His Honourable Surgeon

‘Bullied her into having it done?’

‘Guilt-tripped her into it,’ Jake corrected. Then he saw a flicker of a grin on Vicky’s face. ‘What?’

‘Beat you to it. I told her the stats and let her work it out for herself: she could have it done and go back to her own home, or risk a stroke and being stuck in a care home. Or—worse, in her view—being fussed over in her daughter’s home.’

‘You understand your patients well.’ With a flash of intuition, Jake guessed, ‘You’re the same, aren’t you? You hate being fussed over.’

She nodded. ‘Worst nightmare. Comes of being the youngest of three—and the only girl.’

‘I remember you told me your brothers are both doctors. What are their fields?’

‘Plastics and ED. And they insist on referring to me as “our baby sister, the brain surgeon”.’

Teasing, but he’d guess that they were proud of her. And that they knew exactly what she was like: if they made a fuss over her and told her how they felt, she’d shut them out. So they teased her instead, saying the words in the way they knew she’d accept them.

Her family. People who loved her. Jake forced the surge of envy down. He’d made his decision years ago. Losing one family—his parents—had hurt enough. Losing his second, his nan, had been even harder. And he wasn’t going to risk it a third time. He’d go out with the crowd, sure. But he wasn’t letting anyone close. Wasn’t going to have another family that he could lose.

And that included Vicky Radley. Despite the fact that his whole body yearned to touch her, hold her, he wasn’t going to take the risk.

Asking her to breakfast this morning had been a mistake. He’d been listening to his libido instead of his common sense. Well, he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. ‘Thanks for the coffee and cake,’ he said, though he hadn’t touched a crumb. ‘See you later.’

‘Sure.’

To his relief, she took the hint and left his office.

Though he could still feel her presence in the room after she’d left. Still smell her perfume. And it made him ache for her.

An ache he dared not let himself soothe.

CHAPTER FIVE (#u1bf1a218-724b-5e67-a93b-fe4c4dc27921)

A MONTH they’d been working together. Four short weeks. And Vicky couldn’t get Jake out of her head. Worst of all, she’d gone to Chloë’s christening, had had a cuddle with her goddaughter at the party afterwards and had had this weird almost-vision of holding another baby.

A baby with huge brown eyes, just like her daddy’s.

This was bad. Really bad. Vicky never, but never, fantasised like that. She didn’t want children and she didn’t want a life partner. She wanted a career. She wanted to blaze a trail in medicine and discover new things. She wanted to save people.

So why couldn’t she get his face out of her head?

It was worse because she’d seen him practically naked at the pool. Jake’s swimming shorts were perfectly demure, but she’d seen him dive into the pool at the gym they both went to. She’d seen his perfect musculature, the light sprinkling of hair on his chest, his strong, sturdy body. And she’d wanted to touch—something that had sent her straight to the side of the pool and out to the showers before she’d done something stupid. Like suggesting breakfast together. And not after a session at the gym, either.