‘I’m so sorry I blocked you out, Conall. It was thoughtless of me.’ She frowned, realising just how thoughtless and how unlike her it had been. ‘I just couldn’t…can’t face talking about it.’
Slowly he nodded, his face a picture of concern. And something else, fiercely held in check.
That expression took her back to the day she’d returned to the office from the mountains. When she’d said the same thing, that she wasn’t ready to discuss the baby.
His features had stilled, his face turning blank. All but his eyes, which hadglowed with a fierce intensity, revealing that she wasn’t the only one battling emotion.
‘I understand, Greer. It was a terrible time.’
His understanding didn’t ease her guilt. Instead it compounded it. He was a wonderful man in so many ways. Even if he hadn’t been jubilant about the child, he’d deserved better than to be shunned.
Greer struggled to swallow over the tangle of emotions clogging her throat.
‘I won’t push you to discuss anything you don’t want to yet. It’s enough that you’re here and safe. And terrible as the memories are, it’s an enormous relief that you’re beginning to recover from the amnesia.’
He was so…kind.
Fresh tears prickled the backs of her eyes but she held them back.
‘It must have been a nightmare for you,’ she said slowly. ‘When I went to lunch that day and didn’t come back.’
The accident had happened on her first day back in the office. The day they’d had such stilted conversations, snatched between meetings.
Greer had sensed his frustration and had been glad to concentrate on work, or try to. At lunchtime she’d gone to buy a sandwich, only to walk into an industrial accident that would land her in hospital. Now she wondered if her mental state had made her too inwardly focused and less aware of danger.
‘You have no idea.’ His voice ground low. ‘I thought at first you’d run away, because you didn’t feel able to spend any more time with me.’
His eyes looked haunted and his strong features seemed stretched too tight, as if under immense pressure, making him look almost gaunt.
Greer’s stomach twisted in distress for him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘I didn’t mean to—’
‘Of course you didn’t. Don’t apologise. It wasn’t your fault.’ He raked his left hand through his hair, leaving it dishevelled and ridiculously appealing.
She had an instant flashback to that morning, of her returning to the office, both dreading and longing to see him. She’d been torn between believing their relationship was over and fearing it. Her heart had stopped when she’d seen him through his open office door. He’d been prowling the room, phone to his ear, his hair a tumbled, sexy mess.
In that moment she’d realised that despite everything, she loved him as much as ever.
Some sixth sense had alerted him to her presence and he’d swung around, ending the call and tossing the phone onto his desk. The way he’d looked at her had made her sore heart contract.
‘I went to your flat and the penthouse when you didn’t answer your phone that day.’
Fortunately his mobile number was one thing she hadn’t forgotten in the accident, since she’d known it for years. ‘My phone was crushed in the accident.’
He winced at the reminder and instinctively Greer put her hand on his thigh, regret consuming her. Of course the accident wasn’t her fault but it seemed wrong that she hadn’t realised until now how much he’d gone through, not knowing where she was or what had happened.
She twisted towards him. If the circumstances had been reversed she’d have been desperate. ‘Conall, I’m sorry you had to go through that.’
His hand on her spine resumed it soothing caress and his other hand covered hers, pressing it against his denim-clad leg. His touch, she realised, was incredibly reassuring. She’d been so caught up in his passion before, the way he used his body to make hers sing with delight, that she’d almost forgotten this. The simple comfort of his touch, his nearness.
Sitting here, reliving those terrible events, was more bearable with Conall at her side. Even her headache had eased a fraction.
His gaze held hers, unwavering. ‘Not your fault, Greer. Besides, things are better now. We’re together again, and you’re recovering.’
She stiffened. ‘Together?’
His eyebrows rose then he looked pointedly down at where she held his thigh and he anchored her palm with his. Anyone seeing them would immediately understand they were intimate.
‘Together.’ His voice wasn’t loud but it held a note of unshakable certainty.
