Temptation in Paradise. Joanna Neil
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away, but gave her a questioning glance. ‘Perhaps we should meet up at lunchtime in the hospital restaurant and you can tell me how things have been going? About one o’clock?’
It sounded like more of a request than a suggestion, and she nodded, watching as he left the room a moment or two later. It seemed she’d passed the test … and relief flowed through her.
‘How has the morning gone for you?’ Robert asked when she ventured into the upper-storey restaurant a couple of hours later. It was a little before one o’clock. He stood alongside her in the queue at the food counter, loading his tray with a dish of curry and rice, and adding a dessert of passion fruit.
‘Fairly well, on the whole, I think,’ she told him with a smile. ‘Amanda’s been helping me out by showing me where equipment is stored, and so on. José showed me a fair amount, but there were bound to be gaps.’
They found a table by a window and Jessie was overwhelmed by the stunning view. Beyond the rolling, green-clad hills away from the town, she glimpsed the glorious deep blue of the sea.
José came to join them after a minute or two. ‘I’m glad to see you’re eating a hearty meal,’ he said, looking with approval at Jessie’s chicken ragout. ‘You need to keep up your energy level in this job.’
He tucked into pork tenderloin with potatoes and root vegetables, listening as Robert and Jessie compared notes on the morning’s work and interjecting occasionally to add a comment.
‘How did you get on with our small patients?’ Robert asked. ‘I know you’ve had some experience in paediatrics.’
‘Oh, the children are lovely,’ she answered. ‘Even the little girl who pushed a bead up her nose and didn’t want to let me touch her.’
Robert chuckled. ‘That’s the only problem with treating youngsters—you need to get their cooperation or you’re stymied.’
‘I saw the girl who had the bead up her nose,’ José said. ‘I looked in on her as her mother was talking to the nurse. Her little brother pulled a pearl from the girl’s hair ornament and tried to copy what she had done. I managed to stop him in the nick of time.’
They chuckled, and the conversation turned to the wonderful view of the harbour and coastline. ‘Have you had a chance to explore any of the island yet?’ Robert asked.
‘Not really.’ She shook her head. ‘I stepped off the plane a couple of days ago and my brother showed me a beach nearby, but apart from that and a quick look around the area close by the apartment I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything more. I can’t wait, though. What I’ve seen is so lovely. I’m really looking forward to visiting different parts of the island.’
‘There’s a small cove not far from here. Perhaps I could show it to you after we finish work here?’ Robert suggested. ‘Unless you’ve made other plans, of course?’
Jessie opened her mouth to answer, but José intervened smoothly, ‘Actually, I was hoping Jessie might want to come along with me to the reef later this afternoon.’ He sent her a quick glance. ‘I thought you might be interested in the work I’m doing—you mentioned you might need to look for some other source of income to keep you going. This would perhaps be ideal for you.’
‘Oh … yes, that’s true, I did. I didn’t realize …’ So there was the chance of working at the reef? That hadn’t occurred to her. She’d been too busy worrying about the pitfalls of spending time with José outside work to see that there might be an advantage in it. ‘Perhaps …’ She looked at Robert. ‘I’d love to go to the cove with you some time,’ she said awkwardly, ‘but maybe I should take this opportunity to see if I would be able to do this? I could really do with the extra income it would bring in.’
‘Of course. I understand. Don’t worry about it,’ Robert said. It was clear he was disappointed, but he put on a cheerful face. ‘We’ll do it some other time.’
José frowned and Jessie sent him a thoughtful look from under her lashes. Had he hoped to stop her from spending time with Robert? Perhaps he had an ulterior motive in getting her to go with him?
Well, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Wouldn’t this be the perfect chance for her to plead Ben’s case once more? After all, the man wasn’t made of stone, was he? ‘After work, then,’ she murmured.
José smiled. ‘Muy bien,’ he said.
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