The Spanish Consultant Read online

  Katy gave a wan smile. Alex had been born first by all of three minutes.

  ‘She’s being bullied into marrying Freddie,’ Libby muttered darkly, ‘that’s what’s going on. She’s doing it to please Dad. It’s time for the triplets to unite.’

  Alex’s blue eyes narrowed sharply. ‘Katy?’

  Katy pulled away from her brother. ‘She’s talking nonsense. I’m fine. Really. Just a bit tired. And nervous about the new job, I suppose.’

  ‘A and E is great,’ Alex said immediately. ‘You’ll love it. I just wish you’d chosen to do it further from home. You could have come and worked in my department. We need good doctors.’

  Katy smiled. ‘You never stay in one place for five minutes, Alex, so there’s no point in joining you. I wanted to be in the same hospital as Libby and, with Freddie in the City, I need to be in London.’

  ‘Well, of course you do,’ Libby drawled. ‘Which brings us back to the point I was making when you arrived, Alex. I just can’t imagine Lord Frederick indulging in spontaneous sex. He probably gets his secretary to book slots in his diary. Is that really what you want, Katy?’

  Suddenly Katy felt sick and she closed her eyes to blot out the images.

  She didn’t want sex with Freddie at all.

  Alex frowned and was about to say something when their mother called him over.

  ‘Back in a minute.’ He touched Katy gently on the cheek, exchanged a meaningful glance with Libby and strolled across the lawn, lithe and athletic and totally confident.

  ‘He’s bloody good-looking. How come we’re both blonde and he managed to have such dark hair? It’s really spectacular with those blue eyes.’ Libby watched him charm a group of her father’s clients. ‘He’s everything a man should be. Sexy, strong, clever. The funny thing is, if he weren’t his son I’m sure Dad wouldn’t approve of him. He’s just a little bit bad and dangerous, isn’t he? And we all know what Dad thinks of dangerous men.’

  Katy sucked in a breath.

  She’d only ever met one dangerous man.

  There was a tense silence. ‘You still think about him, don’t you?’ Libby looked at her, her blue gaze penetrating. ‘It’s been eleven years since he broke your heart but you still think about him.’

  Katy didn’t even have to ask whom she meant. ‘I—I don’t…’

  The sick feeling grew worse and her heart started to beat faster.

  ‘Don’t lie to me, Katy.’ Libby’s voice was soft. ‘It all seems such a long time ago now, doesn’t it? Our eighteenth birthday party. Do you remember that summer?’

  Katy stood still, her features frozen. Of course she remembered it. She remembered every single minute.

  Libby’s voice was soft and dreamy. ‘I envied you so much. I would have done anything to have been you.’

  ‘Stop it, Lib.’ Katy closed her eyes and then opened them again quickly. Closing them just made the images worse.

  ‘How was it that Dad used to describe him?’ Libby tipped her head on one side. ‘Brilliant, but dangerous. I’ll never forget the first time he came to our house for one of Dad’s social evenings. We were sixteen, remember? Everyone else was in a black tie and Jago Rodriguez turned up on a motorbike dressed in black leather with absolutely no respect for English social customs.’

  ‘That’s because he’s Spanish,’ Katy muttered, wondering why Libby was choosing this particular moment to tackle a subject that she’d studiously avoided for years.

  ‘That probably was half the problem,’ Libby agreed. ‘He wasn’t British and he didn’t have the right pedigree. I thought Mum was going to have a heart attack. I loved the fact that he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought of him. You would have thought that being the son of our housekeeper might have made him feel awkward but he had absolutely no hang-ups about who he was or where he came from.’

  ‘That’s because Mrs Rodriguez was such a great mother,’ Katy said, not wanting to remember those times. ‘Spaniards are renowned for having close families and she gave him pride and a belief in himself. And then Dad gave him his big break in the City—’

  Libby gave a cynical laugh. ‘Don’t be naïve, Katy. Dad doesn’t have even the thinnest streak of altruism in his make-up. Every single move he makes is calculated and he does absolutely nothing that won’t benefit him.’ Her tone was bitter as she surveyed her father across the lawn. He still hadn’t noticed her. ‘He didn’t employ Jago Rodriguez out of any sense of kindness. He employed him because he spotted raw talent and the same character traits that he possesses himself. Both of them are ruthless, ambitious and completely lacking in emotional conscience.’

  Katy flinched slightly at her sister’s harsh analysis. It didn’t match her memory of those few glorious weeks. ‘Jago was kind to me, Libby, gentle.’

  ‘He walked away without a word,’ Libby pointed out grimly, and Katy sighed, unable to argue with the truth, knowing that Libby was just being protective. And she would have felt the same if positions had been reversed. Libby and Alex were her best friends and the three of them were as close as brothers and sisters could be.

  And it was hardly surprising that Libby blamed Jago. The months after he’d walked away had been the worst of her life and Libby had been the one who’d seen her through it.

  She bit her lip.

  But hadn’t he always warned her that he wasn’t looking for commitment?

  Had it been his fault that she’d committed the cardinal sin of falling in love with him?

  ‘Well, he may have been a rat, but I can see why you fell for him.’ Libby broke off and looked at her with a touch of awe. ‘Jago was the most stunningly gorgeous male I’ve ever met. And to think you actually—’

  ‘That’s enough, Lib!’ Katy’s nails dug into her palms as memories exploded in her head.

  Rapid breathing, the rough scrape of male stubble against sensitive flesh, and heat, pounding erotic heat, heat that burned inside and out…

  ‘You—the quiet, shy one and Mr Rough, Bad and Dangerous. Where did you ever find the courage?’ Libby looked at her in admiration. ‘I wonder what would have happened if Dad hadn’t found out? Would it have carried on?’

  Sleek, hard muscle against soft skin, flesh scorching flesh, mouths locked, bodies joined in untamed, wild passion…

  ‘Of course not.’ Katy lifted a hand to her head, trying to clear the memories. ‘We were totally different.’

  His strength mixed with her gentleness. Raw male power controlling her every movement…

  Libby pulled a face. ‘That’s our father talking. To him Jago was a banned substance, right up there with drugs and smoking. He was the unsuitable man. Fine for fighting dirty in the money markets but not good enough for his daughter. He didn’t have the benefit of Lord Frederick’s bloodline.’

  ‘Maybe Dad was right. It would never have worked,’ Katy said frantically. ‘Now can we change the subject, Libby, please?’

  Dark eyes holding hers, possessing her, taking her with him as their bodies exploded.

  Her sister appeared not to have heard her plea. ‘Why wouldn’t it have worked? Because you were the rich heiress and he was a bit of rough? Dad’s protégé who clawed his way up through hard work and naked ambition?’ Libby gave a wicked grin. ‘I confess that I would have signed away my share of the family fortune for the chance of one roll in the hay with Jago. He might have been dangerous but he was so-o-o sexy. I’ve always wanted to ask you something.’ She lowered her voice and glanced around to check that no one could hear them. ‘What was it like with him? Was he good, Katy?’

  Katy couldn’t breathe.

  Good?

  Oh, yes, he was good. Better than good. Jago was so skilled that he might have invented sex.

  And she’d trained herself never to think about it. Never to remember those few weeks. The agony was too acute.

  And now, for some unfathomable reason, her sister was making her talk about it.

  She never talked about it.

  ‘That’s
enough, Lib.’ Her voice was hoarse and she lifted a hand to loosen her collar, only to remember that her dress had a scoop neckline.

  The constriction came from within.

  Her memories were suffocating her.

  ‘You loved him, Katy. He was the one,’ Libby said softly. ‘The one.’

  Her father in one of his terrifying rages. It ends now, Katy. He’s gone. You won’t be seeing him again.

  Her childlike belief that her father was wrong.

  ‘I kept thinking that he’d come for me,’ she murmured, talking as much to herself as to Libby. ‘I thought our love was strong enough to survive anything. How could I have been so wrong?’

  ‘You were crazy about him, Katy.’ Libby’s tone was gentle. ‘It was true love. How can you marry Freddie after what you had with Jago?’

  ‘It’s because of what I had with Jago that I’m marrying Freddie,’ Katy said hoarsely. ‘And Jago never loved me. How could he have loved me and walked away?’

  She could see now that he’d been way out of her league. A sophisticated, ruthless man so practised in the art of seduction that someone as emotionally and physically innocent as her had never stood a chance. He’d been with her for the novelty value, whereas she’d fallen for him like a skydiver without a parachute and had been left emotionally devastated when he’d ended the relationship.

  And she knew that she never wanted to experience that depth of emotional intensity again.

  Which was why she was marrying Freddie.

  Freddie was safe and predictable and she always knew how her body would behave around him, whereas being with Jago had been a journey into the unknown. A breathless, exciting, terrifying journey. Every look, every touch had caused an explosion inside her that had left scars.

  Scars that had never healed.

  ‘Jago wouldn’t be standing around talking to your father’s friends,’ Libby murmured, not meeting her eyes. ‘He’d be sending you hot looks and dragging you into the bushes, and he wouldn’t give a damn what anyone thought.’

  His voice, rough with masculine triumph. ‘You’re mine now, Katy.’

  Desperation swamped her and she dropped her champagne glass and ran across the lawn and up the steps, ignoring Libby’s attempt to stop her.

  She had to get away.

  Her car was parked in the front.

  She’d drive.

  She’d just drive, and then she’d be all right.

  She could leave the memories behind.

  Alex stepped up to his sister, his blue eyes narrowed. ‘Did it work?’

  Libby bit her lip and stared after Katy, guilt and anxiety clouding her eyes. ‘Judging from her reaction, I think it might have worked a little too well. Oh, hell, Alex, are you sure we’re doing the right thing? You know she hates talking about it and usually we go along with that.’

  Alex rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, displaying a rare departure from his customary cool. ‘She’s marrying a man she doesn’t love, Lib, for all the wrong reasons. Anything is worth a try.’

  Libby’s eyes shone a little too brightly. ‘But I hurt her.’

  ‘And you think she won’t hurt when she finally wakes up and realises that she’s made a mistake marrying Freddie? And anyway…’ Alex paused and took a long slug from his glass of champagne. ‘You only made her talk about stuff she thinks about all the time.’

  ‘I felt like a total rat, not telling her about Jago,’ Libby mumbled. ‘What’s she going to do when she finds out that he’s now a doctor and working in her hospital?’

  ‘She’ll be shocked, but she needs to confront her past and get on with her life instead of bottling it up,’ Alex said firmly. ‘It’s the right thing to do. Stop worrying.’

  Libby glared at her brother. ‘How come you’re always so damned confident about everything? Aren’t you even remotely worried he’ll hurt her again?’

  Alex’s jaw hardened. ‘We both know that Dad was somehow responsible for the first time, which was why I didn’t go after Jago eleven years ago, but if he hurts her again…’ There was a brief pause and the warmth of his tone dropped several degrees. ‘Then I’ll kill him. Now change the subject. Dad’s spotted you at last and he’s on his way over. Better hitch that skirt up another inch, Lib. I can’t quite see your knickers.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘RTA COMING in, Jago.’ Charlotte, one of the A and E sisters, replaced the phone and turned to the consultant. ‘Young female had to be cut out of a car. Apparently it’s taken them a while to free her.’

  Jago lifted night-black eyes from the X-ray he was studying, his handsome face sharply alert. ‘Details?’

  ‘Not many. Head and chest but I don’t know how bad.’ Charlotte tilted her head, studying his face, marvelling at how unbelievably gorgeous he was. It didn’t matter how long she’d worked with him, she still stared. All the female staff stared. As one of the cheekier nurses had quipped, ‘Some staffrooms have posters of heartthrobs—we have the real live thing.’ Charlotte pulled herself together. ‘I can hear the siren.’

  Jago nodded briefly. ‘Get someone to check Resus while we meet the ambulance.’ With that he yanked the X-ray out of the light-box and strode through the department, broad-shouldered and confident, pausing briefly to hand the X-ray to one of the casualty officers. ‘If you take a close look at this, you can see a lunar dislocation on the lateral view, Alison. You missed it.’

  Aware of his reputation for zero tolerance when it came to clinical mistakes, the young doctor regarded him warily.

  ‘I—I didn’t request a lateral view.’

  The consultant’s voice was silky smooth. ‘But fortunately I did.’

  ‘The AP view looked normal, Mr Rodriguez—’

  ‘Which is why you should also have requested a lateral view X-ray.’ His tone was icy cold and unsympathetic and the casualty officer shifted in her seat.

  ‘I—I thought that was a pretty rare injury. I read in a book that it’s quite common to miss that particular injury on X-ray.’

  ‘Not in my department,’ Jago said softly, visibly unimpressed by her error. ‘Next time request the right views and check them carefully. Expect the unexpected. Rare injuries still happen. Refer the patient to the orthopaedic team for a manipulation under anaesthetic and then join me in Resus. We’ve got an RTA coming in.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Rodriguez.’ The young female SHO was pink with mortification and Jago gritted his teeth impatiently. The girl was sloppy and over-confident and he’d be relieved when she finished her six-month stint in two weeks’ time. Some people weren’t cut out for emergency medicine and she was one of them. And on top of that, her longing looks were beginning to irritate him. She’d made it obvious that she’d be happy to extend their relationship beyond the confines of the hospital but he had more sense than to break hearts in his own department and these days he was becoming more and more picky about who he shared his bed with.

  By his side Charlotte winced. ‘Ouch—you were hard on her.’

  Jago lifted a dark eyebrow, his expression cool. ‘You’d prefer that she discharged a patient with a dislocation?’

  ‘No, but—’

  ‘Patients have the right to expect the very best care when they come into this department. She has a great deal to learn.’

  Ending the conversation abruptly, Jago pushed his way through the swing doors just as the ambulance roared into the ambulance bay.

  The paramedics opened the back and lifted out the stretcher. ‘Young female with head and chest injuries. She was shunted from behind so we’ve had her on a backboard. GCS of 7 at the scene but she regained consciousness fairly quickly and it’s 12 now, but she’s not saying much.’ The paramedic frowned. ‘She hasn’t been able to tell us her name or anything, but we’ve got her bag so we need to try and find out who she is.’

  Jago turned to look at the still form of the girl lying on the trolley and his powerful body froze in shock. He stared in stunned disbelief, his muscular shoulders tense as his e
yes raked over the blonde hair and the endless limbs.

  I love you, Jago.

  ‘I know who she is.’

  Only years of exercising rigid control over his intrinsically volatile emotions prevented him from displaying his reaction to her in a very public way.

  The paramedic was looking at him. ‘You do? Oh—right. Well, in that case…’

  ‘Take her through to Resus,’ Jago ordered, his eyes still on the long, primrose blonde hair, now matted with blood.

  Do you think I’m pretty, Jago?

  ‘Her air bag didn’t open properly and she hit the wind-screen,’ the paramedic explained as they manoeuvred the stretcher into the A and E department. ‘Her head bled a lot and she’s going to need stitches, but we’ve put a pad on it for now. She might have chest injuries, too, from the way she was thrown against the steering-wheel. Weird really. There didn’t seem to be anyone else involved. You should have seen the car. Frankly, she was bloody lucky to escape alive.’

  Jago’s expression didn’t flicker, his eyes as black as night and his manner controlled and totally professional. ‘OK, guys, let’s get to work. Get me some gloves, please—she’s covered in glass. Be careful!’

  Someone handed him some gloves and he pulled them on quickly as Charlotte moved closer to the trolley.

  ‘Hello, can you hear me, er…?’ She glanced up questioningly. ‘Do we have a name?’

  ‘Her name is Katherine.’ Jago checked her airway and reached for an oxygen mask. ‘Katherine Westerling.’

  Huge blue eyes staring into his, innocence mingling with excitement and anticipation as his hard body moved against her softness…

  ‘Right.’ Charlotte exchanged puzzled glances with one of her colleagues. ‘Why is that name familiar?’

  ‘She’s the daughter of Sir Charles Westerling, the banker,’ Jago informed her tautly, and Charlotte’s eyes widened.

  ‘Wow! I’ve seen pictures of her in the glossies, looking glamorous. She’s seriously rich and really, really beautiful.’

  And totally lacking in morals.

  His relationship with Katy had been the one and only time in his life that he’d lowered his guard with a woman. And he hadn’t made the same mistake since.