Summer With Love: The Spanish Consultant

He gave a smile that was pure predatory male. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘That’s just sex!’ She said the words without thinking and then looked round in embarrassment, realising that any of the staff could have been within earshot. Fortunately they weren’t. ‘You left me, Jago. You left me without a backward glance. Give me one instance that proves that you cared about me and not just the sex.’

‘I kept the photographs,’ he reminded her simply, a smile of satisfaction appearing in direct response to her shocked expression. ‘Think about that, querida.’

With that he touched her on the cheek and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

He’d almost told her about the ring.

Jago stared at a conference programme, bombarded by totally alien emotions. He sensed that whatever he said at the moment, it wouldn’t be enough. Katy was incurably romantic. As a child she’d played with dolls and dreamed of princes. And none of those dreams had included a prince who left her when the going got tough. It was going to take some very fancy footwork on his part to convince her that he loved her.

He’d always loved her.

And eleven years before she’d been madly in love with him, and he’d killed that love with his lack of trust.

Somehow he had to win that love back.

But how?

Despite her passionate response to his kiss and the fact that her whole body reacted when he walked into the same room as her, Katy wasn’t showing any signs of wishing to renew their relationship.

Remembering the way she’d clutched the flowers that morning, his fingers tightened on the programme.

She’d been delighted with them. And she clearly hadn’t broken off her engagement to Freddie.

With a muttered curse he ran a hand over the back of his neck, acknowledging with unusual insight that it was going to take more than an exotic bunch of flowers to redeem himself in Katy’s eyes.

Thanks to a major overreaction on his part over the photographs, she was now completely convinced that he didn’t possess a sensitive side.

With a groan of frustration he tossed the programme onto the desk and applied his brain to the intellectual challenge of how to convince Katy he was as caring as the next guy.

He was absolutely sure about one thing—their relationship was never going to progress unless he got her away from the hospital and away from Freddie.

With a complete lack of vanity he recognised the fact that she was marrying Freddie because she was afraid of the feelings she had for him.

Katy was soft-hearted and loving and he’d hurt her badly. She didn’t want to be hurt again and he’d seriously underestimated her strength of will. Once he’d apologised for having misjudged her, he’d stood back and waited for her to fall back into his arms.

But instead she’d walked away and now he found himself in the unique position of having to chase after a woman he wanted.

He looked at the conference programme again and an idea suddenly formed in his mind.

He was due to present a paper at a major medical conference in Seville at the end of the week and he’d arranged to visit his family afterwards.

He had space for one other doctor.

‘Have you heard there’s a place for a doctor to go to the conference in Seville at the end of the week? Apparently Harry was due to go but had to drop out at the last minute.’ Several of the casualty officers were gathered around the noticeboard in the staffroom when Katy walked in and pushed her bag in the locker. Her mind was still on the confrontation she’d had with her parents the night before.

Her mother had been hysterical at the news that the wedding was off and her father had refused to accept that she was no longer marrying Freddie.

All in all it had been an extremely unpleasant evening.

Her colleagues were still looking at the noticeboard and chatting. ‘Mr Rodriguez is presenting a paper and he’s allowed to take someone with him. If you want to go you have to sign your name and then they’re going to put the names in a hat.’

‘Very scientific.’

Only half listening to the conversation, Katy checked that her hair was neatly tied back and walked onto the unit without signing her name. She was struggling to cope with Jago in the impersonal atmosphere of the A and E department without subjecting herself to the intimacy of a foreign trip.

As far as she was concerned, one of the others was more than welcome to go.

The waiting room was crowded with people and Katy didn’t have time to give the trip another thought until one of her colleagues approached her at lunchtime with a rueful smile.

‘Well, you’re the lucky one.’

Katy stared at him blankly. ‘I am?’

‘Your name was pulled out of the hat. You’re going to Seville with the boss.’

Katy put her sandwich down untouched. ‘That’s not possible.’

She hadn’t even put her name on the board.

‘Finding it hard to believe your luck?’ The other doctor grinned at her. ‘You shouldn’t feel guilty. It was all done fair and square. I was the one who pulled your name out of the hat.’

But her name shouldn’t have been in the hat.

Totally appalled by the prospect of attending the conference with Jago, Katy got to her feet and knocked the chair over.

‘Hey, steady on.’ Her colleague looked at her in amusement. ‘I know you’re excited but you don’t want to injure yourself before you go.’

She didn’t wait to hear the rest of what he had to say. She needed to see Jago.

He was in his office, working on the computer, and she marched in without knocking.

‘How did my name get in that hat, Jago?’

She glared at him angrily, her irritation increasing at his total lack of reaction.

‘What hat?’

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.’ Suddenly aware that they could be overheard, she closed the door firmly and stalked across to his desk. ‘I understand my name has been pulled out of the hat to go with you to Seville.’

‘Has it?’ His voice was a low drawl and he didn’t lift his eyes from the spreadsheet he was working on. ‘Don’t complain. That place was very much in demand.’

‘But not by me.’ Frustration bubbled up inside her. ‘You’re not listening to me!’

Finally he looked at her, his gaze cool. If he was playing games then there was certainly no sign of it.

She took a deep breath and tried again. ‘I didn’t put my name on that list. I don’t want to go with you to Seville.’