CHAPTER ONE

      ‘WHAT do you mean, you’re not going? Oh, Ethan, you promised! You’ve been working non-stop now for nearly two years without a holiday. If you don’t take a break soon, you’ll crack up!’

      ‘And you call going to this type of medical conference having a break?’ came the scathing reply. ‘They inflict you with the most dreary lectures for the first half of each day, then expect you to come out of your boredominduced coma and socialise for the second half.’

      ‘Which is exactly what you need.’

      ‘What? To be bored to death?’

      ‘In a way. But I was thinking more of the socialising. What on earth is Evelyn going to say when you tell her?’

      ‘Evelyn is the reason I’m not going.’

      Abby grimaced from where she was sitting at the reception desk, trying to get on with her work and not listen to the private conversation which was unfortunately coming loud and clear from Doctor Grant’s surgery.

      If only Sylvia had closed the darned door properly, I wouldn’t be in this embarrassing position, Abby thought disgruntledly.

      ‘Explain yourself, Ethan,’ came Sylvia’s imperative demand.

      ‘What’s there to explain? I simply decided I didn’t want to take Evelyn. Since this style of conference has been designed around couples, and I didn’t want to stand out like a shag on a rock, I’ve decided not to go at all.’

      ‘But why have you decided not to take Evelyn, for heaven’s sake?’

      ‘For reasons which I should have anticipated when I asked her in the first place. Evelyn’s no different from any other woman I’ve been fool enough to become involved with over the past few years. After a couple of months they start fancying that our relationship—such as it is—should develop into something deeper.’

      ‘Oh, how shocking of them!’

      Abby winced at the caustic tone in Sylvia’s voice. Not that Abby was on Dr Grant’s side. Sylvia’s brother was a cold devil at the best of times—something his older sister obviously knew only too well!

      ‘Spare me the sarcasm, Sis,’ he drawled. ‘I never promised Evelyn anything more than the odd night here and there. She claimed that was all she wanted too, after her divorce came through last year, but she was lying. I should have known my requesting three whole days and nights of her company would be simultaneously equated with my feelings for her having miraculously blossomed into love, with a proposal of marriage imminent.’

      ‘Silly girl,’ Sylvia mocked drily. ‘Though it might be fairer if you had a warning tattooed on that oh, so handsome forehead of yours, Ethan: ALLERGIC TO LOVE AND MARRIAGE!’

      ‘Not allergic, Sylvia. Wary. As I am of all beautiful women like Evelyn. Most don’t have love on their minds when they look to marriage, only money and position.’

      Sylvia’s sigh echoed through the quiet rooms. ‘You still haven’t gotten over her, have you?’

      ‘Who?’

      ‘You know very well who. Vanessa Whatsername.’

      ‘I really do not wish to discuss the past, Sylvia. Neither do I wish to discuss my decision not to go to the conference. Now, if you don’t mind, I still have a few letters to dictate here for Miss Richmond to type up before she leaves.’

      Abby’s eyebrows rose in a sardonic arch. Six months she’d worked for Ethan Grant and he still called her ‘Miss Richmond’. Not that she really cared. It suited her fine to keep the disgustingly handsome orthopaedic surgeon at a safe distance. Romance was not on her agenda this year.

      Or any other year, came the added bitter thought. She’d had enough of romance to last her a lifetime!

      Still, his cold indifference to her as a living, breathing human being did niggle a little occasionally. He’d never asked her one single question about herself during the last six months. Not one.

      Abby smiled ruefully as she recalled their first meeting. He’d been sitting behind his desk with his head down when Sylvia had ushered her in for an introduction.

      Apparently, he’d given his sister a free hand in hiring someone to take over from her on a Friday—Sylvia having decided that after years of slavery to Ethan as both his housekeeper and full-time receptionist she wanted Fridays off. Her dear brother’s only instruction had been that she was to train her Friday replacement thoroughly so that there would be no hiccups in her absence.

      Abby wasn’t sure what she’d expected after having met Sylvia. Someone older, she supposed. And less...striking. Sylvia was around