Chapter 5 #2
And Connor was cute. She instinctively knew she was too young or ditzy or something to be of any interest to him, but she could appreciate his attributes.
Not just his looks but that laid-back confidence he had.
That almost naughty streak. He was a bit of a renegade was Dr Matthews.
A modern-day, professional kind of pirate.
Bella was watching Kate pacing again. She had changed into her jeans but hadn’t undone the tight braid her hair was bound up in. Her movements were graceful but… fierce somehow. Like a wild cat prowling the perimeter of its cage.
Why on earth had she been harbouring the hope that the two of them would get together? They were total opposites.
Maybe that was why. Maybe someone like Connor was exactly what Kate needed to balance her.
To put some joy into that precisely ordered world that Kate had created for herself.
But why would Connor be attracted to someone who was as uptight as Kate?
As much as she loved her, Bella couldn’t deny that her aunt was a control freak.
And maybe too much of a feminist or something because she’d never had a high opinion about the male of the species.
Bella sighed. It had never been likely to happen. And, after today, the chances were probably well below zero.
The sound of the doorbell made them both jump. The two women stared at each other.
‘No,’ Kate whispered, looking horrified. ‘It couldn’t be. Could it?’
Bella swallowed hard. It was just the sort of thing Connor would do, wasn’t it? To chase someone that he considered had done him harm and sort it out himself, even if it was completely outside any accepted protocol?
The doorbell sounded for the second time. A long, demanding blast.
Bella cleared her throat as she uncurled her legs from the sofa.
‘Do you want me to go and see?’
‘No.’ Kate sucked in an audibly deep, if shaky, breath. ‘I’ll go.’
Connor’s finger actually hurt because he’d pushed the damn doorbell so hard.
He knew full well he shouldn’t be here but Kate hadn’t been in her department when he’d finally calmed down enough to be prepared to face the issue, having gathered all the information he could about the day’s events.
How dared she simply walk off and go home as though nothing untoward had happened today?
Well, he was going to let her know in no uncertain terms just what the implications were of the error that had been made.
He could have gone straight to the highest authority that governed the behaviour of physicians within the hospital system, but he was too involved at a personal level here.
He’d file a request for disciplinary action when he could be sure he could present it on a professional more than a personal level.
But, dammit, it was one of his patients that it had happened to.
Okay, it hadn’t exactly been Kate’s fault. He knew about the disruption caused by that fire alarm. He knew that the department had been overloaded with work that included a tutorial taking place and more than one urgent case from Theatre being delivered.
He could also be perfectly confident that Lewis Blackman and Kate would have had it all sorted in no time flat if Lewis hadn’t had the misfortune of choosing that moment to have a heart attack.
But…
About to push the doorbell for the third time, Connor found his finger hovering.
But Kate had been the one to find the error, hadn’t she?
She’d run up to Theatre so fast that she had barely been able to talk through her breathlessness.
He’d heard that phone ringing faintly in the technician’s room.
He could have sent someone to answer it and had the news of the error well before he’d picked up the scalpel.
It wasn’t as if he’d even started extending the opening in Estelle’s leg. She would be left with barely more than the scar she would have had anyway from the biopsy and fracture repair, even after dealing with the benign tumour.
She had kept her leg. No harm had been done.
Thanks to Kate.
Connor’s anger couldn’t evaporate instantly but it was diluted with confusion now. He was trying to catch a coherent thought as the door opened in front of him. He found himself staring at Kate.
He could see her fear.
Not the same kind of fear he’d seen that night on the dance floor but it was close enough. And this time he could also see the determination to face whatever was coming. Kate wasn’t going to turn and run away.
Not this time.
But how could he yell at her? Something was swimming up through his brain.
If he did that, it would only justify the way she’d reacted the other night.
Give her a reason to lump him in with whatever brute of a male had done her emotional harm in the past. For some inexplicable reason, it suddenly seemed very important that he didn’t give her the opportunity to do that.
And what on earth would be the point of venting his anger by attacking Kate anyway?
He should be thanking her.
She was waiting for him to yell at her. Seconds ticked past as they stared at each other and she was starting to look as confused as Connor was feeling.
The anger was there.
Kate could see it. Feel it, even, like a curious humming in the air between them.
She fully expected to get the brunt of his fury, and fair enough.
She deserved it. She couldn’t even blame him for breaking unspoken rules and coming into her private life to do so.
She deserved this as well because she’d been too much of a coward to go and see him in their professional arena.
She straightened her back and steeled herself to deal with whatever was coming. She couldn’t fight back. Not this time.
Except… Connor said nothing. He was looking at her as though he’d forgotten what it was he had planned to say.
Even more oddly, that humming sensation had changed. It was still there but she couldn’t attribute it to anger. It was too soft now. Too…
Kate didn’t know what it was. And she didn’t know what to say to this man on her doorstep.
He wasn’t even looking angry any longer and it was confusing, that’s what it was.
Anger she could handle. She knew exactly how to distance herself and raise impenetrable barriers to protect the parts of her that had nothing to do with her work.
The lessons had been unbearable at the time but they had stood her in very good stead ever since.
But those skills seemed to be redundant.
Why had Connor come here if he didn’t want to tear strips off her for the incompetence of her department?
Why was he here at all when he could have simply gone and filed a demand for a disciplinary hearing of some kind?
‘Kate?’ The voice came from behind her. ‘Is everything okay?’
Connor seemed to be collecting himself as Bella pressed close to Kate’s side.
‘Everything’s fine,’ he said.
Kate could feel her jaw dropping. What on earth was going on here?
‘I came to collect Kate,’ Connor was saying to Bella. ‘There’s something I think she needs to see.’
Collect her? Did he think he could just turn up and order her to accompany him to God knows where? Well… Connor Matthews had a few things he needed to learn about her, didn’t he? Kate didn’t take direct orders from anyone. Especially not from a physical hulk that exuded pure masculinity.
Connor’s gaze swung back to meet hers and Kate was astonished to see the confusion in his eyes.
As though he had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it.
It was in that moment that Kate realised he had come here with the intention of tearing strips off her, but something had made him change his mind.
And maybe he was still trying to work out whatever it was himself.
‘I’d like to take you there,’ he said slowly. ‘If that’s all right with you?’
Bella was eyeing the helmet dangling from Connor’s hand. ‘On your bike? Cool!’
A crisp nod from Connor. ‘I have a spare helmet on the bike.’
Bella was eyeing Connor now. Then she looked at Kate. ‘You should go,’ she said. ‘Dinner’s going to be ages cos I forgot to turn the oven on when I put the chicken in.’
Kate barely heard what Bella was saying.
If he’d commanded her to go with him it would have been easy to refuse. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything else. But he was asking and there was a plea amongst that confusion in his eyes. As if he needed her help to sort out what was going on in his head.
Where did Connor want to take her? And why?
Getting on the back on this man’s motorbike would have been unthinkable even yesterday but suddenly it was a minor detail in whatever else was going on.
Kate had no idea at all what it was all about but, astonishingly, amidst the emotional turmoil of this whole day and the confusion it was ending in was a feeling that this was, in some way, very simple.
Going off to some unknown destination with Connor, on the back of his bike, felt… right.
Her nod was as crisp as his had been. ‘I’ll just fetch a jacket.’
They left the city and headed west.
Kate had never been on a motorbike before.
At first it was terrifying. All she could think of was how little protection they had between their bodies and the other vehicles around them.
Then she was far too conscious of the black tarmac beneath them that was going past so fast she couldn’t even count the broken white lines that marked the centre of the open road they were soon on.
She could feel the wind whipping the parts of her body that were exposed.
And the part that wasn’t? Well… that was in close contact with Connor’s body.
Her arms were around his waist, hanging on for dear life.
There was a thick layer of clothing and leather between her breasts and Connor’s back, but she could swear she was aware of his warmth and she was grateful for how solid he felt as the reality around them passed in a blur.