Heart's Desire Read online

  HEART'S DESIRE

  Sorcha MacMurrough

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  SYNOPSIS

  About The Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  SYNOPSIS

  Nurse Sinead Thomas rescues the hospital's handsome architect Austin Riordan from a life-threatening situation. Touched by the high-powered man's sudden vulnerability, she agrees to his proposal to become his private nurse over the Christmas holidays while he recovers his strength.

  Sinead gets more than she bargained for as she gets more and more drawn into his web of sensuality. The passionate relationship they forge is like nothing Sinead has never known, and she soon finds herself falling in love with her enigmatic new employer.

  But a cunning woman from Austin's past soon becomes professional and very personal rivals with Sinead. Is Austin really all he seems? Or has he been playing her all along to further his own hidden agenda? Can Austin and Sinead fight their inner and outer demons to secure their hearts' desire?

  "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 the man 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?

  About The Author

  Sorcha MacMurrough is a multi-published author from Ireland who has taught English literature and English and Irish history. She has lived all over the UK and Ireland, including London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Her favorite cities to live in or visit are Bath and York. She loves old houses, castles and estates and can usually be found touring these locales to help make all of her settings come alive for her readers. Sorcha loves the Regency period and the Napoleonic era in particular, which form the beginning of the modern world as we know it.

  Her novels have been chosen as monthly "Top Picks" by Romantic Times, and she has also been nominated for a Reviewer's Choice award for best novel of the year by Romantic Times. When she is not writing, researching and teaching, she cooks, knits Aran sweaters, and enjoys spending time with her large family. She loves Irish dancing and music, and beachcombing on the shores of Donegal, Sligo and Galway.

  HEART'S DESIRE

  Sorcha MacMurrough

  HerStory Books

  DEDICATION

  To my family and friends,

  who don't get to see me nearly as often as we would all like.

  Copyright the author 1998, 2004

  USA, UK, Rest of World

  Third edition, with additional material copyright 2008

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

  Under the 1988 UK copyright laws, the author asserts the right to be identified as the creator of this work.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by HerStory Books

  http://www.herstorybooks.com

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  Happy Reading!

  Ireland, December 1998

  Chapter One

  "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. Acting on instinct, she hit her hazard lights and dashed out of her car.

  Sinead pulled hastily at the door of the Jaguar and once it was open, 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. Then she 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 purse and 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. The bitter December chill clawed at her thin nurse's 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.

  To her relief, the gentleman now looked more awake when she opened the door. She asked quietly, "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 as fast as she dared.

  "Thank you, I'll try," he replied with a brief smile. He leaned his head back to take another drink, closed his eyes and sighed.

  Sinead studied him briefly once his eyes were closed. The sleek raven black hair and heavy eyebrows, long nose and thin lips were striking in their masculine beauty. The lithe lean body she could see from the broad shoulders down to the narrow waist she had put her arm around as she had secured his seat belt 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. Of all people.... But she was actually relieved to have been the one to discover his diabetic attack. As their important new architect for Castlemaine General Hospital, responsible for all the renovations and the new extensions which had begun about two months before, she certainly didn't want anything to happen to him, even if he had a notorious reputation for being 'difficult'.

  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.

  "You were lucky it happened when you were waiting at a light and that no impatient driver plowed into the back of you."

  "Well, all I can say is thank you for helping me. It's a miracle 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. Thank you."

  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 flipped open the door as fast as she could and jumped out of the car to call 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 jet-black 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 a coat, that's all."

  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 immediately started to push him away into one of the examining rooms and Sinead filled him in on all that had happened as the two of them heading for the sliding doors.

  "Good job," Dan called over his shoulder. "He was damned lucky." Then the doors slid closed with a click.

  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 remembered that she needed to get her things from the car before she went on duty. Then she realized she would have to do something with Austin's Jaguar and eventually get her own car from down the road.

  She eyed the gleaming vehicle for a moment and then hopped back in. 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 to clock in for her shift.

  Chapter Two

  The rest of Sinead's day passed by in a whirl. She was rushed off her feet in the intensive care unit from the moment her shift started.

  In some ways she was grateful for the chance to block out the events of the morning. Finding Austin Riordan slumped over in his car like that had been most unsettling. The man was lucky he hadn't been in a car accident while in the throes of a diabetic attack. Poor man. If he wasn't aware he had had diabetes before, his life was certainly going to change now.

  Then she giggled a bit. Poor man indeed. If his reputation was anything to go by around here, he would be abusing every member of staff in no time. She was sure not a few of her colleagues would love to give him a few good jabs and pricks in return as they gave him a head to toe check up and started to test his blood sugar regularly.

  At lunchtime a message came to her that Mr. Riordan wished to see her at her earliest convenience. Sinead felt positively weak at the knees as she looked at the bold handwriting. She was debating over whether or not she should go when the matter was taken out of her hands by one of the patients in the cardiac intensive care unit suffering another heart attack.

  It was not until hours later, after a protracted and vain struggle, when the elderly heart patient was at peace forever, that Austin materialized in her mind's eye again.

  Sinead was alone in the staff office, feeling rather weepy after the pointless struggle, always sorry to lose a patient. As she sipped a fortifying cup of tea, she closed her eyes and put her head down on the desk briefly. A pleasantly intoxicating smell filled her senses and she opened her eyes dreamily. A vision of Austin floated in front of her, his steel-gray eyes glittering as they penetrated her own violet gaze.

  Sinead smiled softly, but her dream was shattered as the voice
barked out, "I'm not accustomed to being kept waiting, Nurse Thomas."

  Sinead blinked several times, her mouth hanging open with shock and dismay. He was real! What was he doing in the staff lounge?

  She scrambled to her feet, and looked down at him sitting in the wheelchair. She stammered out, "I-I wasn't deliberately keeping you waiting, Mr. Riordan. We had an emergency in the cardiac ICU. We just finished, er, taking care of the poor man, and your note slipped my mind."