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‘Your timing’s impeccable,’ Leo offered, and gave a wry smile to Lizzie as he tucked in his shirt. ‘I’m serious,’ he added as she shot him an incredulous look. ‘I was actually trying to get rid of her.’
‘Really?’
She had a very soft but exceptionally clear voice, though it was, Leo noted, her eyes that did most of the talking and what they had to say was less than flattering—especially as they briefly drifted down and, with a slight purse to her lips, returned to meet his cool gaze. Without needing to check, Leo knew, just knew what she had seen—his flies were undone.
Leo could have blushed.
Or cursed.
Perhaps he should have chosen to ignore it.
His response was far less forgivable.
He laughed.
A shameless, deep laugh as he deftly rectified the situation.
Lizzie, he noted, didn’t laugh.
He noted a few other things too. She was incredibly … Leo’s mind hesitated. As one of Britain’s top cosmetic surgeons he was usually able to sum up a woman’s looks in an instant. It came as second nature to him to notice any work that might have been done or, perhaps more pointedly, to guess what work a woman might be considering. As a patient walked into his office, Leo’s eyes were already assessing their features and had guessed by the end of that first handshake what was on the patient’s mind.
He just couldn’t work out what might be on Lizzie’s.
Rather than noticing very slightly protruding teeth, Leo saw only her full lips. Her creamy complexion didn’t come from a bottle—if it did, Leo would have held the patent, and as for that body … With Flora his response had been automatic, clinical, but with Lizzie it was far from that. He’d had no idea what to expect from the new head nurse, but it certainly hasn’t been this ball of femininity.
‘Flora and I recently broke up,’ he explained. ‘She just hasn’t got used to the idea yet.’
Lizzie really didn’t want to hear about his love life. Her cheeks were on fire—a mixture of coming into the warm clinic from a cold January day, nerves at starting her new job, and the sight that had greeted her.
Right now, all she wanted was to get as far away from Leo Hunter as possible to attempt to get her head together. ‘If you will excuse me, I’d like to get changed and then I’ll come and introduce myself and we can hopefully start again—more professionally this time.’
‘Sure,’ Leo responded, realising that in very few words she had stated her case. Lizzie Birch was far from impressed, but right now he had other things to deal with—namely, a near-naked, scorned woman who, Leo thought as he heard the sound of sobbing, was not going to go quietly.
Lizzie was so far from impressed.
She stepped into the staff changing room, which looked as if it might belong in some exclusive gymnasium rather than a medical clinic. There were huge mirrors, showers and wall-to-wall fluffy towels. Lizzie half expected an attendant to come out and offer to take her coat.
Thankfully it was empty and Lizzie dragged in a breath. Oh, she was so far from impressed, not just at the scene in his office but at her own response to Leo.
Did he have to be so good-looking? So overpowering, so completely male?
Yes, she’d seen photos but not one of them had adequately captured the beauty or the overwhelming charisma of Leo Hunter close up.
She had expected a slightly older version of Ethan, but instead he seemed younger, lighter and far more reprobate then his serious younger brother. And, unlike Ethan, Leo’s eyes were blue but, more than that, they beckoned to bed.
‘Oh, no!’ Lizzie actually said the words out loud. For all her misgivings about the new position, for all her worry and concern about taking on such a prestigious role, never had it entered her head that on sight her stomach would be doing somersaults and it actually had very little to do with the compromising situation she had found him in.
He’d laughed.
At what should have been the most embarrassing, awkward of moments, when anyone else would have been cringing and red faced, he’d had the audacity to do what, to Lizzie’s surprise, she found herself doing now. As a shocked gurgle of laughter filled the room Lizzie’s eyes widened in brief surprise at her own reaction to her new boss but then the smile faded.
‘He would crush you in the palm of his hand,’ Lizzie told her reflection. She was here to work, to make decent money, to finally get ahead.
There was no way she would allow herself to even think of fancying him.
Lizzie was far too sensible for that.
In her new role, Gwen had explained that she would be expected to wear a suit. Lizzie unzipped it from its cover and pulled on the slim charcoal-grey skirt. There was also a cream blouse with a cowl neck and small buttons at the back.
Hardly practical, Lizzie thought, changing from boots to low heels, slipping on the jacket and then stepping back to check her reflection.
Even though she was thirty-two years old, Lizzie felt like a child trying on her mother’s clothes. They were tailored, fitted … elegant.
Lizzie didn’t normally bother with make-up at work but, having seen Gwen and a couple of the other staff on her entrance, she wished she had thought to bring some.
She walked towards Leo’s office, wondering how best to face him.
As it turned out, it wasn’t facing Leo that proved to be the problem.
Instead it was Flora!
CHAPTER TWO
‘I’VE GOT THIS …’ Leo said.
He was attempting to cover Flora with her coat and guide her from the sumptuous reception either out the main door or towards his office. Lizzie wasn’t sure which. But, as stubborn as a mule, Flora dug in her stilettoes and stood beneath the chandelier in the reception, telling anyone, who had no choice but to listen, what a bastard Leo was.
‘Not here.’ Leo was attempting to smooth things and steer her away.
‘Yes, here!’ Flora insisted.
Leo had been making a coffee, trying to give Flora the chance for a somewhat dignified exit, when the one-woman protest had started.
There was something quite unattractive about a near-naked woman furiously ripping off jewellery and tossing it at a very calm man, Lizzie thought.
‘And he was worried about me creating a scene …’ Ethan walked out of his own office and made the dry comment as Lizzie joined him. ‘Welcome to 200 Harley Street, Lizzie. You’ve met my brother, I presume?’
‘Is it always like this?’ Lizzie asked.
‘That depends.’ Ethan shrugged. ‘They’ve been together for a few weeks, including Christmas, which is a bit of a record for Leo. I hope to God he gets it sorted before patients start to arrive.’
Lizzie was starting to doubt it.
‘Flora!’ Leo was trying to calm Flora down and failing. ‘You’re being ridiculous.’
‘No.’ She hurled a necklace at him and Lizzie realised she was holding her breath as it flew through the air and thankfully missed its target. ‘What’s ridiculous is you throwing away all we have. Why can’t we work on it?’
Leo opened his mouth to say something but then changed his mind and Flora carried on. ‘Do you remember what you said when you gave me this?’ she demanded, as she wrenched off a ring.
‘No,’ Leo admitted shamelessly.
‘Bastard.’ She tossed the ring and this time it did meet its mark. If a diamond could cut glass then it made light work of Leo’s cheek—a gash opening as Leo stepped forward to restrain Flora. She was clearly about to hit him but Lizzie got there first. She took the woman’s wrist and held it, and for the second time Leo heard the calm ice of Lizzie’s voice.
‘Now, that really would be stupid,’ Lizzie said. ‘If this doesn’t stop right now I shall have the police called.’ Absolutely she meant it. ‘I thought I’d left the fights in Accident and Emergency behind when I came to work here.’
‘It’s not like that,’ Flora attempted.
‘It’s exactly what it’s like,’ Lizzie said, releasing Flora’s hand and watching the woman’s anger turn to horror as she realised what she had done. ‘Now….’ Lizzie quickly put on Flora’s coat and did up the buttons, then tied the belt as she spoke. ‘I think we’ve all seen enough drama …’ She looked briefly over at Ethan and at Leo, who had blood pouring down his cheek. Seeing Lizzie had control of things, they both gave a brief nod at her dismissal of them but before they disappeared into Ethan’s office Leo had a very quiet word with Lizzie.
‘See that she gets home okay.’
‘Sure.’
All the fight had gone out of Flora and Lizzie couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and perhaps embarrassed for her too.
‘You need to go home and calm down,’ Lizzie said.
‘I can’t believe it’s over.’ Flora said. ‘He told me—’
‘I don’t think going over things will be very helpful now,’ Lizzie interrupted.
‘I thought we were going to get engaged!’ Flora sobbed. ‘I thought it meant something …’
‘This is a medical clinic.’ Lizzie kept her voice practical. ‘It’s not the place to cause a scene. Whatever is going on between you and Leo is to be sorted well away from here.’ Lizzie simply refused to prolong the conversation. ‘I’ll call a taxi for you.’
‘I’ll take her home.’ Gwen walked down the corridor and gave Lizzie a tight smile. ‘Come on, Flora.’
‘Hold on.’ Lizzie picked up the jewellery that was scattered over the floor. ‘You don’t want to leave these behind.’ She was warmed to see a very pale smile on a dazed Flora’s lips as Lizzie carefully slipped the jewellery into her coat pocket. ‘That really would be a stupid mistake.’
‘Thank you.’
Lizzie just nodded.
Before Gwen headed off with Flora she told Lizzie there was someone watching the front desk as patients would soon be arriving.
Luckily none were here yet.
For a moment Lizzie wondered how to play it when she saw Leo—whether to pretend that it hadn’t happened, carry on as if nothing had, or face things.
There really wasn’t a choice—yes, she wanted this job but she couldn’t work in, let alone be head nurse of, a clinic with this type of thing going on and not state her case.
Lizzie knocked once and opened the door.
‘Don’t you wait to be called in?’ Leo asked, his tone telling Lizzie he was joking. He was leaning back in his leather chair as Ethan opened up a suture pack.
‘I don’t think there’s much point.’ Lizzie’s response was dry. ‘I’ve seen far more than I wanted to already.’
‘Yes, well, sorry about that.’
He gave a slight wince as Ethan probed the wound. ‘You need a couple of stitches.’
‘I don’t.’
‘It’s deep,’ Ethan said. ‘If you don’t want it opening up …’
‘Just do it, then,’ Leo snapped, and then his blue eyes opened to Lizzie. ‘Things are normally far calmer …’
‘He’s lying.’ Ethan was opening up a vial of local anaesthetic. ‘My brother tends to bring out the worst in women.’
‘Don’t bother with the local.’
‘Suit yourself.’ Ethan shrugged.
‘Why do women always say they want to work on things?’ Leo pondered out loud, saying now what he’d been sensible enough not to say to Flora. ‘I save work for work.’
‘Just what did you say when you gave her the ring?’ Ethan asked.
‘I said that it wasn’t an engagement ring. I made it very clear.’ Lizzie winced for Leo as Ethan put in a stitch, then she winced for Flora as Leo thought for a moment and then spoke on. ‘Actually, I can remember what I said, I said that it was the closest I’d come to one …’
‘Leo!’ Ethan’s exasperation was clear but for the first time since she’d met him, even if Leo couldn’t see it, Ethan was actually smiling.
‘I didn’t mean it like that. What I was trying to say …’ Leo jumped to his own defence then gave in. ‘Bloody hell, I think I must have had too much Goldschläger or something.’
‘What’s that?’ Lizzie checked, and Leo actually smiled as the second suture went in and Lizzie picked up some scissors and cut for Ethan.
‘Cinnamon schnapps,’ Leo said. ‘Lethal stuff.’
‘How was Switzerland?’ Ethan asked, putting in the third.
‘Far more romantic than intended, it would seem.’ Leo sighed. ‘I’ll ring her and apologise …’
‘Don’t,’ Lizzie said, and one blue eye peeped open and for the first time she properly met his gaze. ‘False hope.’
‘Okay.’
‘Just leave it,’ Lizzie said. ‘I think she’s got the message.’
‘You think?’ Leo checked.
‘I’m quite sure she’s worked out what a top bastard you are.’
She smiled sweetly as she said it.
‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Lizzie snipped the stich and then made herself say it. ‘Keep arguments away from work.’
‘Leo never argues,’ Ethan said. ‘He ends things long before arguments start.’
‘Well, I don’t want to walk into that again.’ Lizzie knew she had to address it and as she did so he opened the other eye and stared back at Lizzie as she spoke on. ‘I’m not just talking about the scene in Reception, I’m talking about what I walked into before—I could have been a patient.’
‘But you’re not.’
‘Even so.’ Lizzie put down the scissors as Ethan, tongue in cheek as his brother got a scolding, applied a small dressing. ‘It’s not very professional.’
‘I’m extremely professional,’ Leo smarted.
‘I can only go by what I’ve seen.’ Lizzie retorted. ‘Am I being hired to merely smile or am I to be the head nurse of the clinic?’
‘Head nurse,’ Leo said through gritted teeth.
‘Then let there be no repetitions.’ She gave him a smile and then smiled at Ethan. ‘I’ll go and show myself around.’
She walked out, again closing the door behind her, and let out a long slow breath as, on the other side, Leo did the same.
‘You didn’t tell me I was hiring an old-school matron,’ Leo grumbled, picking up the mirror he usually held up for patients and examining the damage to his cheek as he mimicked Lizzie’s voice. ‘“Let there be no repetitions”—I feel like I’m back at school.’
‘God help Lizzie then,’ Ethan said, but then the smile faded from his face as he watched Leo’s gaze briefly drift to the door Lizzie had just walked out of. Ethan watched as, simply on instinct, Leo dragged in the last dregs of the feminine scent lingering in the air and, not for the first time, Ethan wondered if, by seeing she got this job, he had been doing Lizzie a huge disservice.
Yes, the money might be great but if Leo set his cap on her …
Ethan let out a worried breath. He knew better than most the true cost of a broken heart.
CHAPTER THREE
LIZZIE DID SHOW herself around and chatted to a couple of the staff, who were very friendly.
‘Welcome to the Hunter Clinic.’ Charlotte, one of the nurses introduced herself. ‘I’m just heading over to Kate’s or I’d show you around.’
‘Kate’s?’ Lizzie checked—she’d heard that name mentioned a few times in conversation.
‘Princess Catherine’s Hospital,’ Charlotte explained and, as she spoke on, Lizzie was fast finding out how little she knew about her new role. ‘Day cases are normally done here but anything other than a twilight sedation is done either at Kate’s or the Lighthouse Hospital.’
‘Do you do a lot at the Lighthouse?’ Lizzie asked, because that was a children’s hospital.
‘Loads.’ Charlotte smiled. ‘Rafael De Luca, one of our paediatric surgeons, has a theatre list there this morning and I’m—’
‘Charlotte!’
She was interrupted by rather gruff but very good-looking man who popped his head out of a treatment room like a handsome bear peering out of a cave, holding his gloved hands up in front of him and asking in a rich Scottish accent if he might have a hand.
‘I’m just on my way out …’
‘I can help.’ Lizzie smiled, glad of the chance to be useful.
‘Lizzie’s the new head nurse,’ Charlotte explained as she dashed off.
‘Hi Lizzie, I’m Iain MacKenzie. I’m removing sutures,’ he explained, ‘but Jessica, the patient, is very distressed. I need a hand to keep her still. She doesn’t want any sedation.’
Jessica was very distressed; she was on an examination table and curled up.
‘Can we do it tomorrow?’ she begged.
‘The sooner they come out the less it will scar,’ Iain explained. ‘It’s not going to hurt, there will just be a little bit of tugging. This is Lizzie …’
‘Hi, Jessica.’ Lizzie smiled. She was about to ask what had happened but Iain shot her a warning look and Lizzie decided otherwise. Instead, she made the woman as comfortable as she could and put a small sterile towel over her face so that she couldn’t see the blade Iain was using to remove the numerous tiny sutures from her neck and behind her ear.
‘You’re doing grand …’ Iain said every now and then, but he was a silent type and was concentrating hard so it was Lizzie who did most of the reassuring as the tiny threads were removed.
‘How does it look?’ Jessica kept asking.
Iain was concentrating and it was Lizzie who spoke for him.
‘It’s very swollen and tender at the moment,’ Lizzie said, ‘but the wounds are …’ She hesitated. How could she describe them as amazing? Yet she had never seen anything so intricately repaired. ‘It’s a marvellous job.’
She looked up and Iain gave a grim smile.
He was a man of few words but his work clearly spoke for itself. As he held up the mirror and Jessica carefully examined the wounds, Lizzie was relieved for the patient that she could see an improvement.
‘It looks so much better but—’
‘Just let it settle and I’ll see you in a couple of days and we’ll start with ointments and massage, but for now I just want the wound left. How are you?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jessica admitted. ‘The thing is …’ She glanced over at Lizzie and when it was clear that she’d prefer privacy Lizzie made her excuses and left.
‘How is she?’ Leo was walking past as Lizzie came out.
‘Sorry?’
He nodded in the direction of his office and Lizzie followed. The corridor was perhaps not the best place to speak. ‘How is Jessica?’ Leo clarified. ‘I was going to suture her when she came in but I knew it was going to take hours and I had a function to attend …’ He watched as Lizzie’s lips tightened a fraction. ‘You’ve been spending far too long listening to my brother about me.’ Leo gave a wry smile. ‘Anyway, Iain is brilliant for that type of injury. I’m just interested to hear how Jessica is.’
‘Her sutures are out,’ Lizzie said. ‘She’s just speaking with Iain. I think she wanted me to leave.’
‘You don’t recognise her, do you?’
‘Should I?’ Lizzie said, and then her eyes widened as she recalled the news last week and realised she’d just been looking after the wife of a celebrity who’d been taken in for questioning after a heated argument with his wife.
‘From her injuries I thought she must have been in a car accident.’ Lizzie closed her eyes for a moment. ‘I thought that working here would be …’ She halted, realising Leo might not be the best person to reveal her thoughts to, but he was already one step ahead.
‘You thought that it was all fake boobs and antiaging?’ Leo finished for her. ‘Domestic violence isn’t just for the working classes.’
‘I know.’ Lizzie’s voice was rattled, cross, but more with herself because, yes, Leo was right, people assumed that if you were rich and beautiful of course those sorts of things didn’t happen and so, when they did, it was somehow more shocking.
‘You’ll know it for certain after a couple of months here,’ Leo said. ‘Right, would you mind stepping outside and then walking in again?’ He saw her confusion. ‘I’d like to start again.’
‘It’s really not necessary.’
‘It really is,’ Leo said. ‘Go on, knock and this time wait till I call you in.’
‘This is ridiculous,’ Lizzie said, walking out and closing the door. She knocked and waited for his summons.
‘Come in.’
But kind of fun, Lizzie decided as she opened the door to his smile.
‘You must be the new head nurse.’ Leo stood from his desk, walked over and shook her hand.
‘You must be Mr Hunter.’ Lizzie smiled. ‘It’s lovely to meet you … Oh, what on earth happened to your cheek?’
He smiled, and Lizzie’s stomach did what it had done at the door to the changing room and simply folded over on itself.
‘Oh, that,’ Leo said. ‘Just a little tumble, skiing.’
‘Ouch.’ Lizzie winced. ‘Poor you!’
Then Leo was serious. He offered her a seat and moved behind his huge walnut table. It really was a lovely office, which looked out onto Harley Street, and Lizzie had to snap her eyes back to Leo when he spoke as she found herself staring out of the window, unable to believe she was actually here.
‘I think you’ll enjoy working here,’ Leo started. ‘I have an amazing team —all the staff I have personally chosen for their excellence. From surgeons to receptionists I have hand-picked each one.’
‘Except me.’
She didn’t mince her words, Leo noted.
‘Except you,’ Leo admitted. ‘But, then, I trust my brother’s judgement.’ He didn’t add it had been a condition of Ethan’s that if he was to take the role then Lizzie must be employed. ‘So, what made you want to work at the Hunter Clinic?’
Lizzie wondered just how honest she should be—she could hardly admit that it was the dazzling salary that had first attracted her. Neither could she say that the chance for an apartment in such a beautiful part of London had been too good to pass up and that the chance to finally get ahead financially had clinched the deal for her.
‘It’s a very prestigious clinic,’ Lizzie settled for instead.
‘It is.’ Leo’s eyes never left her face. ‘You haven’t worked in cosmetic or reconstructive surgery, though?’ he checked, and watched as her cheeks darkened. ‘What attracts you to it?’
‘People like Jessica,’ Lizzie answered. ‘It’s wonderful that such an appalling injury—’
‘I’m talking about the cosmetic side of things. People who come to the clinic for purely cosmetic reasons. Vanity even …’
‘I’m all for it,’ Lizzie said.
‘Really?’ Leo raised an eyebrow. ‘You don’t sound very sure.’
Lizzie was really struggling. Had she had a formal interview she would have given this question some thought prior to the event, but now it had been thrust upon her. There was no escaping Leo’s eyes as her mind raced for a more convincing response.
‘Why wouldn’t I be all for it?’ Lizzie said. ‘I’ve had a little work done myself.’
‘Really?’ Leo frowned. ‘What?’
Lizzie let out a slightly shrill laugh. ‘I don’t think you’d really expect me to answer that.’
Leo frowned. He could usually spot any work—it was his job after all—and Lizzie had to sit there burning with mortification as his eyes skimmed her face and then dipped briefly before returning to meet her gaze.
‘Can I ask who did your work?’
‘No,’ Lizzie said.
‘Well, whatever he did, it was an excellent job.’
‘She,’ Lizzie said.
‘Now you’ve got me really curious.’
Leo soon got back to being serious as he explained how the clinic ran. ‘I take great pride in my work. My patients often live their lives, or have lived their lives in the spotlight,’ he explained. ‘Like it or not, the world can be a very judgmental place and I do my best for my patients. I respect them immensely for taking care of themselves.’ Lizzie looked up at the determination in his voice. ‘Though I’m seeing fewer clients now as I focus more on the business side of things.’
‘Can I ask why?’ Lizzie was curious. ‘You’re clearly in demand …’
‘Two-fold.’ He nodded his approval of her question. ‘The more elusive I’ve become the more in demand I am and, on a more serious note, I really do want to build the charitable side of things. That’s the reason I’ve persuaded Ethan to come on board. The Hunter Clinic provides many people with very nice lifestyles but we do give back. It’s not just about donating a doctor’s time, though, it’s the hospital beds, the rehabilitation, the family …’