Read Online Partners by Contract by Kim Lawrence - Free Book Online Page A

computer screen was showing a screensaver. ‘How are you, Con?’
    She looked every inch the relaxed, confident young professional as she loosened the single button of her jacket. Only the most observant individual would have noticed thetell-tale flush across the smooth curve of her high cheekbones and the over-rapid rise and fall of her breasts beneath the silk mix top she wore over her fashionably loose trousers.
    She intentionally aimed the question at the diploma on the wall above Connor’s blond head rather than at the man himself, which wasn’t easy. Put Con in a room, any room, and he dominated it. Put him in a small cramped office...well! It was one of life’s little mysteries. He wasn’t pushy, loud or flamboyant, and it wasn’t just his looks. He was just that rare type of person who had a presence.
    ‘I’ve just finished another physio session with Becca.’ His elegant hand massaged his leg through the protective layers. Rebecca Wilson, who did several physio sessions a week at Hayfield, had worked with top athletes before she’d taken several years off after the birth of her twin daughters.
    ‘So now I hurt in places I didn’t know I had.’ He flexed his powerful shoulders, rotating his neck as if to relieve tension.
    The tangle of fine hairs on his forearm caught the light. Phoebe found the minor detail deeply distracting. She nodded stiffly, unable to respond appropriately to the dry humour in his voice, and willed her spasming stomach muscles into temporary submission.
    ‘Well, you’re in good hands.’ Her own, which she slid up the loose sleeves of her open jacket, were shaking. ‘It won’t be long before you’re back in the saddle.’
    ‘Sooner than you think,’ Will interjected dryly.
    Phoebe shot him a questioning look.
    ‘Con wants to take a few surgeries.’ Phoebe’s gasp of dismay was audible. ‘See, Con, Phoebe thinks you’re mad, too,’ Will responded with a smug I-told-you-so look at his partner.
    No, I’m the mad one, Phoebe thought dully. I’m still here. Working alongside Connor. Seeing him every day...pretending... Her head moved slowly from side to side in dull acknowledgement of the impossibility of such a situation.
    ‘The ability to do the four-minute mile isn’t a prerequisite for sitting behind a desk, handing out prescriptions.’
    Will snorted sarcastically. ‘Put like that, the job sounds so interesting...so challenging...’
    ‘You know what I mean.’ Con’s grin held restless impatience. His able foot was braced against the big desk as he pushed the swivel chair he sat in backwards. ‘You’re pushed with this flu epidemic...’
    ‘Not officially a flu epidemic yet.’
    Connor brushed aside the semantics with a wave of his hand. They all knew it was only a matter of time before some government statistician confirmed what they already knew. ‘And I’m going slowly off my head stuck at home. It makes perfect sense.’ In one fluid motion he was on his feet, crutches in place. ‘You need me.’
    Was it by accident or design that his disturbing eyes sought out and found hers as he made this soft uncompromising announcement? Did it matter? The results were just as traumatic, no matter the cause. Her chest felt as if it might explode any moment and the tingling sexual awareness that coursed through her tense frame was so strong she could literally taste the spicy tang of it on her tongue.
    It took all her will-power to wrench her eyes clear of the mesmeric pull of his level gaze.
    ‘Nobody is irreplaceable, Con,’ Will reminded his partner.
    If only that were true, Phoebe thought dully.
    ‘Tell that to Trish,’ Con drawled.
    Will frowned. ‘What has Trish been saying?’
    ‘That she’d quite like to sit through a meal without her husband vanishing on a house call.’
    ‘Trish is used to that.’ Despite Will’s dismissive tone, Phoebe could hear the edge of troubled concern in his voice—he put his young family ahead of everything else. The