Read Career Girl in the Country / The Doctor's Reason to Stay for Free Online Page B

time.
    The moody man spoke. ‘Did you sleep?’
    His question sounded almost accusatory. ‘I did, thank you.’
But you don’t look like you did.
    He seemed to be staring at her suit and she thought she detected relief in his eyes, which made no sense whatsoever so she was probably totally wrong. She had no clue why she was letting Matt Albright unnerve her. If anyone unnerved her it was usually other women. Men she understood because she worked in a man’s world but the whole women and friendship thing she’d always found challenging and unfathomable, and that dated back to primary school.
    You’re conveniently forgetting Steven, are you?
    He didn’t unnerve me, he just broke my heart.
    And now you avoid men.
    I work with men all the time!
    That’s not what I mean and you know it.
    To distract herself she picked up a cloth and started to wipe down the bench. ‘No one else up yet?’
    ‘You don’t have to do that.’ He swooped, his fingers brushing her skin as he tugged the cloth out of her hand.
    Trails of desire shot through her. This was crazy on so many levels and she had to act. ‘Look, Matt, I’m sorry I had to prevail on your family for a bed, although you were the one who offered. Obviously me being here is a problem and I’d like to apologise to your wife for the inconvenience.’
    He lowered the dishcloth onto the sink, the action slow and deliberate. When he raised his head she experienced a chill.
    ‘My wife isn’t here.’
    And you’re an incredibly gorgeous guy that women viscerally react to even when they’re sensible and know they shouldn’t.
‘And she’s not OK with me being here. I get it.’
    He grimaced. ‘No, you don’t get it at all, Poppy.’ The ping of the kettle sounded bright and cheery, in sharp contrast to the strain in his voice and the emptiness in his eyes. ‘She died.’
    His grief rocked through her, sending out waves of shocked surprise, and her fingers immediately crept to the pendant at her neck.
Death.
She hadn’t expected that. Suddenly everything fell into place: the vacant master bedroom; the messy kitchen; Jenny’s lack of anger towards him yesterday; and his aura of immensesadness. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here. I’ll find somewhere else today.’
    He scooped ground coffee beans into the plunger and dashed the hot water over them. ‘It makes no difference to me if you stay or not.’
    And she realised he spoke the truth. His perfectly handsome face that could have graced the cover of any magazine was a façade. Underneath it, pain burned inside him, making caring for anything difficult.
    You should leave.
‘When does the billfish thing finish?’
    He consulted a wall calendar that was two months out of date, and turned the pages. ‘Next Sunday. Everything will be booked solid until then.’
    Hope sank in her gut like a lead weight. ‘That’s probably how long it will take them to get the house under control.’
    ‘Could be.’
    ‘So you’re saying it’s a waste of time even trying to find somewhere else?’
    He shrugged as his hand closed around the coffeepot. ‘It’s your call.’ Lifting two clean mugs from the cupboard, he poured the coffee and held up the milk carton.
    She shook her head at the milk and reached over, lifting the black ambrosia to her nose, and breathed in deeply. The aroma sparked up her synapses, firing her brain into action. Was it such a bad thing if she had to stay here? She’d be working long hours so she’d hardly be in the house and when she was, she had her own room and bathroom so they’d hardly have to see each other. She had no doubt in her mind that Matt Albright was still very much struggling with the death of his wife so her occasional errant feelings, which she wascertain she could squash, wouldn’t be reciprocated at all, leaving everything as it should be: colleagues only.
    ‘I came to operate, not to spend time trying to find a room, so, thanks, I’ll stay.’
    His blank expression and lack of