Compulsively Mr. Darcy Read Free Page A

worst day I’ve had at the hospital here. I thought I was back on-call at San Francisco General. We were short staffed. Two doctors had family emergencies.”
    â€œI’m sure you handled it fine, knowing you.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t say that if you were there near the end of my shift. I’m ashamed to tell you I yelled at someone in the OR.”
    â€œStaff?”
    â€œNo, a guy who came with a patient. Foreigners. Rich tourist saps.”
    Jane laughed. “Oh, it’s one of us who was your patient.”
    â€œThis guy got a bad gash on his leg from some bicycle accident in the market earlier. Any doctor in the hospital could have taken care of it, but he requested the American doctor, me. He was very friendly and seemed, oddly enough, excited to be treated in a Third-World hospital.”
    â€œThen what was the problem?”
    â€œHis partner.” Elizabeth gave the details of her encounter with Mr. Darcy, ending with, “You should have heard the way Mr. Darcy carried on about the care his partner was receiving. He behaved worse than any nervous father with his wife’s first delivery.”
    â€œThat was terrible, what he said about you. He must have been so anxious about Mr. Bingley. They’re a couple, then?”
    â€œYes. From the way Mr. Darcy acted, definitely.”
    â€œWhat happened after you yelled at him?”
    â€œI forgot there was a bloody scalpel in my hand. I think he thought I was serious. He almost fainted again, though Mr. Bingley said Mr. Darcy always faints at the sight of blood.”
    â€œYou’re cranky when you’re hungry. Did you remember to eat something last night?”
    â€œYes. When I finally sat down at my desk to finish charting, I had the nicest surprise. Net Thi Phen Resort’s delivery guy handed me a basket of goodies.”
    â€œWas there a note along with it?”
    â€œNo, but I think it’s from Mr. Bingley. When I finished with him, he was very apologetic for his partner’s rudeness.”
    â€œThat’s considerate. Are you sure the two guys are together? Maybe he’s flirting with you with that basket of food?”
    â€œHe’s not my type. Too friendly. Too blond. Talks too much. If the dark-haired partner wasn’t such a bloody arse, I might consider him. I liked his accent. And, of course, he bats for the other team. You know my track record.” Elizabeth sighed. She had horrible luck with men. She was always bringing potential boyfriends home only to have them fall for her guy friends instead.
    â€œI’d forgotten about your horrible track record.” Jane laughed again. “Hmmm. Blond and very friendly, Mr. Bingley was? That’s more my type. It’s been so long since I had a real date, I’d even go for a green Mohawk.”
    â€œJust flash that angelic smile of yours and you’ll have guys from all the hues of the rainbow lining up to be on your team,” Elizabeth teased, very glad to hear Jane expressing a desire to date. As always, guilt hit her for having been too involved with her medical training to notice her sister was in an abusive relationship two years previously.
    â€œListen, I have to go,” Jane said. “I need to track down the new investigator Aunt Mai hired and have him fax me the report on this Hurst couple who are coming tomorrow.”
    â€œTomorrow? And you haven’t done the background on the adoptive parents yet?” Elizabeth asked. Their mother’s younger brother, Edward, and his Vietnamese wife, Mai, had founded Gracechurch Orphanage a few years before. When Edward Gardiner suffered a heart attack in San Francisco at the same time the orphanage’s Vietnamese manager received her visa to join her son in America, Jane offered to come to Vietnam to run the orphanage temporarily. Elizabeth came along to keep her company and to volunteer as an infectious disease specialist at the local hospital.
    â€œThe