Читать книгу Emergency: Mother Wanted - Sarah Morgan - Страница 6

PROLOGUE

‘SAY that name again?’

Zach Jordan paused with a coffee-mug halfway to his lips, his blue eyes suddenly watchful.

‘Which name?’ His colleague Sean Nicholson, the senior consultant in the accident and emergency department, glanced down at the list he’d been reading aloud. ‘Um…Keely Thompson?’

Keely…

Zach put his coffee-mug back on the table, untouched.

‘What’s the matter? Do you know her?’ Sean frowned and Zach’s eyes narrowed as he did the calculation in his head. Could it be her? Had that much time passed? Could she really be one of the new senior house officers?

‘I think I might do,’ he said finally. ‘You interviewed her—can you remember what she looked like?’

Sean nodded and tossed the file of papers he was holding onto the table. ‘I certainly can. Small and delicate, short blonde hair…a bit urchin like—massive blue eyes, the biggest smile I’ve ever seen…’ He broke off and gave an appreciative grin. ‘In fact, I have to admit that she was absolutely gorgeous, but don’t tell Ally I said that.’

Zach gave an absent smile, knowing that Sean adored his pretty wife and their three children. ‘Bouncy? Bubbly personality?’

‘That’s her.’ Sean picked up his coffee and took a sip. ‘She’s the daughter of the Professor Thompson from St Mark’s. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky she’s here. With that sort of pedigree I don’t expect she’ll be hanging around the Lake District for long. She’ll be aiming for a job in one of the hot seats of academic learning.’

Would she? Zach gave a slight frown. That didn’t seem like the Keely he’d known as a child. She’d been gentle and caring and totally lacking in ambition. In fact, there had been times when he’d wondered how on earth the Prof had managed to produce a child like Keely—she was so very different from the rest of them. But if she was following in the family footsteps and carving a high-profile career for herself then she’d obviously changed.

He sat back in his chair, wondering what she’d be like now. Last time he’d seen her she’d been a typical teenager, worrying about school and arguing with her mother. It was pretty hard to accept that she’d become a fully qualified doctor.

Sean was looking at him curiously. ‘So how do you know her?’

‘I trained with her older brother and sister.’ Zach leaned forward and retrieved his coffee. ‘They’re twins. And one of my first surgical jobs was with the Prof. I used to go and stay with them sometimes. They had this fabulous house in the Cotswolds. That was where I met Keely.’

‘She was the youngest?’

‘Yes.’ Zach gave a slow nod. ‘The baby of the family. I wonder what she’s doing up here in the Lake District?’ If she was so ambitious, why hadn’t she stayed in London? ‘Can I look at her CV?’

He held out a hand and Sean passed it over. ‘It’s pretty impressive. Top grades all the way through.’

Zach studied it carefully. ‘So did she say why she wanted to come here?’ The hospital had a good reputation but it was hardly the most high profile in the country. Why hadn’t she stayed in London?

Sean gave a shrug. ‘I didn’t really ask her that. Why shouldn’t she come here? It’s a great place. We love it. Why shouldn’t other people?’

‘It is a great place,’ Zach agreed, frowning thoughtfully. ‘But it’s hardly the best springboard for a fast-track medical career.’

‘You seem to know rather a lot about her.’ Sean gave him a keen look. ‘Did you have an affair with her?’

Zach choked on his coffee. ‘For goodness’ sake, Sean! She was sixteen years old and I was twenty-four! What sort of man do you think I am?’

Sean grinned. ‘A woman’s dream—if the gossip is to be believed. According to the nurses, you’re now top of the list of the most eligible bachelors in Cumbria.’

‘Oh, for Pete’s sake, Sean!’ Zach shot him an impatient look and put his mug down on the table with a thump. ‘Since when did you start listening to women’s gossip?’

‘Since I lived with three of them,’ Sean said ruefully. ‘I’m decidedly outnumbered in my home and work life so I’ve decided to give in gracefully and adopt some of their habits.’

‘Well, whatever gossip says, rest assured that I have more self-control and decency than to seduce sixteen-year-olds.’ Zach was careful not to reveal the slight uneasiness Sean’s words had prompted.

If it had been left to little Keely, they most certainly would have had an affair. She’d had a massive teenage crush on him.

A ghost of a smile hovered around his firm mouth as he remembered the night she’d proposed to him. Turning her down without hurting her fragile ego had been one of the hardest experiences of his adult life.

What would she be like now? And would she have recovered from her teenage crush on him? If she hadn’t then they were going to be in trouble.

Zach gave a short laugh, picked up the mug and finished his coffee. Of course she would have recovered. That was years ago, for goodness’ sake, and he hadn’t seen her since that night. He’d kept away—more for her sake than his. He’d decided that the sooner he removed himself from her life, the sooner she’d get over him and start fancying boys her own age. Which was probably what she’d been doing ever since.

‘So come on, Mr Eligible Bachelor, bring me up to date.’ Sean leaned back in his chair, a slow smile spreading across his face. ‘Who’s the lucky woman at the moment?’

‘I thought you were one of the few people I could trust not to interfere with my love life,’ Zach growled, irritation sizzling through his veins. This was one topic of conversation guaranteed to ruin his day. ‘I have enough of it from your wife and the nurses in this department, without getting it from you, too.’

Sean looked at him calmly. ‘Ally thinks it’s time you got married.’

Zach closed his eyes and counted to ten. He loved Sean’s wife dearly but he wished she’d stop trying to arrange his life. ‘For the record, I am perfectly satisfied with my love life.’

‘From what I’ve heard, you don’t have a love life,’ Sean said bluntly, ‘just a sex life.’

‘And since when was that any of your business?’ Zach’s blue eyes flashed a warning and Sean must have heard the threatening note in his voice because he gave a lopsided smile and lifted a hand.

‘All right, all right. Calm down. I’m just saying that sooner or later you’re going to have to take a risk and get back into a proper relationship.’

Sean was as direct as ever and Zach felt his hackles rise. Why did everyone feel they knew what was best for him?

‘I have no intention of doing anything of the sort. I like my life as it is.’

There was a slight pause. ‘It wasn’t your life I was thinking of,’ Sean said gruffly, not quite meeting his eyes. ‘It was Phoebe’s.’

Zach swore under his breath and stood up suddenly, the chair scraping on the floor as he pushed it away. ‘Phoebe is fine.’

‘Zach, she’s not even three years old,’ Sean said quietly. ‘She needs a mother.’

Zach closed his eyes and the breath hissed through his teeth. Damn. Why did it still hurt so much? Why? It had been more than a year now. Were his battered emotions ever going to recover?

Sean gave a sigh and rubbed his forehead with long fingers. ‘Look, tell me if I’m out of line, but—’

‘You’re out of line,’ Zach said coldly, dropping his empty mug into the washing-up bowl. ‘And, please, tell Ally I don’t need her advice on my love life. And I certainly don’t intend to get married again. There are some things you only do once in a lifetime.’

Sean studied his coffee. ‘You say that now because you don’t think you’ll ever meet anyone again, but you will. Perhaps sooner than you think.’

Zach rolled his eyes. ‘And I suppose this is the part where you tell me that you and Ally are having some people to dinner and I’m the available single man?’

Sean shook his head and grinned. ‘I know when I’m beaten. I’m just going to let nature take its course. Once you meet Keely I’m sure you’ll revise your opinion on romance.’

‘Keely?’ Zach blinked, thrown by the change of subject. ‘What on earth has she got to do with this? Keely’s a child, Sean.’

Why were they talking about Keely all of a sudden?

‘A child?’ Sean lifted an eyebrow and a ghost of a smile played around his mouth. ‘She might have been a child when you last saw her but, believe me, that was no child that I interviewed. Your “child” has grown into a woman. And a very beautiful woman.’

Zach scowled. ‘You shouldn’t be making sexist comments about the doctors who are coming to work for you.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of making a sexist comment when I’m working,’ Sean defended himself smoothly, ‘but you and I are off duty at the moment and as your friend I’m just telling you that your little Keely is a knockout. Sweet, sexy and honest as the day is long.’

‘Then I’m sure she’ll make some lucky man very happy,’ Zach said shortly, ‘but it isn’t going to be me.’

Firstly, whatever Sean said to the contrary, he couldn’t think of Keely as anything other than a child and, secondly, he knew he would never, ever find another woman he wanted to marry. How could he after Catherine?