Caspar was watching Tori now but Tori seemed oblivious to his inspection. She had her head down and was furiously taking notes. That was good. She and Tori had formed a close friendship in the six months since she herself had moved to Mount Gambier and she could use Tori’s notes to catch up later on everything she hadn’t heard Gail say.
And then it was her turn. She’d meant to look away before his gaze reached her but she hadn’t and now he was looking straight at her, his green eyes locked with hers. Annie could feel herself begin to blush again under his scrutiny. The heat started over her sternum and she knew it was only a matter of time before it spread to her face, but she was unable to break the connection.
Until Tori nudged her with her elbow.
‘Ow,’ Annie complained. But it was enough to get her to glance to her right.
‘Are you paying attention?’ Tori asked. ‘You need to listen to this.’
‘I’ll read your notes later,’ Annie told her, but as she turned her head away from Tori she deliberately sought out Gail’s face as she pretended to listen and tried to keep Caspar St Claire out of her line of sight. She’d expected his attention to have moved on to the next person at the table but from the corner of her eye she could see that he was still watching her and she couldn’t help but move her head, ever so slightly, to look back at him.
He appeared to be concentrating and she wondered again what he was thinking. What he thought about her. His expression seemed to be challenging her but she wasn’t sure what his challenge was. Did he want her to question him or back down? If he wanted her to give in on the very first day he was going to be sorely disappointed. She had no intention of giving in, not today and not tomorrow.
She met his gaze as she thought about all the ways she could say no but then his intense expression gave way to a smile and his seriousness dissolved into something else altogether. Something slightly carnal and iniquitous, and Annie forgot all about reality television, all about the cameras invading the hospital, all about saying no as his smile raced through her.
It lit a fire in her belly that poured through her, warming everything from her face to her toes and everything in between, until she felt as though her insides might melt together in a big pool of lust. She’d thought his serious, brooding expression had been handsome but his smile transformed his face completely and now his expression was cheeky and playful and made her think of sex. Something she hadn’t thought about for a long time.
Sex wasn’t something that had ever been high on her list of priorities. She enjoyed it but she didn’t really see what all the fuss was about. She was quite happy being celibate. But Caspar St Claire made her think of sex. And not the type of sex she was used to. He made her think of hot, sweaty, take-no-prisoners sex. Tangled bedsheets and late-afternoon sex. The weight of a hard, firm, male body. He made her think of multiple orgasms and sex that was so all-consuming she’d be too exhausted to be able to move afterwards. The kind of sex she’d read about in novels and seen in movies but had never experienced.
The temperature in the room felt as though it had increased by several degrees and Annie could feel her nipples harden as her imagination worked overtime. That was enough to make her break eye contact. She looked away hurriedly, almost guiltily, afraid he would be able to see her shameless thoughts.
Her ill-fated marriage had been based on lots of things but desire hadn’t been one of them. She’d been a young, inexperienced bride and her marriage had been more about companionship and less about physical attraction or raging hormones. At the time she’d thought she was making a sensible choice. She had seen her parents’ relationship self-combust repeatedly and theirs had definitely been a physical thing. As a teenager she’d decided she wouldn’t make the same mistake. The trouble was she just made a different one.
But she’d never felt such a strong, unexpected stirring of desire before and to have it triggered by a complete stranger disturbed her. She didn’t want to be affected by him. She didn’t want to be affected by anybody. As far as she was concerned, that was asking for trouble.
She was going to put Caspar St Claire and everything he was associated with into a mental box marked ‘Do not open’. She didn’t need to worry about him or his business. It was going to be nothing to do with her.
CHAPTER TWO
CASPAR LOOKED AROUND the table, watching the people, reading their faces, trying to guess their thoughts. Some of them were harder than others. He’d done his research so he knew who they were. He’d found it paid to be prepared—life was challenging enough often enough that he didn’t want to deal with unnecessary surprises.
Most looked receptive to Gail’s spiel; she made the show sound exciting and new, something people would want to be a part of. Most people. The reality was that it was the editing that would make the show exciting. It was in post-production that the tears and the drama, the heartache, the relief and joy would be enhanced. That was when the emotions would be increased and amplified. For the hospital staff it would really be business as usual. But with cameras.
Gail would make a good salesperson, Caspar thought as his gaze travelled around the group. He didn’t have a clear view of the hospital director, Patrick, as Gail was blocking his line of sight, but that didn’t matter. He knew he was on board. Ravi Patel, general surgeon, was sitting beside Patrick. He was watching Gail intently and nodding his head in all the right places. Caspar would bet his precious sports car that Ravi would sign the paperwork before the day was finished.
The RMOs from the emergency department were next. They were shooting glances at Colin Young, one of the hospital’s two orthopaedic surgeons. They would take their cues from him and the fact that he was in this meeting led Caspar to believe that he was agreeable to the project. The director of nursing was to Caspar’s right. He already knew that Maxine, and therefore her nursing staff, was ready to go. Which left only two—Dr Tori Williams, anaesthetist, and Dr Annie Simpson, obstetrician.
They were seated diagonally opposite him around the oval table. Dr Williams was hunched over the table, furiously taking notes, but he couldn’t see her face and he didn’t know whether her note-taking was a positive sign or not. He watched her scribbling for a few more moments but his mind had already moved on to the next person at the table.
Dr Annie Simpson. Patrick Hammond had sent him a short biography of each of the department heads and he recalled what little he’d read about Dr Simpson. Obstetrician, aged twenty-nine, single, trained in Adelaide and started work at Blue Lake Hospital six months ago.
Obviously intelligent and attractive, his mind added a few more adjectives for good measure and he decided he’d have to find out whether ‘single’ meant unmarried or not in a relationship at all.
If he was honest he’d admit he’d been looking forward to meeting her since he’d seen the photo Patrick had included. He’d specifically asked for photos so he’d be able to identify everyone but he had to admit that Annie’s photo hadn’t done her justice.
It was a good photo, she was an attractive woman, but it hadn’t done justice to the glossy shine of her brown hair or the creaminess of her skin. It hadn’t highlighted her sharply defined cheekbones that gave structure to her elfin face neither had it captured her scent.
Standing behind her as he’d entered the room, he’d caught a soft scent of jasmine, which could have come from any one of the women in the space but somehow he’d known it belonged to Annie. The fire in her dark brown eyes had been another surprise. Her eyes had burned with barely contained disapproval, which she hadn’t attempted to hide.
He’d expected a lot of things but her passionate objection was something he hadn’t anticipated. But he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge and he suspected that was just as well.
He’d found it interesting that when Dr Simpson had voiced her