anged for Ally to be transferred to the ward.
Gill popped her head round the door as she was restocking the room. ‘Delivery for you in my office. You have to sign for it.’
Sign for what?
Frowning slightly, she followed Gill up the corridor and into the office. A man was standing by the window.
‘Are you Brooke Daniels?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘I’ve got a delivery for you. You need to sign for it, please.’
Brooke stared at him, puzzled. ‘But I’m not expecting anything.’
He held out a board and a set of keys. ‘If you could sign in the two places I’ve marked, please, Miss Daniels.’
Brooke signed and stared at the keys blankly. What was going on?
‘It’s parked in the second row,’ the man told her, tearing off the top sheet and handing it to her. ‘Hope you like the colour. The man thought red would be best.’
‘Best for what?’
‘Your new car.’ The man looked at her face and shook his head with a smile. ‘You mean you didn’t know? Pretty generous gift, then, I should say.’
Car? Brooke stared down at the keys in her palm and comprehension dawned. So did anger. ‘Could you wait there a moment, please?’
Turning on her heel, she stalked down the corridor to the staffroom. Was Jed there? Maybe not. She hadn’t seen him since he’d left the delivery room, but she knew from hearing snatches of conversation that there was another woman in difficulties so he wouldn’t have gone far.
‘Jed!’ She crashed through the door, her eyes blazing, and he came to his feet in a fluid movement, concern in his blue eyes.
‘What’s happened?’
‘How—how could you!’
He stared at her for a moment and then gave a smile of comprehension. ‘Oh, right. They’ve delivered your new car.’
‘How could you do that?’ She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. ‘How could you when you know I don’t want your money?’
‘I’m not giving you money, Brooke,’ he said reasonably, settling himself back down in the chair, totally undaunted by her anger. ‘I’m giving you a car. One that works and isn’t likely to fall apart or cause a major accident. One that you can drive our son around in safely.’
‘But I don’t want a car.’
He lifted an eyebrow. ‘You’re happy taking two buses and travelling home at the dead of night?’
‘Well, no.’ She bit her lip. ‘But—’
‘So you were going to find another car.’ His voice was annoyingly calm. ‘But I’ve saved you the trouble.’
‘I don’t want you to save me the trouble.’
He sat back in his chair and laughed with genuine amusement. ‘Are you a masochist? Why is it that you feel the need to make life as hard as possible?’
‘I just don’t want you to buy me a car! I don’t want to owe you anything.’
He sighed. ‘It’s a gift. No strings attached.’
Suddenly he made her feel hideously ungrateful.