Read Online The Surgeon's Convenient Fiancée (Medical Romance) by Rebecca Lang - Free Book Online

that,’ she said, her heart lifting at the prospect of spending a little more time with him, as the thought that she might not see him again for a long time had tempered her previous light mood as the tour had wound up.
    They walked back to the nurses’ change room. ‘Two minutes?’ she said to him.
    ‘I’ll give you three this time,’ he said, grinning.
    The time that it took her to comb her hair and put on a little make-up after she had changed back into street clothes took up the three minutes.
    She felt awkward with him as they went down in the elevator to the lobby again, worrying about how to thank him finally and how to say goodbye. The thought of having to say goodbye depressed her.
    ‘If you think you would like to work here, Deirdre, I can direct you to the human resources department to pick up an application form,’ he said when they were in the lobby,walking towards the tiny coffee-shop. ‘It’s down that way. Follow the signs. What sort of coffee will you have? This is my treat.’
    ‘I’ll have a latté with soy milk, small, please…if they have it,’ she said.
    ‘They have it.’
    Carrying the two cups of coffee, he headed for the main doors. ‘Do you mind if we get a bit of fresh air? It’s not too cold, I hope.’
    ‘I don’t mind.’ She was warmly dressed, while he had only a cotton lab coat over his scrub suit. The entrance was sheltered from the light drizzle, and they moved to one side of the main doors.
    It was good to stand there with him in the cool, brisk air, with her hand round the warm paper cup. They were more or less alone for now.
    ‘Well…’ he began, ‘do you think you will apply to work here, Deirdre? It’s a good place.’
    ‘I think I will apply,’ she said pensively. ‘I have a few things to work out first—in my head, as well as from a practical point of view.’
    ‘Yes, I think you do,’ he agreed.
    ‘I…I couldn’t work here until other things were working smoothly. I don’t want to bore you with all my difficulties. You’ve been very kind and patient.’ She sipped her coffee pensively, staring out into the rain-slicked street, having the sense that they were enclosed in a little world of their own, from which she did not wish to extricate herself.
    ‘You don’t bore me, Deirdre,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve enjoyed showing you around. Will you have dinner with me again some time soon?’
    ‘I…well…’ she said, her heart beating more quickly. More than anything she wanted to have dinner with him. In fact, she clung to the possibility that she would be able to see him again. But she couldn’t do it. ‘I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to go out to dinner with a married man. You see, I’m too susceptible to…um…your attention, and I might make a fool of myself.’
    Surprising her, he flung back his head and laughed. ‘I wish you would make a fool of yourself with me, Deirdre of the Sorrows,’ he said. ‘As for being married, I’m not. I was married once, now I’m divorced. I’m not proud of that. My wife left me. She’s nowliving with a sheep farmer in New Zealand. She met him over here while she was working as a physiotherapist and he was on holiday from the sheep. He had an accident in his car, touring the back country, and as a consequence of that he eventually met my wife in the course of his treatment. I guess she went for his rugged masculinity, not to mention the time and attention that he paid her.’
    This time it was her turn to laugh, such was her relief and the comic nature of his description. ‘I shouldn’t laugh,’ she apologized. ‘Do you mind—about the divorce, I mean?’
    ‘I minded at the time, particularly for my son. Now I don’t. I have custody of Mark. Sometimes he misses his mother,’ he said, a new note of regret coming into his voice.
    ‘It’s sad,’ she said.
    ‘It was my fault,’ he said. ‘I suppose one could describe me as having been a workaholic…not an easy thing for a