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'So which is it, then?'

'Eh?' Charlotte King was busy trying not to notice that Edward North was currently going through his pockets to find the key to his office, and she had lost the thread of the conversation that was going on around the nurses' station.

'Which do you think? Secret love-life, or no love-life?' Paula craned across the desk to get a better view. 'Wonder if he needs a hand with that?'

Charlotte swallowed a laugh. 'What? You know where he's left his keys?'

'No. But I'm really good at finding things.' Paula's smile left no doubt that she was contemplating a thorough investigation and possibly a body search.

'Too late. He's got them.' Allie grinned at Paula. 'And I reckon he's got a secret mistress somewhere.'

'When does he get to see her? In between here and the hospital, I'd be surprised if he has much time for anything else.'

'He has time to swim.' Allie's blue eyes flashed mischievously.

'Yeah?' Paula's attention was on Allie now.

'Mmm-hmm. I left my trainers downstairs in the gym the other day and went to fetch them after work. He was in the pool, doing laps.'

'Hmm. Perhaps I'll go buy myself a swimming costume. Common interests can be very important in a relationship.'

'So you've thought this through, then?' Charlotte wished that Paula and Allie would keep their voices down. Not that the nurses were in any danger of being heard. It was difficult enough to get Edward's attention even when he was supposed to be listening to you. It just seemed somehow wrong to be talking like this.

'Who hasn't? I reckon he just needs a good woman. And I'll apply for the position if no one else is interested.'

Allie laughed. 'Steady, Paula. Remember there's a queue and I'm in it. Charlotte, too, eh?'

Charlotte considered the prospect. She couldn't get away with a lie that big. 'Yeah, okay. Just to keep you two company, though. I don't have time for dating.'

Or the money. Or the inclination, most of the time. Apart from when Edward… Her gaze wandered over to the glazed wall of his office. He was behind his desk now, deep in thought, a stack of papers and books in front of him.

'Yeah, right.' Paula was laughing now. 'Guess we could share him around.'

Oh, no. Edward wasn't for sharing. He was for being loved, nurtured by one woman, not passed around like a beautifully wrapped, enormously sexy parcel. He looked up, as if somehow the thought had penetrated the walls of his office, his eyes suddenly focussing in Charlotte's direction.

She could feel the flush spreading up from the back of her neck to her cheeks. Edward might be for one woman, but that woman definitely wasn't her.

Charlotte turned, trying to pretend that he hadn't just caught her staring at him. 'I'll leave you to do that. I've got to do my last ward round and my friend is bringing Isaac here soon.'

'Really?' Paula always made a particular fuss of Isaac. 'What do we owe that pleasure to?'

'There's no school today and my friend's been looking after him. Lucy's got a date tonight so she's dropping him off here before she goes on to hit the town. If you see them, will you get them to wait here?'

Paula nodded. 'Sure thing. Take your time.'

Edward North had just got to the complex part. Not that tomorrow's microsurgery wasn't all complex, but this particular section was intricate in the extreme. Running through it in his head was his preferred method of preparation, and the swimming pool in the basement of the Hunter Clinic his preferred place. Working his body seemed to free his mind, but he couldn't be assured of solitude until the clinic was closed for the day, so his office was going to have to do.

'No. Not like that…' He shook his head, muttering in disgust at his own ineptitude. He'd have to start over now. Or at least from the last set of microscopic sutures. Edward took a breath, cleared his mind, and.

The image that floated into his mind was nothing like the one he was concentrating on building. Pale chestnut hair, bound in a tight knot at the back of her head. Light brown eyes. He couldn't see the flecks of gold from this distance, but he knew that they were there. Somehow Charlotte's eyes had impressed themselves on his consciousness when he had difficulty in recalling the names, let alone the eye colour, of most of the rest of the nursing staff.

She'd looked away, then. Blushing.

The exact mechanics of that particular form of vasodilation was child's play alongside the complexities of its causes. Most things were. Edward closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and went back to the matter in hand.

* * *

Lucy was already standing at the nurses' station when Charlotte returned from her ward round.

'Hey, Lucy, you look nice. I won't be a minute. I've just got to pick up my coat.' Charlotte looked around. Just one glimpse of her son after a long day was always enough to lift her spirits.

'Sure. Why don't you leave Isaac here with me?'

'Isn't he with you?'

'No. He ran ahead up the stairs. I called after him to wait for you here.'

For one split second the two women stared at each other. Charlotte almost choked as something squeezed tight around her heart, and then instinct and the sure knowledge that she needed to move now took over.

'Go downstairs, Lucy. Make sure he's not slipped out of the building. I'll look for him here.'

She glanced over in the direction of Edward's office. The view inside was partially obscured by a long, low cabinet, running the length of the glass wall and designed to keep the mess of books and other artefacts under some semblance of control, but she could see that he was no longer sitting at his desk. Not that he'd probably notice if a whole horde of five-year-olds started roaming the corridors, but he'd been the only one there and beggars couldn't be choosers.

Isaac shouldn't have gone into any of the treatment rooms. He knew not to do that. All the same she looked, trying not to panic, trying not to cry. Allie hadn't seen him and neither had Paula. She opened every cupboard, every locked door, just in case. And each time her baby wasn't there the agitation in the pit of her stomach grew.

'The receptionist says that he can't have got out of the building. He would have had to have either opened one of the back doors, and they're all alarmed, or gone straight past her.' Lucy arrived back upstairs, red and breathless.

That was something, at least. Mind you, there was plenty of trouble right here that a five-year-old could get into. The swimming pool… Charlotte remembered the swimming pool in the basement and felt suddenly sick.

'I'll call Security…' She grabbed for the phone and then dropped it. Either she was hearing things, or.

Isaac laughed again. That was definitely not a hallucination.

Lucy had heard it, too. 'Where is he?' Lucy looked around wildly.

Another laugh. This time deep, round and rich. The kind of laugh that Edward might have, only Charlotte didn't think she'd ever heard him laugh. Wordlessly she swung round and marched towards the door of Edward's office, opening it without bothering to knock.

For a moment, in the relief of seeing that Isaac was safe, she didn't register the scene in front of her. Somehow she noticed that Isaac's favourite toy, the blue bunny that he carried with him everywhere, was sitting in Edward's black leather chair, and that Edward was on the floor.

'Isaac!' Charlotte gulped out his name. 'What are you doing?'

Her son looked up at her. Innocent blue eyes and dark blond hair framed the sweet smile which never failed to dissolve her anger and dispel her fears.

'Hi, Mum. I'm making water.' He picked up a small red ball from the box in front of him. 'Look, you take one red one. That's.'

'Um…oxygen.' Edward got to his feet quickly, facing Charlotte with a slightly abashed air. 'So you're Isaac's mother?'

'Yes.' She ducked around Edward. She could deal with him later. 'Isaac, come here, please.'

'But, Mum, I haven't shown you. Look…'

'We mustn't bother Mr North any more, sweetie. Where did you get that from?' She looked at the molecule model kit in front of him on the floor. It looked like a great toy and she wished she could afford something like it for Isaac, even if he was a bit young for it at the moment.

'It's Edward's.' Isaac shot a pleading look up at his new friend, who ignored him completely and sat down in his chair, remembering just in time to pull the blue bunny out from under him before it got squashed. He proffered it to Isaac and when he didn't show any inclination to take it propped it up against the phone.

It had been a long week, and Charlotte had just about had enough. You could only take so many small crises, each one popping up hard on the heels of the last, before life became one big crisis.

'Then put everything back in the box and say thank you to Edward. We've got to get home.' Hopefully she could get out of here before the temptation to tear Edward off a strip became too great. Didn't he realise that someone would be looking for the stray five-year-old who had wandered into his office?

Isaac shot her a look which left her in no doubt that he wasn't in agreement with that decision, but complied anyway. One down, one to go. Charlotte turned to Edward, who was arranging the blue bunny into a crossed-legs, hands-behind-the-head posture which gave the impression that he was leaning back against the phone, sunbathing.

'I'm sorry he…interrupted you. We'll be going home.'

The sheer force of his gaze stopped her. Thoughtful. Intensely blue. And at this moment tainted with an uncertainty that was unlike Edward.

'Were you looking for him?'

'Yes. But it's all right, he's here…' Charlotte just wanted to hug Isaac. As soon as she got out of Edward's office that was the first thing she planned to do.

'I should have let you know he was here.'

He'd recovered himself now. Whatever emotion he did or didn't feel was locked away somewhere, no one's business but his own.

'That's okay. I've found him now…' She was shaking. So tired that she was almost in tears. All she wanted to do was get home. 'Isaac, will you give Edward the box back, please?'

Isaac seemed to have got over his disappointment and carefully collected up the box and laid it on Edward's desk. 'Thank you.'

'You're welcome.' Edward gave Isaac a guarded half-smile and a little formal nod and her son copied the expression in return. 'Don't forget… What's his name?'

'Stinky.'

Edward raised one eyebrow. 'Well, don't forget Stinky, then.'

He looked up at Charlotte and she tried for a smile.

'Will you stay a moment, please, Charlotte?'

This was the last thing she needed right now. She knew that Isaac shouldn't have been running around the clinic on his own. Edward didn't need to tell her that, and it went without saying that it wouldn't happen again. 'Isaac, will you go and sit with Lucy, please? Just for a minute.' She pointed to the patients' seating area outside.

'Here.' Edward leaned forward, towards the boy, proffering a handful of change. 'Get something for yourself and Lucy from the vending machine. D'you think Stinky wants anything?'

'No, he doesn't. He's not a real rabbit, you know.'

'Of course not. Well, something for you and Lucy then.'

Charlotte was about to stop Isaac from taking the money, but Edward had already put a selection of coins into his hand and Isaac was halfway towards the door. At least he remembered to thank Edward. She straightened herself and prepared for the dressing down that was coming.

'I'm sorry, Charlotte.'

'Eh.?'

'You must have been worried when you couldn't find Isaac.'

Worried? Frantic, more like. T…I'm sorry he bothered you.'

'He was no trouble. He seems to like molecules…' Edward almost smiled and then thought better of it. Too bad. In that brief moment his eyes had seemed bluer, and his dark good looks less brooding.

'He's only five. He likes putting things together and taking them apart again…' The rush of relief at finding Isaac had left her feeling like a limp dishcloth. And now this. Instinctively Charlotte put one hand to her brow, as if to shade herself from the intensity of those blue eyes which seemed to hold so much that was unsaid.

'Hey. What's this?'

He was on his feet, his hands on her shoulders. Edward had the worst timing of any man she'd ever known, bar none. Of all the times to choose to be kind, this was the one most likely to reduce her to tears.

'Nothing. It's nothing. I'm okay.' She tried to avoid his gaze.

'Clearly you're not.'

There was a note of tenderness in his voice that she hadn't heard before. Something warm about the arm which wound around her shoulder. Something about his scent that made her instinctively sink into him, even though she knew that this was probably one of the worst ideas she'd ever had in her life.

Under the crisp white shirt there was some serious musculature. Strong arms, and a flat, hard stomach. For the second time in the last few minutes the swimming pool flashed into Charlotte's head, but this time the image was considerably more inviting.

'I'm okay…' Charlotte thought about pushing him away and then decided that putting her hands anywhere near him would be far too much of a temptation. 'Really. I'm fine.'

He seemed to feel it, too. He stepped back quickly, almost as if she'd burnt him, and turned towards his desk. 'If there's anything that's bothering you, you should let someone know.' He thought for a moment, obviously considering himself an unlikely candidate for any kind of emotional disclosure. 'Lizzie, perhaps…I'm sure she'd be able to do…whatever's needed.'

Edward had switched back into professional mode and the relief was almost palpable. 'No. There's nothing. I just had a bit of a scare when I couldn't find Isaac…' She bit her words back. Nothing like blaming the very person who had just tried to help her.

'I'm sorry. It won't happen again.'

That was supposed to be her line. She smiled up at him, wishing that she could smooth some of the creases on his brow. 'It's okay. He's safe, and that's all that matters. I'm sorry he disturbed you. He knows he mustn't wander around here.'

'That's all right. It was nice to talk to him.' He gestured stiffly towards the molecule model kit. 'His approach is refreshingly creative, compared with most.'

Was that a joke? It was difficult to tell with Edward, but the possibility intrigued Charlotte. She could see Lucy and Isaac out of the corner of her eye, settling themselves down on the sofa with their drinks. They'd be at least another five minutes, and hadn't Paula always said that Charlotte only needed five minutes to get anyone to open up?

'What's it for? If you don't mind my asking?'

'You can use it for anything. I'm thinking of DNA sequencing.' The way he brushed off the question almost made her believe that everyone had a model of a DNA sequence somewhere in their office.

'Ah. Right. Anyone in particular?'

'Mine, actually. Just a snippet of it, of course. But don't you think there's something rather interesting about actually being able to look at something that's the very basis of your own make-up?'

'I'd never really thought about it.' Now he mentioned it, there was. There was an obscure symmetry about the concept that made her smile, even if she didn't properly understand it.

'You should. It would be interesting for Isaac…' He narrowed his eyes. 'Perhaps when he's a bit older.'

'Yes, I think so. Is that all?' She should go now. She'd managed to stem her tears for the moment, but who knew how long that particular dam was going to hold? Hopefully until after Isaac was safely tucked up in bed.

'Are you going home? I'm going your way. I'll give you a lift. The buses are horrible at this time of day—' He broke off, as if he'd let something slip that he shouldn't.