Discovering Dr. Riley by Annie Claydon

Author:Annie Claydon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

HE COULD HEAR her voice behind him, but Tom didn’t stop. He didn’t know where he was going, he just needed to put some space between himself and everything that had happened this morning.

‘Tom! Slow down.’

He increased his pace, walking out of the main doors of the hospital and into the freezing wind. Cori was one of the few people who knew about his concerns for Jamie, and the only one who knew that he had a personal reason for not talking to Jamie himself. She had to have worked it out, and the thought that, while she’d said nothing to him, she must have said something to someone else made Tom want to curl up and disappear.

‘Tom...’

He’d thought that he could make good. Thought he could leave his childhood behind him when he’d left home and come to London. He’d made a life for himself, untainted by his father’s violence, and now it had come back to smack him in the gut in the very worst way possible. Cori had betrayed him.

‘Tom! Face me!’ Her tone had turned from supplication to challenge. Tom whirled around, before he quite knew what he was doing.

‘What? You think I can’t?’

She was jogging to catch up with him, her cheeks pink and her eyes hot with emotion. ‘No. I think you can’t face how angry you are at being on the end of someone’s fist.’

She was wrong. He’d learned to swallow that anger, to push it away. ‘No, Cori. What I can’t face is someone going behind my back. It’s unprofessional.’

Unprofessional, and it hurt like hell. He’d allowed Cori in and she’d got to the very heart of him. Now he was paying the price.

‘You think...’ Her cheeks flushed deeper now. ‘You think it was me?’

‘I think you spoke to someone. Maybe you didn’t realise the consequences...’

He’d thought that he was just giving her a way to confess without losing too much face, but fire flared in her eyes and Cori glared up at him.

‘Don’t patronise me, Tom. I’m perfectly well aware of the consequences of breaking a confidence.’ She shot him a meaningful look. ‘Even one that’s not explicitly a confidence.’

She was right. He’d hinted at the truth but had never told her not to say anything. Maybe on some level he’d wanted her to know. Tom never would have thought she’d use that knowledge for this, though.

‘Who else could it be, then? You were the only one who knew...’ He broke off and turned away from her. He couldn’t do this. Couldn’t see the look in her eyes when she finally ran out of excuses and admitted that it had been her.

He took two steps, and then he felt her grab his arm. He could have shaken her off easily, but if he knew Cori at all he knew she’d hang on for all she was worth. It took an effort to calm himself and face her, but somehow he did it.

Her face was determined. ‘I won’t deny

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