Alex caught her gaze and she felt that tingle of connection. Of knowing they were on exactly the same wavelength.
But there was more to this than a surgeon worried about his patient or a doctor who found treating a case of child abuse appalling. The shadows she could see in Alex’s gaze created a flood of questions. She’d always been aware of that dark side to him, hadn’t she? She’d never had the chance to find out how it had got there. She’d been happy to just let it add to the frisson of danger that had gone with getting close to this man. The excitement of the illicit affair.
And, right now, it was more than just wanting answers to those questions … she wanted to defuse this situation. Or was it more than that even? That squeezing sensation in her chest suggested that she wanted to … make it better somehow. For Alex.
As if he read something of that in her face, his gaze jerked away from her to the stranger.
‘You’re Ramona’s boyfriend, aren’t you?’ Alex sounded calm. Dangerously so.
‘Who wants to know?’
‘I’m Alex Rodriguez. Felix’s neurosurgeon. I’m the person who’s been operating on Felix this afternoon. Getting some of the blood out of his skull before it did too much damage to his brain.’
‘Good for you.’ The man eyed Alex up and down. More up than down. Both Alex and his brother towered over this stranger by at least six or seven inches. Layla could see that he was practised in assessing another man’s strength but if he was intimidated by his male company he didn’t show it. He stepped closer to Alex. ‘If you’re a doctor, you can let me in through that door. I’ve got a right to see Ramona.’
Alex was taking a breath. Layla could see the way his eyes narrowed as he smelt the alcohol. ‘I’d like a word with you first, if you don’t mind.’
‘I do mind.’ Layla saw the way the man shoved the little boy to one side and then curled his fists.
The little boy staggered sideways and bumped into Cade, who caught him as he started sobbing. ‘You’re OK, buddy,’ he said.
‘Shut up, Cody, or you’ll be sorry,’ the man warned.
‘Like Felix was?’ Alex’s query was almost conversational.
‘Alex …’ Cade’s tone was a warning.
The men were squaring off at each other. Layla could feel the fury of Alex’s stare even though it was fastened firmly on the man directly in front of him. The tension was indescribable. Any second now and all hell would break loose. Alex would flatten Ramona’s low-life boyfriend and then what? She wouldn’t be trying to thank him for saving her job. She’d be fighting a losing battle trying to save his.
Not going to happen.
Without pausing to think about what she was doing, Layla stepped in between the two men just as both men raised their fists.
The vicious shove she received from behind was meant to get her out of the way but, in fact, it slammed her against Alex’s rigid body. He had no choice but to lower his fists to catch hold of her before she fell sideways. It still felt like she was falling but she was encased in an astonishingly powerful grip.
From the corner of her eye she saw the fist aimed at Alex, which would have connected with the side of her head if Alex hadn’t hauled her out of harm’s way.
He only held Layla long enough for her to feel that strength and all that leashed power. To feel the pounding of his heart against her own for no more than a second. And then he let go of her and moved so swiftly the attacker didn’t have a chance.
‘That’s enough.’ Alex grabbed the raised arm of the attacker and then twisted it behind the man’s back.
‘Ow … lemme go,’ the man snarled. The words turned into a whimper of pain as Alex clearly tightened his grip.
Layla, Cade and little Cody were all staring, wide eyed.
‘Call Security,’ Alex told Cade. ‘Layla, take Cody in to find his mother.’
Layla did as she was told. She held out her hand. ‘Come on, honey. I’ll just bet your momma is going to be so happy to see you.’
Behind her, she could hear Cade talking urgently to Alex. ‘I’ll sit on him till Security gets here. You need to go and cool down before you talk to them. I’ll tell them you got paged.’
‘No way …’ The refusal was almost drowned by a stream of obscenities and threats from Ramona’s boyfriend.
Layla used her swipe card to gain entry to the unit. As the doors closed behind Cody and herself she could only hope that Alex could control his fury. It didn’t matter what the man was guilty of—a member of staff in an altercation with a parent figure would be a dismissible offence.
She found a staff member to take care of Cody and filled them in on what had happened. She even spoke briefly to Ramona and learned that Felix had come through his surgery with flying colours and everybody was very pleased with how he was doing. It was only a few minutes before she could head back to see what was happening on the other side of the door. With a curious mix of both relief and disappointment she found Alex was nowhere to be seen. Ramona’s boyfriend was also gone from the scene and the security guard talking to Cade had finished whatever he needed to do.
‘I’ll go and have a word with the boy’s mother,’ he said. ‘And I’ll catch up with Dr Rodriguez when he’s done with that emergency.’
Layla pinned Cade with a look that told him she wasn’t leaving without some answers.
‘Where’s Alex?’
Cade shrugged. ‘Gone. I thought he should cool off a bit before he started talking to the cops.’
There was a moment’s silence as they stared at each other. Cade looked … defensive? As if he was challenging Layla to criticise Alex for coming on too strong. She weighed her words.
‘I heard you guys talking,’ she said carefully. ‘What did you mean by Alex knowing too much?’
She could see the shutters come down. Cade shrugged again, a gesture that told her this was between brothers and none of her business. And then his eyebrow rose.
‘Is it true what I’ve heard around here? That there’s something going on between you and Alex?’
Was this a case of attack being the best form of defence? Or was it a brother looking after a brother? If Layla wanted an honest answer from Cade, maybe he deserved the truth first.
‘Not now,’ she told him. ‘There’s … history. We were together way back. At the time of the Kirkpatrick case. You’d know about that.’
A sharp nod from Cade. ‘It’s what made me get in touch with Alex after not seeing him for years. Not that I got much of a chance to spend time with him before he took off to Brisbane.’
‘It messed up a lot of things,’ Layla agreed. ‘But what’s important right now is that I owe my job to Alex and I’m not going to let him get into trouble over what just happened here if I can help it.’
Cade’s nod was relieved. ‘Just as well. The creep’s telling everybody that Alex started it. Just laid into him without any provocation.’
‘I’ll sort it,’ Layla promised. But she wasn’t letting Cade off the hook just yet. ‘After I’ve talked to Alex, that is. Now, are you going to tell me where he is so I can do that before the cops start looking for me?’
Cade sighed. ‘He didn’t say