Playing the Playboy's Sweetheart

‘Hugh.’ She let out a breath. ‘I don’t know …’ She changed tack. ‘It’s just …’ How could she deny the want that thrummed between them? For Emily there was but one thing left to do so she came up with a rapid lie. ‘I’m seeing someone.’

‘Oh.’

‘Gregory.’

‘It’s fine, I get it …’ Though he didn’t. Poor Gregory, Hugh thought as he reclaimed his hand, because five minutes from now he’d have had her knickers off.

‘He’s in Scotland, so we don’t see each other as much as—’

‘You really don’t need to explain.’

And so the phantom Gregory was born.

When her father and Donna broke up in the New Year it was to Gregory she turned, rather than Hugh, though they did touch on it once, because Hugh came into the staffroom when Emily was on the phone.

‘Donna, I get it that you have issues with my father but I don’t understand what that has to do with me. If you don’t want to see me that’s fine but can I just take the twins to the park or for an ice cream every now and then …?’ She turned in her chair and saw that Hugh had come in just as Donna told her that, no, she’d prefer Emily didn’t have extra contact with the twins—she could see them when her father bothered to.

‘Is she not letting you see the twins?’ Hugh asked when she came off the phone.

‘I can see them when they’re with my dad, which isn’t very often. I asked if I could take them out at the weekend but it unsettles them apparently.’

‘Can she do that?’

‘Of course she can.’ Emily stood and went to walk past but Hugh caught her arm.

‘Emily?’

‘What?’

‘Do you want …?’ Hugh didn’t really know what he was offering.

Emily did.

Yes, she did want.

She wanted to burst into tears, she wanted him to take her out and not cheer her up, just share …

She wanted to share with him.

Emily looked down at the fingers that still held her wrist.

Oh, he could hurt her, Emily thought, and then looked up to his eyes. He could really, really hurt her.

‘I’ll sort it out,’ Emily said. ‘Gregory is going to try and speak with her.’

At the mention of Gregory his hand disengaged from her arm.

For the next three months, every time Emily went to visit her mother Hugh was brought up to speed through vague conversations. However, just as he was starting to wonder about the fact that Gregory never seemed to come down to London, Emily actually found her perfect guy for real, so Gregory was swiftly dumped.

Marcus was perfect.

Dark haired, terribly serious, he was a social worker at the hospital and liked to hike at weekends. Sex happened on Saturdays, occasional Tuesdays, and Emily developed solid calf muscles from trips up hillsides.

It was perfect for close to two years when the breaking news arrow shot across the hospital grapevine that Marcus had been found in a compromising position in the X-ray department with Heidi, the Swedish radiographer.

Hugh, now a senior registrar and going out with Olivia by then, expected tears in the staffroom, blushes and drama—the usual type of thing that happened with a very public break-up. With Emily that didn’t happen, though …

Oh, she was a curious thing.

Emily just shrugged it off and got on with work.

The very next Monday they stood in Theatre and Emily glanced up as the alarm went off on the cardiac monitor when the anaesthetised patient kicked off a few ectopic heartbeats.

‘All fine,’ Rory, the anaesthetist, called as the patient’s heart steadied back into a regular rhythm.

There were no flashing lights, no drama—it was hardly an event really.

And that was just how Emily liked things.

It was how she kept control.

CHAPTER ONE

‘I DON’T WANT to work there.’

It was, for Emily, as simple as that.

She and Hugh had been working together for close to three years now and often caught up on a Monday. Now, in their lunch break, they sat in the staffroom at their favourite table, putting the world to rights.

‘I think you’d be very good in Accident and Emergency,’ Hugh said. ‘Anyway, it’s only for three months.’

‘Well, why don’t you go and work in Labour and Delivery for three months and then get back to me with that statement.’

‘Fair point,’ Hugh conceded.

‘I’m going to speak to Miriam today and see if there’s any way I can get out of doing it.’

Miriam, the head of Critical Nursing, had, last year, decided to rotate the staff on the units. Emily had reluctantly done a three-month stint in ICU and had thought that would be the end of it, but Miriam had decided to press on with internally rotating the staff. Emily had been told that in June she would be commencing a term in Accident and Emergency.

Theatre was Emily’s stomping ground. The thought of working in Emergency was unsettling—the drama of it, the emotion, the constant loaning out of your heart if you chose to empathise, or the burn-out that left you a tough bitch. Emily couldn’t decide what was worse. She had no intention of revealing to Hugh the real reasons she was so opposed to the idea, so instead she changed the subject.

‘So, is it true?’ Hugh didn’t reply to her question but Emily pushed on. ‘Have you and Olivia broken up?’

‘Yep.’

‘I thought you two were happy.’

‘We were,’ Hugh said. ‘When we were together.’

‘What do you mean?’

It was Hugh who sat silent for a moment now. He and Olivia had been happy. Everyone had said how suited they were and, yes, their relationship had ticked most boxes.

Two boxes had been missing, though.

Olivia’s jealousy and trust issues were one and as for the other …

He looked across the table to where Emily was peeling open her croissant and sprinkling more black pepper onto the cheese and tomato that filled it. She loved black pepper—there were always a couple of sachets in the pocket of her scrubs.

He knew a lot more about her than he had three years ago.

Just not enough.

‘I don’t know how to explain it, Em,’ Hugh admitted. ‘I don’t know why Olivia felt that every time I was late home or out on a work do that there had to be more to it …’

‘You do have a reputation,’ Emily pointed out. As much as she liked catching up with Hugh, she loathed hearing about his life, his girlfriends, the wild parties and frequent holidays and weekends away.

Mondays were sometimes torture.

In fact, sometimes Emily dreaded them.

‘Perhaps I do have a reputation around the hospital but I’ve never cheated when I’m seeing someone …’ Hugh chose to go back a few years and watched a dull blush spread on her neck. ‘If I am then I wouldn’t so much as kiss another person.’

‘Well …’ Emily flustered a little. It was far too late, all these years on, to tell him there had never been a Gregory. It was far safer not to—that little black mark against her name was one she would happily wear if it kept her at a distance from Hugh. ‘So what brought it to a head?’

‘There’s a conference coming up in a couple of months that Hadfield wants me to go on. I only mentioned it in passing but … The thing is, if I’m going to stand any chance of getting the consultancy then I really ought to go and concentrate—but Olivia seemed to think it was a good chance to have a couple of days’ holiday, then she couldn’t fathom why I might not want her to go with me …’ His green eyes met Emily’s. ‘If I do get the consultancy position, things are only going to get busier for me. Call me selfish but I want to focus on my career and that means I can’t be checking in every five minutes and reassuring someone that I’m behaving …’ Hugh shook his head. ‘Am I unreasonable?’

‘No.’ Emily fully agreed and she genuinely meant her words. She had long ago learnt from her parents that a million phone calls and texts meant little. ‘If someone’s going to cheat, they will.’

Hugh rolled his eyes. ‘The point is, Em, I don’t cheat. More to the point right now, Alex is pretty angry that I’ve broken up with Olivia and I want that promotion.’ Hugh brooded for a moment. ‘I got turned down last year.’

‘Ouch,’ Emily said.

‘I get it that I perhaps wasn’t ready then but I am ready now.’

‘He can’t judge whether or not you get the role on that.’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t admit to it, but he’s of the opinion that behind every great surgeon is a stable home life …’ Hugh rolled his eyes and Emily laughed. ‘I want that role,’ Hugh said. Alex was a professor now and a consultancy position had officially opened up and Hugh could think of no one that he wanted to work alongside more. Alex was an amazing mentor. His technique and studies into laparoscopic surgery were right at the front of the game and every hour of every day Alex taught him something new.

‘Behave for a few months, then!’ Emily said. ‘It really isn’t that difficult.’

‘Oh, but it is when you find yourself suddenly single.’ Hugh drained his cup and then headed back to work. Emily sat alone for a while, pondering a suddenly single Hugh.

It was the time she loathed him most.

Or rather the time she loathed most.

Hugh worked hard and partied the same way. If she didn’t have to hear it on Monday in Theatre then it was all over bloody Facebook.

She had the next hour at the computer to work on the off-duty roster then she was down to scrub for Alex, but instead of heading to tackle the roster Emily looked over at Miriam, who was just heading out of the staffroom.

Instead of rinsing her cup and plate, Emily put them in the sink and caught up with her. ‘Miriam, I wondered if I could have a word.’

‘Now?’ Miriam checked, and Emily nodded.

This needed to be done.

They stepped into Miriam’s office and Emily took a seat as Miriam gave her a thin smile. ‘I can guess what this is about. I know that you’re not keen to go to A and E.’

‘Because I’m happy here,’ Emily said.

‘Emily, rotating the critical care staff has proved a success. Handovers are smoother, we’re all more aware of the other departments’ procedures …’

‘I understand that,’ Emily said, ‘but I chose to be a theatre nurse.’

‘And you’re a very good one,’ Miriam said. ‘One who I hope will go far …’ She left the rest unsaid but to Emily it was clear that if she wanted to go further in her career here, which she did, then she would have to comply. ‘It’s a couple of months away,’ Miriam added. ‘There’s plenty of time to get used to the idea.’

Emily didn’t want to get used to the idea, she liked being used to here!

‘Any luck with Miriam?’ Hugh asked at the end of the day as Emily came out of the changing room dressed for the outside world. Hugh was looking pretty drained—he’d been operating since eight a.m. and now would be heading up to the wards to check on his post-operative patients.

‘Nope.’ Emily’s jaw tensed and she let out a tense breath. ‘If I want to get on—’

‘Ha,’ Hugh interrupted. ‘Don’t complain about that to me—at least you don’t have Alex as your boss. I need a wife if I want to get on.’

‘When we’re in charge we’ll change the world,’ Emily said as they walked together. Hugh was heading up to ICU, Emily for home, and it felt like a long time till next Monday for Hugh.

Hugh was possibly the one person who did like Mondays. Sure, he and Emily caught up during the week at various times but Monday was Alex’s rostered operating day and on the days that Emily wasn’t there he missed her.

Yes, Hugh wanted to finally move things on between them and give this almost romance its wings. He wanted a nice table between them and a waiter whose arm would probably drop off as he cracked enough pepper to satisfy Emily.

Okay, Hugh decided as they walked down the long corridor, whatever happened, he would not let it affect their friendship.

‘You do realise,’ Hugh said as they reached the swing doors that would take them out of Theatre and to their separate destinations, ‘that this is the first time in three years that we’ve both been single at the same time.’

Nice opening! Hugh was just silently congratulating himself when Emily delivered her response.

‘Well, I don’t know about you but I’m staying that way,’ Emily said, shutting down the conversation as firmly as the black doors swung closed behind them. ‘’Night, Hugh, it was nice working with you today.’

Was he missing something?

Hugh just watched as she walked off.

Did he have body odour that only Emily could smell?

They liked each other!

They fancied each other!

He could taste it.

If only she’d let him.

‘Problem?’ Alex asked, as he came out and saw his junior standing with a puzzled frown on his face.

‘More a mystery,’ Hugh said. ‘One I intend to work out.’

He couldn’t, though.

It would seem Emily was serious about staying single and for two whole months she did just that.

Till Hugh decided they might need a little helping hand.

CHAPTER TWO

‘ARE YOU COMING to Emily’s leaving do on Friday?’ Louise asked Hugh, and Emily rather hoped the answer would be no—a meal at Imelda’s and a few drinks afterwards would probably be a bit tame for Hugh.

‘Can we do the swab count before I start to close?’ Hugh said, instead of answering.

Nothing distracted him, Emily noted.

It was the mark of a brilliant surgeon.

Hugh chatted and joked but when it mattered he concentrated totally. As boring as the swab count and equipment check might be, it was necessary to ensure that nothing was left inside the patient before the surgeon closed, and Hugh took it seriously.

The counts all tallied.

‘It isn’t Emily’s leaving do,’ Hugh said, as he started to close the incision. ‘She’s only going to be working in A and E for three months but, yes, I’ll be there. Actually, Alex and his wife are coming too, if they can get a babysitter.’

‘It’s just a few drinks …’ Emily frowned because why the hell was Alex coming, let alone his wife? ‘As you said, it’s not even a leaving do.’

Except, unbeknown to anyone but Emily, it very possibly was her leaving do.

Emily hadn’t yet handed in her notice but next Wednesday she was going to Cornwall for a week and had decided if, after a break, she still felt the same way about working in A and E, then that was what she would do.

‘You’re going to be missed,’ Hugh said. Emily saw his lovely green eyes over the mask and, yes, he was speaking the truth both personally and professionally. Emily was efficient, incredibly efficient, some might say pedantic and others set in her ways, but Theatre worked well with pedantic nurses. ‘Mondays won’t be the same.’

‘Actually, they shall, for a little while at least,’ Emily said. ‘I’m back working here on Monday as an extra shift—they haven’t found my replacement yet. The nurse who was coming here from A and E resigned.’

‘When do you go on holiday?’ Louise asked.

‘Next Wednesday,’ Emily answered. ‘A whole week of doing nothing but walking and reading. I can’t wait.’

‘There’s some nice weather predicted …’ Louise smiled.

‘Which means it will rain!’ Hugh’s comment was dry.

‘I don’t care,’ Emily said. ‘I just want to read and walk on the beach and relax.’

‘Well, you’ll need it before you go to A and E,’ Louise said.

‘How are we doing, Rory?’ Hugh glanced over at the anaesthetist as a couple of alarms started to sound.

‘All good. How much longer?’

‘Done,’ Hugh said.

Yes, it was a very small world in Theatre. Emily headed to the large staffroom. She was the first there but everyone would soon come in. Rarely did anyone go to the canteen—it was too much trouble to change shoes and things. She turned and gave a brief smile as Hugh came in and she got out her lunch from the fridge but, as they sat down, instead of their usual catch-up Hugh got paged to go up to a ward.

‘Damn,’ Hugh said. ‘I wanted to talk to you.’

‘I’m sure it will keep.’

Hugh thought for a moment as he answered his page. Emily was right, it would keep and what he had to ask her would probably go better with wine!

‘Can I borrow you for ten minutes on Friday night?’

‘Borrow me?’

‘Well, I know you’ll be busy but there’s something that I want to ask you away from everyone else.’

‘Like what?’

‘Not here.’

‘Have you got another rash?’ Emily smirked.

‘Ha-ha.’

They both smiled as they remembered the day when Hugh, for once, had struggled to focus. Emily had been scrub nurse and had frowned as a usually together Hugh had breathed loudly beside her, sweat beading on his forehead as he kept moving from one foot to the other. The second the operation had been over he had fled and, walking past the male changing rooms on the way to the staffroom, Emily had seen his frantic face peer out.

‘Emily …’ he’d hissed. ‘I need some antihistamine.’

‘What?’

‘Now. IM …’

‘An injection?’

Hugh let the towel slip a fraction and Emily’s eyes widened at the sight of the angry red welts and urticarial rash spreading down his buttocks.

‘Believe me, Emily, that’s not the worst of it …’

‘I don’t want to see the rest.’

Oh, my!

Emily had returned with the injection and some hydrocortisone cream for Hugh to put on himself and had happily stabbed him.

‘Maybe it was the shaving cream …’

She didn’t want to know that he’d shaved, or that she, whoever she was this week, had shaved him. Emily was tired of the glimpses into his love life.

‘Have you changed your washing powder?’ Emily asked instead.

‘No.’ Hugh shook his head and thought for a moment. ‘Though I did buy the liquid one.’

As it turned out, he had bought the triple-strength liquid one!

Happily, his reaction had calmed and the theatre list had gone ahead, Emily trying and failing not to dwell on the fact that he was naked and bald beneath his scrubs.

‘What will I do without you?’ Hugh asked, still smiling as he recalled that day.

‘Inject your own antihistamine!’

‘That was a long time ago, Emily.’

Yet she remembered it like it was yesterday.

The hurt, the jealousy, the itch of her own that she simply refused to scratch.

‘If I don’t catch up with you properly,’ Hugh said, ‘then I’ll see you Friday.’

‘Okay.’

Friday found her in the staff changing room, getting ready to go to Imelda’s, a nice casual bar that did amazing food and, on weekends, had a band.

Emily was tired before the night had even started but, given it was her leaving do, she did her best not to show it.

Louise and she changed at work. Emily into a tube skirt and top, Louise into the tightest red dress and high heels. They were close friends now.

Louise looked stunning, especially when she topped it off with dark red lipstick.

‘Tart,’ Emily said.

‘A happy tart, though.’ Louise smiled.

‘Are you?’ Emily checked. Louise was coming out of a terrible break up and had been very subdued but finally she seemed to be finding herself again.

‘I’m getting there,’ Louise said. ‘Come on.’

They walked out of Theatre and down the corridor and there, coming towards them, was Anton, the new Italian obstetrician who had hearts thumping everywhere.

‘Hi, Anton.’ Louise smiled.

‘Evening.’

‘We’re heading over to Imelda’s—there will be quite a few of us.’ Louise gave a smile that could be described as sweet were it not for the wanton red lips, but it was barely returned.

‘I’m working,’ Anton said, and strode off.

‘You’re subtle,’ Emily commented.

‘He’s fresh off the plane,’ Louise said. ‘I was just doing my social duty. God, don’t you want to just grab him by the stethoscope and climb up it?’

‘No.’ Emily laughed. ‘Not in the least, he’s far too moody for me.’

They had booked a room at the back of the restaurant and it was actually really nice to be among friends and colleagues. Hugh hadn’t arrived but that was possibly a good thing as Emily didn’t really want to meet whomever it was that he was dating now.

Surely he was seeing someone.

Two months single for Hugh would be a record.

Or maybe he was just enjoying the off-season and sleeping around, though, for once, Emily had heard nothing on the grapevine about him.

Emily sat between Louise and Alex’s wife Jennifer and, as it turned out, Louise had news of her own.

‘It will be my leaving do next,’ Louise said.

‘You’ve just done your internal rotation.’ Emily frowned.

‘No, mine will be for real.’ Louise’s blue eyes were shining. ‘I’m going to work in Maternity.’

‘When did you decide that?’

‘It’s been brewing for a while,’ Louise admitted. ‘I can’t wait to get back there.’

‘It wouldn’t have anything to do with Anton?’ Emily teased.

‘God, no! I’m not that shallow,’ Louise said, because despite walking a little on the wild side she took her work seriously. ‘I’m just ready for a change. I love the Caesareans we have in Theatre and lately it’s just not been enough for me. I want to be more involved with the mothers and babies.’ She smiled at Emily. ‘You like the cool of Theatre, don’t you?’

‘I do,’ Emily said.

‘I just want back out there …’ Louise admitted.

‘Have you told Miriam?’

‘Not yet.’ Louise winced at the very thought. ‘I haven’t actually applied for a position yet, I’m just putting out feelers, but I don’t think Miriam will be very pleased—a lot of staff have left recently.’

‘Well, she should have thought of that before she moved the goalposts for getting a promotion,’ Emily said, but as Louise went to open her mouth to respond she stopped her. ‘If another person tells me I’ll be great and that it will fly by, I won’t be responsible for my response.’

‘I’ll say nothing, then.’ Louise smiled. ‘I’ll get you a drink instead.’

Hugh arrived just as dessert was being served. Emily was sitting chatting to Alex and Jennifer when Hugh came over. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, which was a bit uncalled for, but, yes, at the time Emily put it down to the fact that it was her leaving do.

‘Sorry, I tried to get here earlier …’ Hugh said.

‘It’s fine.’

‘I got stuck up on ICU …’

‘Really, Hugh, it’s fine,’ Emily said. She had no idea why he was making such a fuss about not getting here on time—a lot of her colleagues were only dropping in for a drink after all.

‘I’ll get you a drink,’ Hugh offered.

‘I don’t want one …’ Emily said, only Hugh wasn’t listening. He headed off to the bar and returned with something very icy and bubbly and so not what Emily wanted. She’d had a bit too much icy and bubbly and she wasn’t a big drinker at the best of times but everyone seemed determined to buy her one tonight.

‘You’ll be dancing on the tables in a few weeks,’ Hugh said, squeezing a chair into the tiny gap between herself and Louise.

‘Why?’

‘I’m here tomorrow night with the emergency mob for Gina’s thirtieth—believe me, the theatre staff’s nights outs are very civilised in comparison to that lot.’

Emily went over to speak with Connor, another theatre nurse, but Hugh was like an annoying wasp and hanging around her like some lovesick teenager. Frankly, he was starting to really annoy her.

‘What?’ Emily snapped, when still Hugh hovered. ‘What’s going on, Hugh?’

‘Can I have that ten minutes now?’

‘Fine,’ Emily sighed, and turned to him.

‘Outside.’

‘Hugh, it’s my leaving do, I’m not going to—’

‘Ten minutes.’

Emily headed outside.

‘I want to ask you something. You know what I said about us still being single—do you want to give us a try?’

Emily was taken aback by his directness.

‘No.’

‘Can I ask why?’