But he was dealing with the consequences of it.
Still, they didn’t think of that now, they just concentrated on keeping Francesca as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived. Francesca was gripping tightly onto Leo’s hand as she struggled to get air in. ‘It’s okay, Francesca.’ He just kept saying it over and over and from the way she was holding onto him, it was clearly helping. ‘The ambulance is here.’
The paramedics were skilled and calm and soon had her on the stretcher.
‘Who do you want me to contact?’ Leo asked Francesca. ‘Your niece?’
‘No.’ An exhausted Francesca shook her head, still determined that no one must ever find out.
‘Francesca, your family need to know what’s happening. This could be serious. Amelia would want to know that you were ill. It would be awful not to know …’ Lizzie looked up as Leo fell silent, surprised because he seemed to be struggling, but he soon regained his composure. ‘You must let me tell her.’
Clearly Francesca trusted Leo because she gave a weary nod.
‘Can you text Amelia’s details to me?’ Leo looked over at Lizzie. ‘I’ll call her when we get to the hospital.’
‘You’re going with Francesca?’ Mitchell checked.
‘Of course,’ Leo said. ‘She’s my patient.’
Lizzie was shaken and terribly worried for Francesca. She turned to see Ethan and Rafael, who had just come back from the Lighthouse Hospital to the sight of a blue light ambulance leaving the clinic, and Mitchell quickly brought them up to speed.
‘Didn’t Leo do a full facelift on her just last year?’ Rafael asked, and Mitchell nodded.
‘Leo didn’t do the surgery this time.’
‘He refused to,’ Lizzie said.
‘Well, we all know what that means at times …’ Mitchell’s face was grim, in fact, all three surgeons seemed very concerned. ‘I’d better go and speak with Lexi.’
‘Why Lexi?’ Lizzie asked, as Mitchell headed off to speak to the head of PR for the Hunter Clinic.
‘The proverbial is about to hit the fan,’ Ethan said darkly. ‘Mark my words.’
CHAPTER NINE
LIZZIE DID HER best to get on with her day, but she was very worried. Not about the publicity, given Leo hadn’t been the surgeon who’d operated, but about Francesca. Late in the evening, long after the patients had gone, she was still reluctant to go home till she knew what was happing.
‘Why don’t you call Leo?’ Gwen suggested, as she headed out the door.
‘I might,’ Lizzie said, but when she tried she just got his voicemail.
It felt strange to be alone in the clinic. Lizzie tried to find something to do but there wasn’t much. She took the files of the patients Leo would be seeing tomorrow into his office and placed them on the table. She couldn’t help but walk over to the shelf and take down the ballet programme. She started to flick through it then became so engrossed she hardly heard Leo coming through the door.
‘She’s stable.’
Lizzie turned around at the sound of Leo’s voice.
‘Several clots, but small ones, thank God.’ He closed his eyes briefly. Both had worked in medicine long enough to know that had it been a large clot, nothing anyone could have done would have changed the outcome. ‘I’m just so glad she came to the clinic. Had that happened at home …’ He walked over and looked at the programme Lizzie was holding. ‘It’s not often that I question my work but on days like today …’
‘Leo, you didn’t even do the surgery.’
‘I know that, but I could easily have. There is a risk. I say it every day but on days like today you just question things.’
‘Lexi seems to think it might look bad for the clinic if it gets out.’
‘It’s already out,’ Leo said. ‘Lexi just rang and told me. She’s had two journalists call in the last hour.’
‘She’s telling them that Francesca didn’t have the surgery here?’
‘No,’ Leo said. ‘I never comment on any patients.’
‘But—’
‘No buts,’ Leo said. ‘You can’t play that card only when it suits and I’m certainly not going to put the blame on Geoff. It’s a post-operative complication—it could be any one of us.’
‘Even so,’ Lizzie said. ‘It’s your reputation …’
‘My reputation can take it,’ Leo said. ‘It’s par for the course, Lizzie. If I couldn’t handle this sort of thing I’d have given up on surgery ages ago.’ He sounded so assured and confident but she could tell he was deeply concerned.
It was all just so unfair.
‘Do you want a drink?’ Lizzie offered.
‘I’d kill for a coffee.’ Leo yawned. ‘I’ll give Francesca’s niece another call and see how she is and then I’m going to ring Geoff and speak with him.’
‘I meant …’ She looked at the decanter.
‘That’s for the patients, oh, and Ethan,’ Leo said, then nodded. ‘Go on, then, if you’ll join me.’
She shouldn’t be joining him, both knew that. They were heading into dangerous territory and it had been a long and emotional day, but she wanted to talk to him more than she wanted to go home.
Lizzie poured them both a drink while Leo scrolled through his tablet.
‘Have you seen this?’
As she walked over Lizzie wondered which of their famous clients she was about to see, or whether it was something about Francesca, but instead it was an article she had read several months ago.
‘That’s how I found out about Ethan,’ Leo said. ‘From a news article. That’s why I was so insistent that Francesca ring Amelia—I know how it feels not to be told. How could the hospital not tell me?’
Lizzie said nothing, though she knew much more. Not that Ethan had ever been particularly effusive, but he had opened up a little to her and of course she’d read his notes.
What had happened to Ethan was so much worse than the little Leo knew.
‘I don’t know how we grew so far apart,’ Leo mused. ‘Actually, I do. I never wanted him to go into the military,’ he admitted. ‘I wanted him here, working in the family business …’
‘It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?’ Lizzie offered. ‘The family name.’
‘Didn’t you look me up before you came to work here?’ He loved it that she blushed as she admitted that she had. ‘You should have read back further. The Hunter name was mud for years. I wanted Ethan to help rebuild it.’
‘Mud?’ Lizzie frowned. ‘Your father was an esteemed surgeon and your mother …’ She blushed again, remembering her own father’s less than complimentary description of Leo’s mother, though she could hardly say that now, but Leo got in first.
‘My parents’ marriage was a disaster. Not to the outside world at first, but they soon got to see it, warts and all. You really don’t know about them?’ Leo asked, and Lizzie admitted to having done a little research before plucking up the courage to ring him. ‘I read his obituary.’
‘Obituaries tend to gloss over certain things. Yes, the Hunter name was prestigious, yes, we catered to the rich and wealthy and had a stunning reputation, till my father forgot to leave the less pleasant side of his personality at home.’
He didn’t mean to elaborate further, he had already said far more than he usually did, but, yes, Leo told himself, it had been a long day and so he continued.
‘You know how people say they build a place from nothing?’ He looked directly at her and normally she averted her eyes but tonight she felt as if she was looking at the real Leo Hunter and instead of looking away she nodded.
‘I built this from less than nothing. Not that your lover seems very impressed …’
Had she agreed to lunch he’d have asked the question far more nicely. Instead, his eyes were just a touch accusing as he awaited her response.
‘He’s not my lover.’
‘Has he ever been?’
‘No! Anyway, what is it to you?’ Her voice trailed off because it was a stupi
d question, a very stupid question given the attraction crackling between herself and Leo, and this time Lizzie did pull her eyes away. ‘What is it with you and Ethan?’ In a desperate attempt to distract Leo from her previous question, she asked what few would dare. Something needed to be said—even Ethan had joked that he had thought his days of unexploded land mines were over. ‘Why don’t the two of you get on?’
‘Is that the head nurse asking?’
‘No,’ Lizzie said. ‘It’s me.’
He wanted to tell her, or maybe he just needed to speak with someone, Leo rationalised, because having Ethan working here was proving way harder than he had thought it would. He felt as if someone had taken a rake through the clinic and turfed every inch of it. The only thing that had made coming to work bearable lately was sitting in front of him now.
‘All the time we were growing up—’ Leo was clearly uncomfortable discussing it ‘—I did everything I could to appease my father. I guess that’s the best way to describe it. He was a mean drunk and for all our mother’s dazzling ways she wasn’t exactly a stable parent—there were endless parties, affairs, all glossed over, of course. After our mother died there could be no glossing over. It just got worse.’
‘His drinking?’
‘That and the moods and the anger. Ethan loves confrontation, I rely on smooth talk …’
‘I had noticed.’
He gave a thin smile. ‘I spent my life trying to keep him calm, trying to smooth things over, stop the whole thing from exploding, and Ethan loathes me for it.’
‘Why were you the peacekeeper?’
‘Honestly?’ Leo asked, and Lizzie nodded. ‘If confronted, I thought my father might kill him.’
Lizzie swallowed. It was just so far from the love she had known growing up.
‘I remember one time when I was thirteen and we were home for the school holidays.’ Leo shook his head, not wanting to go there ever again. ‘Ethan was ten years old!’ He offered little by way of explanation but the agony was clear. ‘That was no match for my father in a rage.’
‘Ethan needs to get over himself,’ Lizzie said. ‘He’s lucky to have had an older brother looking out for him—who would light the tail of a lion and send someone they love in to deal with it.’
‘I guess.’ Leo pondered on that for a moment then pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘I’d better ring Francesca’s niece and then Geoff.’
‘I’ll go when you’ve rung Amelia.’
She waited while he made the call and it was clear even from the one-sided conversation that Francesca was doing well, though she was being carefully monitored in ICU and given medication to disperse the clots.
‘I’m so pleased to hear she’s improving,’ Leo said to Francesca’s niece. ‘Let her know that I’ll come in and visit …’ He chatted a moment longer and then ended the call.
‘She’s stable.’
‘I heard,’ Lizzie said. ‘That’s great news.’
‘Tony’s on his way!’ Leo grinned. ‘Things looked pretty grim for a while when we first got to Kate’s and Amelia ended up calling him and he wants to see her. I doubt Francesca will be too pleased! She’s certainly looking nothing like she’d hoped to for the wedding.’
‘You really do have a soft spot for her.’
‘I do.’ Leo nodded. ‘She’s got the same name as my mother—who I’m turning into, apparently …’ He gave a black smile. ‘She was a bit of a party girl and, as I said, there were a lot of affairs.’
‘That sounds like one of Ethan’s comparisons,’ Lizzie said, and Leo’s eyes jerked up.
‘Actually, it was.’
‘You’re not married, Leo. You’re not being unfaithful to anyone.’
‘Just a top bastard.’
‘I was wrong about that,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘It was Flora who got the wrong idea about things. From what I’ve heard since then, you don’t make any promises that you don’t keep.’
‘Never,’ Leo said, and he watched the swallow in her throat as he spelt things out, as he always had and always would. ‘I’ll never have an affair because I’ll never be with one person long enough. I’ve seen first hand what a bad relationship can do.’
‘There are good ones too.’
‘I have no intention of finding out,’ Leo dismissed. ‘I like the nice things in life,’ he continued. ‘I don’t wait for things to turn sour.’
Her eyes never left his face as she stood up.
‘I’m going to go,’ Lizzie said.
‘Sure—I need to ring Geoff.’
He didn’t blame her in the least for going—he had pretty much told her how they would be and he didn’t blame Lizzie in the least for wanting no part of it.
He just didn’t want her to go.
‘Night, Leo …’
‘I’ll walk you out,’ Leo offered, standing up to do just that.
‘There’s no need.’
She should go, simply walk, yet instead she stood there. Lizzie didn’t do mixed messages but Leo was certainly mixing her up.
‘ Night, Lizzie.’
When still she didn’t move his hand lifted to her cheek and Lizzie had plenty of time to turn but instead her cheek met his skin and moved into it like a cat nudging his palm.
‘You should go,’ Leo warned, but his hand remained.
‘I am going,’ Lizzie said. ‘But first …’
Lizzie had never made first moves, always she held back, but tonight she did not. Slowly, softly she touched her lips to his.
His hand slid to her waist and her mouth opened, and the first taste of his tongue was more potent than brandy. It warmed but it did not comfort; instead, it made her crave. It was a kiss that lingered and with reason—for Leo, never had the darkness been lit by a kiss.
She wanted the bag that was on her shoulder to slip to the floor and for the hand that was on her waist to pull her further into him, she wanted him to press her with his mouth and lead her to his sofa.
In a kiss that remained a kiss there were so many thoughts to be had.
He smelt of that expensive cologne, yet there was a base note that was exclusive to Leo and was driving her wild, along with the knowledge that right now he could easily have her on the floor.
She pulled back, knew she had to play it casual if they were going to continue as normal at work.
‘What was that?’ Leo smiled, running the tip of his tongue over his lips and tasting her over again.
‘A kiss,’ Lizzie said. ‘Just a kiss,’ she said, trying to pretend a kiss was all their bodies required. ‘You looked like you could do with one.’
He was about to make one of his usual quips, how he’d do better with two, or that it would be very thoughtless to leave him like this, to drag her hand to feel the strain of his erection, to push her head back to his mouth and let his tongue in detail tell her what he wanted to do, except he wanted more than that from Lizzie. He actually wanted the conversations, the meals and the moments, getting to know each other.
Yet he did not.
And certainly he didn’t want the fall-out afterwards.
‘’Night, Lizzie.’
It was why he let her go.
CHAPTER TEN
WHAT HAD SEEMED not just appropriate at the time but natural was worrying her by the time Lizzie had got home.
She loved her job.
More than that, for the first time in a long time she was panicking about what to wear to a ball, rather than panicking about the bills from the nursing home and making the month’s rent.
More than that, though, she liked Leo and had no idea how things would be at work if they—
Stop.
Over and over she told herself not to go there, but working alongside him the next week and pretending their kiss hadn’t happened, or that it had meant very little, would be hard enough. Imagine what it would be like if they—
Stop.
By Thursday Lizzie wondered if she should just walk around with a stop sign to hold up at five-minute
intervals throughout the day. She was finishing up some notes on a patient when Leo walked past and paused to give her an update on Francesca. ‘She’s been moved to a ward and is improving.’
‘And Tony?’
‘I didn’t actually see Francesca, I just called.’
Lizzie noted his tense features and didn’t blame him in the least for not adding fuel to the fire by visiting Francesca. The press were all over it and the interest wasn’t abating—the Hunter name was, yet again, being held to question. Only, as it turned out, that wasn’t the reason he hadn’t visited his favourite patient.
‘She’s really upset,’ Leo explained. ‘Francesca’s no fool and she’s really upset by all the drama and, on top of everything, now the whole world knows she’s been under the knife. Amelia said she’d just burst into tears and get all upset if she saw me.’
‘I could go in and visit.’
‘Would you?’ Leo seemed to like that idea. ‘That would be great and, please, tell her she’s not to worry about me.’ He looked at Lizzie. He wanted to speak with her, he wanted to take up where they had left off, but in a rare occurrence his conscience was pricking.
Ethan was right.
Lizzie wasn’t his usual type—far from it. He was now more than questioning his decision to ask her to the ball. It was hard enough just stopping by and chatting to her.
‘I meant to ask you something,’ Lizzie said, before he walked away. ‘I’ve had a couple of patients asking when Abbie would be back. I assume she’s a doctor here?’
Leo nodded. ‘She’s a paediatric surgeon. Abbie de Luca …’
‘Oh!’ Lizzie’s eyes widened in question because de Luca was Rafael’s surname.
‘They’ve got a very sick baby.’
‘Oh, no …’ Lizzie really hadn’t had too many dealings with Rafael. His theatre list was spilling over and he was constantly at the hospital or closed in behind his office door. ‘Is there anything we can do …?’ She didn’t really know how to broach it—but shouldn’t he be home more with his family than working around the clock? ‘He seems to have a terribly heavy workload.’
‘Yes, well, he’s taken on a lot of Abbie’s patients.’ Leo felt uncomfortable discussing something so private but as head nurse Lizzie perhaps ought to be told. ‘We’re not keeping him from his family. Abbie is in America, there’s a new treatment but it’s …’ Leo gave an uncomfortable shrug, it was a very sensitive topic. ‘It’s probably better that you don’t ask Rafael how things are going. If he chooses to talk …’
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