The consultant gave a wry smile. ‘You’re going to be part of everything. The team leader is always a consultant but you’ll certainly be working as circulation doctors, obviously operating within your skill level. If certain procedures are unfamiliar, we expect you to say so. Now, I’m going to show you the most important room of all. The staff common room.’

Half an hour later, Katy pushed her bag into her locker, slammed it shut and made to follow the others out onto the unit. They’d had a cup of coffee and now the work was about to start.

Her first day on A and E.

She was the last person left in the common room and she gave a start as the door crashed open and Jago strode in, formidably male, his strong features strained.

‘Tell me this is a joke,’ he launched, slamming the door shut behind him and keeping a hand on it so that no one could disturb them. ‘I’ve just seen your name on the rota. Dr Katherine Westerling?’

If anything, he was even colder than he’d been when she’d been admitted as a patient and Katy closed her eyes briefly.

Maybe it was her fault. She should have warned him, but when she’d been lying in hospital she hadn’t even decided whether she was going to be able to do it.

And now she was having serious doubts.

How could she ever have thought that she could work alongside him without a problem?

Connecting with those volcanic dark eyes, she felt an explosion of awareness erupt inside her body and hated herself for it. It seemed that it didn’t matter how indifferent he was to her, she was still a sucker for his type of raw, masculine sexuality.

‘It’s not a joke.’ Katy’s breathing was suddenly uneven as she struggled to hide the disturbing effect he had on her. At five feet ten she was used to being at eye level with most men, but she’d always had to look up to Jago. He was six feet three of intimidating, angry male, and being in the same room as him had a seriously detrimental effect on her nerves.

‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me when you were in here two weeks ago?’

‘I—I didn’t think it was relevant.’

Because she’d been shell-shocked to see him again.

Because she hadn’t made up her mind whether she would be able to take the job, knowing that it would mean working with him.

‘Not relevant?’ His eyes raked over her in a naked disbelief that would have offended her if she hadn’t become used to it over the years. People always looked at her in disbelief because she didn’t fit their stereotype of a doctor.

Katy sighed, reading his mind. ‘Women become doctors, Jago. Even blondes.’

He frowned sharply. ‘I’m not prejudiced against women doctors.’

‘So what’s wrong?’

‘Seeing you in A and E is what’s wrong,’ he drawled, his penetrating dark gaze locking onto hers. ‘You were a model. A woman whose main priority was the state of her nails.’