Reunited with His Long-Lost Nurse

He didn’t bother denying it.

The fact was she had presented a coherent explanation—precisely as he’d challenged her to do. So why didn’t he feel entirely satisfied?

Instead, he felt strangely flat, as if a part of him had hoped there had been some personal motivation behind it all.

How was it that this one woman always managed to sneak under his skin, when no one else ever had?

It irked. Yet still something had thrummed in his chest. Something he might have thought to be suspiciously like a heart—if he hadn’t known it to be impossible. As if he was glad she was back in his life.

Liam shoved the thought aside angrily.

For his own sake, he should leave. Get as far away from St Victoria—and Talia Johnson—as possible. Hadn’t he learned his lesson with her last time? There was only person in life that anyone could trust—and that was themselves. Everyone else would always let you down in the end.

But this wasn’t all about Talia any more. He was committed to The Island Clinic now. To Nate Edwards. There was a patient flying in for his expertise and, no matter the personal cost, he prided himself on his professionalism. He wouldn’t let them down.

‘I accept your apology,’ he rasped out at last.

‘My apology?’

‘That you shouldn’t have lied about being the one to recommend me to your chief.’

‘I didn’t apologise, I just said—’

‘However, I’m satisfied that you recommended me for professional reasons rather than personal.’ He knew he sounded stilted, wooden, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

‘Oh. Good. That’s great.’ Her breath came out in a rush, and if she’d noticed how awkward he’d sounded she wasn’t mentioning it.

‘Good.’

There was a beat of silence as they remained immobile, eying each other cautiously.

Then another beat.

Furious with himself again,

Liam gave himself a mental shake.

‘Right, well, if that’s it, I have some work to do,’ he gritted out.

‘Of course.’ She spun around quickly, almost stumbling, and he was halfway out of his seat before he realised what he was doing. He was still reacting to her even though she had made it abundantly clear that she was wholly indifferent to him.

He dropped back again and stretched his legs back out so that Talia didn’t realise it, too.

But it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t stop himself, he wanted to affect her the way she affected him. To hurt her, even in some small way.

‘I take it your plan is still to work in the other hospital on this island for the duration of my stay?’

She turned haltingly.

‘I thought it would be a solution you would prefer.’

‘That would suggest I cared one way or another about what you do.’ He forced himself to sound detached.

‘So...you’re happy for me to stay at The Island Clinic?’

Clearly, she loved her job here, just as he’d suspected.

‘You misunderstand,’ he rasped out. ‘I’m not interested in where you work, just as long as you aren’t working on my case. Do we have an understanding?’