‘I knew nothing,’ she confirmed, her voice sounding like that of a stranger. ‘Obviously, I knew a surgeon was coming in to fill in for Isak on the trial, but I didn’t know it was you.’
His eyes bored into her that little bit deeper, causing her entire body to begin to heat. She told herself it was because she hated fibbing. It was why she usually prided herself on never doing so.
‘Is that so?’ He lifted a hand and, if she hadn’t known better, she might have thought he was about to put a stray curl around her ear or caress her cheek.
Obviously, he did neither.
And still Talia didn’t answer. She was getting hotter now and somehow the ground had shifted beneath her feet, leaving her scrambling for some kind of purchase. She couldn’t explain it.
‘Imagine, then,’ Liam continued almost conversationally, ‘my thoughts when I asked Nate where he’d heard about my work, only for him to inform me that he’d looked into my reputation after one of his scrub nurses had recommended me.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘NATE TOLD YOU?’ Talia gasped, shock making her forget her little foray into acting—which wa
s probably for the best since she appeared to be terrible at it.
But why would Nate have done that when she’d asked him not to mention her at all to Liam?
‘What did you expect, Talia?’ Liam asked evenly. ‘He’s founder and Chief of Staff of a world-renowned facility, not some kids’ playground leader. He wanted to be sure that there was no bad blood between us. Presumably that we would be able to work together.’
Her mouth felt parched. Like a scorched area of forest in the dry season.
‘What did you tell him?’
‘What do you think I told him?’ demanded Liam quietly. Too quietly. ‘I explained that while there was an intimate history between us, it was long buried. Then I told him that, whatever our past personal connection, you were one of the most professional scrub nurses that I knew, and that I would be more than happy to work with you again.’
‘Oh,’ she managed tightly. ‘And is that...is that how you feel?’
It didn’t help that Liam was eyeing her in such a way that it made her skin feel as though it was too tight for her own body.
‘Honestly?’ His voice was harsh, and she hated the rush of hope that it sent through her. As though the fact that he wasn’t entirely at ease might mean something. ‘I’d hoped to come here, perform my surgery, and leave. I didn’t consider seeing you. I didn’t even know you’d come back here.’
‘This is my home,’ she blurted out, shocked. ‘Where else would I have gone when I left Duke’s?’
The silence was all too heavy. All too suffocating. It swirled around them, but eventually it was Liam who spoke.
‘I neither knew nor cared.’
A wiser woman would have quit now. But Talia feared she’d never been wise where this man had been concerned. And as much as she hated herself for her weakness, and her desperation, she heard herself answering all the same.
‘I think you made that obvious at the time.’
‘Is that so?’
She didn’t know who had inched that fraction nearer. Bringing them so close to each other that she could feel his warm breath brushing over her cheek. And she wanted...more. For one crazy moment she almost imagined what it would be like to lean up and press her lips to his.
If it would feel the same.
‘I know you came here for the case. I never thought you would come here for me. If you’d wanted to do that, you’d have done it three years ago.’
The words were out before she could swallow them back.
But, boy, did she wish that she could. She didn’t even know where it had come from, or that’s what she wanted to tell herself. The worst of it was the way his expression changed instantly from that sharp smile to a look of...almost pure contempt.
Yet oddly, whether it was more at her or himself, she couldn’t quite be sure.
‘Is that what this is all about—some pathetic test?’ he demanded. ‘I didn’t go racing after you three years ago, but you’ve finally found a way to get me here now?’