The Reunion Of A Lifetime: The Reunion of a Lifetime / A Bride to Redeem Him. Fiona Lowe

around her face.

      Indignation shot through him. ‘What’s so funny?’

      ‘Oh, come on,’ she spluttered. ‘Even you must hear how ridiculous that statement sounds. You’re a workaholic, Charlie. You’re barely coping with afternoons off as it is, let alone filling a whole day.’

      It was true. Although he enjoyed Gran’s company, he’d sought out Lauren’s company every day after work to help pass the long hours. God, he’d even turned up at the pier today to fish when he’d overheard Ian chatting to Lexie about it. Still, right up until now, fishing had paid off in spades.

      ‘And,’ she continued, the laughter completely gone, ‘I’m not a hobby to help you pass the time.’

      ‘I never intimated that you were.’ Her words—so off the mark—stung but he quickly recovered, pushing down his hurt—the intensity of it surprising him. Stepping back, he said purposefully, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be the perfect guest in your parents’ home.’

      ‘Charlie...’

      But he didn’t want to hear platitudes or excuses—especially ones that wouldn’t change a damn thing. He clapped his hands as he did just before surgery when he was focusing his team. ‘So, we’re cooking calamari. I’ll pick up Gran then meet you there. What’s your parents’ address?’

       CHAPTER FIVE

      IT WAS UNSEASONABLY humid due to a storm front hammering Horseshoe Bay and bringing a month’s rain in a day. Like water pounding over the Triptych falls, it thundered on the roof of the clinic, making it hard to hear, let alone think. The moisture-laden air made Lauren’s arm itch like crazy and she was sorely tempted to reach for the plaster saw and break her prickly skin out of its entrapment. Between the rain, the itching of her skin and the needling of her conscience, she was irritable.