“Should be out next week.” Mitch consulted something on his cell phone. “Yes. Here we go. Next Monday seven p.m. we’ll have our consultation meeting.”
“Having a meeting after hours won’t necessarily keep the paparazzi off his trail.”
“True, but they don’t have to find out why he’s coming here.”
“Won’t it be obvious?”
Mitch made a mischievous expression, the first she’d seen since the night in the pod at the Eye, or maybe it had been in that elevator at the restaurant, nailing her with his playful green eyes. She’d missed that expression more than she cared to admit. “You don’t know about our room, do you?”
“Room? What room?”
“Our ophthalmology room.” He used air quotes around ophthalmology. “That’s how we treat famous people without the press catching on and exposing their plans. Do it all the time for royalty … and actresses and ballerinas and …” He grinned and winked, and it almost made her forget to breathe. “We’ll bring Davy in following a press release from Lexi about how he’s developed a torn retina due to the fight, then we’ll have our consult. See how badly he messed up his face and discuss all the options. Send him out with another prepared statement that we performed laser surgery to repair the retinal tear.”
She found herself smiling along with him. “So clever.”
“The Hunter Clinic has been doing it for years.”
“Still, I can’t help but think my abilities could be used for better purposes.”
Mitch sat straight and still. “Ah, Gracie, you’ve forgotten our adventurous-pod-people oath.”
Finally, he’d brought that up again! Knowing he hadn’t forgotten made her glad. But the look she gave him, tossing her gaze toward the ceiling, conveyed she’d reached her limit on pod-people jokes, even though it was nice to have Mitch back on full form. If she hadn’t been taken aback by him calling her Gracie, the name her little sister, Hope, had used to call her, she would have used words. Not that tired joke again. Really, Cooper.
Well, if he was giving her a nickname, she needed to come up with one of her own for him. She wouldn’t dare go for the garish “Lips”, but if the one she had in mind was good enough for Leo, it was good enough for her.
“Apparently, Cooper, I have forgotten that oath.”
She saw a glint of amusement in his deep eyes when she called him Cooper. Yes, he liked that.
“Fix the rich to help the poor.” Now, there he went surprising her again. This time with his valor.
“Kind of like Robin Hood?”
Their eyes connected and every thought about work, nicknames, and oaths—no matter how spot on it was—flew out the window behind him. She noticed his five-o’clock shadow and thought how sexy it was, wondered what he looked like first thing in the morning with messed-up hair to match.
“A bit.”
She needed a moment to recuperate.
They’d finished their conversation about Davy Cumberbatch. He’d called her Gracie, she’d called him Cooper. He’d reinforced the Hunter Clinic mission statement, which was a new twist on Robin Hood, along with their pod-person oath—young adventurers unite! Their meeting with Davy C. was scheduled for next week. There really was no reason to stick around. Get up. Do it now or you’ll embarrass yourself staring at him too long.
She stood to leave, shifting her position so she had a better angle to see the photo on his desk. “Well, I’ll buckle down on studying The King’s face, and come up with the cheek, nose and chin implants before next Tuesday, then.” At least that would give her something to do on her second weekend in London. Alone. “I imagine Davy Cumberbatch will want to see what I have in store for him.”
Her gaze slid in line with the photograph. It wasn’t a woman. Or even a dog. Yippee, and thank heavens. It was a beautiful little girl.
Unable to stop herself, she smiled and picked up the frame. “Do you mind?” She didn’t wait for his okay. “Who’s this lovely little princess?”
His eyes lit up with pride. “That’s my Mia. My baby girl.”
Grace lifted a single eyebrow. “She’s not a baby any more, Cooper. I hate to tell you. My gosh, she’s sweet looking.” A round face with huge eyes smiled happily at her. Loads of light brown hair curled around her head. Mia had the kind of cheeks Grace wanted to pinch. Or kiss.
“You’re right about that. She turned five in March. She doesn’t like to be treated like a baby anymore either.”
She smiled, enjoying his fatherly frustration. “Do you get to see much of her?” He’d told her he was divorced, which meant he probably had to share time between his ex with his visitation days and all.
He looked confused. “Uh, every day.”
“She lives with you, then?”
He’d gone back to shuffling papers around his desk. “Yes, I’ve got her full-time.”
“Oh.” What was she supposed to make of that? He was divorced, not a widower, so why would he have full custody of his child? “So she’s already acting all grown-up, huh?”
He lifted his brows in agreement, passed a quick glance to the ceiling. “Drives me and the nanny crazy, too.”
Since things weren’t adding up the way she’d expected, she may as well take advantage of the opportunity to find out as much as possible about him and his living situation. “What’s your nanny’s name?”
“Roberta. She’s a regular Mrs. Doubtfire, and thinks Mia is the granddaughter she never had … which would be impossible because she never had a child herself.”
Grace wanted to pump her fist in the air with this new bit of information. There wasn’t another woman in Mitchell’s life—his ex-wife was completely out of the picture—just an adorable kindergartner plus a plump, middle-aged nanny—that was, if she truly was a Mrs. Doubtfire type.
Still, the news buoyed her spirit more than she had expected. She smiled at Mitch and put the picture frame back on his desk, not wanting to make too big a deal about it, though she had a thousand other questions spinning around in her mind she’d like to ask like, how long have you been divorced? Who left whom? Why are you the one with full custody?
She leaned on her knuckles, edging forward as if he were a giant magnet and she a helpless piece of metal. They smiled playfully at each other.
He glanced at her mouth, and Julie Treadwell’s recent surgery came to mind. There really was something about that mouth that seemed so familiar. Grace pressed her lips together, suddenly bashful about them and wondering why Mitch kept staring in that vicinity on her face. He got an I’m-a-naughty-boy flash in his eyes, as if he knew that she suspected what he’d done, and he didn’t care! Was it her mouth? The thought, coupled with his flashing eyes, gave her a bout of tingles.
Thankfully the scarf she wore covered her chest under the thin white silk fabric. Their subtle moment stretched on and Grace felt the tips of her breasts tighten. She’d have to be the first to look away, any second now … before she embarrassed herself.
Too late.
Colleague. Colleague. Colleague. All business. Business. Business. Adventurous pod people no more.
“Okay, then, I’ll leave you to your work.” She should have cleared her throat first, she sounded way too husky for five in the afternoon. She stood straight, leaving his desk behind. “I’ll study up on rocker Davy’s face, see if he has what it takes to become The King.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll make him a hunk-a-hunk of burning love.” Why did he always resort to humor when things got heavy? She glanced back at him, pretending his joke had landed on deaf ears. “We’re a great team, you know.”
Were they a great team? Gracie and Cooper? Could she bear working with him all the time, having to keep that safe distance when desiring so much more?
“Nice scarf, by the way,” he called after her, when she made it through the door.
She left his office smiling, but the spell was short-lived. There were so many mixed messages from Cooper, none of which she could ever possibly follow through
on, and everything made her head spin.
What did it matter if Mitch was free, she could only dream about being with someone like him since she’d never, ever, let anyone close again. She couldn’t bear to see the shock or pity on any man’s face once they saw her scars. Once had been enough. Never again.
She walked back to her office and plopped behind her desk with one thought she simply couldn’t let go of. Where was Mitch’s ex-wife? He’d said he was divorced the first night they’d met. The wife wasn’t dead. Now she’d seen his beautiful child, Mia. The pressing question was, why any woman in her right mind would let a man like Mitch and a daughter like Mia go?
Mitch stared at the door where Grace had stood. He inhaled the lingering fruity, refreshing scent she always wore. The fragrance did crazy things to his thinking and libido and took him off in all the wrong directions.
He’d done a miserable job of keeping her at arm’s length just now.
Gracie. Really, Cooper?
Without trying, they’d moved on to the nickname stage. He was grateful she hadn’t chosen Lips. Giving nicknames was something friends did, and they couldn’t be friends. Not with the feelings she stirred up inside him just by sitting across from him.
They couldn’t be lovers because they worked together and he’d learned from his mistakes, plus he couldn’t put things out of balance for Mia. He’d given up gorgeous women, had put his superficial side on hold for good. Mia had been through enough at such an early age, and she deserved a stable, normal mommy.
But he couldn’t get the image of Grace leaning across his desk out of his mind. He had to imagine her cleavage, though. Why did she always keep herself covered from neck to knees? She was blessed with a beautiful body—he’d seen the curves—so why did she work so hard to hide everything? He hadn’t seen those beautiful legs again since her first day on the job.
Plus all the extra clothes she wore made it harder to imagine her naked … still, he had, just that morning in the shower.
Mitch ran both hands through his hair. What the hell was he supposed to do about Gracie?
Mitchell got the memo about the 8:00 a.m. Friday morning meeting in Leo’s office just after Grace had left on Thursday afternoon. The blip on his computer helped him stop thinking about her—not to mention thinking about her naked—and the meeting memo also ended his brief enjoyment over teasing her. Against his better judgement, it was something he’d quickly become fond of in the short time she’d been at the clinic—teasing Grace. And it had to stop. He’d have to go against all his natural instincts where she was concerned, and continue to keep that arm’s length between them. He’d made sure to avoid her the last several days. He hated the thought, but knew it was imperative if they were to continue working together.
Upon his arrival at the clinic on Friday morning, he went directly to the meeting. Across from Leo’s desk sat the large and quiet Ethan. Though the younger of the brothers, Ethan’s life experience, including his injuries, had made him look like the older of the two. It was no secret around the place that the brothers had issues still simmering between them. Sometimes their strained relationship made Mitchell feel uncomfortable.
“Ah, Cooper, I’m glad you’re here,” Leo said as Mitchell took a seat next to Ethan. Mitchell and Ethan nodded at each other but didn’t shake hands, then Mitchell greeted Leo with a smile. “Coffee?” Leo offered a stainless-steel canister.
“No, thanks. Already had mine,” Mitchell said. Tension crept up his spine regarding the meaning of this meeting, and he wasn’t sure how to read Ethan’s withdrawn body language today. Had he done something wrong? Ethan drank from a mug and in between swallows seemed to be pondering something floating inside the coffee cup, reticent as always.
“Well,” Leo said, “I wanted to bring you both up to date about some future plans. As you know, our clinic wants to support Fair Go, the charity Olivia Fairchild—a pediatric plastics nurse who used to work here—has started in Africa.” Leo poured himself more coffee. “In order to help as many children as possible, I’ve decided to bring Olivia over for a period of time. I don’t know how long it will end up being, actually.” Leo looked cautiously at Ethan, and Mitchell also glanced at him, noticing Ethan’s grip tighten around the coffee mug. “Until we can afford to eventually go as a team to Africa, we’ll have to bring the children here. And she’s got a special case she’d like to start with. Unfortunately, she can’t adjust her schedule just now.” Ethan glanced up. Leo nailed him with a stern look. “So you may as well get used to the fact that one way or the other you’ll be working with her, Ethan.”
Ethan put his mug down and stood. “Fine with me.” He turned and headed for the door but stopped there. He stared at the floor. “Do whatever you have to do. The kids need our help. They come first. Count me in.” Then he left. Leo cleared his throat and glanced at Mitchell, who was trying to figure out why working with this doctor should be a concern to Ethan.
“Look, you deserve an explanation, but it’s a long, long story,” Leo said, as if reading Mitchell’s mind.
Mitchell understood Ethan had been through a lot, and could be described as moody at times, but he’d never been rude or obstinate with him. He’d always been professional and Mitchell could see how much he cared about his patients. Mitchell had nothing but respect for him, felt he was a top-notch surgeon. Leo, on the other hand, had seemed to suffer the brunt of Ethan’s demons since his return to the family clinic. Mitchell had also overheard many heated arguments behind closed doors since his arrival at Hunter Clinic, and took that into account.
Leo took a drink of his coffee, tension pressing down his brows. “It’s a long story, but the basic fact is there’s some history between us and Olivia.” Leo took another drink. Mitchell understood that the Hunter brothers were limping along and trying to mend their relationship. What Leo meant by “history” between the three of them gave Mitchell pause. Could it mean what he thought? If so, that gave a whole new meaning to family feud.
“Maybe I will have some coffee,” he said, and Leo poured him a cup. He took a long warm draw on the rich drink, and waited for the rest of the story.
“I’m sure you know that Ethan will do anything as far as humanitarian efforts go, so, like he said, I know he’s on board with whatever Olivia wants to do, whenever she wants to do it. Fair Go is a great organization. I have my suspicions about what may be eating at him, but it’s not for me to say.” Leo took another drink.
Mitch wanted to be respectful of the brothers and their issues. He also knew Leo well enough that if he wanted to share the full story, he would. He drank his coffee and kept quiet.
“There’s one more thing.” Mitchell looked up. Was he about to hear the big secret? “And this is just between the two of us.” Mitchell gave his nod of confidentiality. Finally, after being here four years, he’s opening up to me. I feel like this is taking our business friendship to a new level. “Whether my brother wants to admit it or not, he’s got a heart.” Leo rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand, tried to smile but failed miserably. “If you think he’s in a bad place now, just wait until Olivia arrives. I suspect her return will be tough on him, so if you think he’s moody now, this is just a warning.”
Mitchell put his cup on Leo’s desk and stood. “I’ll take that on advisement, and won’t take any fallout personally.” He reached across the desk and shook Leo’s hand.
He wanted to thank him for filling him in, but the fact was Leo hadn’t disclosed anything. He was a private man, and Mitchell shouldn’t have expected him to open up to him beyond the bare essentials. Ethan would be forced to deal with a woman from his past, and Leo had simply wanted to warn him about it. Obviously, something major had happened between the Hunter brothers and this Olivia person, but what it was Mitchell couldn’t fathom a guess.
The Hunter Clinic did great work on many levels, yet where the personnel’s private lives were concerned, well, emotionally the place was the pits.
“Oh, and Cooper?
We’ve got an explosion survivor on his way over from Ethiopia. One of Olivia’s Fair Go children. Lost part of his face and an ear. His name is Telaye Derege. As I mentioned earlier, Olivia can’t rearrange her schedule to be here just yet, so I’m assigning you and Grace to him.” He tossed a pile of papers at Mitchell. “Here are the case notes. Take them home and study them over the weekend. You two can tackle the boy after the Cumberbatch case. It’ll probably take that long for clearance of all the travel documents.”
Mitchell picked up the notes, wondering how in the hell he was supposed to keep Grace at arm’s length if they kept being assigned the same cases.
He left Leo with more questions formed than answered, and returned to his office.
Just before he entered, he saw Lizzie round the corner. He silently flagged her down and waved her into his office. If anyone knew the whole story, being the new Mrs. Hunter, she would. He waited inside his office until Lizzie joined him then closed the door.
“I’ve got a question for you.”
“Sure. What do you want to know?” she said.
“I’ve just come from a meeting with Leo, and I’m trying to figure something out.”
“Really. What has Leo done now?” She smiled with the understanding look of a woman deeply in love.
“Well, we all know about Fair Go and how we want to give the organization our support.”
She nodded, her carefully shaped brows arched earnestly.
“But I’ve just been informed that Olivia Fairchild herself will be coming to the clinic. When Ethan heard that, he got up and left the meeting, as if she was the last person on earth he wanted to see. And Leo said something about it being a long story and there was some history between the three of them. Then he warned me that Ethan might be a bear to work with once she arrives. What the heck am I supposed to make of that?”
By the expression on her face, Lizzie seemed to know exactly what Mitchell was referring to. “I don’t want to break Leo’s trust, but I know how much he respects you as a colleague and a friend. He’s not very good at opening up, and I can see why you’re confused.” She touched his arm. “I know I can trust you, Mitchell, and you deserve to understand why Ethan might be tough to work with for a while, so I’m going to tell you what the issue is.”
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