Chapter One

      ‘LET me get you a coffee, and then I’ll take you round and introduce you to the team,’ Essie, the charge nurse, said with a smile.

      ‘Thanks. I, um, brought some biscuits for the staff-room,’ Louisa said, handing her a large tin.

      ‘Thanks very much.’ Essie beamed as she peered at the lid. ‘Chocolate ones, too. Excellent. You’ll fit right in.’ She gave Louisa a sympathetic look. ‘The first day’s always the worst, isn’t it? Like being back at school.’

      Louisa smiled back. ‘I’ve been doing agency work for the last three months, so you’d think I’d be used to change. But, yes, you’re right. It feels like the first day at school, when you don’t know anyone and you don’t know the routine—well, as much of a routine as you get in the emergency department,’ she finished. No two days were ever quite the same.

      ‘You’ll be fine,’ Essie told her warmly. ‘I’ve rostered you onto Minors—but if anything big comes in, I might need to borrow you for Resus.’

      ‘That’s fine,’ Louisa said. As a nurse practitioner, she was able to see patients through from start to finish for the less serious problems—from taking the medical history through to doing the clinical examination, ordering and interpreting tests, diagnosing the ailment and organising a treatment plan for the patient. She loved the responsibility and the feeling that she was in charge of her own day, but she also enjoyed the busy, hands-on role in Resus, working as part of a team.

      ‘Dominic’s the senior registrar in Resus today. He’s our resident heart-throb,’ Essie said with a grin. ‘He looks like Prince Charming.’

      Heart-throb. Jack had been a heart-throb, too. But he’d been very far from being Prince Charming. He’d walked out on Louisa just when she’d needed him most. So much for promising to love, honour and cherish her. Jack had left her—and Tyler—because he couldn’t handle the idea of having a son with Asperger’s. As soon as Jack had heard the paediatrician say the words ‘autistic spectrum disorder’, he’d closed off, and Louisa had seen it in his eyes. She’d known that her marriage was cracking beyond repair, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Less than two months later, he’d moved out and asked her for a divorce.

      She could cope with Jack’s rejection of her; but she’d never, ever forgive him for rejecting their bright, quirky, gorgeous son. And she’d taken notice of the old saying, ever since: Handsome is as handsome does.

      Essie didn’t seem to notice Louisa’s silence. ‘He’s been here for eight years now. He joined us as a wet-behind-the-ears house officer, and worked his way up.’ She sighed. ‘Though he’s not one for settling down, our Dominic. Women used to fall at his feet in droves, but nowadays he doesn’t even date—he’s completely wrapped up in his work. Pity, because he’d make a fantastic husband and father.’

      Louisa had already spotted the photograph on Essie’s desk; the charge nurse was smiling for the camera, looking blissfully happy with her husband and two children. It seemed that Essie was the type who wanted everyone to be as happy and settled as she was. Well, she was happy and settled. She just wasn’t in a two-parent family. ‘Marriage isn’t for everyone,’ she said quietly.

      ‘You’re not married, then?’

      ‘Not any more.’ Not that she wanted to talk about it. Though, given the photograph on Essie’s desk, she could offer the perfect distraction. ‘But