200 Harley Street. Lynne Marshall

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СКАЧАТЬ What a horrible word.

      ‘What’s going on with Iain McKenzie?’

      ‘What?’ She dropped the fork she’d been holding for the last few minutes.

      Carrie was smiling. ‘Our grumpy Scotsman isn’t quite so grumpy. We’re all wondering what’s happened. Do you know anything?’

      ‘Me? No.’ The words came out too quickly, falling over themselves in their haste.

      Carrie put her fork down. ‘Lexi?’ Her eyebrows were raised.

      Oh, no. Carrie had that look on her face. That you’d-better-tell-me-everything-right-now look.

      Lexi started shaking her head and focusing intently on the raspberry sponge, which all of a sudden she could eat easily. ‘I’ve no idea what’s going on with Iain. I’ve just told you I’ve not been around. I’ve been flying everywhere and barely had a minute to myself.’ She popped a big piece of sponge into her mouth to stop herself saying anything else.

      ‘Whatever you say, Lexi. But it’s a remarkable coincidence that Iain appeared to get a whole lot brighter after your interview.’ She lifted her hand and gave Lexi a wink. ‘But if you say you know nothing, that’s fine with me.’

      The waitress came over and placed the bill on the table and Carrie had it in a flash. She waved it at Lexi. ‘But it’ll cost you!’

      Lexi grabbed the bill and swallowed the big lump of cake in her throat. Everything was still so new with Iain. She didn’t want to tell Carrie that in between flights to here, there and everywhere she’d either been sleeping at Iain’s or he’d been sleeping at her place.

      And if carrot cake was the price of Carrie’s silence, that was good enough for her.

      Lexi knocked on the door of Leo’s office. She was trying to put all thoughts of the last time she’d been in here out of her mind. The thought of ending up with Iain lying on top of her made her blush. She only hoped the colour she felt flooding her cheeks would not be obvious to Leo.

      ‘Come in,’ came the deep voice behind the door.

      She opened it. Leo was sitting behind his desk with the phone cradled between his shoulder and face, while he scribbled furiously in front of him. He gestured to Lexi to come in and sit down in front of his desk.

      She gave him a wide smile and settled into the comfortable chair. Leo had a smile on his face, and it was so nice to see.

      There had been so many changes in him over the last few weeks—all to do with his engagement to Lizzie Birch, the head nurse at the Hunter Clinic. Leo had always been good at his job but his personal life and his relationship with his brother had always seemed rocky. It was so nice to see him with a genuine, permanent smile on his face.

      He put down the phone. ‘Sorry about that, Lexi.’ He shuffled some papers on his desk until he found what he was looking for. A printout of the accounts and charitable donations that Lexi had sent him. He stood up. ‘That’s quite a pile you’ve sent me.’ He looked around his desk. There was barely any of rich wood surface visible. ‘What do you say we go through to the conference room and spread these out?’ He smiled. ‘Lizzie left us some doughnuts for the meeting.’

      Lexi stood back up. ‘Perfect. You get the doughnuts, I’ll get the coffee.’

      She walked through to the conference room and left her papers on the desk, then crossed the corridor to the kitchen and loaded the pods into the machine. Perfect cappuccinos in two minutes flat.

      She could hear voices as she approached the conference room. Its doors were wide open. Her steps slowed as she recognised Ethan’s voice.

      She hesitated. She was reluctant to go and interrupt them, even though she was supposed to be having a meeting with Leo right now. Tension seemed to emanate from both of them as soon as they were in the same room.

      Leo sounded happier today. She could hear his deep voice easily. ‘I wanted to let you know that Lizzie and I have set a date.’

      ‘What? That’s great. Congratulations, Leo. When is it?’ Lexi felt relieved. Ethan did sound happy for his brother. Maybe things had eased between them?

      ‘It’s the last Saturday in April at Claridge’s.’

      ‘Wow. You don’t hang about. Something else you want to tell me, brother?’

      ‘What? No. Not yet, anyway.’ There was a little edge to his tone. As if there was a smile on his face as he was saying the words.

      ‘And are we going to have to remortgage the clinic to pay for it?’

      Leo let out a laugh. ‘No, that’s all under control.’ His voice went a little quieter. ‘It was Lizzie’s dream to get married there and I plan on giving her exactly what she wants.’

      There was a little pause then Ethan replied, ‘Making Lizzie happy is exactly what you should do.’

      The edge of the cups had heated up and Lexi shifted her fingers to try and avoid being burnt. Maybe it was safe to go in now? She stepped closer to the door.

      ‘So—I wanted to ask you a question.’ Her foot stopped mid-air. Maybe not.

      ‘What is it?’

      She was close enough now to see both men. Ethan was leaning heavily on the table—still not using the walking stick that he should. Leo was sitting opposite him, his hand pulling at the edge of his ear. The way he did when he was uncomfortable.

      ‘I wanted to ask you to be my best man.’ The words came out in a rush.

      There was a pause. A heavy silence in the air.

      Just say yes, Lexi willed Ethan. She shifted her fingers on the cups again. Say yes before I burn myself.

      ‘I don’t think so, Leo.’ Ethan’s voice was low, so low Lexi couldn’t believe he’d just said those words. She must have misheard.

      ‘Why not?’ She cringed. She could hear the tension in Leo’s voice, no matter how he tried to hide it.

      ‘I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Ask Declan or Edward—you’ve known them for a long time. They’d do a better job than me.’

      Lexi could almost hear the long intake of breath from Leo. She could only imagine how hurt he felt right now. Even if he wasn’t showing it.

      From this angle she could see him paste a smile on his face. ‘You never were very good at speeches, were you, Ethan?’

      ‘Rubbish. Whether you wrote them for me or not.’

      It was an easy let-off. Even though he was obviously hurt, Leo had decided not to enter into a spat with his brother. His voice went a little lower. ‘I just thought I should ask you first. You were the one to tell me to get my act together and sort out things with Lizzie.’

      ‘That’s because I’m the smart one in this family—and don’t you forget it.’

      Ethan had turned СКАЧАТЬ