Taking Risks by Sharon Kendrick

Author:Sharon Kendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Forever
Published: 2011-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

Verity snapped her seat belt into position and stared fixedly ahead while Benedict started up the engine, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering-wheel.

‘Why on earth did you have to tell her?’ she demanded as the powerful car ate up the miles.

His breath came thick and fast, his heart a painful hammering in his chest as he tried to control his temper. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me,’ he retorted, ‘that I had a daughter?’

‘There was no reason to—Benedict!’ she screamed as the car swerved to the left and he brought the car to a halt, only narrowly missing mounting the kerb. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘Avoiding an addition to the orthopaedic surgeon’s morning list,’ he snapped as he began winding the window down and beckoning to a terrified-looking teenager on a bicycle. ‘Come here,’ Benedict instructed quietly and, when the sheepish-looking youth had complied, subjected him to a lengthy reprimand that left the teenager thoroughly chastened. Verity knew with an unswerving certainty that he would never ride his bike without due care and attention on a busy highway again.

‘And wear a blasted helmet in future!’ was Benedict’s parting comment.

‘Y-yes, sir,’ stammered the teenager, and rather obsessively checked both ways for traffic before he rode off.

When Benedict started the car up again a new tension crackled in the air.

Verity ran a distracted hand back through her thick blonde hair—unusually tousled and unruly this morning because she had had to dress in such a hurry and share her bathroom. There was so much to say that it was impossible to know where to start. And whatever she might feel inside, there was simply no good to be had from fighting with him. ‘Benedict, listen—’ she began tentatively.

‘I’m listening to nothing!’ he retorted savagely. ‘I have a list to operate on and you’ve made me uptight enough already—’

‘I’ve made you uptight?’ she queried disbelievingly.

‘That’s what I said,’ he growled. ‘There’s a sick neonate in Special Care after last night’s Caesar; additional problems I can do without.’

‘Like me scrubbing for you?’ she challenged, her heart contracting as she anticipated him saying that he could not work alongside her. Then she would be relegated to somewhere well out of his way, no doubt, put in with the general surgeon or the orthopod or, even worse, the day cases in minor ops.

He smoothly moved down into a lower gear. ‘I wouldn’t dream of changing that,’ he answered coolly. ‘You’re excellent at your job and that’s all I care about in Theatre.’

‘And out of Theatre? What there?’

His mouth tightened. ‘I presume you’re referring to my daughter?’

Her heart contracted again, painfully this time, at the proprietorial way in which he referred to Sammi. ‘You know I am,’ she answered quietly.

‘As I’ve already told you, I don’t intend discussing the subject on a car ride into work,’ he told her heatedly. ‘That’s the sort of thing that causes accidents.’

They were approaching the main road that led to the hospital and already Verity had seen a couple of people she knew.

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