CAROL MARINELLI - Special Deliveries - Wanted - A Daddy - Dr. Dark and Far Too Delicious / Royal Rescue / Father by Choice

‘Yes.’ Jasmine gave a tight smile and concentrated on her cheese sandwich, deciding that in future she would have lunch in the canteen.

‘Well, it’s good that you’ve got them to support you,’ Vanessa rattled on, and Jasmine didn’t even need to look at Penny to see that she wasn’t paying any attention. Her sister was busy catching up on notes during her break. Penny simply didn’t stop working, wherever she was. Penny had always been driven, though there had been one brief period where she’d softened a touch. She’d dated for a couple of years and had been engaged, but that had ended abruptly and since then all it had been was work, work, work.

Which was why Penny had got as far as she had, Jasmine knew, but sometimes, more than sometimes, she wished her sister would just slow down.

Thankfully the conversation shifted back to Vanessa’s son, Liam—and she told Jasmine that she was on her own, too. Jasmine would have quite enjoyed learning all about her colleagues under normal circumstances but for some reason she was finding it hard to relax today.

And she knew it was because of Jed.

God, she so did not want to notice him, didn’t want to be aware of him in any way other than as a colleague. She had enough going on in her life right now, but when Jed stood and stretched and yawned, she knew what that stomach looked like beneath the less than well-ironed shirt, knew just how nice he could be, even if he was ignoring her now. He opened his eyes and caught her looking at him and he almost frowned at her. As he looked away Jasmine found that her cheeks were on fire, but thankfully Vanessa broke the uncomfortable moment.

‘Did you get called in last night?’ Vanessa asked him.

‘Nope,’ Jed answered. ‘Didn’t sleep.’

Jed headed back out to the department and carried on. As a doctor he was more than used to working while he was tired but it was still an effort and at three-thirty Jed made a cup of strong coffee and took it back to the department with him, wishing he could just go home and crash, annoyed with himself over his sleepless night.

He’d had a phone call at eleven-thirty the previous night and, assuming it was work, had answered it without thinking.

Only to be met by silence.

He’d hung up and checked the number and had seen that it was private.

And then the phone had rung again.

‘Jed Devlin.’ He had listened to the silence and then hung up again and stared at the phone for a full ten minutes, waiting for it to ring again.

It had.

‘Jed!’ He heard the sound of laughter and partying and then the voice of Rick, an ex-colleague he had trained with. ‘Jed, is that you?’

‘Speaking.’

‘Sorry, I’ve been trying to get through.’

‘Where are you?’

‘Singapore … What time is it there?’

‘Coming up for midnight.’

‘Sorry about that. I just found out that you moved to Melbourne.’

He had laughed and chatted and caught up with an old friend and it was nice to chat and find out what was going on in his friend’s life and to congratulate him on the birth of his son, but twenty minutes later his heart was still thumping.

Two hours later he still wasn’t asleep.

By four a.m. Jed realised that even if the past was over with, he himself wasn’t.

And most disconcerting for Jed was the new nurse that had started today.

He had found it easy to stick to his self-imposed rule. He really wasn’t interested in anyone at work and just distanced himself from all the fun and conversations that were so much a part of working in an emergency department.

Except he had noticed Jasmine.

From the second he’d seen her standing talking to Penny, all flustered and red-cheeked, her dark curls bobbing, and her blue eyes had turned to him, he’d noticed her in a way he’d tried very hard not to. When he’d heard she was applying for a job in Emergency, his guard had shot up, but he had felt immediate relief when he’d heard someone call her Mrs Phillips.

It had sounded pretty safe to him.

There had been no harm in being friendly, no chance of anything being misconstrued, because if she was a Mrs then he definitely wasn’t interested, which meant there was nothing to worry about.

But it would seem now that there was.

‘Thanks, Jed.’ He turned to the sound of Jasmine’s voice as she walked past him with Vanessa.

‘For?’

‘Your help today, especially with Jim. I had no idea where the catheter packs were. It’s good to get through that first shift back.’

‘Well, you survived it.’ He gave a very brief nod and turned back to his work.

‘More importantly, the patients did!’ Jasmine called as she carried on walking with Vanessa.

They were both heading to the crèche, he guessed. He fought the urge to watch her walk away, not looking up until he heard the doors open and then finally snap closed.

Not that Jasmine noticed—she was more than used to moody doctors who changed like the wind. For now she was delighted that her first shift had ended and as she and Vanessa headed to the crèche, Jasmine realised she had made a friend.

‘He’s gorgeous!’ Vanessa said as Jasmine scooped up Simon. ‘He’s so blond!’

He was—blond and gorgeous, Simon had won the staff over on his first day with his happy smile and his efforts to talk.

‘This is Liam!’ Vanessa said. He was cute too, with a mop of dark curls and a good dose of ADD in the making. Jasmine stood smiling, watching as Vanessa took about ten minutes just to get two shoes on her lively toddler.

‘Thank goodness for work,’ Vanessa groaned. ‘It gives me a rest!’

‘Don’t look now,’ Vanessa said as they walked out of the crèche, ‘they’re getting something big in.’ Jed and Lisa were standing outside where police on motorbikes had gathered in the forecourt. Screens were being put up and for a moment Jasmine wondered if her first day was actually over or if they were going to be asked to put the little ones back into crèche.

‘Go.’ Lisa grinned as Vanessa checked what was happening. ‘The screens are for the press—we have ourselves a celebrity arriving.’

‘Who?’ Vanessa asked.

‘Watch the news.’ Lisa winked. ‘Go on, shoo …’

‘Oh,’ Jasmine grumbled, because she really wanted to know. She glanced at Jed, who looked totally bored with the proceedings, and there was really no chance of a sophisticated effort because Simon was bouncing up and down with excitement at the sight of police cars and Liam was making loud siren noises. ‘I guess I’ll have to tune in at six to find out.’

And that was the stupid thing about Emergency, Jasmine remembered.

You couldn’t wait for the shift to finish—even today, as much as she’d enjoyed her shift, as soon as lunchtime had ended, she had been counting the minutes, desperate to get to the crèche and pick up Simon.

Except that the second she had finished her shift, she wanted to go back.

‘I’ve missed it,’ she told Vanessa as they walked to the car park. ‘I was looking at a job in MRI, but I really do like working in Emergency.’

‘I’m the same,’ Vanessa admitted. ‘I couldn’t work anywhere else.’

‘The late shifts are going to be the killer, though,’ Jasmine groaned, ‘and I don’t even want to think about nights.’

‘You’ll work it out.’ Vanessa said. ‘I’ve got a lovely babysitter: Ruby. She’s studying childcare, she goes to my church and she’s always looking for work. And if she can deal with Liam she can more than handle Simon. She’s got really strict parents so she loves spending evenings and sometimes nights at my place.’ She gave Jasmine a nudge. ‘Though I do believe her boyfriend might pop over at times. Just to study, of course …’