âJUST why,â Alyssa asked the emergency department charge nurse, âwould I want to win a night out with Sebastian Radley?â
âThe real question is, why wouldnât you? Hmm, I think thereâs something wrong here.â Tracey took Alyssaâs hand and checked her pulse while looking at her watch. âWell, youâre definitely alive, and your pulse is normal.â She made a show of taking Alyssaâs temperature. âNo, thatâs normal, tooâso it canât be delirium.â
âOh, stop it.â But Alyssa couldnât help laughing.
âHow about temporary insanity?â Tracey suggested.
More like Alyssa would be insane to want to go out with Seb. âNo. But Iâll give you a donation for the fundraiser anyway.â Alyssa turned the key in her locker, fished out her purse, and took out some money. âHere. Itâs for a good cause.â
Tracey raised an eyebrow. âThatâs enough for three tickets.â
Alyssa shook her head. âI donât want any, thanks.â
âBut, Alyssa, why not? I mean, the whole reason weâre selling tickets is to give everyone an equal chance of winning. If weâd done it as an auction, only the super-rich would be able to keep up in the bidding.â
Alyssa understood that. But there was one big flaw in Traceyâs plan. âMaybe some women donât want to win a night out with Seb.â Alyssa certainly didnât.
âWhy? Heâs charming, heâs witty, heâs TDH.â
Alyssa looked blankly at Tracey.
Tracey rolled her eyes. âTall, dark and handsome. Honestly. Donât you read the Lonely Hearts columns?â
âIâm not that desperate,â Alyssa said dryly.
Tracey winced. âI didnât mean it like that. I mean, we all look through them and wonder andâ¦Oh, forget it.â She waved a hand dismissively. âI know Iâm digging myself into a deeper hole here. Seriously, a night out with Seb is worth winning. He knows how to show a woman a good time.â
âOnly because heâs had plenty of practice.â Alyssa raised an eyebrow. âIn the six months heâs been at the Docklands Memorial, he must have dated every single woman in the hospital under the age of thirty-five.â
âMaybe heâs just looking for the right one,â Tracey suggested.
âMaybe heâs the male equivalent of a right tart.â And Alyssa definitely wasnât interested in someone like him. Sheâd already learned that lesson the hard way, with Scott Cooper.
Tracey whistled. âYou really donât like him, do you?â
âAs a doctor, heâs fine.â Thorough, decisive, charming enough to reassure their patients yet at the same time managing to remain detached. Alyssa admired that. It was the way she worked, too. âBut as a dateâ¦no, thanks. Heâs not my type.â
âSo what is your type, Alyssa?â Tracey asked. âI canât remember you ever going on a date in the three years youâve worked here.â
Alyssa damped down the stream of impulsesâto tell Tracey to mind her own business, to claim that she was gay, to say that she was looking for someone special and would know when she met the right oneâ¦Ah, it wasnât fair to take out her bad mood on the charge nurse. Tracey meant well. But the truth was embarrassing, and Alyssa didnât want any gossip about herself doing the rounds. Nobody at the Docklands Memorial Hospital knew about the mistake sheâd made, and she intended to keep it that way.
And she didnât repeat her mistakes. Ever.
Sebastian Radley might be charming, handsome and wittyâand, yes, sheâd admit that he was the sexiest man sheâd ever met, with those slate-blue eyes and a mouth that was just designed for sinâbut he was a walking disaster where relationships were concerned. Which made him a man to be avoided in her book.
âHey, Iâm a busy medic. I donât have time to date,â Alyssa said lightly. She took a note from her purse. âHere you go. More hush money. Is that enough to stop you nagging me?â
âHmm,â Tracey said, and smiled. âThanks for supporting the fundraiser, anyway.â
And as Alyssa walked away, Tracey filled the registrarâs name neatly in on three ticket stubs. Alyssa Ward. Their registrar worked far too hard, in Traceyâs opinion, and needed to let her hair down. And Seb was just the man to help her do that.
Their consultant, on the other hand, needed to be a bit more serious, to realise that life wasnât just party after party. And Alyssa was just the woman to help him see that.
In fact, Tracey thought, this fundraiser could fix a few problems. All she had to do now was have a little chat with Vicky Radley, Sebâs sister, who was joint co-ordinator of the fundraiser. If Tracey could get Vicky on her side, then the Docklands Memorial Hospital was just about to become a much more interestingâand much happierâplace.
âThis was a really, really stupid idea,â Seb informed his sister. âRemind me again. Why did I agree to do this?â