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‘That’s a good idea,’ Jules said, wincing as the door snapped shut on Ben’s exit.
Georgie blew out a breath and flopped into the nearest chair. ‘I think I’m going to cry, but if I start I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stop.’
Jules patted her on the shoulder. ‘You’ll find someone else, Georgie.’
‘I don’t want anyone else.’ She choked back a sob. ‘Why do all the men I fall in love with have to already belong to someone else?’
‘I hear Jules Littlemore is going out with Georgie Willoughby,’ Madeleine said to Ben the following day. Ben got to his feet and paced his office, which was difficult to do in the limited space. It only took two strides and he had to turn back. ‘I want her off my unit,’ he bit out. ‘I can’t work with her.’
Ma
deleine’s thin brows lifted. ‘She’s really got under your skin, hasn’t she?’
He turned to face her, his expression dark with brooding anger. ‘She had the audacity to sleep with me the night before she came out about her relationship with him. Can you believe that?’
‘That’s young women of today for you,’ Madeleine said. ‘They’re sexually aggressive and have the morals of alley cats.’
He shoved a hand through his hair. ‘I bet her father thinks she’s an angel. God, I wish I could tell him what a little tart he has for a daughter.’
‘She’s not worth it, Ben,’ she said. ‘Look at the trouble she’s already caused. Mr Tander is close to a nervous breakdown over her accusations, poor man.’
Ben frowned as he sat down. ‘I organised for Marianne Tander to have a whole body CAT scan,’ he said. ‘But she’s not well enough to be moved to X-Ray.’
‘Have you got access to her medical records?’
‘I’m working on it as we speak,’ he said. ‘I’ve got my secretary doing a ring around of the three major pathology labs to see if any bloods have been done on her in the last few months. The results should be faxed through in the next day or so, if not sooner.’
‘I saw Leila earlier today,’ Madeleine said after a small silence. ‘She looked pretty upset. She didn’t even acknowledge me on the way past.’
‘She came to see me about getting back together,’ he said, frowning slightly. ‘The guy she was seeing left her.’
Madeleine’s brows lifted again. ‘So are you going to resume your relationship with her?’
He sat back in his chair. ‘If anyone had asked me that even two weeks ago I would have probably given it some thought,’ he admitted.
‘Do you still feel anything for her?’
He let out a long-winded sigh. ‘I don’t understand the women of today,’ he said, knowing he wasn’t really answering her question. ‘They blow hot and cold until you don’t know what they want or feel.’
‘Not all women are like that,’ Madeleine said with a meaningful look.
Ben tried to let her down gently with a polite but distant smile. ‘I’m off dating,’ he said. ‘No dates for three months minimum … no, make that six months. I swear to God if I go on a date with a woman before June I will donate five thousand dollars to the hospital research foundation.’
Madeleine smiled wistfully as she got to her feet. ‘That sounds like a very good idea,’ she said.
‘Yeah …’ Ben said once she’d left. Dragging a hand through his hair yet again, he added, ‘It is. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘AREN’T you going to the gym any more?’ Rhiannon asked two days later. ‘This is the third day in a row you’ve missed.’
Georgie scrubbed at her red eyes. ‘I don’t want to run into Ben-Break-Your-Heart Blackwood,’ she said. ‘I’m going to switch my membership to another gym.’
‘Poor you,’ Rhiannon said, as she stroked Georgie’s head. ‘He really did a good job on you, didn’t he?’
Georgie blew her nose and tucked the sodden tissue into her bra, joining the others for a lumpy potato effect. ‘I’m so dumb when it comes to dating,’ she said. ‘I’m not going on another date for six months, I swear it.’
‘That’s a long time, Georgie.’
