‘Four?’

‘I know.’ Lara smiled and shook her head. ‘It’s enough to make a girl faint, isn’t it? The thought alone is enough to have me booking a spa day.’

Another ED sister hurried up to Jane, in search of the keys to the drug cupboard, and Jane unpinned them from her uniform, still talking to Lara. ‘Why are you so sceptical? Given that you’re off to Australia, this would be a very bad time for you to meet a man.’ She handed the keys to her colleague. ‘So it’s inevitable that you’re going to meet one. That’s the way life works.’

‘You’re a jaded cynic. And it doesn’t matter if I do meet a man because it usually takes me less than one date to spot all the reasons why we’d be totally miserable together.’

They walked quickly down the corridor together, weaving through patients who were making their way around the hospital.

‘You’re far too picky.’ Jane glanced at her. ‘What was wrong with that registrar from Paeds? I liked him.’

‘Too earnest. After a hard day working in the ED, I don’t want an exhausting date.’

‘So how about the physio with glasses? He adored you and he was really fit.’

‘He wanted me to meet his mother.’

‘That’s a good thing!’

‘Not after one date.’ Lara suppressed a yawn. ‘And he had a really wet mouth. I can’t have a long-term relationship with someone with a wet mouth.’

‘Lara.’Jane’s tone was exasperated. ‘You’ll never meet anyone if you don’t lower your standards.’

‘But that’s just it,’ Lara said softly, pausing for a moment. ‘When I eventually get married, I want it to be because I’m really in love, not because I’m desperate. My parents have just celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary and they’re still crazy about each other. That’s what I want. And I’m not going to get that if I settle for someone who irritates me.’

‘But you don’t give a man a chance! If you only date someone once or twice, how can you be sure that they’re not “the one”?’

‘Because if they’re driving me crackers after twenty minutes then it’s a fair assumption that we’re not going to make twenty years,’ Lara said dryly. ‘The truth is I’d rather be happily single than unhappily married. Anyway, enough of my loveless life. What’s happening in Resus?’

‘Young woman with chest pains and shortness of breath. And, if Mr Right is waiting round the corner, I don’t think it’s a match made in heaven because he certainly isn’t strong or handsome. Last time I looked he was twenty-two stone, covered in tattoos and completely stoned. I’ve already called Security.’

‘You see what I mean? I always attract the good ones. It’s the reason I’m single.’ Lara pushed open the doors of Resus and stopped dead, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes settled on the doctor on the other side of the room.

Christian Blake.

He was standing by the trolley, his head angled slightly as he listened to the patient talk. His hair was glossy dark, his eyes a deep blue and his body strong and powerful. He wore the same regulation scrub suit that everyone wore in the ED, but on him the usually unflattering garment looked as though it had been designed specifically to display his superior masculine attributes.

Lara allowed herself the luxury of a brief glance at his athletic physique and then she looked away.

He was the senior consultant. A colleague.

And he was also—

‘Why does he have to be married?’ Jane muttered in an undertone, and Lara gave an exaggerated sigh of regret.

‘Because the world is a cruel, hard place,’ she muttered back. ‘And, anyway, it doesn’t make any difference in my case, because men like him always trample over me as they rush to embrace the tall, blonde stick with the perfect hair who just happens to be standing behind me. And, if by some strange chance he did happen to notice me, it would take me less than a minute to start finding his faults because that’s what I do.’ With a fatalistic shrug she let the door swing shut behind her and walked into the room.

A strong, handsome man who is sexier than sin.

For some reason, the psychic’s words played on her mind and Lara’s heart performed a series of strange rhythms. Well, they certainly didn’t come any sexier than Christian. Ever since he’d taken up his post as senior consultant in the ED two months earlier, all the women in the hospital had been hoping and dreaming.

Except her.

She was about to embark on the trip of a lifetime.

Even if Christian hadn’t been married, she wouldn’t have been interested. But that didn’t stop her admiring him.

‘If you’re looking for perfection, I think you’ve just found it,’ Jane murmured, and Lara frowned at her as she slid past her into the room.

Tags: Sarah Morgan Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net