Summer With Love: The Spanish Consultant

The paramedic was looking at him. ‘You do? Oh—right. Well, in that case …’

‘Take her through to Resus,’ Jago ordered, his eyes still on the long, primrose blonde hair, now matted with blood.

Do you think I’m pretty, Jago?

‘Her air bag didn’t open properly and she hit the windscreen,’ the paramedic explained as they manoeuvred the stretcher into the A and E department. ‘Her head bled a lot and she’s going to need stitches, but we’ve put a pad on it for now. She might have chest injuries, too, from the way she was thrown against the steering-wheel. Weird really. There didn’t seem to be anyone else involved. You should have seen the car. Frankly, she was bloody lucky to escape alive.’

Jago’s expression didn’t flicker, his eyes as black as night and his manner controlled and totally professional. ‘OK, guys, let’s get to work. Get me some gloves, please—she’s covered in glass. Be careful!’

Someone handed him some gloves and he pulled them on quickly as Charlotte moved closer to the trolley.

‘Hello, can you hear me, er …?’ She glanced up questioningly. ‘Do we have a name?’

‘Her name is Katherine.’ Jago checked her airway and reached for an oxygen mask. ‘Katherine Westerling.’

Huge blue eyes staring into his, innocence mingling with excitement and anticipation as his hard body moved against her softness …

‘Right.’ Charlotte exchanged puzzled glances with one of her colleagues. ‘Why is that name familiar?’

‘She’s the daughter of Sir Charles Westerling, the banker,’ Jago informed her tautly, and Charlotte’s eyes widened.

‘Wow! I’ve seen pictures of her in the glossies, looking glamorous. She’s seriously rich and really, really beautiful.’

And totally lacking in morals.

His relationship with Katy had been the one and only time in his life that he’d lowered his guard with a woman. And he hadn’t made the same mistake since.

Her father, telling him the truth, showing him the evidence …

‘That’s her.’ His emotions held rigidly in check, Jago didn’t look up, his hands moving swiftly as he worked to stabilise Katy. She was just a patient. ‘Now, can we stop gossiping and just get on with the job?’

Charlotte stiffened warily, cast him a curious look and then turned her attention back to the patient. ‘Katherine? Katherine, can you hear me?’

Katy lay with her eyes closed.

She could hear voices but she didn’t respond. It felt nice to hide in the darkness. There was a sharp prick in her arm and hands moving over her.

‘Katherine.’

A kind female voice was calling her name but it felt like too much effort to respond.

Then she heard a harsh, male voice and her body tensed. It sounded so familiar.

‘Her X-rays are fine but she’s got a laceration by her hairline that’s going to need suturing and she was knocked out so she’s going to have to stay in overnight for observation.’ Fingers touched her and then she heard the voice again. ‘She’s shivering. Get some blankets.’

Something soft and cosy covered her immediately but the shivering wouldn’t stop.

‘Any relatives?’

‘She was on her own in the car.’

‘Open your eyes, Katherine.’

Hands touching her, the prick of another needle.

‘OK, she’s stable.’ The familiar male voice again. ‘I’ll leave you to get on with it. Get her a bed on the ward and call me if anything changes.’

‘How’s that head?’

Katy lay in the bed, watching the nurse who was checking her blood pressure. ‘Aching, but I’ll live.’ She moved her head to look around her and then winced as pain lanced through her skull. ‘Which hospital am I in?’

‘St Andrew’s. We put seven stitches in your head but your hair will cover it so don’t worry about having a scar.’

St Andrew’s?

Katy closed her eyes and suppressed a groan. Having a scar was the least of her problems. She was due to start work in this very department in two weeks’ time. How embarrassing!

Should she say something?

Deciding to remain silent on the subject for the time being, she shrank lower in the bed.

‘They reckon you’re lucky to be alive.’ The nurse pulled a pen out of her pocket and scribbled on the chart. ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know.’ Katy frowned as she tried to remember. ‘I was at a party at my parents’ house and then I left to drive home.’ Running from her past. ‘I saw a rabbit in the road so I slammed on my brakes and that’s the last thing I remember.’

The nurse made a clucking sound. ‘Anyway, your X-rays are clear so you should be able to go home in the morning. We found some details in your handbag and called your fiancé. He’s on his way over.’

Katy suppressed a groan. She didn’t want to see Freddie. Why couldn’t they have called Libby or Alex?

The nurse was looking at her in concern. ‘You look terrible. Is there anything I can get you? Do you need anything?’

Yes. She needed to know that the voice that she’d heard in A and E hadn’t been Jago’s.

Of course it wasn’t Jago’s, she told herself.

Jago was a super-rich banker. How could he possibly be working in A and E?

She had just been imagining things and it was no wonder after the conversation she’d had with Libby.

‘I don’t need anything else, thanks.’

She smiled at the nurse just as the door opened and Jago Rodriguez walked in.

The colour drained out of Katy’s cheeks and her breathing did an emergency stop. Her entire body was frozen to the bed, paralysed by the shocking reality of being confronted by Jago.

‘Mr Rodriguez.’ The nurse straightened nervously, went a deep shade of pink and dropped the chart she was holding.

Stunning dark eyes flickered to the nurse. ‘You can go.’