Ross shook his head. ‘You can leave any time you like, there’s no need to escape. I’d just like to be the first to know if you do. Shall I book an extra train ticket?’
‘Yes. Thanks.’
He’d either called her bluff or travelling down to London with him fitted in with her plans as well. Ross nodded his assent and turned, walking out of the guest apartment. He had no idea what Laurie was going to throw at him next, but he imagined that the next few weeks were going to be anything but dull.
* * *
What the blue blazes...? Are you sleeping with someone at the clinic? It was really none of her business. He could shapeshift into a vampire bat and hang upside down in the rafters all night if he wanted, it made no difference to what he did during the day as a doctor. Or as a boss. She supposed that Ross was her boss now.
One who had a very obvious interest in what drove her, and that was something that Laurie preferred to keep to herself because she wanted to forget about it. Her questions had started as a defence mechanism, a way of showing him how uncomfortable it was when someone else tried to pick your life apart, but he’d stubbornly refused to appear even slightly uneasy.
Then her own curiosity about him had taken over. Why someone like Ross didn’t have potential partners queuing all the way up the steps of the fire escape. He had everything. Good looks, good job, a nice personality when he wasn’t being so pushy. And even when he was being pushy he just oozed sex appeal. That wasn’t her heart talking, it was a simple fact.
Laurie bent down to unzip one of her suitcases, feeling the stiffness catch in her hip. That was another thing. She’d fought so hard over the last months, trying to deny that anything serious was wrong, to both herself and everyone else. But Ross had taken that all away from her. He’d professed not to care whether she got well or not, although clearly he did. And then he’d put all the responsibility for her treatment squarely in her lap.
It was a case of being very careful what you wished for. Laurie had spent so many of her teenage years fighting for her freedom that it was a hard habit to break. She’d tried to free herself from being told what to do about her injury, and now she’d done it. It was a bitter victory, though, because she suddenly felt very alone.
Nonsense. That was nonsense. She’d feel better when she had work to do. In the meantime, she’d have to think about drawing up a therapy plan for herself...
* * *
At eight o’ clock the following morning, Ross was sitting in his office, already working. Laurie wondered whether she should have come a little earlier.
Making a contest out of who could get up earliest would have been just petty. Juvenile. Seriously tempting, though. Laurie tapped on the frame of the open door and he looked up, beckoning to her to come in. Those eyes made the idea of competing with him even more enticing.
‘Have you thought any more about which patients you might take on?’ It was phrased as a question, but the curve of Ross’s lips left Laurie in little doubt that he reckoned she had.
‘I’d like to know a little more about what you’re expecting me to do first.’ She refused to think of this as her counterattack. It was just a query.
He leaned back in his seat. Ross was every inch the boss, relaxed and assured, with an elusive air of being in charge. He might like to pretend that there were options, but in truth his word was law around here. She could leave, but then she wouldn’t get what she wanted.
‘What do you think?’ He batted the question back.
Laurie took a breath. ‘I think that I could contribute medically, and in helping to structure exercise regimes, but then you already have good doctors and physiotherapists on your staff, so I’d just be another pair of hands. What you don’t have are any professional sportspeople.’
He nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘I think that’s unique experience that I can bring. I understand the pressures and how injury can be a challenge.’
‘I agree.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘We see eye to eye so far.’
Meeting Ross’s gaze was becoming the biggest challenge in al
l of this. She wanted to enjoy the warm tingle of excitement that it brought and smile back at him, but Laurie had to remember that Ross held her future in his hands. One of the lessons she’d learned from a childhood that she was largely glad to have left behind was that showing her feelings to an authority figure wasn’t a good idea.
‘In that case... I suppose that the choice of which patients I can work with most effectively is clear cut.’ Best not name any names. Best not give him the ammunition to slap her down, the way her father had.
‘Yes and no. Pete Evans and Usha Khan are both professional athletes but...’
It was just as well she hadn’t mentioned that Pete and Usha would be her first choice of patients to work with. It sounded as if Ross was about to rule them out. Laurie nodded and pushed two files across the desk towards her.
‘I’d like to discuss two other patients with you. We’re expecting Adam Hollier and Tamara Jones to join us within the next week, so you’d be able to take them on right from the start of their stay here.’
‘That would be helpful.’ Laurie reached for the folders. She’d never heard of either of them and wondered whether they were newcomers to their respective areas of sport. She flipped open the first file and ran her finger down the details for Tamara Jones.
‘She’s fifteen.’ That was going to be a difficulty. In Laurie’s own experience, fifteen meant traumatic choices and a lot of heartache.
‘Yes. Tamara’s a very promising young runner who lost the lower part of her leg in a car accident. She’s had some problems with the fit of her prosthetic that have set her recovery back, and we’re in the process of organising the adjustments. She’s frustrated at the slow progress, though, and facing a crossroads in her life at the moment.’