Private Partners (Doctors in Training 2)

Which made it all the harder to understand why she wasn’t eager to put some distance between herself and her overinvolved family.

Because she loved them. He scowled as the memory of her impassioned voice whispered through his mind.

His stomach jerked and he pressed a hand against it, almost doubling over from the pain. Damn. Maybe Anne had been right. Maybe he should see a doctor. As soon as he got home, he would…

Home.

He pictured the empty apartment waiting for him in New York. Was that home? Was it a home if no one was there to welcome him back? If he went to bed alone every night and woke alone every morning?

He felt more at home in a tent in some desert somewhere than he did at that apartment.

So why was he going back?

He inhaled sharply, losing patience with his own dithering. He’d made his decision. He was going back to New York. He’d made his choice.

“You want me to choose between you and my family.”

Anne had looked almost horrified when she had whispered that accusation. As if the very thought was almost more than she could bear.

He didn’t like knowing he had been the one to put that expression on her pretty face.

His stomach twisted again. Guilt could be damned painful, he thought with a scowl.

Anne wasn’t in the mood to meet with her study group Thursday evening. She made a flimsy excuse to Haley and decided she would study at home alone that night. Not that she expected to get much done, even though she would have the place to herself. No one there to interrupt or distract her.

How could she concentrate on slides and figures when her heart was breaking?

Was her marriage over? Had it ever really had a chance? What had made them believe they could make a marriage work under those ridiculous circumstances?

She couldn’t choose between Liam and her family. It was unconscionable of him to put her in that situation. If he really knew her, if he truly understood her, he would know she couldn’t—wouldn’t—be backed into that corner.

She wished she could be angry with him. Instead, she was almost numb with pain. And somehow, she had to put that aside and concentrate on her studies. It was going to take a superhuman effort.

“Hi, Dr. Easton!”

Anne stifled a sigh as she nodded in response to Rose’s cheery greeting. “Hello, Rose. Hi, Parker.”

The little boy grinned and waved a dirty hand at her in recognition.

“We’ve been to the playground,” Rose said by way of explaining her son’s grubby appearance. “I’m taking him in for a bath now.”

“He looks like he had a great time.”

“He did. I haven’t seen Lee around lately. Parker always looks for him when we come out to the lot.”

Anne just didn’t have the energy to explain that Liam wouldn’t be around again for a while. If ever.

“Excuse me,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound rude. “I have to make a phone call.”

Rose didn’t take offense easily. “Sure. We’ll see you around, Doc.”

Sticking her key into the lock without enthusiasm, Anne shuffled into her apartment—and then stopped cold just i

nside the door.

Liam was lying on her couch.

She blinked to make sure she was seeing correctly. “Liam?”