Remembering the way she’d clutched the flowers that morning, his fingers tightened on the programme.

She’d been delighted with them. And she clearly hadn’t broken off her engagement to Freddie.

With a muttered curse he ran a hand over the back of his neck, acknowledging with unusual insight that it was going to take more than an exotic bunch of flowers to redeem himself in Katy’s eyes.

Thanks to a major overreaction on his part over the photographs, she was now completely convinced that he didn’t possess a sensitive side.

With a groan of frustration he tossed the programme onto the desk and applied his brain to the intellectual challenge of how to convince Katy he was as caring as the next guy.

He was absolutely sure about one thing—their relationship was never going to progress unless he got her away from the hospital and away from Freddie.

With a complete lack of vanity he recognised the fact that she was marrying Freddie because she was afraid of the feelings she had for him.

Katy was soft-hearted and loving and he’d hurt her badly. She didn’t want to be hurt again and he’d seriously underestimated her strength of will. Once he’d apologised for having misjudged her, he’d stood back and waited for her to fall back into his arms.

But instead she’d walked away and now he found himself in the unique position of having to chase after a woman he wanted.

He looked at the conference programme again and an idea suddenly formed in his mind.

He was due to present a paper at a major medical conference in Seville at the end of the week and he’d arranged to visit his family afterwards.

He had space for one other doctor.

* * *

‘Have you heard there’s a place for a doctor to go to the conference in Seville at the end of the week? Apparently Harry was due to go but had to drop out at the last minute.’ Several of the casualty officers were gathered around the noticeboard in the staffroom when Katy walked in and pushed her bag in the locker. Her mind was still on the confrontation she’d had with her parents the night before.

Her mother had been hysterical at the news that the wedding was off and her father had refused to accept that she was no longer marrying Freddie.

All in all it had been an extremely unpleasant evening.

Her colleagues were still looking at the noticeboard and chatting. ‘Mr Rodriguez is presenting a paper and he’s allowed to take someone with him. If you want to go you have to sign your name and then they’re going to put the names in a hat.’

‘Very scientific.’

Only half listening to the conversation, Katy checked that her hair was neatly tied back and walked onto the unit without signing her name. She was struggling to cope with Jago in the impersonal atmosphere of the A and E department without subjecting herself to the intimacy of a foreign trip.