The Surgeon's Convenient Fiancée (Medical Romance) by Rebecca Lang

seated at a table in the spacious cafeteria, where Deirdre had chosen a sandwich and a glass of orange juice, with their trays before them.
    ‘I’ve arranged with the head of the operating room for me to show you around,’ he said. ‘We have to be there in precisely twenty minutes, which doesn’t give us much time to gobble this food.’
    ‘I’d forgotten how rushed everything often is in a hospital,’ she said, smiling tentatively at him across the expanse of the table. ‘Constantly watching the clock and having deadlines throughout the day.’
    ‘Yes, I expect you get out of it after a while, then you have to make an effort to get back in. Maybe we’ll do a test. We’ll start with giving you two minutes to change into a scrub suit in the nurses’ change room. How about that?’ The smile he gave her made her heart do a little flip.
    ‘I think I could make it,’ she said. An almost forgotten feeling of happiness, euphoria, came over her.
    It seemed amazing that less than twenty-four hours ago she had not known he existed, had sat like a zombie on a bus, unable to move. It was also amazing how quickly your life could be changed, for better or worse, if you took certain steps. Probably she would have contacted the human resources department on her own about jobs if she had not met Shay Melburne, but it would have taken longer and certainly would not have been so pleasurable. Not that she deluded herself that she was over her depression yet, or whatever it was, in spite of the positive effect of her companion. Something like that took time to work through. She would give herself that time, yet take action as well, she resolved there and then.
    ‘Good. I’ll show you where the change room is, then there are piles of uniforms inside and the disposable overshoes that you can just put on over your regular shoes. Remember?’ He grinned at her.
    ‘Yes, I do.’ She grinned back. ‘I’m looking forward to it. I…I’m really grateful to you for setting this up, Dr Melburne.’
    ‘I just hope it works out for you, if youdecide it’s what you want,’ he said. ‘Please, call me Shay.’
    They ate quickly and talked at the same time. ‘You mentioned to me last night that you were going to see the children’s grandmother,’ he said.
    ‘Yes. I did go this morning. We’ve sorted out some things. If the children really don’t want to go on living in the same house as Jerry, they can move in with her. But, of course, the house they are in now is bigger and nicer, and he’s away a lot, but they are going to have the option, and will move over some of their clothes and other things, to be ready if he gets worse. So far he hasn’t been physically abusive to them, thank goodness. They stay at my parents’ house with me, too, fairly frequently.’
    There was the other concern that she was not sure she should, or could, tell him, something that she could not make up her mind about because it would have a profound effect on her life. How could she tell him, this virtual stranger, that she was apprehensive that she would not be able to have a husband and children of her own.
    ‘And?’ he said, stopping in the act of finishing off his food, looking at her very astutely, so that she found herself blushing. It was uncanny that he seemed to read her mind on such a short acquaintance.
    ‘How do you know that there is an “and”?’ she said.
    ‘In the short time that we’ve known each other,’ he said, ‘I’ve come to interpret the nuances of your reactions, Deirdre,’ he said, smiling slightly.
    ‘That’s a little scary,’ she said.
    ‘A matter of acute observation,’ he said, smiling again so that such a reply would not seem pompous.
    ‘Um…there was one other thing,’ she said in a rush, deciding to tell him. ‘She—Mrs McGregor—asked me if I would agree to be legal guardian to the children if she were to become incapacitated…or die in the near future.’ She looked down at her plate,