Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  Praise for Melanie Milburne

  who also writes for

  Mills & Boon® Modern™ Romance:

  ‘Expertly blending powerful emotions with red-hot sensuality, poignant romance and nail-biting drama, HIS POOR LITTLE GIRL is an exceptional tale of lost love, courage and redemption from one of the most accomplished writers of Mills and Boon® Modern™ Romance!’

  —Cataromance

  Praise for Scarlet Wilson’s debut

  in Mills & Boon® Modern™ Romance:

  ‘Stirring, emotional and wonderfully absorbing, IT STARTED WITH A PREGNANCY is an impressive debut novel from a fabulous new voice in category romance: Scarlet Wilson!’

  —Cataromance

  These books are also available in eBook format

  from www.millsandboon.co.uk

  Welcome to the world

  of Sydney Harbour Hospital

  (or SHH … for short—

  because secrets never stay hidden for long!)

  Looking out over cosmopolitan Sydney Harbour, Australia’s premier teaching hospital is a hive of round-the-clock activity—with a very active hospital grapevine.

  With the most renowned (and gorgeous!) doctors in Sydney working side by side, professional and sensual tensions run sky-high—there’s always plenty of romantic rumours to gossip about …

  Who’s been kissing who in the on-call room? What’s going on between legendary heart surgeon Finn Kennedy and tough-talking A&E doctor Evie Lockheart? And what’s wrong with Finn?

  Find out in this enthralling new eight-book continuity from Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance—indulge yourself with eight helpings of romance, emotion and gripping medical drama!

  Sydney Harbour Hospital

  From saving lives to sizzling seduction,

  these doctors are the very best!

  Sydney Harbour

  Hospital:

  Lexi’s Secret

  Melanie Milburne

  www.millsandboon.co.uk

  To Ricki Peres for her friendship and support, and also for her help in

  the research for this novel in the field of transplant surgery.

  Thank you!

  Sydney Harbour Hospital

  Sexy surgeons, dedicated doctors,

  scandalous secrets, on-call dramas …

  Welcome to the world of Sydney Harbour Hospital

  (or SHH … for short—because secrets never stay hidden for long!)

  In February new nurse Lily got caught up

  in the hotbed of hospital gossip in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LILY’S SCANDAL

  by Marion Lennox

  And gorgeous paediatrician Teo came to single mum Zoe’s rescue in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: ZOE’S BABY

  by Alison Roberts

  In March sexy Sicilian playboy Luca finally met his match in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LUCA’S BAD GIRL

  by Amy Andrews

  Then in April Hayley opened Tom’s eyes to love in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: TOM’S REDEMPTION

  by Fiona Lowe

  This month join heiress Lexi as she learns to

  put the past behind her in May …

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LEXI’S SECRET

  by Melanie Milburne

  In June adventurer Charlie helps shy Bella fulfil her dreams—

  and find love on the way!—in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: BELLA’S WISHLIST

  by Emily Forbes

  Single mum Emily gives no-strings-attached surgeon Marco

  a reason to stay in July:

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: MARCO’S TEMPTATION

  by Fiona McArthur

  And finally join us in August as Ava and James

  realise their marriage really is worth saving in

  SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: AVA’S RE-AWAKENING

  by Carol Marinelli

  And not forgetting Sydney Harbour Hospital’s legendary heart surgeon Finn Kennedy. This brooding maverick keeps his women on hospital rotation … But can new doc Evie Lockheart unlock the secrets to his guarded heart? Find out in this enthralling new eight-book continuity from Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance.

  A collection impossible to resist!

  These books are also available in eBook format

  from www.millsandboon.co.uk

  CHAPTER ONE

  IT WAS the worst possible way to run into an ex, Lexi thought. There was only one parking space left in the Sydney Harbour Hospital basement car park and although, strictly speaking, she shouldn’t have been parking there since she wasn’t a doctor or even a nurse, she was running late with some things for her sister, and it was just too tempting not to grab the last ‘Doctors Only’ space between a luxury sedan and a shiny red sports car that looked as if it had just been driven out of the showroom.

  She opened her door and winced when she heard the bang-scrape of metal against metal.

  And then she saw him.

  He was sitting in the driver’s seat, his broad-spanned hands gripping the steering-wheel with white-knuckled force, glaring at her furiously when recognition suddenly hit him. Lexi saw the quick spasm of his features, as if the sight of her had been like a punch to the face.

  She felt the same punch deep and low in her belly as she encountered that dark brown espresso coffee gaze. Her throat closed over as if a large hand had gripped her and was squeezing the breath right out of her. Her heart pounded with a sickening thud, skip, thud, skip, thud that made her feel as if she had just run up the fire escape of a towering skyscraper on a single breath.

  It was so unexpected.

  No warning.

  No preparation.

  Why hadn’t she been told he was back in the country? Why hadn’t she been told he was working here? He clearly was, otherwise why would he be parking in the doctors’ car park unless—like her—he had flouted the rules for his own convenience?

  OK, so this was the time to play it cool. She could do that. It was her specialty. She was known all over the Sydney social circuit for her PhD in charm.

  She shimmied out of the tight space between their cars and sent him a megawatt smile. ‘Hi, Sam,’ she said breezily. ‘How are things?’

  Sam Bailey unfolded his tall length from the sports car, closing the driver’s door with a resounding click that more or less summed up his personality, Lexi thought—decisive, to the point, focussed on the task at hand.

  ‘Alexis,’ he said. No “How are you?” or “Nice to see you” or even “Hello”, just her full name, which nobody ever called her, not even her father in one of his raging rants or her mother in one of her gin-soaked ramblings.

  Lexi’s winning smile faded slightly and her hands fidgeted with the strap of her designer bag hanging over her shoulder as she stood before him. ‘So, what brings you here?’ she said. ‘A patient perhaps?’

  ‘You could say that,’ he said coolly. ‘How about you?’

  ‘Oh, I hang out here a lot,’ she said, shifting her weight from one high heel to the other. ‘My sister Bella’s in and out for treatment all the time. She’s been in for the last couple of weeks. Another chest infection. She’s on the transplant list but we have to wait until it clears. The chest infection, I mean.’ Lexi knew she was rambling but what else could she do? Five years ago she had thought they’d had a future together. Their connection had been sudden but intense. She had dreamed of sharing her life with him and yet without notice Sam had cut her out of his life coldly and ruthlessly, not even pausing long enough to say goodbye. Seeing him again with no notice, no time to prepare herself, had stirred up deeply buried emotions so far beneath the surface she had almos
t forgotten they were there.

  Almost …

  ‘Sorry to hear that,’ Sam said making a point of glancing at his silver watch.

  Lexi felt a sinkhole of sadness open up inside her. He couldn’t have made it clearer he wanted nothing to do with her. How could he be so … so distant after the intense intimacy they had shared? Had their affair meant nothing to him? Nothing at all? Surely she was worth a few minutes of his precious time in spite of the different paths their lives had taken? ‘I didn’t know you were back from wherever you went,’ she said. ‘I heard you got a scholarship to study overseas. Where did you go?’

  ‘America,’ he said flatly.

  She raised her eyebrows, determined to counter his taciturn manner with garrulous charm. ‘Wow, that’s impressive,’ she said. ‘The States is so cool. So much to see. So much to do. You must’ve been the envy of all the other trainees, getting that chance to train abroad.’

  ‘Yes.’ Another frowning glance at his watch.

  Lexi’s gaze went to the strongly boned, deeply tanned wrist he had briefly exposed from the crisp, light blue business shirt he was wearing. Her stomach shifted like a pair of crutches slipping on a sheet of cracked ice. Those wrists had once held her much smaller ones in a passionate exchange that had left her body tingling for hours afterwards. Every moment of their blistering two-week affair was imprinted on her flesh. Seeing him again awakened every sleeping cell of her body to zinging, pulsing life. It felt like her blood had been thawed from a five-year deep freeze. It was racing through the network of her veins like a flash flood, making her heart hammer with the effort.

  Her gaze slipped to his mouth, that beautiful sculpted mouth that had moved against hers with such heart-stopping skill. She still remembered the taste of him: minty and fresh and something essentially, potently male. She still remembered the feel of his tongue stroking against hers, the sexy rasp of it as it cajoled hers into a sizzling hot tango. He had explored every inch of her mouth with masterful expertise, leaving no corner without the branding heat of his possession.

  And yet he had still walked away without so much as a word.

  Lexi lifted her gaze back to his. Encountering those unfathomable brown depths made her chest feel like a frightened bird was trapped inside the cage of her lungs. Did he have any idea of the hurt he had caused? Did he have any idea of what she had gone through because of him?

  She swallowed in anguish as she thought of the heart-wrenching decision she had made. Would she ever be able to summon up the courage to tell him? But, then, what would be the point? How could he possibly understand how hard it had been for her back then, young and pregnant with no one to turn to? She hadn’t felt ready to become a mother. A termination had seemed the right thing to do and yet …

  ‘I have to get going,’ Sam said, nodding towards the hospital building. ‘The CEO is expecting me.’

  Lexi stared at him as realisation slowly dawned. ‘You’re going to be working here?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Here at SHH?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Not in the private sector?’ she asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Do you ever answer a question with more than one word?’

  ‘Occasionally.’

  Lexi gave him a droll look but inside she was screaming: This can’t be happening! ‘Why wasn’t I told?’ she asked.

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘Wow, that’s two.’

  ‘Two what?’ he said, frowning.

  ‘Words,’ she said. ‘Maybe we can work on that a little. Boost your repertoire a bit. What are you doing here?’

  ‘Working.’

  She mentally rolled her eyes. ‘I mean why here? Why not in the private system where you can earn loads and loads of money?’ Why not some other place where I won’t see you just about every day and be reminded of what a silly little fool I was?

  ‘I was asked.’

  ‘Wow, three words,’ Lexi said, purposely animating her expression. ‘We’re really doing great here. I bet I can get you to say a full sentence in a month or two.’

  ‘I have to go now,’ he said. ‘And, yes, that’s five words if you’re still counting.’

  She lifted her chin. ‘I am.’

  Sam looked into those bluer than blue eyes and felt as if he had just dived into the deepest, most refreshing ocean after walking through the driest, hottest desert for years. Her softly pouting mouth was one of those mouths that just begged to be kissed. He could recall the dewy soft contours under his own just by looking at her. He could even remember the feel of the sexy dart of her tongue as it played catch-me-if-you-can with his. Her platinum-blonde hair was in its usual disarray that somehow managed to look perfectly coiffed and just-out-of-bed-after-marathon-sex at the same time. He felt the rocket blast to his groin as he remembered having her in his bed, up against the wall, over his desk, on a picnic blanket under the stars …

  Stop it, buddy, he remonstrated with himself.

  She had been too young for him before, and in spite of the years a world of experience separated them now. She was still a spoilt, rich kid who thought partying was a full-time occupation. He was on a mission to save lives that were dependent on transplant surgery.

  Other people had to die in order for him to give life to others. He was always aware of that. Someone lost their life and by doing so he was given the opportunity to save another. He didn’t take his responsibility lightly. He had worked long and hard for his career. It had defined his life. He had given up everything to get where he was now. He could not afford, at this crucial time in his journey, to be distracted by a party girl whose biggest decision in life was whether to have floating candles or helium balloons at a function.

  He had to walk away, just as he had before, but at least this would be his choice, made of his own free will.

  ‘You dented my car.’ It was not the best line he could have come up with but he had just taken delivery of the damned vehicle. To him it just showed how irresponsible she was. She hadn’t even looked as she’d flung open her door. It was just so typical of her and her privileged background. She had no idea how hard people had to work to get things she took for granted. She had been driven around in luxury cars all of her life. She didn’t know what it felt like to be dirt poor with no funds available for extras, let alone the essentials.

  Just take his mother, for instance. Stuck on a long transplant list and living way out in the bush to boot, his mother had died waiting for a kidney. His working-class parents hadn’t had the money to pay for private health cover. They hadn’t even had the money to afford another child after him. He knew what it felt like to want things that were so out of your reach it was like grasping at bubbles, hoping they wouldn’t burst when your fingers touched them. In his experience they always burst.

  Lexi was another bubble that had burst.

  ‘You call that a dent?’ Lexi bent over to examine the mark on the door.

  Sam couldn’t stop his gaze drinking in the gorgeous curve of her tiny bottom. She was all legs and arms, coltish, even though she was now twenty-four. It didn’t seem to matter what she wore, she always looked like she had just stepped off a catwalk. Her legs were encased in skin-tight black pants that followed the long lines of her legs down to her racehorse-delicate ankles. She was wearing ridiculously high heels but he still had a few inches on her. The hot-pink top she had on skimmed her small but perfectly shaped breasts and the ruby-and-diamond pendant she was wearing around her neck looked like it could have paid off his entire university tuition loan.

  She smelled fabulous. He felt his nostrils flaring to breathe more of her fragrance in. Flowers, spring flowers with a grace note of sexy sandalwood, or was it patchouli?

  She suddenly straightened and met his eyes. ‘It’s barely made a mark,’ she said. ‘But if you want to be so pedantic I’ll pay for it to be fixed.’

  Sam elevated one of his brows mockingly. ‘Don’t you mean Daddy will pay for it?’ he asked.<
br />
  She pursed her mouth at him and he had to stop himself from bending down and covering it with his own. ‘I’ll have you know I earn my own money,’ she said with a haughty look.

  ‘Doing what?’ he shot back. ‘Painting your nails?’

  She narrowed her blue eyes and her full mouth flattened. ‘I’m Head of Events at SHH,’ she said. ‘I’m in charge of fundraising, including the gala masked ball to be held next month.’

  Sam rocked back on his heels. ‘Impressive.’

  She gave him a hot little glare. ‘My father gave me the job because I’m good at what I do.’

  ‘I’m sure you are,’ he said. After all, partying was her favourite hobby. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to.’

  ‘Is this your first day at SHH?’ Lexi asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where are you living?’

  ‘I’m renting an apartment in Kirribilli,’ he said. ‘I want to have a look around before I buy.’

  A small frown puckered her smooth brow. ‘So you’re back for good?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Sam said. ‘My father’s getting on and I want to spend some time with him.’

  ‘Is he still living in Broken Hill?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘He’s retired to the Central Coast.’

  Sam was surprised she remembered anything about his father. It didn’t sit well with his image of her as a shallow, spoilt little upstart who had only jumped into bed with him as an act of rebellion against her overbearing father.

  That had really rankled.

  Damn it, it still rankled.

  Their red-hot affair had only lasted a couple of weeks before her father Richard Lockheart had stepped in and told him what would happen to his career if he didn’t stop messing with his baby girl. To top it all off, it turned out she was six years younger than she had told him. It had been a jolting shock to find the young woman he had been sleeping with had only left high school the year before. Nineteen years old and yet she had looked and acted as streetwise and poised as any twenty-five-year old.