of it,’ Sally said shortly, and stripped off her blood-streaked gloves and apron, dropping them into the bin. She glanced up at the clock and did a mild double-take. ‘Good grief, is it really five-thirty?’
‘Looks like it.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Marvellous. I finished at three.’
‘Yes, I can see that,’ Nick said with a grin.
‘Oh, it’s par for the course round here,’ she assured him. ‘If I ever manage to get home before the rush hour, I’m doing well. I usually fail.’
‘Such dedication to duty,’ he teased, and she glowered at him, not in the mood to be criticised for doing her job properly.
‘Don’t knock it,’ she advised tightly. ‘Some of us have to be dedicated.’
He blinked and backed away a step. ‘Ouch,’ he murmured, his mouth twisting in a rueful smile. ‘That wasn’t criticism.’
‘Better not have been,’ she retorted, suppressing a twinge of guilt. ‘Right, I’m going before anything else happens. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘How about a cup of tea first?’ he suggested, but she shook her head. She was tempted—oh, how she was tempted—but she knew all about his charm. It was lethal, and she had absolutely no defences against it.
‘I don’t think so, not tonight. I’ve got to do some washing, I’ve got no clothes left.’
‘Now that’s an interesting thought,’ he said softly, and his eyes caressed her, jamming the breath in her throat and draining the strength from her legs again.
‘Forget it,’ she advised, and walked away, resisting the urge to weaken and take him up on the offer of tea. All she needed now was to settle down with him for a cosy chat!
Little chats with Nick had a habit of getting much too cosy, and that lazy charm hadn’t diminished over the years, not one iota. Besides, seeing him again after all this time had left her thoughts in turmoil, and she needed time alone to sort herself out.
Sally kept walking.
‘SO, YOU and Sally were quite close at one time, I gather?’
Nick flicked a quick glance at Ryan, but his expression was innocent. ‘We were good friends,’ he said guardedly, unsure what Sally might have told the Canadian consultant and unwilling to fuel hospital gossip at her expense—or his own, come to that.
On the other hand, he was perfectly willing to pump the man for anything he would reveal about Sally’s life now.
‘I haven’t seen her for years,’ he added with truth. ‘It’s good to see her looking so well and happy—I take it she is happy?’
‘Yeah, she seems to be happy—and, no, I’m not going to tell you any more than that,’ Ryan replied with a knowing smile. ‘You want answers to questions, just ask her. I’m sure she’ll tell you anything she wants you to know, she’s usually pretty open.’
That sounded like his Sally, he thought with a pang of sadness. Open and honest and full of the joys of spring. Damn.
‘What about you?’ Ryan asked. ‘Anyone in your life going to be affected by you two meeting up again like this? Strange coincidence, wasn’t it?’
Nick gave a short huff of laughter. Ryan was altogether too smart.
‘Wasn’t it just?’ he said noncommittally. ‘But since you ask, no, there’s no woman in my life.’
‘And what about all the ghosts you’ve got behind you?’ Ryan probed. ‘Is it going to make it difficult for you two to work together?’
‘No,’ Nick said firmly. ‘There won’t be a problem.’
‘I hope not,’ he said, his voice mild but the warning there for all that. ‘I don’t want the department grinding to a halt because two of the main players are at each other’s throats or weeping in the toilets.’
Nick’s mouth kicked up in a grin as he crossed his fingers behind his back. ‘I think you’re safe—I’m not given to weeping in the toilets, and would you challenge Sally’s temper?’
‘Not knowingly,’ Ryan admitted with a chuckle, and to Nick’s relief the conversation moved onto safer topics. It had given him plenty to think about, though, and one thing in particular.
Ryan, despite the mild tone of his enquiries, was fiercely protective of Sally.
Fine. So was Nick. Just so long as Ryan didn’t want her for himself …
‘Nick was asking questions about you yesterday,’ Ryan said quietly as they paused between patients.
Startled, Sally looked up and met his eyes. ‘He was?’
Ryan nodded. ‘I told him to ask you himself. I didn’t want to tell tales.’
She shrugged, her heart thumping. He was asking about her? Was that good or bad? She picked up the next set of notes and glanced down at them, pretending interest.
‘He was probably only being curious. We haven’t seen each other for years,’ she said, and Ryan nodded.
‘Yeah, he said that. It could have been just idle curiosity.’
She shot him a quick glance. ‘You don’t think so, do you?’ she asked, and Ryan shrugged.
‘I don’t know the man. You don’t think he’s a threat to you, Sally, do you?’
‘A threat?’ Oh, yes, he was a threat, but not in the sense Ryan meant. ‘No,’ she told Ryan. ‘He’s not a threat.’ Not much. Her mouth dried, and she stared blindly at the notes. Only to her sanity—
‘Sally? Those notes you’re studying so avidly? They’re upside down.’
She felt the colour run up her cheeks, and she turned on her heel and walked away from Ryan, cutting through to the waiting room to retrieve her next patient. Just by the door she paused, gathering her wits, and tried to put thoughts of him out of her mind.
It didn’t matter that he was here, she told herself sternly. He was bound to ask questions about her, but it was irrelevant. Their affair was finished, over. She wasn’t going to allow him to talk her into anything—not ever again.
‘I’ve made coffee.’
Sally’s hand flew up to cover her pounding heart, and she whirled on Nick. ‘Will you not creep up on me!’ she snarled furiously. ‘You’re going to give me a heart attack!’
His grin was unabashed. ‘You’ll get over it, you’re made of sterner stuff than that.’ He bent closer. ‘I brought some really good Colombian coffee in—it’s gorgeous. Come and have a cup.’
His voice was coaxing,
