Page 124 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

‘The paramedic insisted.’

‘Oryouinsisted?’ he countered.

‘Hesaid he was following protocol.’

‘And as the protocol would bring you here,’ he said, watching her reaction, waiting for the penny to drop that he understood what she was doing, ‘you thought you’d use it to your advantage?’

‘My advantage?’ she laughed. ‘No one wants to be in a hospital on purpose.’

‘Not even if it would bring me to you?’ he asked.

‘What kind of question is that?’ she asked. ‘I don’t know who you are.’

‘I don’t want to play games, Emma.’

‘Games?’she repeated.

‘Yes. And this is not one you will win.’

‘Everyone likes to win, don’t they?’

‘Some more than most,’ he agreed. ‘Some stack the deck in their favour. Hide an ace up their sleeve. They underestimate their opponent, and ultimately lose.’

‘What are you talking about?’ She blew out an exasperated breath and swept the hair out of her face.

He felt the pressure build in his chest until he was vibrating with it. Something feral.Primal.

She blinked up at him. ‘Did you just growl at me?’

He moved closer to her, raised his fingers to her forehead.

‘May I?’

‘What are you doing?’

He stalled. ‘I need to see.’

Eyes wide, she asked, ‘See what?’

His fingers, feather-light, lifted her fringe.

‘Emmy...’ he exhaled and dropped his hands to his side.

‘Emmy?’ Her fringe fell, once again hiding the long graze on her left cheek and the ugly bruise on her forehead. ‘Why would you call me that?’

‘Youarehurt.’

‘I’m in a hospital—of course I am,’ she snipped. ‘But I’ll heal. In time. Without medical intervention.’

‘You said you fell?’ He had to discern the lies from the truth.

‘Yes.I fell.How many times do I need to repeat myself?’

‘This will be the last time,’ he promised. ‘Tell me. What happened?’ he asked, because he wanted to hear it. The detail. The rehearsed script written just for him.

Because there it was again, the doubt that coursed through his veins in sluggish waves.

Yes, she was hurt, he conceded. But she was using it to get to him, taking advantage of the situation she had found herself in, he rationalised to soothe himself. But it did not soothe him. He was conflicted. And that was surely the point, exactly her intention: to confuse him enough that she could influence the outcome of their reunion.

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