‘NOT your usual mode of transport to work,’ Rob Athol, the accident and emergency doctor, remarked dryly as Ben was unloaded from the ambulance. ‘They phoned through and told us you got knocked off your bike. How are you feeling?’Ben gave him a scowl as he ripped off the oXygen mask and collar. ‘I’m perfectly fine, thank you,’ he said. ‘Some stupid girl flung her car door open on me. I was lucky another car wasn’t coming.’‘You were lucky she was a doctor,’ Rob commented, as his gaze ran over the bandages on Ben’s arms and legs. ‘It looks like she did a pretty good job on you.’Ben gave him another furious scowl as he struggled out of the bandages, tossing them in the bin as he went. ‘I’m more than half an hour late for Theatre,’ he growled. ‘And it couldn’t have happened on a worse day. I’ve got a new registrar to train.’‘You sure you’ll be OK to operate?’ Rob asked, reaching for his ophthalmoscope.‘Don’t you start,’ Ben said. ‘Besides, I’ve got a full list today. Too many pu

‘SO WHERE is the registrar this morning?’ Ben asked Irene Clark, the unit head nurse on duty.‘She called the unit a few minutes ago. She’s going to be a few minutes late,’ Irene said. ‘She said something about an accident.’Ben gave a grunt and turned to the four medical students and the intern hovering in the background. ‘Just for the record if you need to make up an excuse for being absent or late, make sure it’s an original each time,’ he said. ‘I will be keeping a mental record of how many grandmothers’ funerals, toothaches or minor traffic accidents occur.’There was a snigger from the group just as Georgie burst onto the ward. ‘Sorry I’m so late,’ she said a little breathlessly. ‘I was caught up in an accident and—’Ben hooked one brow upwards. ‘Another one, Dr Willoughby?’Georgie stopped in her tracks, her eyes taking in the interested stares from the medical students and Jules Littlemore the intern. She drew her shoulders back and met Ben’s dark satirical gaze with an e

‘HAS anyone seen Dr Willoughby about?’ Ben asked in the unit later that day. ‘I think she’s left for the day,’ the afternoon shift nurse Carla Yates informed him. ‘She was on call last night so I expect she was feeling a bit tired. It was a busy night. Do you want me to get her on the line for you?’ ‘No,’ he said, reaching for his phone. ‘I’ll call her myself. It’s not urgent.’ ‘She’s nothing like her father, is she?’ Carla asked after a little pause. Ben looked at her with as little animation as possible. ‘What?’ ‘Georgie Willoughby,’ she said. ‘She’s rather a sweetie, don’t you think?’ He gave the nurse a noncommittal shrug. ‘She’s OK, I guess.’ ‘Jennifer Patterson was telling me Georgie quite possibly saved a young baby’s life this morning,’ she carried on. Ben felt another wave of remorse begin to tighten his stomach. ‘Oh, really?’ ‘Yes, she was first on the scene at a minor accident but insisted on the baby being brought in for observation. It turns out the little girl ha

GEORGIE buried her head in the menu, her fingers still tingling where Ben’s had touched hers. She was ashamed at her weakness. She had been so confident she would win the bet with Rhiannon but she could see that things were going to get tricky if she didn’t put a stop to this right now. She couldn’t remember a time when she had been so instantly attracted to a man. Sure, she’d had a few boyfriends, and Andrew McNally, the last one, had been relatively serious. She had even considered herself in love enough to contemplate marriage until she had found out his previous girlfriend hadn’t quite moved out of his life.Georgie realised that it had been her pride that had taken the beating, not her heart. But falling in love with Ben Blackwood was not just going to lose her a thousand dollars. He had a chip on his shoulder that was going to take quite some shifting and she wasn’t sure she was up to the task of doing it.Besides, she was supposed to be focusing on her career, not marriage an

BEN was on the phone when Georgie knocked on his office door and he called out for her to come in before continuing his conversation with the person on the line. ‘I told you it’s fine, Mum,’ he said. ‘I haven’t got any commitments this weekend. I’m not on call and the weather’s going to be good so just relax and enjoy yourselves.’Georgie felt a little uncomfortable listening in on what was clearly a private family conversation. She stood shifting from one foot to the other, pretending an interest in the books on the shelves running alongside his desk.‘If it will make you feel a little better, I’ll rustle up some female company for Hannah in case she gets sick of her boring older brother,’ he said. ‘Shopping is not exactly my strong point but I’m sure I can find someone who will show her where all the best shops are.’Georgie felt the point between her shoulder blades begin to prickle as if his dark blue gaze had centred there. She reached for a heavy textbook on emergency neurosu