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‘Right.’ Logan watched her. ‘If you’re sure.’
Flora returned to her consulting room and worked her way through her patients, only half listening to the steady stream of Glenmore chatter.
She’d just seen her last patient when the door opened and Conner stood there.
Flora felt her stomach flip and looked at his face, hoping to see something that suggested he felt the same way, but there was nothing. His handsome face was expressionless, his attitude brisk and professional.
‘Lily is being discharged today. You should call on her and her fussy mother—do all the touchy-feely stuff that I can’t be bothered with.’
She tried not to feel hurt or disappointed. What had she expected? ‘You could go yourself. They’d want to thank you. Jayne is so grateful, she can’t stop crying.’
‘All the more reason to stay away. The one body fluid I’m no good with is female tears.’ He gav
e a faint smile. ‘If Lily bleeds again, phone me. Otherwise it’s just emotional support and someone else can do that bit. Someone better qualified than me.’
He wasn’t comfortable with emotion.
Flora thought of the things he’d told her in the velvet darkness. She thought about the mother who had left him and the father who hadn’t cared. And she suspected that he’d been exposed to more extremes of emotion in his childhood than most people experienced in a lifetime.
Was that why he backed away from it now?
Was that why he was backing away from her?
‘I’ll call on her.’
‘Good.’ His eyes held hers for a moment—lingered—then his mouth tightened and he turned to leave.
But there had been something in that look that made it impossible for her to let him walk away. ‘Conner!’ Something burst free inside her and she just couldn’t help herself. ‘Wait. Can we talk?’
* * *
Conner paused, his hand on the door, a man poised for flight. ‘What about?’ But he knew what it was going to be about and he kept his tone cool and his face expressionless because he also knew what he needed to do. And it was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done.
He stood still, hoping she’d lose courage. And perhaps she almost did because she watched him closely and then gave a confused little smile that cut through him like the blade of a knife.
Don’t say it, Flora. Don’t say it and then I won’t have to reject you.
She rubbed her hands nervously down her uniform and took a deep breath. ‘All I wanted to say was that…well, you—you really don’t have to avoid me.’
‘Yes, I do.’ He kept his answer blunt, knowing that it was the only way.
‘Why? Because you kissed me?’ She shrugged awkwardly. ‘Do you ignore every woman you kiss?’
‘No, normally I corrupt them totally before I ignore them. You escaped lightly.’
‘Is that supposed to make me feel lucky?’ The colour bloomed in her cheeks but she didn’t back off. ‘Because it doesn’t.’
Her response almost weakened him and Conner reminded himself ruthlessly that this time he was doing the right thing, not the easy thing.
He watched her for a moment, his eyes fixed on her face. Then he closed the door, slowly and deliberately, giving them privacy. ‘It should make you feel lucky. If they hadn’t turned up I would have taken you, Flora.’ His voice dangerously soft, he closed the distance between them in a single stride. Shock tactics. Perhaps shock tactics would work. ‘You would have been mine. That’s how close you came.’
She shivered with excitement. ‘Yes…’
‘And then I would have dumped you, because that’s what I do with women. And you would have cried.’
She swallowed. ‘Maybe.’
Definitely.
