The Spanish Consultant (Westerling)

She licked dry lips and then immediately wished she hadn’t as his dark eyes lasered in on the gesture with visible hunger. ‘What pretence?’

‘The pretence that there’s nothing between us.’ With obvious reluctance his eyes lifted to hers, holding her captive. ‘What does a guy have to do to get you to forgive? Send flowers? Beg?’

Her body slowly heated up under his gaze, sexual excitement burning low in her stomach. Why did being close to Jago always have this effect on her?

‘I—I forgive you,’ she stammered, backing away slightly from his powerful presence. ‘But it doesn’t mean I want a relationship. We’re too different, Jago. We want different things.’

He gave a smile that was pure predatory male. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘That’s just sex!’ She said the words without thinking and then looked round in embarrassment, realising that any of the staff could have been within earshot. Fortunately they weren’t. ‘You left me, Jago. You left me without a backward glance. Give me one instance that proves that you cared about me and not just the sex.’

‘I kept the photographs,’ he reminded her simply, a smile of satisfaction appearing in direct response to her shocked expression. ‘Think about that, querida.’

With that he touched her on the cheek and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

He’d almost told her about the ring.

Jago stared at a conference programme, bombarded by totally alien emotions. He sensed that whatever he said at the moment, it wouldn’t be enough. Katy was incurably romantic. As a child she’d played with dolls and dreamed of princes. And none of those dreams had included a prince who left her when the going got tough. It was going to take some very fancy footwork on his part to convince her that he loved her.

He’d always loved her.

And eleven years before she’d been madly in love with him, and he’d killed that love with his lack of trust.

Somehow he had to win that love back.

But how?

Despite her passionate response to his kiss and the fact that her whole body reacted when he walked into the same room as her, Katy wasn’t showing any signs of wishing to renew their relationship.

Remembering the way she’d clutched the flowers that morning, his fingers tightened on the programme.

She’d been delighted with them. And she clearly hadn’t broken off her engagement to Freddie.

With a muttered curse he ran a hand over the back of his neck, acknowledging with unusual insight that it was going to take more than an exotic bunch of flowers to redeem himself in Katy’s eyes.

Thanks to a major overreaction on his part over the photographs, she was now completely convinced that he didn’t possess a sensitive side.

With a groan of frustration he tossed the programme onto the desk and applied his brain to the intellectual challenge of how to convince Katy he was as caring as the next guy.

He was absolutely sure about one thing—their relationship was never going to progress unless he got her away from the hospital and away from Freddie.

With a complete lack of vanity he recognised the fact that she was marrying Freddie because she was afraid of the feelings she had for him.

Katy was soft-hearted and loving and he’d hurt her badly. She didn’t want to be hurt again and he’d seriously underestimated her strength of will. Once he’d apologised for having misjudged her, he’d stood back and waited for her to fall back into his arms.

But instead she’d walked away and now he found himself in the unique position of having to chase after a woman he wanted.

He looked at the conference programme again and an idea suddenly formed in his mind.

He was due to present a paper at a major medical conference in Seville at the end of the week and he’d arranged to visit his family afterwards.

He had space for one other doctor.

‘Have you heard there’s a place for a doctor to go to the conference in Seville at the end of the week? Apparently Harry was due to go but had to drop out at the last minute.’ Several of the casualty officers were gathered around the noticeboard in the staffroom when Katy walked in and pushed her bag in the locker. Her mind was still on the confrontation she’d had with her parents the night before.

Her mother had been hysterical at the news that the wedding was off and her father had refused to accept that she was no longer marrying Freddie.

All in all it had been an extremely unpleasant evening.