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

But, like Penny, he got the job done.

Jasmine spoke reassuringly to Jim all the time and with oxygen on, a massive dose of diuretics and the calming effect of the morphine their patient’s oxygen sats were slowly climbing and his skin was becoming pink. The terrified grip on Jasmine’s hand loosened.

Lisa was as good as her word and popped in and out. Insisting she was done with her ovaries, she put on a lead gown and shooed them out for a moment and they stepped outside for the X-ray.

Strained was the silence and reluctantly almost, as if he was forcing himself to be polite, Jed turned his face towards her as they waited for the all-clear to go back inside. ‘Enjoying your first day?’

‘Actually, yes!’ She was surprised at the enthusiasm in her answer as she’d been dreading starting work and leaving Simon, and worried that her scrambled brain wasn’t up to a demanding job. Yet, less than an hour into her first shift, Jasmine was realising how much she’d missed it, how much she had actually loved her work.

‘Told you it wouldn’t take long.’

‘Yes, well, I’m only two patients in.’ She frowned as he looked up, not into her eyes but at her hair. ‘The hairdresser cut too much off.’

‘No, no.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s white.’

‘Oh.’ She shook it and a little puff of plaster dust blew into the air. ‘Plaster dust.’ She shook it some more, moaning at how she always ended up messy, and he sort of changed his smile to a stern nod as the red light flashed and then the radiographer called that they could go back inside.

‘You’re looking better.’ Jasmine smiled at her patient because now the emergency was over, she could make him a touch more comfortable. The morphine had kicked in and his catheter bag was full as the fluid that had been suffocating him was starting to move from his chest. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I can breathe,’ Jim said, and grabbed her hand, still worried. ‘Can my wife come in? She must’ve been terrified.’

‘I’m going to go and speak to her now,’ Jed said, ‘and then I’ll ring the medics to come and take over your care. You’re doing well.’ He looked at Jasmine. ‘Can you stay with him while I go and speak to his wife?’

‘Sure.’

‘I thought that was it,’ Jim admitted as Jasmine placed some pillows behind him and put a blanket over the sheet that covered him. After checking his obs, she sat herself down on the hard flat resus bed beside him. ‘Libby thought so too.’

‘Your wife?’ Jasmine checked, and he nodded.

‘She couldn’t remember the number for the ambulance.’

‘It must have been very scary for her,’ Jasmine said, because though it must be terrifying to not be able to breathe, to watch someone you love suffer must have been hell. ‘She’ll be so pleased to see that you’re talking and looking so much better than when you came in.’

Libby was pleased, even though she promptly burst into tears when she saw him, and it was Jim who had to reassure her, rather than the other way around.

They were the most gorgeous couple—Libby chatted enough for both of them and told Jasmine that they were about to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, which was certainly an achievement when she herself hadn’t even managed to make it to one year.

‘I was just telling Jasmine,’ Libby said when Jed came in to check on Jim’s progress, ‘that it’s our golden wedding anniversary in a fortnight.’

‘Congratulations.’ Jed smiled.

‘The children are throwing us a surprise party,’ Libby said. ‘Well, they’re hardly children …’

‘And it’s hardly a surprise.’ Jed smiled again. ‘Are you not supposed to know about it?’

‘No,’ Libby admitted. ‘Do you think that Jim will be okay?’

‘He should be,’ Jed said. ‘For now I’m going to ring the medics and have them take over his care, but if he continues improving I would expect him to be home by the end of the week—and ready to gently celebrate by the next.’

They were such a lovely couple and Jasmine adored seeing their closeness, but more than that she really was enjoying being back at work and having her world made bigger instead of fretting about her own problems. She just loved the whole buzz of the place, in fact.

It was a nice morning, a busy morning, but the staff were really friendly and helpful—well, most of them. Penny was Penny and especially caustic when Jasmine missed a vein when she tried to insert an IV.

‘I’ll do it!’ She snapped, ‘the patient doesn’t have time for you to practise on him.’

‘Why don’t you two go to lunch?’ Lisa suggested as Jasmine bit down on her lip.

‘She has such a lovely nature!’ Vanessa nudged Jasmine as they walked round to the staffroom. ‘Honestly, pay no attention to Penny. She’s got the patience of a two-year-old and, believe me, I speak from experience when I say that they have none. How old is your son?’ She must have the seen that Jasmine was a bit taken aback by her question, as she hadn’t had time to mention Simon to Vanessa yet. ‘I saw you dropping him off at crèche this morning when I was bringing in Liam.’

‘Your two-year-old?’

‘My terrible two-year-old,’ Vanessa corrected as they went to the fridge and took out their lunches and Vanessa told her all about the behavioural problems she was having with Liam.

‘He’s completely adorable,’ Vanessa said as they walked through to the staffroom, ‘but, God, he’s hard work.’

Jed was in the staffroom and it annoyed Jasmine that she even noticed—after all, there were about ten people in there, but it was him that she noticed and he was also the reason she blushed as Vanessa’s questions became a bit more personal.

‘No.’ Jasmine answered when Vanessa none-too-subtly asked about Simon’s father—but that was nursing, especially in Emergency. Everyone knew everything about everyone’s life and not for the first time Jasmine wondered how she was supposed to keep the fact she was Penny’s sister a secret.

‘We broke up before he was born.’

‘You poor thing,’ Vanessa said, but Jasmine shook her head.

‘Best thing,’ she corrected.

‘And does he help?’ Vanessa pushed, ‘with the childcare? Now that you’re working …’

She could feel Jed was listening and she felt embarrassed. Embarrassed at the disaster her life was, but she tried not to let it show in her voice, especially as Penny had now walked in and was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.

‘No, he lives on the other side of the city. I just moved back here a few weeks ago.’

‘Your family is here?’ Vanessa checked.

‘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 …’

They both laughed.

It was nice to laugh, nice to be back at work and making friends.

Nice to sit down for dinner on the sofa, with a for-once-exhausted Simon. ‘Come on,’ Jasmine coaxed, but he wasn’t interested in the chicken and potatoes she was feeding him and in the end Jasmine gave in and warmed up his favourite ready meal in the microwave. ‘I’m not buying any more,’ Jasmine warned as he happily tucked in, but Simon just grinned.

And it was nice to turn on the news and to actually feel like you had a little finger on the pulse of the world.

She listened to the solemn voice of the newsreader telling the viewers about a celebrity who was ‘resting’ at the Peninsula after being found unconscious. She got a glimpse of Jed walking by the stretcher as it was wheeled in, holding a sheet over the unfortunate patient’s face. Then Jasmine watched as Mr Dean spoke, saying the patient was being transferred to ICU and there would be no further comment from the hospital.

It wasn’t exactly riveting, so why did she rewind the feature?

Why did she freeze the screen?

Not in the hope of a glimpse at the celebrity.

And certainly not so she could listen again to Mr Dean.

It was Jed’s face she paused on and then changed her mind.

She was finished with anything remotely male, Jasmine reminded herself, and then turned as Simon, having finished his meal and bored with the news, started bobbing up and down in front of the television.

‘Except you, little man.’

CHAPTER SIX

JED DID CONCENTRATE on work.

Absolutely.

He did his best to ignore Jasmine, or at least to speak to her as little as possible at work, and he even just nodded to her when they occasionally crossed paths at the local shop, or he would simply run past her and Simon the odd evening they were on the beach.

He was a funny little lad. He loved to toddle on the beach and build sandcastles, but Jed noticed that despite her best efforts, Jasmine could not get him into the water.

Even if he tried not to notice, Jed saw a lot as he ran along the stretch of sand—Jasmine would hold the little boy on her hip and walk slowly into the water, but Simon would climb like a cat higher up her hip until Jasmine would give in to his sobs and take him back to the dry sand.

‘You get too tense.’ He gave in after a couple of weeks of seeing this ritual repeated. He could see what Jasmine was doing wrong and even if he ignored her at work, it seemed rude just to run past and not stop and talk now and then.

‘Sorry?’ She’d given up trying to take Simon into the water a few moments ago and now they were patting a sandcastle into shape. She looked up when Jed stood over her and Jasmine frowned at his comment, but in a curious way rather than a cross one.

He concentrated on her frown, not because she was resting back on her heels to look up at him, not because she was wearing shorts and a bikini top, he just focused on her frown. ‘When you try to get him to go into the water. I’ve seen you.’ He grinned. ‘You get tense even before you pick him up to take him in there.’

‘Thanks for the tip.’ Jasmine looked not at Jed but at Simon. ‘I really want him to love the water. I was hoping by the end of summer he’d at least be paddling, but he starts screaming as soon as I even get close.’

‘He’ll soon get used to it just as soon as you relax.’ And then realising he was sounding like an authority when he didn’t have kids of his own, he clarified things a little. ‘I used to be a lifeguard, so I’ve watched a lot of parents trying to get reluctant toddlers into the water.’

‘A lifeguard!’ Jasmine grinned. ‘You’re making me blush.’

She was funny. She wasn’t pushy or flirty, just funny.

‘That was a long time ago,’ Jed said.

‘A volunteer?’

‘Nope, professional. I was paid—it put me through medical school.’

‘So how should I be doing it?’

‘I’ll show you.’ He offered her his hand and pulled her up and they walked towards the water’s edge. ‘Just sit here.’

‘He won’t come.’

‘I bet he does if you ignore him.’

So they sat and chatted for ten minutes or so. Simon grew bored, playing with his sandcastle alone, while the grown-ups didn’t care that they were sitting in the water in shorts, getting wet with each shallow wave that came in.

Jed told her about his job, the one he’d had before medical school. ‘It was actually that which made me want to work in emergency medicine,’ Jed explained. ‘I know you shouldn’t enjoy a drowning …’

She smiled because she knew what he meant. There was a high that came from emergencies, just knowing that you knew what to do in a fraught situation.

Of course not all the time; sometimes it was just miserable all around, but she could see how the thrill of a successful resuscitation could soon plant the seeds for a career in Emergency.

‘So if I drown, will you rescue me?’

‘Sure,’ Jed said, and her blue eyes turned to his and they smiled for a very brief moment. Unthinking, absolutely not thinking, he said it. ‘Why? Is that a fantasy of yours?’

And he could have kicked himself, should have kicked himself, except she was just smiling and so too was he. Thankfully, starved of attention, Simon toddled towards them and squealed with delight at the feeling of water rushing past his feet.

‘Yay!’ Jasmine was delighted, taking his hands and pulling him in for a hug. ‘It worked.’

‘Glad to have helped.’ Jed stood, because now he was kicking himself, now he was starting to wonder what might have happened had Simon not chosen that moment to take to the water.

Actually, he wasn’t wondering.

Jed knew.

‘Better get on.’ He gave her a thin smile, ruffled Simon’s hair and off down the beach he went, leaving Jasmine sitting there.

Jed confused her.

Cold one minute and not warm but hot the next.

And, no, being rescued by a sexy lifeguard wasn’t one of her fantasies, but a sexy Jed?

Well …

She blew out a breath. There was something happening between them, something like she had never known before. Except all he did was confuse her—because the next time she saw him at work he went back to ignoring her.

As well as confusing, Jed was also wrong about her getting right back into the swing of things at work. The department was busy and even a couple weeks later she still felt like the new girl at times. Even worse, her mum was less than pleased when Lisa asked, at short notice, if Jasmine could do two weeks of nights. She had staff sick and had already moved Vanessa onto the roster to do nights. Jasmine understood the need for her to cover, but she wasn’t sure her mum would be quite so understanding.

‘I’m really sorry about this,’ Jasmine said to her mum as she dropped Simon off.

‘It’s fine.’ Louise had that rather pained, martyred look that tripped all of Jasmine’s guilt switches. ‘I’ve juggled a few clients’ appointments to early evening for this week so I’ll need you to be back here at five.’

‘Sure.’

‘But, Jasmine,’ Louise said, ‘how are you going to keep on doing this? I’m going away soon and if they can change your roster at five minutes’ notice and expect you to comply, how are you going to manage?’

‘I’ve a meeting with a babysitter at the weekend,’ Jasmine told her mum. ‘She’s coming over and I’ll see how she gets on with Simon.’

‘How much is a babysitter going to cost?’ Louise asked, and Jasmine chose not to answer, but really something would have to give.

Paying the crèche was bad enough, but by the time she’d paid a babysitter to pick Simon up for her late shifts and stints on nights, well, it was more complicated than Jasmine had the time to allocate it right now.

‘How are things with Penny at work?’ Louise asked.

‘It seems okay.’ Jasmine shrugged. ‘She’s just been on nights herself so I haven’t seen much of her, and when I do she’s no more horrible to me than she is to everybody else.’

‘And no one’s worked out that you’re sisters?’

‘How could they?’ Jasmine said. ‘Penny hasn’t said anything and no one is going to hear it from me.’

‘Well, make sure that they don’t,’ Louise warned. ‘Penny doesn’t need any stress right now. She’s worked up enough as it is with this promotion coming up. Maybe once that’s over with she’ll come around to the idea a bit more.’

‘I’d better get going.’ Jasmine gave Simon a cuddle and held him just an extra bit tight.

‘Are you okay?’ Louise checked.

‘I’m fine,’ Jasmine said, but as she got to the car she remembered why she was feeling more than a little out of sorts. And, no, she hadn’t shared it with her mum and certainly she wouldn’t be ringing up Penny for a chat to sort out her feelings.

There on the driver’s seat was her newly opened post and even though she’d been waiting for it, even though she wanted it, it felt strange to find out in such a banal way that she was now officially divorced.

Yes, she’d been looking forward to the glorious day, only the reality of it gave her no reason to smile.

Her marriage had been the biggest mistake of her life.

The one good thing to come out of it was Simon.

The only good thing, Jasmine thought, stuffing the papers into her glove box, and, not for the first time she felt angry.

She’d been duped so badly.

Completely lied to from the start.

Yes, she loved Simon with all her heart, but this was never the way she’d intended to raise a child. With a catalogue of crèches and babysitters and scraping to make ends meet and a father who, despite so many promises, when the truth had been exposed, when his smooth veneer had been cracked and the real Lloyd had surfaced, rather than facing himself had resumed the lie his life was and had turned his back and simply didn’t want to know his own son.