The Children's Doctor's Special Proposal

She looked at him for a long, long moment. ‘Not a date.’

‘Not a date,’ he confirmed. ‘And you can choose where we go.’

‘All right. Thank you. Do you want to go straight after work?’

‘After,’ he said, ‘you’ve done your story.’

Her smile was the sweetest reward he could have asked for. ‘I’ll come and collect you, then. See you later.’

‘See you later,’ he said softly.

CHAPTER THREE

THIS wasn’t a date, Katrina reminded herself as she walked from the playroom to Rhys’s office. It was the beginning of a working relationship. And, as she’d told Madison, she was perfectly happy with her life the way it was.

She rapped on Rhys’s open door and leaned against the doorjamb. ‘Ready?’

He looked up from his computer. ‘Can you give me three minutes while I save this file and switch off the computer?’

He was as good as his word, saving the file immediately, logging off then and switching off the machine. ‘So where are we going?’ he asked as he stood up.

‘Do you like Moroccan food?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. There’s a really fabulous Moroccan restaurant a couple of streets from here called Mezze—Maddie and I go there a lot.’

‘Maddie? Ah, now I know why you looked familiar when I first met you. Madison Gregory in Maternity—she’s your sister?’

‘As good as, yes,’ Katrina said. ‘Technically, she’s my cousin, but our dads have a family business and our mums are best friends, so we grew up together.’ She laughed. ‘Because she’s two years older than I am, Maddie likes to point out that she’s the big sister. Even though she’s still shorter than I am when she’s wearing spike heels and I’m barefoot, bless her.’ She paused. ‘What about you—do you have any brothers or sisters?’

‘I’m an only child.’

His voice was neutral, but Katrina was used to watching faces and picking up visual clues to compensate for years of not quite being able to hear someone’s tone. She was sure that Rhys was masking something. Though as they were still getting to know each other, now wasn’t the time to push him to talk to her, the way she would have pushed Will or Tim or any of the nursing staff on the ward.

She kept the conversation light until they reached Mezze. As they walked in, Rhys took in their surroundings—the rich saffron walls, the ruby and terracotta silk cushions, the tealight candles in stained-glass holders in the centre of the glass-topped tables. Katrina thought he looked as impressed as she’d felt when she and Madison had first discovered the restaurant.

‘Good evening, Katrina. Your usual table?’ the waiter asked.

‘Thanks, Hassan. That’d be lovely.’

When they were settled at a table with menus and had ordered a sparkling mineral water, Rhys raised an eyebrow. ‘I know you said you come here a lot…but the staff here actually know you by name?’

‘I love Moroccan food,’ she said simply. ‘Maddie hates cooking, so we tend to come here most weeks. Either here, or there’s a really fabulous pizzeria in the next street.’

‘So you know the menu well.’ His eyes took on a teasing glint. ‘Or are you boring and pick the same thing each week?’

‘I tend to choose the same pudding, I admit,’ she said with a smile, ‘but I’ve tried everything on the menu.’ And there was a long, long list of dishes.

‘So what do you recommend?’

Katrina leaned back against her chair. ‘We could be boring, and order a starter each and a main course. Or…’ She paused. ‘We could order a huge pile of starters and share it like a mezze.’

He laughed. ‘I can guess which you’d prefer. A huge pile of starters it is.’

She talked him through the menu and when Hassan brought their drinks over they were ready to order a selection.

‘So tell me about yourself,’ Katrina said when Hassan had gone.

Rhys shrugged. ‘There’s not much to tell. I’m Welsh—well, with a name like Rhys Morgan and my accent, that’s pretty obvious. I grew up in South Wales, I trained in Cardiff and I moved to London just over three weeks ago.’

That didn’t tell her much about him at all—his dreams, his passions in life—but before she had the chance to ask anything else, he said, ‘Your turn.’

‘I’m English, I grew up in Suffolk and I trained in London.’ The same bare facts that he’d given her. Although maybe telling him more might encourage him to open up to her, she decided. ‘I never wear pink—my cousin Maddie has the girly gene in the family—and I loathe the romantic comedies she insists on dragging me to.’ She smiled wryly. ‘She hates the kind of films I like. And going to an arthouse cinema on my own feels a bit…’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Well, I prefer to go with someone so I can talk about the film afterwards. That’s half the fun of a cinema trip.’