“Your personal?—”
Yeah, you really have no clue who I am.Everyone in this city knew I was a member of the wealthy elite, the club of influential people who could hire their own staff for any need.
“My personal physician is no longer practicing,” I repeated. It wasn’t my fault I had to shoot him dead for trying to sell information about me and then trying to drug me for the Popovs a few years ago. Some of the men had been trained to handle minor wounds and broken bones, but it seemed that Andre and Roman had thought it better to have me seen here.
Perhaps they were right. I had been bleeding out and drugged.
I tugged my pants on and reached for the shirt. “But you are welcome to take his place.”
“Me?” She spluttered, lowering her hand from her shielded pose over her eyes.
“You, Dr. Donovon, are welcome to address any concerns about my recovery plan.”
“Mr. Orlov,” she protested as I slid my feet into a pair of shoes. “I don’t know who you are, who youthinkyou are, but I strongly advise you not to leave this place! You need to be monitored.”
“I need to not be so exposed here.” I glanced around, wondering if this damn room could be bugged. I wasn’t paranoid. I’d merely survived three decades of being targeted by ruthless rivals to know better than to ever assume safety was possible in any given situation.
“You are not exposed. You are my patient, and I’ll be damned if anyone interferes.”
“That’s sweet.” I paused in buttoning my shirt, hiding the winces that felt natural with moving my arm too much. “But I guarantee my ride will be impatient to leave. As am I.” Reaching toward her, I grabbed a small notepad out of her pocket.
Once more, she flinched and jumped back a step, not expecting me to be so forward. And once more, she gasped in that sexy sound of surprise.
After I scribbled my personal number for her and handed her the notepad, I said, “You come to me. My follow-up appointments can happen on my terms, Dr. Donovon.”
She snatched the pad out of my hand, glaring at me like I was a fool. Like she didn’t want to suffer fools but was quickly realizing that she wasn’t winning this round. “Mr. Orlov. I strongly advise you to stay for a while.”
Dammit. She’d be exactly the kind of spitfire who’d interest me into wanting something more than a few moments of an argument. I shook my head. “No.” Not now. Maybe not ever.
Keeping women out of my life had served me well for this long. With Anya home, that strategy was already busted. But letting this gorgeous doctor try to coerce me into staying where I doubted I could be safe? That just wasn’t happening.
“But thank you…” I glanced at her badge again, seeing the fuller script of her name. “Claire.”
With that final, last word and the taste of her name on my lips, I strode right past her and exited the room.
8
CLAIRE
“Dr. Donovon.”
I stopped mid-step down the hallway. Hearing the registration employee calling out for me—again—gave me pause. It also induced some anxiety to kick back in. But I knew I wasn’t in the wrong here.
Please, just stop bothering me about any of this.
I heaved a deep breath in an attempt to regain my composure, then turned to face the older woman.
She pursed her lips, looking out of place among all of us in lab coats and scrubs. Such an office-appropriate outfit like the smart pantsuit she had on didn’t exactly fit in. She was too posh, too fancy, too used to doing her job in the confines of an office on some other floor of this mega hospital that I’d never set foot in.
“I have been trying to get a hold of you,” she said wryly as she approached me. “Every day, I call and text and email.”
I raised my brows, seeing no point to speaking up when she was clearly on a roll here.
“And now I’ve got to resort to chasing you down in the hallway?” She flung her arms up, looking exasperated.
“Chase all you want.” I shrugged. “I’ve got patients to see. Good day, Dawn.”
“It’s Donna,” she corrected without any kindness. “And I don’t care about pleasantries or if you know my name. You damn well know what I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for.” She exhaled a long breath. “Why are you beingsodifficult about updating that chart?”
