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      He swore in horror. ‘That—that’s huge!’

      Which was the whole point: even without the needle, it looked impressive. Her patient didn’t need to know the syringe was used for anaesthesia and guiding a tube into the spinal cord—it certainly wasn’t used to give vaccinations or local anaesthetic for suturing wounds! She managed to hide her grin. ‘If you sit quietly and don’t hassle the other patients—or my receptionist—I’ll assume you’re not drunk and I’ll make sure you get some painkillers before I sort out that cut. So it’s your choice, mate. Drunk and painful, or not drunk and painkillers?’

      ‘Right.’ Black-Eye looked thoughtful. ‘Come on, lads. Let’s do what the doc says. Sit down and wait.’

      ‘I’m not waiting. That bastard sliced my arm. I’ll bleed to death! I want it stitched now, so I can go and sort him out,’ another one said, thrusting his face belligerently into Holly’s. ‘You a doc or a dolly?’

      She nearly gagged at the alcohol fumes. ‘A doctor. A female doctor. One who’s been on her feet all evening and really, really needs a cup of coffee. The longer you keep me here, the longer it’ll take to treat you. So why don’t you sit down and let me finish helping my patient, so I can start seeing to your arm?’

      He glared back at her, but he sat down, just as two burly security men entered the room and David emerged from the cubicles.

      ‘Problems?’ one of the security men asked.

      ‘Not any more—are there, lads?’ Holly asked.

      ‘No, Doc,’ Black-Eye said politely.

      David stared at Holly. ‘What did you do?’ he asked.

      ‘Not a lot. Just pointed out a few things.’ She shrugged. ‘Siobhan, who’s next on my list?’

      Holly had just taken on six drunken men—all of whom were a good six inches taller than she was. All muscular, all drunk, and all of them had been fighting, so adrenaline was pumping through their bodies, and they’d been raising hell in Reception.

      Without even raising her voice, she’d got them all to sit down. Without a fuss. Then had coolly asked to see her next patient.

      The sweet, gentle Holly Jones he’d known definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that. She’d lived a sheltered life and had probably never even seen anyone drunk or violent—whereas he’d lived on a rough estate where he’d seen situations like this every single night.

      So maybe the real Holly was the scary one.

      Maybe Holly had turned into her mother, the most formidable woman David had ever met.

      ‘Our Holls is pretty amazing, isn’t she?’ Siobhan said wryly.

      ‘Just remind me never to get on her bad side,’ David replied.

      Though he didn’t think she could do anything else to him. She’d already put him through the mangle and hung him out to dry.

      When David had finished treating his share of the drunken brawlers, he headed for the rest room. He needed coffee. Now.

      Holly was already there, curled up with a cup of coffee and a chocolate brownie.

      Food. He needed food. ‘Where did you get that?’ he asked, eyeing the brownie. He just hoped the shop was still open, wherever it was. And still had something like that left.

      He was disappointed. ‘Zoe from Paeds left it for me. I’m one of her testers for new recipes.’

      ‘Oh.’

      He wasn’t going to ask her for a bite. Even though he was starving.

      But it must have shown on her face because she rolled her eyes. ‘All right, all right, I’ll split it with you.’ She broke the cake in two and handed one half to him, with just the hint of a smile.

      ‘Thank you.’ His head was reeling. This was Scary Holly, the one who’d made the drunken louts behave like lambs. How could she be Nice Holly, who shared her goodies? Especially, he thought when he took his first bite, something as scrummy as this, which any normal person definitely wouldn’t have wanted to share?

      ‘Enjoyed your first week here?’ she asked.

      ‘Yes.’ Once he’d got over the shock of seeing her again. But she was being friendly enough to him. He could handle this, treat her as a colleague. Ignore the tingle at the base of his spine every time he looked at her mouth. ‘This shift pattern takes some getting used to, though.’

      ‘Give it six months, then the human resources bods will come up with another clever idea for us to try.’

      ‘Such cynicism in one so young,’ he teased.

      He’d obviously hit a raw nerve, because her face changed. Became shuttered and cool.

      What had he said?

      He backtracked, fast. ‘I was impressed with the way you handled that lot out there.’

      She shrugged. ‘You get used to it. Most Friday and Saturday nights we get the same sort of thing. It’s just a matter of defusing the situation before things get out of hand. Give them a choice so they don’t feel they’re going to lose face, and they’ll usually shut up.’

      ‘They could have hit you.’

      ‘Security were on their way.’

      ‘You still took a risk.’ A stupid risk, and it made him want to protect her—despite the fact she’d already proved she was tough, not the sweet and gentle middle-class girl he’d known years ago. She didn’t even have that posh accent any more.

      ‘There’s a little trick that a registrar taught me when I was still a house officer.’ She withdrew the epidural syringe from her pocket. ‘You’re drunk and you’re hurt and the doctor tells you this is what she’s going to have to use for your tetanus booster, because when you’re drunk you need more medication—though if you wait your turn without a fuss she’ll assume you’re sober and use a smaller syringe. Are you going to hit her or are you going to shut up and sit down?’

      ‘That’s an epidural kit, without the needle.’ David stared at her. ‘And it’s not true about vaccinations. You didn’t.’

      ‘It was a white lie.’ She grinned. ‘And it worked, didn’t it?’ She finished her coffee. ‘I’d better get back and see how we’re doing out there.’

      David gulped his coffee as he watched her leave the room. That smile. It would be so, so easy to forget what had happened between them. To fall for Holly again. She was brave and funny—and beautiful. She’d been pretty as a teenager, but she’d lost that plump ripeness. Thinner, older, with that gamin haircut showing off her incredible bone structure, Holly Jones was beautiful.

      But he wasn’t going to let her break his heart a second time.

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