She met his gaze straight on. ‘Jacob, I don’t think you’re actually allowed to ask me questions like that.’
‘Aren’t I?’ He sat back quickly and frowned.
She held up her hands. ‘Would you ask a guy these questions?’ She was so aware it was all about the tone here. It was a serious subject, but she was quite sure he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. ‘What if I asked you, right now, about childcare arrangements for any kids you might have? Would that seem appropriate to you?’
The recognition dawned quickly on his face. ‘Well...no.’ He put his head in his hands for a second and shook it. When he pulled his head back up he had a sorry smile on his face and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Sorry.’
She gave a little nod of her head. ‘No problem.’
She heard him suck in a breath and his shoulders relaxed a little. ‘I do have a good reason for asking you.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘You do?’
He nodded slowly. ‘I do.’ He was being serious now. ‘Valerie Glencross, the director of midwifery, suggested we should offer you a promoted post.’
Bonnie sat bolt upright in her chair. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear. ‘She did?’
His gaze connected with hers. ‘She did.’ For a second it felt as if time had frozen. She was looking into the brightest pair of green eyes she’d ever seen. She’d been right. He had little gold flecks in his irises. It made them sparkle. It was making her hold her breath as she realised exactly what kind of an effect they were having on her.
‘She did,’ he reiterated. ‘It seems your CV had already impressed her. I’m guessing that your telephone interview with her went well. She wanted me to meet you and ask if you’d consider being Ward Sister on a temporary basis.’
‘Me?’ Bonnie was more than a little surprised. ‘But you must have senior staff working here already. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have someone take charge who is familiar with the set-up?’
He gave a little laugh. ‘You would think so. Our senior staff are excellent. But none of them have the talent of organisation. Valerie said that before you were a community midwife you were a ward sister. I think she thought it would be good to have a new broom, so to speak. Someone who didn’t have any preconceived ideas about CRMU and could bring some fresh ideas about how things should run.’ He gave a little sigh. ‘Our ward sister Abby has been gone less than two weeks and it’s chaos out there. She left sooner than expected and we obviously didn’t appreciate just how much she kept on top of things.’ He gave his head a little shake. ‘I’m feeling bad. I’m wondering if the stress of the ward was a factor in her pre-eclampsia.’
‘Is she okay?’ It was the first thing that sprang to mind.
He gave a quick nod and Bonnie shot him a smile. ‘In that case, you’re not making it sound like my dream job. Shouldn’t you be giving me the hard sell? And after our first meeting—do you really want to offer it to me at all?’ Jacob Layton wasn’t good at this. He was being too honest.
He groaned again and sat straighter, giving her a grin that sent tingles to her toes. ‘Let me start again. Bonnie Reid—from your extensive experience on your CV we’ve decided you would be a great addition to our team. You’ll know the reputation of Cambridge Royal Maternity Unit. We employ the best obstetricians and midwives and are known as a centre of medical excellence. We have links with Cambridge University and are pioneers in the development and research of many groundbreaking medical techniques. We have a great bunch of staff working in the labour delivery suite. We just need someone who can bring some new organisational skills to the ward.’ He leaned across the table towards her. ‘How’s that for the hard sell?’
She couldn’t pull her eyes away from his. He was closer to her than ever before. She could see every strand of his dark brown hair. See the tiny lines around his eyes. And exactly just how straight and white his teeth were.
He nodded towards her. ‘And yes, I do want to offer it to you. You’re the first person to answer back in about five years.’
Boy, he was handsome. But there was something else. Something so much more than just good looks. Beneath the flecks of gold in his eyes she could see another part of Jacob Layton. There was so much more there than a handsome but grumpy obstetrician. He seemed the single-minded, career-driven type. But what lay beneath the driven exterior?
She returned his smile. ‘That was much better.’
He relaxed back in his chair and she was almost sorry she’d replied. ‘Thank goodness.’ He was so much nicer like this. Why did he act so grumpy around the staff?
She took a deep breath. ‘I want this to work. I want this to work for me and for Freya—my little girl. This is a fresh start. I want to leave everything else behind us.’ She rolled her eyes and gave her head a little shake. ‘And I definitely want to leave men behind. I just want to focus on my new job and getting me and my daughter settled.’
Jacob gave a little nod of acknowledgement as he tapped his fingers on the desk. ‘The reason I asked about your childcare arrangements—if you’re working as ward sister we’d generally expect you to work nine to five. You’d only occasionally be expected to work late shifts if there were staffing issues, and join part of the hospital on-call rota to do weekends.’
Bonnie frowned. ‘How does that work?’
‘All of our ward sisters take turns in covering weekends. You’re not actually there as a member of the team that weekend. You’re covering the management for the whole hospital. Sorting out staffing problems, dealing with any difficult cases or issues across the whole of maternity. It usually works out once every nine weeks.’
Bonnie nodded. ‘That’s understandable. This would make things much easier with my childcare arrangements. Freya will be much happier if I’m working more or less regular hours. I’ll get to put her to bed most nights. And, as I’ve mentioned, Lynn will happily take Freya every weekday before and after school, and for the occasional late night or weekend.’ She gave a visible sigh of relief. ‘I’m happy to do the job—in fact, I’m really excited to be asked.’
He seemed relieved. ‘So you’ll take the job?’ His voice went up a little, as if he was still a bit anxious she might turn down this fabulous opportunity.
She stood up and held out her hand towards him. ‘Of course I will. I’m a little nervous but am sure in a few days it will feel like I’ve been here for weeks. That’s always the way of it, isn’t it?’
He smiled again; this time the relief was definitely reaching right up into his eyes. His hand grasped hers. There it was again.
She hadn’t been mistaken first time around. Coming into contact with Jacob Layton’s hand was doing strange things to her skin receptors—currently it was the dance of a thousand butterflies. Just as well she’d made it clear she was a man-free zone.
‘Perfect. I’ll let Valerie know you’ve accepted. She’ll arrange for a new contract.’ He held open the door for her. ‘Now, let’s go and tell the staff.’
Her stomach did another little flip-flop as she walked through, but she couldn’t work out if that was the thought of telling her new peers about her role, or from the burn coming from Jacob’s
