Kate smiled at him.
‘What?’
‘Nothing… I was just imagining you keeping a watch on her by going to some surfing competition.’
Connor grinned. ‘I might just do that. Want to come with me?’
The question hung in the air. They were talking about the future here. Possibly a long time into the future. Would they still be friends?
Connor hoped so.
More than friends?
No. Kate had made it clear she didn’t want a relationship. And he didn’t either. Not with someone like Kate, anyway. She was so different from the usual type of women he had enjoyed brief relationships with that he wouldn’t know where to start. And if you did start, how on earth would you finish? Finishing always had to be on the agenda. It wasn’t fair to expect anyone to want to stay with him long term. Not when he couldn’t offer what it was that women always wanted. Even a friendship with this woman was not something to be taken lightly.
It felt like a privilege.
Connor insisted on walking Kate back to the car-parking building when they finished those sessions late at night. Offering protection to a woman was mandatory in his book.
‘You just never know,’ he said, overriding her protests sternly.
His point was proven on that last night, when they’d been putting the finishing touches to their report. He’d seen Kate to her car and was heading for his bike when he heard the voices behind him. Turning, he saw that a man was approaching Kate so Connor headed over as well.
The man’s voice was raised by the time he got close.
‘I just want change so I can get a parking ticket from the damned machine,’ he was shouting angrily. ‘You’re a doctor, for God’s sake… it’s not as if it’s a big deal.’
Connor was close enough now to smell the alcohol fumes coming from the man, who was wearing a very scruffy overcoat despite the fact that it was a warm evening. He was also carrying a plastic shopping bag that appeared to be stuffed full of old clothing. Was he homeless? Had he found a good way of conning small change out of a large number of people? Whatever. He wasn’t a small man and Kate wasn’t looking happy.
In fact, when Connor stepped in to stand beside her, his shoulder touched hers and he could actually feel how tense her whole body was.
Kate was frightened and Connor suddenly felt very angry.
‘Get lost,’ he told the man. ‘And if I find you here again, intimidating women, I’ll call Security. No… I might just deliver you to the nearest police station myself.’
‘Oh… yeah?’ The man swayed slightly and then took a closer look at Connor and backed away. ‘I only wanted a couple of dollars,’ he muttered.
‘He would probably have just gone away if you’d given him something,’ Connor reassured Kate. ‘I don’t think he intended you any real harm.’
‘No.’ But Kate seemed frozen to the spot.
‘Not that I’m saying youshouldhave given him the money,’ Connor added. He’d known instinctively the first time he’d met Kate that the worst way to gain her cooperation would be by making demands. She needed to be treated with respect. Shedeservedto be treated with respect, dammit.
But even so, there was something strange about the way she was standing, holding herself so rigidly. Connor put his arm around her shoulders.
‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘He’s gone.’
She flinched at his touch. He felt it and a chill ran down Connor’s spine, but instead of letting go he turned Kate to face him, holding both her shoulders.
‘What is it, Katie?’ he asked softly. ‘What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?’
She didn’t have to confirm what he suspected. Connor had no difficulty putting two and two together. The way she’d looked at him that night of the fancy-dress ball. The way she kept herself socially aloof. The knowledge that there was a sensual woman hidden –protected– under that prim exterior.
‘Who was it?’ A burn of an anger like Connor had never felt before ignited in his gut. ‘Who hurt you?’
There was a desperate look in her eyes. As though she was ashamed that anyone knew. As if she thought that somehow it had been her fault.
It had to have been a man.
