‘Rilla.’ Gabe nodded extended his hand. ‘A pleasure to meet you.’
Beth watched Rilla blush under Gabe’s gaze and knew exactly how she felt. His accent flowed over her like warm icing on a hot cake. Oh, God, oh, God! What the hell was he doing here? Gabe? Teacher Gabe? Her Gabe was the new hotshot from the UK? No wonder he’d been so good with the diabetic. First-aid course, my fat eye!
‘This is Hailey, the youngest child. She’s just started on the kids’ ward. She’s been away for three years in your neck of the woods.’
‘Oh, whereabouts?’ Gabe asked, shaking her hand.
‘London,’ Hailey confirmed.
Oh, God, it’s me now. Beth wished she could hide under the table as she watched her father and Gabe turn towards her. Time ground to a halt as their actions appeared to unfold in slow motion.
‘And this is the woman in charge around here. She’s also done quite a bit of travelling and even worked in Oxford. This is my oldest daughter—’
Gabe’s eyes widened as recognition dawned. ‘Beth!’ he supplied before John had a chance.
Gabe couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The woman who’d been on his mind all weekend was standing in front of him. Her hair may be obscured by a cap, her lithe body covered in baggy theatre greens, but he’d remember that flawless complexion, those eyes, that mouth anywhere. Hell!
Beth swallowed, trying to moisten her suddenly parched mouth. Nothing had prepared her for the impact of seeing him again. On Friday night he’d worn jeans and a polo shirt. Today he was wearing dark grey trousers, a striped business shirt and an impeccably matching tie. But she knew neither were a match for what lay beneath.
‘Hello, Gabe.’
John frowned. ‘You two know each other?’
Intimately. Gabe had thought about no one else since he’d woken alone in his bed on Saturday morning. He’d slept with the boss’s daughter? A colleague? Oh, good move, Gabriel! He saw a burst of panic flare her pupils and her blue eyes darted nervously to John and then back to him. She didn’t want her family to know. ‘We…met on Friday night.’
Beth could see Hailey and Rilla exchange looks in her peripheral vision as his green eyes captivated her, making it impossible to look away.
‘You’re the guy who helped her with the diabetic?’ Rilla exclaimed.
Among other things. Gabe smiled at Rilla and then turned back to Beth. ‘Yes. We made quite a team.’
John was looking at Beth and she quickly filled him in with an abridged version of events, ignoring the familiar undertone in Gabe’s voice.
‘Well, then. No introduction needed,’ John said.
Gabe saw a slight hint of pink adorn Beth’s high cheekbones. Definitely no introduction needed. He wondered if John Winters would have been so welcoming had he known just how well acquainted he was with Beth.
‘It’ll be a pleasure working with you,’ Gabe said.
Beth nodded, unable to speak, trying not to focus on the word ‘pleasure’. Was it just her hyperactive imagination or had he emphasised it slightly? Her body was still tingling in places from the pleasures they had shared.
No! This couldn’t be happening. If she’d known she was going to have to work with him, she would never have thrown common sense and a lifetime of caution to the winds and slept with him. The one thing, the only thing, she’d managed to comfort herself with over the weekend had been she’d never have to see him again.
‘Well, we’d better be getting on,’ John said. ‘I believe Dr Fallon has an afternoon list, Beth?’
Beth looked at John and nodded. She forced herself to concentrate on only him, ignoring both Gabe’s and her sister’s speculative. ‘Starts at one.’ She leafed through some papers on her desk and handed one to Gabe.
‘Thanks,’ he said softly as he took the theatre list. He watched her intently as she avoided his gaze. ‘I guess I’ll see you after lunch.’
Beth gave him a quick smile, which she hoped appeared friendly, and made a show of straightening the papers on her desk. Rilla and Hailey were shrewd. Too shrewd. If she ignored him, started acting weirdly, they’d be onto her. She could tell they were already bursting to get her alone.
John gestured for Gabe to exit first. ‘See you later, girls.’ John smiled at his daughters as they left the office.
Beth sat, her shaky legs dubiously supportive. She adjusted a few things on her desk and then risked a look at her sisters. They were looking at her with grins on their faces.
‘What?’
‘You didn’t mention that Gabe was so gorgeous,’ Rilla stated.
‘Very sexy,’ Hailey concurred. ‘Slip your mind?’
‘He’s OK, I guess.’ she shrugged.
‘You guess?’ Hailey laughed. ‘That man is so damn cute I thought about slipping into a diabetic coma just to grab his attention.’
Beth grinned at the image and then sobered. ‘Well that man is now apparently a colleague so the rest of it doesn’t matter.’
‘Thought you said he was a teacher?’ Hailey said.
Beth shrugged. ‘That’s what he told me.’
A great start to their working relationship. Not only had they slept together but he’d lied to her. Had the flirting and flattery been lies too? To get her into bed? He had confessed to her, as they’d eaten from room service at three in the morning, that he’d never done anything so spontaneous before. Had that been another lie?
She had suppressed the impulse to question him further at the time knowing that a few hours in bed with a stranger did not permit her access to the intimate details of his life, and now wished she hadn’t. She’d known what had driven her to act so outrageously—what had been his excuse?
Beth groaned inwardly. What did his reasons matter? The more important question was how she was going to work with him. The next six months stretched before her interminably and she wished they were over already.
‘Well.’ Rilla grinned and winked at Hailey. ‘Looks like Gabe’s going to be around for a while. You never know what could happen in that time.’
Beth looked from one to the other. Their brown eyes sparkled mischievously at her. ‘No.’
Rilla and Hailey’s grins widened.
‘No,’ Beth repeated, more emphatically this time.
‘Oh, come on, Beth,’ Hailey cajoled. ‘I think he fancies you.’
Beth tried not to remember just how much he’d fancied her on Friday night. ‘I’m not interested.’
‘Liar, liar pants on fire,’ Rilla teased.
‘I do not date colleagues.’
‘Oh, Beth,’ Rilla chided. ‘You do not date, full stop.’ She made a chicken noise and flapped her arms a couple of times. Hailey giggled.
Beth fixed her sister with a glare. ‘Rilla, you of all people should know how disastrous relationships at work can be.’
Rilla’s smile died and Hailey’s laughter cut off abruptly. Her sisters looked at her as if she’d slapped them, and Beth knew she’d stepped over the line. Damn Gabe Fallon! She’d done nothing but mother and dote on them since she’d entered their lives twenty-three years ago. Rilla ha been seven at the time and Hailey five.
‘I’m