about the surgery and how she wished she was in that operating theater. Only Mr. Ashwood had made it perfectly clear that he did not want her around.
She’d been embarrassed and after her temper had cooled she’d realized he was right. She wasn’t a surgeon; she may have seen and done surgeries during her residency, but she wasn’t a full-fledged surgeon and she never would be. Besides, she’d only known Lord Twinsbury for a week and even though she read over his file she hadn’t worked with him as long as Mr. Ashwood had.
She wanted to apologize to him.
“Apologizing is a sign of weakness.”
Geri shook her mother’s voice from her head. Apologizing in this case was not a sign of weakness but respect. She’d been wrong.
Geri had been less than thrilled to learn that the arrogant, pompous surgeon who had come sweeping into the doctors’ lounge, making assumptions about her, was her new partner. And she’d been taken a little off guard by the fact that he was a devilishly handsome, well-spoken man of breeding. As well as a surgeon she admired.
Which meant he was completely off-limits.
Definitely.
She had been hoping that she wouldn’t have to see him again, but to find out that he was the cardiothoracic surgeon and partner in the practice was too much to bear. She’d been expecting Mr. Ashwood to be someone like her father. Older and possibly on the verge of retirement.
If Mr. Ashwood was venerable she’d eat her hat and try to find out where he kept the youth elixir. She couldn’t help but wonder what her father saw in him. Her father only seemed to associate with those of his own class, members of society, what would’ve once been affectionately referred to as “the ton” if all those historical romance novels she’d read as a girl were correct.
She had been surprised to see her father’s partner was someone so young and his complete opposite. Her father was reserved, awkward and well-bred. Mr. Ashwood had a relaxed, devil-may-care attitude. A definite rogue. Then again, her father had partnered with her mother, a common daughter of a Glasgow teacher, and had produced her.
Yeah, but that didn’t last too long, did it?
Geraldine paused in her pacing to look down at him, operating on Lord Twinsbury. Even in the operating theater he had a commanding presence and she couldn’t help but admire his technique. She may not be a surgeon, but she’d watched many surgeries and Mr. Ashwood knew exactly what he was doing and he was doing it with finesse.
“There you are, Geraldine.”
Geri turned to see her father enter the observation room.
“I thought you went back to the office?” she said.
Her father shrugged his shoulders. “I was going to, but then I heard a rumor that Thomas gave you quite a dressing-down in the hall.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. Great. She was already making the rumor mill here. She swallowed her pride. “And rightfully so. I stepped out of line.”
“I should say so.” A smile played on her father’s lips and she couldn’t help but smile secretly to herself. He was still handsome. Even at sixty-nine she could see why her mother had fallen for her father. Or had at least stuck around long enough to conceive her.
She just didn’t see what her father had seen in her mother.
“I’m hoping he’ll allow me to apologize to him,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck.
“It’s best not to bring it up. Don’t let him see your soft underbelly. You gave an opinion, and though not the right one, it was still an opinion nonetheless. Thomas is ruthless. It’s why I asked him to be a partner. He’s talented but ruthless. If you want to survive in a successful practice with him you have to stand by everything you say. You have to bite back.”
Geri cocked an eyebrow. “Bite back?”
Her father nodded. “It will blow over and you’ll both find a rhythm of partnership. So why don’t we head home? I had Jensen bring the car around.”
Even though she was sorely tempted to leave and not expose her soft underbelly to Mr. Ashwood, she couldn’t leave things like they were. She had been wrong to question him.
And she wasn’t going to run this time. She was here for the long haul.
“I think I’ll stay if it’s all the same to you.”
“Are you sure, Geraldine?”
She nodded. “Positive.”
Her father reached down and squeezed her shoulder. “Just call for the car when you need it, then. Jensen won’t mind.”
“Of course.”
Only she wouldn’t. She’d take the tube to Holland Park. She may not be from London, but she knew her way around public transportation just fine. She just wouldn’t tell her father that. He would have a thousand fits if he knew that she was taking public transportation like a commoner. Only that was what she was.
She may talk in a refined way, because she worked hard to drop the rough accent she’d had since childhood, but she didn’t belong in this world she’d just been thrust into.
The first time she’d had a formal dinner at her father’s large Holland Park home she’d been so confused by the number of forks she’d made an excuse about not being hungry and had left the table.
Her father had been less than thrilled to find that she’d walked down the street to the local pub and had had something to eat there.
What am I doing here?
She tried to tell herself that she was getting to know her estranged father, taking the opportunity of a lifetime of inheriting a lucrative practice in Harley Street, but she wasn’t sure that was it.
There was a buzz on the intercom, snapping Geri out of her reverie. She got up and pushed the button.
“Dr. Collins, I’m surprised to see you up there,” Thomas said, not looking up at her.
“Well, Lord Twinsbury did mention that he wanted me close by.”
Thomas glanced up and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “So he did. Why don’t you scrub in and come down here? You can keep me company.”
“I thought since I wasn’t a surgeon my place wasn’t in the operating theater.”
He chuckled. “So I did, but I think this once I can make an exception for my new partner. Will you come down?”
“I’ll be right there.” Geri let go of the buzzer and made her way down to the change room, where she found some scrubs. A nurse led her to the scrub room, where she scrubbed down and then entered the operating theater. She kept a discreet distance so she didn’t contaminate the sterile field. She’d missed being in the operating theater. It had been so long.
“I wanted to apologize, Mr. Ashwood,” she said.
“Whatever for?” he asked absently, in that
