salad wrap, making her friends wait. Then she smiled. ‘Kieran Bailey? OK. He’s taller than me, dark hair, eyes like black velvet.’ And a mouth I want to feel on mine. Except I can’t have him.
‘Are you sure you’re not smitten?’ asked Holly.
Her face must have given her away. Damn. ‘You know my track record with men,’ she said lightly. ‘I always pick the louses.’
Zoe frowned. ‘You said he was OK. What makes you think he’s a louse?’
‘Because he’s married.’ Judith fiddled with her glass. ‘Why else would he smell of baby sick?’
‘Because you work in the maternity unit perhaps?’ Holly asked. ‘You’re jumping to conclusions, Jude.’
‘You should have brought him to lunch with you.’ Zoe grinned. ‘I’d have asked him for you.’
Judith rolled her eyes. ‘I know you would, Hurricane Zoe! Anyway, he said he had things to do.’
‘Which doesn’t have anything to do with being married. You can be single and have things to do,’ Holly pointed out.
‘Jude, if he’s nice and you like him—go for it,’ Zoe said.
‘You’re barely back from honeymoon and you’ve still got your rosy glasses on,’ Judith said, patting her hand. ‘It’s so not going to happen.’ Zoe and Holly had been her best friends for years. They knew the score where Judith and men were concerned: it just didn’t work. Judith had spent her time at med school studying rather than socialising—gaining a reputation as an ice maiden in the meantime. Which meant the nice men had been scared off, and the only ones who approached her now saw her as a challenge to be conquered and then boasted about.
So nowadays Judith settled for friendship. And as for the awareness that had prickled down her spine when Kieran had shaken her hand…well, she’d just have to learn to ignore it. Because nothing was going to happen between them.
Was it?
BY FRIDAY, Kieran felt as if he’d been working at London City General all his life. Everyone on the ward was friendly, Bella was the kind of boss who trusted you to get on with your job and see her if you had a problem, and even Tess seemed to be settling a little more at home—at least, she hadn’t cried as much as usual that morning before he’d left, and he’d managed to get to work on time ever since Monday.
The only sticking point was Judith Powell.
Because he couldn’t get her out of his head. Her smile, her voice, the vanilla scent of her perfume: they filled his senses. The back of his neck started to tingle the moment she walked into a room.
He knew from hearing the midwives teasing her about being married to her job that she was single. Which meant she wasn’t really off limits. Except…she was the daughter of his former boss. She was his colleague at work. There was Tess to consider. So, although he was tempted, it would be way, way too complicated if he started seeing Judith—even if she wanted to start seeing him, which was by no means a definite.
But sometimes when they were having a case conference he caught her eye. And the flicker of a smile that said, maybe. Or was that just his imagination? Was it just that the pull was so strong for him, he wanted it to be the same for her? That same urge to reach out and touch. Taste. Kiss.
‘Just the man I wanted to see,’ Margot said, breaking into his thoughts. ‘You’re going to buy a ticket for our fundraiser, aren’t you?’
‘Fundraiser?’
‘Jude’s Wednesday night music club.’
He frowned. ‘Jude? Our Jude?’
Margot nodded. ‘Oh, come on. Don’t say you haven’t heard about Jude’s singing. She’s…’ She stopped, and grinned. ‘Well, you can buy a ticket and hear for yourself.’
‘Jude sings?’ he queried.
‘Yes. And we get a third of the profits.’
So who got the other two-thirds? The question must have been written all over his face because Margot added hastily, ‘Paeds gets a third and ED gets a third, too. It’s a joint fundraiser with them. Jude does it every month.’
‘Right.’
‘Even if you don’t come, you can still buy a ticket. It’s for a good cause.’
How could he resist the idea of seeing Judith Powell outside the hospital? ‘Sure. When is it?’
‘Next Wednesday, at the hospital social club. There’s food as well. Zoe Hutton in Paeds makes the best cheese straws in London, and her brownies are to die for.’
Social club. Maybe, just maybe…A lightbulb flicked on in the back of his head. ‘Is it limited to just staff?’
‘No, you can bring a friend. Or a partner.’ Margot gave him a curious look.
Kieran didn’t particularly want to explain about Tess—if he did persuade her to come, the last thing she needed was to think that people were gossiping about her. But maybe a night out would do his baby sister good. Teach her that although she’d loved Aidan desperately and he’d let her down in the worst way, there was still a world outside. A world with people who’d be kinder than her ex. His next-door neighbour, Rosemary, would look after Charlie for them—she’d been keeping half an eye on Tess for him while he was at work.
Though if it meant glamming up, Tess would probably run a mile. He’d have enough of a job persuading her to put on some lipstick. Since Aidan had dumped her, Tess hadn’t seen the point in a lot of things. ‘How dressy is it?’
‘Comfortable. Smart casual,’ Margot said.
He might be able to persuade her, then. ‘Put me down for two tickets,’ he said with a smile.
‘So you’re bringing your partner?’ Margot asked.
He chuckled. ‘Honestly. Midwives must be the nosiest bunch going!’
‘Well, if you will be secretive,’ she teased back.
His smile faded. He wasn’t secretive. Just protecting his little sister. ‘Yeah, well,’ he said, and paid up.
Later that morning, Judith rapped on the door of Kieran’s office. ‘Got a minute?’
‘Sure.’ More than a minute, where she was concerned.
But this was a professional question. It deserved a professional answer. ‘What’s up?’
‘I’ve just had a mum admitted—Pippa Harrowven. She’s thirty-five weeks. She rang her midwife because she wasn’t feeling well, and the midwife sent her straight here. I’ve examined her and I’m not happy. Her temperature’s up, her heart rate’s up and so is the baby’s. She’s feeling sick but not actually vomiting, she says it hurts to pee and when I examined her there was some muscle guarding—I
