The Spanish Consultant (Westerling)

Dark eyes locked onto hers with disturbing intensity. ‘But why weren’t you looking where you were going?’

She hesitated. ‘Dad guessed I was pregnant,’ she confessed quietly. ‘He was shouting at me and…he scared me. I backed away and tripped. It was an accident.’

Jago looked at her in naked disbelief. ‘You are so incredibly forgiving, querida. How can you bear to see him?’

‘He’s still my dad,’ Katy said simply. ‘And I’ve never given up hoping that one day he’ll be proud of me. But I have to confess that these days we usually only get together for family gatherings. I would never choose to see him alone. He caught me by surprise, turning up here tonight. I didn’t know he’d managed to get a key.’

‘Well, that won’t happen again,’ Jago growled, stepping forward and pulling her into his arms. ‘I’m staying with you tonight, and tomorrow you’re moving in with me and I’ll brief the security guards. He won’t be allowed access.’

Katy stood unresisting in his arms, but the happiness that she’d felt since Spain had totally vanished.

Was Jago really marrying her to avenge himself on her father?

She’d never really understood his reasons for proposing. The only thing she knew for sure was that he didn’t love her.

‘Jago…’ Her voice cracked. ‘I—I’ve changed my mind about marrying you.’

How could she marry him when she knew he didn’t love her and when there was so much unpleasant history between them? Her father had treated him appallingly. She could hardly blame him for wanting to extract the ultimate revenge, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to be a part of it.

Jago was looking at her blankly. ‘Sorry?’

She swallowed. ‘I can’t marry you, Jago.’

He tensed. ‘If this is about Freddie—’

‘It’s nothing to do with Freddie. It just wouldn’t work between us.’

There was a pulsing silence and when he finally spoke his tone was icy. ‘This is about your father, isn’t it? Did he say something?’

Tears stung her eyes. There was no point in telling him. He was bound to deny it even if it was the truth. She just had to face the fact that it could never work between them.

‘It isn’t about my father,’ she lied. ‘It’s about us. I can’t marry you.’

He stared at her for a long moment, those incredible dark eyes veiled so that she was totally unable to read his response.

Then he turned without another word and walked out of the door.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

KATY arrived at work feeling gritty-eyed from lack of sleep and too much crying.

The department was already in chaos with people standing in the waiting room and the corridors full of trolleys.

She dumped her bag in the staffroom and then found Charlotte. ‘What on earth is going on here?’

‘Don’t ask me,’ Charlotte muttered, sorting through a pile of notes and handing her a set. ‘Can you start by seeing this guy for me? He’s been waiting for four hours so he’s bound to be in a good humour. Good luck.’

Relieved that no one had noticed that she’d been crying her heart out for most of the night, Katy made her way to one of the cubicles and used the intercom to call the patient through.

He was remarkably cheerful for someone who’d waited so long and she examined his injured ankle and sent him along for an X-ray.

‘You couldn’t weight bear after the accident, so we need to check it,’ she told him, glancing up as Charlotte popped her head round the curtain, her face white.

‘I need you in Resus.’

‘On my way.’ Katy stood up and gave her patient an apologetic smile. ‘I’m so sorry. We’re very busy today. Follow the red line to X-ray and then I’ll see you when you come back.’

Wondering what was responsible for the tension she’d read in Charlotte’s face, she made her way to Resus and stopped dead with shock when she saw her mother standing in the doorway.