …’ Nina shook her head, because that wasn’t quite right. ‘Or rather it was the look you gave.’

‘The look?’

‘The I told you so look.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Jack shook his head.

‘I remember it very well,’ Nina said, and took a sip of her own coffee.

‘Was it this one?’

She looked over and almost choked on her mouthful of coffee.

Jack Carter was smiling at her and it was a smile she had never seen. He was looking straight into her eyes and his smile was wicked, triumphant. He held that smile till her face was burning, till she had forced herself to swallow the coffee she held in her mouth, till she remembered again to breathe, because for a moment there she had felt as if she were lying under him, felt as she’d just found out what it was like to be made love to by him.

‘That’s my I told you so look,’ Jack said, and then his face changed. His expression became serious, his jaw tense, his eyes the same they had been the night Baby Tanner had been brought in.

‘What you saw was my I hate this job sometimes, why do people have children if they don’t want them, what the hell is wrong with the world that someone can do this to an eight-week-old look …’

‘Oh.’

‘They’re two very different things and not for a minute was I blaming you for what had happened to Baby Tanner.’

‘Okay.’

‘And it was the same look I gave you yesterday when you walked in and saw Tommy covered in bruises. Why would you think I blamed you?’

‘People often do,’ Nina answered tartly.

‘Well, I don’t,’ Jack said. ‘And I want to make that clear. There’s no simple answer in a lot of these cases …’ He would have spoken on but at that moment there was the sound of a commotion outside. The office door opened and Nina heard the receptionist shouting that Nina had someone in with her and that she simply couldn’t go in—not that is made the slightest difference.

‘Janey!’ Nina stood. ‘You can’t just barge in here …’

‘You said I could come by any time.’

Jack looked at the angry teenager who had just burst into the office, heard the challenge in her words, saw the anger in her stance, and decided the social work department really was the hidden front line of Angel’s.

‘I need some money,’ Janey said. ‘I haven’t got any to ride the subway, and I’m hungry.’

‘Wait outside and I will speak with you when I’m finished here.’

‘I’m not waiting! Are you going to give me money or not?’

Jack frowned as Nina reached for her bag. ‘Hold on a moment.’ What on earth was she doing, giving this young woman money?

‘Leave it, Jack.’

For a moment he did.

He watched as Nina handed over a few dollars, heard her tell Janey to be careful and that she would ring her later tonight. Then Nina asked her who she was with, where she was going, but all Janey had been interested in had been getting some money and, almost as soon as she had arrived, she left.

‘I know I have absolutely no idea about the inner workings of the social work department,’ Jack started, ‘but I do not like the idea of angry, clearly troubled teenagers feeling they can just storm in here and demand—’

‘She isn’t a client,’ Nina interrupted him. She sat back down at her desk and tried to keep her voice matter-of-fact as she explained to Jack what had just happened. ‘Janey is my sister.’

‘Your sister? So why is she …?’ He never finished the question, realising even as he started to speak that it was none of his business anyway. Though that wasn’t the reason that Jack stopped talking. It was because Nina had put her head in her hands and promptly burst into tears.

It wasn’t a little weep either.

In that moment everything Nina was struggling with chose to finally catch up with her and she sobbed for more than a minute before attempting to pull herself together. When she did she was mortified that it was Jack who was there to witness her meltdown.

For weeks things had been building up. Janey’s behaviour was getting worse and, given her job, Nina knew more than most that Janey was heading rapidly in the wrong direction, yet felt powerless to do anything.

‘Please.’ There were always tissues on her desk, usually for the clients, but Nina peeled off a generous handful and blew her nose. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Jack. ‘Can you leave?’

He just sat there.

‘I don’t want to discuss this.’

‘Sorry, but you’re going to.’ Jack stood. ‘But first I suggest—in fact, I insist—that you go home and get some sleep.’

‘I can’t go home.’ Nina shook her head. ‘It’s impossible, I’ve got appointments, I need to—’

‘You need to go home.’

And she gave in then as she truly was beyond exhausted. She had spent the weekend moving into her apartment, as well as arguing with Janey, as well as working at the pro bono centre in Harlem till late on Sunday, and yesterday had been impossibly long …

‘Fine.’

‘I’ll drive you.’

‘I can take the subway.’

‘No.’

‘I’ll take a taxi.’

‘I’m not going through this again,’ Jack said. ‘I’m not on call so I’m giving you a lift and this time you’re not going to argue.’ He rang down to Switchboard, told them he was out of range for the next forty minutes or so and then walked her out to his parking spot.

She could have taken a taxi, Jack knew that. He really didn’t know why he was so insistent on driving her home himself. Rarely did tears move him and exhaustion was frequent in this place.

It was the complexity of her that had him unusually intrigued.

The traffic was busy but Jack negotiated it easily and Nina was actually relieved for the lift, for the silence and warm comfort of his car, and grateful too that he didn’t ask any questions.

‘Just here,’ she told him as they neared her apartment.

‘I’ll just park.’

‘Just drop me here.’ Nina was irritated. ‘I really don’t need to be seen to the door.’

‘I’m a gentleman.’

Not from what she’d heard!

A delivery van moved off and Jack dived into the vacant space. Then he walked around the car and as she opened her door he held it for her, before locking the vehicle and walking beside her along the cold pavement.

‘You’re right,’ Nina said as they climbed the stairs. ‘I need to be home.’

‘Go to bed,’ Jack said. ‘And I’ll pick you up at eight, take you out for dinner.’

‘I don’t want dinner.’

‘You don’t eat?’

‘I meant—’

‘I know what you meant, but I’m not listening. I’m taking you out for dinner.’

‘Because?’

‘Because by eight o’clock. we’ll both be hungry and,’

Jack added, ‘we never did get to finish our conversation.’

It was just dinner, Nina told herself as Jack walked off, just dinner between two colleagues who had a few things that needed to be sorted out.

The stupid thing was she almost convinced herself that she meant it.

CHAPTER SIX

A GOOD SLEEP and a lot of talking to herself later, Nina sat opposite him.

He’d chosen the restaurant without consulting her, of course, and it was a really nice one. She knew that even before they were inside because someone opened the car door for her and then took Jack’s car to be parked.

It was nothing Nina was used to and nothing she secretly coveted but, despite her values, despite everything she believed in, it was actually incredible to be taken somewhere so nice and, Nina reluctantly conceded as she glanced over at Jack, to be there with him.

He took a sip of the wine he had chosen and ordered after she had asked for a glass of house white and she smarted a bit at that—clearly he thought he knew better. Well, he did know better, Nina conceded as she took a sip too because it was fruity and light and probably fifty times more expensive than the one she would have chosen. But just as she almost started to relax, to believe that they were here to talk about work, Jack asked a very personal question. ‘What’s going on with your sister?’

‘Why would I discuss that with you?’

‘Because I happen to know a lot about teenagers.’

‘I know quite a bit myself.’

‘So you’re dealing with this objectively, are you?’ Jack checked. ‘You’re able to treat Janey as if she’s a client at work.’ He watched her tense swallow and conceded a brief pause. ‘Let’s order, and if you choose an omelette or a salad I’m going to override you and get the most expensive thing on the menu just to annoy you.’

‘Well, can you get the most expensive vegetarian thing on the menu please?’ She looked through the menu and … To hell with it, she was out with Jack Carter so she chose what she wanted—a tomato salad for a starter and then mushroom and goat cheese ravioli with saffron cream for the main course.

And, yes, maybe she could use a brain like his if it would help with her sister—she simply couldn’t take the emotion out of the equation.

Jack could do it without blinking.

‘My sister, Janey, is fifteen and my brother, Blake, is nine. They’re both in foster-care—separate foster-homes …’

‘So when you say that foster-care is no fairy-tale solution, you’re not speaking just professionally?’

‘No. Blake has been very lucky for the most part, but in the last year his placement hasn’t been going so well. The couple he’s with are getting old and their daughter has just returned from overseas with her children and I think they’d rather be spending time with them than Blake. He doesn’t say much to me about it, I have him every alternate weekend, but I think he’s spending an awful lot of time alone in his room.’

‘And Janey?’

‘Janey hasn’t fared so well in the system. She was moved around a lot, but she’s been with a woman, Barbara, for the last four years. In the last few months … I think Barbara’s had about enough. Janey’s skipping school, arguing, just delinquent behaviour …’

‘What happened to your parents?’

‘They died when I was seventeen,’ Nina explained. ‘I tried to get custody but …’ She shook her head.

‘Too young.’

‘Yes,’ Nina said, ‘but it was a bit more than that. I was very angry at my parents for dying. I was a lot like Janey is now. I lost my temper with the social workers on more than one occasion.’ It helped that he smiled a little as she told him, because the guilt of her handling of things back then still ate away at her to this day. ‘So I managed to stuff everything up …’

‘You were seventeen,’ Jack pointed out. ‘Do you really think you could have taken care of them?’

‘No,’ Nina admitted. ‘But it just hurt so much that we were separated. My parents weren’t well off, there was no insurance, no savings, nothing. I know the department was right to place them, but that was then and this is now. I’ve just moved into a three-bedroomed apartment and I’m about to go again and try for custody.’

‘Without losing your temper this time?’

‘Yes,’ Nina said.

‘Without getting all fired up.’

‘Yes.’ And this time she smiled.

‘You’re going to go in there being cool and the amazing professional that you are.’

‘Thanks.’ She looked over at him. ‘It’s hard enough to be dispassionate when you’re fighting for a client, but when it’s family, well, you can imagine what that’s like …’

Actually, Jack couldn’t, but he chose not to say anything, just let Nina continue to talk. ‘I thought there would be no problem, but Janey ran a way a few weeks ago, and when she turned up on my doorstep I didn’t let Barbara or the case worker know where she was. I know I should have rung straight away, I know I was wrong, but I just wanted some time to get to the bottom of what was going on before they took her back. Then the duty social worker turned up at my door and, of course, there she was.’

‘Another black mark against Nina.’

‘I just want my family together.’

‘You’ll get them.’

‘I’m not sure.’ She blew out a breath. ‘I work very long hours …’

‘Can you reduce them?’

Nina gave a tight shrug. She didn’t want to drone on about her finances to someone who simply wouldn’t understand. ‘I also volunteer at the pro bono centre in Harlem eight hours a week …’

‘Well, that can go,’ Jack said, and Nina felt her hand tighten around her wine glass. She looked at him, at a man who had had everything handed to him on a plate as he coolly dismissed something that was very important to her.

‘I happen to like working there,’ Nina said. ‘It’s extremely important to me. Without them …’ She stopped, she just wasn’t going to get into this with Jack, but rather than letting her drop it Jack pushed for Nina to go on.

‘Without them …?’

‘They do amazing work,’ Nina said. ‘It’s run by very passionate, caring people.’

‘Unlike me.’ Jack grinned. He could hear the barbs behind her words.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘You think it, though.’

Nina shrugged again.

‘I can’t afford to get involved, Nina.’

She didn’t buy it.

‘How can you not?’ She blinked at him. ‘You’re a brilliant doctor. I’ve actually seen you in action the rare times you’re hands on. You and I both know …’ She halted. There were some things that should perhaps not be said.

‘Go on,’ Jack invited.

‘I don’t think I should.’

‘Off the record?’ Jack smiled. ‘And, no, you can’t screw me here.’

He made her blush, he made her smile, he gave her permission to be honest.

‘I’m not criticising the other doctor, but I do think that had it been you who examined Tommy …’ She took a slug of her wine before continuing. ‘Well, things might have been picked up a little sooner.’

Jack would never criticise a colleague and certainly not to a woman he didn’t really know—idle gossip was a dangerous thing—but he absolutely agreed with Nina. He’d thought exactly the same thing.

Not only that, he’d had a rather long and difficult conversation with the locum registrar just that morning, not that he could share that with Nina.

‘I just think …’ She really should say no more, except his silence invited her to go on. Sometimes she was a little too honest and even as the words tumbled out, she wished she could take them back. ‘Instead of sucking up to benefactors, you’d be better off with the patients.’ She knew she had gone too far, knew from the flicker of darkness across his eyes that she’d overstepped the mark, and she recanted a little. ‘Certainly the patients would be better off …’

She was nothing like Jack was used to.

Nothing like anyone he had ever been out with before.

He could not think of one person who had ever spoken to him like this, yet over and over she had.

‘Do you ever got involved?’ Nina asked a little later, when she was scraping her dessert bowl. ‘I mean, do you ever get close?’

‘Are we still talking about work?’ Jack grinned.

‘Of course.’ Nina gave a tight smile. She already knew the answer in regard to his personal life. Jack saw the smile, matched it and then upped it, just looked at her and smiled till her face was pink and her toes were curling in her boots.

‘No,’ he said. ‘And no at work as well.’ Then he stopped smiling. ‘I’m not a machine, Nina. I get a bit upset sometimes, I guess, and some things get to me more than others but, no, I work better by staying back …’

He thought he might get a brief lecture, thought the frown was a precursor to criticism, but then, perhaps properly for the first time that night, her eyes met his. ‘You’d be really good at the pro bono centre.’

It was Jack frowning now. ‘I already do a lot …’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not asking you to volunteer. I’m just saying that someone like you would be really good.’ She gave him a smile when he had expected a rebuff. ‘I am sorry for what I said last night—I guess cool heads are needed at times.’

Except his head wasn’t so cool now.

And, no, he never got involved on a personal level either. Jack didn’t do dating and long conversations, and certainly no explorations into someone else’s past, except he found himself wanting to know about a younger Nina, found himself asking how she’d fared when her parents had died.

‘It was rough for a while, but I got there.’

‘How?’

‘I had friends.’ She gave a tight shrug. ‘Couch-surfed for a while …’

‘Couch-surfed?’

‘Slept on friends’ sofas.’ He watched her face burn and then blue eyes met his. ‘I nearly ended up on the streets.’

Jack could perhaps see why she was so angry at times, why she struggled so much in her efforts to keep families together—given the impact it had had on her life when she’d lost hers. ‘So how come—?’

‘I’m not going there, Jack,’ she interrupted.

‘Sure,’ Jack said. Usually it was him pulling back, usually it was him closing off and refusing to discuss things.

And so they chatted about other stuff when he really wanted to know more about Nina. He simply didn’t know how to play her, because when he glanced at his phone and saw how late it was, had it been anyone else, they’d have been back at his apartment and safely in bed.

Safely in bed, because that was what Jack knew and did best. He wasn’t used to that awkward moment when they climbed into his car, because usually both parties knew exactly where they were headed.

‘No, thanks,’ she said to his oh-so-casual offer of a nightcap at his place. ‘It’s already late and I’m the duty worker tomorrow night.’

So not only was Jack not used to going to back to her place, neither was he familiar with a smile at the front door and no invitation to come inside.

‘Thanks so much for tonight,’ Nina said. ‘It was nice to clear the air.’

‘Oh, we haven’t cleared the air yet,’ he said, and he gave her the kiss that he should have last night.

Not a gentle kiss, a very thorough kiss, a kiss that meant business.

She should have resisted, Nina thought as she kissed him back. She should have at least made some token protest, but there was something very consuming about being kissed by Jack, something that would make you a liar if you attempted to deny the effect, because like the man himself it was a top-notch kiss, and, like the man himself, very soon it went too far.

His mouth had left hers and had moved to her neck, his hands pulling her hips into him, and he was just as turned on as she was. He made sure Nina could feel it and then his voice was low in her ear. ‘Am I going to be asked inside?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Can you be persuaded?’

He kissed her again and, no, she couldn’t be persuaded, because she trusted her heart to no one and certainly she’d be a fool to trust it to a man like Jack.

She pulled away. ‘I’d better go.’

She was playing with fire here, Nina knew it. So she stepped back a little and went into her bag for her key.

‘Nina—’

‘Thanks so much for dinner.’

And she gave him a smile, stepped into the safety of her flat and closed the door on him. On them.

No matter how she might want to, Nina was so not going there.

These next few weeks were the most important of her life and she was not going into them with a head messed up by Jack Carter. And he would mess it up.

His reputation preceded him.

And she had her family to think of.

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