CHAPTER ONE

      THE ring tone from Katie’s mobile phone sounded, growing louder and more insistent with each passing second. She frowned, flipping open the phone and peering down at the screen in front of her.

      What now? Was it totally impossible for her to have five minutes of peace and quiet to enable her to think things through, without someone desperately seeking her attention or needing her to do something for them right away?

      Then again, the whole day had been a disaster from start to finish, hadn’t it, so why should anything change now? From the moment she had arrived for work at the rehab centre that morning, things had been going steadily downhill.

      First there had been the discovery that one of the workmen on site had drilled through a water pipe, and as if that wasn’t enough to put the seal on the day, shortly afterwards one of the builders doing the renovations had taken a nasty tumble from the main roof.

      It was bad enough that the poor man had broken his fall on a lower sloping timber roof and then crashed through it into the patients’ sun lounge, but it could have been far worse. It was only just short of a miracle that no one had been sitting in there at the time.

      ‘Well, at least we’ve managed to find alternative places for all of our stroke patients,’ Mandy, Katie’s boss, said, coming out into the garden in search of her.

      Katie had found herself a calm nook by the arbour, where she could sit on a bench and take in the fresh, clean air. The warmth of the summer sun filtered through the branches of the trees, caressing her arms, making her feel a little less stressed.

      ‘They don’t seem to have been too badly affected by all the upheaval and I’ve made sure that they’ll be able to go on with their rehabilitation in their new situations.’ Mandy heaved a sigh. ‘None of this bodes well for us, though. With the patients’ sun lounge in a shambles and a hole drilled through the water pipe, it looks as though we’ll have to close down until the renovations are complete. Of course, they’re going to take much longer now.’

      ‘Yes, I thought that might be the result.’ Feeling a little more in control of herself now, Katie straightened up and brushed back the long sweep of her chestnut hair with her fingers. ‘Has there been any news on the builder?’

      ‘Apparently he’s in Theatre now, having his leg reset. The doctor confirmed your diagnosis—he had suffered a heart attack, but they think it was a mild one and with proper care he should be all right, given time.’

      Mandy gave Katie a long look. ‘I was amazed at how you leapt into action. I’m sure you saved his life. I can’t think what you’re doing working in rehab when you have those skills at your fingertips. You should be in a hospital emergency department, where your talents would be recognised.’

      The thought of that sent a minor chill along Katie’s spine. She had made up her mind that she would never again work in A and E, and it had been some months since she had properly used her medical skills. From the moment she had come across the injured man, though, her actions had been triggered as if by remote control. She hadn’t given it a second thought. It was as though she had been