Emergency: Mother Wanted

‘Because he’s a man?’ Keely frowned. ‘Because you don’t think I can handle the stress? Why can Adam handle the stress better than me? I didn’t think you were a chauvinist, Zach.’

He muttered something under his breath. ‘I am not a chauvinist.’

‘Then why did you choose not to send a woman into that situation?’

‘I didn’t choose not to send a woman.’ His jaw was rigid with tension. ‘I chose not to send you.’

‘Me?’ Keely stared at him. ‘So you’re saying you would have sent another woman, but not me.’

He held her gaze. ‘Maybe.’

She felt bemused and frustrated. ‘Because you think I’m a child?’

‘No.’ He shook his head impatiently. ‘This is nothing to do with your age. More your personality.’

Keely’s heart was thudding and her lips felt stiff. ‘What’s wrong with my personality?’

‘Nothing’s wrong with it!’ He lifted a hand and rubbed his fingers along his forehead. ‘You’ve got a lovely personality.’

‘But?’

‘But nothing,’ he said quietly, sitting on the edge of his desk and watching her steadily. ‘I just know how sensitive you are.’

Keely gave an outraged gasp. ‘That is not fair! You don’t know me at all—you’re just remembering how I was as a teenager. I’m trying to learn and be part of a team, and you’re stopping me. Anyway, why should it bother you if I do get upset? It’s my problem, not yours.’

He held her gaze without flinching. ‘It bothers me because I feel responsible for you.’

‘Responsible for me?’ She gaped at him. ‘Why are you responsible for me?’

‘Because you’re miles away from your family—’

Her eyes widened. ‘I’m a grown woman, Zach! Believe it or not, I don’t need to keep running to Daddy!’

‘Keely, I just don’t want you hurt.’

She stared at him, touched and frustrated at the same time. ‘But you weren’t worried about Adam?’

‘Of course not!’ He gave a short laugh. ‘Adam can take care of himself.’

‘And so can I,’ Keely said softly. ‘So can I, Zach. Whatever you may think of me, whatever your memory tells you, I’m completely grown up now. I don’t need your protection, however well meaning.’

His expression was bleak. ‘We see some hideous things in Casualty.’

‘Then I’ll see them, too,’ Keely said firmly, pushing her blonde hair behind one ear. ‘Please, Zach, this is ridiculous. All week you’ve been hanging over my shoulder, asking everyone questions except me, treating me like the teenager I used to be. I am not a teenager any more. This isn’t even my first job. You’re driving me mad.’

Zach winced and had the grace to look guilty. ‘Have I been that bad?’

‘Worse!’ Keely scowled and then grinned, her natural good nature reasserting itself. ‘But I’ll forgive you if you stop policing my every movement.’

Zach walked towards her and stopped dead, his eyes scanning her face as if he was trying to see her for who she was and not for who he remembered her to be.

‘I just don’t want you hurt,’ he said gruffly. ‘I know Prof would want me to keep an eye on you.’

‘He certainly would,’ Keely agreed sweetly, ‘but you never did what Prof wanted when you worked for him, so don’t use that as an excuse. I distinctly remember him saying that you were the brightest, most frustrating doctor he’d ever worked with. You questioned everything and you took risks that made his hair stand on end. And those risks usually paid off.’

‘OK. I take your point.’ He spoke slowly, a wry smile playing around his firm mouth. ‘You have a right to spread your wings, too. I’ll stop treating you as a child. On one condition.’

‘Which is?’

His voice was soft. ‘If you have a tough day, you come and talk to me. As a friend. We all need someone to turn to in this department. I want to be sure that you won’t bottle anything up just to because you’re trying to prove yourself.’

‘I never bottle anything up—you of all people should know that.’ She coloured slightly but decided that she might as well clear the air once and for all. ‘If I was any good at hiding my emotions, Zach, I wouldn’t have yelled at you just now and I wouldn’t have proposed to you all those years ago.’

The corners of his mouth twitched and his blue eyes gleamed. ‘I thought we weren’t going to mention that again.’

She gave a groan. ‘I know. You’ve been so discreet and I can hardly bear to think about it, it’s so embarrassing. But I still feel that I haven’t really apologised properly.’

‘I’ve already told you you don’t need to apologise.’

‘Zach, Iproposed to you!’

His blue eyes twinkled. ‘It was a leap year, sweetheart. You were allowed to propose to me. I was very flattered.’

Sweetheart. The way he said it made her insides melt even though she knew it hadn’t been meant in that way.

Keely pulled herself together and cleared her throat. ‘Anyway, I apologise for behaving like such an idiot and embarrassing you.’

‘You didn’t embarrass me.’ His gaze was steady on hers and for a moment she stared at him, her pulse picking up as she looked at the broad shoulders and the dark hair. He was seriously gorgeous…

She suppressed a whimper. Why did he have such a powerful effect on her. Why? She wasn’t a teenager any more, but when she was with him she certainly felt like one.

No!

She wasn’t making that mistake again.

She was not going to fall for Zach a second time.

‘So that’s agreed, then.’ She made an effort to ignore the effect he had on her. ‘You’ll treat me like an adult and forget the fact that I once had pigtails and proposed to you.’

‘It’s a deal,’ he said softly. ‘Oh, and by the way—you look considerably better without the pigtails.’

For a moment their eyes held and she immediately forgot all her resolutions and allowed herself the luxury of one brief fantasy. Zach looking deep into her eyes and telling her that he loved her…

Oh, help! She was going mad.

‘Right, then.’ She backed away, forcing herself to break the spell. ‘I’d better get back to work.’

As she closed his office door behind her she gave a low groan.