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he traversed the dance-floor, Deirdre following his every move with a clockwork precision. The waltz ended. Julie and her partner were standing not ten feet away from them, the neurosurgeon’s hand placed familiarly low on her hip. Teal said clearly, ‘Hello, Julie.’

      Her head swung round. ‘Teal...I noticed you were here,’ she said, and removed the doctor’s hand.

      ‘I’d like you to meet Dr Deirdre Reid,’ Teal said. ‘Julie Ferris, Deirdre...her son and mine are friends.’

      ‘Dr Reid and I have already met,’ Julie said coolly, her smile perfunctory.

      ‘Ferris?’ Deirdre repeated with equal coolness. ‘Oh, of course, Men’s Surgical. I didn’t recognize you out of uniform; all nurses look alike to me.’ She smiled up at Julie’s partner. ‘Hello, Nick, how are you? Teal Carruthers...Dr Nicholas Lytton.’

      The young neurosurgeon had very pale blue eyes, and Teal disliked him on sight. As the band struck up a slow foxtrot, he said, ‘Dance with me, Julie?’

      The twin patches of scarlet in her cheeks matched her outfit—a silk dinner-suit with a flounced neckline and glittering buttons; her hair was upswept on her crown, elaborate gold earrings swaying from her lobes. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and moved into his arms.

      While the color in her cheeks could have stemmed from Deirdre’s rudeness, Teal thought that more probably it was in anticipation of ending the night in the neurosurgeon’s bed. She felt very different from Deirdre in his embrace, her body lissome, utterly in tune with the languorous, sensual music. He led her through a complicated turn and said, ‘You know you’re dating the worst womanizer in the entire hospital?’

      Her head jerked up. Her eyes, he saw, were sparked blue with temper. ‘Who told you that?’

      ‘Deirdre.’

      ‘Is she speaking from personal experience?’

      Teal gave a choked laugh. ‘It’s not like you to be bitchy.’

      ‘You have no idea what I’m like.’

      The question forced itself past his lips. ‘Are you going to bed with him, Julie?’

      ‘Really, Teal, what kind of a question is that?’

      ‘A fairly straightforward one, I would have thought.’

      ‘You’re not in court—this is no place for a cross-examination,’ she said, and her lips—very kissable lips—compressed in a way that made his hands tighten their hold. ‘Don’t grab me,’ she added crossly.

      ‘Why not? Because I’m not a brilliant neurosurgeon, just a lawyer, and they’re a dime a dozen?’

      ‘Boy, you’re sure spoiling for a fight, aren’t you? Not that I’m surprised. Three hours of Dr Reid would put a saint in a bad mood.’

      ‘She’s an intelligent and attractive woman.’

      ‘So are you going to bed with her, Teal?’ she parried nastily.

      ‘No,’ he announced. ‘Why was she so rude to you?’

      ‘On my last shift she yelled at me in front of several interns and two other doctors for a mistake I hadn’t made. When I pointed out her error, she declined to apologize.’ Julie sniffed. ‘She treats patients like collections of removable organs and nurses like dirt.’

      Somehow Teal had no trouble believing every word Julie had just said. ‘Then we agree about something,’ he remarked.

      ‘What’s that?’ she asked suspiciously.

      ‘Neither of us likes the other’s choice of a date.’

      ‘You have no reason to dislike Nick,’ she flashed.

      He remembered the hand sliding down her hip and said curtly, ‘Danny deserves better of you than someone like Nick.’

      ‘Danny’s got nothing to do with it!’

      ‘So you don’t take your men home when you go to bed with them? How discreet of you,’ he sneered, recognizing with a distant part of his brain that he was behaving reprehensibly.

      ‘What have you got against me, Teal?’ Julie demanded. ‘You’ve disliked me from the minute we met.’

      You’re beautiful and full of life and you’re driving me crazy...

      For a horrible moment Teal thought he had spoken the words out loud. ‘Just don’t expose my son to your love life—that’s an order,’ he said coldly. ‘He likes you and I wouldn’t want him thinking promiscuity is acceptable adult behavior.’

      ‘I promise that when I stand on a street corner soliciting it won’t be your street,’ she snapped. ‘It’s beyond me how you have such a nice son! Since—like most men—you’re totally wrapped up in your job, I can only presume that your wife brought Scott up.’

      She felt Teal’s instant response through her fingers: a tightening of his shoulder muscles, a rigidity in his spine. ‘Leave my wife out of this,’ he grated. ‘She’s none of your business and never will be. And now I’d better hand you back to Nick, hadn’t I? I wouldn’t want the two of you to waste any time.’

      As the saxophone whispered its last chords and the dancers clapped he led her toward the other couple. ‘Yours, I believe,’ he said to Nick, and smiled rather more warmly than he had intended at Deirdre. ‘Why don’t we take a break and get a drink?’ he suggested, and without a backward look threaded his way off the dance-floor.

      There were two other couples that Teal knew at the bar, and they got into a ribald discussion on senate reform. An hour later when he and Deirdre went back to the ballroom, there was no sign of Nick and Julie.

      They’ve gone to his place, Teal thought viciously, and wondered why in God’s name it mattered to him. Almost as though she’d read his mind Deirdre said, ‘Why don’t we go to my apartment for a nightcap, Teal? I’ve just about had enough of this.’ So he wouldn’t mistake her meaning, she traced his lower lip with her finger, her eyes a mingling of mockery and seduction.

      He removed her hand. ‘I’m not into casual sex, Deirdre.’

      ‘It’s the only kind worth having.’

      ‘Not for me...sorry.’

      ‘I could change your mind.’

      He gave her a smile every bit as mocking as her own. ‘Haven’t you heard that no means no?’

      ‘What a liberated man you are, Teal,’ she responded, with no intent to flatter. ‘Tell the truth—if I were Julie Ferris, no would mean yes. Because you’d rather be standing in Nick’s shoes than your own right now. Not that I can imagine Nick’s still wearing his shoes.’

      Teal felt a surge of pure fury. Battling it down, he said, ‘I’ll take you home.’ And I won’t go out with you again, he thought. Thank you very much.

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