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Charlotte shrugged. ‘Everyone’s the marrying kind if they meet the right person.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Katy’s voice was soft and thoughtful. ‘I think some people just can’t allow themselves to be that vulnerable.’
And Jago didn’t have a vulnerable part to his make-up.
At one point she’d thought he had. He’d fooled her with a display of gentleness that had turned her insides to jelly but she knew now that that was just part of his superior bedroom technique.
‘You’ve obviously thought about it a lot.’ Charlotte hung the giving set over the stand and looked at her quizzically. ‘But you’re getting married so you must believe in love and commitment.’
Did she?
Katy turned her attention back to the intubation tray, not wanting to shatter Charlotte’s romantic illusions.
She certainly wasn’t in love with Freddie.
And she didn’t feel guilty about it because she knew that Freddie wasn’t in love with her either. He was marrying her because she was the right sort of girl with the right sort of connections and that suited her fine. She didn’t want love.
Her one experience of love had been a shattering, all-consuming experience that had threatened her very existence.
I don’t do commitment, Katy.
‘Not that we hospital staff really get a look in,’ Charlotte said gloomily, tearing off her plastic apron and lobbing it in the bin. ‘He’s dating a stunning Brazilian model at the moment. The real woman type. Legs up to her armpits and boobs to make a man drool. She’s a very lucky woman.’
Katy clenched her fists and told herself firmly that she didn’t care who Jago was dating. It was none of her business.
And she wanted to end the conversation.
‘I’d better get back to the main area and see some more patients,’ she said quickly, anxious to get away from Charlotte. She was nice but she didn’t need to talk about Jago. Working with him and seeing him every day was bad enough without talking about him as well.
CHAPTER FOUR
KATY’S first week passed quickly and every time she looked up Jago seemed to be there, challenging her, asking questions, his handsome face inscrutable.
Determined not to make a mistake, she examined every patient meticulously, made sure that her questions were detailed, never took anything at face value. And in her opinion she’d performed well. But Jago hadn’t uttered a single word of praise and she was starting to feel the strain.
Was he going to keep this up indefinitely?
Did he really think that she wasn’t up to the pressures of A and E or did he have another reason for not wanting her in his department.
A more personal reason perhaps?
On her first Saturday night working on A and E a fight broke out in the street behind the hospital. They heard the sound of police sirens and a few minutes later a group of drunks staggered through the door that led to the ambulance bay, half-supporting a man who seemed barely conscious.
‘Hey, you!’ One of the drunks waved a hand at Charlotte who frowned with distaste.
‘You can’t come in through that entrance,’ she said tightly. ‘It’s reserved for emergency vehicles. You need to—’
‘Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do,’ the man slurred, his eyes flashing angrily at Charlotte as he struggled to remain upright and focus. ‘Get me
a bloody doctor. Now!’
Charlotte stiffened and turned to Jago expectantly.
‘This is one for Katy,’ he delivered softly, his dark eyes connecting with Katy’s in unmistakable challenge.
There was no missing the message in his gaze. This was one of the situations he was convinced she’d never be able to deal with, and he was testing her.
She almost laughed. She’d probably had more experience with drunk, violent men than he had.
