Page 28 of Prognosis Irreconcilable Differences

‘You’re naked and in my bed, and probably only here for another few weeks. Forgive me if I see talking as overrated.’

‘Nate.’ She didn’t bother to keep the reproach out of her voice.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. ‘It’s not medicine, Jacqui. I’m not saving people’s lives. It’s dry and dull and boring.’

Jacqui quirked an eyebrow. ‘Your words. Not mine.’

He made an exasperated noise at the back of his throat. ‘I meant it’s hardly pillow talk.’

‘How much actual medicine do you do these days?’

He shrugged. ‘The odd high-profile client. Maybe half a day a week. The demands of the company have pretty much kept me away for the last few years.’

Jacqui shook her head, appraising his suit and tie. He looked every inch the grim businessman. ‘And this is what you want?’

Nathan’s mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘This is the way it is.’

Hardly the same thing. ‘And that’s all right by you?’

Nathan tore his glasses off and threw them down on the table in disgust. ‘What do you want to hear, Jacqui? Do you want to hear that I’m working every hour God sends because I’m terrified that I’m going to mess this up and end up like my old man, ruining the lives of everyone who works for Trent Fertility? Do you want to hear that, yes, these last few years I’ve had this nagging sense of something being missing from my life?’

He paused and searched her eyes, saw the earnestness there, the compassion. He took a deep breath.

‘I’ve got too much riding on this to pander to some airy-fairy, can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it feeling,’ he said. ‘I don’t have the time. My whole life has been working towards this point, Jacqui. My biggest goal is about to be realised. I swore the day Mum came to school to tell me about Dad that I would realise his dream for him. And I’m here. And pretty damn content about it too. So, can we please just drop this?’

His green gaze held her enthralled with its zeal-like intensity. Her heart broke for the teenager who’d never come to terms with a father who’d cared more about his business failures than his personal successes.

Like a wife and child who loved him.

Her sudden conviction that Nathan was unfulfilled beneath his Italian suits and flashy car was absolute, but the man was forty-two and a billionaire — he didn’t need a mother. She was only here for another few weeks. He needed a wife, not a conscience.

Jacqui forced a smile to her lips and lifted her champagne glass. ‘Consider it dropped.’

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A week later Nathanpicked Jacqui up for lunch with the visiting CEO of a pharmaceutical company. His phone rang and he answered it via his Bluetooth earpiece. Jacqui listened absently as she looked out of the window. Nathan was trying to placate somebody.

He pushed the button to end the call and turned to her. ‘I’m sorry. There’s a bit of a crisis at work. I have to go in.’

Jacqueline nodded, well used to frantic calls from Vince or people at the office interrupting them. ‘Please don’t let me keep you from the world of high finance.’

Nathan glanced up at the sharpness of her tone and frowned. ‘No, no — it’s the clinic. A patient’s having a bit of a...meltdown. I’m sorry. I need to see her.’

Jacqueline blinked. ‘Oh.’ She was momentarily speechless. ‘Of course.’

Nathan changed direction and was parking in his reserved space at the Paradise Private Hospital ten minutes later.

‘They have a really nice coffee shop on the ground floor,’ Nathan said as he unbuckled. ‘You can wait there for me.’

‘Actually, would you mind if I come too?’

It had been years since she’d seen Nathan in action as a doctor. She’d seen the businessman twenty-four-seven since coming to live with him, but ever since their conversation last week she’d been wondering about the doctor more and more.

Plus, she had to admit to a certain curiosity from a purely professional standpoint. What did Nathan’s clinic look like? What were his staff like? Did he have up-to-date magazines in his waiting room?

Did he still look mighty fine with a stethoscope slung around his neck?

Nathan faltered, surprised at the request. ‘If you want. It might be a bit boring.’

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