She tumbled into the fathomless depths of his dark eyes and felt her knees tremble.

He leaned forward. ‘That man has no idea how to unlock the real Katy.’

‘And I suppose you think you do!’

‘Of course.’ The lazy arrogance in his voice was the final straw and she lifted a hand and slapped him so hard that the palm of her hand stung.

‘Dios mio.’ His head jerked backwards and he looked at her with raw incredulity, disbelief pulsating in the depths of his eyes.

Stunned by her own behaviour, Katy opened her mouth to apologise and then closed it again. There was no way she was apologising to him!

‘Eleven years is a long time, Jago, and you don’t know anything about who I am any more.’ Her small hands clenched by her sides and she forced herself to breathe normally. ‘I’m more than capable of working in this department and I’m going to marry Freddie.’

They stood, eyes trapped by an invisible force, until the door opened and a male voice said, ‘I’ve found our straggler. She’s still in the common room.’

The consultant walked in and gave Jago a nod before turning to Katy. Fortunately he didn’t seem to notice the reddened streak on Jago’s cheekbone.

‘If you’ve finished in here, I’ll take you out and see which member of staff you’re allocated to. We find that the new casualty officers settle in quickly if they work closely with another member of staff. I’ll just check who that is.’

‘You needn’t bother.’ Jago’s voice was soft and his eyes were still fixed on Katy’s pale face. ‘Dr Westerling will be working with me.’

His colleague looked startled. ‘Oh, right—well, you’ve obviously already met Jago Rodriguez, one of our other consultants. In that case, I’ll leave you in his capable hands. I’m sure you’re keen to get started.’

Jago’s mouth curled into a smile. ‘I’m sure Dr Westerling can’t wait.’

There was a sardonic gleam in his sexy dark eyes that brought a flush to her pale cheeks and a sick feeling to the pit of her stomach.

Working with Jago wasn’t just going to be difficult.

It was going to be a nightmare.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later Katy was wondering why she’d ever thought she’d be able to cope with A and E.

She’d seen a never-ending stream of patients, most of them angry at having been kept waiting for hours.

‘Can’t we see patients any faster?’ she asked Charlotte, the sister who had looked after her when she’d been brought in after her car accident. ‘I’m fed up with being verbally abused by everyone I see.’

‘Welcome to A and E.’ Charlotte handed her a set of X-rays to check. ‘We make a dent and then an emergency comes in and takes priority. That’s the way it works. That’s why we have triage. Non-emergency cases go to the bottom of the pile and they stay there until someone has time to see them.’ She smiled sympathetically at Katy’s drawn expression. ‘Don’t worry, you get used to people yelling at you after a while.’