CHAPTER ONE

      ‘REALLY? THIS IS what you dragged me down here for?’ Talank Basu pressed his shoulder against the doorjamb of the hospital’s resus department and rolled his eyes at his kid sister. ‘I expected some medical emergency, not a schoolyard blind date request.’

      ‘Oh, relax,’ Hetti snorted, in a way that no one else talking to him would ever have dared. ‘I’m not asking you to marry the woman—just take her to the hospital ball as your plus one.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Please, Tak? Effie’s new to the air ambulance job, and new to the area, and what’s more she’s really nice. But she has already fended off advances by at least four single doctors and two nurses that I know about, so going alone to the gala would be like painting a bullseye on her back. She could use a bit of support.’

      He grinned, unable to resist his habitual teasing of her. ‘Ah, now I understand. She’s another one of your waifs and strays, is she, Hetti?’

      ‘Stop it.’ She swatted him good-naturedly. ‘You’re as bad as Mama. You know she wouldn’t know compassion if it walked and swamped her in a massive cuddle.’

      ‘Don’t disrespect her, Hetti.’ Tak frowned automatically.

      But instead of backing down, his sister held her ground, narrowing her gaze. ‘Why does she always get a free pass with you, Tak? Still? We’re not kids any more, so you don’t have to protect us from who she really is. You sacrificed your entire childhood practically raising Sasha and Rafi and me, being Mama and Papa all rolled into one just to shield us from our parents’ inadequacies. Papa was off having his never-ending affairs, and Mama... Well, you know. And that was before Baby Saaj.’

      Tak didn’t bother answering. It wasn’t worth the argument. Their parents weren’t worth the argument.

      Over Hetti’s shoulder he could see people milling about, waiting for the next trauma victim to come in. A rare calm before the proverbial storm. The helicopter was only a few minutes out now, and Hetti had got her team together and all the equipment she thought they might need. Now it was just a matter of waiting, and soon the place would be a flurry of activity again.

      ‘Anyway...’ Hetti shook her head as though dislodging the argument. ‘Effie isn’t one of my “waifs and strays”, as you so indelicately put it. She was an A&E doctor with me back when I was at Allport Infirmary last year. Turns out Effie has landed herself a plum role on the air ambulance across this way, too.’

      ‘Air ambulance? She must be particularly good.’

      ‘Oh, she is.’ Hetti nodded. ‘Effie was always exceptional. Noticed things other doctors missed...knew stuff even senior consultants might not know. It was no wonder the air ambulance snapped her up. Even you might be impressed.’

      ‘If you’re that taken with her then why don’t you make her your plus one?’

      For a moment it looked as though Hetti might want to say more, but then she sucked in a deep breath and grinned back at him in that disarming way of hers that he recognised from when she was a toddler.

      ‘Well, I would, but I’m on call that night,’ she shot back instantly, making Tak smile. ‘And, no, before you say anything, I don’t want you to get that changed for me, because then it will mean some other poor sucker who hasn’t got a medical god for a brother will end up missing out on the ball instead.’

      ‘Your choice.’ Tak shrugged. ‘But I told you—I’m going to the ball stag. Although right now I’m going home.’

      He should have gone ten minutes ago—well, technically he should have gone three hours ago. However, he’d wanted to stay with his last patient a little longer, and his neurology emergency department had been busier than usual for the time of night.

      And now he was here. Because Hetti had asked him to be and because, doctor in her own right or not, she was always going to be his baby sister.

      If he’d known Hetti’s call wasn’t about a patient but about dating he wouldn’t have bothered. Especially when she was giving him grief. Like right now.

      ‘Wow, the rumour mill will love that. Eligible bachelor Tak Basu attends one of the highest profile events of the year alone? Congratulations. I don’t think you could have come up with a better way to stir up the already feverish interest in your love-life, whilst simultaneously encouraging Mama to push you towards an arranged marriage of her preference.’

      ‘It’s precisely because of those reasons that I’m going alone,’ Tak growled—not that it had much effect on his unperturbed sibling. ‘I’ve had enough of being potentially married off to every woman I speak to, let alone date.’

      ‘Only because you’d rather be married to your career. The King of Awake Craniotomies—determined to be better than all the rest of us who want such humble things as relationships, and love, and someone to share their life with.’

      ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? I never said I was better than anyone,’ Tak pulled a face.

      ‘No, but I know you think it. Still, as someone who is actually allowed to love you and want the best for you, I have to warn you that if you attend the gala alone then, despite your intentions, it will look like an advertisement for the fact that you’re shockingly single right now.’

      ‘Well, it isn’t.’

      ‘I know that. But every woman within a hundred-mile radius who fancies her chances is going to be beating down your door. And that’s a conservative estimate. Pretty stupid for an intelligent guy.’

      He laughed despite himself. ‘So, let me get this straight. Now you’re saying you want me to take some new trauma doctor to the ball for my benefit?’

      Hetti wrinkled her nose. ‘I’m saying you and Effie could be the perfect foil for each other. Neither of you wants a relationship, but you both need someone to keep would-be suitors at bay. And to buy you some time with Mama and the various so-called aunts who have a whole host of potential brides for you all lined up.’

      ‘Yes, this Effie woman might say she doesn’t want a relationship, but she will. They always do.’

      ‘Geez, big-headed, much? Watch you don’t get stuck in the doorway on your way out, won’t you?’

      Hetti thumped him hard in the arm. Or at least she tried to.

      She shook her hand and grimaced. ‘My God, they’re right. You really do have the body of a PT instructor rather than a doctor. No wonder you’re so ridiculously arrogant.’

      ‘Not arrogance,’ Tak hunched his shoulders. ‘At least not intentionally. It’s just fact. No matter how clear I try to be at the start that I’m not in it for a relationship which is going to lead to marriage down the line.’

      ‘Well,