“Men drivers!” Sinead grumbled, as the gleaming Jaguar in front of her remained stationary even though the light had long since changed to green.

Irritation gave way to concern as she saw the driver slump forward onto the steering wheel. Instinctively, she hit her hazard lights and dashed out of her car.

Sinead pulled hastily at the door of the Jaguar, and carefully pushed the driver against the back of the seat. Her violet eyes searched the face anxiously. A glimmer of steel-gray peered at her briefly, and Sinead heard her name whispered before they shut again.

Sinead sniffed the man, and decided that whatever was wrong with him, it certainly wasn’t drunkenness. She pulled up his eyelids, and saw the pupils dilated. She turned off the car engine and flicked on his hazard lights, and ran back to her car for her handbag. Sinead rummaged for a can of cola and a chocolate bar as she returned to the black Jaguar, and shook the handsome stranger by the shoulder.

“Try to stay awake, sir,” Sinead commanded in her best nurse’s tone, while she bent to loosen his tie and undo the top button of his shirt.

“Sinead,” he said again.

To her horror he leaned forward and brushed her lips with his own.

Oddly enough, Sinead didn’t jump. She forced the shivery feelings that had begun to course though her veins to one side as she insisted, “Come now, you must drink some of this.” She opened the cola with shaking fingers before pressing it to his lips.

The man held her hand as he drank thirstily. Sinead tried to stop trembling as the contact invaded her senses. Who was he? Why did he look so familiar? And how did he know her name?

Sinead’s reverie was broken by the sound of a car horn. She pressed the can into the man’s hand and shut the door quickly. Both cars were blocking the road, and she had to get help for her sick patient as soon as possible.

Sinead hurried back to her red Mini, and drove it a small distance up the road to the entrance of the primary school. There she parked it, grabbed her canvas holdall, and locked the car securely.

On the way back to the Jaguar, Sinead began to shiver. Too late she realized that she’d left her coat in the back of the car, and the bitter November chill clawed at her uniform and cardigan. But there was no time to go back with the Jaguar still blocking the road and the sick man requiring full medical attention. Hugging her arms around herself, Sinead ran down the lane and onto the main road.

The gentleman now looked more awake, and she asked, “Can you move over, so I can drive?”

“I think I might need a little help,” he replied in a slightly slurred voice.

The two front seats were wide, so with some pulling and a great deal of rather embarrassingly intimate chest to chest physical contact, Sinead slid him over to the passenger side, and belted him in. She was breathless by the time she finished, as though she’d run a mile in a minute.

“If you can try to finish the drink, and eat this chocolate bar, you should start feeling better. But I must take you to the Emergency Room to get someone else to look at you,” Sinead said in her most professional tone.

She looked around the dashboard and gear box, and managed to start the car the car at last. She cautiously looked around, signaled, and headed down the road at last.

“Thank you, I will try,” he replied, with a brief smile. He leaned his head back and took another drink.

Sinead studied him briefly once his eyes were closed. The sleek raven black hair and heavy eyebrows, long nose, thin lips, were striking in their masculine beauty. The lithe lean body suggested power and rock-hard control. Sinead finally answered the question which had been nagging her ever since he had first spoken her name.

Oh no, not Austin Riordan, she groaned inwardly. But she was actually relieved to have been the one to discover his diabetic attack. He was their important new architect for Castlemaine General Hospital, responsible for all the renovations and the new extensions which had begun about two months before.

That would explain how he might recognize her, but how had he known her name? And how dare he kiss her? Shame burned Sinead’s cheeks as she remember her pleasure at the enthralling contact. She could barely concentrate on the road as she looked at him again only to find him staring at her through veiled lids.

“How are you feeling now?” she asked, attempting a light tone, but she could hear the strained edge in her voice.

“Much better. There’s no need to sound so concerned,” Austin said with a faint smile.

“Naturally I’m concerned. I’m a nurse at the General. You could have been in real trouble having an attack like that in the middle of a busy road,” Sinead said, again trying to sound calm.

“Well, all I can say is thank you for helping me. I have to thank my lucky stars that of all the people in the world I had to collapse in front of, it was you.” His eyes closed again slowly, masking his thoughts.

Sinead smiled at this, but felt uneasy, wondering if he remembered kissing her. She put the thought out of her mind as she pulled up to the ER and turned off the engine.

“I’ll go get some help for you, Mr. Riordan,” Sinead said, unconsciously putting a hand on his arm to comfort him and see whether her words registered or not.

Warm, hard masculine fingers enclosed her own briefly. “I’m in your hands.”

Sinead disentangled herself from his caressing fingers as gently as possible. She felt so shaken she wished she could just jerk her hand away and run. She jumped out of the car and called for assistance. As soon as the gurney arrived, she opened the passenger door and unbuckled the seat belt.

Again Sinead caught the masculinely alluring scent of him as she leaned across his chest. Everywhere her body brushed against Austin, her skin seemed to go on fire. Sinead was certain that his lips brushed against her cheek.

Then she felt his strong arms go around her as he tried to get out of the car. He got onto his feet, and the male nurse came around his left side, while his right arm remained firmly around Sinead’s shoulders. She shook uncontrollably, sure that his fingers were fondling her long honey-blonde hair.

“I’m sorry, am I heavy?” Austin whispered in her ear intimately.

“No, no, it’s not that, Mr. Riordan,” she said, taking a deep breath and trying to control her sensual delight at the sound of his deep voice and the nearness of him. “I’m not wearing my coat.”

They walked him over to the gurney, and she made him sit down. While Dan the male nurse helped lift Austin’s legs onto it, Austin kept hold of Sinead. She practically sprawled on his chest as he pivoted around to lay flat. Austin’s warm hand stroked her back and travelled down her arm in a languid caress as she pulled away and his head made contact with the pillow.

“Thank you, my dear. I’ll see you soon,” Austin murmured.

Dan pushed him away into one of the examining rooms.

Sinead let out a ragged sigh, and stared after Austin as he disappeared. My goodness, that was too close for comfort in more ways than one, she thought with a bemused shake of her head.

She wasn’t used to being so man-handled. Even more surprising was the fact that she had actually enjoyed it. She shuddered with a twinge of pleasure at the remembered contact with his warm, vibrant body. No matter how much she told herself it hadn’t meant a thing, she couldn’t stop smelling his musky fragrance.

Forcing herself to be practical, Sinead went back outside, suddenly realizing she would have to do something with Austin’s Jaguar. She drove out of the ambulance bay and around the hospital into the main car park. Then she gathered up her handbag and carryall.

After checking carefully to make sure the car was tidy, and everything switched off, she locked the doors. With one last longing look at the incredible car, and a thought for the even more gorgeous man who owned it, she headed towards the main entrance.