The Baby of Their Dreams (Contemporary Medical Romance) Read Online Free Page B

not so great for the patient either when they come around to our smiling faces... It’s hard on the staff when a four-year-old presents on Christmas Eve. It’s our instinct to do all that we can. There isn’t always time to speak at length with the family when they come rushing in with their child but listen we must...’
    It wasn’t like a bedtime story with everything spelt out. Yes, there were bullet points, but they were only brief outlines and, for Dominic, a lot of her words felt like bullets as she filled in the gaps.
    Brusque was her delivery as she covered things such as legalities, next of kin, patient rights. For good measure, staff, relative and patient guilt was thrown in too.
    He listened, he felt, yet his face never moved a muscle.
    As she finished, he left the room and went off to lunch but, even if it smelt fantastic, food didn’t appeal and instead he took some water and went out onto a large balcony.
    Unlike others who had been at her talk Dominic didn’t go up and congratulate her. Neither did he tell her that her talk had touched a nerve.
    He could have walked over and said how his wife had got up in the night and wandered off. He could have said how angry she had been to wake up two days later in ICU and that he could still see the reproach in her eyes, as if Dominic had somehow failed her because she’d lived.
    No, he didn’t need or want
that
look from Cat and he was tired, so tired of women who gave out sympathy and understanding.
    He’d prefer something lighter.
    Or darker, perhaps! Hopefully, Dominic thought, heading back in, so too would she.

CHAPTER THREE
    I T WOULD BE an absolute lie to say the attraction hadn’t been as instant as it was mutual.
    All through the lunch break there was a knot high in Cat’s stomach and tension in her muscles and she knew that she was bracing herself for him to come over.
    Except he didn’t.
    Ouch!
    She wasn’t sure if she even wanted him to.
    There was an arrogance to him, not that she couldn’t handle arrogant men; she’d dealt with more than her share of them.
    No, it was something else about Dominic that had her seriously rattled—the presumption of sex.
    From the briefest conversation she had gleaned that much. From the roam of his eyes on the bare skin of her back, from the sullen, one-sided conversation with his friend that had told her his mind was on her.
    From the corner of her eye she watched as he came in from the balcony and then went over and chatted to a group.
    She was incredibly aware of his presence and it had been a long time since she had felt anything close to that.
    Not that it mattered.
    She was being ignored.
    Funny, but she knew that it was deliberate and what was stranger still it made her smile. ‘Excellent talk...’ A middle-aged blond man came over and introduced himself. ‘Gordon.’ He smiled.
    ‘Cat.’
    It was a very long thirty minutes.
    Gordon simply didn’t let up and Cat couldn’t really make her excuses and leave because he was talking about his wife who had died and the total hash that had been made in the emergency department.
    It was a busman’s holiday for Cat as she lined up for the lovely buffet lunch and Gordon followed her with his plate.
    ‘Two hours, we waited, Cat,’ he said, and she glanced up and met those gorgeous grey eyes and saw that Dominic was now unashamedly watching her.
    Rescue me,
her green ones said, but he looked away.
    ‘And then...’ Gordon continued to tell her about his wife’s IV coming out and the drugs that didn’t go in. Yes, it was a sad story, but it was a story she dealt with every day and it was her lunch break.
    ‘Paella, please.’ Cat held out her plate to the waiter but he shook his head.
    ‘We’re waiting for some more...’
    Cat chose some odd noodle salad, just to get away, but Gordon chose the same and he was off again. He sat next to her at a high table and droned on and on.
    She met Dominic’s eyes again and this time he smiled.
    You missed your