Page 59 of Prognosis Incompatible

‘You left without waking me,’ she chided.

Marcus wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries. ‘I had things to do.’

‘I was hoping for a grand tour of your new practice,’ she said. ‘And we need to talk. Do you get to stop for lunch? I could come down then.’

Marcus sighed. The sooner they got this over, the sooner he could figure out what the hell he was going to do. ‘One o’clock,’ he said, and hit the end button on his phone.

He glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes before his first client. Maddy would be in by now. He rose - he had to see her. If nothing else to apologise. Her wounded eyes from last night haunted him and he wanted to say how very sorry he was that she had been a casualty of Tabitha’s announcement.

The thought that she was hurt and he had been responsible was more than he could bear.

He stopped at Veronica’s desk and gave her his most charming smile. Maddy had teased him mercilessly about the younger woman’s adoration and today he wasn’t beyond exploiting that. ‘I need five minutes of Maddy’s time. Can you hold her first patient?’ Somehow he managed to smile.

‘Too late. She should be finishing soon, though.’

‘Can I sneak in before the next one?’

‘You’ve only just left her, Marcus Hunt,’ Veronica complained good-naturedly. Maddy’s door opened and her patient walked out, holding a script.

‘Can you send my next patient in, please, Veronica?’

Even over the intercom Maddy’s voice sounded bleak.

‘Go on, then,’ Veronica said, lowering her voice, ‘I can stall for five minutes. Do you want me to announce you?’

Good lord, no! He doubted he’d make it past the desk. ‘No, thanks.’

‘Go get her, tiger.’ She growled at him playfully.

Marcus left the reception area, feeling a little guilty about misleading Veronica, and approached Maddy’s office with great trepidation. She didn’t disappoint him. Her reaction was what he’d expected.

Madeline looked up from a chart and saw Marcus standing in the doorway, his features marred with uncertainty. ‘Not now, Marcus, I’m busy.’ She was proud of how business like she sounded when her heart was breaking.

‘Look,’ he said as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, ‘I can —’

‘What?’ she interrupted. ‘Explain? I doubt it.’

‘Tabitha —’

‘Don’t,’ she interrupted again. ‘I don’t want to hear about whatever little sordid arrangement you’ve got going.’

‘It’s not like that,’ Marcus denied reminding himself that she was hurt and lashing out and not to take it personally.

‘So you didn’t sleep with her?’

What defence did he have for that? Nothing. It wouldn’t matter to Maddy what the circumstances had been or that in the decade of their separation it had been the one and only time. He nodded. ‘The night before I left for Queensland.’

The confirmation hit Madeline hard and she bit back a gasp. Even up until now she’d been hoping it had all been a dreadful mistake.

But apparently not.

Madeline knew there was nothing wrong with what he and his ex had done in and of itself. She hadn’t known Marcus then - he’d been a free agent. But his actions had put their current relationship in serious peril.

And she wasn’t going to hang around and wait for Marcus to choose his ex-wife and their baby over her.

Hot tears stung her eyes. ‘For God’s sake, Marcus, you’re a doctor. You should at least have had the brains to have used a condom.’

‘We did,’ he said indignantly. ‘Guess we were just in that one percent.’

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