Making her Christmas dream come true...

Paramedic Holly Jacobs knows that her night of scorching passion with Dr. Daniel Chandler meant more than just lust. And she’ll fix the hospital staff’s Secret Santa to prove it!

Playboy doc Daniel has sworn off love—but he can’t resist Holly! And by the time they get snowed in at a B and B on Christmas Eve, Daniel finds himself wondering if the connection he’s feeling for Holly is for life, not just for Christmas!

She wanted a kiss, Daniel knew, but he was also certain that she wanted a whole lot more than that. Not just sex, but the part of himself he refused to give.

“What?” he said again, and then his face broke into a smile as, very unexpectedly, Holly—sweet Holly—showed another side of herself.

“Are you going to make me invite you in?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not even going to try to persuade me with a kiss?” Holly checked.

“You want me or you don’t.” Daniel shrugged. “There’s no question that I want you. But, Holly, do you get that—”

She knew what was coming and she didn’t need the warning. He had made his position perfectly clear, so she interrupted him. “I don’t need the speech.”

She just needed this.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoy reading about Daniel and Holly as much I did writing about them.

For me, Christmas is such a special time, and I enjoy every moment of the buildup and all the tradition that surrounds it. I know, though, that Christmas can be a difficult time for a lot of people. My hero, Daniel, just wants Christmas to be over and done with, and he has no interest in all the festivities. Certainly the last thing he wants is romance. I love writing opposites attract stories, and my heroine, Holly, not only adores Christmas, she is head over heels in love with Daniel, too!

This is my first story set in The Primary Hospital in London—a busy, modern teaching hospital—and I am looking forward to writing many more.

Happy reading,

Carol x

Playboy on Her Christmas List

Carol Marinelli

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Books by Carol Marinelli

Mills & Boon Medical Romance

Desert Prince Docs

Seduced by the Sheikh Surgeon

The Hollywood Hills Clinic

Seduced by the Heart Surgeon

Baby Twins to Bind Them

Just One Night?

The Baby of Their Dreams

The Socialite’s Secret

Mills & Boon Modern Romance

The Billionaire’s Legacy

Di Sione’s Innocent Conquest

The Sheikh’s Baby Scandal

Visit the Author Profile page at www.millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.

Praise for Carol Marinelli

‘It had me in tears at the beginning, and then again at the end, and I could hardly put it down. A brilliant emotional read by Carol Marinelli!’

—Goodreads on The Baby of Their Dreams

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

Booklist

Praise

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘HOLLY, PUT THE decorations back. I’ve already told you that there are quite enough already. This is the emergency department, not the children’s ward.’

Holly, dressed in baggy scrubs and weighted down with tinsel and glittery silver snowmen, jumped when she heard Kay’s strong Irish accent and realised that the nurse unit manager was sitting at the nurses’ station.

Caught!

Holly had also thought that locum registrar Daniel Chandler was on his supper break but, no, he was drinking a coffee at the desk. Holly’s blush spread like spilled red wine across her chest as she stood, dripping glitter, and was scolded in front of the very suave Daniel.

‘I thought that you’d gone home,’ Holly admitted to Kay.

‘I know that you did,’ Kay tartly responded, but then she let out a long sigh. ‘I’m staying back to try and sort out the Christmas roster.’

‘But it’s already done.’ Holly frowned. The last thing she wanted were any alterations to the roster—her plans to be with her family over the festive break had been made weeks ago. But Kay had other ideas and proceeded to tell Holly the reasons that things might have to change.

‘Yes, but since then I’ve had two members of staff go on extended sick leave. Thank goodness for Nora, she’s offered to work Christmas night but things are very tight. Now, put the tinsel back where it belongs, please and, when you’ve done that, tie up your hair.’

‘It’s already tied up.’

‘No, Holly, it’s not.’

Holly’s long, curly brown hair always started the shift in a neat ponytail and then proceeded to work its way out of its confines, curl by wild curl.

* * *

As Holly slunk back to the storeroom Daniel found himself smiling.

He’d only been doing locum shifts at The Primary for a couple of months but it was enough to know that Holly Jacobs took her Christmas decorations very seriously. She had been waiting all afternoon for Kay, who was supposed to have finished at four, to go home so that Holly could, as she put it, ‘Christmas the place up’.

The Primary Hospital was a modern, busy, North London teaching hospital. It was very different in character from the prestigious Royal, where Daniel had started as a medical student and worked his way up to Accident and Emergency Registrar.

Working at The Primary was a step down, his father, an esteemed professor of surgery, would say. Certainly, renowned Professor Marcus Chandler could never fathom why his son was doing locum shifts at various hospitals around London when he could have any hours he chose at the Royal.

For Daniel, though, working at The Primary felt, if not a step up, then a step in the right direction. When he had commenced his first shift here Kay had rolled her eyes at the prospect of giving a tour to yet another temporary doctor but had soon realised Daniel was very good at his job.

More importantly, Daniel was really enjoying his work. Here there was no reputation to uphold; instead, he was slowly making his own.

And it had been noticed.

‘You know there’s a consultant’s position coming up,’ Kay said. She stared at the computer as she spoke.

‘I do,’ Daniel responded, and confirmed that he had been approached. ‘I’ve already told Mr Edwards that I’m not interested.’

‘Are we not good enough for you, Daniel?’

‘There was a consultant’s position at the Royal when I left,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘I wasn’t interested then either.’

‘You’re a mystery,’ Kay said, and gave a soft laugh then brushed from the desk some glitter dust that Holly had left in her wake. ‘Holly would have glitter everywhere,’ she tutted. ‘It’s an emergency department, not Santa’s Grotto. People don’t need festivities waved in their face when they come here. This time of year is often hard enough for our patients. I’m already over Christmas and it’s only the second of December.’

‘You’re preaching to the converted,’ Daniel agreed.

‘Are you not a fan of Christmas?’ Kay asked.

‘Nope.’

‘Nor me,’ Kay agreed. ‘It brings out the worst in everyone. You should see this place on Christmas night.’ She got back to the staring at the computer screen, though she carried on chatting with Daniel. ‘Are you going to the emergency department Christmas party tonight?’

‘Nope.’

Kay laughed at his truculent response but then she frowned. ‘How come you’re still here? I thought you were just doing a few locums until your friend got married. The wedding was last week, wasn’t it?’

‘It was.’ Daniel nodded and carried on writing.

He had finished up his role at the Royal at the end of September and had just been killing time until his best friend Rupert’s wedding had taken place. Soon he would be taking a year off. First he would hit the ski slopes in Switzerland and then...well, he’d see what happened when it happened.

‘Why didn’t you just start your travels and fly back for the wedding?’ Kay asked.

‘Oh, no...’ Daniel shook his head. ‘Once I’m gone, I’m gone for good.’

‘That sounds profound!’ Holly was back, minus tinsel and snowmen. Her hair had been scraped back into an even tighter ponytail but was now dotted with glitter. She had a worried expression aimed at Kay because she really needed Christmas off this year.

Holly knew that, if the roster had to be changed, she didn’t really have a leg to stand on—around this time last year her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Then, despite Holly being rostered to work Christmas and New Year, Kay had been wonderful, giving Holly ten days off so that she could have some family time.

The trouble was, a cancer diagnosis didn’t follow a specified timeline with a neat conclusion to signal the end.

The last year had been a fraught one, with Holly taking her little red car up and down the motorway every chance she could and wrestling the off duty around her mother’s treatment. Esther had recently had to have a second round of chemotherapy, and while the news was a whole lot better Esther really wanted her family home for Christmas.

And lately, what Esther wanted, Esther got!

Holly blew out a tense breath. She loved her family dearly but things had been a bit difficult lately, to say the least.

While she hoped that Kay would understand when she came to make the necessary changes Holly needed to be sure. ‘Kay, could I have a word?’

‘If it’s about the Christmas roster, the answer is no. Your request has been noted. And, yes,’ she added. ‘I do know it’s also your birthday.’

‘Were you a Christmas baby, Holly?’ Daniel asked.

‘Why do you think I’m called Holly?’

‘Because you’re so prickly.’

It was a small joke—Holly was the least prickly person. She was happy and sunny and that they could tease each other about such things without having to explain they were joking, well, it was sort of where they were at.

‘So,’ Daniel asked, ‘do you miss out on your birthday?’

‘No.’ Holly shook her head. ‘My parents always make sure that both are celebrated.’

‘Of course they do, Polly.’

She got the Pollyanna insinuation and gave him a sweet smile. ‘Better than cynical. So,’ she asked, returning to the conversation she had walked in on the tail end of, ‘why didn’t you just fly home for the wedding?’

‘There was the stag night to organise,’ Daniel explained. ‘Actually, there were two of them.’

‘You could have just flown back for a couple of weeks.’ Holly repeated Kay’s assumption but Daniel shook his head.

‘Rupert had a highly strung bride-to-be who was worried that I’d be a no-show if I left the country. She was actually right to be concerned—as I said, when I’m gone, I’m gone.’

Holly didn’t like that.

Daniel had worked quite a few shifts now and she was getting used to having him around.

Or rather she was starting to get used to the feeling that an egg beater had been set at full whisk in the middle of her chest.

Daniel was, for want of a better word, gorgeous.

Yes, yes, he was tall and had thick black hair and a scent that had her toes curl, he had all of that but it was his eyes that had first sent Holly’s world spinning.

Absolute navy.

It was as if the artist had meant to get back and add silvery flecks and little dots of aqua but had forgotten to. Yet he was no unfinished masterpiece. Those eyes were just this delicious navy rimmed with a halo of black and, at first look, Holly had been unable to stop staring. She had wanted to apologise, to explain she was looking for said silver specks and dots of aqua, but instead she had stared.

And so had he.

At green eyes that had appeared startled.

‘Is everything okay?’ he had checked.

‘I have an abdo pain...’ Holly had attempted to explain that she had a patient she would like him to see in Cubicle Four but she had been so flustered that it had come out all wrong. ‘And vomiting.’

‘Then go and lie down and let me take a look at you.’

His voice was snobby, his humour hers, and she had been tempted, almost, to call his bluff and do just that. Instead she had smiled. ‘I’ll see you in Cubicle Four.’

Holly’s abdo pain had turned out to be a twenty-year-old with query appendicitis. Daniel had walked in to where Holly had been holding a bowl for the patient and he had given her a tiny smile to insinuate he had rather hoped she had been lying in wait for him.

‘Pity,’ he’d said.

Yet a little flirt, though huge to Holly, was just a walk in the park for him. He was suave and from what she gathered he dated a lot, and, in truth, neither was the other’s type.

Except...

‘What was the wedding like?’ Holly asked. She was curious to know more about the reason for delaying his trip.

‘Like all weddings are,’ Daniel said, as Holly jumped up and sat on the bench beside where he was trying to write his notes. ‘Long.’

‘What did the bride wear?’ she asked.

‘From memory, a dress,’ Daniel said. ‘Possibly it was white.’

‘I love winter weddings,’ Holly sighed. ‘Especially if it’s snowing.’

‘The church was freezing,’ Daniel told her, and from his voice it was clear that he had a rather less dreamy take on things. ‘And then it poured with rain for the photos.’

‘Who was your plus one?’ Kay asked, without turning her head from the computer screen.

‘I never take a plus one to a wedding.’ Daniel shook his head. ‘Well, I haven’t for a long time. I learnt the hard way that if you bring a date she assumes that it must mean you’re serious. Anyway, I was the best man for this one so all that was expected from me in that department was to get off with the chief bridesmaid.’

‘And did you?’ Kay asked.

‘That would be telling,’ Daniel said. ‘And I never do.’

He looked at Holly then—just an itsy-bitsy look that told her she’d be in very discreet hands.

God, he was forward!

Yet she smiled at the tiny flirt behind Kay’s back.

‘Anyway,’ Daniel continued, ‘I wanted to do the right thing by Rupert. He was very good to me when...’ He didn’t finish, or rather he just didn’t continue with what he had started to say. ‘He’s a very good friend.’

‘So how come you weren’t out on the first flight after the wedding?’ Kay pushed.

‘Just...’ He gave a small shrug and it was there that the conversation ended.

Daniel simply didn’t answer—he did that a lot.

He might be forward with his flirting but when a conversation veered too close to personal he simply halted it.

Daniel got back to his notes and, interlude over, Kay carried on staring at the off duty, but finally she gave in.

‘I’m going home,’ Kay said, and closed up the screen. ‘Daniel, shall we see you again?’

‘I don’t think so,’ he answered.

Locums came and locums went but Kay gave him a smile that told Daniel he would be missed. ‘Well, safe travels,’ she said, and then turned to Holly. ‘I’ll see you tonight at the pub. The night staff should be coming in a little bit early so that the late staff can get to the party at a reasonable time. How are you getting there?’

‘Taxi,’ Holly said. ‘Anna, Laura and I are sharing. Do you want to come with us, Daniel? There’s room for one more.’

‘I’m not going.’

He offered no reason and thankfully he didn’t look up as he spoke because, despite her best efforts, Holly knew her shoulders had briefly slumped, but quickly she righted herself.

Actually, it was good news that he wasn’t coming tonight.

The way Holly felt she was at high risk of doing something very stupid where Daniel Chandler was concerned.

Stupid as well as pointless, given that this was his last shift and that very soon he’d be heading off overseas.

Daniel, she had heard, was very into casual one-night stands. Whereas she was the complete opposite.

With one possible exception.

Him.

Oh, it would be bliss to be bad.

Sometimes, all joking and flirting aside, she felt him looking at her and there was a tension between them that Holly was almost convinced wasn’t one-sided. Of course, Daniel was a natural-born flirt, but it wasn’t just that, there was something in his eyes that could flip her stomach like a pancake...

Egg analogy again, Holly thought to herself, and decided that she must be hungry.

‘I’m going to go for my supper break while it’s quiet. I’ll see you later, Kay.’

‘You shall,’ Kay said. ‘Oh, wait. I got you a present.’ She smiled at Daniel. ‘I got you one too.’

Kay was big on presents.

Silly things, happy things, she passed on what had made her smile. Her charity wasn’t just for the staff, though—there were regular fundraisers held throughout the year on behalf of the homeless.

Kay took the displaced seriously.

She took an overfull bag from beneath the bench and handed them both a slim card from a choice of many.

‘An Advent calendar!’ Holly beamed.

‘I got them at the discount store,’ Kay said, clearly delighted with her purchase. ‘There’s one for everyone.’

‘There’s chocolate in here,’ Daniel said, opening up one of the little windows.

‘Of course there is. Have you never had an Advent calendar?’ Kay checked.

‘Actually, no.’

‘It’s December the second so you get to eat two,’ she told him, ‘but after that it’s just one a day.’

Daniel gave Holly a sideways smile that told her all twenty-five would be eaten the very moment Kay had gone and Holly smiled back as she shook her head. ‘One a day,’ she warned him.

‘I’m lousy at self-restraint.’

Ouch.

Sometimes, in fact a little too often, he threw out those lines and usually Holly could shrug them off, but it had been getting harder and harder to of late.

‘Well, I’ve got excellent self-control,’ Holly replied, and watched the slight questioning rise of one eyebrow.

They were talking about chocolate, Holly told herself.

At least where chocolate was concerned she had self-control.

Where Daniel was concerned it was melting just as fast. It was a good job that he was leaving, Holly decided.

She had a king-size crush on him and she wasn’t used to them, well, not for a very long time. At twenty-eight, Holly had rather thought that the days of wild dreams and fixating on someone’s every word were long since gone.

They weren’t.

Kay was just about to go when Laura, the nurse in charge this evening, came in swiftly.

‘Holly—Resus,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a cardiac arrest coming in. Fifty-five-year-old male collapsed at home.’

Holly nodded and, supper forgotten, she jumped down from the bench and Daniel got down from his stool to go and prepare for the incoming patient.

‘I’ll just stay and see if I’m needed...’ Kay offered. And Holly was expecting Laura to, as she usually did, point out that they’d be fine and could more than cope but instead Laura gave Kay a worried look.

‘Can I have a quick word, Kay?’ she asked.

As Laura pulled Kay aside Holly put out an arrest call to alert the medical team to come to Emergency and then started to set up for the incoming patient. Until the team arrived Daniel would be in charge but from working with him she knew that he could more than cope with anything that presented.

‘What’s going on?’ Daniel asked, as he taped some syringes to the vial of medication he’d just pulled up in anticipation of the patient’s arrival. He nodded in the direction of Laura and Kay, who were still huddled together and talking.

‘I’m not sure.’ Holly frowned. ‘But something is.’

The alert meant that they had everything ready for the patient, going on the information they had, but just as a blue light flashed in the high windows above, Kay came over and offered more.

‘Holly,’ Kay said, and her voice was serious as she pulled on a plastic apron to indicate she would be participating in the resuscitation. ‘The patient is Nora’s husband.’

Holly swallowed. Nora Hewitt was second in charge to Kay and everyone adored her. More importantly, Paul, Nora’s husband, was the good man behind a great woman. He was often at the department, picking up Nora or bringing in the lunch she had forgotten and had left sitting in the fridge at home. He always had a friendly word for everyone and should have been at the emergency department Christmas party tonight with his wife.

Instead, he was being raced into Resus on the very edge of death.

There were the sounds of sobs and tears coming from outside, though Holly could tell that it wasn’t Nora.

‘The daughter is very upset,’ the paramedic informed them.

‘Anna—’ Kay called for assistance ‘—can you stay with the family?’

‘Where’s the team?’ Holly asked in an urgent tone, desperate for them to appear so that Paul could be given the very best chance.

‘We’ll be fine,’ Daniel said in his composed deep voice and Holly glanced over at him.

He was at the head of the resuscitation bed that the paramedics were moving Paul onto and Daniel was his usual mixture of aloof and calm.

It was everything that was needed now.

CHAPTER TWO

‘ON MY COUNT,’ Daniel said, and Paul was transferred from the ambulance stretcher onto the solid resuscitation bed.

Everyone was a touch flustered. All the staff knew Nora, including the paramedics, and so this was incredibly personal.

But not to Daniel.

He checked the placement of the breathing tube and looked at the monitor once Paul had been transferred to the emergency department equipment. He asked Kay to recommence massage and called for the necessary drugs and did all this as he listened to the handover.

Apparently things had been rather chaotic back at the house. Paul’s daughter and her boyfriend had become agitated and distressed and had got somewhat in the way.

‘He was in the bathroom when he collapsed.’

‘Was someone with him?’

‘It was hard to get a clear history.’

Daniel nodded as Holly handed him the drug he had asked for but, aware that everyone was tense and there was the potential for mistakes to be made, he checked and double-checked everything.

Paul was still in an arrhythmia and not responding to drugs, and though he had been shocked several times both at home and en route they had been unable to revert him to a normal rhythm. Daniel delivered more of the same and then called for the defibrillator to be charged and asked for fresh pads to be placed on Paul’s chest.

Holly could see that her hands were shaking as she did as asked.

‘Is anybody getting a fuller history from the family?’ Daniel checked.

‘I’ve sent Anna in to speak with Nora,’ Kay said. ‘I don’t think he has any previous history, though.’

‘I want to hear what Nora says.’ Daniel was firm. This was no time for hearsay and Kay nodded as for now they worked on.

The emergency team started to arrive and gradually took over. Daniel had it all under control so that they were able to get a full handover as he worked on. Kay was massaging Paul’s chest and her face was red and sweating.

‘Can you take over, Holly?’ she asked.

Holly did so. She was slight and really had to put in an effort to deliver effective massage. She glanced up at the clock and then back to Paul. There had been absolutely no response since he had collapsed back at home.

‘Step back,’ Mr Dawson, the cardiologist, ordered, and Holly climbed from the bed and once she was safely standing back another shock was delivered.

‘So he collapsed at five?’ Mr Dawson checked the timeline of events.

It was now five forty-five...

Holly could smell burning from the repeated shocks to his body and she looked over at Kay, who looked up at the clock.

‘Was he found collapsed?’ Mr Dawson checked.

‘We’re just waiting to have that verified,’ Daniel said. The paramedics had been very thorough in their treatment and had done well but there were still some gaps in the history.

Anna came in then. ‘There’s no previous history and he’s on no medication. Paul was standing in the bathroom, chatting to Nora, when he developed chest pain. Nora sat him on the floor and called for an ambulance. She gave him some aspirin and stayed with him, and a couple of moments later he arrested and she commenced resuscitation straight away.’

It had been a witnessed arrest, which was incredibly relevant, especially given Nora’s skills. It was now evident that he’d had effective cardiac massage delivered from the very start.

Not that it seemed to be counting for much.

‘Resume massage,’ Mr Dawson ordered, and Holly was about to climb back on the bed when Daniel halted her.

‘Hold on a moment.’ He had his fingers in Paul’s groin to feel for a femoral pulse. ‘He’s got a pulse.’

And then, better than any music, better than any other sound in the world really, the monitor started to deliver bleeps.

Two at first, followed by a long pause, then a run of three and then sinus rhythm kicked in and there was the beep-beep-beep of a rapid heart rate and suddenly there was hope.

It was tainted, though.

Paul had been down for some considerable time. The cardiologists were going through his ECG tracings and deciding whether to take him straight up to ICU or directly to the catheter lab to see exactly what had occurred. The hope was that they could dissolve the blockage and open up the blocked vessels in Paul’s heart and minimise damage to the heart muscle.

‘I’ll go up with him,’ Kay said, as she gathered up the necessary equipment for the urgent transfer. ‘Daniel, can you go and speak with Nora and explain that Mr Dawson is busy with Paul but he’ll be in to get the consent...’ Her voice trailed off. ‘You know the drill.’

‘I do.’

‘I forget how experienced you are.’

‘That’s fine,’ Daniel responded with ease, but then he asserted himself—not just with Kay but also with the cardiologist who would like Paul up in the lab, preferably ten minutes ago. ‘First of all, though, we need to bring in his wife.’

‘Time is of the essence,’ Mr Dawson said.

‘I’m sure she’ll understand that.’

Nora must have been getting ready for the party and chatting to Paul as she did so, with no idea as to what was about to come. One of her eyes was made up with glittery eye shadow and the other was not.

Seeing someone so visibly shaken who was always so together and strong, but doing her best to hold it together, had Holly on the edge of tears.

‘He’s going to go up very soon,’ Holly told Nora quietly, once Mr Dawson had obtained her consent and explained that they’d be moving him to the catheter lab. Holly watched as Nora took one of Paul’s hands and held it in both of hers as if trying to warm it.

‘He was telling me he’d just hidden my Christmas present.’ Nora looked at Paul as she spoke. ‘Please, don’t leave me,’ she asked him, and then, looking at Holly, said, ‘I knew the day I met him that he was the one. He took a couple of weeks to get used to the idea...’

Holly didn’t know what to say.

What was there to say to add to a love that had lasted for more than thirty years?

And so instead of saying the right thing, Holly found herself wearing her nervous smile.

Thankfully, Nora knew her well enough not to take offence.

‘I just need a minute alone with him,’ Nora said.

Holly nodded as Anna popped her head around the curtain. ‘Nora, your daughter wants to come in.’

‘No.’ Nora was firm. ‘She’s too upset and she’d just distress him.’

Kay nodded her head and called for Holly to come the other side of the curtain, leaving Nora with Paul and the anaesthetist. Holly had turned up the volume on the monitors so that the staff could move in quickly if there was any change.

And they listened as Nora told her husband she loved him and to stay strong and that she’d be waiting for him once the procedure was done, and she did it all in a voice that did not waver, just in case Paul could hear.

Holly knew that voice only too well.

She could remember her mother going in for surgery and, because Holly was the only remotely medical person in the family, all questions had been aimed at her. All decisions had been run by Holly too and it had felt overwhelming. Her father had asked her to come with them up to Theatre. When he had started to break down it had been Holly who had stepped in. Holly had concentrated on keeping her smile in place while trying to ignore the fact that her mother was so very weak and frail from the chemotherapy and doing her best not to reveal that she wasn’t terrified for her.

‘What do you think?’ Kay asked Daniel, and Holly looked at his grim face.

‘They’re giving him every chance.’ His response was noncommittal but for Holly it said enough—he didn’t think things looked good.

* * *

The quiet start had turned into a very busy shift and it didn’t relent.

Holly felt all shaken but there was no time to sit down and reflect on what had happened. There was no pause button in Emergency, especially when you needed one.

Just as Paul left, another critically ill patient came in.

Kay handed Paul over to the care of the catheter lab staff but, given she was officially off duty, remained with Nora in the waiting room there. Holly was so busy that she had forgotten completely she was going out tonight and frowned when she saw that it was eight and that the night staff were starting to arrive.

‘What are you doing here?’ Holly asked.

‘So you can leave early for the Christmas party.’ Gloria grinned and then saw Holly’s serious face. ‘What is it?’

And there was no point in not telling the arriving staff—one look at the admissions board and they would see the truth for themselves.

‘Nora’s husband was brought in...’

As she brought the night staff up to speed Holly admitted that she had changed her mind about going to the party tonight, but Kay had other ideas. She had popped down to Emergency for that very reason, in fact, and called Holly round to her office.

‘I need you to give the landlord the cash we’ve been collecting,’ Kay said. They’d all been putting into the collection for a few weeks. ‘Holly, I know the last thing you feel like is partying but word is already getting out about Paul. Nora’s daughter has put it up on social media and honestly...’ Kay let out a long sigh. ‘Nora wants the party to go ahead. She thinks if it’s called off now it means that we’ve given up on Paul.’

Holly nodded. ‘How is he doing?’

‘He’s over on Intensive Care. He’s in an induced coma and really we shan’t know for a few days. Oh, I don’t know, Holly, I don’t have a very good feeling about it. He was down for a long time.’

‘Less than an hour,’ Holly pointed out.

‘I know but...’

Kay looked as if she was about to cry and Holly had no idea what to say so she offered the only thing she knew might help. ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’

Kay laughed the simplicity of Holly’s solution and then she let out a little sob. ‘I do,’ she admitted. ‘A quick one and then I’ll head back up there. Have one with me?’

Holly brought in a tray as Kay got the envelope from the safe.

‘I’d better not lose it,’ Holly said, peering inside.

‘You’d better not!’ Kay barked, and then closed her eyes and leant back in her chair. ‘It’s nice to relax for five minutes.’

‘Did you call Eamon and let him know?’ Holly asked, referring to Kay’s husband.

‘I did. He’s going to come and get me when I’m ready but I think I should stay awhile. Poor Nora. Honestly, that family of hers...’ Kay rolled her eyes. ‘Do you know? Her daughter asked what was going to happen for dinner! Does she not know how a bloody vending machine works? Fancy bothering her mother with that?’

‘And fancy bothering you with this,’ Daniel said, as he knocked on the half-open door.

‘What do you want?’ Kay asked. But as Daniel came in, though he gave Kay a smile, he then looked at Holly as he spoke.

‘All the night staff are here but Laura is having no luck getting a taxi. The wait is an hour at best. I said that I could drop you all off at the end of my shift, which is right about now.’

‘Then you’d better get ready,’ Kay said, moving to stand. ‘And I’d better get back up to Nora.’

‘Finish your tea,’ Holly suggested, and thought of the times she had sat with her own family, waiting for news, and how utterly exhausting it was. ‘Have a few moments to yourself.’

‘I might just do that,’ Kay agreed. ‘You’re not on tomorrow, are you?’

‘No, I’m off now till Monday, but I’ll call in the morning and see how Paul’s doing and—’ Her voice halted abruptly as Holly stopped herself from saying what she had been about to—fancy bothering Kay with a stupid thing like the off duty while Paul was so sick, but Nora had been the one practically keeping the off duty running over the Christmas break.

It could wait, Holly knew that, and felt guilty for even considering raising it now.

So instead of worrying about tomorrow, or the next, or the next, she went into the changing room and had the quickest shower ever. There was just time for a dart under the jets and a quick soap and rinse then she dried herself and pulled on her little black dress.

‘That’s nice,’ Anna said as Holly came out. Anna was hogging the one tiny mirror and applying eyeliner, while looking stunning in a very slinky, very red dress. ‘You always look good in that.’

It was such a backhanded compliment that Holly actually stopped in her tracks for a second, before sitting down on the bench and pulling out her make-up bag.

‘Thanks.’ Holly smiled, pretending she had missed the rather bitchy comment. Oh, she was in no mood for make-up but it was certainly needed! As well as that the steam, even from a very brief shower, had made her curly hair even more so.

‘Daniel’s waiting,’ Anna said rather pointedly as she turned from the mirror, all ready, just as Holly got her mascara out. ‘We don’t really have much time.’

‘Daniel can wait for five minutes,’ Holly answered. She hadn’t asked him to play taxi driver and, more to the point, she wouldn’t have minded the long wait for a taxi just to be able to get ready and allow for some time to jolt herself out of her morose mood. ‘Or you guys can go on without me and I’ll see you there.’

‘No need for that. I’ll go and wait with Daniel,’ Anna said.

‘Sure.’

‘I’ll see if I can persuade him to stay for a drink. After all, it is effectively his leaving do.’

‘It’s been Daniel’s leaving do since October,’ Holly said. There was a knot of disquiet in her stomach, though, at the thought she might not see him again but Anna merely shrugged.

‘Then I might just have to kiss him goodbye!’

Holly, whether she liked Anna or not, was genuinely curious. ‘Doesn’t it bother you that he’ll be gone soon?’

‘Any one of us could be gone soon.’ Anna shrugged. ‘If working here doesn’t prove that, then I don’t know what will. I intend to enjoy every moment.’

And Anna was off. Teetering out on skinny legs and high heels and leaving that thought hanging in the air as heavily as her perfume.

Finally Holly had a moment alone.

She leant her head against the wall and closed her eyes and thought not just of Nora and Paul but of her own parents.

This time last year had been fraught, with Holly accompanying her mother to appointments and dashing to be there on her days off to offer support.

Tomorrow, after she’d done some shopping, Holly would be back on the motorway and again headed for home.

One year on it felt as if not much had changed. And in a year where there had been a rather marked absence of fun, in the latter months Daniel had somehow brightened her days.

She was, very possibly, never going to see him again, and that wasn’t the reason for the sudden threat of tears, Holly told herself. No, it had been an emotional shift and it was coming to the end of a difficult year.

That was why she was suddenly teary.

It had nothing to do with lost opportunities.

Had there even been any? Holly pondered as she sat there and thought back over their time. Yes, there had certainly been a few occasions where a little flirt could have maybe spilled into more.

But to what end?

Maybe she needed a more generous dose of Anna’s thinking instead of her usual caution where men were concerned.

Or maybe, Holly conceded as she put on her coat and walked out of the changing room, she was just looking for an excuse to misbehave.

She made her way through the department.

There was Daniel looking all sexy in black jeans and a really thin jumper that almost looked silky and the fabric was so thin that she could see his nipples.

Talk about Think Like a Man.

‘Are you coming after all?’ Holly asked, seeing that he looked dressed for, well, anything.

‘No. Why?’

‘Because you’ve changed.’

‘I’ve changed because I’m a locum,’ Daniel pointed out. ‘If I didn’t throw my scrubs in the linen skip at the end of my shift I’d have quite a collection at my flat by now from the various hospitals I’ve worked at.’

As they walked past the nurses’ station he retrieved his Advent calendar. ‘Do you want yours?’ he said.

‘Yes.’ Holly said, and smiled at Gloria. ‘I don’t trust the night staff a bit.’

She added it to her bag, which she would lock up with her coat at the pub.

Really, she would far prefer to be on her way home than heading off to a party, especially one that Daniel wasn’t attending.

They walked out of the hospital and towards his car. It was one of those cold, damp nights and Holly was glad she hadn’t made any attempt to tame her hair.

So was Daniel.

He was used to seeing it tied back and wrestling its way out of confinement, but now it fell in a dark cloud past her shoulders and some curls fell forward as she stopped for a moment and checked inside her bag.

He had seen her out of uniform before—arriving at work in jeans—but he had never seen Holly dressed up before and he found himself wanting to know what she wore under that coat.

They fell into step as they walked towards the car and it was Anna who asked the question that was on Holly’s mind.

‘When do you fly?’

‘I haven’t booked it yet,’ Daniel answered. ‘Probably next week.’

‘Where are you going first?’

‘Switzerland.’

He aimed his keys at a black car, which lit up, and then everyone loaded their bags into the boot and then piled in, Laura and Holly in the back, Anna in the front, and suddenly Daniel knew that one of the reasons he wasn’t indulging in a little après ski right about now was Holly.

Several hospitals had called, asking him to work, and the answer had been no. It was only when a shift had come up in the emergency department at The Primary that he had accepted a shift.

And now, as everyone climbed into his car and Anna got in the front, it felt wrong—as if Holly should be the one in his front passenger seat.

Holly felt the same.

It was odd and it was with absolutely no reason, yet Holly found that she resented the way Anna had jumped in the front. Holly sat behind Anna and when Daniel turned his head to reverse out, for a moment their eyes met. Holly was tempted to wind down the window because it had suddenly become very warm in the car and the heater had barely gone on.

Daniel moved the car out of the parking spot and then drove to the barrier and swiped his ID card. There he glanced in the rear-view mirror, not to check for traffic, more to see if her eyes were waiting.

They were.

All too often she averted her gaze, failing to complete what they started.

Not tonight.

Holly hoped it was dark enough that he couldn’t see she was blushing and then a car tooted behind them.

‘Daniel,’ Anna prompted, because although the barrier was up the car hadn’t moved.

‘Sorry,’ Daniel said. ‘I was miles away.’

In bed with Holly!

‘Everyone’s asking about Paul,’ Laura said, going through the messages on her phone. ‘What do we say?’

‘As little as possible,’ Daniel suggested.

They were on the main road now and he glanced back into the mirror but Holly was now looking out of the window, watching the world go by and lost in thoughts of her own,

She liked Daniel far, far too much, Holly knew.

There was nothing wrong with liking someone except she wasn’t wired like Anna. For Holly it would be foolish at best to get involved with a man who was days away from leaving the country.

Except she already was.

In her head Holly was already involved and yet she had not a single memory to draw from.

Was it time to change that?

‘We’re here.’ Laura nudged her and Holly wiped the steamed-up window and looked out at the pub—a regular venue for Emergency dos. They often hired a room at the back and a lot of good times had been had there.

‘Come in for one,’ Anna said to Daniel, and Holly felt her skin prickle because Anna could flirt for England and she was seriously flirting now.

‘I’m driving.’

Holly’s eyes went to the mirror and again met his. Both of them knew that she would usually have looked away or been halfway out of the car by now.

‘Come on,’ Anna pushed, oblivious to the current coming from behind. ‘You might enjoy yourself.’

‘You know, I think I might,’ Daniel said.

And so, instead of them climbing out, Daniel drove to the car park at the rear. It was packed but he found a space and soon they were all walking to the pub.

All except Holly, who was still by the car and going through her bag.

‘What are you doing?’ Daniel asked her because since they’d left Emergency he had seen her go through her bag many times.

‘Compulsively checking that I’ve still got the envelope that Kay gave me.’ Holly said. ‘I have to pay the landlord...’

They went in the main entrance and there was the lovely pub scent but mixed with the woody smell of a fire in the entrance, and Holly felt her cheeks go pink for no other reason than it was lovely and warm.

The women all handed over their coats and their hands were all stamped so that they could get in and out of the function room. As Laura and Anna went through Holly asked where she should put the bar money.

‘You’ll need to see Desmond,’ she was told, and was pointed in the right direction. ‘He’s in the lounge bar.’

‘Thanks.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Daniel offered, and Holly nodded.

It had been well worth coming in, Daniel decided, for under Holly’s coat she was wearing a black velvet dress, or rather it was raven. As he walked behind her Daniel noted the deep blue hue shimmering on the curves of her hips. Holly’s legs were dressed in very sheer stockings and her heels were high, and as he moved forward to hold open the door, Daniel resisted placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her in.

Holly already felt as if he had, for her spine felt warm and her bottom too big, just from the burn of his gaze.

Desmond wasn’t there, but they waited at the bar while one of the staff tracked him down.

It was a lovely old pub and there was a pine Christmas tree that was beautifully decorated and its scent filled the room.

‘Christmassy enough for you?’ Daniel asked.

‘It’s lovely.’ Holly smiled but it was a bit of a forced one.

‘Are you not in the mood for a party?’ Daniel said, toying with the idea of suggesting they skip it when Holly nodded.

‘I feel awful.’

‘He might be okay.’

‘No, I feel awful because...’ She shook her head.

And then, for Daniel, something rather untoward happened—instead of wondering how quickly they could dispense with the small talk and get in the car and back to his, he actually wanted to hear what Holly had to say and then get back to the essentials.

‘Tell me.’

‘No,’ Holly said, but then her guilty conscience demanded full disclosure. ‘You know Kay was saying how, when they were waiting outside the catheter lab, Nora’s daughter asked her what was for dinner...’

Daniel laughed a black laugh, it was nothing he hadn’t seen with relatives.

‘I’m as bad,’ Holly said.

‘Why, did you demand that Nora feed you?’

‘No.’ Holly smiled but then it changed. ‘I almost asked Kay what would happen to the off duty for Christmas.’ It had worried at her all evening. ‘I mean, Paul’s lying there half-dead, and I’m stressing over the off duty.’

‘I’m quite sure Kay is.’

‘I doubt it,’ Holly sighed. ‘Nora and she are best friends.’

‘Off the record?’ Daniel said, and Holly nodded.

‘Kay’s words to me just before she headed off to the catheter lab, and I quote, “How the feck am I going to sort out the roster now?”’

‘Really?’ Holly laughed.

‘Really.’ Daniel nodded. ‘And I bet Nora, if Paul is now stable, is worrying about the million and one things that you women seem to worry about at this time of year.’

‘That’s very sexist.’

‘Just an observation.’

‘A wrong one.’

‘I can only go by what I’ve seen. My father never did a thing for Christmas, I aim to be far away from it...’ He thought for a moment. ‘My uncle leaves it all to my aunt...’

Desmond came along then and he took the money and wrote out a receipt, which Holly put in her purse for Kay. ‘What can I get you?’ he offered. ‘On the house, before you go in to that mad lot.’

Oh.

‘I’ll just have a soda water, thanks.’ Daniel said.

‘Well, he’s a cheap date.’ Desmond smiled at Holly. ‘What can I get you?’

‘I’d love a Scotch, please.’

She really, really would.

Holly wasn’t a big drinker at the best of times but a lovely Scotch felt about right and Daniel motioned to a table near an open fire and the tree and they took a seat there.

‘Maybe I am in the mood for Christmas after all.’ Holly smiled, sitting back in the chair and relaxing to the lovely crackle of the fire and inhaling the scent of her drink.

‘I want one,’ Daniel admitted.

‘Tough.’ Holly smiled and then took a sip, enjoying the burn of the liquor. ‘I don’t really like spirits but my dad loves Scotch so I always keep a bottle at home and every now and then I have one.’

‘Well, that’s good to know.’

‘What?’

He smiled and she realised he was perhaps inviting himself to her home for a drink.

Or had she been inviting him?

Hmm.

Holly still didn’t know where this might lead, but it was just so nice to be out in the real world with him and without buzzers and patients and others around. And it was definitely nice to squeeze in five minutes’ pause after work before they headed into the party.

‘Do you get on with your parents?’ he asked.

‘Very much so.’

‘They live...?’ Daniel frowned. He wasn’t sure, though he knew that it was some distance that she often travelled to get home.

‘Up north,’ Holly said, and then told him the village where her family lived.

‘So how come you’re in London?’

‘Because I get on so well with my family.’ Holly smiled. ‘I trained up there and it was all too easy to just live at home... I knew I needed a change.’

‘Yet you’re still home a lot?’

‘My mum hasn’t been very well.’ Holly said, and decided the night had already been grim enough without going further into it. ‘What about you? Are your family in London?’

She didn’t know him at all, Daniel realised.

Holly could have no idea just how refreshing that was. Even before he had started medicine there had been a constant stream of ‘Marcus Chandler’s son’. His father had been head boy at the boarding school Daniel had attended and his record was just as impressive at med school and beyond. Even Kay had made a few comments and had asked if he was any relation to the esteemed Professor Chandler.

Holly had no idea as to that side of his life.

‘Yes.’ Daniel answered the question as to whether his family was in London very simply.

‘Do you get on?’

‘Nope,’ Daniel said.

‘Why?’

‘Because my father is an arrogant git,’ he said, and then looked at her Scotch. ‘Given that I’m on soda water tonight, I shan’t be sharing.’

Holly laughed. ‘What about your mother?’

‘She’s dead.’

Well, that wiped the smile from her face.

‘He married again. I’ve got a sister...’

Daniel refused to call Maddie a half-sister.

‘Do you get on with her?’

‘I do when I see her. And that reminds me, I must get her a Christmas present before I head off.’

Holly’s phone buzzed, indicating an incoming text, and she glanced down and saw that it was Anna, asking where they had disappeared to.

‘Has our absence been noted?’ Daniel asked.

‘It has.’

The pleasant interlude was over but it had been nice, Holly thought as she drained her drink and then stood. It had been a tiny but very welcome pause before she pushed out a smile and faced the masses.

He knew it was pointless suggesting that they didn’t go through.

Holly took her Christmas party as seriously as her decorations.

‘Time to be positive...’ Holly said, though she didn’t really feel it. ‘It is Christmas and if ever there was a time for miracles...’

‘Please,’ Daniel scorned, pouring a bucket of iced water on that. ‘There’s no such thing as Christmas miracles.’

‘Are you always so negative?’ Holly asked as they headed towards the function room.

‘Always.’

The doors swung open and there were a few shouts of ‘Holly!’ but there were a lot more shouts of Daniel’s name! Clearly a lot of women were very glad to see him.

Anna, of course, leapt to his side and handed him an elaborate-looking cocktail.

‘I’m driving,’ he pointed out again.

‘It a virgin.’ Anna smiled. ‘I had it prepared just for you.’

Oh, please. Holly thought she might spit at the suggestive tone, but she refused to be rattled by Anna. Instead, she put on her smile and chatted with friends.

It was a difficult night. Everyone wanted first-hand information and Holly knew that wasn’t her place to give it. It was up to Nora what she wanted to share and for now Nora wanted upbeat and so that’s what Holly did her best to be, but by ten she was done.

She looked over and Anna and Daniel were locked in conversation.

Or rather Anna was conversing and Daniel was locked, given the slight eye roll that he gave her.

Holly smiled but it was a regretful one because she simply didn’t know how to run wild. How to go over there and be all sparkling and witty and flirt...

Except, as it turned out, she didn’t have to go over there to flirt. Holly quickly realised that standing in the middle of the room and blatantly staring at the object of your desire seemed to work rather well too!

Yikes.

She hadn’t meant that!

Holly watched as he said something to Anna and Holly realised he was excusing himself and about to make his way over.

It was time for a quick getaway.

‘You’re not going already?’ Trevor, one of the male nurses, asked.

‘I am.’ Holly kept up that smile. ‘I’m hitting the shops tomorrow and then...’ She didn’t finish. An absolute novice in the field of sexual adventure, she found her coat and headed outside.

‘Leaving?’

She turned and there was Daniel.

‘Yes.’

‘Do you want a lift?’

‘I’ve just called for a taxi,’ Holly lied.

‘It’s no problem.’

‘I live miles away.’

‘I’ll save you the fare, then.’

‘No, thanks.’

Why? Holly asked herself. Why was she saying no? Because she couldn’t say no to him.

‘Come on.’

He jangled his keys and Holly nodded. Really, it was just a colleague giving her a lift home and it would be bliss not to have to make small talk with a taxi driver or sit in the back as he chatted on his phone.

Liar, liar.

They got in his car, and this time she was in the front.

That’s better, both thought but didn’t say.

‘Address?’ he asked, and she gave it to him.

Daniel typed it into his phone and that took care of that, and then he started the engine.

‘Head north,’ his phone said.

‘I hate that,’ Daniel admitted. ‘I have no idea which way north is. I need a compass in the middle of my steering wheel.’

‘She means turn left,’ Holly said.

‘Thank you.’

‘Are you all packed?’ Holly made a feeble attempt at small talk and he nodded.

‘Sort of. I’m trying to rent out my flat. Apparently December isn’t an ideal time to find tenants.’

‘So it that why your plans keep changing?’

‘In part.’

‘Well, you might just as well stick around for Christmas...’

‘I doubt it. I might even fly out then, it’s just another day.’

‘You don’t mean that.’

‘I do,’ Daniel said, and he gave her a smile. ‘We’re polar opposites.’ And then he stared ahead at the road and it did not need stating—that opposites attracted.

Both already knew.

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