The Spanish Consultant (Westerling)

After all, she’d been prepared to marry Freddie without love on either side. Why shouldn’t she marry Jago when she loved him so desperately?

She knew that she could never be happy with any other man.

She looked at him shyly. ‘You’re serious? You really want to marry me?’

In answer Jago lowered his head and kissed her thoroughly.

‘I’m going to marry you,’ he muttered against her lips. ‘As soon as we get back to England. And this time we’re going to just do it and not tell your father.’

She opened her mouth to point out that her father was bound to find out at some point, but he hauled her into his arms and all rational thought vanished into the Spanish sun.

CHAPTER TEN

THEY flew home the following day and Katy returned to work that afternoon feeling as though she was walking on air.

She was marrying Jago.

She still couldn’t quite believe it.

They’d agreed to keep it quiet until Jago could make the arrangements and she’d readily agreed. After all, she hadn’t advertised the fact that her relationship with Freddie had ended and she was more than a little uncomfortable about announcing that she was marrying another man so quickly.

She was checking a set of X-rays when Jago strolled up, dressed in a light grey suit that emphasised the width of his shoulders and the golden sheen of his skin. He looked incredibly handsome and thoroughly fed up.

‘I have a meeting with the hospital management about staffing levels,’ he murmured grittily, glancing at his watch with obvious irritation. ‘I have only one thing to say to them and that is that I need more staff, but doubtless they’ll make me sit there for hours, listening to arguments for reducing manpower to skeletal proportions.’

She smiled and then remembered that she had something to tell him. ‘I just rang the paediatric ward to check on Molly. Libby says she’s doing really well.’

A smile touched his firm mouth. ‘That’s good news. I’ll try and see her on my way to this meeting.’

Katy gazed at him longingly and he gave a low growl and stepped closer.

‘Stop looking at me like that or I’ll forget where we are and commit an indecent act in a public place.’

She chuckled and pushed him away, glancing round quickly to check that no one had seen them.

‘I’ll be back as quickly as I can,’ he muttered huskily, his mind very clearly not on his work. ‘If there’s a crisis, call me.’

With a last lingering look at her mouth he strode off down the corridor like a man on a mission, as lithe and agile as a panther and totally back in control.

Katy forced her mind back to work, finished checking the X-rays and then returned to the patient.

‘These X-rays are fine, Mrs Maxwell,’ she said, reflecting on how much her confidence had grown since she’d started working with Jago. Because he had such high standards, knowing that he believed her to be a good doctor meant so much more.

She saw a series of minor injuries and then, about an hour into her shift, Ambulance Control called to say that they were bringing in a patient with chemical burns.

Three of the other senior doctors were already dealing with a man who’d come off his motorbike and Katy was forced to call Jago’s mobile. She was reluctant to disturb him but knew that she was going to need his help. The other doctors were already pushed to cope with the volume of emergencies that had bombarded the department all morning.

‘He works in a glass factory but I have no idea what the chemical is,’ she told him, trying to sound calm. ‘I’m guessing it could be hydrofluoric acid.’

‘You’re probably right.’ Jago’s reply broke up slightly as the signal on his mobile faltered. ‘Get him into Resus and irrigate it with lots of lukewarm water. I’ll be right down. And, for goodness’ sake wear gloves before you touch him.’

She heard the ambulance siren as she replaced the phone and dragged on a pair of gloves before hurrying to meet the paramedics as they pushed open the doors and wheeled in the stretcher.

The man was writhing on the trolley, groaning in agony from the severity of the burns inflicted by the chemical.

‘He had an accident with hydrofluoric acid. It’s over both legs. We irrigated it with copious volumes of water while we were at the factory,’ the paramedic informed them, ‘but we wanted to transfer him as fast as possible.’

As they moved him into Resus Jago appeared at Katy’s side.