Life Support: Escape to the Country (2 page)

His eyebrows rose slowly and his mouth twitched slightly as if this amused him.

She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “And I’ll be attending your presentation tomorrow.”

She’d considered lying, but it was a small conference and Josh would pick her out in a crowd immediately.

Josh grinned. “What a coincidence. That means I’ll get to see you again after tonight.”

There was no mistaking his hidden meaning. He leaned closer and lowered his gaze. She shifted position on the stool as his look did something unexpected to her insides. When was the last time she’d felt this way?

“Where are you from, Emma?”

She reined in her scattered thoughts. “Melbourne.”

He looked around. “Are you here on your own?”

“Yes.”

“So no one will worry if you stay out late?” His gaze lingered.

Is he propositioning me?

Her heart started pounding as her stomach flipped. She had never looked at another man the whole time she’d been married.

Shame she couldn’t say the same about Lleyton.

“Would you like to go for a walk? The harbor is stunning at this time of year. We can take a walk down to Circular Quay or go up past the Opera House and head up to the gardens – find somewhere more private. I’m sure you’d love to get away from all these people and all this noise.”

Emma hesitated. Their gazes locked. She inhaled sharply. She knew what she
should
do. She should count to three, push all thoughts of this sexy stranger who reminded her of Tom out of her mind and walk away. It was late, she was tired, and the cocktail was clouding her usually sensible judgment. She’d learned the hard way that alcohol and longing didn’t mix.

“Trust me.” He grinned. “I’m a doctor.” Reaching out, he took the champagne flute from her trembling hand and placed the still-full glass on the bar. His eyes flickered and shone. “We can finish our celebratory drink another time.” Josh’s arm briefly touched hers and electricity coursed between them. “Come on.”

Her breathing sped up and any further rational thought fled. In the dark recesses of Emma’s head a voice of reason screamed, yet she slid off the stool and followed him past the dancing girls and out the exit into the cold night air.

Against every single thing she knew to be wise, Emma left the bar with a total stranger.

Outside the overheated stuffiness of the hotel, the evening air felt icy against Emma’s skin, jolting her back to reality. She shivered involuntarily. She’d left her jacket back in her room at the hotel and in her thin shirt she felt semi-naked.

What am I doing?
This was crazy. She forced herself to relax despite the fact every one of her senses was switched to high alert. Josh was walking ahead of her and she hurried after him, inhaling deeply, filling her lungs with the slightly salty Sydney air. When she caught up to him, he grasped her hand, lacing his fingers with hers, pulling her closer. They chatted about the weather, the people, the views over the water – anything and everything except the sensual tension surging between them.

Shadowing the crowd, they headed toward Circular Quay and the ferry terminals. It was a weeknight in the middle of winter, but the place was still crowded. As Josh shepherded her through the throng of people weaving their way toward the Opera House, she shivered again, from the unpleasant memories of Lleyton, from the way Josh was making her feel, from the cold breeze whipping whitecaps across the water.

“Sorry, you must be freezing.” He shot her an apologetic look and shrugged out of his black woolen coat, gently placing it across her shoulders.

She felt the bulky warmth of the wool and smelled his aftershave.

“Thank you.”

He spun her to face him and silently began to button the coat up.

Emma stared at his long fingers slowly working the buttons through the buttonholes from the bottom upward. She trembled when he reached the final button at her throat, his fingers brushing her jaw before running across her neck as he pulled her long ponytail loose from the collar.

“Is that better?”

She nodded and they started walking again. Josh draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her sideways toward him and closing the distance between them so their hips bumped together as they walked. Neither spoke.

Emma stared up at the iconic bridge as cars raced overhead. As a Melbournian, she loved coming to Sydney for the harbor views and atmosphere. They passed late night diners shivering under outdoor heaters and rounded the pointy end of the Opera House. Crowds spilled out of the open doors into the cold after a night of entertainment. Ignoring Emma and Josh, they huddled beneath their own coats, chatting animatedly as they zoomed past in the opposite direction. A ferry chugged past, its horn echoing through the darkness. All around them lights glimmered and twinkled and sparkled.

Josh suddenly stopped, drawing her into the shadows. They didn’t even earn a glance from the few passersby braving the chilly night. When he pressed her gently back against the cold metal railing of the harbor wall, Emma’s heart nearly stopped.

She gazed into his eyes and worked at her bottom lip as a funny fluttery feeling exploded in her chest.

Running his hands up her back, he slowly massaged the muscles in her neck. “God you’re beautiful Emma.”

Emma’s breath caught. How long had it been since Lleyton had told her she was beautiful?

Josh slowly undid the buttons of the coat until it hung open across her shoulders. Sliding his arms beneath the fabric, he wrapped them around her body. She trembled again as he moved closer. Radiant heat burned through his clothes. Their lips parted at the same time, heads tilted as though they’d done this a thousand times before. Emma closed her eyes and held her breath before his mouth crashed into hers. She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and his coat fell to the ground, forgotten. She didn’t care. Josh’s fingers found the clasp that held her ponytail in place, and he undid it. The plastic clinked as it hit the concrete.

Behind Josh’s back, the skyline was alive with lights. The view was magnificent, but she didn’t allow her gaze to linger. She dragged her attention back to his face. In the distance, the horn of another ferry cut through the night and somewhere nearby a woman’s tinny laughter rang out, but they were background noises. She closed her eyes and leaned in, ready to kiss him again, to savor the taste of him, to inhale the smell of him.

“Emma?”

The high-pitched nasal voice cut through Emma’s trance. It took two long moments to register it was
her
name being called. In slow motion, she pulled away from Josh and faced an older couple standing in the shadows.

Her mouth went dry, her heart lurched and her stomach dropped.

Crap. Crap. CRAP.

Her in-laws.

As though someone had dumped a bucket of icy cold water over her, the heat of Emma’s desire was instantly extinguished. Her skin tingled with shock. She dropped Josh’s hand and untangled herself from his embrace. It was too late to pretend she hadn’t heard them. Too late to pretend she hadn’t seen them. And way too late to hope they hadn’t seen what she was doing. A sickening sense of dread flooded her body. She fixed a smile on her face and lifted her hand in a halfhearted wave.

As they approached, Emma cursed steadily under her breath. Lleyton’s mother, Mary-Margaret, offered both cheeks for an air-kiss. Emma complied and Mary-Margaret’s overpowering musky perfume invaded her nostrils, threatening to choke her. Lleyton’s father Winston kept his usual distance, hands in pockets, his permanent derisive look firmly fixed in place. Emma had never been good enough for Win Chirnside’s only son. Now it appeared she’d just given him one more reason to believe it was true.

“Lleyton didn’t tell us you were in Sydney,” Mary-Margaret said. She managed to make it sound exactly like an accusation – which is exactly what it was.

Emma bit her lip.
There are many things Lleyton didn’t tell you.

“What are you doing here, darling? And who
is
this lovely man?”

Emma cringed. Referring to Josh as “lovely” was her mother-in-law’s pseudo-polite way of asking who the hell he was. Mary-Margaret Chirnside was far too cultured to publicly ask why her daughter-in-law was hiding in the shadows with a man who wasn’t her husband.

“Er, Mum, this is a colleague of mine. Josh. Dr. Josh—” To her horror, too late, she realized she didn’t know his last name.

Josh extended his hand, closing the gap and the awkward pause in one graceful movement. “Dr. Joshua Spencer. I’m an ED consultant here in Sydney. Nice to meet you.”

“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Mary-Margaret Chirnside. This is my husband, Dr. Winston Chirnside.” Her mother-in-law’s features remained set like shiny marble, her thin lips barely moving. She swung around to face Emma. “And what exactly are you and Dr. Spencer doing in Sydney, dear?”

Emma exhaled. Maybe she was safe. With any luck Mary-Margaret might not have seen them kissing. Before she had a chance to reply, Mary-Margaret turned back to Josh.

“Tell me Dr. Spencer, do you work with our son Lleyton?”

The conversation was giving her whiplash. She wanted to run. Or collapse on the ground. Or cry. Or all three, simultaneously. She stared at her feet and hugged herself tightly, trying to get warm. What a disaster. Josh wouldn’t have a clue who Lleyton was. If only she’d left the bar five minutes earlier and answered the minibar’s call. If she had, she’d be tucked up in the hotel room watching late night news instead of facing off against her dreaded in-laws. She sighed inwardly. She had no one but herself to blame for her current predicament. High on her list of things to see and do in Sydney was
not
bumping into the Chirnsides. What were they doing there anyway? It was the first week in June and they usually headed north to spend the entire winter in Noosa.

Josh didn’t appear to have noticed the new chill in the air. “No, we’ve never worked together, although I’ve heard good things about him from Emma.”

Emma’s head snapped up to look at him. Why was he covering for her? She hadn’t mentioned Lleyton once. She scowled as a new thought hit her. Was this some sort of sick joke? Had Lleyton set her up? She scrutinized Josh’s face, but the relaxed smile was still there. Arms loose at his sides, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Unlike Emma, who wanted to scream until she lost her voice.

His face was deadpan, his eyes giving nothing away. She didn’t know him well enough to know if he was faking, or whether he was genuinely clueless about the web he’d fallen into or why he was covering for her.

“You still haven’t explained why you’re in Sydney, dear? I would have invited Lleyton to join us if I had known he’d be home alone. We could have all enjoyed a lovely week together. Perhaps gone to a show or …”

Emma bit her bottom lip to stop herself from saying something she’d later regret. Had Lleyton neglected to tell his parents about their separation? If so, he really
was
gutless. Life might be all about keeping up appearances for the Chirnside family, but Lleyton’s duplicity and constant need for secrets was the biggest problem in their marriage and this took things to a whole new level. If he’d been standing there, she would’ve physically lashed out at him.

“I’m here for a nursing conference, Mum. Not Lleyton’s thing.” Emma laughed but it came out sounding like a strangled cat. She coughed, trying to cover up the awkward noise.

“Then why is Dr. Spencer at a
nursing
conference?”

“He’s—”

“I’m one of the guest presenters,” Josh interrupted.

Mary-Margaret’s eyes widened as much as they were able to with all the recent work she’d had done. “Are you now?”

Inwardly Emma groaned. Mary-Margaret was one of those women who was captivated by a man’s credentials. Emma knew how her mother-in-law’s mind worked. Josh wasn’t merely a doctor, he was a doctor important enough to be a conference speaker, meaning he’d just been catapulted to the top of the food chain.

Emma began counting backward, waiting for Mary-Margaret to turn on the charm.
Three, two, one 
…
and go.

“Well, how interesting.”

Emma’s timing was spot on, as usual.

“Winston, did you hear that? Dr. Spencer works in the emergency department.” Her voice dripped with honey. And for good measure, a dash of acid.

Winston grunted and shifted position. He still hadn’t lifted his eyes to look at Emma.

Coward.

Like father, like son.

Mary-Margaret placed her hand on her husband’s arm and addressed Josh. “Perhaps we should all go and have a drink and hear more about the conference. Win is retired now, but he was an ED doctor for years at St. Vincent’s. Once a doctor, always a doctor, you know. Win’s spoken at numerous conferences around the world over the years. Perhaps the two of you could compare notes.”

Emma’s heart stalled. “No—”

“That would be lovely,” Josh said at the same time.

Emma glowered at him. His response was a smile. Emma ignored him and faced her mother-in-law.

“I’m sorry Mum, but I’m tired. It was a big day today. The conference sessions were intense and I had an early start, coming up from Melbourne on the seven o’clock flight. It’s late and we should be getting to bed.”

She winced as soon as she realized what she’d said and how it sounded. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Josh’s grin. Again, she glared at him. “And I’m sure you don’t want to have a late night either, Josh. Your session starts at eight.”

Thankfully for her, understanding dawned. “Yes, you’re right. We’ve had a lovely walk around the harbor but it
is
getting late and cold so we should keep moving. Thank you for your kind offer Mrs. Chirnside, but I’ll see Emma safely to the hotel now. It was lovely meeting you both.”

Win muttered something under his breath before shaking Josh’s offered hand. Mary-Margaret leaned in and kissed Josh on the cheek. She was such a snake and Emma didn’t trust her for a moment.

“Good-bye dear. I’m sure we’ll catch up with you when you’re back in Melbourne. Perhaps you and Lleyton might like to come over for dinner one night.”

Her mother-in-law’s eyes held a glint of steel. Damn. The whole thing was one big charade. Not for one minute was Mary-Margaret Chirnside fooled. She’d
definitely
seen them kissing. Which, unfortunately, meant Lleyton would know about it too, in less than five minutes.

Emma and Josh walked in stony silence until they were well out of the Chirnsides’ earshot. Emma kept her arms crossed, hugging her body tightly, partly to keep warm and partly to stop herself from hitting something. Or someone.

“Want to tell me what that was all about?” Josh asked when she finally stopped at the corner.

She jiggled on the spot, waiting for the traffic lights to change. “No,” she snapped. The last thing she wanted to do was talk. The lights changed and she took off like a sprinter out of the blocks.

Josh almost had to jog to keep up with her. “Is Lleyton your boyfriend?”

Swinging her arms, she power-walked up the steep sidewalk in the direction of her hotel. Her breathing was ragged. She needed to get in shape. “No.” she panted.

“Fiancé?” The question was more tentative.

“No!”

Josh exhaled. After two more blocks, he grabbed her elbow gently. “Would you slow down and talk to me?”

Emma sighed and let out a shaky breath. She begrudgingly slowed her pace and put her hands on her hips, breathing heavily. “Look, I’m sorry. I appreciate you walking me back to my hotel, but tonight was a big fat stupid mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking leaving the bar with you. Actually I
do
know what I was thinking. I was thinking you reminded me of someone I once knew and I let the memories of the past carry me out the door with you and into the biggest dumbest predicament I’ve ever been in.”

She attempted to run her fingers through her hair but the wind had lashed it into an untidy tangle of knots. She gave up, her hands falling loosely at her sides. Her shoulders slumped.

“What a disaster,” she cried.

“I don’t think it’s a disaster.” His voice was soft. “We both felt it.”

She shook her head, although Josh was right. There
was
an undeniable physical attraction between them, but that was all it was. A purely physical pull because she felt lonely and her husband had let her down too many times. And because Josh reminded her of Tom. She sighed heavily. Everything about this night was a case of wrong time, wrong place, wrong person. Definitely wrong person.