for Ryan to present the case. They could have both kept their dignity intact and made a fresh start by putting their professional lives onto some kind of an even keel. The gossip would be fuelled by his non-appearance with no explanation. Layla didn’t like being the subject of gossip. She didn’t like the ashes of the past being raked over. Would she ever get away from the mistake she’d made in getting involved with Alex in the first place?
Don’t you mean get over him?
That tiny voice in the back of her mind got ruthlessly silenced. Layla glared at Tyler.
This was all his fault, wasn’t it? They’d known each other practically their whole lives. Ty knew how badly her marriage had ended and how strained her relationship with her family was. OK, maybe he hadn’t known about the affair that had spelt the end of that marriage, or that Alex had been the man she’d had an affair with, but it had been Ty who’d persuaded her to apply for the job here at Angel’s.
The job that meant she and Alex were working at the same hospital.
Again.
Layla took a deep breath and tried to tune in to what Tyler was saying about the complex surgery baby Madeline had had to go through. The fleeting thought that his specialty had to be harder now that his fiancée was pregnant with his own baby only led Layla straight back to her own personal issues.
Like how she was going to deal with the tension between Alex and herself. It wasn’t just about avoiding damage to their reputations, was it? There was still something there. Something powerful. That kiss had been more than enough to make it obvious. And, despite what Alex had said, she didn’t believe that doing the right thing had been the only motive for defending her against the management board.
Did he care about her on some level?
Did she care about him?
Not like that. Layla may have fallen in love with him the first time around but the disaster the affair had created in her life had been enough for those emotions to morph into simmering resentment at how thoroughly her life had been derailed. Whatever was still hanging around was about lust, not love. But, man, that sexual chemistry hadn’t lost any of its power, had it?
She just needed to learn to control it.
Like she tried to control everything else in her life?
Good grief, that little voice was annoying. A control freak? Her? Well … Layla had to admit she’d engineered what had been supposed to have happened today but look how well that had worked.
She was already planning how to get around it, though, wasn’t she? To take control some other way. Instead of thanking him now, part of her wanted to let Alex know just how aggravated she was with the way he had dropped her into covering for his absence and fielding the ensuing curiosity.
She wanted to demonstrate that she was able to stand up for herself.
Like she had when he’d put her aside just before little Jamie’s operation?
When she hadn’t been prepared to stand aside quietly and she’d taken control and told him it was all over?
Why had she chosen the night before the surgery to take her stand? She could have contributed to why Jamie’s case hadn’t turned out to be the kind of miracle that the case she’d asked Alex to present today was.
The guilt was still there, wasn’t it? Not just that she’d been cheating on her husband but that she might have made a difference to Alex’s performance that day.
And maybe that was why it had seemed so important that she got the chance to thank Alex.
And why he didn’t want to hear it.
Why did it matter so much, anyway? It had been years and years ago. They’d both moved on.
Or had they?
Impossible not to remember that kiss …
It had been the last thing she had expected.
No. Maybe the last thing she had expected had been the way she’d responded to it. To have stepped so far back in time to when her desire for this man had made her throw her caution to the winds, along with too many of the values she’d grown up believing she held. They’d been fried in the heat that one touch from Alex could generate. Even now, Layla could feel a flicker of that heat, deep in her belly.
Was she blushing? Was that why there was this sudden silence all around her and why everybody seemed to be looking at her?
No. On an inward groan Layla realised that Tyler had finished his presentation. They were waiting for her, as the meeting’s chairperson, to move things along.
Her smile was bright. ‘Sorry, folks … Such an interesting case, I got lost in my thoughts. Anyone want to ask a question or add something?’
Several hands were raised and heart surgeon Molly Shriver got the nod.
‘Can you talk us through your choice of antibiotic to deal with the pneumonia? And did you consider a blood transfusion immediately after the first surgery?’
Layla couldn’t help looking past Molly, up into the dimmer corners of the lecture theatre where someone could have arrived unnoticed during Tyler’s presentation by using the back stairs.
Not that she really needed the visual confirmation that Alex wasn’t present. She could feel it. Like a shadow blocking the sun.
Forced to stop the hard physical activity due to exhaustion, Alex bent over, palms on his thighs, fighting to catch his breath again. Cade mirrored his action.
‘It’s working,’ Cade panted. ‘Think I’ve pulled the burr out from my saddle, anyway. How ‘bout you?’
Again, Alex ignored the query. ‘So what was your beef?’
‘I’m fed up,’ Cade growled. ‘I was in charge of my department back in L.A. I don’t like being told what to do like I’m just an intern. Getting squeezed out of the best cases. Having my decisions second-guessed.’
‘You knew you were going to be second-in-charge when you took this job.’
‘Yeah … I just didn’t know how much I wouldn’t like it. I’m beginning to think I should have followed your example and tried the other side of the world to escape. Australia is looking pretty damned attractive right now.’
‘You didn’t have something big enough to get away from.’
‘Wanna bet?’ Cade had caught his breath. He was moving again. His expression suggested he needed to blow off a bit more steam. He certainly didn’t want to expand on that cryptic comment.
Alex tucked it away. He’d find out. He knew better than to push his half-brother to reveal more than he was ready to. It was too fragile, this newly re-formed relationship they’d managed to forge in the wake of the recent trouble.
Cade scored another goal. He was well ahead of Alex now.
‘Anyway …’ he panted, letting Alex get the ball again. ‘It’s all sorted, isn’t it? The whole deal with that malpractice
