His Emergency Fiancée (13 page)

‘I think it’d have to be a platinum penny for them,’ Ben said, amusement lilting his voice as he put two mugs of coffee on his bedside cabinet.

Kirsty flushed and tried to hide under the covers.

‘What were you thinking about just then? Tell me.’ His voice dropped an octave, all husky and sexy, and desire burned in the pit of her stomach.

‘No.’

He ripped the duvet off her and gave her a truly wicked smile, the sort that melted her bones. ‘Kirsty Brown, do I have to
make
you tell me?’

The best part of an hour later, she ended up taking their stone-cold coffees downstairs and making a fresh pot. Except she was fully dressed—after a very hasty shower, taken alone—and she waited downstairs for Ben rather than risk taking the coffee back to bed. Absently, she ate a slice of toast.

‘Hi,’ he said softly as he walked into the kitchen.

That smile. Why had she ever thought herself immune to it? Ben Robertson was gorgeous, from those irrepressible curls and incredible eyes right down to his perfectly formed toes. ‘Hi, yourself,’ she returned shyly.

‘Toast, hmm?’ He bent down to lick a crumb from the corner of her lip. ‘And heather honey, if I’m not mistaken.’

‘Ben, we—’

‘I know. We’re due in at work.’ He stared at her mouth. ‘Though, right now, I’m sorely tempted to ring in sick.’ He smiled—just. ‘Except I know your sense of duty’s too strong to let me.’

‘I don’t exactly feel like “Sensible Kirst” right now,’ she admitted. ‘Ben, this thing between us…’

‘Don’t ask me. I can’t explain it either.’ He topped up her mug, then poured himself a coffee. ‘Kirst, I don’t want to lie to you.
Especially
you,’ he added. ‘You know I can’t make any promises.’

Pain squeezed through every pore. He could still say that, after what they’d shared?

‘Maybe it’s a phase and we’ll grow out of it. Think of this as—oh, an extension of our friendship.’

‘An extension of our friendship?’ she repeated in disbelief.

He made a face. ‘Sorry, Kirst. That sounded bad. I didn’t mean to make it sound cheap. It isn’t. You mean a lot to me—you know that.’

‘Uh-huh,’ she managed. What had she expected—a declaration of love?

‘The last thing I want is to hurt you, but I can’t give you white lace and promises. I can’t give
anyone
white lace and promises,’ he said sombrely. ‘It’s just the way I am.’

‘So what do we do now?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t want to lose you, Kirst.’

‘I don’t want to lose you either.’

‘We’re going to be late for work,’ he said. ‘Let’s talk about this later.’

Coward, she thought. But, then, she was just as bad, because she didn’t press the point.

He didn’t hold her hand or put his arm round her on the way to Jimmy’s, and he kept the conversation very firmly in the area of shop talk. They parted at the hospital entrance as casually as always, but Kirsty couldn’t stop thinking of the way it had felt to wake up in his arms that morning. Or the way they’d made love. So much so that she actually contaminated her hands after she’d scrubbed and had to start all over again. She also dropped a retractor, earning her a well-deserved rebuke from Chambers.

‘Kirsty, what’s got into you?’ Paul Fisher asked later in the locker room.

She very nearly corrected him—who, not what—and flushed scarlet at what she’d almost blurted out.

‘Kirsty?’

‘Nothing. I’m still focused a hundred per cent on my job.’

Paul grinned. ‘You don’t have to tell
me
that. I’m your junior. It’s just that…you’re different today.’

Yeah. I woke up in the arms of the man I love.

No. She shouldn’t be in love with Ben. He didn’t do relationships. And he wouldn’t make an exception for her—he’d already told her as much. Falling in love with Ben would be the most stupid thing she could do.

And she had a nasty feeling she’d already done it.

‘I think,’ Paul said, ‘you need caffeine. Lots of it.’

‘I’ve got notes to write up.’

‘They’ll wait.’

She smiled. ‘Thanks. You’re a sweetie. But they won’t wait.’ Not if she wanted to retrieve the situation with Chambers. He’d zoom in on the fact that she’d neglected part of her job, and she had no intention of giving him the opportunity to put her on disciplinary.

‘I’ll bring one in to you, then,’ Paul said. ‘On condition you give me those references about stapling rather than stitching an anastomosis.’

‘Deal.’

When Kirsty finally got a break, an hour before the end of her shift, Ben was already in the cafeteria. With another woman. The usual type—tall, slim, long blonde hair, with the kind of natural-looking make-up that took hours to apply. She was gazing adoringly at him, hanging on his every word, and Ben was clearly being Dr Charming, focusing on her and making her feel important. Kirsty had seen him doing that dozens of times, so she ignored the stab of jealousy. It was probably business, she told herself. The woman was probably new in A and E, or a drug rep, or something like that.

Ha. Who was she trying to kid?

But even if it wasn’t business, Kirsty didn’t have any claim on Ben. The diamond solitaire on the chain round her neck was…well, convenient, for both of them. Nothing more. Forget it, she thought, and found herself a quiet corner of the cafeteria where she didn’t have to look at him being sweet to another woman.

Though clearly he’d seen her because, when she was morosely stirring the sugar she didn’t usually take into her latte, she heard a chair scrape next to her and looked up.

‘Hi,’ he said.

‘Hi, yourself.’

‘Didn’t you see me?’

‘You looked busy.’

‘Selina, you mean? She’s a liaison officer from the local college. She wants me to give a careers talk to their sixth-formers about life in A and E. You should have come over.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you could do a talk, too. About surgery. Prove to the girls that women really can make it through the system.’ To her horror, he leaned over and kissed her.
Kissed her.
In front of everyone in the cafeteria. ‘You’re having a bad day, aren’t you?’

‘Mmm.’

‘Forget the coffee.’

‘What?’

‘Come with me, Dr Brown.’

No. All she had to do was say no. But the twinkle in those gorgeous blue eyes was irresistible. She left her coffee and let him lead her down a corridor.

‘Where are we going?’

‘You’ll see.’ He did a quick check, then opened a door, switched on a light and pulled her inside.

‘This is a linen cupboard!’ she hissed.

‘I know.’ He started unbuttoning her tunic top beneath her white coat.

‘Ben, we c—’ she began, but the negative turned into a soft sigh of pleasure as he stroked her hardening nipples.

‘I’ve been thinking about you all day,’ he said. ‘You, me…and this.’ He replaced his fingers with his mouth and she gasped.

When he lifted his head again, they were both flushed.

‘I need you, Kirst,’ he said rawly.

Need wasn’t the same as love. She should just walk away, right now. But she couldn’t. Not when he was looking at her like that. She’d never known how
hot
blue eyes could seem, blazing with desire. Helplessly, she opened her arms, and he lifted her up against the door, the combined weight of their bodies guaranteed to hold it shut. He kissed her again as he removed her trousers and entered her, his mouth swallowing her cry of pleasure. And then time stopped until she was in free-fall, her body convulsing round his. She was still shuddering when he withdrew. He supported her until she could stand on her own two feet again, then smiled and kissed the tip of her nose.

‘Ben…’

‘You’re turning into a shameless hussy. I know.’ His eyes glittered. ‘I rather like it.’

‘We’re at
work
!’

‘On a break,’ he pointed out.

‘We really, really—’

‘Must do this again some time. I quite agree, Dr Brown. Liaison meetings between A and E and Surgical are very important.’

She aimed a slap at him. ‘Stop twisting my words!’

His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘As if I’d dare.’

She still couldn’t quite believe what they’d just done—made love in the linen cupboard.

It was as if he could read her mind. ‘I’ll let you into a secret,’ he said huskily. ‘I’ve never done this before either.’

Before she had time to digest that, he restored order to her clothes and combed her hair with his fingers. ‘That’s better. You look respectable again now.’

She didn’t feel respectable. And supposing someone saw them coming out of the cupboard?

Either he’d definitely become a mind-reader, or her thoughts were written all over her face, because he smiled again and eased the door open. ‘Coast’s clear. You go first, I’ll follow in a couple of minutes.’

Crazy. This whole thing was absolutely crazy and she knew it was all going to end in tears. But Kirsty had a smile on her face as she returned to the surgical ward.

* * *

Ben was still with patients when Kirsty’s shift ended, so she walked home alone. She glanced at her watch. Morag was probably still in. Just. So if she rang now, before Ben came home, she might just get to the bottom of Morag’s secret.

Morag answered at the fourth ring. ‘Hello?’

‘Morag, it’s Kirsty.’

‘How are you?’

‘Fine. And you?’

‘Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ Kirsty could imagine Morag’s hand flapping in impatience.

‘Ben’s at work right now,’ Kirsty said. Which made this the perfect moment to ask. ‘Actually, Morag, I really need to talk to you.’

‘What about?’

‘That conversation we started having in your kitchen.’

‘Can’t remember, lass. When you get to my age, you forget.’

That wasn’t true, Kirsty knew. Not much got past Morag Robertson. But if that was the way she wanted to play it… ‘Morag, you know that Ben’s convinced himself that you’re at death’s door, don’t you?’

‘Don’t be silly. He’s
seen
me. I’m perfectly all right.’

‘Are you really, Morag? Look, you can trust me. I won’t pass on anything you don’t want to tell him until you’re ready.’

‘I’m fine. Look, I’ve got to go.’

Before Kirsty could protest, the line went dead. She sighed and replaced the receiver. No wonder Ben was so worried about Morag. It was too suspicious. Her refusal to discuss things and her continued insistence that she was fine could only mean one thing—that she was seriously ill and didn’t want Ben to know because she didn’t want him to worry. The ironic thing was that Ben would worry less if he
did
know the truth because at least he’d know what was going on.

Somehow, she had to persuade Morag to tell her the truth.

Still brooding, she walked upstairs and ran herself a bath. She’d just settled into the water when she heard Ben’s key in the front door. It took him about two minutes to work out where she was, and then he knocked on the bathroom door.

‘Can I come in?’

He didn’t wait for an answer but walked in, carrying a bottle of Merlot, one glass and a tin of cannoli wafers.

‘One glass?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘I thought we’d share it.’ He looked up at the bathroom light and wrinkled his nose. ‘Too bright,’ he said, and left the room. A few moments later, he was back with a large church candle and a box of matches. He balanced the candle-holder on the window-sill, lit the candle and turned the overhead light off. ‘That’s more like it.’

‘Hang on, this is
my
bath you’re commandeering,’ Kirsty said.

‘Ours,’ he corrected.

Her mouth went dry as he stripped off in front of her, completely unselfconscious. All the times she’d seen him nearly naked in the past on hot summery days in the garden, and she’d never really noticed how strong and powerful his body was, how long and well shaped his legs were, how…

She stopped thinking as he climbed in opposite her, taking the tap end.

He took one of the cannoli wafers from the tin and bit off one end, clearly savouring the crispness of the wafer against the smoothness of the chocolate and hazelnut praline filling.

‘Where’s mine?’ she asked.

‘Same as the glass. We’ll share it.’ He held the wafer out to her, making her lean forward to take a bite. They took it in turns, bite for bite, until there was only a tiny piece left. He placed it between her lips, then leaned forward to bite his half from her lips. And then Kirsty was only aware of the swish of water as he dragged her onto his lap and she wrapped her legs round his waist. She rocked against him, teasing him. When he lifted her slightly so he could enter her, she stopped thinking and arched her back, matching him thrust for thrust.

‘I can’t get you out of my head,’ Ben told her huskily as he wrapped her in a soft towelling bath-sheet, still warm from being hung over the radiator. ‘I was thinking about you all the way home tonight.’

‘Oh, yes?’

‘Mmm-hmm. I thought you’d already be working. The way you usually do, lying on your bed with one leg kicked back behind you, playing with the ends of your hair while you read.’

He noticed what she did in
that
much detail?

‘And I was going…’ he nuzzled her cheek ‘…to stop you overdoing it.’

‘How?’ She blurted the word out.

He gave her a lazy, very sexy smile. ‘Easy. I was going to pick you up and take you to my room.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Her voice grew husky again at the thought.

‘Mmm-hmm.’ He nibbled her earlobe. ‘Sleep with me tonight, Kirst. I want to go to sleep in your arms. I want to hear your heart beating as I fall asleep. And I want your face to be the first thing I see when I wake up.’

This was as near as Ben would get to a declaration of love, she thought sadly. Or did he say that to all his women?

‘Kirst?’

He sounded very unsure, and she realised that she’d tensed in his arms. She wriggled one arm free from the bath-sheet and stroked his face. ‘OK.’

His eyes blazed and he lifted her up and carried her to his bed. Much, much later, he retrieved the wine and the cannoli wafers from the bathroom and fed her with alternate sips and bites. And at last they settled so he could sleep in her arms, his head resting on her breast so he could hear her heartbeat.