Tempted by Dr. Daisy Read Free Page A

she’d rescued him before six o’clock in the morning without batting an eyelid, lent him her shower, cleared up his mess, got him a plumber…
    â€˜I’m divorced,’ he admitted softly, surprising himself that he was giving so much away to her, and yet oddly knowing it was safe to do so. ‘And it might be modest, but the house suits my needs perfectly—or it will, when the plumber’s been and I’ve thrown a whole lot of money at it. Besides, maybe I don’t want to live in anything flashy and ostentatious—more “in keeping”,’ he added, making little air quotes with his fingers.
    She coloured slightly, her thoughts chasing each other transparently through her eyes, and he had to stifle a smile as she gathered herself up and sucked in a breath.
    â€˜Sorry. None of my business,’ she said hastily. ‘And talking of suits, I dropped yours into the dry cleaners in the main reception on the way in, and it’ll be ready at five—and before you panic, I told them to take good care of it.’
    â€˜Chasing brownie points, Daisy?’ he murmured, and she laughed.
    â€˜Hardly. I didn’t know who you were then. I’m just a nice person.’
    â€˜You are, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Not that nice. I’ve still got my eye on dinner,’ she said with a teasing grin that diverted the blood from his brain, and he wondered how the hell he was going to keep this sudden and unwanted attraction in its box.
    With huge difficulty. Damn.
    He turned his attention back to his coffee, and then she said quietly, ‘Thanks for covering for me so smoothly, by the way. Evan’s a stickler for punctuality, and he was getting all ready to flay me later.’
    â€˜It was the least I could do. I was hardly going to throw you to the wolves for bailing me out—literally! And Evandoesn’t strike me as the friendliest of characters. He was pretty dismissive when you asked about that patient.’
    A flicker of what could have been worry showed in her eyes. ‘Oh, he’s OK really. He can come over as a patronising jerk, but he’s a good doctor. He’s just a bit miffed that you got the job, I think. He was advised to apply for it, and I reckon he thought it was a shoo-in.’
    â€˜And then they had to advertise it by law, and I applied. And with all due respect to Evan, I would imagine my CV knocks spots off his.’
    â€˜Exactly. So he won’t welcome you with open arms, but you should be able to rely on him.’
    He gave a choked laugh. ‘Well, that’s good to know.’
    Her mouth twitched, and those mischievous green eyes were twinkling at him again. ‘So, I hope you’ve got some good ideas about what I was supposedly doing for you?’
    He leant back in his chair and met her eyes with a twinkle of his own. ‘Oh, let’s say finding me some statistics on twins on the antenatal list. That should cover it. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good for a spur-of-the-moment thing. Sorry if it sounded a bit patronising, but I thought it was better than explaining I’d already had a shower in your bathroom,’ he said softly, and then felt his legs disintegrate when a soft wash of colour touched her cheeks.
    He cleared his throat.
    â€˜Tell me about Yoxburgh Park Hospital,’ he suggested hastily, and she collected herself and gave a tiny shrug.
    â€˜It’s old and new, it’s on the site of the old lunatic asylum—’
    â€˜How delightfully politically incorrect,’ he said drily, and she chuckled.
    â€˜Isn’t it? Nearly as politically incorrect as locking up fifteen-year-old girls because their fathers or brothers had got them knocked up and if they were put away here for lifethen the family could pretend they’d gone mad and carry on as normal.’
    â€˜Lovely.’
    â€˜It was. It was a workhouse, really, and the pauper lunatic label was just a way of