Hollywood Temptation

Selena turned to him. “Magdalena?”

Colt shook his head. “Who else? She better not get too excited or she’ll burst her stitches. It’s the last thing I need right now.” He pulled into the parking lot. “Selena, go and man the phones. Cancel all appointments today. Don’t answer any press queries. I’ll go straight to the cottage and see Magdalena. Tell Ramon to hire as many staff as he needs.”

“What’s going to happen?” He couldn’t believe how pale she looked. Even with her usually light golden tan. The flush he’d put on her cheeks earlier had completely vanished. Why was that? He had the tiniest flicker of suspicion. Helen had already made a few comments about Selena, but he’d never taken them seriously. Could he be wrong? He didn’t even have time to think about it because Seacliffe had to come first.

“What’s going to happen? Take a good look around you, because this might be the last time you see Seacliffe. I imagine Magdalena’s about to sue us for breaching confidentiality. We’ll be lucky to survive.” He couldn’t hide the fury from his voice. It wasn’t directed at her—really it wasn’t—but the frustration was too intense. This leak could break the clinic and destroy all the charitable work they did.

No more pin board of children with corrected, smiling faces.

No more pictures of kids enjoying their first ice-cream sundae after their palates had been fixed. All because someone had sold a story.

But who?

He watched as Selena stepped down and wiggled her feet into her shoes. She brushed a kiss on his cheek. Her lipstick must have appeared on his cheek as she lifted her finger and wiped it off his cheek.

“Good luck,” she whispered as she tottered toward the entrance. There was a shadow in the glass above. A movement. Helen Ridgeway. Someone must have called her. And from the expression on her face, she was less than impressed.

But what was worrying her more? The leak? Or what she’d just witnessed between Colt and Selena? He didn’t have time for this right now.

He waved his hand at her and headed toward the cottage. The helicopter had moved overhead the noise was deafening, but he could hear shouting in the distance. If Magdalena was going to burst her stitches, he better be ready to repair them.

Chapter Eleven

Outside was absolute chaos. Inside wasn’t much better. For the last hour people were rushing here and there, answering calls and dashing in and out of rooms.

Helen Ridgeway was a woman not to be tangled with. Her looks and demeanor this morning toward Selena had been cold—ice cold, with a frosty nip in the air—in spite of the brilliant sunshine outside. She’d been holed up in her office for the last hour with some serious-faced guy. They hadn’t even wanted coffee.

Colt had spent the last hour with Magdalena, trying to placate her with little success. Between dashing between the cottage and the clinic for the last hour there was a murky thump currently going on in his head that he felt was going to stay there permanently. Magdalena’s screaming would give anyone a headache.

He walked back into the reception just as Josh appeared.

“Helen around?”

He saw Selena bristle as she recognized the voice. She spun around in her chair, pulling at the neckline of her shirt as if she was making sure there was no chance of him looking down it. “Mrs. Ridgeway’s in a meeting. Has been for the last hour. She told me she couldn’t see anyone else and not to put through any calls.”

Josh looked surprisingly relaxed. Everyone else in this place this morning was wound like a coiled spring.

“She’ll see me.” He breezed his way over to the door.

“I wouldn’t do that—” But it was too late.

“Selena, I thought I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed!” It was a shriek. He’d never heard Helen Ridgeway shriek before. It didn’t bode well at all.

Josh catapulted back out of the office looking as if he’d been stung by a scorpion. Helen appeared in the doorway her steely glare fixing on Selena.

Selena gave a sigh. She kept typing. “Sorry, Helen. I did tell Josh you were in a meeting and didn’t want to be disturbed.” She looked uncomfortable—jittery even and it was playing havoc with her sense of unease.

Helen stalked over to the side of her desk, the dark-suited man at her side. He had a strange air about him. As if he was looking down his very large nose at everyone.

“Selena, this is Alexander Hardy, our new attorney. I need you to give him any support or information he requires.”

What? “Our lawyer? Since when did we change?” Colt’s voice boomed as he strode across the room, his jacket clutched tightly in his fist.

“Since Magdalena hit you with a lawsuit.” Alexander Hardy thrust a sheaf of papers in toward Colt.

“Already? I thought I could talk her down. I’ve been listening to her for the last hour. She’s really furious. She never mentioned the lawsuit, but she did threaten to sue.”

“You’ve been talking with the plaintiff? Without legal representation present?” He turned back to face Helen. “This really isn’t good enough. And not what we agreed.”

“Dr. Travers wasn’t party to those discussions now, though, was he? I’m sure he’ll take your legal counsel now.” Helen nodded toward Colt as if he had no choice but to agree.

Alexander Hardy turned to face Colt and spoke to him as if he were addressing a small child. “Dr. Travers, you will not have any contact with the plaintiff. You will not speak to the plaintiff. You will not be in her presence—”

“Stop.” Colt held his hand up in front of the lawyer’s face. He counted off on his hands. “First off, she’s my patient, not the plaintiff. I have a duty of care to uphold. I’m responsible for her well-being following surgery. Second, she needs her stitches checked every day. There were a few complications with her procedure and I need to assess her on a daily basis.” Alexander tried to interrupt, but Colt wasn’t listening. “Thirdly, she has massive bruising and swelling. More so than expected. I need to arrange to give her some steroids to try and help alleviate her symptoms.”

“Bruising like this?” Calla Roberts, one of the other plastic surgeons, had entered holding up a newspaper. The picture on the front page was like something from a horror movie. It was almost unrecognizable as Magdalena.

“How the hell did they get this picture?” Colt snatched the picture from Calla’s hands.

She shrugged. “Late edition. I picked it up on my way in.” She walked off to her office.

Colt couldn’t tear his eyes off the picture. He held it up one way and then the other, trying to spot anything recognizable. “This had to be taken in here. But where?” He held it in front of Helen’s face and squinted at the picture. “Do you think that could be OR recovery? How the hell would someone get access there?”

Helen took a deep breath and drew her gaze from Selena, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Was Helen getting at her?

“Gentlemen, I suggest we take this to my office.” She didn’t wait for their response, but turned on her impeccable heels and walked back into her room.

Colt looked over at Selena shook his head in confusion. She’d caught a glimpse of the picture of Magdalena. It was definitely front-page news, and the tabloids were having a field day.

He waited until Helen and Alexander Hardy had disappeared inside and handed Selena his patient notes. “Can you give this to my nurse? I’ve written out some prescriptions and orders for Magdalena and want her to get them as soon as possible.”

Selena nodded as she stood and straightened her skirt. “No problem. I’ll take them to her now.”

He jerked his head toward the office. “What do you make of the lawyer?”

Selena thought for the briefest of seconds, her finger twisting in her hair. “Big nose,” she said as she hurried down the hall.

He watched her leave, something twisting in his guts. Selena seemed nervous. What on earth was wrong? The whole place was in chaos right now; he didn’t have time to chase after her.

A sense of uneasiness crept over him. He just couldn’t shake it. Things were good right now with him Selena, and he didn’t want that to change. But things around the clinic were crazy. Only time would tell.

…

Three days later and things had finally calmed down in the clinic. Selena wasn’t fielding quite so many calls. Magdalena was still being treated at the clinic. But Colt, and only Colt, was allowed in her cottage.

He’d spent the last three days at her beck and call and it didn’t look as if it would end any time soon. Magdalena was apparently looking much better, but had decided she wasn’t leaving the clinic until she was ready to show her face to the world.

It was likely that Selena would be finished before Magdalena decided to leave.

The situation around here was tense—and she was just about to make it a whole lot worse.

She was proud. Proud of the pile of brown envelopes on her desk to be mailed. Proud she’d reshuffled her résumé a million times to suit a million different types of job she’d applied for. Colt had even given her a few suggestions to help, but in the end distracted her entirely. It had been a fun night.