was extremely lucky to be given a second chance. Not many heads of department would have taken him back after what happened.’
‘What do you mean?’ Katie stared at him in surprise, and Christos laughed.
‘Ah, I see my cousin didn’t tell you that he’d been suspended. Perhaps you two weren’t as close as you thought you were?’
He saw her flush but she returned his gaze and he had to give her credit for that. ‘No, Petros didn’t tell me. He probably didn’t want to worry me. I wouldn’t read anything into it if I were you.’
‘No?’ He smiled thinly, his deep brown eyes reflecting his scepticism. ‘So the fact that Petros didn’t choose to tell you the truth doesn’t upset you, Miss Carlyon?’
‘Not at all,’ she said rather too quickly. ‘Anyway, whatever the reason was for his suspension, it can’t have been anything really serious or he would never have been chosen to go on the exchange programme.’
Christos didn’t say anything. He still wasn’t comfortable with the part he’d played in that decision. He had pulled a lot of strings to get his cousin the job overseas and had met with a lot of opposition too.
It wasn’t that Petros couldn’t do the job. If he’d set his mind to it, he could have been a first-rate surgeon. However, Petros preferred to spend his time enjoying himself rather than working, and it was that lack of commitment that had caused the problem.
Petros had left the hospital before a patient had regained consciousness following surgery. He had been unavailable when a problem had arisen and the lapse could have cost the man his life and had almost cost Petros his job. It was only because Christos had pleaded his case that he had been allowed to return to the surgical department, but it was time his cousin knuckled down and paid more attention to his career now he was about to get married.
‘You met my cousin while he was working in Manchester, I assume?’ Christos deliberately changed the subject. It certainly wouldn’t help to dwell on the thought that it was his own over-developed work ethos that had ruined his chances of winning Eleni’s heart all those years ago.
‘That’s right. I was working in A and E and members of the surgical team were always popping into the department. Petros was always so charming whenever we had to call him in, unlike a lot of the other registrars who made it appear as though they were doing us a favour.’
She laughed softly and Christos felt a jolt run through him when he heard the amusement in her voice. For some reason it lifted his own spirits and it took him a moment to recover his composure.
‘So it was my cousin’s charm you fell for?’
‘Amongst other things—yes.’ She turned to look at him. ‘As I told you on the phone, Dr Constantine, it was Petros who pursued me.’
‘Indeed you did. You prefer to play hard to get, do you, Miss Carlyon?’
‘No. I prefer not rush into a situation without considering the pros and cons first. It was a while before I agreed to go out with Petros, in fact.’
‘Ah, I see. Now I understand.’
‘Understand what exactly?’
‘The pros of accepting an invitation to go out with Petros, of course. What was the biggest incentive? Was it the fact that his family is extremely wealthy that helped you make up your mind?’
‘No! I knew nothing about Petros’s family when I agreed to go out with him.’
‘Of course not,’ he agreed gravely, his tone making a mockery of the claim. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her open her mouth to say something else until she thought better of it. As he turned in through the gates of the hospital, he found himself wondering what she’d been going to say. Had it been another protestation of her innocence, perhaps?
In a way he wished that she had argued with him because then it would have been so much easier to shoot her down. He could have dealt with her anger far better than he could deal with the unhappiness he could see on her face. Maybe Katie Carlyon deserved her comeuppance after the way she had behaved, but he couldn’t derive any pleasure from her discomfort. All he felt was a deep sadness that a woman as beautiful as this should use her beauty to such ugly ends. With her soft blonde hair curling around her face and her green eyes dulled with pain, she really did look like an angel—one who had fallen from grace.
Katie could feel tears welling in her eyes and quickly blinked them away. She wouldn’t give Dr Constantine the satisfaction of knowing that he had hurt her. Oh, she knew that he had done it deliberately but even that didn’t take the sting out of those horrible words. She wasn’t interested in Petros’s money! It was Petros she loved, not what he could give her.
She had barely managed to get her emotions under control when the car stopped. Christos switched off the engine and turned to her. ‘I need to check with my registrar to see how our patient is doing. I suggest you wait in my office and we can talk after I’ve finished.’
‘I really can’t see what we have to talk about,’ Katie said bluntly as she opened the car door. ‘This problem has nothing to do with you, as I told you on the phone.’
‘And as I told you, that’s where you’re wrong.’ He turned to look at her and she shivered when she saw the chill in his eyes. ‘Petros enlisted my help and I have every intention of doing what I promised him I would do.’
‘And what exactly did you promise him?’ she said sharply, her heart aching at the thought of Petros asking him to intervene, if, indeed, that was what had happened. She only had Christos’s word for it and there was no reason why she should believe him.
‘I promised him that I would make sure you didn’t cause any trouble. He and Eleni are looking forward to their wedding and I won’t allow you to ruin the occasion for them.’ He got out of the car and waited until she got out as well. ‘I’ll take you straight to my office and I expect you to stay there. If you are harbouring any hopes of trying to find Petros while you’re here, you can forget them. He’s on leave until after his honeymoon is over.’
Katie didn’t know what to say. Was it really true, then? Was Petros really getting married? She didn’t want to believe it yet she couldn’t imagine why Christos would have made up such an elaborate story.
In silence she followed him into the building. The hospital was obviously brand-new; everywhere was gleaming with fresh paint. Wide corridors fanned out from the main foyer like the spokes of an enormous wheel, the huge tinted-glass windows that ran along them giving glimpses of the grounds. It was a world away from the grimness of the inner-city hospital where she’d worked so that it was hard to take it all in. However, it was when they reached the trauma unit that the real differences immediately became apparent.
Katie stopped and stared around in genuine wonder. ‘I’ve never seen such marvellous facilities. Is that for the radiography equipment?’ she asked, pointing to the tracks running along the ceiling.
‘Yes.’ Christos stopped as well. ‘We have a dedicated radiography unit attached to the department, along with our own theatre suite plus a haematology lab.’ He shrugged when she gasped. ‘It means we’re virtually self-sufficient.’
‘It must be wonderful not to have to go begging to other departments for help.’ She sighed. ‘The number of times I’ve had to go, cap in hand, to the surgical
