Private Partners (Doctors in Training 2)

Liam ambled out of the bedroom, his short, dark hair still wet from the shower, his face freshly shaven. His jeans looked old and comfortably worn, and the cuffs of his blue twill shirt were turned back to reveal strong, tanned forearms. He wore his glasses again, but the “mild-mannered reporter” image was negated by the slight swagger in his walk as he crossed the room, knowing she was watching him.

He stopped by the table to brush a kiss over her lips. “Have you had breakfast?”

She motioned toward the cup of coffee next to her computer. “I’m starting with caffeine. I’ll work up to food eventually.”

Shaking his head, he moved toward the refrigerator. “I’ll make breakfast.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Oh, it definitely is necessary. I’m starving.”

A common condition for him, she thought with a smile. Liam had the metabolism of a hummingbird, burning off calories even during the rare times he sat still.

She’d been so wrapped up in her studies that she hadn’t even realized Liam had gone out to the newspaper stand in the parking lot until she saw the paper folded beside his plate. Trying to be a little more sociable than she’d been so far that morning, she asked, “Anything interesting in the news today?”

He shrugged. “The usual conflicts overseas, sniping between politicians and celebrity gossip. Lots of ink given to that ugly divorce between Cal Burlington and Michaela Pomfret.”

Anne grimaced. She rarely glanced at Hollywood gossip, but even she had heard too many details about that famous acting couple’s acrimonious split. It was particularly juicy because they’d made headlines only a few years earlier by leaving their former, equally famous spouses for each other during the making of a film in which they had costarred. Now there was a child involved, along with very public accusations of infidelity, emotional cruelty and substance abuse. “You’ve met Cal Burlington, haven’t you?”

Liam nodded. “He was one of the three celebrities who appeared on that documentary I was involved with last year—the one about the crisis of the rain forests in Central America. The producers thought we’d get more viewers and attention if some big-name guests tramped through the forests with us to show the devastation there, though I lobbied for more screen time to be given to credible experts. Cal and I spent only a few days together. He seemed like a decent enough guy, despite the overinflated ego most actors have to develop just to survive in Hollywood.”

“It must be humiliating for them both to have so much attention directed toward their private lives now. The painful breakup of a family shouldn’t be fodder for public entertainment.”

“No. But I guess it should be expected when they’ve spent the past decade doing everything they could to stay in that spotlight. They certainly weren’t shy about exploiting their courtship and the birth of their child. Now they want privacy—and while I understand, and I believe they should have it while they sort out their personal problems, I can’t help wondering if they’re enjoying the attention in some twisted way.”

Anne shook her head, suppressing a shudder at the thought of living in such a fishbowl. Liam wasn’t nearly as famous as Cal and Michaela, of course, but he had been steadily building his public reputation. His agent and publicists had been busy during this break preparing for the launch of the new season of his cable program. The publication of his book would make him even more of a celebrity.

How long would they really be able to keep their secret? And how much attention would they attract when they made their announcement?

She swallowed hard, hoping she would be prepared for that scrutiny when the time arrived. Sometime in the future, she assured herself. When they were ready.

Either growing bored or uncomfortable with the topic of celebrity marriages—or rather, the end of one, Liam changed the subject. “What have you been studying this morning?”

She was just as eager to move to a new topic. “Shigella.”

“That’s a bacteria, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s a rod-shaped, gram-negative, nonspore-forming bacteria. There are four serogroups of shigella. S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. boydii and…um…oh, yeah, S. sonnei. S. dysenteriae is usually the cause of epidemics of dysentery in close quarters such as the refugee camps you’ve visited.”

She had recited the facts without looking at her computer screen, tensing when she’d momentarily forgotten the name of the fourth serogroup.

“Wow. That’s a lot to remember.”

She nodded grimly. “We have to know how many serotypes are in each serogroup, the differences between each group, what diseases are caused by each, the symptoms of those diseases and the medicines used to fight them.”

“I don’t know how you remember it all.”

“That’s just one organism. There are four bacteria in this lecture alone. We have to know as much about all of them.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? I’d be happy to quiz you.”

She glanced at the stacks of papers she had yet to wade through, including several pages of practice test questions. “Don’t you have to work on your revisions?”

He shrugged. “I can work when you’re in class and with your study group. Really, I’d love to do something to help you. I’ll probably stumble over the pronunciations of all that stuff, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

“Well…”

“Okay, then. Let’s finish our breakfasts, then I’ll clear away the dishes and make a fresh pot of coffee and we’ll get at it. The studying, I mean,” he added with a wicked smile that made her giggle.