One Week to Win His Heart

‘Thank you for listening to me ramble and I don’t mean to scare you or confuse you any further but I wanted you to know—’ He stopped and raked both hands through his hair. ‘I’m probably not making any sense.’

‘Yes. Yes, you are, George. In telling me about Veronique, in sharing what this tour meant to both of you, it might help us both to put the brakes on these crazy feelings we’re having.’

‘Exactly.’ He shook his head. ‘But when you say things like that, when you understand what it is I’m trying to say, that only makes it worse because it highlights just how well you seem to know me and that only intensifies the attraction I feel for you, because the last woman who understood me the way you instinctively do was—’

‘Veronique,’ she finished for him.

‘Yes.’ He stared at her for another fifteen seconds then turned and opened her office door. ‘We’re both going to be late if we stand here trying to make any sense out of this.’

‘True. Work. Work is always dependable.’

‘Work will see you through.’ He followed her out of the office and waited while she locked her door. ‘It’s what I told myself after Veronique’s death.’

‘Yeah. It’s what I told myself after my break-ups.’ She smiled sadly at him. ‘Have fun at your next meeting.’

‘Have fun at clinic,’ he stated, then grinned. ‘Ah—clinic. Those were the quiet and uncomplicated days of my past.’

She laughed, pleased they’d been able to lighten the atmosphere a bit. ‘You sound nostalgic.’

‘I am.’ He pointed to the stairwell door. ‘I’m going this way.’

She pointed towards the direction of clinic. ‘And I’m going this way.’

‘Will you be at the dinner tonight?’

‘Yes.’

‘See you then.’

With that, she turned and walked away from him, proud of herself when she didn’t look back. George Wilmont had just provided her with another reason why she needed to keep away from him—the fact that he’d clearly adored his wife. ‘And that only makes him more attractive,’ she grumbled as she headed into clinic, apologising to the sister for her tardiness.

She did her best to push thoughts of George and everything he’d told her to the back of her mind so she could concentrate on clinic. Thankfully, with the back-to-back patients she hardly had time to draw breath let alone dwell on thoughts relating to George. She managed to finish seeing all her patients just after five-thirty, which was only half an hour late. Melody wrote up the last of the notes as her registrar, Andy, stopped by to let her know he was also finished. ‘Are you coming to the dinner tonight?’ she asked.

‘After missing last night’s dinner? I’ll definitely be there.’

‘See you there.’ She returned her attention to the notes but heard Andy’s voice in the distance, talking to someone. The nurses had left the instant the last patient had departed so Melody wondered who it might be. Seconds later, she heard footsteps heading towards her consulting room and looked up expectantly at the open doorway.

‘Hi,’ George said a moment later. ‘I hope I’m not disturbing you?’

Melody’s heart lurched happily at the sight of him and a shiver of excited anticipation worked its way down her spine. Yes, he was disturbing her—far too much for her liking. ‘No. I’m just finishing up.’ She motioned to the notes, all the while trying to calm the effect he was having on her.

‘Don’t let me interrupt,’ he said, and looked at some of the posters stuck up on the wall around the clinic room. Melody quickly finished writing the notes and the instant she’d closed the file and put her pen down, the phone on the desk rang.

‘Excuse me,’ she said, but George merely nodded. ‘Dr Janeway.’

‘Oh, Melody. Good, I caught you. An emergency has just come in. They’re demanding the head of unit,’ the triage sister said.

Melody groaned resignedly. ‘Details?’

‘Right scapula, right Colles’ and dislocation of the neck of humerus. Melody, it’s Rudy Carlew.’

‘Is that name supposed to mean something to me?’

‘Honestly, Melody, don’t you ever go to the movies?’

‘Sure. So?’ She glanced at George only to find him watching her.

‘Problem?’ he asked softly.

‘Emergency,’ she mouthed, and he nodded.

‘Rudy Carlew is the hottest thing in movies,’ the triage sister was saying. ‘Mr Gorgeous? Everybody’s Hero? That’s the latest superhero movie—surely you’ve seen that one?’