She gave Bec’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘Only in a kinder way.’
‘Yeah.’ Bec took in a deep breath. ‘I didn’t know being heavy could make things dangerous for me and the baby, and I guess it’s good that he told me because I don’t want to have to go to Melbourne. I know Mandy Carmichael’s preggers again and she’s pretty big. Maybe we can help each other, you know?’
Lily smiled encouragingly. ‘That sounds like a great plan.’
As Bec left, Karen buzzed her. ‘Kat Nguyen’s rescheduled for later today so you’ve got a gap.’
As Lily hung up the phone she knew exactly what she was going to do with her free half-hour, whether she wanted to take that risk or not.
Noah glanced up as Lily walked back into the office alone. Her face was tight with tension and disapproving lines bracketed her mouth, pulling it down at the edges. An irrational desire to see her smile tugged at him and that on its own annoyed him. So what if a smile made her eyes crinkle at the edges with laughter lines and caused dimples to score her cheeks? So what if a smile made her light up, look happy and full of life and chased away her usual closed-off sangfroid? Made her look pretty?
He tried to shake off the feeling. It was nothing to him whether she was happy or not. Whether she was a workaholic or not, like the ladies at the beach had told him. Whether she was anything other than the pain in the rear that she’d already proved to be. He didn’t have time in his life for a woman who was fun, let alone one with dragon tendencies. ‘Where’s the next patient?’
She crossed her arms. ‘She’s running late.’
He’d already pegged her as a person who liked things to go her own way and a late patient would throw out her schedule. ‘So that’s why you’re looking like you’ve just sucked on a lemon. Surely you know nothing in the medical profession ever runs on time.’
Her eyes rounded and widened so far he could have tumbled into their pale, azure depths. ‘Are you stressed or ill?’
‘No,’ he said, seriously puzzled. ‘Why would you say that?’
She walked closer to the desk. ‘So you’re just naturally rude.’
Baffled by her accusations, he held onto his temper by the barest of margins. That surprised him. Usually he’d have roared like a lion if a nurse or anyone more junior to him had dared to speak to him like this. ‘Where’s all this antagonism coming from? Did something happen to upset you while you were out of the room?’
‘Where’s all this coming from?’ Incredulity pushed her voice up from its usual throaty depths. ‘You just told Bec Sinclair she’s fat.’
He didn’t get why she was all het up. ‘So? I said that because she is.’
She pressed her palms down on the desk and as she leaned in he caught the light scent of spring flowers and something else he couldn’t name. ‘Yes, but you didn’t have to tell her quite so baldly. Do you ever think before you speak?’
Her accusation had him shooting to his feet to rectify the power balance. ‘Of course I do. She needed to know the risks that her weight adds to her pregnancy. I told her the truth.’
Her light brown brows hit her hairline. ‘You’re brutally blunt.’
‘No. I’m honest with them.’
She shook her head back and forth so fast he thought she’d give herself whiplash. ‘Oh, no, you’re not getting away with that. There are ways of telling someone the truth and you’re using it as an excuse to be thoughtless and rude.’
She’d just crossed the line in the sand he’d already moved for her. ‘Look, Miss Manners,’ he said tersely. ‘You don’t have the right to storm in here and accuse me of being rude.’
Her shoulders rolled back like an Amazon woman preparing for battle. ‘I do when it affects my patients. You just reduced the most laid-back, easygoing woman I know to tears.’
A pang of conscience jabbed him. Had he really done that? ‘She was upset?’
She threw her hands up. ‘You think? Yes, of course she was upset.’
He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as he absorbed that bit of information. ‘I didn’t realise I’d upset her.’
Lily dropped into the chair, her expression stunned. ‘You’re kidding me, right?’
No. Man, he hated general practice with its touchy-feely stuff and rules that he hadn’t known existed. He was a surgeon and a damn good one. He diagnosed problems and then he cut them out. As a result, he gave people a better quality of life. It was a far easier way of dealing with problems than the muddy waters of internal medicine where nothing was cut and dried and everything was hazy with irrational hope.
He and his mother had learned that the hard way and after that life-changing experience he’d vowed he would always give his patients the truth. Black was black and white was white. People needed information so they could make a choice.
The prof’s voice came out of nowhere, echoing loudly in his head. We’ve had complaints from your dealings with patients when they’re awake.
His legs trembled and he sat down hard, nausea churning his gut. Was this the sort of thing the prof had been referring to? Propping his elbows on the desk, he ran his hands through his hair and tried to marshal his thoughts. Did Lilia actually have a point? Was his interpretation of the facts blunt and thoughtless?
He instantly railed against the idea, refusing to believe it for a moment. We’ve had complaints. The prof’s words were irrefutable. As much as he didn’t want to acknowledge it, this was the reason he’d been sent down here to Turraburra. It seemed he really did have a problem communicating with patients. A problem he hadn’t been fully aware of until this moment. A problem that was going to stop him from qualifying as a surgeon if he didn’t do something about it.
‘Noah?’
There was no trace of the previous anger in her voice and none of the sarcasm. All he could hear was concern. He raised his eyes to hers, his gaze stalling on the lushness of her lips. Pink and moist, they were slightly parted. Kissable. Oh, so very kissable. What they would taste like? Icy cool, like her usual demeanour, or sizzling hot, like she’d been a moment ago when she’d taken him to task? Or sweet and decadently rich? Perhaps sharply tart with a kick of fire?
The tip of her tongue suddenly darted out, flicking the peak of her top lip before falling back. Heat slammed into him, rushing lust through him and down into every cell as if he were an inexperienced teen. Hell, he had more control than this. He sucked in a breath and gave thanks he was sitting down behind a desk, his lap hidden from view.
He shifted his gaze to the safety of her nose, which, although it suited her face, wasn’t cute or sexy. This brought his traitorous body back under control. He didn’t want to be attracted to Lilia Cartwright in any shape or form. He just wanted to get this time in Turraburra over and done with and get the hell out of town. Get back to the security of the Melbourne Victoria and to the job he loved above all else.
Her previously flinty gaze was now soft and caring. ‘Noah, is everything okay?’
Everything’s
