Page 4 of The Surgeon's Secret

She went into the kitchen and hung up her bag and coat. She had a beautiful kitchen—a big island, plenty of space for entertaining, a large table with room to seat twelve people, and all the best appliances. It seemed excessive for what she needed, but this was life as the wife of Dr. James Spencer. Semi-regularly, maybe once a month, they hosted large parties for powerful people who were useful to James’s career. Of course, Catherine cooked, hosted, and provided a lovely evening for everyone, but that didn’t stop her from feeling lonely when nobody else was there.

She heard James’s rushed footsteps coming down the stairs, and she tensed slightly. “Evening, honey. How was your day?” Catherine asked in the most positive voice she could muster.

“Terrible. I can’t believe it. My flight’s been moved up. I wasn’t supposed to fly until tomorrow, and now they want me on the night flight. My PA’s been fucking useless. I need more efficient people working for me. I can’t carry on like this,” he saidas he rushed around the living room. Catherine could see him from the kitchen.

“Are you missing something, darling?”

“Yes,” James snapped. “My bloody phone charger. Have you seen it?”

Catherine hadn’t seen it, but she knew how this would go if he didn’t find it soon. “Here, take mine,” she said, pulling her own phone charger out of the kitchen socket, wrapping the cord around the plug, and handing it to James. Sometimes, she looked at this man—this very good-looking, accomplished man in a suit—and wondered what this stranger was doing in her house. She wished he was more like the man she’d met: sharp and intelligent, but kind. But this was the man he’d become, and they’d been married a long time now.

He grabbed the charger out of her hand without a thank you, not that Catherine expected one anymore. She just hoped he’d leave soon and take his anger with him.

“Where’s your car, James?” Catherine asked, knowing he usually had a driver organized for trips to the airport.

“That’s one of my fucking problems,” James snapped. “There’s no car booked, so I’ll need a taxi.”

Catherine knew what that meant. She picked up her phone, scrolled to the local taxi firm’s number, and dialed.

“Taxi from 1564 Greyingham Place to the airport, please,” Catherine said politely.

“Sure, we’ll send it right away.”

“That would be perfect, thank you,” Catherine replied, calm as always.

“Taxi will be here in ten minutes, honey,” Catherine told James, who grunted in acknowledgment. What was it with men and grunting? Sometimes men absolutely disgusted her—sometimes, her own husband disgusted her.

It wasn’t long before the taxi pulled up in front of the house.Thank God for that, she thought.Let’s get him out of here. James had gone back upstairs, but his suitcases were by the door. Catherine opened the door and signaled to the driver to collect the baggage. The driver, a small woman with an eager expression, bounded out of the car and effortlessly lifted the cases into the trunk.

Catherine called upstairs, “The taxi’s here!”

There was more grumbling and shouting from upstairs, but it was mostly unintelligible, so Catherine chose to ignore it. He’d be gone soon, thank God.

As she waited, Catherine’s mind wandered again. She thought about Grace, the little girl she’d comforted earlier that day. And there was something else that kept flashing into Catherine’s mind—someoneelse. Dr. Lexi Bond, the new neurosurgeon. Those blue eyes—fierce, intriguing, mysterious, and maybe kind, too. There was something about Lexi Bond that Catherine couldn’t get out of her head. She’d enjoyed that moment alone in the locker room, admiring Lexi in her sporty underwear. She had long arms and legs, like some kind of athlete.Wasshe an athlete? When would she even have time to be one with a surgeon’s schedule? Catherine resolved to ask about it—those kinds of muscles didn’t come from working in the OR.

Catherine was snapped out of her reverie by James storming down the stairs and straight out the front door. He didn’t even glance back as he shouted, “Have a good week. I’ll be back Friday.”

Catherine closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. Peace, at last. She could go back to her daydream.

Catherine sighed in relief and closed her eyes, swimming in her thoughts…and at the forefront of those thoughts was Dr. Lexi Bond and her sparkling blue eyes.

3

LEXI

Lexi stepped out of the elevator and onto the surgical floor for her second day at work. She couldn’t believe Josephine hadn’t talked to her again yesterday. Then again, there hadn’t really been an opportunity, and Lexi hadn’t even seen her. What could she do now? She made her way to the reception desk near Josephine’s office.

“I was just wondering if Dr. Mars was available,” Lexi said.

“Sorry, love. She’s not in for the next couple of days—she’s working from home.” The receptionist paused. “Do you want me to call her? Is it important?”

Important?Lexi thought.Pretty important—I’m her new sister that she doesn’t know about. Well, she actually does know about me now. Has she spoken to her father? Our father? What do we even call him?

“No, nothing important. It can wait,” Lexi finally said.

The receptionist shuffled some papers and shook her head. “Thing is, Dr. Mars works from home on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now so she can spend more time with her family. She’s got that little girl, Natalie, and her wife, Ember, and it’s really important for her to spend more time being a mom.”

“Of course, I totally understand,” Lexi said. “I’m sure being a mom is a really big job, and I think it’s amazing that she’s spending time at home with her daughter.”

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