He shut his face down and forced his eyes to do her bidding. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
She studied him, the bright office lights glinting in her compassion-filled gaze. ‘Okay, but don’t you think you should be leaving?’
‘Leaving?’ He frowned at her. ‘Are you mad? We have a product meeting in under an hour.’
She mimicked his frown. ‘And the woman who practically raised you is lying in a hospital bed!’
‘Apparently she’s stable...she’s doing well.’ He threw his grandfather’s reassurances at her, purposefully ignoring the tug of her words. ‘She doesn’t need me there.’
‘Of course she needs you there.’ She stepped towards him, stopping as he backed up again. ‘You should go.’
Go. Go back. To Wales.
His stomach clenched and he shook his head at her, turning away once more. What could she know of it? She’d never understand.
‘Did you need me urgently, or can it wait until later?’ he asked.
‘Marcus, for what it’s worth, time is precious,’ she said. ‘I’d give anything to have had more with my father. Like I’m sure you would with your mum.’
He clamped his eyes shut, grateful she couldn’t see the effect her words were having.
‘Don’t let this...whatever it is...get in the way of the time you have left with your grandparents.’
She went quiet, the room with it. And he refused to turn, to move, any response impossible.
Eventually she sighed, and the sound of her heels clipping against the tiled floor told him she was leaving. Relief mingled with an irrational surge of disappointment.
‘Please,’ he heard her say as the door swung open, ‘just think about it. I can hold the fort here.’
And then she was gone, the door clicking shut, her heels receding on the other side.
Above the churning a warmth started to spread—admiration, respect, something more...? Damned if he knew. Her concern for him, for his situation, flummoxed him. The sensation swelled with freakish intent and confusion paralysed him to the spot.
What the hell did he do with any of it?
CHAPTER TWELVE
CONCENTRATE, JENNIFER. IT’S none of your business. It’s not your concern...
The document on the screen before her swirled grey over white, not making sense. It had been the same for most of the day—as if she was in some weird state of limbo, swinging from the need to go to him and demand that he leave to wanting to maintain her professional distance and keeping well out of it.
She’d already overstepped. She knew it. But she hadn’t been able to help herself. Not when she’d seen the distress in every line of his beautiful face. And her worry had only mounted when he had not left. Not only that, he’d barely spoken to her—barely even looked at her since.
She felt crushed. The terrifying realisation had hit home that she cared far too much—that against her better judgement and her best-laid plans for the future he’d got under her skin. When she’d looked into his eyes and seen the desolation, the fear and the confusion, she’d wanted desperately to go to him, to soothe it away. But he’d made it clear he wanted none of that from her. In fact, he couldn’t have moved away faster or dismissed her any more decisively.
She should be grateful for the reminder of where their professional line lay. But it wasn’t gratitude making her gut ache and her mind wander...
She pressed a hand to her tummy, closing her eyes slowly and opening them on the computer screen, refocusing her efforts.
There were things she had to get done...things that were her responsibility.
A sharp rap on the door had her jumping and she looked up to the glass as Anna swung it open. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, but have you seen the time?’
She stilled, her eyes snapping to the clock on her screen. Shit—she had forty-five minutes until her train to Leeds departed.
How could she have lost sight of that?
She shot up.