I have especially enjoyed writing these two stories, because the first is set in summer and itâs rather lovely to watch as Emilyâs little holiday break becomes rather more complicatedâthanks to the very charming, very blond Hugh.
Then I got to take myself straight into winter and a lovely English Christmas, with Louise determined to enjoy it this year. Sheâs rather cheeky, very flirty, and absolutely the last thing that brooding, incredibly sexy Anton needs right now.
Ho, ho, ho!
And in the midst of all that along came Alex and Jennifer, tap-dancing across the stage as I tried to writeâmore about them later!
I love my job!
Happy reading
Carol x
HUGH LINTON CAME with a warning attached.
Emily hadnât even put on her scrubs for her first shift as theatre nurse at The Royalâa busy London hospitalâbefore being told by Louise, one of the other nurses, that the surgical registrar who was operating this Monday morning was, by anyoneâs standards, a heartbreaker.
âIs Candy very upset?â Louise asked a colleague as she tucked her long blonde hair into her hat.
âWhat do you think?â came the response. âI just saw her in the canteen, crying her eyes out with a little crowd gathered!â She smiled at Emily. âIâm Annie.â
âHi, Annie,â Emily said, but Annie was already back talking to Louise.
âMind you,â Annie continued, âI donât get why sheâs carrying on so muchâsurely everyone should know that if you go into any sort of a relationship with Hugh itâs going to be fleeting at best, heartbreak at worst.â
âWatch yourself.â Louise winked at Emily.
âNo need to,â Emily said, âbecause he shanât be breaking mine!â But though she had laughed as sheâd said it, in fact she wasnât joking.
Emily loathed anything remotely fleeting and no one would get close enough to break her heart. She had decided that many, many years ago.
Still, she was somewhat sideswiped by Hugh Lintonâs exceedingly good looks because when he first walked into the operating theatre Emily found out first-hand what the word âpresenceâ meant.
He was very tall and his hair was as blond as Emilyâs was dark. He had the greenest eyes that she had ever seen and his voice was deep and clear, the type who rarely needed to repeat themselves. His smile, as he chatted with Louise and then caught Emilyâs eye, did make a slight blush spread across Emilyâs cheeks and confirmed what she already knewâHugh Linton was far from her ideal man!
âMorning, everyone!â Alex, the senior consultant, came in, having just been in to have a last word with the patient before surgery. âItâs going to be a long one,â he warned as he went off to scrub.
The operation was for the removal of an abdominal tumour in a twenty-six-year-old man. It was a complex tumour and before the operation commenced and the patient was brought in, Alex explained why he was doing open surgery as opposed to keyhole, which was his speciality. Then there was time for a little chat.
âIâve already heard about your weekend, Hugh,â Alex said, as he was helped into his gown and gloves. âIâve heard about it from several sources, in fact, and so I donât need to hear it again.â
Hugh just grinned.
All joking was cast aside, however, when the patient was opened up and the tumour was found to be worse than Alex had been expecting.
Emily was, this morning, the circulation nurse, a part of which meant ensuring the operating field was uncontaminated as well as accounting for equipment. Emily loved most roles in Theatre but circulation or scrub nurse were her two favourites and today it was nice to watch how the surgeons worked from a distance, so she could know their nuances when she scrubbed in.