Free Doctor's Orders by Ann Jennings Page B

he said.
    â€œSorry,” she said lightly, desperately bottling up her seething and confused emotions. “But you’ve picked the wrong girl tonight!” She started out of the kitchen, towards the front door. “I’m going back to the hospital now, are you going to take me, or shall I walk?”
    â€œI’ll take you, of course,” he snorted irritably, “although why I should bother I don’t know.”
    â€œThen don’t,” flashed Isabel angrily, and before he could stop her she ran to the front door and wrenched it open.
    With one swift stride he was at her side, his hand snaked out and gripped her wrist in a vice-like grip. “Don’t be so damned stupid,” he growled, “I said I would take you. It’s dangerous to walk back at his late hour.”
    â€œOh really!” said Isabel sarcastically, vainly struggling to wrest her wrist from his grasp. “I can hardly believe it is any more dangerous than staying here with you!”
    Muttering a stifled oath under his breath, he gripped her wrist even tighter and walked with her towards his car. “Get in,” he rapped tersely, holding open the door.
    On the drive back to the hospital neither of them said a word. Isabel knew what it must be like to be sitting on the edge of a precipice, afraid of falling at any moment to go spiralling off into space. On reaching the residence block he pulled the big car to an abrupt halt.
    Isabel hesitated. What does one say in a situation like this, she thought wildly, restraining an absurd impulse to giggle hysterically. Eventually she took a deep breath and said rather tamely, “Thank you for the meal!”
    â€œI’m not going to say thank you for a lovely evening,” he replied sarcastically, “because I didn’t get the cherry on the cake!”
    Isabel drew in her breath in a sharp hiss of anger, outraged at his brazen remark. “That’s your fault, you chose the wrong cake,” she spat at him, rage spilling over, making her reckless. “Next time you go shopping, choose your cake more carefully. Anyway, what you need is a tart, not a cake!” With that invective she scrambled out of the car. As she did so she heard him mutter something in reply, but couldn’t catch the words.
    Still trembling with anger, she glowered in his direction in the darkness as she slammed the door violently shut. Then without another glance she stalked up the path towards the residence block as the car roared off into the night. Judging by the way the wheels spun when it started, he must have stamped his foot down to the floor, she thought, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening. Blinking desperately, she fumbled with the key to the front door of the block. Damn, damn the man! It had been her proud boast that no man had reduced her to tears, and he had succeeded in doing that after only a few short hours!
    Flinging herself into bed, she prayed for sleep. She needed to face the next day! But sleep eluded her as she tossed and turned, dreading the coming of dawn. A whole day working with Mike Blakeney again, could she stand it? She knew for certain that every time she saw him she would think of those wonderful ecstatic moments in his arms. But then the spectre of his proposition and their resulting quarrel would return too! Perhaps I should have said yes, she thought restlessly, wishing she could change her nature and be free and easy, like so many of the girls she knew. If only he had shown some tenderness, instead of just baldly asking her to go to bed, in much the same way he would ask for an ampoule of a drug in theatre!
    Isabel sat up in bed and hugged her knees to her chest. I’ll wait for my knight in shining armour, she decided, someone to love and cherish me, then I’ll go to bed willingly. But I will not be used, and certainly not by a man with a reputation for being a cold fish. Although a sexy cold fish she admitted