started investigating Sara’s accident, because if it had been Zara responsible for running her over, then it meant the drugs probably hadn’t been in her system long enough to do serious permanent damage.’
‘So, what’s the matter now?’ That was her mother again, holding onto Zara’s hand as though it was a lifeline. ‘Why are the monitors peeping and pinging like that?’
That, in far more clinical terms, was Mr Shah’s first question when he appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, obviously alerted by the member of staff at the unit’s central monitoring station.
‘Her pulse and respiration were probably elevated by a family discussion,’ Dan said blandly.
‘In that case, I think I will have to ask you to leave,’ the consultant said formally. ‘There has been a slight improvement in my patient’s condition and I don’t want anything to reverse it. Please, if you could return at the next visiting hour?’
Her mother obviously knew from the man’s quiet air of command that there was no point trying to persuade him to change his mind and she bade her daughter a tearful good bye before leaving the room with her husband’s arm supportively around her shoulders.
She was so wrapped up in her misery that she barely glanced in Sara’s direction, so nothing had changed there.
‘You, too, please,’ Mr Shah said to Dan and Sara. ‘I know you are both doctors in this hospital so you will know how important proper rest is for a body when it is recuperating.’
‘Of course, sir,’ Dan said respectfully, and walked round behind Sara to take charge of the handles of her wheelchair.
At the last moment before she left the room, Sara glanced back over her shoulder to meet the golden hazel eyes that were the absolute double of her own.
‘The authorities will not be informed,’ she said cryptically, and saw from the dawning relief on her sister’s face that she had understood what Sara was trying to tell her.
‘I take that you meant you won’t be preferring charges against your sister,’ Dan said in a low voice meant for her ears alone.
‘I’m presuming that you didn’t give those authorities enough information to work out what happened with the car?’ she countered.
‘So you’re just going to let her get away with it?’ he asked in a voice that was as unreadable as the face in front of her in the lift.
‘As there was no permanent damage done …’ she agreed, very conscious that they had a captive audience. ‘The penalty seems out of proportion.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ he admitted with a fleeting glimpse of a grin. ‘I made that bit up.’
Sara nearly choked trying to subdue her sudden laughter. ‘Remind me not to play poker with you.’
‘Shame,’ he teased as he pushed her across the reception area. ‘I was thinking of suggesting a game after we eat tonight. What do you think?’
What she thought was that she’d completely forgotten to tell him that she’d moved out of his flat today.
‘Um … Actually, Dan, I’ve moved back into my own place, so I won’t be—’
‘What? When?’ he demanded, clearly startled, and just for a moment she tried to persuade herself that he looked disappointed, too. ‘And how did you get there?’
‘St George rescued me from the dragon,’ she said, opting for laughter rather than tears as she suddenly realised that she had absolutely no idea where she stood with him any more.
THERE had been no mistaking the expression on Dan’s face that time, Sara thought while he drove her towards her flat in complete silence. That had definitely been more than disappointment on his face, it had been hurt.
‘Can you manage by yourself from here?’ he asked briskly, and she suddenly realised that he had pulled up outside the front of her house.
She sighed heavily, wondering when she was ever going to get anything right.
‘Dan, you saw how difficult it was for me to get into the car once I was out of the wheelchair. There are only two ways of getting up the four flights of stairs once I get in there, and that’s either on my bottom the whole way or if someone helps me.’
‘So why did you move back here, then?’ he demanded impatiently. ‘My place is eminently more suitable for someone in your position because it’s got a lift.’
Unfortunately, it had far more than a lift. It had Dan living there, too, and she just couldn’t cope with staying with him any longer.
‘And it’s Zara’s place, too, and with any luck it won’t be too long until she’s ready to come home to it.’
‘And?’ Those green eyes were far too astute. Sometimes she was convinced that he could read her mind.
‘And there’s no way that Zara and I can live in the same flat, not after what’s happened,’ Sara said bluntly. ‘She said she’s sorry and she didn’t mean to do it, but she said the same thing about this …’ She pulled her hair away from her race to reveal the first scar her twin had inflicted on her so long ago. ‘And she’s said it over and over again until … Well, let’s just say I don’t really trust her because the only one who matters to Zara is Zara.’
He reached his hand out towards her and gently laid it over hers where she’d unconsciously splayed it protectively over the hard curve of her pregnancy.
‘You don’t trust her to be too close to the babies?’ he asked, but they both knew it wasn’t really a question.
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath then opened them again and gave a brisk nod as if he’d just come to some momentous decision.
Rather than telling her about it, he released his seat belt and slid out of the car, leaving her feeling strangely dissatisfied.
‘Come on, then, let’s get you up those stairs,’ he said, and hauled her unceremoniously to her feet.
‘All I can say is it’s a good job you’re not coming into work for a few weeks yet, or you’d have to set off the previous day to get there in time for your shift,’ he teased when they finally reached the top floor.
That’s what you think, she mused as she lay in bed later that night and contemplated the prospect of weeks of sitting around, twiddling her thumbs.
‘It would drive me completely mad, just staring at the walls when I could be making myself useful at work,’ she continued aloud.
She tried to remember a precedent for a member of staff coming in to work a shift while they were sporting a cast and couldn’t, but … ‘There’s that doctor who uses a crutch on that American hospital drama!’ she remembered. ‘She can get up a fair turn of speed on it and still manages to take care of patients.’
She
