Excerpt of Nurse in a Million by Jennifer Taylor

"I'M VERY sorry, Miss Palmer, but he's still refusing to leave. He's been here for over an hour now and I really don't know what else I can do."

Natalie Palmer sighed when she heard the panic in her secretary's voice. Janet was noted for her calm efficiency but even she was starting to crack under the pressure. "Did you explain that I was too busy to see anyone this morning without an appointment?"

"Yes! But he said that he was prepared to wait all day if necessary." Janet lowered her voice so that Natalie had to strain her ears to hear what she was saying. "Would you like me to call Security and let them deal with him?"

It was tempting.

Very tempting, indeed! Natalie hesitated as she weighed up the merits of having Dr Michael James Rafferty ejected from the headquarters of Palmer Pharmaceuticals. After all, why should she worry about the embarrassment it might cause him? Rafferty obviously didn't care that he was making a spectacle of himself, otherwise he would have left as soon as she'd made it clear that she didn't intend to see him. No, the truth was that Rafferty was too stubborn to accept that he wasn't going to get his own way.

Her mouth thinned, because in her opinion Rafferty's stubbornness was the cause of all their problems. After all, it wasn't her fault that her family was so rich. If it didn't worry her then she didn't see why it should worry him. But he wouldn't accept that her wealth didn't matter so long as they loved one another. If he'd been the sort of person to suffer from low self-esteem, she could have understood, but Rafferty certainly wasn't lacking in confidence. Why should he, when he'd reached the very top of his profession and earned the respect of his peers along the way?

"Miss Palmer? Are you still there?" 'Yes. I'm sorry, Janet. I was just trying to decide what to do for the best."

Natalie hurriedly returned her thoughts to her current predicament. If it needed drastic measures to resolve this problem, she wouldn't back down. Rafferty couldn't just turn up at her office and demand to see her — it gave out the completely wrong signals.

Since her father's heart attack three months ago, she had worked hard to keep Palmer Pharmaceuticals on track. Richard Palmer had warned her there were certain factions within the company who wanted to change how the firm operated. Palmer's had always donated a large percentage of its profits to charitable ventures and in recent years it had been the main sponsor of Worlds Together. It was a costly undertaking and Natalie knew that several members of the board would prefer to see the money spent elsewhere.

That was the last thing she intended to happen. As a highly skilled nurse-practitioner, she'd been involved with Worlds Together since its inception and knew how valuable its work was. She really wasn't prepared to jeopardise its future by allowing her authority to be undermined in any way.

"I think it would be best if you called Security," she told Janet, trying not to think about how much she longed to see Rafferty. He'd made his position abundantly clear before she'd come back to London and she doubted if he'd changed his mind. "Ask them to escort Dr Rafferty —"

She broke off when her office door suddenly opened and Rafferty appeared. He gave her a broad smile but she could see the glitter in his eyes, and a shiver ran through her because it was obvious that he hadn't appreciated being kept waiting.

"Hello, Natalie. How are you?" 'Get out!" 'Tut-tut, that isn't very polite, is it? And after I've spent so much time waiting to see you, too." He glanced at his watch and arched a sleek dark brow. "Over an hour. I am impressed. I didn't think you'd hold out that long, but it will teach me not to underestimate you in future, won't it, sweetheart?"

"I am not your sweetheart," she told him, coldly enunciating every word.

"Not now, maybe, but you were once and it wasn't that long ago either."

He closed the door and slid home the bolt, shaking his head when she immediately reached for the phone. "If you're thinking of calling Security, I wouldn't bother. I'm sure your secretary will do it for you."

Natalie slammed the receiver back into its cradle. "Then why not spare yourself the embarrassment of being thrown out? There's the door, Rafferty. Make sure you close it again on your way out."

"Cute. You've obviously been sharpening your tongue while I've been hanging around outside."

He laughed as he crossed the room and Natalie felt her heart give a nervous little flutter. It was three months since she'd seen him and it struck her all over again just how handsome he was. With that crisp black hair, those deep green eyes and chiselled features, Rafferty could turn any woman's head and she certainly wasn't immune to his charms. However, she doubted if this was a social visit and didn't intend to make the mistake of falling under his spell again that day.

"My secretary has already explained that I'm extremely busy. I really don't have time for this, Rafferty, so if you want to see me then I suggest you make an appointment like everyone else does."

"But I'm not "everyone else", am I?" He stopped in front of her desk and regarded her steadily. "You and I go back a long way, Natalie, and I think that gives me certain rights."

"What sort of rights?" she demanded scornfully. "The right to tell one another the truth, for starters." He leant across the desk and she steeled herself when she saw how grim he looked all of a sudden. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what he had to say, but she couldn't think of a way to stop him.

"You've sold out, Natalie. You've swapped a career where you were doing an awful lot of good for one spent making money. Now, maybe you enjoy the cut and thrust of business and get a real buzz from it — I really don't know. But can you put your hand on your heart and swear that what you're doing now is anywhere near as fulfilling as nursing was?"

"I'm not listening to this," she began, but he ignored her as he carried on.

"Of course you can't. And if you'd just admit that you were wrong to take on this job, you could come back to what you do best."

"Wrong?" 'Yes!" There was a touch of impatience in his voice now. "Oh, I'm sure you've done your best but you have to face facts, and fact number one is that you're not a business-woman. There must be hundreds of people better qualified than you who could do this job."

"You have no idea what this job entails!" she shot back, scarcely able to believe his arrogance. Just who did he think he was to decide that she wasn't making a success of running the company?

He shrugged, obviously unfazed by her anger. "I know that it involves making a lot of money."

"And that's all there is to it? Making money?" She tossed back her head and laughed. "You haven't a clue, Rafferty! You've no idea what goes into running this company because if you had, you might change your mind."

"About the challenges entailed in making vast amounts of profit for its shareholders?" He smiled thinly. "I don't think so. Somehow I don't think it would hold much appeal for me."

"How do you know when you've never tried it?" 'I know that making money can never equate with saving lives. That's what you're trained to do, in case you've forgotten. You save people's lives. You care for them when they're sick and you make them better."

He glanced around the beautifully appointed office with its stunning view over the River Thames and she could see the contempt on his face when he turned back to her. "Can you honestly say that what you're doing now is more important than that? Because if you can, you're not the woman I thought you were."

Natalie felt a stabbing pain pierce her heart. Was her worth only to be measured by the number of lives she saved? She pushed back her chair and stood up, unwilling to sit there and listen to anything else.

"You've said what you came to say and now I think you should leave."

"I'm not leaving until I get a proper answer from you." 'No, what you mean, Rafferty, is that you're not leaving until I agree with you. That's why you came, isn't it? Because you intended to…bully me into falling in with your wishes!"

"Bully you?"

He looked taken aback by the accusation but it was of little consolation. She couldn't believe how painful it was to know that he valued her more as a nurse than a woman. Even though they'd never been able to resolve their differences about her family's fortune, the one thought she'd clung to had been that it had proved he'd loved her for herself. Now even that was in doubt, it seemed.

"What else would you call it? Coming here and demanding that I admit I was wrong to help my father… That's typical bullying tactics in my eyes."

"I didn't say that you were wrong to help your father." 'No?" She laughed shortly, too hurt to take a rational view of events. "It sounded like it to me, but maybe I'm wrong about that, too. We can't all be as perfect as you, Rafferty, unfortunately."

"I'm far from perfect," he ground out. "I've made more mistakes in my life than I can count. That's why I can't bear to see you making a mistake like this. You shouldn't be here, Natalie. You should be doing the work you're trained to do, not playing the big executive in this fancy office."

"I'm not playing, I assure you. I admit that I'm having to learn the job as I go along, and that I shall never be anywhere near as good at it as my father is. But I do my best and, despite what you believe, it makes a difference to people's lives, just in a different way."

"By clinching deals and making money?" He laughed harshly. "Not quite the cutting edge kind of work you're used to, but maybe you've forgotten what it's like to work at the sharp end. Maybe you need a reminder of what's really important in this life."

"I don't need any reminders, thank you very much." 'I disagree. It's obvious that somewhere during the past three months you've lost your way. The question now is whether you have the guts to do something about it."

"What do you mean by that?" 'Prove that you know what you're doing by coming on our next aid mission. If you still feel that working here is more important after that then I swear that I'll never try to persuade you to change your mind again. Are you up to it, though, Natalie? That's the big question."

Rafferty held his breath. Even though he'd never planned on issuing such a challenge when he'd set out that morning, he realised all of a sudden that it might be the only way to make her see sense. If he could get her back into the field, she'd soon realise what was important to her…

"Was that a challenge?"

Her tone was clipped and he winced at the supercilious note it held. It was unheard of for Natalie to speak to anyone that way. Despite her background, she had never put on airs and graces and had always treated everyone in the same friendly fashion. He must have really upset her to arouse such a response and it didn't make him feel good to know that. He had to console himself with the thought that he was doing this for her own benefit.

"If you prefer to see it as a challenge, it's fine by me." 'And if I accept, what are you going to do in return?" She walked around the desk and sat down on one of the low leather sofas in front of the window. Rafferty felt a wave of heat shoot through him as he watched her settle herself comfortably against the cushions. She was wearing a pale grey suit which he knew without needing to see the label must have come from some exclusive designer's collection. The jacket fitted her like a glove, moulding her full breasts and offering a tantalising glimpse of cleavage when she bent forward to help herself to a grape from the fruit bowl on the coffee-table. It was obvious that she wasn't wearing anything under the jacket apart from a bra and his body responded in time-honoured fashion to the knowledge.

"Why should I need to do anything?" he countered, hoping she couldn't tell what was happening to him.

"Because it's only fair, of course."

She popped the grape into her mouth and crossed her legs. It was done with the utmost decorum but he had to stifle a groan when he heard the whisper of silk. Although most women didn't bother wearing stockings nowadays, Natalie had always preferred to wear them. In fact, they'd enjoyed many a happy hour divesting her of them…

"If I accept your challenge, you should accept mine. Unless you're too scared, of course."

That got his immediate attention. Rafferty blanked out the delicious images that had been playing inside his head and stared at her. "I'm not scared, Natalie. If the only way to make you see sense is by accepting your challenge, I'll do it."

"Good. That's what I hoped you'd say."

She stood up and came towards him, stopping so close that he could feel the warmth of her body all down the length of his. Trying to control his rioting libido at that point was a waste of time so he gave up. If she was deliberately trying to torment him, she was making a damn good job of it, he thought ruefully.

"I'll expect you tonight at six. Don't be late. It really isn't good form to arrive after the main guest. Oh, and you'll need a dinner jacket, too. I'd hate you to feel embarrassed by not being properly dressed."

She swished past him before he could say anything, shot back the bolt and opened the door. A couple of burly security guards rushed into the room and grasped him by the arms. Rafferty tried to shake them off but soon realised that he was wasting his time. Anyway, he'd be damned if he'd give her the satisfaction of watching him struggle.