Cort Mason - Dr Delectable. Carol Marinelli

is almost certainly going to lose his life … he’s my age.’

      Cort nodded, because he knew how confronting that could be. Ruby was right, she had every reason to be sitting alone in tears over a patient. ‘Talk to people at work,’ Cort suggested. ‘We’ve got a good team—let them know …’ He saw her eyes shutter, saw her close off, so he decided there was nothing further to be said. She had given him a reason, he’d in turn given advice, except something told him there was more to it than just that.

      ‘What about Sheila?’ He saw her shrug. ‘Your assessment?’

      All he got was silence and he was determined not to break it, just stood till after perhaps a full minute finally she responded.

      ‘She wants to see an improvement.’

      ‘In what area?’ Cort asked, and this time he gave in and broke the ensuing silence. ‘How much longer have you got in A and E?’

      ‘Two weeks. Well, just tomorrow and Monday, then I’m off for a while and back for three nights the following Monday.’

      ‘And then?’

      ‘Then I’m finished,’ Ruby said. ‘Then I start, I suppose—I want to be a mental health nurse.’ As he opened his mouth, she got in first. ‘I know, I know, the staff are as mad as the patients—’ she smiled as she said it ‘—so I’ll fit right in. Really, I’m just biding my time …’

      ‘Biding your time doesn’t work in A and E,’ Cort said. ‘And Sheila’s tough, but she’s good—listen to her.’

      ‘I will.’

      ‘Are you going back in?’ He didn’t like leaving her, didn’t understand why she would rather stand alone in the dark than join her friends.

      ‘I might just stay out here for a while.’ She thought of Siobhan and Connor and thought of going back in and doing the happy-clappy but she really couldn’t face it. ‘I might just go to bed.’

      ‘You’re not going to get much sleep with that noise.’

      ‘It’s not the noise that’ll disturb me. I’ll have Tilly coming up to find out what’s wrong, then Ellie then Jess. It’s just easier to …’ She gave another shrug. ‘I might go for a walk on the beach.’

      ‘Now, that really would be stupid—walking alone …’

      ‘Come with me, then.’ He could see the white of her teeth as she spoke, could hear the waves in the background, and for a moment he actually considered it, a bizarre moment because Cort didn’t do midnight walks. Well, he did, but not with company, except he did like talking to her.

      ‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea.’

      ‘I think it’s a very good idea,’ Ruby said, because he’d stepped a little bit closer and she didn’t want him to go. Cort had been the only solace in a day that had been horrible, and even if a while ago she had wanted to be alone, it was far, far nicer being here with him. ‘I like walking on the beach.’

      ‘I meant …’ Cort hesitated, ‘I meant you and me …’ He tried to change what he’d said, but only made matters worse. ‘Us,’ he attempted, and Ruby smiled.

      ‘As I said …’ She looked at his tie which was grey in the darkness, but which she knew was really a lovely lilac, and she did what she had wanted to do in the suture room—she put her hand up and felt the cool silk. She wanted him to go with her, wanted a little more of the peace she had found with him today. ‘I think it’s a very good idea.’

      Cort wanted to go with her too, though not necessarily to the beach.

      He didn’t do this type of thing.

      He didn’t find himself at student nurse parties, neither did he find himself in situations such as this one because he didn’t put himself there.

      He liked it now that he was, though.

      Liked it a lot because the next thing he knew he was kissing her.

      It was the nicest thing. It really was a lovely kiss. He sort of bent down and caught her, not completely by surprise because she’d felt his presence all night, or had it been before that? Ruby thought as his mouth roamed hers.

      She’d never kissed anyone in a suit.

      Never kissed anyone as lovely before, come to think of it.

      She couldn’t hear the music from the house now, wasn’t aware of anything except the lovely circle his arms created around them and what was happening in the centre. He had a hand on the wall and one in her hair over her neck, and his kiss was measured and deep like its owner, but as his tongue met hers, as she tasted his breath, there was more passion in his kiss than she’d ever anticipated, more passion than she’d ever tasted, and that it came from Cort made it all the more wild, like a secret only she was privy to. He pulled her head closer just a fraction and his mouth welcomed her a whole lot more and Ruby wanted to climb up his chest to wrap herself around him. She wanted his tie off, she wanted his shirt off, she wanted the party to disappear … she wanted more.

      He pulled back just a fraction, and if their mouths weren’t touching any more, they still thrummed. He looked down, not at a student nurse and a whole set of problems but into velvet-brown eyes and felt rare intimacy. It wasn’t just lust or a sudden urge. It was, quite simply, just nice to feel, and he hadn’t felt anything for so very long now—yet he was able to with her.

      ‘Do you want a nut?’ He could taste her words, could feel them because as she spoke her lips dusted his.

      And in turn Ruby felt rather than saw him smile, felt his lips spread, and, yes, she would kiss them again in a moment, just not here. He was like her beloved pistachios, she decided, all brittle and hard but so readily cracked and such a reward to get to the delicious centre.

      Cort was used to making rapid decisions—it was what he did for a living after all—but always his decisions were measured, tempered by outcomes and responsibilities. They just weren’t tonight.

      ‘I want you,’ Cort said.

      Which he did.

      It was as simple as that.