your weight! You couldn’t pull a pint!’ Will retorted scornfully. ‘I worry about you, man. I enjoy my work as much as anyone, but with you it’s an...an obsession!’ he accused. ‘How long had it been since you took a holiday—what, four, five years? And you wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t all but bought your ticket and put you on the plane!’
Connor touched his injured leg. ‘Does that mean you’re taking responsibility for this, too?’ he wondered dryly.
‘You shouldn’t have been trying so hard to impress the lovely Ellen with your prowess,’ Will retorted, grinning unsympathetically.
‘Is she around?’ Connor asked casually.
‘Holed up with a rep. Shall I call her for you?’
‘Don’t disturb her on my account,’ Connor insisted, a wary light in his eyes.
Even if he’d been in the market for a light-hearted relationship, it had soon become clear that the lovely Ellen had something a lot more serious in mind. It was hard to believe that all the cosy moments—and there had been many—had occurred without a little bit of forward planning on somebody’s part.
‘Did romance blossom on the slopes?’
‘Mind your own damn business.’
‘Would it be such a bad thing if it did?’
‘Is that a rhetorical question?’
‘I’m only saying this because I’m your mate, Con, but don’t you think it’s about time you got a life?’ Will suggested cautiously. Con could be quite touchy about personal matters.
Suddenly everybody thought they knew what he needed. Connor struggled to keep his growing irritation under control. The trouble with Will was he’d made such a good job of the whole marriage and babies thing that he was labouring under the false impression it was simple. Connor knew otherwise.
‘We can’t all be such a well-rounded individual as yourself, Will. Do you mind if I sit down?’ Connor asked, easing his weight onto his good leg.
‘Of course...of course. I suppose you’ve come straight from the airport? I thought as much! You imbecile,’ Will growled affectionately. ‘If a patient of yours acted like this you’d be blowing your stack,’ he confidently predicted, opening the door of his office wider and kicking a swivel chair out his partner’s way.
‘Any more new faces I should know about, Will?’
‘Only the locum, who I will not hear a word against,’ Will warned sternly. ‘She’s the answer to a harassed GP’s prayers.’
Connor’s darkish, well-defined eyebrows rose quizzically. ‘That good?’ He propped his crutches against the desk and prepared to lower himself cautiously into a convenient chair.
‘Better. I rather hoped she might consider staying on. The authorities are still making loud noises about us taking on another partner.’
They’d been thinking about taking on another pair of hands for some time. The practice had grown to the point where it was too large for the partners and their junior Alan Field to cope with, but they hadn’t got around to doing anything about it.
‘I sounded her out, making it clear the offer would be dependent on your approval.’
‘Of course.’ Connor responded dryly.
‘But...’
‘No go?’
‘’Fraid not, which is a shame because she fits in so well. Everyone likes her—well, almost everyone.’
Before Connor could plead for a bit of clarification on this last point Will grinned widely at some point over Connor’s shoulder.
‘And speaking of the angel,’ Will began, raising his voice, ‘here she is. Phoebe, come along and meet our senior partner!’ he called out to the group of women who were making their way down the carpeted corridor.
His words were greeted with an assorted selection of astonished squeals, cries and a gentle stampede.
‘Connor, back!’
‘The man can’t keep away from us.’
The babble around Connor became a distant irritating buzz. He must have responded and said the right things because people carried on smiling and laughing. He probably did, too, though inside shock had his guts in a frozen fist.
Phoebe’s case slid in slow motion from her nerveless fingers and, without her being aware of it, she grabbed hold of the radiator beside her, the heat making no impact on her icily cold hand. In fact, nothing made much impact at all but those electric blue eyes—more intense than any laser and just as precision-focused—which were fixed unblinkingly on her face.
She didn’t know how long it took for the thundering in her ears to become a gentle roar or her vocal chords to thaw.
She cleared her throat and willed her lips to form a casual smile.
‘Hello, Con.’ No needy tremor—thank goodness—just a slight huskiness.
He didn’t respond and, very conscious of the watching eyes, Phoebe moved forward with a firm, confident tread that belied her inner turmoil. She thought about extending her hand, but had second thoughts. It would be too embarrassing if he refused to accept the gesture of friendship. She thrust it instead into the pocket of her fitted trousers.
She forced herself to look directly at him, the experience about as soothing as plugging herself directly into the national grid.
What changes there had been were subtle—a more pronounced suggestion of muscularity about his broad shoulders and chest, and possibly the fine lines that radiated from spectacular eyes and bracketed his firm sensual mouth were more deeply engrained than they had been four years ago—but essentially he was still the same Con that Phoebe recalled.
Not a person prone to self-deception, Phoebe didn’t have the luxury of pretending even to herself that it was only shock that had sent her nervous system spiralling out of control. She’d often wondered how she’d cope if she saw him again. Now she knew—she wouldn’t! This wasn’t information she felt any desire to share.
‘You two know one another...?’ Will looked from one to the other, a perplexed expression on his pleasant face.
‘You could say that. We lived together for three years.’ This casual bombshell was delivered totally straight-faced. Not unnaturally, it caused jaws to drop. ‘How are you, Phoebe?’
If that had been a deliberate attempt to unsettle her, he needn’t have bothered—she was already semi-catatonic. Against a backdrop of thunderous heart-pounding Phoebe gave a brittle smile.
‘I’m fine...just fine.’ She prayed she wouldn’t prove herself a liar by falling in a heap on the floor. ‘Such a surprise...’ she gulped. No lie this time!
She’d spent the last four years filling the gap this man had left in her life. Now she knew how spectacularly unsuccessful she’d been.
‘For
