Best Friend To Perfect Bride. Jennifer Taylor

more than partly to blame?

      After all, it couldn’t have been easy for her to cope with Tim’s dependence on those painkillers. Mac had worked in a rehab unit and he knew from experience how unreasonable people could be when they were in the throes of an addiction. Bella must have been through the mill—struggling to help Tim conquer his addiction, struggling to support him even when his behaviour probably hadn’t been as good as it should have been. As he made his way to the cubicles, Mac realised that he needed to get to the bottom of what had gone on. Although Tim was his oldest friend, he owed it to Bella to ascertain the true facts. The thought that he might have misjudged her didn’t sit easily with him, quite frankly.

      Mac didn’t get a chance to speak to Bella until it was almost time for him to go off duty. He was on his way to the office when he saw her coming along the corridor. She gave him a cool smile as she went to walk past, but there was no way that he was prepared to leave matters the way they were. It was too important that they got this sorted out, even though he wasn’t sure why it seemed so urgent.

      ‘Have you got a second?’ he asked, putting out his hand. His fingers brushed against her arm and he felt a flash of something akin to an electric current shoot through him. It was all he could do to maintain an outward show of composure when it felt as though his pulse was fizzing from the charge. ‘There’s something I need to ask you.’

      ‘I’m just on my way to phone the lab about some results I need,’ she said quietly. However, he heard the tremor in her voice and realised that she had felt it too, felt that surge of electricity that had passed between them.

      ‘Oh, right. Well, I won’t hold you up. Maybe we can meet later? You’re due a break soon, aren’t you? How about coffee in the canteen?’ he suggested, struggling to get a grip. What on earth was going on? This was Bella, Tim’s wife—OK, technically, she was Tim’s ex-wife—but it still didn’t seem right that he should be acting this way, yet he couldn’t seem to stop it.

      ‘Why? I don’t mean to be rude, Mac, but why do you want us to have coffee?’

      She stared back at him, her green eyes searching his face in a way that made him feel more than a little uncomfortable. If he came straight out and admitted that he wanted to check if she was solely to blame for the demise of her marriage then it would hardly endear him to her, would it? He came to a swift decision.

      ‘Because we need to clear the air.’ He shrugged, opting for a half-truth rather than the full monty. ‘I get the impression that working with me is a strain for you, Bella, and it’s not what I want. It’s not what you want either, I expect.’

      ‘You’re imagining it. I don’t have a problem about working with you.’ She gave him a chilly smile. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me …’

      She walked away, leaving him wishing that he hadn’t said anything. After all, he hadn’t achieved anything, probably made things even more awkward, in fact.

      Mac sighed as he made his way to the office. That would teach him to poke his nose into matters that didn’t concern him. What had gone on between Tim and Bella was their business and he would be well advised to leave alone.

      Bella worked straight through without even stopping for a break. Although they were busy, she could have taken a few minutes off if she’d wanted to, but she didn’t. Mac’s request to talk to her had unsettled her and she preferred to keep her mind on her patients rather than worry about it. She dealt with her final patient, a ten-year-old boy who had fallen off his bike and broken his arm. Once the X-rays had confirmed her diagnosis, she sent him to the plaster room and cleared up. Helen Robertson, one of the new F1s on the unit, grinned when Bella made her way to the nurses’ station to sign out.

      ‘Off home to put your feet up, are you? Or are you planning a wild night out?’

      ‘No chance. It’s straight home, supper and bed for me,’ Bella replied with a laugh. ‘My days of tripping the light fantastic are well and truly over!’

      ‘Oh, listen to her. You’d think she was in her dotage, wouldn’t you?’ Helen looked past Bella and raised her brows. ‘Maybe you can convince her that she can forgo the carpet slippers for a while longer!’

      Bella glanced round to see who Helen was talking to and felt her heart lurch when she saw Mac standing behind her. She knew that he was supposed to have gone off duty several hours before and couldn’t understand what he was doing there … Unless he had stayed behind to talk to her? The thought filled her with dread. She didn’t want to talk to him about anything, neither her marriage nor what Tim had and hadn’t done. If she told Mac then she would have to face the possibility that he might not believe her and she couldn’t bear that, couldn’t stand to know that he thought she was lying.

      She hurriedly signed her name in the register, adding the time of her departure. Mac was still talking to Helen, laughing at something the young doctor had said, so Bella headed for the door. It hummed open and she was outside, walking as fast as she could towards the car park. She could hear footsteps behind her and knew that Mac was following her but she didn’t slow down. He had no business harassing her this way! She had made it perfectly clear that she didn’t intend to discuss her marriage with him and he should accept that. All of a sudden anger got the better of her and she swung round.

      ‘Please stop! I don’t want to talk to you, so leave me alone.’

      ‘Why? What are you so scared about?’ He shrugged. ‘If I were in your shoes, I’d want to tell my side of the story, unless I had something to hide. Do you, Bella?’

      ‘No.’ She gave a bitter little laugh, unable to hide how hurt she felt at the suggestion. ‘I have nothing to hide but Tim’s told you what happened, and you obviously believe him, so what more is there to say? Why should I try to justify myself to you?’

      ‘Because I thought we were friends.’ He held out his hands, palms up, in a gesture of supplication that she found incredibly moving for some reason. ‘I can tell that you’re hurting and if there’s anything I can do to make it easier for you then that’s all I want.’

      He paused. Bella had a feeling that he wasn’t sure if he should say what was on his mind and she bit her lip because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear it either. She steeled herself when he continued.

      ‘I guess what I’m trying to say is that I care about you, Bella. It’s as simple as that.’