The Magic of Christmas

Both at work and at home, he was cool and detached and clearly had no problem whatsoever in forgetting the kiss they’d shared.

They worked shoulder to shoulder in Resus but his gaze didn’t linger and he only spoke when it related to patient care.

At home he spent time with his daughters and she spent more time in her room.

But nothing stopped her thinking about him. And wanting. And that was infuriating.

She wasn’t supposed to meet someone who interested her just weeks before she left the country.

And she wasn’t supposed to fall for a man who clearly didn’t want a relationship.

In desperate need of

someone to make her see sense, she rooted out Jane in the staffroom. ‘I need some help. I have a serious problem.’

‘You’ve killed a patient?’

Lara glared at her. ‘I mean it—I need help. I’m in trouble.’

‘Oh, dear.’ Jane dropped a syringe into the sharps bin. ‘The psychic was right all along and you’re pregnant with quads?’

‘Jane!’

‘Sorry.’ Her friend peered at her. ‘You look terrible. What’s wrong?’

‘Christian is what’s wrong. I’ve really fallen for him.’

Jane grinned. ‘So you’re human after all.’

‘This isn’t funny. I need to find some flaws in him and I need to find them urgently.’

‘Why do you want flaws? Turns out he isn’t married after all. So go for it.’

‘He doesn’t want to go for it and neither do I! I can’t go for it! I have plans and they don’t involve getting mixed up with a man who doesn’t want a relationship. And I don’t want a relationship either! In a few weeks’ time I’m off to Australia for an indefinite period.’ Lara paced the room, her lower lip caught between her teeth. ‘Why does life have to be so complicated? For twenty-five years I meet men who make me cringe and then finally when I’m about to go off on the trip of a lifetime I meet a man who is bloody perfect!’

Jane lifted her eyebrows. ‘I’ve never heard you swear before!’

‘Well, I’m swearing now!’ Lara covered her face with her hands and shook her head. ‘Oh, this is such a mess! What am I going to do?’

‘Have sex with him?’

‘Oh, please! He has two little girls! The only time when they’re not around, we’re in Resus. When would we have sex? Where? And anyway, that wouldn’t solve anything. It isn’t an option.’ He wasn’t interested. Lara let her hands drop to her sides and shook her head wearily. ‘I have to forget about him. But I’m finding it impossible. So it’s important that I find something about him that makes me flinch. Something that tells me loud and clear that I would not be happy with him.’

‘So we have an urgent need for potentially concealed flaws.’ Jane frowned thoughtfully. ‘Terrible kisser?’

‘Incredible kisser.’

‘Ah.’ Jane looked interested. ‘Do you want to expand on that?’

‘No.’ Lara gritted her teeth. ‘I don’t.’

Jane tapped her foot and thought hard. ‘He’s a workaholic. That’s a definite flaw. You’d always be at the bottom of his list.’

‘I like the fact that he’s good with the patients and dedicated. I don’t see it as a flaw.’

‘You might when you’re scraping his dinner into the bin every night.’

Lara shook her head miserably. ‘No. It isn’t good enough. Try again.’